Biofabrication and biomanufacturing in Ireland and the UK.

As we navigate the transition from the Fourth to the Fifth Industrial Revolution, the emerging fields of biomanufacturing and biofabrication are transforming life sciences and healthcare. These sectors are benefiting from a synergy of synthetic and engineering biology, sustainable manufacturing, and integrated design principles. Advanced techniques such as 3D bioprinting, tissue engineering, directed assembly, and self-assembly are instrumental in creating biomimetic scaffolds, tissues, organoids, medical devices, and biohybrid systems.

Automated production of nerve repair constructs containing endothelial cell tube-like structures.

Engineered neural tissue (EngNT) is a stabilised aligned cellular hydrogel that offers a potential alternative to the nerve autograft for the treatment of severe peripheral nerve injury. This work aimed to automate the production of EngNT, to improve the feasibility of scalable manufacture for clinical translation. Endothelial cells were used as the cellular component of the EngNT, with the formation of endothelial cell tube-like structures mimicking the polarised vascular structures formed early on in the natural regenerative process.

Strategies for drug repurposing against coronavirus targets.

Repurposing regulatory agency approved drugs and investigational compounds with known safety profiles can significantly fast track the drug development timeline over drug discovery, with lower investment requirements and improved attrition rate. These advantages are vital in any epidemic or pandemic situation, where hospital beds are occupied by patients for whom there is no known treatment. Here we examine drug repurposing in the context of human coronaviruses, SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and, in particular, SARS-CoV-2, the virus currently causing a continued widespread pandemic with substantial impacts on public health and economy.

Applying TADF Emitters in Bioimaging and Sensing-A Novel Approach Using Liposomes for Encapsulation and Cellular Uptake.

A new method for facilitating the delivery, uptake and intracellular localisation of thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) complexes was developed. First, confinement of TADF complexes in liposomes was demonstrated, which were subsequently used as the delivery vehicle for cellular uptake. Confocal fluorescence microscopy showed TADF complexes subsequently localise in the cytoplasm of HepG2 cells.

TADF Dye-Loaded Nanoparticles for Fluorescence Live-Cell Imaging.

Thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) molecules offer nowadays a powerful tool in the development of novel organic light emitting diodes due to their capability of harvesting energy from non-emissive triplet states without using heavy-metal complexes. TADF emitters have very small energy difference between the singlet and triplet excited states, which makes thermally activated reverse intersystem crossing from the triplet states back to the singlet manifold viable. This mechanism generates a long-lived delayed fluorescence component which can be explored in the sensing of oxygen concentration, local temperature, or used in time-gated optical cell-imaging, to suppress interference from autofluorescence and scattering.