Biomimetics is seen as a path from biology to engineering. The only path from engineering to biology in current use is the application of engineering concepts and models to biological systems. However, there is another pathway: the verification of biological mechanisms by manufacture, leading to an iterative process between biology and engineering in which the new understanding that the engineering implementation of a biological system can bring is fed back into biology, allowing a more complete and certain understanding and the possibility of further revelations for application in engineering. This is a pathway as yet unformalized, and one that offers the possibility that engineers can also be scientists.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2003.1349 | DOI Listing |
Biomol NMR Assign
January 2025
High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Key Laboratory of High Magnetic Field and Ion Beam Physical Biology, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, Anhui, China.
PhoCl is a photocleavable protein engineered from a green-to-red photoconvertible fluorescent protein by circular permutation, and has been used in various optogenetic applications including precise control of protein localization and activity in cells. Upon violet light illumination, PhoCl undergoes a β-elimination reaction to be cleaved at the chromophore, resulting in spontaneous dissociation into a large empty barrel and a small C-terminal peptide. However, the structural determinants and the mechanism of the PhoCl photocleavage remain elusive, hindering the further development of more robust photocleavable optogenetic tools.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Cancer Surviv
January 2025
Leeds Institute of Medical Research at St James's, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.
Purpose: Radiotherapy (RT) for oropharyngeal cancer (OPC) can lead to late toxicity. Fatigue is a known debilitating issue for many cancer survivors, yet prevalence and severity of long-term fatigue in patients treated for OPC is unknown.
Method: As part of a mixed-methods study, fatigue in OPC patients ≥ 2 years post RT + / - chemotherapy was evaluated.
Plant Foods Hum Nutr
January 2025
College of Biology and Food Engineering, Chongqing Three Gorges University, Chongqing, 404100, China.
Insulin resistance was considered to be the most important clinical phenotype of type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Almond is a widely-consumed nut and long-term intake was beneficial to alleviating insulin resistance in patients with T2DM. Hence, screening of anti-diabetic peptides from almond proteins was feasible based on the effectiveness of peptides in the treatment of T2DM.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCurr Microbiol
January 2025
Molecular Biology Laboratory, Department of Microbiology, Science Campus, Alagappa University, Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu, 630003, India.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is an escalating global health concern that results in approximately 700,000 deaths annually owing to drug-resistant infections. It compromises the effectiveness of conventional antibiotics, as well as fundamental medical procedures, such as surgery and cancer treatment. Phytochemicals, natural plant constituents, and biogenic nanoparticles synthesized through biological processes are pharmacological alternatives for supplementing or replacing traditional antibiotics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBioprocess Biosyst Eng
January 2025
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, 34141, Korea.
p-Coumaric acid (p-CA), an invaluable phytochemical, has novel bioactivities, including antiproliferative, anxiolytic, and neuroprotective effects, and is the main precursor of various flavonoids, such as caffeic acid, naringenin, and resveratrol. Herein, we report the engineering of Escherichia coli for de novo production of p-CA via the PAL-C4H pathway. As the base strain, we used the E.
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