Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Di Tian, Caiyan Wang, Yunfei Liu, Yueyue Zhang, Adriano Caliari, Hui Lu, Yang Xia, Boying Xu, Jian Xu, Tetsuya Yomo
Summary: Cell morphology is an important trait for tracking adaptation and evolution. Advances in quantitative analytical techniques based on optical properties allow for easy determination and tracking of morphology. Using fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) in experimental evolution, stable mutants with distinct morphologies can be obtained.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Xavier Arque, Marcelo D. T. Torres, Tania Patino, Andreia Boaro, Samuel Sanchez, Cesar de la Fuente-Nunez
Summary: The increasing resistance of bacteria to antibiotics is a major global public health threat. Current antibiotic treatments are hindered by poor delivery to the infection site, leading to off-target effects and drug resistance. This study presents micro- and nanomotors that autonomously deliver antibiotics to specific areas, showing effective bactericidal activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria in vitro by rapidly depolarizing their membrane. This technology provides a much-needed tool to direct therapeutics to infection sites and combat drug-resistant infections.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Chiara Lionello, Andrea Gardin, Annalisa Cardellini, Davide Bochicchio, Manisha Shivrayan, Ann Fernandez, S. Thayumanavan, Giovanni M. Pavan
Summary: Research shows that by controlling the interactions between nanoparticles and surfaces, it is possible to achieve binding, diffusion, and reactivity of self-assembled nanoparticles, and in silico experiments provide insights into the key molecular features that control these behaviors.
Article
Microbiology
Ran Mo, Yugeng Liu, Yuanyuan Chen, Yingjin Mao, Beile Gao
Summary: Microbes rely on signal transduction systems to sense and respond to environmental changes. The chemosensory system increases complexity through horizontal gene transfer, while the two-component system gains complexity through the fusion of histidine kinases and receiver domains. The presence and complexity of the c-di-GMP-mediated system are related to the size of the signaling network and can be easily rewired.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Nicolas Waisbord, Amin Dehkharghani, Jeffrey S. Guasto
Summary: Through microfluidic experiments, it was found that individual magnetotactic bacteria display three distinct regimes when directed upstream through pores, resembling the electrical conductivity of a diode. This diode-like behavior persists at the pore scale, impacting flow conductivity in higher dimensional geometries. The study has implications for magnetotactic bacteria survival strategies in sediments and potential drug delivery applications in vascular networks.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Bin Ni, Remy Colin, Victor Sourjik
Summary: Minicells, nanosized membrane vesicles produced by bacteria, are potentially attractive in biomedical applications due to their stability and lack of chromosome. By overexpressing flagellar genes, engineered minicells were able to exhibit motility and chemotaxis towards chemoattractants, making them promising for active effector delivery and specific targeting in tissues and cells.
ACS SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biophysics
Corey N. Dominick, Xiao-Lun Wu
Summary: The study shows that during counterclockwise motor rotation in E. coli, all flagellar motors are strongly correlated promoting forward movement, while during clockwise rotation, the motors are uncorrelated promoting tumbling. This observation supports the idea that a single dominant flagellum is responsible for the formation and maintenance of a coherent flagellar bundle.
BIOPHYSICAL JOURNAL
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Xiumei Chen, Jinyu Wan, Minmin Wei, Zhengyu Xia, Jie Zhou, Min Lu, Ze Yuan, Ling Huang, Xiaoji Xie
Summary: In this study, a tandem fabrication strategy for the preparation of UCNP-based nanocomposites is reported. Protons confined in the non-aqueous polar solvent can produce ligand-free UCNPs for direct fabrication without further treatment. The versatile strategy enables a simple and scalable fabrication of UCNP-based nanocomposites and can be extended to other nanomaterial-based composites.
Article
Engineering, Civil
Ibrahim Sorkhoh, Chadi Assi, Dariush Ebrahimi, Sanaa Sharafeddine
Summary: The paper discusses the interaction of information between autonomous driving vehicles, introduces a new Age of Information (AoI) metric, mathematically models and proves the complexity of the problem as NP-Hard, and proposes logic decomposition and heuristics to address it. The system simulation shows that their method significantly improves the efficiency in finding optimal solutions.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS
(2022)
Article
Computer Science, Information Systems
Daniel Hernandez, Juan-Carlos Cano, Federico Silla, Carlos T. Calafate, Jose M. Cecilia
Summary: This article proposes an AI-based pipeline for processing natural disaster images taken from drones, aiming to reduce the number of images to be processed by first responders. The pipeline performs well in flooding scenarios, and low-power graphics accelerators on edge computing platforms are identified as a compelling alternative for handling these computational workloads effectively.
IEEE INTERNET OF THINGS JOURNAL
(2022)
Article
Automation & Control Systems
Ileana-Alexandra Pavel, Gerardo Salinas, Adeline Perro, Alexander Kuhn
Summary: Miniaturized autonomous swimmers have become increasingly important in various research fields, with applications ranging from biomedical to environmental tasks. Control of their trajectories can be achieved using external forces or intrinsic features, such as chemotaxis. This study presents autonomous light-emitting chemoelectronic swimmers with decision-making capabilities based on chemotaxis, enabling navigation along increasingly complex paths.
ADVANCED INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Miru Lee, Christoph Lohrmann, Kai Szuttor, Harold Auradou, Christian Holm
Summary: The study focuses on the transport of bacteria in a porous media modeled by a square channel with a cylindrical obstacle, using molecular dynamics simulations and lattice Boltzmann fluid. By varying the external flow strength, bacterial motility, and channel geometry, the research reveals the crucial interactions between bacteria and confining walls for the accumulation process.
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Wei Wang, Asifur Rahman, Qishen Huang, Peter J. Vikesland
Summary: An improved understanding of bacterial inactivation mechanisms was obtained by evaluating bacterial response to different inactivation methods using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). The results showed that changes in the SERS signal were closely related to cellular disruption, and the changes in cellular morphology after inactivation cannot be ignored. Different methods, such as heat treatment, UV254 treatment, and UV254/chlorine treatment, led to severe membrane disruption, resulting in increased peak intensities. However, ethanol treatment resulted in intact cell morphologies and minimal changes in the SERS spectra. The main changes observed during inactivation were related to nucleic acids, and the peaks associated with nucleic acids showed significant variations. Carbohydrates and proteins on the cell membrane were denatured or lost after chlorine treatment, leading to a decrease in related peak intensities. The method was also found to be applicable to different bacterial strains and water matrices.
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Xiaoguang Lu, Joycelyn Jia Ming Chow, Seok Hwee Koo, Boran Jiang, Thean Yen Tan, Dahou Yang, Ye Ai
Summary: A novel inertial microfluidic method has been developed to effectively sort bacteria from larger blood cells, improving pathogen detection efficiency and accuracy.
Article
Engineering, Civil
Wenhui Huang, Yanxin Zhou, Xiangkun He, Chen Lv
Summary: This study proposes a novel Goal-guided Transformer-enabled reinforcement learning approach that utilizes physical goal states as input to improve data efficiency and achieve efficient autonomous navigation. The results demonstrate that this method significantly enhances data efficiency and outperforms other state-of-the-art baselines in terms of multiple metrics.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
SeungBeum Suh, Ami Jo, Mahama A. Traore, Ying Zhan, Sheryl L. Coutermarsh-Ott, Veronica M. Ringel-Scaia, Irving C. Allen, Richey M. Davis, Bahareh Behkam
Meeting Abstract
Biophysics
Aniket Jana, Intawat Nookeah, Jugroop Singh, Bahareh Behkam Behkam, Aime T. Franco, Amrinder S. Nain
BIOPHYSICAL JOURNAL
(2019)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Alex N. Frickenstein, Meredith A. Jones, Bahareh Behkam, Lacey R. McNally
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2020)
Article
Microbiology
Eric J. Leaman, Alvin Aung, Alexie J. Jacques, Bahareh Behkam
Summary: The study explores the impact of Salmonella envelope defects on innate immune cell behavior, advancing knowledge in pathogen-host cell biology and potentially inspiring the design of strains for vaccines or cancer therapy. The microfluidic assay platform and analytical tools introduced facilitate high-throughput, sensitive, and quantitative screening of microbial strains' immunogenicity in vitro. This approach could be useful for rapid screening of engineered microbial strains, such as vaccine candidates, as the stimulation score effectively correlates with in vivo cytokine response trends.
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
William M. MacCuaig, Benjamin L. Fouts, Molly W. McNally, William E. Grizzle, Phillip Chuong, Abhilash Samykutty, Priyabrata Mukherjee, Min Li, Jacek B. Jasinski, Bahareh Behkam, Lacey R. McNally
Summary: Active targeting using V7 peptide is superior to nanoparticle size in tumor uptake, with size having a secondary effect on actively targeted nanoparticles. Passive targeting nanoparticles showed no significant effect of size on uptake.
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
(2021)
Article
Computer Science, Interdisciplinary Applications
Peter Windes, Danesh K. Tafti, Bahareh Behkam
Summary: Bacteria disseminate in tissue through microvasculature, and their motility enhances their extravasation from capillaries.
COMPUTER METHODS IN BIOMECHANICS AND BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Multidisciplinary
Victoria A. Webster-Wood, Maria Guix, Nicole W. Xu, Bahareh Behkam, Hirotaka Sato, Deblina Sarkar, Samuel Sanchez, Masahiro Shimizu, Kevin Kit Parker
Summary: The field of biohybrid robotics has experienced rapid expansion in the past decade. By combining engineered synthetic components with living biological materials, new robotics solutions have been developed that utilize the adaptability of living muscles, the sensitivity of sensory cells, and even the computational abilities of living neurons. This field has gained significant attention in both popular and scientific media, transitioning biohybrid robotics from science fiction to real science and engineering. This perspective provides a historical context of important subareas within biohybrid robotics, such as microorganism-bots and sperm-bots, cyborgs, and tissue-based robots. It also highlights the critical challenges and future steps towards creating autonomous living machines.
BIOINSPIRATION & BIOMIMETICS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Apratim Mukherjee, Jonathan Emanuel Ron, Hooi Ting Hu, Tamako Nishimura, Kyoko Hanawa-Suetsugu, Bahareh Behkam, Yuko Mimori-Kiyosue, Nir Shachna Gov, Shiro Suetsugu, Amrinder Singh Nain
Summary: This study investigates the role of IRSp53 as a regulator of membrane curvature during cell migration on single, suspended 1D fibers. IRSp53 depletion reduces actin stress fibers, protrusive activity, and contractility, leading to uncoupling of the nucleus from cellular movements. The findings demonstrate the unique role of IRSp53 in controlling cell migration in 3D.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Raj Kumar Sadhu, Christian Hernandez-Padilla, Yael Eshed Eisenbach, Samo Penic, Lixia Zhang, Harshad D. Vishwasrao, Bahareh Behkam, Konstantinos Konstantopoulos, Hari Shroff, Ales Iglic, Elior Peles, Amrinder S. Nain, Nir S. Gov
Summary: Protrusions at the leading edge of a cell coil around extracellular fibers, and this coiling process is driven by membrane proteins and actin polymerization. The coiling direction is determined by the bending and adhesion energies, and it depends on the geometry of the fibers. The study provides a theoretical framework and experimental evidence for understanding the physical origin of the coiling phenomenon.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Automation & Control Systems
Ying Zhan, Austin Fergusson, Lacey R. McNally, Richey M. Davis, Bahareh Behkam
Summary: Bacteria-mediated drug delivery systems using nanotherapeutics conjugated onto bacteria can enhance the efficacy of cancer therapy by selectively targeting cancerous tissue and promoting interstitial distribution of nanotherapeutics. Factors such as assembly process parameters, linkage chemistry, and NP size play crucial roles in determining NP attachment density, repeatability, and the performance of NanoBEADS. Understanding these factors will be essential for developing scalable and repeatable bacteria-NP biohybrids for applications in drug delivery and beyond.
ADVANCED INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Biomedical
Eric J. Leaman, Ali Sahari, Mahama A. Traore, Brian Q. Geuther, Carmen M. Morrow, Bahareh Behkam
APL BIOENGINEERING
(2020)
Article
Chemistry, Analytical
Huiyuan Guo, Qishen Huang, Weinan Leng, Ying Zhan, Bahareh Behkam, Marjorie R. Willner, Haoran Wei, Linsey C. Marr, Peter J. Vikesland
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Carmen M. Morrow, Apratim Mukherjee, Mahama A. Traore, Eric J. Leaman, AhRam Kim, Evan M. Smith, Amrinder S. Nain, Bahareh Behkam
Article
Robotics
Eric J. Leaman, Brian Q. Geuther, Bahareh Behkam
JOURNAL OF MICRO-BIO ROBOTICS
(2019)
Proceedings Paper
Automation & Control Systems
Eric J. Leaman, Brian Q. Geuther, Bahareh Behkam
2018 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MANIPULATION, AUTOMATION AND ROBOTICS AT SMALL SCALES (MARSS)
(2018)