Related papers: Ionomeric extracellular matrices for dynamic soft …

Living tissue is able to withstand large stresses in everyday life, yet it also actively adapts to dynamic loads. This remarkable mechanical behaviour emerges from the interplay between living cells and their non-living extracellular…

Active materials capable of autonomously modulating their mechanical properties are foundational to the development of next-generation soft technologies. Here, we introduce a novel class of extensible biohybrid hydrogels powered by living…

Surface modification of polymeric biomaterials using plasma has emerged as an effective strategy to optimize the cell-material interface without compromising the structural properties of the material. This work presents a critical review of…

Tissue-like materials are required in many robotic systems to improve human-machine interactions. However, the mechanical properties of living tissues are difficult to replicate. Synthetic materials are not usually capable of simultaneously…

Bioelectrical interfaces represent a significant evolution in the intersection of nanotechnology and biophysics, offering new strategies for probing and influencing cellular processes. These systems capitalize on the subtle but powerful…

Bio-integrated neuromorphic systems promise for new protocols to record and regulate the signaling of biological systems. Making such artificial neural circuits successful requires minimal circuit complexity and ion-based operating…

We present a new algorithm to design lightweight cellular materials with required properties in a multi-physics context. In particular, we focus on a thermo-mechanical setting, by promoting the design of unit cells characterized both by an…

Dielectric elastomers are an emerging class of highly deformable electro-active materials employed for electromechanical transduction technology. For practical applications, the design of such transducers requires a model accounting for…

Cellular bioelectricity describes the biological phenomenon in which cells in living tissue generate and maintain patterns of voltage gradients induced by differing concentrations of charged ions. A growing body of research suggests that…

The ability to engineer complex three-dimensional shapes from planar sheets with precise, programmable control underpins emerging technologies in soft robotics, reconfigurable devices, and functional materials. Here, we present a…

Electrospinning is historically related to tissue engineering due to its ability to produce nano-/microscale fibrous materials with mechanical and functional properties that are extremely similar to those of the extracellular matrix of…

Guided by experiments contrasting electrically accelerated recovery with natural healing, this study formulates a model to investigate the importance of electroactive differential growth and morphological changes in tissue repair. It…

After injury, if regeneration can be observed in hydra, planaria and some vertebrates, regeneration is rare in mammals and particularly in humans. In this paper, we investigate the mechanisms by which biological tissues recover after…

Cellular contractility, migration, and extracellular matrix (ECM) mechanics are critical for a wide range of biological processes including embryonic development, wound healing, tissue morphogenesis, and regeneration. Even though the…

Developing successful scaffolds requires clinicians to adopt a multidisciplinary approach in order to understand and stimulate the natural bone regeneration process. A variety of natural and synthetic biomaterials, including naturally…

Shape morphing magnetic soft materials, composed of magnetic particles in a soft polymer matrix, can transform shapes reversibly, remotely, and rapidly, finding diverse applications in actuators, soft robotics, and biomedical devices. To…

Magnetic-responsive composites that consist of soft matrix embedded with hard-magnetic particles have recently been demonstrated as robust soft active materials for fast-transforming actuation. However, the deformation of the functional…

Soft composite solids, comprising discrete inclusions embedded within a compliant matrix, are emerging candidates for engineering synthetic tissues and soft robotic materials. Current strategies for controlling their nonlinear mechanics,…

Deployable structures, essential across various engineering applications ranging from umbrellas to satellites, are evolving to include soft, morphable designs where geometry drives transformation. However, a major challenge for soft…

We focused on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) as a substrate for replication, micropatterning, and construction of biologically active surfaces. The novelty of this study is based on the combina-tion of argon plasma exposure of micropatterned…