Reversible Shielding and Immobilization of Liposomes and Viral Vectors by Tailored Antibody-Ligand Interactions

Design of a Biohybrid Materials Circuit with Binary Decoder Functionality

Synthetic biology applies concepts from electrical engineering and information processing to endow cells with computational functionality. Transferring the underlying molecular components into materials and wiring them according to topologies inspired by electronic circuit boards has yielded materials systems that perform selected computational operations. However, the limited functionality of available building blocks is restricting the implementation of advanced information-processing circuits into materials. Here, a set of protease-based biohybrid modules the bioactivity of which can either be induced or inhibited is engineered. Guided by a quantitative mathematical model and following a design-build-test-learn (DBTL) cycle, the modules are wired according to circuit topologies inspired by electronic signal decoders, a fundamental motif in information processing. A 2-input/4-output binary decoder for the detection of two small molecules in a material framework that can perform regulated outputs in form of distinct protease activities is designed. The here demonstrated smart material system is strongly modular and can be used for biomolecular information processing for example in advanced biosensing or drug delivery applications.

Strategies for developing long-lasting therapeutic nucleic acid aptamer targeting circulating protein: The present and the future

Aptamers are short, single-stranded DNA or RNA oligonucleotide sequences that can bind specific targets. The molecular weight of aptamers (<20 kDa) is lower than the renal filtration threshold (30∼50 kDa), resulting in very short half-lives in vivo, which limit their druggability. The development of long-lasting modification approaches for aptamers can help address the druggability bottleneck of aptamers. This review summarized two distinct kinds of long-lasting modification approaches for aptamers, including macromolecular modification and low-molecular-weight modification. Though it is a current approach to extend the half-life of aptamers, the macromolecular modification approach could limit the space for the dosage increases, thus causing potential compliance concerns due to large molecular weight. As for the other modification approach, the low-molecular-weight modification approach, which uses low molecular weight coupling agents (LMWCAs) to modify aptamers, could greatly increase the proportion of aptamer moiety. However, some LMWCAs could bind to other proteins, causing a decrease in the drug amounts in blood circulation. Given these issues, the outlook for the next generation of long-lasting modification approaches was proposed at the end, including improving the administration method to increase dosage for aptamer drugs modified by macromolecule and developing Artificial intelligence (AI)-based strategies for optimization of LMWCAs.