Biological materials, as physical systems, comprise substances produced by or derived from living organisms, characterized by hierarchical organization from molecular to macroscopic scales and emergent structure–property relationships. They include tissues, extracellular matrices, biominerals, and biopolymers such as collagen, chitin, cellulose, and elastin. Their properties arise from complex architectures combining organic and often inorganic phases, enabling functions such as load bearing, protection, adhesion, and signal transduction. Biological materials exhibit viscoelasticity, anisotropy, self-healing, and adaptive remodeling under mechanical or biochemical stimuli, making them central model systems for biomechanics, biomimetics, and the design of advanced bioinspired and biomedical materials.
Chemotherapy that does not harm the body, but effectively fights cancer cells: that is the goal of chemist Sylvestre Bonnet and his team. During his Ph.D. research, chemist Xuequan Zhou brought that goal a little closer. ...
Bio & Medicine
May 12, 2023
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113
Cellulose nanocrystal (CNC), an emerging bio-based material, has been widely applied in fields such as electronics, bioplastics and energy. However, the functional failure of such materials in wet or liquid environments inevitably ...
Bio & Medicine
May 8, 2023
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135
Small amounts of nanometer-thin metal-organic layers efficiently protect red blood cells during freezing and thawing, as a team of researchers writing in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition has discovered. ...
Bio & Medicine
Apr 27, 2023
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80
Small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) are novel therapeutics that can be used to treat a wide range of diseases. This has led to a growing demand for selective, efficient, and safe ways of delivering siRNA in cells. Now, in a cooperation ...
Bio & Medicine
Apr 19, 2023
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47
The idea of wirelessly gathering electrical information from the body through the skin is not new. However, the ideal electrode material must fulfill a significant list of criteria to be a realistic candidate for use on patients. ...
Nanomaterials
Apr 18, 2023
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86
Tiny, disc-shaped pieces of membrane called nanodiscs offer exciting possibilities for nanomedicine. Although they have previously been mostly made of synthetic lipids and proteins, a research team has now introduced nanodiscs ...
Bio & Medicine
Mar 29, 2023
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61
Accurately reconstructing how the parts of a complex molecular are held together knowing only how the molecule distorts and breaks up—this was the challenge taken on by a research team led by SISSA's Cristian Micheletti ...
Bio & Medicine
Mar 17, 2023
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351
In order to deliver cancer therapeutics to tumor cells, the cells' membranes must be overcome. A team of researchers have discovered a simple way to achieve this using lipid nanoparticles containing the reagent EDTA (ethylenediaminetetraacetic ...
Bio & Medicine
Mar 16, 2023
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48
The existing 3D-printed scaffolds commonly possess a thick feature size of hundreds of micrometers, which is too large for most cells (10–20 μm) to attach and proliferate for promoting tissue regeneration. Researchers ...
Bio & Medicine
Mar 14, 2023
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32
In organisms whose cells have a nucleus, like plants and animals, the basic packaging units of DNA are the so-called nucleosomes. A nucleosome consists of a segment of DNA wound around eight proteins known as histones. Gene ...
Bio & Medicine
Mar 6, 2023
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