PLASTILAPIALC

Bioelectronics Bioelectronics can be broadly defined as the merger of electronics w/ biological systems, where a bioelectronic device transduces signals from the biological system to electrical signals @ the bio-electronic interface. Nano-Bioelectronics Bioelectronic devices interfaced to electrogenic cells, such as neurons or cardiomyocytes, can record and/or stimulate bioelectrical acitivities in the cells or corresponding tissues (e.g., brain, heart or muscle), by interconverting ionic & electronic currents @ the device/cell interface. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/article… Hydrogel bioelectronics Hydrogel bioelectronics are receiving increased attention because they allow electronics to function in a highly biocompatible manner. Nanomaterials complement the shortcomings of hydrogels for bioelectronic applications, & provide new functionality in biohybrid hydrogel bioelectronics. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/article… Hydrogel Machines More recently, owing to their superior softness, wetness, responsiveness, biocompatibility, & bioactivity, hydrogels are being intensively investigated for versatile functions in devices & machines including sensors, actuators, coatings, optics, electronics, & water harvesters. In order to ensure the stable operation of hydrogel machines, it usually requires that the hydrogels are robust in terms of mechanical performance & functionality. Recent innovations in the design of tough hydrogels, tough adhesion of hydrogels to other engineering materials, & advanced fabrication methods for hydrogels have made hydrogels a promising material candidate for the next-gen machines. dspace.mit.edu/bitstreams/0d… Electrogenetic systems consist of 4 components: (I) an electrode, (II) a redox inducer, (III) a redox-transcription factor, & ( IV) its cognate promoter The electrode is held at a set potential that is used to oxidize or reduce the redox inducer, which is a cell-permeable electron mediator. The redox inducer in turn oxidizes or reduces the redox-transcription factor, which leads to activation or repression of gene expression from its cognate promoter. Unlike other inducible gene expression systems, electrochemical control of gene expression allows for electronic & genetic circuits to be directly connected to one another. The ability to combine electronic controllers easily w/ cellular biocatalysts facilitates the easy design of devices for biosensing, medical diagnostics & “therapies”, information processing, & energy conversion. Electrogenetic systems also have high spatiotemporal control compared to other widely used gene expression systems. They can be used to provide rapid oscillatory gene expression (20) & spatial gradients of gene expression across cells immobilized in hydrogels (23). Furthermore, in electrogenetic systems, gene expression can be tuned to a specific level simply by changing the electrode potential. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/article… (20) Electrical-transcriptional convertors are necessary to enable computer-mediated, electronic control of living systems & this article was one of the first to demonstrate precise electronic control of gene expression in living cells by showing how electrode activated cell permeable redox mediators could be used to control the redox sensitive transcriptional regulator SoxR in Escherichia coli. nature.com/articles/ncomms14… (23) We hypothesize that by coupling the CRISPR-based synthetic transcriptional regulators w/ electrogenetic promoter systems one would enable direct electrical control over host genome transcription. Moreover, because electronic control is mediated by simply biasing electrodes that are proximal to cell-containing media, the vast repertoire of electronic signaling & control is made accessible. nature.com/articles/s41467-0… Protein engineering & synthetic biology are being used to enable a targeting of redox inputs to actuate specific responses at molecular (i.e., protein conjugation) & cellular (i.e., electrogenetic) levels. ieeexplore.ieee.org/document…