Nanoadjuvant-Mediated EV-Derived Artificial APC to Trigger Protective Immunity Against Virus Infection.

Antigen presentation is a crucial process for vaccine-induced immunity, as it determines the efficiency of a vaccine in eliciting effective antigen-specific immune responses by simultaneously processing antigens and presenting them to T cells. A nano-APC is designed and proposed to bypass the antigen processing step by antigen-presenting cells (APCs) in vivo, directly eliciting effective antigen-specific cellular immunity to protect against lethal viral infections. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) equipped with essential moieties for antigen presentation are prepared by incubating antigen-loaded self-adjuvanting chitosan nanoparticles (nChi) with naïve APCs.

Life Engineering of Materials: Artificial Materials as Plugins for Biological Regulations.

Biomineralization is nature's precision engineering system, creating functional biomaterials with exceptional performance through orchestrated organic-inorganic synergistic interactions. Beyond fundamental investigations into biomineralization processes and mechanisms, research has evolved from structural biomimetics toward creating interdependent material-organism hybrids through mineralization-inspired design. Breakthroughs in technologies such as inorganic ion polymerization have significantly advanced strategies for fusing artificial materials with hard tissue regeneration (teeth/bones).

Hydrogel activation of Mincle receptors for tumor cell processing: A novel approach in cancer immunotherapy.

An obstacle in current tumor immunotherapies lies in the challenge of achieving sustained and tumor-targeting T cell immunity, impeded by the limited antigen processing and cross-presentation of tumor antigens. Here, we propose a hydrogel-based multicellular immune factory within the body that autonomously converts tumor cells into an antitumor vaccine. Within the body, the scaffold, formed by a calcium-containing chitosan hydrogel complex (ChitoCa) entraps tumor cells and attracts immune cells to establish a durable and multicellular microenvironment.

Manganese-mineralized cancer cells as immunogenic cancer vaccines for tumor immunotherapy.

The strategy of using tumor cells to construct whole-cell cancer vaccines has received widespread attention. However, the limited immunogenicity of inactivated tumor cells and the challenge of overcoming immune suppression in solid tumors have hindered the application of whole-cell-based cancer immune therapy. Inspired by the regulatory effects of MnO and spatiotemporal control capability of material layers in cell surface engineering, we developed a manganese (Mn)-mineralized tumor cell, B16F10@MnO, by inactivating B16F10 melanoma cells with KMnO to generate manganese-mineralized tumor cells.

Material-engineered bioartificial microorganisms enabling efficient scavenging of waterborne viruses.

Material-based tactics have attracted extensive attention in driving the functional evolution of organisms. In aiming to design steerable bioartificial organisms to scavenge pathogenic waterborne viruses, we engineer Paramecium caudatum (Para), single-celled microorganisms, with a semiartificial and specific virus-scavenging organelle (VSO). FeO magnetic nanoparticles modified with a virus-capture antibody (MNPs@Ab) are integrated into the vacuoles of Para during feeding to produce VSOs, which persist inside Para without impairing their swimming ability.

Immunization against Zika by entrapping live virus in a subcutaneous self-adjuvanting hydrogel.

The threat of new viral outbreaks has heightened the need for ready-to-use vaccines that are safe and effective. Here we show that a subcutaneous vaccine consisting of live Zika virus electrostatically entrapped in a self-adjuvanting hydrogel recruited immune cells at the injection site and provided mice with effective protection against a lethal viral challenge. The hydrogel prevented the escape of the viral particles and upregulated pattern recognition receptors that activated innate antiviral immunity.

Conformation-Stabilized Amorphous Nanocoating for Rational Design of Long-Term Thermostable Viral Vaccines.

Despite the great potency of vaccines to combat infectious diseases, their global use is hindered by a lack of thermostability, which leads to a constant need for cold-chain storage. Here, aiming at long-term thermostability and eliminating cold-chain requirements of bioactive vaccines, we propose that efforts should focus on tailoring the conformational stability of vaccines. Accordingly, we design a nanocoating composed of histidine (His)-coordinated amorphous Zn and 2-methylimidazolate complex (His-aZn-mIM) on single nanoparticles of viral vaccines to introduce intramolecular coordinated linkage between viruses and the nanocoatings.

Regulations of organism by materials: a new understanding of biological inorganic chemistry.

Chemical biology generally highlights the modulation or control of life processes using chemical molecules. However, the rapid development of materials' science has resulted in the increasing application of various functional materials in biological regulation. More importantly, the state of art of creating the integration of materials, either the inorganic or organic matrices, with living organisms has opened a window of opportunity to add the multiplex function to organisms.

Quantification of Multivalency in Protein-Oligomer-Coated Nanoparticles Targeting Dynamic Membrane Glycan Receptors.

Multivalent binding of proteins to glycan receptors on the host cell quantitatively controls the initial adhesion of most viruses. However, quantifying such multivalency in terms of binding valency has always been a challenge because of the hierarchy of multivalency involving multiple protein oligomers on the virus, limiting our understanding of virus adhesion and virulence. To address this challenge, we mimicked virus adhesion to cell surfaces by attaching protein-oligomer-coated nanoparticles (NPs) to fluidic glycolipid membranes with surface glycan density varying over 4 orders of magnitude.

Gel Phase Membrane Retards Amyloid β-Peptide (1-42) Fibrillation by Restricting Slaved Diffusion of Peptides on Lipid Bilayers.

Plasma membranes in the human brain can interact with amyloid β-peptide (1-42; Aβ) and induce Aβ fibrillation, which is considered to be a crucial process underlying the neurotoxicity of Aβ and the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the mechanism of membrane-mediated Aβ fibrillation at the molecular level remains elusive. Here we study the role of adsorbed Aβ peptides on membrane-mediated fibrillation using supported lipid bilayers of varying phase structures (gel and fluid).