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CRISPR-enhanced biosensor for ultrasensitive and multiplexed enzyme activity sensing
Background
Proteases play essential roles in numerous biological and pathological processes, including inflammation, cancer metastasis, neurodegeneration, and infectious disease. Specific protease activity serves as a valuable biomarker for disease progression, treatment monitoring, and drug development. However, existing detection methods are often...
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DNAzyme-seq: a single-cell metal ion and transcriptome profiling platform
Background
Metal ions such as zinc, copper, and calcium play indispensable roles in nearly every facet of cellular physiology, from enzymatic catalysis to signal transduction. However, conventional single-cell transcriptomics has largely overlooked the contribution of metal cofactors to gene expression, metabolism, and disease progression....
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Engineered E. coli platform for high-yield selenoprotein expression
Background
Selenoproteins, which incorporate the amino acid selenocysteine (Sec), are prized for their unique redox properties and catalytic capabilities in therapeutic antibodies, industrial enzymes, and diagnostic reagents. However, these proteins remain difficult and costly to produce in large quantities. Traditional chemical synthesis is labor-intensive...
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Engineered bacterial platform for in situ mRNA delivery to mammalian cells
Background
Genetic medicine depends on the ability to deliver messenger RNA (mRNA) into mammalian cells to enable therapeutic protein expression, correct genetic defects, or produce antigens for vaccines. But current delivery systems face critical barriers that limit their clinical utility. DNA plasmid-based approaches often show poor transfection...
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Engineered microbial antigen-presenting system for targeted T cell activation
Background
Targeted immunotherapy depends on the ability to modulate specific T cell populations to fight chronic infections, cancers, and autoimmune diseases. Achieving precise control over T cell activation is essential for generating effective immune responses while minimizing off-target effects. Traditional vaccines and existing antigen-presenting...
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One-pot assembly of long, modified DNA via scaffolded oligo ligation
Background
As synthetic biology advances, the need for efficient construction of long, chemically modified DNA has become increasingly critical across applications such as gene editing, DNA data storage, epigenetics, and personalized therapeutics. These technologies require precise, site-specific incorporation of chemical tags into DNA strands that...
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Modular protein degradation platform bypassing ubiquitination
Background
Targeted protein degradation is rapidly emerging as a powerful therapeutic approach for eliminating disease-causing proteins in cancer, neurodegenerative conditions, autoimmune disorders, and viral infections. By removing, rather than inhibiting, harmful proteins, this strategy enables direct and sustained therapeutic effects....
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Label-free molecular data storage using oligourethanes and desorption spray ionization
Background
The explosion of digital information—from scientific data to entertainment media—has outpaced the capabilities of traditional storage technologies. Magnetic hard drives, solid-state drives, and optical media face limitations in terms of environmental robustness, long-term retention, and energy efficiency. Large-scale data centers...
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DNA-based sensors for live-cell mapping of metabolite- and metal ion-protein interactions
Background
Understanding how metabolites and metal ions interact with proteins inside living cells is essential for decoding cellular signaling, metabolic regulation, and disease mechanisms. These small molecules function as cofactors, second messengers, and allosteric regulators, orchestrating critical pathways that govern cell behavior. However,...
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Tunable dual-network viscoelastic hydrogels for tissue engineering and cell modeling
Background
Advances in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine continue to emphasize the importance of recreating physiologically relevant mechanical environments for in vitro studies. Cellular behavior, tissue regeneration, and drug response are all significantly influenced by the viscoelasticity of the surrounding matrix. While native tissues...
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