Background Understanding the mechanical properties of biologically relevant soft materials is increasingly important for developing a comprehensive knowledge of the underlying injury mechanism and emerging biomedical applications such as tissue regeneration, and shockwave lithotripsy. Soft materials, which are composed of a variety of substances such...

Dermatology and beauty product research and development and testing has been limited to animal testing, which in some countries has been banned. Because of increasing controversial issues surrounding animal testing of these dermatology or beauty products, there has been increasing interest in developing in-vivo like in-vitro models for skin research. ...

Pain is estimated to affect about 30% of the world’s population and treatment is challenging because of issues with addiction and withdrawal which accompany many current analgesics. Human TRPV1 is a widely expressed nociceptor and is a desirable target to modulate diverse human pathophysiologies, including pain, obesity, and diabetes, among others....

Intra-abdominal adhesions, also known as postoperative peritoneal adhesions (PPA) remain a challenging issue in the US healthcare system. It is estimated that over 90% of gastrointestinal (GI) surgical procedures result in PPA formation, regardless of the location or surgical technique used. PPAs can also develop in response to tissue damage caused...

Antigen-specific immune suppression or tolerance is a highly attractive strategy to prevent inflammation-induced tissue damage in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Although there is insufficient knowledge about autoantigens in human RA, generating and expanding synovium-specific regulatory T cells, and suppressing synovium-specific follicular T-helper cells,...

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T-cell-based immunotherapies have dramatically improved survival in cancer patients. Unfortunately, CAR-T cell therapies are associated with severe neurotoxicity, adverse events during clinical trials, and cytokine storm syndrome among others. Therefore, there is a great need to develop strategies that can keep the benefits...

There is a great need to deliver metabolites intracellularly without modifying the metabolite itself and rescue immune cells against metabolic exhaustion. In cancer therapy, metabolic pathway inhibitors are used that starve both cancerous cells as well as non-cancerous cells. Therefore, the ability to target specific immune cells and deliver metabolites...

Inhibition of glycolysis or glutaminase pathway is an effective strategy to prevent cancer cell growth in vitro and in vivo. However, these pathways are also utilized by immune cells to mount responses against cancer cells, and therefore, utilizing, immunotherapies in the presence of such inhibitors is challenging. Thus, there is a need for technologies...

There is a rich history of successful drug delivery carriers made of biodegradable biomaterials. Biomaterials may degrade into metabolic by-products, which are capable of modulating the function of immune cells, including alpha-ketoglutarate (aKG), which induces alternative activation (immunosuppressive phenotype) in macrophages through metabolic reprogramming....

Glycolysis inhibition in cancer cells has long been recognized as a viable strategy to prevent cancer cell growth. Cancer cells are known to have a high glucose consumption rate as a metabolism adaptation mechanism called the Warburg effect. Activated immune cells also rely on glycolysis for their energy needs. For example, glycolysis is essential for...