Volume 2 Issue 1, January 2024

Antimicrobial peptides have the potential to combat the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance; however, their clinical translation remains challenging. Here, we discuss molecular farming as a sustainable approach to antimicrobial peptide production, outlining different platforms to produce antimicrobial peptides using plants and viral vectors.

Social connections are an important means for people to cope with adversity and illness. Thus, technologies, such as social network analysis, that can leverage close, face-to-face social networks could help optimize healthcare interventions and reduce healthcare-related costs, particularly in low-resource settings.

Flexible and stretchable materials and devices can be applied for the design of soft bioelectronics. This Review discusses soft electronic materials that can be engineered into implantable and wearable devices for the monitoring and treatment of cardiovascular diseases.

The ability to detect precancer at the point of care is important to reduce global inequities in cancer outcomes. This Review outlines how low-cost optical imaging technologies, slide-free microscopy and machine learning can improve imaging performance and provide real-time interpretation in settings with limited resources.

Rehabilitation after ischaemic stroke can promote only limited recovery for many patients with stroke. This Review discusses how the distinctly reparative environment of the subacute time window after stroke can inform the design of biology-driven biomaterial-based stroke therapies.

Microneedles are an effective tool for the collection of interstitial fluid in a minimally invasive manner. Coupling microneedles with biosensors would allow for deep tissue sensing and fast continuous monitoring. This Review discusses the capabilities of microneedles for analyte sampling and further analysis, the development of microneedle-based biosensors for disease and drug monitoring, and the clinical translation potential.

The emerging field of genetically targeted chemical assembly (GTCA) uses cell-specific genetic information to instruct chemical synthesis in situ. This Perspective discusses recent progress in GTCA and outlines opportunities for expanding the GTCA toolbox and diversifying applications.