Creating biological nanomaterials using synthetic biology

Synthetic biology is a new discipline that combines science and engineering approaches to precisely control biological networks. These signaling networks are especially important in fields such as biomedicine and biochemical engineering. Additionally, biological networks can also be critical to the production of naturally occurring biological nanomaterials, and as a result, synthetic biology holds tremendous potential in creating new materials. This review introduces the field of synthetic biology, discusses how biological systems naturally produce materials, and then presents examples and strategies for incorporating synthetic biology approaches in the development of new materials. In particular, strategies for using synthetic biology to produce both organic and inorganic nanomaterials are discussed. Ultimately, synthetic biology holds the potential to dramatically impact biological materials science with significant potential applications in medical systems.     

Synthetic Biology Makes Polymer Materials Count

Synthetic biology applies engineering concepts to build cellular systems that perceive and process information. This is achieved by assembling genetic modules according to engineering design principles. Recent advance in the field has contributed optogenetic switches for controlling diverse biological functions in response to light. Here, the concept is introduced to apply synthetic biology switches and design principles for the synthesis of multi‐input‐processing materials. This is exemplified by the synthesis of a materials system that counts light pulses. Guided by a quantitative mathematical model, functional synthetic biology‐derived modules are combined into a polymer framework resulting in a biohybrid materials system that releases distinct output molecules specific to the number of input light pulses detected. Further demonstration of modular extension yields a light pulse‐counting materials system to sequentially release different enzymes catalyzing a multistep biochemical reaction. The resulting smart materials systems can provide novel solutions as integrated sensors and actuators with broad perspectives in fundamental and applied research.     

Understanding scientific communities: a social network approach to collaborations in Talent Management research

Synthetic biology is an emerging domain that combines biological and engineering concepts and which has seen rapid growth in research, innovation, and policy interest in recent years. This paper contributes to efforts to delineate this emerging domain by presenting a newly constructed bibliometric definition of synthetic biology. Our approach is dimensioned from a core set of papers in synthetic biology, using procedures to obtain benchmark synthetic biology publication records, extract keywords from these benchmark records, and refine the keywords, supplemented with articles published in dedicated synthetic biology journals. We compare our search strategy with other recent bibliometric approaches to define synthetic biology, using a common source of publication data for the period from 2000 to 2015. The paper details the rapid growth and international spread of research in synthetic biology in recent years, demonstrates that diverse research disciplines are contributing to the multidisciplinary development of synthetic biology research, and visualizes this by profiling synthetic biology research on the map of science. We further show the roles of a relatively concentrated set of research sponsors in funding the growth and trajectories of synthetic biology. In addition to discussing these analyses, the paper notes limitations and suggests lines for further work.     

Sequential sampling designs based on space reduction

In the field of engineering design and optimization, metamodels are widely used to replace expensive simulation models in order to reduce computing costs. To improve the accuracy of metamodels effectively and efficiently, sequential sampling designs have been developed. In this article, a sequential sampling design using the Monte Carlo method and space reduction strategy (MCSR) is implemented and discussed in detail. The space reduction strategy not only maintains good sampling properties but also improves the efficiency of the sampling process. Furthermore, a local boundary search (LBS) algorithm is proposed to efficiently improve the performance of MCSR, which is called LBS-MCSR. Comparative results with several sequential sampling approaches from low to high dimensions indicate that the space reduction strategy generates samples with better sampling properties (and thus better metamodel accuracy) in less computing time.     

聚合物电介质的击穿与空间电荷的关系

空间电荷是聚合物在交流或直流高压作用下发生老化和击穿的主要原因之一,以往的研究基本认为由于空间电荷的注入并集聚使介质内部电场严重畸变,从而使介质老化最终引起击穿,相应的解释模型都是在有外加电场作为前提建立的.但是,根据最新的实验研究发现,外加电场并不是介质击穿的必要条件,介质的击穿可以发生在空间电荷的脱阱过程中而与外加电场无关.本文阐述了空间电荷与绝缘高聚物的老化和击穿的关系,并且结合最新的研究成果,揭示了介质内部空间电荷的存在是击穿的重要条件,而且击穿是发生在空间电荷的脱阱过程中.     

稳态等离子体发动机磁场设计的发展及其展望

论述了稳态等离子体发动机对于我国空间发展战略的重要意义和作用，指出磁场设计是提高稳态等离子体发动机性能的关键技术之一；分析了稳态等离子体发动机通道内磁场设计的发展过程，在此基础上提出了用于稳态等离子发动机磁场设计的体系化构想，并且指出了其中存在的一些关键问题和拟采取的解决措施以及磁场体系化设计对稳态等离子体发动机带来的预期效益和影响；最后展望了稳态等离子体发动机磁场设计体系的进一步发展和应用。     

中国航天的科学管理

回顾了我国50年航天发展历程中所形成的运用系统工程实施科学管理的理念、体系及方法；阐述了顶层设计，统筹规划，统一领导，是中国航天系统工程的本质体现，是航天科学管理的重要特征，是中国航天持续、健康发展的根本保证。     

生物机械工程研究进展

论述了生物机械工程的重要意义、研究现状、发展趋势、存在问题及对策，旨在推动我国生物机械工程的研究和学术地位的确立，推动生物医学工程学的进步，提高人民的健康水平。     

Space Program SJ-10 of Microgravity Research

SJ-10 program provides a mission of space microgravity experiments including both fields of microgravity science and space life science aboard the 24th recoverable satellite of China. Scientific purpose of the program is to promote the scientific research in the space microgravity environment by operating the satellite at lower earth orbit for 2 weeks. There are totally 27 experiments, including 17 ones in the field of microgravity science (microgravity fluid physics 6, microgravity combustion 3, and space materials science 8) and 10 in the field of space life science (radiation biology 3, gravitational biology 3, and space biotechnology 4). These experiments were selected from more than 200 applications. The satellite will be launched in the end of 2015 or a bit later. It is expected that many fruitful scientific results on microgravity science and space life science will be contributed by this program.     

与已知场点相关的地震动场模拟研究

提出了一种与已知场点相关地震动场模型。将工程频段(0~25 Hz)分成若干个互不重叠的子段,在每个子频段内将地震动看作面波和体波的叠加;其次在每个子频段内确定影响合成地震动幅值谱的关键因素并将其引入模型中,使每个子频段的合成地震动幅值谱、功率谱和已知幅值谱、功率谱一致;再次由相位差谱频数分布与地震动强度包络的相似性,将决定地震动强度非平稳的关键因素即相位差谱引入到模型中,使合成地震动和已知地震动波形相似;最后,由模型中的频散曲线和距离参数描述不同场点之间的相干性,将合成地震动扩展到地震动场模型。El Centro地震波场点地震动场算例表明,模型不仅可以实现合成地震动场功率谱和已知场点完全一致,而且相干性合理,可以用于工程分析。     

空间光通信综合参数测试用双通道望远系统

提出一种用于空间激光通信综合参数测试的双通道望远系统,长焦通道满足端机远场分布等参数的测量,无焦望远通道可用于跟瞄性能测量。分析了空间激光通信端机远场分布及跟瞄性能测试的原理,设计了一套双通道望远系统装置,该装置光学系统可分别构成离轴卡塞格林系统或离轴三镜无焦望远系统,工作谱段为800～1700nm,通光孔径为300mm。完成了系统的研制和装调,并进行了性能检测,结果表明,长焦通道波像差为0.097λ(λ=632.8nm),无焦通道波像差为0.048λ,均满足设计指标要求。     

‘Borono-lectin’ based engineering as a versatile platform for biomedical applications

Boronic acids are well known for their ability to reversibly interact with the diol groups, a common motif of biomolecules including sugars and ribose. Due to their ability to interact with carbohydrates, they can be regarded as synthetic mimics of lectins, termed ‘borono-lectins’. The borono-lectins can be tailored to elicit a broad profile of binding strength and specificity. This special property has been translated into many creative biomedical applications in a way interactive with biology. This review provides a brief overview of recent efforts of polymeric materials-based engineering taking advantage of such virtue of ‘borono-lectins’ chemistry, related to the field of biomaterials and drug delivery applications.     

25th Anniversary Article: Designer Hydrogels for Cell Cultures: A Materials Selection Guide

Cell culturing, whether for tissue engineering or cell biology studies, always involves placing cells in a non‐natural environment and no material currently exist that can mimic the entire complexity of natural tissues and variety of cell‐matrix interactions that is found in vivo. Here, we review the vast range of hydrogels, composed of natural or synthetic polymers that provide a route to tailored microenvironments.     

组织工程学——现代生物生命科学的前沿

组织工程是应用细胞生物学和工程学的原理研究和开发,以达到修复和重建损伤的组织或器官的外形和功能的生物替代物的一门新学科,是继细胞生物学和分子生物学后,人类生命科学发展史上又一新的里程碑,标志着医学将超越组织和器官移植的旧模式,进入制造组织和器官的新时代,将在21世纪中绽露头角。文章简略介绍世界组织工程发展历史及各类组织和器官组织工程的研究现状,并介绍我国组织工程科研工作开展的最新情况。目前组织工程已有了迅猛发展,在不少方面已取得重大突破。由于其孕育的巨大科学价值及广阔的研究和应用前景,因此加快我国组织工程的研究,尽早地投入临床应用,对我国医学科学事业和国民经济的发展具有重大意义。     

空间信息网络对抗效能评估指标体系研究

定义了空间信息网络对抗综合效能评估概念,提出了建立空间信息网络对抗效能评估指标的原则和方法,给出了可信实用的评估指标体系,为空间信息网络对抗效能综合评估奠定基础。     

有限一维弹性波动问题的公理化求解及其在自由场中的应用

在保证级数的一致收敛的前提下,可以利用Laplace变换对有限一维空间弹性动力学边值问题给出公理化的严格求解过程,此过程能够作为Lavrentieff与Hilbert等著名学者的工作的补充。这一解答能够应用于岩土工程中的自由场计算问题,并且能够从原则上避免截断误差。在针对特定问题的计算中,该方法的效率明显高于有限元,并且在一定程度上弥补了现有的自由场专用计算软件不能计算纯弹性体的缺点。同时,作为解析解算法,该方法对于数值算法的精度分析有一定意义。     

An Introduction to the Space Mapping Technique

The space mapping technique is intended for optimization of engineering models which involve very expensive function evaluations. It is assumed that two different models of the same physical system are available: Besides the expensive model of primary interest (denoted the fine model), access to a cheaper (coarse) model is assumed which may be less accurate.The main idea of the space mapping technique is to use the coarse model to gain information about the fine model, and to apply this in the search for an optimal solution of the latter. Thus the technique iteratively establishes a mapping between the parameters of the two models which relate similar model responses. Having this mapping, most of the model evaluations can be directed to the fast coarse model.In many cases this technique quickly provides an approximate optimal solution to the fine model that is sufficiently accurate for engineering purposes. Thus the space mapping technique may be considered a preprocessing technique that perhaps must be succeeded by use of classical optimization techniques. We present an automatic scheme which integrates the space mapping and classical techniques.     

Towards the rational design of synthetic cells with prescribed population dynamics

The rational design of synthetic cell populations with prescribed behaviours is a long-standing goal of synthetic biology, with the potential to greatly accelerate the development of biotechnological applications in areas ranging from medical research to energy production. Achieving this goal requires well-characterized components, modular implementation strategies, simulation across temporal and spatial scales and automatic compilation of high-level designs to low-level genetic parts that function reliably inside cells. Many of these steps are incomplete or only partially understood, and methods for integrating them within a common design framework have yet to be developed. Here, we address these challenges by developing a prototype framework for designing synthetic cells with prescribed population dynamics. We extend the genetic engineering of cells (GEC) language, originally developed for programming intracellular dynamics, with cell population factors such as cell growth, division and dormancy, together with spatio-temporal simulation methods. As a case study, we use our framework to design synthetic cells with predator–prey interactions that, when simulated, produce complex spatio-temporal behaviours such as travelling waves and spatio-temporal chaos. An analysis of our design reveals that environmental factors such as density-dependent dormancy and reduced extracellular space destabilize the population dynamics and increase the range of genetic variants for which complex spatio-temporal behaviours are possible. Our findings highlight the importance of considering such factors during the design process. We then use our analysis of population dynamics to inform the selection of genetic parts, which could be used to obtain the desired spatio-temporal behaviours. By identifying, integrating and automating key stages of the design process, we provide a computational framework for designing synthetic systems, which could be tested in future laboratory studies.