Chemotactic Responses of Jurkat Cells in Microfluidic Flow-Free Gradient Chambers.

Gradients of soluble molecules coordinate cellular communication in a diverse range of multicellular systems. Chemokine-driven chemotaxis is a key orchestrator of cell movement during organ development, immune response and cancer progression. Chemotaxis assays capable of examining cell responses to different chemokines in the context of various extracellular matrices will be crucial to characterize directed cell motion in conditions which mimic whole tissue conditions. Here, a microfluidic device which can generate different chemokine patterns in flow-free gradient chambers while controlling surface extracellular matrix (ECM) to study chemotaxis either at the population level or at the single cell level with high resolution imaging is presented. The device is produced by combining additive manufacturing (AM) and soft lithography. Generation of concentration gradients in the device were simulated and experimentally validated. Then, stable gradients were applied to modulate chemotaxis and chemokinetic response of Jurkat cells as a model for T lymphocyte motility. Live imaging of the gradient chambers allowed to track and quantify Jurkat cell migration patterns. Using this system, it has been found that the strength of the chemotactic response of Jurkat cells to CXCL12 gradient was reduced by increasing surface fibronectin in a dose-dependent manner. The chemotaxis of the Jurkat cells was also found to be governed not only by the CXCL12 gradient but also by the average CXCL12 concentration. Distinct migratory behaviors in response to chemokine gradients in different contexts may be physiologically relevant for shaping the host immune response and may serve to optimize the targeting and accumulation of immune cells to the inflammation site. Our approach demonstrates the feasibility of using a flow-free gradient chamber for evaluating cross-regulation of cell motility by multiple factors in different biologic processes.

Intact mangrove root electrodes for desalination.

Through the benefit of billions of years of evolution, biology has developed tremendous strategies on how to co-exist in high salinity and water scarce environments. Biologically-inspired abiotic systems are becoming a central pillar in how we respond to critical grand challenges that accompany exponential population growth, uncontrolled climate change and the harsh reality that 96.5% of the water on the planet is saltwater. One fascinating biologic adaptation to saltwater is the growth of mangrove trees in brackish swamps and along the coasts. Through a process of salt exclusion, the mangrove maintains a near freshwater flow from roots to leaves to survive. One abiotic approach to water desalination is capacitive deionization, which aims to desalinate low-salinity water sources at energy costs below current technologies, such as reverse osmosis and thermal distillation. In this work, we use one-step carbonization of a plant with developed aerenchyma tissue to enable highly-permeable, freestanding flow-through capacitive deionization electrodes. We show that carbonized aerenchyma from red mangrove roots reduces the resistance to water flow through electrodes by 65-fold relative to carbonized common woody biomass. We then demonstrate the practical use of the intact carbonized red mangrove roots as electrodes in a flow-through capacitive deionization system. These findings have implications in a range of fields including water desalination, bioinspired materials, and plant functionality.

A biosensing soft robot: Autonomous parsing of chemical signals through integrated organic and inorganic interfaces.

The integration of synthetic biology and soft robotics can fundamentally advance sensory, diagnostic, and therapeutic functionality of bioinspired machines. However, such integration is currently impeded by the lack of soft-matter architectures that interface synthetic cells with electronics and actuators for controlled stimulation and response during robotic operation. Here, we synthesized a soft gripper that uses engineered bacteria for detecting chemicals in the environment, a flexible light-emitting diode (LED) circuit for converting biological to electronic signals, and soft pneu-net actuators for converting the electronic signals to movement of the gripper. We show that the hybrid bio-LED-actuator module enabled the gripper to detect chemical signals by applying pressure and releasing the contents of a chemical-infused hydrogel. The biohybrid gripper used chemical sensing and feedback to make actionable decisions during a pick-and-place operation. This work opens previously unidentified avenues in soft materials, synthetic biology, and integrated interfacial robotic systems.