Building functional human muscle in the laboratory has long been a goal of regenerative medicine, but one stubborn obstacle remains: real muscle is not just a mass of cells. Its strength and function depend on exquisitely ordered myofibers, all aligned in precise directions that vary from one muscle to another. Reproducing that internal order has proved far harder than shaping muscle tissue into the right external form.

In the International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing, a research team from Xi'an Jiaotong University has now found a way to solve both problems at once. By using electric forces during the electrohydrodynamic bioprinting process, they have created living muscle tissues whose cells naturally line up just as they do in the human body, showing how electric forces can be used not just to precisely bioprint tissue, but to quietly instruct cells how to organize themselves.

Pesticides can harm aquatic ecosystems and human health, so scientists need to understand how they move from farm fields into streams. A management tool commonly implemented is riparian buffers — strips of vegetation, like shrubs or grasses, bordering streams — that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) advises can reduce the amount of nutrients, sediment and pesticides getting into waterways. But it’s unclear how effective buffers actually are at stopping pesticides from entering streams, according to a multidisciplinary team led by Penn State researchers. To find out, the researchers conducted a study on a small agricultural stream, finding that adding buffers likely reduces the amount of specific pesticides from reaching the stream, but not others.

Insilico Medicine, a clinical-stage biotechnology company driven by generative artificial intelligence (AI), today announced the pilot launch of its Automated AI-Driven Partnering System. This first of its kind business development automation platform is designed to help biotechnology companies partner more efficiently, allowing them to increase engagement, manage due diligence and operate their pipelines on a greater scale. The new system expands Insilico’s applied AI capabilities and introduces an infrastructure that can utilize partnering decks and publications, respond to scientific or diligence questions, support data room management, and streamline standard business development activities end to end.

ETH researchers have developed a novel hydrogel consisting mainly of water and a polymer network.

Using laser light, the researchers can very quickly solidify the hydrogel into a material with microscopically fine structures so that bone-forming cells can colonise it 

This material has the potential to be used as a bone implant in the future, enhancing the healing process of bone fractures.