Tag: prototissue

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A Photonastic Prototissue Capable of Photo-Mechano-Chemical Transduction

The Gobbo Group has created the first light-responsive artificial tissues-like materials, or photonastic prototissues, that can mimic natural energy transduction processes. Published in Advanced Materials, the work combines gold nanoparticle-based proto-organelles and a responsive polymer “proto-cortex” to build protocells that contract under visible light. These motions can reversibly control internal enzyme activity, offering a new way to engineer life-like behaviours. This advance marks a significant step towards advanced, energy-responsive prototissues in synthetic biology and bioinspired materials engineering.

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Programmed Fabrication of Vesicle-Based Prototissue Fibers with Modular Functionalities

Our research team has achieved a breakthrough in creating artificial tissue-like structures, termed "prototissue fibers," inspired by natural cell cooperation. Published in Advanced Science, this work, involving collaboration with Prof. Taisuke Banno's group, utilized vesicles and salt bridges to form these fibers, enabling the integration of specialized modules. These innovations allow for customizable soft materials, enhancing fields like 3D bioprinting, tissue engineering, and soft robotics. This significant advancement addresses key challenges in prototissue engineering, paving the way for bioinspired material development.

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Protocell Communication Through the Eyes of Synthetic Organic Chemists

Our Concept Article was just published in EurJOC. The article discusses the concept of protocell communication from the point of view of organic chemists. First, it analyses the chemistry at the heart of the protocell communication machineries currently employed, and then it proposed new routes towards protocell communication based on fully synthetic and artificial nanosystems (synzymes). The work was funded by the European Union (ERC StG, PROTOMAT, 101039578).

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ERC Starting Grant worth over 2M Euros awarded to the University of Trieste for Pierangelo Gobbo’s project PROTOMAT

The University of Trieste has been awarded its first ERC Starting Grant by the European Research Council (ERC) as part of the Horizon Europe framework. Pierangelo Gobbo, having worked in various institutions around the world, has chosen the University of Trieste (UniTS) to develop the first fully synthetic cells capable of integrating with living cells and tissues.

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Funding available for a PhD scholarship on synthetic tissues

Applications are invited for a PhD studentship to work in the Gobbo Group in the School of Chemistry at the University of Bristol. The position is for UK/EU student and is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), with funding for 42 months. The starting date is October 2020, and the research aims to implement the first synthetic tissues with collective information-processing functions.