Volume 3 Issue 4, April 2025

Vaccine distribution in remote areas without reliable electricity or refrigeration options presents major challenges. In response to ‘the ultimate bioengineering challenge’ competition, we present the design of a biorefrigerator made of biodegradable, locally sourced materials that is engineered to preserve vaccines at optimal temperatures without requiring external energy.

Messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines hold promise for creating new and improved immunizations; however, their delivery is challenging in terms of compliance, reactogenicity, cost and scalability. In response to ‘the ultimate bioengineering challenge’ competition, we propose an edible mRNA vaccine platform using lettuce chloroplasts.

Oxygen masks typically rely on an external oxygen supply, whether in the form of oxygen tanks or capsules. In response to ‘the ultimate bioengineering challenge’ competition, we present the design of a self-sustained oxygen mask using lightweight biocompatible materials to provide extended oxygen supply and water collection for low-resource settings.

An article in Nature Communications reports a positron emission tomography (PET) reporter system to measure the biodistribution and translational persistence of an mRNA-encoded antigen in the whole body, providing a non-invasive and precise route to monitor the spatiotemporal dynamics of mRNA vaccine antigen expression in vivo.

Compared to linear mRNA, circular RNAs offer greater stability during storage and delivery, along with more sustained effects due to their circular structure. This Review provides an overview of circRNA-based therapeutics, highlighting key engineering principles, associated challenges and strategies to address such challenges.

Haptic devices enable communication via touch, augmenting visual and auditory displays, or by offering alternative channels of communication when vision and hearing are unavailable. This Review discusses multi-sensory wearable haptics, focusing on body-worn devices that convey multiple types of cutaneous haptic feedback.

Biological nanopores can be designed for high-sensitivity sequencing of peptides and proteins. This Review discusses different approaches towards nanopore-based protein sequencing, outlining methods to distinguish amino acids, control protein translocation and detect post-translational modifications.

Biohybrid devices based on engineered cells interfaced with bioelectronics combine the strengths of each field, resulting in constructs with properties that are not otherwise achievable. In this Review, we discuss the enabling mechanisms of communication between these domains and describe the approaches and challenges in assembling and deploying such systems.

The interactions of nanoparticles with the body are dynamic and complex. This Perspective examines the application of different multi-omics tools to investigate nano–bio interactions in vitro and in vivo.