Current opinion in biotechnology最新文献

{"title":"Toward a circular nitrogen bioeconomy: integrating nitrogen bioconcentration, separations, and high-value products for nitrogen recovery","authors":"Edward Apraku ,&nbsp;McKenna Farmer ,&nbsp;Chayse Lavallais ,&nbsp;Danna A Soriano ,&nbsp;Justin Notestein ,&nbsp;Keith Tyo ,&nbsp;Jennifer Dunn ,&nbsp;William A Tarpeh ,&nbsp;George F Wells","doi":"10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103225","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103225","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Recovering nitrogen (N) from wastewater is a potential avenue to reduce reliance on energy-intensive synthetic nitrogen fixation via Haber-Bosch and subsequent treatment of N-laden wastewaters through nitrification–denitrification. However, many technical and economic factors hinder widespread application of N recovery, particularly low N concentrations in municipal wastewater, paucity of high-efficiency separations technologies compatible with biological treatment, and suitable products and markets for recovered N. In this perspective, we contextualize the challenges of N recovery today, propose integrated biological and physicochemical technologies to improve selective and tunable N recovery, and propose an expanded product portfolio for recovered N products beyond fertilizers. We highlight cyanophycin, an N-rich biopolymer produced by a diverse range of bacteria, as a potential target for N bioconcentration and downstream recovery from municipal wastewater. This perspective emphasizes the equal importance of integrated biological systems, physicochemical separations, and market assessment in advancing nitrogen recovery from wastewater.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10833,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in biotechnology","volume":"91 ","pages":"Article 103225"},"PeriodicalIF":7.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142720487","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Tissue engineering in the agri-food industry: current status, socio-economic overview and regulatory compliance","authors":"Brian Senyange ,&nbsp;Joshua Wesana ,&nbsp;Guido Van Huylenbroeck ,&nbsp;Xavier Gellynck ,&nbsp;Hans De Steur","doi":"10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103228","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103228","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The growing global demand for sustainable and safe food is a major challenge that increases the need for advanced alternatives such as tissue engineering (TE). TE offers promising solutions by improving yields, nutritional value and resilience of crops while also producing cultivated meat that reduces the environmental impact of livestock farming. The market potential for TE in meat production is considerable, and significant growth is expected. However, the regulatory framework for these innovations is developing slowly, and approval procedures vary across regions. This overview critically assesses the current applications of TE in the agri-food sector, their socio-economic potential and the regulatory challenges. It emphasises the need for harmonised, flexible and adaptive policies to effectively integrate engineered foods into the market.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10833,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in biotechnology","volume":"91 ","pages":"Article 103228"},"PeriodicalIF":7.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142706305","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A biotechnological perspective on sand filtration for drinking water production","authors":"Francesc Corbera-Rubio,&nbsp;Roos Goedhart,&nbsp;Michele Laureni,&nbsp;Mark CM van Loosdrecht,&nbsp;Doris van Halem","doi":"10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103221","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103221","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Gravity-driven sand filters are the dominant groundwater treatment technology for drinking water production. In the past, physicochemical reactions were often assumed to play the main role in the removal of contaminants, but recent breakthroughs showcase the vital role of microorganisms. In this <em>Current Opinion</em>, we thoroughly assess the current understanding of biology in sand filters and explore the potential benefits of shifting toward designs aimed at promoting biological reactions. We highlight the main bottlenecks and propose key areas to be explored toward the next generation of sustainable, resource-efficient groundwater biofilters.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10833,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in biotechnology","volume":"90 ","pages":"Article 103221"},"PeriodicalIF":7.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142616200","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"National phosphorus planning for food and environmental security","authors":"Will J Brownlie ,&nbsp;Peter Alexander ,&nbsp;Dana Cordell ,&nbsp;Mark Maslin ,&nbsp;Genevieve S Metson ,&nbsp;Mark A Sutton ,&nbsp;Bryan M Spears","doi":"10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103226","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103226","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The dependence of countries on phosphorus fertilisers derived from phosphate rock to maintain crop yields and ensure food security is well established. Yet, exposure of national food systems to constrained reserves of phosphate rock and supply chain complexities still pose risks to farmers’ access to this critical nutrient in many countries. Whilst phosphorus scarcity can threaten food security, suboptimal fertiliser use and poor wastewater treatment can lead to pollution of freshwaters and coasts, causing eutrophication. This impacts biodiversity, drinking water and aquatic food production. In some countries, national plans targeting the recycling of phosphorus losses back into food production are being considered, offering environmental and socio-economic benefits. Here, we review the literature on assessing risks to food security and water quality associated with national reliance on phosphate rock as the primary source of phosphorus for fertilisers. The scientific community has developed data and tools to enable countries to assess exposure in food systems from phosphorus supply and management and in the environment from pollution. However, current assessment approaches often overlook economic vulnerability, a key gap that hinders our understanding of the urgency and severity of impacts from inaction. Exposure assessments could be used to develop National Sustainable Phosphorus Plans embedding priority actions and financial instruments across existing policy frameworks. Actions include identifying local to national sources and sites for phosphorus recycling, identifying catchments and ecosystems where the benefits of reducing phosphorus pollution are greatest, and establishing an infrastructure development plan to enable greater recycling and reduced pollution. We discuss four integrated actions that will enable countries to take the first steps towards a circular phosphorus economy in the context of a challenging global situation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10833,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in biotechnology","volume":"90 ","pages":"Article 103226"},"PeriodicalIF":7.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142616206","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Engineering next-generation chimeric antigen receptor-T cells: recent breakthroughs and remaining challenges in design and screening of novel chimeric antigen receptor variants","authors":"Anna Mei ,&nbsp;Kevin P Letscher ,&nbsp;Sai Reddy","doi":"10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103223","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103223","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells are a powerful treatment against hematologic cancers. The functional phenotype of a CAR-T cell is influenced by the domains that comprise the synthetic receptor. Typically, the potency of therapeutic CAR-T cell candidates is assessed by preclinical functional assays and mouse models (i.e. human tumor xenografts). However, to date, only a few sets of domains (e.g. CD8, CD28, 41BB) have been extensively tested in preclinical assays and human clinical studies. To characterize the efficiency of a CAR, different assays have been utilized to analyze T cell phenotypes, such as expansion, cytotoxicity, secretome, and persistence. However, each of these previous studies evaluated the importance of an assay differently, resulting in a wide range of functionally diverse CARs. In this review, we highlight recent (high-throughput) methods to analyze CAR domains and demonstrate their impact on inducing T cell phenotypes and activity. We also describe advances in computational methods and their potential for identifying CAR variants with enhanced properties. Finally, we reflect on the need for a standardized scoring system to support the clinical development of next-generation CARs.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10833,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in biotechnology","volume":"90 ","pages":"Article 103223"},"PeriodicalIF":7.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142590440","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Review: can bioelectrochemical sensors be used to monitor soil microbiome activity and fertility?","authors":"Christina F Webster ,&nbsp;Won-Jun Kim ,&nbsp;Gemma Reguera ,&nbsp;Maren L Friesen ,&nbsp;Haluk Beyenal","doi":"10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103222","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103222","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This review presents current knowledge on applying bioelectrochemical sensors to monitor soil fertility through microbial activity and discusses future perspectives. Soil microbial activity is considered an indicator of soil fertility due to the interconnected relationship between soil nutrient composition, microbiome, and plant productivity. Similarities between soils and bioelectrochemical reactors provide the foundation for the design of bioelectrochemical sensors driven by microorganisms enriched as electrochemically active biofilms on polarized electrodes. The biofilm can exchange electrons with electrodes and metabolites with the nearby microbiome to generate electrochemical signals that inform of microbiome functions and nutrient bioavailability. Such mechanisms can be harnessed as a bioelectrochemical sensor for proxy monitoring of soil fertility to address the need for real-time monitoring of soils.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10833,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in biotechnology","volume":"90 ","pages":"Article 103222"},"PeriodicalIF":7.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142590441","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Engineering T-cell receptor–like antibodies for biologics and cell therapy","authors":"Lene S Høydahl ,&nbsp;Gøril Berntzen,&nbsp;Geir Å Løset","doi":"10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103224","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103224","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>A major prevailing challenge limiting our ability to fully harness the potential of the latest-generation therapeutic antibodies is the scarcity of clinically established disease-specific targets. A major next step forward will therefore be to expand this target space. The recent clinical success of immunotherapies such as adoptive T-cell transfer, immune checkpoint inhibition, and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy strongly supports focusing on the immunopeptidome of peptides presented by human leukocyte antigen (pHLA) that are normally surveilled by T-cell receptors (TCRs). Directing novel antibody development toward pHLA targets has given rise to TCR-like antibodies, which reached the clinic in 2020, as both bispecific T-cell engaging antibodies and the CARs of CAR-T cell therapies. In this review, we highlight recent advances in TCR-like antibodies, including therapeutic modalities, engineering strategies, and benchmarks for success.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10833,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in biotechnology","volume":"90 ","pages":"Article 103224"},"PeriodicalIF":7.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142567284","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Albumin-based strategies to effectively prolong the circulation half-life of small immunomodulatory payloads in cancer therapy","authors":"Sara Linciano ,&nbsp;Emilia Vigolo ,&nbsp;Antonio Rosato ,&nbsp;Yoichi Kumada ,&nbsp;Alessandro Angelini","doi":"10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103218","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103218","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Small immunomodulatory payloads (IMMs) such as peptide vaccines and cytokines have the capability to activate and boost the immune response against cancer. However, their clinical use has often been hindered by their poor stability and short circulating half-lives. To enhance the pharmacokinetic properties of small IMMs and promote their trafficking and accumulation in lymphatic and tumor tissues, a large variety of strategies have been developed. One of the most successful relies on the use of serum albumin (SA), the most abundant protein in the circulatory and lymphatic system. Here, we report a comparative analysis of the different covalent and noncovalent SA-based strategies applied so far to improve the efficacy of small IMMs in cancer therapy.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10833,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in biotechnology","volume":"90 ","pages":"Article 103218"},"PeriodicalIF":7.1,"publicationDate":"2024-10-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142552181","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Editorial overview: Nanobiotechnology: A focus on the fundamentals","authors":"Warren C.W. Chan","doi":"10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103220","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103220","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":10833,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in biotechnology","volume":"90 ","pages":"Article 103220"},"PeriodicalIF":7.1,"publicationDate":"2024-10-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142534935","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Sharp solutions to cleave plant fibers","authors":"Talia Jacobson ,&nbsp;Mair Edwards ,&nbsp;Cătălin Voiniciuc","doi":"10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103219","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103219","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Plant cells sequester atmospheric carbon in thick walls containing heterogenous networks of cellulose and hemicelluloses (e.g. xylan and mannan), surrounded by additional polymers. Plants and microbes secrete glycosyl hydrolases that act alone or as modular complexes to modify extracellular polysaccharides. While several carbohydrate-active enzymes have been successfully targeted for crop improvement, additional hydrolytic proteins or more efficient versions are needed for the circular bioeconomy. Here, we discuss persistent challenges and emerging opportunities to enhance extracellular enzymes for use in plants or as tools to process biomass for various products. In addition to the design of minimal cellulosomes that combine microbial scaffolding proteins and polysaccharide-degrading enzymes, we review three major strategies that could improve the properties of plant-derived glycosyl hydrolases.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":10833,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in biotechnology","volume":"90 ","pages":"Article 103219"},"PeriodicalIF":7.1,"publicationDate":"2024-10-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142496590","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}