{"title":"Microbes as a programmable toolbox for cancer diagnosis, monitoring, and theranostics.","authors":"Isabel Calejo, Raphael F Canadas","doi":"10.1016/j.tibtech.2026.09.023","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tibtech.2026.09.023","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Microbes have evolved molecular machinery to recognize hosts, access tissues, sense local conditions, replicate, and modify their environments. These capabilities are increasingly being repurposed for cancer detection and control. Phage and yeast display generate tumour-recognition modules; engineered bacteria sense and amplify local disease signals; reporter-expressing viruses reveal tumour infection and transgene activity; and microbial signatures provide minimally invasive biomarkers. Here, we compare these mechanistically distinct platforms through an input-processing-output framework, examine their diagnostic and theranostic functions, and assess the readout, safety, manufacturing, analytical, and regulatory requirements that determine clinical actionability. We also propose tumour-reporting viruses and theranostic viruses as functional terms extending beyond the predominantly therapeutic concept of oncolytic viruses.</p>","PeriodicalId":23324,"journal":{"name":"Trends in biotechnology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":16.6,"publicationDate":"2026-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149216743","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Closing biosafety gaps in the global plastics treaty.","authors":"Li Jiang, Dong Zhu, Bin He, Pengfei Hu","doi":"10.1016/j.tibtech.2026.09.022","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tibtech.2026.09.022","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Bio-upcycling is increasingly proposed to tackle plastic waste, yet the emerging global plastics treaty lacks biosafety governance for the engineered biological systems required. We propose an exposure-based framework distinguishing contained from open-environment applications, addressing biosafety gaps not covered by existing regulations, and preventing bio-upcycling from legitimizing continued plastic overproduction.</p>","PeriodicalId":23324,"journal":{"name":"Trends in biotechnology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":16.6,"publicationDate":"2026-10-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149208158","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The $100 genome: three platforms reshaping clinical genomics.","authors":"Alexandre Harlé, Andréa Witz, Jean-Louis Merlin","doi":"10.1016/j.tibtech.2026.09.020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tibtech.2026.09.020","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In 2026, three high-throughput sequencing platforms approached the widely publicised sub-$100 30× human genome. Behind these figures, which reflect consumable prices rather than total cost of ownership, the more consequential shift is the end of single-vendor dominance: these systems make comprehensive genomic profiling and multi-omic liquid biopsy feasible in small batches.</p>","PeriodicalId":23324,"journal":{"name":"Trends in biotechnology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":16.6,"publicationDate":"2026-10-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149196630","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Frank Delvigne, Fabian Roeloffs, Laurie Josselin, Steve Pressé, Lisbeth Olsson, Alexander Grünberger
{"title":"Subpopulation networks: a scaling principle for engineering living systems.","authors":"Frank Delvigne, Fabian Roeloffs, Laurie Josselin, Steve Pressé, Lisbeth Olsson, Alexander Grünberger","doi":"10.1016/j.tibtech.2026.09.018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tibtech.2026.09.018","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Cell populations underpin applications ranging from bioproduction and biotherapeutics to microbiome engineering and biocomputing. However, treating them as bulk quantities rather than as structured systems limits our understanding of population-level stability, productivity, and robustness. Cellular populations self-organize into coexisting subpopulations (SPs) representing phenotypically distinct states that emerge from the interplay of biological noise and selective pressures. We propose that networks of interacting SPs constitute a fundamental organizational layer for engineering stable cell population dynamics. Surveying published single-cell studies across bacterial, yeast, and mammalian systems, we show that populations consistently self-organize into a limited number of SPs. This dimensional reduction can be captured experimentally by clustering single-cell data and gives rise to scaling laws that link population structure to collective performance.</p>","PeriodicalId":23324,"journal":{"name":"Trends in biotechnology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":16.6,"publicationDate":"2026-10-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149169791","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Anticipatory regulation of stem cell-based technologies: a UK case study.","authors":"Emma Cave, Emily Jackson","doi":"10.1016/j.tibtech.2026.09.017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tibtech.2026.09.017","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Biotechnological advances are prompting governments to fear falling behind and missing out on growth and investment. Yet science often moves faster and less predictably than legislation. Using the United Kingdom's stem cell regulation as a case study, we examine anticipatory regulation, sandboxes, and other agile governance tools for managing both over-regulation and regulatory gaps.</p>","PeriodicalId":23324,"journal":{"name":"Trends in biotechnology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":16.6,"publicationDate":"2026-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149171226","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
José M Muñoz, Angelina Mira d'Ercole, Carolina Aguilar, Jennifer A Chandler, Marcello Ienca, Philipp Kellmeyer, Ignacio Sáez, Judy Illes
{"title":"Neurotechnology governance: the operational turn.","authors":"José M Muñoz, Angelina Mira d'Ercole, Carolina Aguilar, Jennifer A Chandler, Marcello Ienca, Philipp Kellmeyer, Ignacio Sáez, Judy Illes","doi":"10.1016/j.tibtech.2026.09.016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tibtech.2026.09.016","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Neurotechnology governance is entering an operational turn, driven by the need to move beyond the articulation of ethical principles and to translate them into heterogeneous real-world settings through institutional capacity-building, regulatory fit, and coordination. This shift also concerns the conditions under which beneficial neurotechnology applications can emerge and scale responsibly.</p>","PeriodicalId":23324,"journal":{"name":"Trends in biotechnology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":16.6,"publicationDate":"2026-10-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149149363","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Byung-Chul R Kim, Elaina M Blair, Joel P Howard, Ian M Gois, Robert Flick, Thomas S Lankiewicz, Stephen Mondo, Jasmyn Pangilinan, Anna Lipzen, Jie Guo, Hope Hundley, Raymond Lee, Jayson Talag, Victoria Bunting, Shanmugam Rajasekar, Kerrie Barry, Igor V Grigoriev, Michelle A O'Malley, Christopher E Lawson
{"title":"Engineering anaerobic fungal-bacterial consortia for direct conversion of lignocellulosic biomass into medium-chain fatty acids.","authors":"Byung-Chul R Kim, Elaina M Blair, Joel P Howard, Ian M Gois, Robert Flick, Thomas S Lankiewicz, Stephen Mondo, Jasmyn Pangilinan, Anna Lipzen, Jie Guo, Hope Hundley, Raymond Lee, Jayson Talag, Victoria Bunting, Shanmugam Rajasekar, Kerrie Barry, Igor V Grigoriev, Michelle A O'Malley, Christopher E Lawson","doi":"10.1016/j.tibtech.2026.09.013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tibtech.2026.09.013","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Lignocellulosic biomass is a renewable feedstock for sustainable fuels and chemicals, yet industrial conversion remains constrained by carbohydrate solubilization. Inspired by herbivore rumen microbiomes, we engineered an anaerobic fungal-bacterial consortium thatconverts native lignocellulose into medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs) without pretreatment. Systematic screening identified the anaerobic fungus isolated here, Neocallimastix sp. FC1, togetherwith Megasphaerahexanoica, as a top-performing consortium, achieving a lignocellulose-to-MCFA yield of 21.0% (carbon-to-carbon basis) through tight lactate cross-feeding without competition for soluble sugars. Fungal lactate production limited the growth of M. hexanoica in co-culture, and the bacterium reallocated protein from growth toward chain elongation, resulting in increased MCFA production. These findings identify fungal lactate production as the primary biological constraint, and balancing lactate production and consumption as a key engineering strategy for improving lignocellulose-to-MCFA conversion. Techno-economic analysis identified high cultivation medium costs as the primary economic constraint and established quantitative cost-yield targets for profitable MCFA production.</p>","PeriodicalId":23324,"journal":{"name":"Trends in biotechnology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":16.6,"publicationDate":"2026-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149128697","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Camilla Rinaldi, Marco Contardi, Valerio Isa, Gabriele Corigliano, Lorenzo Ravelli, Vincenzo Scribano, Martina Facchinelli, Elena Bellini, Enrico Montalbetti, Davide Seveso, Silvia Lavorano, Paolo Galli, Simone Montano, Athanassia Athanassiou
{"title":"Tunable underwater curcumin release through a three-layered film system to mitigate oxidative stress in corals.","authors":"Camilla Rinaldi, Marco Contardi, Valerio Isa, Gabriele Corigliano, Lorenzo Ravelli, Vincenzo Scribano, Martina Facchinelli, Elena Bellini, Enrico Montalbetti, Davide Seveso, Silvia Lavorano, Paolo Galli, Simone Montano, Athanassia Athanassiou","doi":"10.1016/j.tibtech.2026.09.012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tibtech.2026.09.012","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Coral bleaching, primarily driven by thermal stress and oxidative damage, threatens reef ecosystems worldwide. In this article, an eco-friendly, biocompatible, three-layered film system for controlled underwater delivery of curcumin directly to corals is proposed. This multilayered structure enables tunable, continuous, and directional drug release through a curcumin-β-cyclodextrin-complexed nanocarrier. Morphological, chemical, and mechanical analyses confirmed the system's structural integrity, water-absorption capacity, and hydrogel-like behavior, making it suitable for underwater applications. In vivo tests on Stylophora pistillata under a four-phase bleaching setup showed that, even without direct contact, the film may contribute to mitigating oxidative stress in corals, as evidenced by higher chlorophyll content, greater Symbiodiniaceae density, and reduced lipid peroxidation compared with untreated stressed corals. Overall, these results indicate a technology maturity corresponding to a technology readiness levels of 4-5 and demonstrate the potential of underwater drug delivery platforms for controlled and sustained release of antioxidants to mitigate oxidative stress in corals and, potentially, other marine species.</p>","PeriodicalId":23324,"journal":{"name":"Trends in biotechnology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":16.6,"publicationDate":"2026-10-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149115351","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Maisie R Czernuszka, Stefan A Hoffmann, Michael A Brockhurst, Yizhi Cai
{"title":"Engineering phage therapeutics with intrinsic biocontainment.","authors":"Maisie R Czernuszka, Stefan A Hoffmann, Michael A Brockhurst, Yizhi Cai","doi":"10.1016/j.tibtech.2026.09.010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tibtech.2026.09.010","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Engineered bacteriophages (phages) are emerging as a promising next generation of antibacterial phage therapeutics, facilitated by advances in synthetic biology, genome engineering, and computational design. Engineered phage therapeutics offer standardised genome designs, expanded functionality, and improved manufacturability, which could potentially help to overcome regulatory barriers. However, genetically engineered phages raise additional biosafety and environmental concerns, making the development of effective biocontainment strategies important for clinical use. Here, we review current approaches for phage genome engineering, alongside the evolving regulatory frameworks for engineered phages. We evaluate emerging biocontainment strategies for therapeutic phages and propose a framework for assessing trade-offs between biocontainment stringency, evolutionary robustness against escape mutants, therapeutic efficacy, and translational feasibility.</p>","PeriodicalId":23324,"journal":{"name":"Trends in biotechnology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":16.6,"publicationDate":"2026-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149115339","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Exogenous PAM richer resonator effect unlocks CRISPR/Cas12a biosensor-in-microdroplet for ultrasensitive and multiplexed food safety-related DNA detection.","authors":"Roumeng Wang, Yongpo Mao, Yujie Guo, Ying Yang, Jiayi Wei, Yinping Yang, Siyu Zong, Luyuan Zhang, Shuli Man, Weipan Peng, Long Ma","doi":"10.1016/j.tibtech.2026.03.024","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tibtech.2026.03.024","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Accurate, sensitive, and multiplexed DNA detection is crucial for food safety. We describe a counterintuitive phenomenon in which the mere addition of exogenous protospacer adjacent motif richer double-stranded DNA (ePAM-R-dsDNA) boosts the trans-cleavage activity of Lachnospiraceae bacterium Cas12a (LbCas12a) for PAM-lacking dsDNA targets in microdroplets. We call this the exogenous PAM richer resonator effect. Leveraging this, we present a biosensor-in-microdroplet, named CC-Drop-OPT (CRISPR/Cas12a microDroplet Overcoming PAM restriction on Targets), breaking the PAM dependency and highly enhancing (10<sup>4</sup> times) the sensitivity for PAM-lacking dsDNA targets. CC-Drop-OPT demonstrates a wide detection range and a low limit of detection of 10 CFU/ml for foodborne pathogens without DNA preamplification; it is also capable of detecting food authenticity and genetically modified foodstuffs. CC-Drop-OPT supports digital, multiplexed, and background-free identification of three different foodborne pathogens. CC-Drop-OPT introduces a molecular strategy for unamplified DNA detection in food safety and beyond.</p>","PeriodicalId":23324,"journal":{"name":"Trends in biotechnology","volume":" ","pages":"3080-3103"},"PeriodicalIF":16.6,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147782381","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}