About the Study

Journal: Nature Biotechnology

Title: A programmable encapsulation system improves delivery of therapeutic bacteria in mice

Authors: Tetsuhiro Harimoto 1,6, Jaeseung Hahn 1,6, Yu-Yu Chen 1, Jongwon Im 1, Joanna Zhang 1, Nicholas Hou 1, Fangda Li 2, Courtney Coker 1, Kelsey Gray 1, Nicole Harr 1, Sreyan Chowdhury 1,2, Kelly Pu 1, Clare Nimura 1, Nicholas Arpaia 2,3, Kam Leong 1,4, and Tal Danino 1,3,5 

1. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Columbia Engineering
2. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University
3. Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbia University
4. Department of Systems Biology, Columbia University Medical Center
5. Data Science Institute, Columbia University

This work was supported by the DoD LC160314 (T.D.), DoD BC160541 (T.D.), NIH R01CA249160 (T.D.), NIH U01CA247573 (T.D.), NIH F99CA253756 (T.H.), and Honjo International Foundation Scholarship (T.H.).

COI: T.H., J.H., K.L. and T.D. have filed a provisional patent application with the US Patent and Trademark Office related to this work (01001/009982).

Header image: Probiotic bacteria (E. coli Nissle 1917 strain, green) is engineered to controllably evade immune system (macrophage, transparent) using a genetically encoded encapsulation system (capsular polysaccharides with circuit board, shown as transparent coating surrounding the bacterial cells). This system was used to enhance delivery of therapeutic bacteria for cancer therapy. (Ella Marushchenko, Alex Tokarev, Danino Lab/Columbia Engineering)

About the Study

Journal: Communications Biology, an open-access journal from Nature Portfolio

Title: Combination of antiviral drugs inhibits SARS-CoV2 polymerase and exonuclease and demonstrates COVID-19 therapeutic potential in viral cell culture

Authors: Xuanting Wang1,2,11, Carolina Q. Sacramento3,4,11, Steffen Jockusch1,5,11, Otavio Augusto Chaves3,4, Chuanjuan Tao1,2, Natalia Fintelman-Rodrigues3,4, Minchen Chien1,2, Jairo R. Temerozo6,7, Xiaoxu Li1,2, Shiv Kumar1,2, Wei Xie8, Dinshaw J. Patel8, Cindy Meyer9, Aitor Garzia9, Thomas Tuschl9, Patricia T. Bozza3, James J. Russo1,2, Thiago Moreno L. Souza3,4 & Jingyue Ju1,2,10

1. Center for Genome Technology and Biomolecular Engineering, Columbia University
2. Department of Chemical Engineering, Columbia University
3. Laboratory of Immunopharmacology, Oswaldo Cruz Institute (IOC), Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), Rio de Janeiro
4. National Institute for Science and Technology for Innovation on Diseases of Neglected Population (INCT/IDN), Center for Technological Development in Health (CDTS), Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), Rio de Janeiro
5. Department of Chemistry, Columbia University
6. Laboratory on Thymus Research, Oswaldo Cruz Institute (IOC), Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), Rio de Janeiro
7. National Institute for Science and Technology on Neuroimmunomodulation (INCT/NIM), Oswaldo Cruz Institute (IOC), Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), Rio de Janeiro
8. Laboratory of Structural Biology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
9. Laboratory of RNA Molecular Biology, Rockefeller University
10. Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Columbia University

This work was supported by the Jack Ma Foundation, a gift from Columbia Engineering Member of the Board of Visitors Dr. Bing Zhao, and Fast Grants (to Jingyue Ju), the Maloris Foundation and the Memorial Sloan- Kettering Core Grant (P30CA008748) (to Dinshaw J. Patel), a grant from The JPB Foundation to Rockefeller University (to Thomas Tuschl). Funding was also provided by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq, 441019/2020-0, 307162/2017-6), Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ, E-26/210.182/2020, E-26/201.067/2021, E-26/210.112/2020) and Coordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Ni vel Superior -Brasil (CAPES) - Finance Code 001 (to Thiago Moreno L. Souza and Patricia T. Bozza). CNPq, CAPES and FAPERJ also support the National Institutes of Science and Tech-nology Program (INCT-IDPN, 465313/2014-0). Oswaldo Cruz Foundation/FIOCRUZ supports this study under the auspices of the Inova Program (B3-Bovespa funding, VGPDI-032-ARVC-20) (to Thiago Moreno L. Souza).

COI: The authors declare no competing interests.

About the Studies

Journal: Science Advances

Title: Ionic communication for implantable bioelectronics

Authors: Zifang Zhao, George Spyropoulos, Claudia Cea, Jennifer N. Gelinas and Dion Khodagholy.

Jurnal: Advanced Science 

Title: Anisotropic Ion Conducting Particulate Composites for Bioelectronics

Authors: Dickson R. Yao, Han Yu, Onni J. Rauhala, Claudia Cea, Zifang Zhao, Jennifer N. Gelinas and Dion Khodagholy.

Department of Electrical Engineering.
Department of Neurology.

Institute for Genomic Medicine.

Both these studies were supported by the Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science, the Columbia University Medical Center, Department of Neurology and Institute for Genomic Medicine, NIH grant 1U01NS108923-01, NIH grant R01NS118091, NIH grant R21 EY 32381-01, NSF CAREER award 1944415, and NSF EAGER grant 2027135.

COI: The authors declare no financial or other conflicts of interest.