Advanced Biosystems - Looking Back on our First Year and Welcome to 2018
At a Glance
Section titled âAt a Glanceâ| Metadata | Details |
|---|---|
| Publication Date | 2018-01-01 |
| Journal | Advanced Biosystems |
| Authors | Kerstin Brachhold |
Abstract
Section titled âAbstractâAdvanced Biosystems has had a successful year, opening for submission in late 2016 and publishing a first issue in February 2017 and regular monthly issues ever since. In total, in 2017 Advanced Biosystems has already published 65 articles: 39 Full Papers, 16 Communications, 6 Reviews, and 4 Progress Reports. The articles span a wide selection of topics at the interface of biology, biotechnology, physical sciences and engineering in line with the journalâs broad scope. So what types of âBiosystemsâ do we cover in Advanced Biosystems? First of all, these âsystemsâ encompass a wide range of different scales ranging from nano- via micro- to macro-scale: from biochemistry and molecular interactions of biomolecules via organelles and cells to tissues, organs and even whole organisms. At all of these scales, the biosystems we cover can either be natural or synthetic or a combination of both; this includes for example genetically modified and artificial organisms as well as biomimetics and biohybrids. Furthermore, Advanced Biosystems covers various applications of these different âbiosystemsâ: from applied biotechnology (including DNA, protein and metabolic engineering) to medical applications (including diagnostics, gene therapy, drug delivery and personalized medicine). The articles we have published so far are already being recognized, and some of them have received quite a bit of attention - not only via (social) media but also by being cited in other articles. The following were amongst our most popular articles: âMuscle-Cell-Based âLiving Diodesââ, âAn Engineered Human Fc-Mannose-Binding-Lectin Captures Circulating Tumor Cellsâ and âImaging Bacterial Colonies and Phage-Bacterium Interaction at Sub-Nanometer Resolution Using Helium-Ion MicroÂscopyâ. All of these were also featured on the covers of the respective issues they appeared in (see Figure 1). 2017 also saw the publication of our first Special Issue. The November Issue was dedicated to the Engineering and Life Herrenhausen Symposium that took place in October 2016. This issue was guest-edited by Robert Lovrincic and Gerardo Hernandez-Sosa and featured articles on the following topics: carbon nanotubes for biomimetically inspired sensing by Jörg Schneider (article number 1700101), conjugated polymer nanoparticles for in vivo theranostics by Alexander Kuehne (article number 1700100), electrical imaging and its applications in neuroscience by GĂŒnther Zeck et al. (article number 1700107), covalently bound anti-human immunoglobulins for immunoassay development by Brigitte Holzer et al. (article number 1700107) and finally virus-directed synthesis of nanostructured hybrids by Petia Atanasova et al. (article number 1700106). Not only are Advanced Biosystemâs topics diverse, but so are the origins of our authors. The 65 articles mentioned above were authored by scientists from more than 20 different countries including the USA, UK, China, South Korea, Germany, France and Spain, to name just a few. During the last year, you may also have noticed that our most interesting content is regularly highlighted on our news website Advanced Science News (http://www.advancedsciencenews.com/). This allows us to reach a truly global audience and to make people aware of the excellent research published in our new journal. We encourage you to take a look at this site to explore attractive content not only from Advanced Biosystems, but also from many other journals in our portfolio. In addition to our publishing activities, we have also taken first steps towards getting Advanced Biosystems indexed in Clarivate Analyticsâ (formerly Thomson Reuterâs) Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) as well as in Pubmed. In this first issue of 2018, we are pleased to once again bring you a wide variety of different research topics. In article number 1700190, Sang Yup Lee and colleagues review how various natural compounds - such as terpenoids, phenylpropanoids, polyketides and alkaloids - can be produced via metabolic engineering of microorganisms. In the second review of this issue, Peter Kim et al. discuss the role of mechanoregulation on the fate of myofibroblasts and its relevance for fibrotic disease dynamics (article number 1700172), and in article number 1700115, Eduardo FernĂĄndez and Pablo Botella review the biotolerability of intracortical microelectrodes - a prerequisite for the clinical application of any neural implant. Continuing with the topic of neural implants, in the work illustrated on the cover (article number 1700081), Thomas Stieglitz and colleagues demonstrate that the incorporation of silicon carbide and diamond-like carbon greatly improves the in vitro and in vivo stability of glassy carbon electrocorticography arrays. Article number 1700164 also depicts research on microelectrodes. Jolien Pas et al. cultured primary cortical cells as well as 3D clusters (so-called neurospheres) on microelectrode arrays and show that these 3D structures enhance electrophysiology recordings. Nuno Oliveira et al. present work on human adipose-derived stem cell spheroids (article number 1700069). They applied a superhydrophobic platform with a hanging drop system to produce 3D spheroids/microtissues and cultured them under conditioned direct and indirect coculture setups. This application may be used for the massive production of modulated spheroids for biomedical and pharmaceutical purposes. Using spermatozoa from Ciona, Joseph Wang and colleagues developed free swimming sperm micromotors (article number 1700160). These biomotors were functionalized with a variety of synthetic nanoscale payloads, such as CdSe/ZnS quantum dots or doxorubicin hydrochloride drug coated iron-oxide nanoparticles and therefore offer great potential for diverse biomedical and environmental applications. Frank Mickoleit and Dirk SchĂŒler generated multifunctional magnetic nanoparticles by genetic expression of foreign polypetides on bacterial magnetosomes (article number 1700109). In particular, they expressed arrays of up to five monomers of the model enzyme glucuronidase plus the additional fluorophore mEGFP. This technology represents a powerful approach to generate biohybrid magnetic nanoparticles with tunable functionalities. In article number 1700095, Murugesan Raju et al. developed a cell-penetrating chaperone peptide that prevents protein aggregation and protects against cell apoptosis. They fused the cell-penetrating peptide VPTLK (derived from the Ku70 protein) to the N-terminus of the chaperone site of αA-crystallin and showed that this synthetic minichaperone protects unfolding proteins from aggregations and prevents cellular apoptosis. Xia Li et al. present work on mesoporous Îł-AlOOH nanorods (article number 1700114). These nanorods exhibit a high loading capacity for a model cancer antigen as well as a strong intracellular uptake and are therefore well suited to be used for cancer immunotherapy. Finally, the editorial team of Advanced Biosystems wants to thank our authors and reviewers as well as our Editorial Board and readers who have all contributed to this successful first year. We are looking forward to your continued support as we are entering our second year of publication that will - without doubt - be no less exciting than the first.