From isolated structures to continuous networks: A categorization of cytoskeleton-based motile engineered biological microstructures.

ABSTRACT: As technology at the small scale is advancing, motile engineered microstructures are becoming useful in drug delivery, biomedicine, and lab-on-a-chip devices. However, traditional engineering methods and materials can be inefficient or functionally inadequate for small-scale applications. Increasingly, researchers are turning to the biology of the cytoskeleton, including microtubules, actin filaments, kinesins, dyneins, myosins, and associated proteins, for both inspiration and solutions. They are engineering structures with components that range from being entirely biological to being entirely synthetic mimics of biology and on scales that range from isotropic continuous networks to single isolated structures. Motile biological microstructures trace their origins from the development of a

SUBMITTER: Andorfer R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6881777 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature