The cellular microenvironment is a dynamic arena governing both mammalian tissue regeneration and microbial adaptation to environmental stress. Effectively modulating these microenvironments requires a dual approach: mining novel functional compounds from diverse biological resources and engineering advanced biomaterials. Recent breakthroughs in high-throughput technologies, such as droplet microfluidics and transcriptomics, have revolutionized our ability to screen unique microbial strains, analyze cellular metabolism, and dissect complex biological networks at single-cell resolution. Concurrently, the discovery of cellular metabolites provides a rich library of natural bioactive agents. Integrating these cellularly sourced functional molecules into smart composite biomaterials enables targeted intervention against oxidative stress, irradiation, and infection. Bridging cellular metabolic mining with functional material engineering to modulate the cellular microenvironment represents a powerful, multi-disciplinary frontier in biotechnology.
The primary goal of this Research Topic is to bridge the gap between advanced bio-screening methods, cellular metabolic mining, and the rational design of functional biomaterials for microenvironmental regulation. While nature provides a vast repository of biological resources with unique adaptive capabilities, and material science offers sophisticated matrices for tissue engineering and protective delivery, a significant gap remains in seamlessly integrating these disciplines.
We aim to address this challenge by highlighting multi-disciplinary research that utilizes high-throughput platforms (e.g., droplet microfluidics) and multi-omic approaches to accelerate the discovery, engineering, and mechanistic elucidation of bioactive compounds, protective metabolites, or engineered chassis cells. Furthermore, we explore how these cellularly sourced agents can be effectively integrated into advanced functional materials to combat environmental and physiological stress, thereby promoting tissue repair or enhancing cellular performance. By bringing together breakthroughs in synthetic biology, bioprocessing, and biomaterials, this collection seeks to establish a comprehensive pipeline from natural biological discovery to engineered microenvironmental solutions.
This Research Topic welcomes Original Research, Reviews, and Perspectives at the intersection of bioengineering, synthetic biology, and material sciences. We encourage submissions that address the following themes:
1. Discovery, isolation, and metabolic characterization of novel biological resources producing functional compounds. 2. Application of droplet microfluidics, automated screening, and metabolic engineering for high-throughput cellular analysis, strain evolution, and compound screening. 3. Multi-omic and transcriptomic investigations into the molecular networks governing cellular stress responses, metabolic pathways, or tissue regeneration. 4. Design, fabrication, and evaluation of advanced functional biomaterials (e.g., composite hydrogels, microfluidic-generated matrices) incorporating cellularly sourced molecules for antioxidant, antibacterial, anti-irradiation, or regenerative applications. 5. Deployment of computational models or AI-driven systems to optimize bioprocessing or guide functional biomaterial design.
Article types and fees
This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:
Brief Research Report
Case Report
Data Report
Editorial
FAIR² Data
General Commentary
Hypothesis and Theory
Methods
Mini Review
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Article types
This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:
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