Molecular Systems Engineering

New pharmaceuticals, cleaner fuels, biodegradable plastics: in order to meet society’s needs, chemists have to develop new synthesis methods to obtain new products that do not exist in their natural state. The Matile group, in collaboration with Cardiff University, has discovered how to use an external electric field to control and accelerate a chemical reaction, like a ‘‘switch’’. This work could have a considerable impact on the development of new molecules, enabling not only more environmentally friendly synthesis, but also very simple external control of a chemical reaction.
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Researchers from the Platt group have developed a method that lets them genetically modify each cell differently in animals. This allows them to study in a single experiment what used to require many animal experiments. Using the new method, the researchers have discovered genes that are relevant for a severe rare genetic disorder.
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"We will rock you": NCCR MSE researchers from the Fussenegger group are developing a gene switch that triggers insulin release in designer cells by playing certain rock and pop songs. The insulin-​producing designer cells were equipped with an ion channel of a bacterium that reacts to mechanical stimuli like sound waves.
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A special issue commemorating Wolfgang Meier, who had significant contributions in the fields of amphiphilic copolymer syntheses and their hierarchical self-assembly, block copolymer vesicles (so-called polymersomes), and hybrid membranes has been published jointly by Macromolecular Rapid Communications and Macromolecular Bioscience.
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Human pluripotent stem cells can be used to derive in vitro models recapitulating post-implantation human embryos. While useful for research purposes, such integrated embryo models raise ethical issues that need to be addressed to facilitate ethically appropriate policies and regulations that permit scientific ingenuity and medical progress. A perspective written by Alessandro Blasimme from the Vayena group.
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Every day, millions of cells die in our body. Other than generally assumed, cells do not simply burst at the end of their lives but rather, a specific protein serves as a breaking point for cell membrane rupture. As part of a larger initiative,  researchers from the Müller group have now been able to elucidate the exact mechanism at the atomic level. They have published their results in the journal Nature.
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Researchers from Basel and Zurich, including the NCCR MSE groups of Treutlein, Roska and Scholl are creating a high-​resolution atlas that depicts the development of the human retina. One technique they use is a new method that allows them to visualise more than 50 proteins simultaneously. The results have been published in the journal Nature Biotechnology.
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Researchers in the Roska group have identified a new brain circuit in mouse embryos that develops at an unexpectedly early stage. Their findings may provide new insights into circuit abnormalities in autism. The results have been published in the journal Cell.
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A fuel cell under the skin that converts blood sugar from the body into electrical energy sounds like science fiction. Yet it works perfectly, as the NCCR MSE research team led by Martin Fussenegger has shown. This allows the use of excess metabolic energy to produce electricity to power biomedical devices. When combined with artificial, insulin-​releasing beta cells, the system produces insulin at the touch of a button and effectively lowers blood glucose levels.
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