ArticleNature communications2022
Building programmable multicompartment artificial cells incorporating remotely activated protein channels using microfluidics and acoustic levitation.
Article in Nature communications, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 70 citations in OpenAlex.
- Let There be Light! Light as an Engine and Regulator in Synthetic Cells.Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English) · 2026Review
- Precision acoustofluidics for high-throughput mechanobiology in suspension cells.Science advances · 2026Article
- Label-free robotic mitochondrial biopsy.Science advances · 2025Article
- Editorial for the Special Issue on the Application of Microfluidic Technology in Bioengineering.Micromachines · 2025Article
- Real-Time Fluorescence-Based Method for Dynamic Quantification of Droplet Network Assembly.ACS omega · 2025Article
- Sound-controlled fluidic processor.Science advances · 2025Article
- An acoustofluidic embedding platform for rapid multiphase microparticle injection.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Droplet acoustofluidics: Recent progress and challenges.Biomicrofluidics · 2025Review
- Biological Acoustic Levitation and Its Potential Application for Microgravity Study.Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Microfluidic Production of Spatially Structured Biomimetic Microgels as Compartmentalized Artificial Cells.Small science · 2025Article
- Self-Sustained Biophotocatalytic Nano-Organelle Reactors with Programmable DNA Switches for Combating Tumor Metastasis.Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) · 2025Article
- Microscale Flow Control and Droplet Generation Using Arduino-Based Pneumatically-Controlled Microfluidic Device.Biosensors · 2024Article
- Manipulation of encapsulated artificial phospholipid membranes using sub-micellar lysolipid concentrations.Communications chemistry · 2024Article
- A microscale soft lithium-ion battery for tissue stimulation.Nature chemical engineering · 2024Article
- High-yield and rapid isolation of extracellular vesicles by flocculation via orbital acoustic trapping: FLOAT.Microsystems & nanoengineering · 2024Article
- An investigative study into an oscillatory reaction in acoustically levitated droplets.RSC advances · 2023Article
- Artificial cells eavesdropping on HepG2 cells.Interface focus · 2023Article
- Opportunities to accelerate extracellular vesicle research with cell-free synthetic biology.Journal of extracellular biology · 2023Article
- Effective Cell Transfection in An Ultrasonically Levitated Droplet for Sustainable Technology.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Intracellular compartments are functional units that support the metabolism within living cells, through spatiotemporal regulation of chemical reactions and biological processes. Consequently, as a step forward in the bottom-up creation of artificial cells, building analogous intracellular architectures is essential for the expansion of cell-mimicking functionality. Herein, we report the development of a droplet laboratory platform to engineer complex emulsion-based, multicompartment artificial cells, using microfluidics and acoustic levitation. Such levitated models provide free-standing, dynamic, definable droplet networks for the compartmentalisation of chemical species. Equally, they can be remotely operated with pneumatic, heating, and magnetic elements for post-processing, including the incorporation of membrane proteins; alpha-hemolysin; and mechanosensitive channel of large-conductance. The assembly of droplet networks is three-dimensionally patterned with fluidic input configurations determining droplet contents and connectivity, whilst acoustic manipulation can be harnessed to reconfigure the droplet network in situ. The mechanosensitive channel can be repeatedly activated and deactivated in the levitated artificial cell by the application of acoustic and magnetic fields to modulate membrane tension on demand. This offers possibilities beyond one-time chemically mediated activation to provide repeated, non-contact, control of membrane protein function. Collectively, this expands our growing capability to program and operate increasingly sophisticated artificial cells as life-like materials.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.