Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39938118›Full record

ReviewPhysiology (Bethesda, Md.)2025

Synthetic Forms Most Beautiful: Engineering Insights into Self-Organization.

Zhejing Xu, Chih-Chia Chang, Scott M Coyle

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Physiology (Bethesda, Md.), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. A self-organizing single-cell morphology circuit optimizesbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025
    Article
  5. Decoding ultrasensitive self-assembly of the calcium-regulatedbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Zhejing XuDepartment of Biochemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wisconsin, United States.
Chih-Chia ChangDepartment of Biochemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wisconsin, United States.
Scott M CoyleDepartment of Biochemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wisconsin, United States.ORCID 0000-0003-2451-8763

Funding

Cellular FM-radios: seeing, probing, and perturbing single-cell protein activity dynamics in biological systems with frequency-barcoded spatiotemporal signaling circuitsDP2GM154329 · NIGMS · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · PI SCOTT M. COYLE · 2023 to 2026
$2.3M
David and Lucile Packard Foundation (PF)HHS | NIH | National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) 1DP2GM154329-01NIGMS NIH HHS DP2 GM154329
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Reflecting on the diversity of the natural world, Darwin famously observed that "from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being evolved." However, the examples that we are able to observe in nature are a consequence of chance, constrained by selection, drift, and epistasis. Here we explore how the efforts of synthetic biology to build new living systems can expand our understanding of the fundamental design principles that allow life to self-organize biological form, from cellular to organismal levels. We suggest that the ability to impose a length or timescale onto a biological activity is an essential strategy for self-organization in evolved systems and a key design target that is now being realized synthetically at all scales. By learning to integrate these strategies together, we are poised to expand on evolution's success and realize a space of synthetic forms not only beautiful but with diverse applications and transformative potential.

Indexed as

Synthetic BiologyAnimalsBiological EvolutionHumansbiological form and functionevolutionself-organizationspatiotemporal controlsynthetic biology

Identifiers

PMID39938118
PMCPMC12210135

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

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.