SINGAPORE, May 16, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- What if your eyes could use light to heal themselves? Drawing inspiration from how plants harness sunlight, researchers at the National University of Singapore (NUS) are pioneering a revolutionary treatment for dry eye disease. Their approach uses a light-activated technology derived from the photosynthetic membranes of the spinach plant, enabling the eye to stay continuously hydrated. This offers a solution that is simple, effective and non-invasive.

Dry eye disease, also known as keratoconjunctivitis sicca, is one of the most common eye conditions, affecting more than 1.5 billion people worldwide. Far more than a minor discomfort, the disease causes corneal scarring, chronic pain, blurred vision and sensitivity to light. Various studies have linked it to depression, anxiety and reduced workplace productivity, as well as an economic burden estimated at US$3.84 billion annually in the United States alone. Current treatments such as cyclosporine A (Restasis®) and lifitegrast (Xiidra®) target inflammation through specific molecular pathways, but their high costs and adverse side effects limit long-term use.

At the cellular level, the disease is driven by a vicious cycle. Inflammation in the corneal region generates reactive oxygen species (ROS), chemically aggressive molecules that damage cells. Healthy eyes can neutralise ROS through antioxidant production that is driven by Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide Phosphate (reduced form) (NADPH). But in inflamed eyes, ROS levels overwhelm the cornea's natural defences, resulting in the generation of even more ROS – a death spiral.

A team led by Associate Professor David Leong Tai Wei from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering in the College of Design and Engineering at NUS has developed a fundamentally different approach by transplanting functional plant-derived photosynthetic machinery into corneal cells, enabling them to harvest ambient light and produce NADPH independently from the cells' own NADPH production pathways. In preclinical studies, the technology, delivered as simple eye drops at doses so low that it does not interfere with colour perception, reversed corneal damage to near-healthy levels within five days, outperforming Restasis®.

The study was published online in the scientific journal Cell on 15 May 2026.

An eye-opening biological crossover

Evolutionarily, plants and animals have taken divergent paths such that animals, with one exception, are not able to photosynthesise. This exception is the sacoglossan sea slug, which ingests and stores away the chloroplasts (organelles responsible for photosynthesis in plant cells) of microalgae within its intestinal cells. When starved, these sea slugs can live off the nutrients made through photosynthesis — the only known case of an animal being able to photosynthesise just like a plant. This unusual animal trait raised an intriguing question: could mammals also acquire some limited form of photosynthesis?

To test out their ideas, the NUS researchers chose the eye as it is one of the few organs in the human body that absorbs visible light — just like plant leaves. They engineered LEAF (Light-reaction Enriched thylAkoid NADPH-Foundry), a nanosized, structurally preserved version of the thylakoid grana — the tightly stacked membrane compartments inside the chloroplasts of plant cells where light energy is harnessed and converted to NADPH molecules. During photosynthesis, the NADPH molecules are subsequently used to produce glucose, providing energy and food for the plant.

The team's core innovation was to strip away the part of the chloroplasts that consumes NADPH while keeping the thylakoids, where the light-reactions machinery of photosynthesis is, intact. This resulted in a nanosized package that acts as a dedicated NADPH factory capable of producing about 20 per cent more NADPH compared to unpackaged thylakoids. Prepared from the familiar spinach leaves using a patented, mild mechanical and chemical extraction method developed by the NUS team, the particles are roughly 400 nanometres across — small enough to be readily absorbed by cells. LEAF, when in the cells, then produces photosynthetic NADPH upon exposure to ambient light sources, and the NADPH produced tackles dry eye disease via two pathways – inside and outside the cell.

"This is an exciting finding as we have, for the first time, demonstrated that plant photosynthetic machinery can be transplanted into mammalian tissue to generate biologically useful molecules, powered entirely by the same light that enables our vision. We, too, can have limited photosynthetic abilities." said Dr Xing Kuoran, the first author of the work.

Tested in living tissue

In laboratory tests on inflamed cells, LEAF restored NADPH levels within 30 minutes of light exposure, suppressed ROS and pivoted immune cells in the cornea from a pro-inflammatory to an anti-inflammatory state. When tested directly in tear samples collected from patients with dry eye disease, LEAF increased NADPH levels roughly 20-fold and reduced hydrogen peroxide, a key cell-damaging oxidant, by more than 95 per cent.

In their first preclinical trial in collaboration with ophthalmologists from Eye Centre of Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University, LEAF administered as eye drops under ambient indoor lighting reversed corneal damage to near-healthy levels within five days, outperforming Restasis®. A second preclinical trial also confirmed the therapeutic effect. Safety assessments, including skin sensitisation, eye irritation and organ toxicity studies conducted over two months showed no adverse effects. The team plans to conduct clinical trials to further validate the technology.

More than meets the eye

"With LEAF, we now have a technology that harnesses ambient light to directly restore the molecule that dry eye disease depletes," added Assoc Prof Leong. "As it is derived from spinach, delivered as a simple eye drop, requires no external device or power source and using the ambient light that is used for vision, we believe it has a strong potential for clinical translation. It is almost surreal when thinking of a possible future reality where human cells can have some limited but beneficial form of photosynthetic ability not only in the eye but elsewhere, too."

In addition, as oxidative stress underpins a wide range of inflammatory conditions beyond dry eye disease, the team also sees potential for LEAF-based approaches wherever the body's antioxidant defences are overwhelmed, particularly in tissues naturally accessible to visible light such as the retina, skin and underlying skeletal muscles. They are also developing new strategies that can produce therapeutically useful photosynthesised molecules in internal organs without the need for visible light penetration.

Read more: https://news.nus.edu.sg/eyes-that-photosynthesise

SINGAPORE, May 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Researchers at the National University of Singapore (NUS) have developed a high-throughput method to identify gold nanoparticles capable of delivering therapies directly to mitochondria (the energy centres inside cancer cells). By tagging nanoparticles with unique DNA "barcodes", the team was able to track and compare dozens of designs simultaneously in living tumour models, rapidly identifying those most effective at reaching this critical subcellular target.

The approach enables researchers to systematically evaluate how nanoparticle design, including shape, size and surface chemistry, influences their ability to accumulate in tumours and reach mitochondria. Among the candidates tested, two formulations emerged as standout performers. One, a folic acid-modified cubic gold nanoparticle, achieved 99 per cent tumour regression in preclinical studies when used in a combined treatment involving mitochondria-targeted RNA therapy and mild photothermal therapy.

Led by Assistant Professor Andy Tay from the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the College of Design and Engineering and the Institute for Health Innovation & Technology at NUS, the study demonstrates how large libraries of nanomaterials can be screened efficiently inside living systems, providing a rational framework for designing nanoparticles that deliver drugs with far greater precision. The study was published in Advanced Materials on 17 February 2026.

A barcode system for navigating the body

Mitochondria are attractive targets in cancer therapy because they regulate key processes such as energy production and programmed cell death. Delivering drugs directly to these organelles can disrupt tumour metabolism and trigger cancer cell death. However, nanoparticles must overcome a series of biological barriers before reaching mitochondria: travelling through the bloodstream, entering tumours, penetrating cells and escaping cellular compartments that would otherwise degrade therapeutic cargo.

"Getting nanoparticles to the right place inside the body involves putting them through a complicated obstacle course," said Asst Prof Tay. "Harnessing DNA barcodes enables us to track many nanoparticle designs simultaneously in living systems and quickly identify which ones can jump through various biological hoops successfully."

In the study, each gold nanoparticle formulation was tagged with a unique DNA sequence, allowing the researchers to trace its distribution using next-generation sequencing. The team tested a library of 30 nanoparticle designs that varied in shape, size and targeting ligands. After administering the pooled nanoparticles to tumour-bearing preclinical models, the researchers analysed where each design accumulated — from whole organs to specific tumour cell types and ultimately to mitochondria.

This multiplexed approach generated more than 1,000 in vivo data points while requiring around 30-fold fewer in vivo models than conventional one-by-one screening experiments.

The work builds on the team's earlier study published in November 2024, which first demonstrated the use of DNA barcoding to track nanoparticle biodistribution in tumours. While the previous study compared six nanoparticle designs at the tissue level, this new one greatly expands the library and extends the platform to analyse behaviour at cellular and subcellular scales.

"The results revealed an important insight: nanoparticles that accumulated efficiently in tumours were also far more likely to reach mitochondria," added Asst Prof Tay. "In other words, successful tumour targeting appears to be a prerequisite for effective subcellular delivery."

Among the nanoparticle formulations tested, two caught the team's attention. Large spherical particles modified with folic acid accumulated strongly in tumours, partly due to a protective protein layer that prolonged circulation in the bloodstream. Meanwhile, large cubic nanoparticles entered tumour cells more efficiently through clathrin-mediated endocytosis — a cellular uptake pathway — enabling effective mitochondrial delivery.

A step towards precision nanomedicine

To explore the therapeutic potential of these findings, the researchers tested the cubic nanoparticle formulation in a combined treatment strategy. The particles were engineered to deliver small interfering RNA (siRNA) that disrupts mitochondrial gene expression, while also generating heat under near-infrared light through photothermal therapy.

This dual approach produced strong anticancer effects in preclinical studies. When applied together, the treatments led to almost complete tumour elimination after a single dose.

Beyond killing cancer cells directly, the nanoparticles also interacted with tumour-associated macrophages (immune cells that normally support tumour growth). The therapy appeared to shift these cells toward a tumour-fighting state, suggesting the approach may help reshape the tumour immune environment.

"Our findings show that nanoparticle design is not governed by a single factor such as shape or size," added Asst Prof Tay. "Instead, multiple properties interact in complex ways. High-throughput screening platforms like ours allow us to uncover these relationships and move beyond trial-and-error in nanomedicine design."

The platform could accelerate the development of precision nanomedicine by enabling researchers to rapidly identify nanoparticle designs suited for specific biological targets. Potential applications include targeted delivery of RNA therapies, gene-silencing treatments and photothermal agents for cancer and other diseases.

Looking ahead, the research team plans to expand the nanoparticle library further and integrate automation and artificial intelligence tools to analyse the large datasets generated by the screening platform. The researchers also aim to extend the method to target other cellular organelles, opening new possibilities for highly specific drug delivery within cells.

Read more at: https://news.nus.edu.sg/dna-barcodes-help-nus-researchers-pinpoint-gold-nanoparticles/.

SINGAPORE, March 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Researchers at the National University of Singapore (NUS) have developed a platform that lets lab-grown muscle tissues train themselves to record-breaking strength, with no external stimulation required. By mechanically coupling two muscle tissues so they continuously pull against each other, their own natural contractions become a round-the-clock workout. The resulting muscles powered OstraBot, an ostraciiform (a type of fish locomotion) swimming robot that reached 467 millimetres per minute — the fastest speed reported for any skeletal muscle-driven biohybrid robot.

The advance removes a long-standing bottleneck in biohybrid robotics — machines driven by living cells rather than conventional motors. Because muscle-based actuators are soft, quiet and efficient at small scales, stronger versions could unlock minimally invasive biomedical tools, soft environmental sensors and fully biodegradable robots that safely degrade after completing their task.

"For years, researchers have been interested in building robots powered by living muscle because biological actuation is soft, adaptive and energy-efficient at small scales. However, the performance of these systems has been limited by the low force output of cultured skeletal muscle. If the actuator is weak, the robot cannot move fast, generate meaningful thrust, or perform useful tasks," said Assistant Professor Tan Yu Jun from the Department of Mechanical Engineering in the College of Design and Engineering at NUS, who led the research.

"The purpose of this study was not just to build a faster robot, but to remove a fundamental bottleneck in the field and open the door to high-performance biohybrid systems designed with sustainability in mind," Asst Prof Tan added.

The study was published in Nature Communications on 18 March 2026. In December 2025, the first author of the paper, Dr Chen Pengyu, won the Best Poster Award based on this study at the Materials Research Society (MRS) Fall Meeting 2025, one of the largest international conferences for materials science research.

Two muscles in an arm-wrestling match

The key insight came from a behaviour that biologists have long observed but rarely exploited: the spontaneous contractions that young skeletal muscle cells produce as they mature. Starting around day three of differentiation, engineered tissues begin twitching on their own, peaking by day five before fading as the cells reach full maturity. Although most researchers had treated this as a biological curiosity, the NUS team treated it as a training resource.

They designed a platform in which two muscle tissues are coupled through a sliding block, so that when one contracts, it stretches the other, which then contracts back. The result is continuous cycles of shortening and lengthening that run autonomously throughout the week of early maturation, with no external power source, control unit or manual intervention.

"As the cells mature, they naturally begin to contract spontaneously. Because the two tissues are connected, they continuously pull against each other, effectively exercising without any external control," explained Asst Prof Tan.

The self-trained muscles generated a maximum force of 7.05 millinewtons and a stress of 8.51 millinewtons per square millimetre — the highest values recorded for this cell line in biohybrid robotics, and more than an order of magnitude above many previously reported figures. The method uses a commercially available muscle cell line found in labs worldwide, making it far more reproducible and cheaper than conventional approaches.

Optimising OstraBot to achieve personal bests

The team developed a physiology-based model tracing the full chain from electrical stimulation through calcium signalling and muscle activation to force output, then used it to guide OstraBot's design. Inspired by the boxfish, which keeps its body rigid and propels itself entirely by oscillating its tail, OstraBot pairs this model-informed structure with a single trained muscle that drives two flexible tails. At optimal stiffness and 3 Hz stimulation, it swam more than three times faster than an identical robot powered by conventionally cultured muscle.

Beyond speed, the robot demonstrated something equally significant: precise controllability. Its speed could be tuned continuously by adjusting electrical field strength, and a sound-triggered system let it start and stop in response to clapping signals.

"The clap shows that the robot is not just alive — it is controllable. In the past, muscle-powered robots either moved constantly without clear control or were too weak to respond visibly. Our strengthened skeletal muscle allows the robot to react clearly to an external signal, similar to how nerves control muscles in the body," said Asst Prof Tan. "This demonstrates that biohybrid robots can combine strength with precise regulation, which is essential for real-world applications."

Robots with a vanishing act

The NUS team is now pursuing systems in which all structural materials are biodegradable — robots that perform their function and then safely break down. Possible applications include environmental monitoring devices deployed in sensitive ecosystems such as wetlands or coral reefs, as well as temporary implantable tools that perform a clinical task before dissolving inside the body, eliminating the need for surgical retrieval.

"Strength is one important milestone, but long-term stability, energy efficiency and lifecycle design are equally important," said Asst Prof Tan. "Ultimately, we aim to develop biohybrid machines that are not only high-performance but also environmentally responsible by design."

The team's next steps include integrating biodegradable structural materials, refining control strategies and improving the durability and efficiency of muscle-powered robotic systems.

Read more at: https://news.nus.edu.sg/what-a-flex-swimming-robot

SINGAPORE, Dec. 9, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Researchers at the National University of Singapore (NUS) have developed dissolving microneedle patches that deliver living "biofertiliser" straight into plant tissue. In greenhouse tests, Choy Sum and Kale grew faster — by shoot biomass, leaf area and height — while using over 15 per cent less biofertiliser than standard soil inoculation.

The approach points to more precise fertiliser delivery, less waste and potentially lower off-target environmental impact, with near-term fit for urban and vertical farms and for high-value crops that benefit from controlled dosing.

Biofertiliser, which contain beneficial bacteria and fungi that help crops absorb nutrients and tolerate stress, are usually added to soil. There, they must compete with native microbes and can be hindered by acidity and various other conditions. Much of the input never reaches the roots. By placing beneficial bacteria or fungi directly into leaves or stems, the new method developed by the NUS team bypasses those hurdles and accelerates early gains.

"Inspired by how microbes can migrate within the human body, we hypothesised that by delivering beneficial microbes directly into the plant's tissues, like a leaf or stem, they could travel to the roots and still perform their function, but much more effectively and be less vulnerable to soil conditions," said Assistant Professor Andy Tay from Department of Biomedical Engineering at the College of Design and Engineering at NUS, and Principal Investigator at the Institute for Health Innovation & Technology (iHealthtech), who led the work.

The study was published in Advanced Functional Materials on 13 September 2025.

Gentle delivery

The team fabricated plant-tuned microneedles from polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), a biodegradable, low-cost polymer. For leaves, a 1 cm by 1 cm patch carries a 40 by 40 array of pyramids about 140 μm long, while a short row of roughly 430-μm needles suits thicker stems. Microbes are blended into the PVA solution, cast into tiny moulds and locked in the needle tips. Pressed by the thumb or with a simple handheld applicator that spreads force evenly, the needles slip into plant tissue and dissolve within about a minute, releasing their microbial cargo.

In laboratory tests, the patch barely disturbed plant tissue or function. Shallow indentations in leaves faded within two hours; chlorophyll readings remained stable; and stress-response gene expression, which briefly rose after insertion, returned to baseline within 24 hours. The patches maintained high microbial viability after storage for up to four weeks – this means the patches can be prepared in advance – and importantly, loading concentration translated to delivered dose, which enables controlled application that is difficult to achieve in soil. A 3D-printed applicator provided uniform insertion across large leaf areas and could become an integral component in future robotic automation.

Proving the approach

The NUS team demonstrated that delivering a plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) cocktail of Streptomyces and Agromyces-Bacillus through leaves or stems improved growth in Choy Sum and Kale compared to untreated controls and gave better results than soil treatments with microbes. PGPR is commonly used to improve nutrient uptake and stimulate growth hormones in plants.

Additionally, the plants grew more as the researchers loaded more microbes into each patch, up to an effective ceiling. Beyond that, extra microbes did not help the plants grow further. This lets growers determine the lowest effective dose, which in turn cuts costs and waste.

"Our microneedle system successfully delivered biofertiliser into Choy Sum and Kale, enhancing their growth more effectively than traditional methods while using over 15 per cent less biofertiliser," Asst Prof Tay said. "By faster growth we refer to higher total plant weight, larger leaf area and higher plant height."

The team tracked the bacteria as they moved from the injected leaves to the roots within days. At the roots, the bacteria nudged the root microbiome towards a more beneficial mix without throwing it out of balance. Plant chemical readouts showed that the main energy-production cycle (involves cells turning sugars into usable energy) was working harder, nitrogen was used more efficiently and compounds needed for growth were synthesised at a higher rate. The team also observed stronger antioxidant capacity, a sign the plants were better prepared for stress and growth.

The team extended the approach to beneficial fungi. Patches loaded with a Tinctoporellus strain (AR8) promoted Choy Sum growth and adjusted phytohormones levels – the signalling molecules that guide how plants grow, develop, and respond to their surroundings – helping to keep plant growth hormones in balance. "This work is the first to demonstrate that root-associated biofertiliser can be directly delivered into a plant's leaves or stems to enhance growth," Asst Prof Tay added. "With this finding, we introduced a new concept of 'microneedle biofertiliser' that overcomes significant challenges of soil inoculation."

The researchers see early applications in urban and vertical farms where precise dosing matters, as well as in slow-growing, high-value crops such as medicinal herbs. Looking ahead, Asst Prof Tay added, "A major focus is scalability. We plan to explore integrating our microneedle technology with agricultural robotics and automated systems to make it feasible for large-scale farms. We will also test this across a wider variety of crops, such as strawberry, and investigate how these microbes migrate effectively from the leaf to the root."

Read more at: https://news.nus.edu.sg/microneedle-system-deliver-biofertiliser-into-plants-boosting-growth.

SINGAPORE, Oct. 13, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Lead poisoning was once thought to largely be a problem of the past, as the globe gradually weaned itself off leaded gasoline in road vehicles in 2021. But has global lead pollution truly been resolved?

A new study led by Dr Chen Mengli, a Research Fellow from the Tropical Marine Science Institute at the National University of Singapore (NUS), in collaboration with researchers from Imperial College London, University of Warwick, University of Oxford, Jadavpur University, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and University of Bristol, showed the answer is not yet: lead exposure remains a pressing public health and economic challenge in the 21^st century. The researchers estimated that ongoing childhood lead exposure costs the world more than US$3.4 trillion in lost economic potential each year, with disproportionate impacts on low- and middle-income countries.

Published in the Communications Earth & Environment on 30 September 2025, the findings suggest that without stronger safeguards, the ever-increasing demand for electrification and poorly regulated recycling of lead-containing products could entrench global inequalities and set back decades of progress in children's health. To avert this, the researchers proposed a four-pronged strategy that policymakers and industries can act on today.

Lessons from history

Lead has been woven into human society for thousands of years, from the plumbing systems of the Roman Empire to the paints, pipes and industrial alloys still in use today. Its widespread use has left a toxic trail. Some of the earliest mass poisonings were linked to contaminated food and drink in Europe centuries ago. But the most recent incident came with the introduction of tetraethyl lead in gasoline in the 1920s, which for decades spewed millions of tonnes of the metal into the atmosphere.

By the 1970s, children across the world carried dangerously high blood lead levels, and the repercussions were severe, causing neurological damage, impaired development and countless premature deaths. The eventual ban on leaded gasoline, completed worldwide only in 2021, is heralded as one of the great public health victories of the modern era. Importantly, it showed that determined, coordinated global action could reduce exposure and save lives.

However, the team noted that the celebration of a "lead-free" world was premature. While blood lead levels fell in many high-income countries, they plateaued or even rose again in parts of Asia, Africa and Latin America. Legacy contamination from soils and infrastructure, coal combustion, numerous lead-laden products such as leaded paint, and informal recycling of lead-acid batteries and e-wastes have all kept exposure alive.

"The perception that the problem was solved has to change. New sources of exposure continue to emerge and the historical emitted lead keeps redistributing through various natural processes," added Dr Chen, who is also from the Department of Geography, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at NUS.

Today's exposure and economic toll

Lead production today exceeds 16 million tonnes a year, with about 85 per cent going into lead–acid batteries that power vehicles, telecommunications and backup energy systems. Annual production now exceeds the total lead emitted during the entire era of leaded gasoline.

Though these items can be recycled, much of the reprocessing occurs under unsafe conditions, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Informal recycling sites, often located near homes and schools, expose workers and surrounding communities to hazardous levels of lead. Coal combustion, contaminated soils and the continued sale of lead-laden paints, toys, and even food products, further compound the risks.

The researchers noted from numerous literatures that health consequences are most severe for children. Even at low levels, lead can damage the developing brain, lowering IQ, impairing learning and contributing to behavioural issues. This burden is often carried across one's lifetime as the effects are irreversible. In particular, the team estimated that childhood exposure today translates into a global economic loss exceeding US$3.4 trillion annually, equivalent to over 2 per cent of the world's GDP.

Four-pronged approach to curb a resurgence 

The team highlighted that recognising the continuing risks is the first step towards preventing another global health crisis. The study outlined four urgent areas for action to safeguard public health and reduce inequality:

1. Manage the life cycle of lead-containing products. With demand for batteries and electronics rising, stronger oversight is needed to minimise leakage during production, use and disposal.
2. Eliminate unsafe and illicit sources. Informal recycling and lead-laden goods such as lead paints, glazed ceramics and adulterated spices continue to expose millions to hazardous levels of lead.
3. Strengthen monitoring and community involvement. Early detection of lead leakage is often underfunded. Advances in low-cost sensors and machine-learning-based tools, combined with local knowledge, can help identify and address hotspots more effectively.
4. Capture the full socio-economic cost. Lead exposure disproportionately harms disadvantaged populations. Better models and population-level data are needed to quantify long-term impacts on health, education and productivity, as well as guiding equitable policy responses.

"The world rightly celebrated the phase-out of leaded gasoline as a triumph of international cooperation," she said. "But the problem of lead exposure has not yet gone away. Unless we remain vigilant about both new sources of exposure and the legacy of lead in the environment, we may risk repeating the same tragedy," Dr Chen emphasised.

Read more at: https://news.nus.edu.sg/global-lead-exposure-costs-trillions-endangers-children/   

SINGAPORE, July 3, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Clean, safe water is vital for human health and well-being. It also plays a critical role in our food security, supports high-tech industries, and enables sustainable urbanisation. However, detecting contamination quickly and accurately remains a major challenge in many parts of the world. A groundbreaking new device developed by researchers at the National University of Singapore (NUS) has the potential to significantly advance water quality monitoring and management.

Taking inspiration from the biological function of the oily protective layer found on human skin, a team of researchers led by Associate Professor Benjamin Tee from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering in the College of Design and Engineering at NUS translated this concept into a versatile material, named ReSURF, capable of spontaneously forming a water-repellent interface. This new material, which can be prepared through a rapid micro-phase separation approach, autonomously self-heals and can be recycled. The researchers incorporated the material into a device known as a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG), which uses the energy from the movement of water droplets to create an electric charge. The resulting device (ReSURF sensor) can be applied as a water quality monitor.

"The ReSURF sensor can detect various pollutants, such as oils and fluorinated compounds, which are challenging for many existing sensors. This capability, together with unique features such as self-powered, self-healing, reusability and recyclability, positions ReSURF as a sustainable solution for real-time, on-site, and sustainable water quality monitoring," said Assoc Prof Tee.

The team's design of the ReSURF material and performance of the novel water quality sensor were published in the scientific journal Nature Communications on 1 July 2025.

Rapid and sustainable water quality sensing

Existing water quality monitoring technologies such as electrochemical sensors, optical detection systems, and biosensors are effective in certain specific applications, such as detecting heavy metals, phosphorus, and microbial pollution.

However, these technologies often face limitations including slow response, high costs, reliance on external reagents or power sources, limited reusability, and the need for bulky laboratory equipment or specialised instrumentation.

The ReSURF sensor developed by the NUS team effectively overcomes these challenges, particularly in on-site real-time water quality sensing. The self-powered device has demonstrated the ability to detect water contaminants in approximately 6 milliseconds (i.e. around 40 times faster than a blink of the eye).

Additionally, the ReSURF sensor is designed to be self-healing and recyclable, making it a sustainable and low-maintenance solution. Being stretchable and transparent, the material can be easily integrated into flexible platforms, including soft robotics and wearable electronics, setting it apart from conventional sensing materials.

Furthermore, the ReSURF material applied as a sensor offers an environmentally friendly solution as it can be easily recycled due to its solubility in solvents, enabling it to be reused in new devices without suffering a loss in performance.

ReSURF sensor: How it works

The ReSURF sensor monitors water quality by analysing the electrical signals generated when analytes — such as salts, oils, or pollutants — in the water droplets, contact its surface. When water droplets containing analytes strike the water-repellent surface of the sensor, they spread out and slide off quickly, generating electric charges within milliseconds. The magnitude and characteristics of the signal generated would vary according to the composition and concentration of the analytes present. By monitoring these signals in real time, the ReSURF sensor can rapidly and accurately assess water quality without the need for external power sources.

To demonstrate its capabilities, the researchers tested the ReSURF sensor on a pufferfish-like soft robot in detecting oil in water and perfluorooctanoic acid – a common contaminant found in water sources. The test produced promising results with both contaminants producing different voltage signals, providing a proof-of-concept that the ReSURF sensor can be used in early surveillance of possible contamination.

Safeguarding water quality

The ReSURF sensor offers broad application potential. It can be deployed in rivers, lakes, and reservoirs to enable early surveillance of pollutants, allowing for quick response to water contamination emergencies. In agriculture, it is capable of monitoring water safety in areas like rice fields. In industrial settings and sewage treatment plants, the ReSURF sensor could provide valuable insights for wastewater management.

Next steps

The research team hopes to optimise the ReSURF sensor by enhancing the specificity of pollutant detection, integrating wireless data transmission capabilities, and scaling the system for long-term or large-scale environmental monitoring. Additionally, the researchers plan to explore more eco-friendly material alternatives to enhance sustainability and align with evolving environmental regulations.

"Future iterations could integrate additional sensing modalities or machine learning–based signal analysis to enable more precise identification and classification of pollutants. We envision this platform as a foundation for the development of more intelligent and responsive water quality monitoring systems," said Assoc Prof Tee.

Read more at: https://news.nus.edu.sg/nus-researchers-develop-novel-material-for-water-quality-monitoring-device/.

SINGAPORE, April 4, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- A team of researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) has developed a method to fabricate personalised gingival (gum) tissue grafts using an innovative combination of 3D bioprinting and artificial intelligence (AI).

Led by Assistant Professor Gopu Sriram from NUS Faculty of Dentistry, the team's approach presents a more customisable and less invasive alternative to traditional grafting methods, which often involve harvesting tissue from the patient's mouth — a process that can be both uncomfortable and constrained by the availability of suitable tissue.

The 3D bioprinting and AI-enabled technique has the potential to address key challenges in dental procedures more effectively, such as repairing gum defects caused by periodontal disease or complications from dental implants. For instance, by enabling the precise fabrication of tissue constructs tailored to individual patients, the method can significantly improve treatment outcomes, reduce patient discomfort, and minimise the risk of complications, such as infections, during recovery.

The team's research was published in the journal Advanced Healthcare Materials on 17 December 2024, and was supported by grants from National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Cluster (NAMIC) and National University Health System (NUHS).

Turbocharging the bioprinting process with AI

Gum tissue grafts are essential in dental care, particularly for addressing mucogingival defects such as gum recession, and complications arising from periodontal disease or dental implants. Typically, these grafts are harvested from the patient's mouth. Though effective, these procedures come with significant drawbacks: patient discomfort, limited tissue availability, and a higher risk of postoperative complications.

To overcome these challenges, the researchers turned to 3D bioprinting, a technique that fabricates custom-made tissue grafts tailored to the specific dimensions of each patient's defect. They developed a specialised bio-ink which supports the growth of healthy cells, while also ensuring the material can be printed accurately and holds its shape and structure.

However, the viability of 3D bioprinting is only as good as the parameters applied during the process. Factors such as extrusion pressure, print speed, nozzle dimensions, bio-ink viscosity and printhead temperature all play a crucial role in determining the final properties and performance of the printed component. Tuning these parameters has traditionally been done through tedious, manual trial-and-error experiments that are extremely time- and resource-consuming.

"To speed up the 3D bioprinting process, we integrated AI into our workflow to address this critical bottleneck," said Professor Dean Ho, Head of the Department of Biomedical Engineering in the College of Design and Engineering at NUS, and co-corresponding author of the research paper. "This approach greatly streamlines the process by reducing the number of experiments needed to optimise the bioprinting parameters — from potentially thousands to just 25 combinations," added Prof Ho, who is also Director of the Institute for Digital Medicine (WisDM) at NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, and N.1 Institute for Health (N.1) at NUS.

This tremendous efficiency boost afforded by the team's AI-driven workflow saves time and resources while ensuring the creation of tissue constructs with precise dimensions and structural integrity.

"Our study is among the first to specifically integrate 3D bioprinting and AI technologies for the biofabrication of customised oral soft tissue constructs," said Asst Prof Sriram, who is also the Thrust Co-Lead of Dental and Craniofacial 3DP Applications at NUS Centre for Additive Manufacturing (AM.NUS). "3D bioprinting is by far more challenging than conventional 3D printing because it involves living cells, which introduce a host of complexities to the printing process."

The bioprinted gum tissue grafts exhibited strong biomimetic properties, maintaining over 90% cell viability immediately after printing and throughout an 18-day culture period. The grafts also retained their shape and structural integrity, while histological analyses confirmed the presence of key proteins and a multi-layered structure closely resembling natural gum tissue.

The future of dental care

In dentistry, the ability to produce personalised gum tissue grafts with improved efficiency, structural integrity, and biomimetic properties could address longstanding clinical challenges associated with periodontal diseases and dental implants. "This research demonstrates how AI and 3D bioprinting can converge to solve complex medical problems through precision medicine," added Asst Prof Sriram. "By optimising tissue grafts for individual patients, we can reduce the invasiveness of dental procedures while ensuring better healing and recovery."

Excitingly, the potential implications of this research extend beyond dentistry. "3D bioprinting allows us to create tissue grafts that precisely match the dimensions of a patient's wounds, potentially reducing or eliminating the need to harvest tissue from the patient's body," said Asst Prof Sriram.

"This level of customisation minimises graft distortion and tension during wound closure, reducing the risk of complications, surgery time and discomfort to the patients." said Dr Jacob Chew, a periodontist, co-investigator of the study, and Academic Fellow at NUS Faculty of Dentistry.

Furthermore, the scarless healing characteristics of oral tissue provide a unique advantage, as insights from this study could inform the fabrication of similar grafts for other barrier tissues, such as skin, potentially aiding in the scarless healing of skin wounds.

Future research will focus on translating these findings from bench to bedside. The team plans to conduct in vivo studies to assess the integration and stability of the grafts in oral environments. They also aim to explore the integration of blood vessels into the grafts through multi-material bioprinting to create more complex and functional constructs. With these developments, the researchers hope to advance the field of regenerative dentistry while paving the way for broader applications in tissue engineering.

Read more at: https://news.nus.edu.sg/combining-3d-bioprinting-with-ai-to-personalise-oral-soft-tissue-grafts.  

Nearly four decades after the discovery of copper oxide superconductivity, which earned the 1987 Nobel Prize in Physics, the NUS researchers have now identified another high-temperature superconducting oxide that expands the understanding of unconventional superconductivity beyond copper oxides.

The promise of superconductors

Modern electronics generate heat and consume energy during operation. Superconductors, however, possess a unique property known as the zero-resistance state, which eliminates energy loss due to electrical resistance. In theory, this makes them ideal for modern electronic applications, addressing the world's growing energy demands.

Despite the discovery of thousands of superconducting materials, the vast majority function only at extremely low temperatures near absolute zero (0 K), or about minus 273 deg C, making them impractical for widespread use. 

The 1987 Nobel Prize Breakthrough

Nearly 40 years ago, physicists Johannes Bednorz and Karl Müller discovered a new class of superconductors—copper oxides—which exhibit superconductivity at temperatures above 30 K, significantly higher than any previously known superconductors.

This breakthrough, which earned them the Nobel Prize in Physics, laid the foundation for high-temperature superconductivity research. To this day, copper oxides remain the only superconducting oxides that function at temperatures above 30 K, or about minus 243 dec C, under ambient pressure, without requiring lattice compression.

A breakthrough beyond copper

In a series of studies, Prof Ariando and Dr Chow identified a direct correlation between interlayer interactions in layered systems and superconducting temperatures.

Building on this insight, the researchers developed a phenomenological model that predicted several compounds capable of high-temperature superconductivity, similar to copper oxides, but without copper.

The team successfully synthesised (Sm-Eu-Ca)NiO₂ nickel oxide, one of the predicted materials, and confirmed zero electrical resistance (superconductivity) well above 30 K in this compound.

Dr Chow stated, "As we predicted and designed, this non-copper-based superconducting oxide demonstrates high-temperature superconductivity under atmospheric pressure at sea level, without the need for additional compression—just like copper oxides. This finding suggests that unconventional high-temperature superconductivity is not exclusive to copper but could be a more widespread property among elements in the periodic table."

"This observation has profound implications for both theoretical understanding and experimental realisation of a broader scope of superconducting materials with practical applications in modern electronics," added Prof Ariando.

The research breakthrough was published in the scientific journal Nature on 20 March 2025.

Expanding the frontier of high-temperature superconductors

"This is the first time since the Nobel-winning discovery that a copper-free high-temperature superconducting oxide has been found to function under ambient pressure," emphasised Prof Ariando.

"Additionally, this new material is highly stable under ambient conditions, significantly improving its accessibility."

This discovery has sparked growing interest, not only in the material itself but also in the broader potential for a new class of high-temperature superconductors.

Further research and future implications

The research team continues to investigate the material's unique properties, exploring tuning parameters such as electronic occupancy shifting and hydrostatic pressure. These efforts aim to deepen the understanding of high-temperature superconducting mechanisms and pave the way for synthesising a broader family of superconductors with even higher operating temperatures.

Another contributor to this work includes Mr Zhaoyang Luo, an NUS PhD student with the research team, who demonstrated the high crystallinity and pure-phase nature of the synthesised material using electron microscopy.

This breakthrough represents a major step toward the development of next-generation superconducting materials, with practical applications in modern electronics and energy-efficient technologies.

Read more at: https://news.nus.edu.sg/nus-physicists-copper-free-high-temperature-superconducting-oxide/

SINGAPORE, March 26, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Diabetic wounds often lead to severe complications that can result in amputations. These chronic and non-healing wounds are marked by persistent inflammation, affecting more than six per cent of the global population. In Singapore, there are about four lower limb amputations daily due to non-healing diabetic wounds. A study focusing on diabetic wounds in Singapore estimated that the gross amputation-related healthcare cost per patient was S$23,000 in 2017.

To address this challenge of great national and global importance, researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have developed two microneedle technologies that have shown efficacy in accelerating diabetic wound healing in preclinical models by preserving the functions of proteins called growth factors, and removing undesirable inflammatory compounds.

The two novel innovations were developed by a team of scientists led by Assistant Professor Andy Tay from the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the College of Design and Engineering at NUS, and the Institute for Health Innovation and Technology. "Growth factors are important for wound healing because they regulate key cellular functions. However, in diabetic wounds, these growth factors are rapidly broken down by other enzymes known as proteases. This dramatically slows down wound recovery. At the same time, diabetic wounds are characterised by persistently high levels of inflammation," he explained.

"We wanted to tackle these two issues by using microneedles for both delivery and extraction. It is minimally invasive, can be fabricated with precision, and allows for the active compounds to be painlessly administered directly into wounds. Microneedle patches are excellent materials for wound healing," he said.

The results of the two related studies, which were published online in the scientific journals Biomaterials and Advanced Functional Materials on 4 July 2024 and 24 July 2024 respectively, demonstrate the potential of this innovative approach in treating various skin conditions such as psoriasis or chronic diabetic wounds.

Two unique approaches to accelerate wound healing 

In the market, hydrogel is used to deliver growth factors to wounds. However, this method is not as effective because the protease-rich environment of chronic wounds rapidly degrades and inactivates the growth factors. This means that the growth factors need to be delivered in high doses repeatedly, which can be costly and time-consuming.

In the first approach developed by the NUS research team, instead of delivering the growth factors directly, they first increased the production of growth factors within the wound.

They achieved this by developing sucralfate microneedles (SUC-MN) to deliver an important immunomodulatory protein, interleukin-4 (IL-4), to stimulate the production of growth factors in diabetic tissues. IL-4 helps to regulate the immune response and promote tissue regeneration, while sucralfate, a medication commonly used to treat gastrointestinal ulcers, protects growth factors from degradation.

The microneedles dissolve in the wound, delivering IL-4 and sucralfate directly to the wound. This localised delivery system minimises systemic side effects, and also avoids secondary damage to delicate, newly formed tissues caused by traditional adhesive dressing that is currently used clinically. The researchers found that SUC-MN significantly accelerated wound healing twice as fast when compared to traditional treatments.

First-of-its-kind extractive microneedles to remove pro-inflammatory compounds

Although a majority of microneedle technology uses the material for delivery, the NUS team explored the novel use of microneedles to extract undesirable pro-inflammatory proteins and immune cells in the second approach. To do so, the NUS team needed to find a suitable coating material that could act as a sponge to soak up pro-inflammatory compounds, known as chemokines, which are 'messenger' molecules that recruit and trap pro-inflammatory immune cells called monocytes in wound tissues.

The research team screened different materials and eventually used heparin-coated porous microneedles (HPMN) to address the issue of persistent inflammation in skin wounds at the source. Based on previous studies, heparin has been found to bind readily to chemokines. The team demonstrated that HPMN could effectively deplete chemokines and monocytes from the wound site, leading to a 50 per cent reduction in tissue inflammation as well as a 90 per cent reduction in wound size by the 14^th day of treatment.

These initial findings highlight the potential of HPMN as a promising strategy for the treatment of inflammatory skin disorders. The ability of HPMN to remove chemokines and inflammatory cells deep within the skin tissue offers a unique advantage over existing treatments that only target surface-level inflammation. HPMN could be further developed for personalised wound care and tailored treatment of various inflammatory skin conditions such as psoriasis.

Next steps

The development of SUC-MN and HPMN represents a significant step forward in the field of wound healing and skin disease management. The team intends to conduct further studies to explore the potential of this technology and bring it to market.

For extractive microneedles in particular, the team will fabricate microneedles with more controllable pore sizes using advanced technologies, such as 3D printing, and integrate antibacterial properties into the microneedles as clinical non-healing wounds often accompany infections. They are also designing flexible microneedle patches to ensure that they fit well to various tissue shapes.

"We are excited about the potential impact of our research and look forward to advancing this technology towards clinical translation. The two approaches developed by our team would provide much-needed relief for patients with diabetic wounds, as well as many patients suffering from skin conditions like atopic dermatitis or psoriasis," said Asst Prof Tay.

Read more at: https://news.nus.edu.sg/microneedle-technology-accelerate-diabetic-wound-healing.  

SINGAPORE, March 10, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- AutoCodeRover, an autonomous AI agent platform for software development which is a spin-off technology of the National University of Singapore (NUS), has been acquired by Sonar, a global leader in code quality and code security solutions. This innovative technology was developed by Professor Abhik Roychoudhury and his team from NUS School of Computing (NUS Computing).

The acquisition highlights the real-world impact of NUS' research with the innovative platform boosting Sonar's AI-agent-based code development, driving innovation in software engineering and agentic AI. This exciting partnership will also create new research and development (R&D) jobs in Singapore.

Enhancing the capabilities and efficiency of software developers

Automating software engineering tasks has long been a vision among software developers. Over the past decades, significant progress has been made to enhance developers' capabilities and efficiency by automating parts of the software development process.

AutoCodeRover is among the first AI agent platforms to combine state-of-the-art Large Language Models (LLMs) with sophisticated code search capabilities to automatically solve software engineering issues. It automates key steps in the software development lifecycle, such as debugging, issue remediation, and code refactoring, enabling developers to address real-world engineering challenges more efficiently. This, in turn, accelerates software development lifecycle and reduces time-to-market. It is designed to work with a variety of AI language models, giving users the flexibility to choose the solution that best fits their needs.

By combining powerful LLMs with advanced code search capabilities, AutoCodeRover excels across multiple dimensions of software issue remediation. It ranks among the top three in the SWE-Bench evaluations, the most comprehensive benchmark for testing AI coding agents' software issue remediation capability. With an average modest cost of S$0.80 (US$0.60) and a short runtime of 6.5 minutes, versus 2.68 days by a typical human developer, for each issue, it is a highly cost-effective agent for practical deployment at scale.

Prof Roychoudhury, co-founder of AutoCodeRover, commented, "By automating routine tasks, AutoCodeRover enables developers to dedicate more time to innovation and creative problem-solving, accelerating the delivery of high-quality applications."

"At Sonar, we are committed to helping developers build better, faster by embracing new technologies and tools, like agentic AI. The work done by Professor Roychoudhury and the whole AutoCodeRover team is fundamentally redefining what it means to be a software engineer," said Mr Tariq Shaukat, CEO of Sonar. "With AutoCodeRover, we'll enable millions of developers and enterprises to accelerate development, improve code reviews, lower development costs, and free up developer time so they can focus more on creating and building. We're excited to be bringing this to life through an expansion of our operations in Singapore, and continued collaboration with NUS and the Trustworthy and Secure Software research group led by Professor Roychoudhury."

Fueling AI innovation and job opportunities

One of the key highlights of this acquisition is Sonar's plan to establish an R&D team in Singapore, creating 15 R&D jobs between 2025 and 2026. The team will be led by Dr Ridwan Shariffdeen, CEO and co-founder of AutoCodeRover, and former NUS PhD student in Prof Roychoudhury's Trustworthy and Secure Software research group in NUS Computing.

"This partnership is a win for both NUS and the broader tech ecosystem in Singapore," said Prof Roychoudhury, who will also serve as Sonar's Senior Advisor, providing guidance on AI-based software and security of AI-based code. "Not only are we creating R&D jobs locally, we are also transitioning NUS' cutting-edge research in AI and Software Engineering for software developers. By collaborating with Sonar, we gain valuable feedback from their large global customer base, which enriches our research and ensures the relevance of our work to industry needs. This also allows us to truly dream and define the software landscape of tomorrow, right here, from NUS."

The integration of AutoCodeRover into Sonar's ecosystem marks a transformative shift in software development, enabling developers to work smarter, faster, and more efficiently. As the world embraces AI-driven solutions, NUS remains at the forefront of innovation, delivering cutting-edge technologies that transform industries and improve lives.

Read more at: https://news.nus.edu.sg/nus-spinoff-tech-autocoderover-acquired-by-sonar 

SINGAPORE, Feb. 12, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- On Darwin Day, 12 February 2025, the Darwin Online project at the National University of Singapore (NUS) launches the largest collection of caricatures of Charles Darwin and evolution in history. It is the result of 25 years of research by historian of science Dr John van Wyhe, from the Department of Biological Sciences at the NUS Faculty of Science, drawing on historic magazines, newspapers, books and archives. The edited collection consists of mostly unknown comic illustrations from 1860 to 1939 showing how Darwin and evolution have been represented in the press and popular culture worldwide since the publication of Darwin's origin of species in 1859.

Until recently, only about a dozen caricatures of Darwin were widely known. The new online catalogue provides over 100 caricatures, of which 30 are new discoveries. The evolution caricatures are much more numerous, and their range and diversity are staggering, highlighting the widespread public engagement with the topic of evolution.

This huge collection provides deeper insights into the cultural impact of Darwin's theories. Evolution was used in these illustrations in endlessly surprising ways. Not even experts in this field knew there was this much visual imagery in response to Darwin and his ideas and published in so many parts of the world. Today, it is often overlooked that by the 1870s, thousands of newspapers and magazines around the world featured comic illustrations, including those on Darwin and his theories. Many of the caricatures in this collection curated by Darwin Online were created by some of the best comic writers of their time.

The humour of evolution

Popular ideas, misconceptions, prejudices and older traditions fed into these caricatures which in turn popularised and spread ideas further. For example, one common theme is to make jokes about Darwin's purported claim that humans are descended from monkeys – something he did not in fact believe. Other erroneous but popular themes were the idea that Darwin's theory of evolution is about inevitable progress or the occurrence of so-called degeneration from humans back into animals. Almost all the caricatures show amused ridicule of evolution rather than deep offence or religious outrage.

Darwin's works introduced the public to many phrases and concepts such as natural selection, sexual selection or the struggle for existence. The idea of a supposed 'missing link', referring to transitional species, became a long-lasting theme. Often much older comic imagery was re-branded into Darwin-themed ones such as transformation cartoons showing the origins or 'evolution' of a cat into a violin. Another common theme is monkeys or apes expressing disgust at being related to humans with all their faults. Some caricatures show friends or a married couples looking at a monkey at the zoo ─ the husband eerily resembling the monkey ─ and the joke is that Mrs So-and-so didn't take Darwinism seriously before, but now she sees there might be something to it after all! 

The controversies over teaching evolution in public schools in the USA in the 1920s saw a veritable explosion of these caricatures with the Scopes Monkey Trial 100 years ago. The collection by Darwin Online is by far the largest collection of these caricatures ever assembled. They are both fascinating and often very funny.

Context of the caricatures explained

The collection of caricatures is dated, identified and often the artist and the historical context or meaning explained. Unlike previous compilations, the Darwin Online collection provides the accompanying poems or articles that were originally alongside the illustrations. Without historical context, it is usually impossible to understand what the caricatures originally meant, and often modern readers imagine a very different meaning.

"This unprecedented collection allows us to see how the public reacted to, used and mis-used evolutionary ideas from the moment Darwin published his seminal work, The Origin of Species, and over the next 80 years. There is much to be learned from them. They will be useful for teaching and research. For decades, modern publications and documentaries have re-used the same small handful of caricatures. Now anyone can see at a glance just how many and diverse they were. A lot of them are very clever social commentary, and others are simply hugely enjoyable," said Dr van Wyhe.

Click here to view the catalogue of caricatures (link will be live on 12 February 2025 (GMT+8))

Click here for images. Password: nus2025. Please note that the link will expire on 19 February 2025.

SINGAPORE, Feb. 10, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Conserving and restoring Southeast Asia's carbon-rich peatlands and mangroves could mitigate more than 50 per cent of the region's land-use carbon emissions, according to a new international study published in Nature Communications.

Despite occupying just 5 per cent of the region's terrestrial land, these ecosystems play an outsized role in emission reduction efforts, making them crucial for meeting climate targets across ASEAN countries.

The research study, conducted by an international team of scientists from the National University of Singapore (NUS), with contributions from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) and James Cook University in Australia, highlights the significant climate benefits of conserving and restoring peatlands and mangroves.

Together, these ecosystems store more than 90 per cent of their carbon in soils rather than vegetation, making them among the most efficient natural carbon sinks globally.

However, when disrupted or destroyed through activities such as land-use changes, these ecosystems release significant amounts of carbon into the atmosphere, posing a major challenge to achieving emission reduction targets.

Additionally, peatland degradation during dry periods, such as those associated with El Niño events, not only results in massive carbon emissions but also contributes to regional haze events, affecting air quality in countries including Singapore.

Associate Professor Massimo Lupascu, Principal Investigator and the paper's senior author, explained, "If we conserved and restored the carbon-dense peatlands and mangroves in Southeast Asia, we could mitigate approximately 770 megatonnes of CO2 equivalent (MtCO2e) annually, or nearly double Malaysia's national greenhouse gas emissions in 2023."

"Our research underscores the immense climate benefits of protecting these ecosystems, making them a pragmatic and effective natural climate solution for ASEAN countries," said Assoc Prof Lupascu, who is from the Department of Geography at the NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

Professor David Taylor, a co-author of the paper and Head of the NUS Department of Geography, said that "including both peatlands and mangroves in the new Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs 3.0) that countries signed up to the Paris Agreement must update and re-commit to every five years can certainly contribute to increasing the ambition of countries across the region through the setting of higher emissions reduction targets, although this would involve substantial investment in effective conservation and restoration."

Unique ecosystems with global implications

Southeast Asia is home to some of the world's largest areas of tropical peatlands and mangroves. These ecosystems share water-saturated, oxygen-limited soils that slow the decomposition of organic matter, enabling them to act as natural carbon sinks when undisturbed.

However, these soil-stored carbon is "irrecoverable", meaning it cannot easily be replaced once lost to human activities, such as agriculture or urban development.

Assistant Professor Pierre Taillardat, a co-author of the paper and principal investigator at the Wetland Carbon Lab at the Asian School of the Environment, NTU Singapore, emphasised the transformative potential of wetland conservation and how it can also yield economic benefits through schemes like carbon credits.

"Wetland soils may have little agronomic value, as it is generally not well-suited for traditional farming or crop cultivation, but they are unmatched in their ability to store and preserve carbon," added Asst Prof Taillardat.

"If carbon were valued like other critical commodities, such as being traded on the carbon credits market, it could unlock vast opportunities for conservation and restoration projects. This will enable local communities to lead carbon management efforts with a win-win scenario where livelihoods and sustainable ecosystems thrive together."

Updated Emissions Estimates and Pathways for Change

The study also provides up-to-date estimates of emissions from disturbed peatlands and mangroves across Southeast Asia from 2001 to 2022, broken down by land-use type and country.

By doing so, it offers policymakers critical data to identify hotspots for intervention and prioritise conservation efforts.

In their paper, the researchers call for ASEAN governments to integrate peatland and mangrove conservation into national climate strategies.

Given their high carbon storage capacity and the ability to mitigate land-use emissions, peatlands and mangroves represent a cost-effective and impactful approach to achieving net-zero targets.

By conserving and restoring these ecosystems, Southeast Asian nations can reduce emissions, bolster climate resilience, and support local communities that depend on wetlands for their livelihoods.

Dr Sigit Sasmito, from TropWATER, James Cook University in Brisbane, Australia, who is the study's first author and led the work when he was a Research Fellow in the NUS Department of Geography, remarked, "By investing in the conservation of peatlands and mangroves, Southeast Asia can lead the world in deploying cost-effective, nature-based solutions that deliver enduring climate and biodiversity benefits. These ecosystems pack a climate mitigation punch far beyond their size, offering one of the most scalable and impactful natural solutions to combat the planet's climate crisis."

The open-access paper, titled "Half of land use carbon emissions in Southeast Asia can be mitigated through peat swamp forest and mangrove conservation and restoration", is available online at Nature Communications.

Read more at: https://news.nus.edu.sg/peatlands-and-mangroves-key-to-reducing-carbon-emissions-in-southeast-asia-finds-international-study/

The 3D scalable 'gut-on-a-chip' model enables real-time visualisation of the interactions of gut microbes and the human intestine

SINGAPORE, Feb. 10, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- In a breakthrough for the advanced study of gut health, scientists from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have developed a 3D microscopic version of the human intestines condensed into a small chip about half the size of a five-cent coin. This new cell culturing platform, known as the Gut-Microbiome on a chip (GMoC), provides a realistic in vitro microgut model that allows researchers to examine the interactions of gut microbes and their collective impact on gut health. The chip offers a scalable, reproducible, and efficient method to dissect the roles of gut microbes and their community, which is of key interest for the preventive healthcare and pharmaceuticals industry.

"The GMoC system represents a significant advancement in our ability to investigate the effect of the gut microbial community on gut health and diseases," said Professor Lim Chwee Teck, Director of the NUS Institute for Health Innovation and Technology (iHealthtech). Prof Lim is also from the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the College of Design and Engineering, NUS. "By establishing a physiologically-relevant gut model capable of culturing communities of gut microbes, we can gain deeper insights into the role and complex mechanisms of these micro-organisms in maintaining gut health and preventing disease."

Understanding the complex interplay of gut microbes and health

Our intestines contain trillions of bacteria, fungi, and viruses which play a crucial role in our overall well-being. These communities of microorganisms – also known collectively as the gut flora or gastrointestinal microbiome – can either help or harm us.

However, the exact mechanisms by which these gut microbes prevent or cause gastrointestinal illnesses remain unclear. While researchers have identified individual differences in the gut microbiomes of healthy people and those with diseases, the complexity of the interactions amongst the trillions of microorganisms residing in our intestines makes it difficult to isolate the exact modes of action by which these microbes protect us or induce disease.

The innovative 3D 'microgut' platform developed by NUS researchers provides a more realistic presentation of the gut microbial community compared to existing models. It simulates biological conditions (like food movement and oxygen levels) as in the human gut, mimics key structural and physiological features of the gut lining, allows for diverse communities of microbes to be cultivated, and is designed for easy and real-time investigation.

Mimicking the human gut

The GMoC system provides a realistic in vitro (outside the body) model of the human gut, featuring a 3D version of the gut epithelium that mimics key architectural and functional aspects of the intestinal tract, such as the intestinal villi (tiny finger-like projections for absorption of nutrients), co-inhabitation of microbes and intestinal cells, and the dynamic conditions simulating movement of food.

Replicating the structure of the intestinal villi is important because the specific location of different microbial species within a 3D substrate influences how they organise and function, and it also has a distinctive impact on the gut's response to various stimuli.

In addition to structural features, the team's 'microgut' platform also demonstrated key attributes of a functioning and physiologically-relevant intestinal epithelium. The 'microgut' can also produce mucin, which serves as a line of defence against microbial invasion and contributes to the establishment of the gut-bacteria interface.

The GMoC system is therefore a more complete in vitro model because it replicates, architecturally, the cells lining the human intestine, and offers a more physiologically-relevant model compared to existing static in vitro systems.

Real-time visualisation of inter-microbial interactions

Poised to be a versatile research tool, the innovative GMoC system enables scientists to study the inter-microbial interactions and gut-microbial community interactions in greater resolution and in real-time.

By studying how different bacterial species compete for limited resources such as nutrients and physical space for growth in the gut, and examining how this competition helps prevent harmful bacteria from overgrowing and disrupting the balanced gut microbiota in the gut, scientists can facilitate the development of targeted microbiome-based interventions and strategies for modulating gut microbiota.

The unique design of GMoC ensures scalability while enabling multiple tests to be performed on a single chip.

Future plans

The research team is focused on further developing the device, aiming to enhance its complexity to better replicate the human intestines. This includes incorporating complex mechanical cues, enhancing cellular complexity, and creating oxygen gradients within the GMoC system.

On the biological front, the team also aims to use the device to further investigate the assembly, interactions, and behaviour of diverse microbial communities under various stimuli including nutrients and antibiotics. This will contribute to our overall understanding of how these interactions impact gut health. In terms of commercialisation, the team is looking to bring the device to market by reducing the manufacturing costs and standardising the production process.

The GMoC chip offers a crucial advancement to the field by providing a realistic, in vitro platform for the investigation of the multifaceted roles of gut microorganisms in a highly scalable way. This will help scientists to better understand the mechanisms of microbe-induced disease pathogenesis, identify novel therapeutic targets, and develop treatments capable of modulating gut microbiome to improve health and clinical outcomes.

Read more at: https://news.nus.edu.sg/nus-scientists-develop-realistic-micro-gut-model/

Using DNA barcoding, the novel technique tracks and optimises gold nanoparticles for precise drug delivery to tumours, advancing cancer therapies that are safer and more effective

SINGAPORE, Jan. 24, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- A team of researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) has developed a novel method to enhance the precision of cancer treatment using gold nanoparticles tagged with DNA barcodes.

Led by Assistant Professor Andy Tay from the Department of Biomedical Engineering in the College of Design and Engineering and Institute of Health Innovation & Technology at NUS, the study demonstrates how gold nanoparticles of specific shapes, such as triangles, excel in delivering therapeutic nucleic acids and heating tumour cells during photothermal therapy. These findings uncover the distinct preferences of tumour cells for certain nanoparticle configurations, which could enable the development of personalised cancer treatments that are safer and more effective.

The team's novel technique, detailed in a paper published in Advanced Functional Materials on 24 November 2024, enables high-throughput screening of nanoparticle shapes, sizes and modifications, reducing associated screening costs. Beyond cancer treatment, the method has broader therapeutic applications, including RNA delivery and targeting diseases at the organ-specific level.

Size and shape matter

Gold is more than just bling. When reduced to about one-thousandth the width of human hair, gold nanoparticles shine as therapeutic agents for cancer therapy. For instance, specks of the precious metal are used in photothermal therapy, where particles delivered to the tumour site convert specific wavelengths of light to heat, killing surrounding cancer cells. Gold nanoparticles can also serve as messengers to deliver drugs directly to specific locations within a tumour.

"But for these gold nanoparticles to work, they first need to get into the targeted sites successfully," said Asst Prof Tay. "Think of it as a delivery person with a special key — if the key doesn't fit the lock, the package won't get through."

Achieving this level of precision requires finding the right nanoparticle design — its shape, size and surface properties must align with the preferences of target cells. However, existing screening methods to pinpoint optimal designs are akin to searching for needles in a haystack. Moreover, these methods often overlook the preferences of different cell types within a tumour, from immune to endothelial to cancer cells.

To tackle these challenges, the NUS researchers turned to DNA barcoding. Each nanoparticle is tagged with a unique DNA sequence, with which the researchers could tag and track individual designs, much like registering a parcel to be shipped by post in a delivery system. Importantly, these barcodes enabled the team to monitor multiple nanoparticle designs simultaneously in vivo, as their sequences could be easily extracted and analysed to locate the nanoparticles' whereabouts within the body.

"We used thiol-functionalisation to securely anchor the DNA barcodes to the surface of the gold nanoparticles. This ensures the barcodes remain stable, resistant to enzymatic degradation and do not interfere with cellular uptake," said Asst Prof Tay, highlighting an important novelty of the team's work.

To demonstrate this, the researchers prepared nanoparticles in six different shapes and sizes, where their distribution and uptake across various cell types were monitored. They found that round nanoparticles, despite showing poor uptake in cell culture studies, were excellent in targeting tumours in preclinical models as they were less likely to be eliminated by the immune system. On the other hand, triangular nanoparticles excelled in both in vitro and in vivo tests, resulting in high cellular uptake and strong photothermal properties.

Making cancer treatments safer

The team's work shines a light on nanoparticle interactions in biological systems and the need to bridge discrepancies between in vitro and in vivo findings, as evidenced by those revealed by the round gold nanoparticles. These insights could guide the development of shape-morphing nanoparticles or intermediate designs tailored to optimise different stages of drug delivery.

Additionally, the research also illuminates the untapped potential of exploring nanoparticle shapes beyond spheres, which dominate those approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The researchers' DNA barcoding method could also extend to screen other inorganic nanoparticles such as iron and silica in vivo, broadening the scope for drug delivery and precision medicine.

Looking ahead, the researchers are expanding their nanoparticle library to include 30 designs to identify candidates capable of targeting subcellular organelles. Suitable ones will then be tested for their efficacy in gene silencing and photothermal therapy for breast cancer. Asst Prof Tay also shared that the findings could significantly improve our understanding of RNA biology and advance RNA delivery techniques, which are increasingly being applied in therapeutics for treatment of various diseases.

"We have addressed a key challenge in cancer treatment — delivering drugs specifically to cancer tissues with greater efficiency," said Asst Prof Tay. "The Achilles' heel of existing nanoparticle-based drugs is their assumption of uniform delivery across all organs, but the reality is that different organs respond differently. Designing optimally-shaped nanoparticles for organ-specific targeting enhances the safety and efficacy of nanotherapeutics for cancer treatment — and beyond."

Read more at: https://news.nus.edu.sg/dna-tagged-gold-nanoparticles-for-targeted-cancer-treatment/

SINGAPORE, Jan. 15, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- In a world increasingly driven by artificial intelligence and complex computations, tackling the most challenging problems—from modeling galaxies to designing personalized medicine—requires innovation. One such breakthrough is the Stochastic Taylor Derivative Estimator (STDE) developed by researchers at NUS Computing (National University of Singapore) in collaboration with Sea AI Lab.  The paper "Stochastic Taylor Derivative Estimator: Efficient Amortization for Arbitrary Differential Operators" by Zekun Shi (NUS Computing PhD student), Zheyuan Hu (NUS Computing PhD student), Min Lin (Head of Research at the Sea AI Lab) and Kenji Kawaguchi (Presidential Young Professor at NUS Computing) recently won the Best Paper Award at the prestigious NeurIPS 2024 conference.  STDE is a revolutionary method poised to transform how we approach high-dimensional problems. Understanding its impact starts with appreciating the importance of the problems it aims to solve.

Why High-Dimensional Problems Matter

Imagine trying to predict the movements of a million stars in a galaxy. Each star interacts gravitationally with every other star, and these interactions constantly shift. To model such a system accurately, scientists need to calculate countless derivatives that track how forces change over time. Traditional methods struggle with the sheer scale, often taking weeks of computation and vast amounts of memory. These challenges extend far beyond astrophysics. From simulating fluid flows to optimizing smartphone chips, high-dimensional problems are at the heart of countless scientific, engineering, and industrial applications. Faster and more efficient solutions could unlock groundbreaking advancements in fields like renewable energy, climate science, and even healthcare.

What Makes STDE Revolutionary

STDE addresses these challenges with a novel combination of techniques. At its core, it employs Taylor-mode automatic differentiation to compute higher-order derivatives efficiently. But the game-changing aspect is its strategic use of randomness. Rather than calculating every derivative, STDE samples a subset, using mathematical rigor to reconstruct the larger picture accurately. This approach is akin to taking snapshots of a dynamic system rather than recording it continuously, enabling a significant reduction in computational demand.

Moreover, STDE is highly scalable. As problems grow in complexity, its performance remains robust, unlike traditional methods that slow down exponentially. It's also parallelizable, meaning the workload can be distributed across multiple processors, further speeding up calculations. In a demonstration of its prowess, researchers solved a million-dimensional problem in just eight minutes on a single GPU—a task that would have taken traditional methods weeks.

Real-World Applications

You might think that STDE is only useful for narrow domains of science such as astrophysics, where STDE can simulate galaxy formation, black hole dynamics, and even the evolution of the universe to provide insights into fundamental questions about the cosmos, such as the nature of dark matter and the origins of the universe.  The versatility of STDE has far-reaching implications:

• Engineering Smarter Devices: Designing and optimizing microchips for smartphones and other devices requires simulations of intricate physical processes. With STDE, engineers could accelerate these simulations, leading to faster, more energy-efficient chips. This could translate to longer battery life and smarter, more capable devices.
• Advancing Renewable Energy: Simulating airflow around wind turbines or optimizing solar panel efficiency are crucial for sustainable energy solutions. STDE can enhance the detail and speed of these simulations, enabling better designs that maximize energy capture.
• Transforming Healthcare: Personalized medicine—tailoring treatments to individual patients—relies on understanding complex biological interactions. STDE could simulate how a drug interacts with a patient's specific biology, improving efficacy and minimizing side effects.
• Revolutionizing Finance: Financial markets are intricate systems with countless variables. More accurate models powered by STDE could lead to smarter investments, better risk management, and potentially more stable economies.
• Drug discovery: Drug properties are computed from the high-dimensional interactions between numerous atoms within the chemical molecules. STDE could accelerate the discovery of new drugs by efficiently computing molecule properties, thereby reducing development costs and benefiting patients.

Unlocking New Frontiers

Beyond existing problems, STDE opens doors to exploring uncharted scientific territory. For instance, it could enable detailed simulations of the human brain, capturing the complex interactions among billions of neurons. Such models could unravel mysteries of consciousness, learning, and decision-making. Similarly, in cosmology, it might allow scientists to simulate the behavior of entire galaxies, offering clues to questions as profound as whether we are alone in the universe.

The Stochastic Taylor Derivative Estimator represents a monumental step forward in solving high-dimensional problems. By enabling faster, more efficient, and scalable simulations, it has the potential to revolutionize industries, drive scientific discovery, and address some of humanity's most pressing challenges. From designing better smartphones to advancing personalized medicine and unravelling the secrets of the universe, the possibilities are endless. STDE isn't just a leap in computational capability; it's a bridge to a future where the limits of what we can understand and achieve are redefined.

Read more at: https://www.comp.nus.edu.sg/features/unlocking-power-high-dimensional-simulations-stde/  

A recent study explained the mechanisms by which pulsed electromagnetic field therapy enhances doxorubicin uptake, paving the way for precision-driven cancer therapies with fewer side effects

SINGAPORE, Jan. 7, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Researchers at the National University of Singapore (NUS) have developed a non-invasive method to improve the effectiveness of chemotherapy while reducing its harmful side effects.

By applying brief, localised pulses of magnetic fields, the team demonstrated a significant increase in the uptake of doxorubicin (DOX), a widely used chemotherapy drug, into breast cancer cells, with minimal impact on healthy tissues. This selective uptake enables more precise targeting of cancer cells, potentially improving treatment outcomes and reducing the adverse effects often associated with chemotherapy.

The study, led by Associate Professor Alfredo Franco-Obregón, Principal Investigator at the Institute for Health Innovation & Technology (iHealthtech) at NUS and faculty member of the Department of Surgery at NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (NUS Medicine), is the first to systematically show how pulsed magnetic fields enhance DOX uptake in cancer cells. The team also showed that this approach could suppress tumours at lower drug doses.

The team's research was published in the journal Cancers on 18 November 2024. It builds on earlier work from 2022, which first revealed that certain cancer cells are more vulnerable to magnetic field therapy.

Targeted therapy for better chemotherapy outcomes and fewer side effects

DOX is a commonly used chemotherapy drug for breast cancer. It works by binding to DNA components and disrupting cell replication and respiration, which then kills off cancer cells. Despite its efficacy, it is a non-selective drug, which means it can also damage healthy tissues, leading to side effects ranging from mild to severe, including cardiomyopathy and muscle atrophy.

To address these challenges, the NUS researchers developed a novel approach that uses brief pulses of magnetic fields to selectively increase DOX uptake into breast cancer cells. Their study revealed the role of a calcium ion channel known as TRPC1, which is often found in aggressive cancers, including breast cancer. Magnetic field exposure activates TRPC1, enhancing its ability to facilitate the entry of DOX into cancer cells.

The researchers conducted experiments comparing the effects of the magnetic field therapy on human breast cancer cells and healthy muscle cells. They found that breast cancer cells took in significantly more DOX when exposed to magnetic pulses, while normal tissues were not targeted as much. A 10-minute magnetic field exposure reduced the drug concentration needed for similar amount of cancer killing by half, particularly at low doses of the drug.

In contrast, healthy muscle cells did not show an increase in cell death in response to the combination of DOX and magnetic pulses indicating greater protection for non-cancerous tissues.

The team also demonstrated that reducing TRPC1 expression or blocking its activity eliminated this effect, which confirms the crucial role of TRPC1 channels in the process. "Importantly, when we increased the amount of TRPC1, we observed an increase in DOX uptake — this means that TRPC1 can be used as a viable therapeutic target for aggressive cancers," said Mr Viresh Krishnan Sukumar, the paper's first author and a PhD candidate at NUS Centre for Cancer Research (N2CR) under NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine.

"What's promising is that this mechanism works strongest at low drug concentrations, enabling us to target cancer cells more effectively while reducing the burden of chemotherapy on healthy tissues," Assoc Prof Franco-Obregón added.

With breast cancer remaining the leading cause of cancer-related deaths among women worldwide, the need for novel treatment strategies is urgent. "The majority of women who undergo chemotherapy experience side effects from treatment, and in some cases, doses of chemotherapy need to be reduced, or in severe cases, stopped prematurely," said research team member Assistant Professor Joline Lim, Principal Investigator at N2CR and Senior Consultant, Department of Haematology-Oncology, National University Cancer Institute, Singapore. "Moreover, prolonged exposure to high-dose chemotherapy can also lead to drug resistance. This targeted approach represents an excellent opportunity to potentially improve treatment outcomes while preserving patients' quality of life."

Advancing the frontier of precision oncology

The team's magnetic-assisted approach addresses one of the biggest challenges of chemotherapy, namely its toxic effects on healthy tissues. By selectively enhancing drug uptake into cancer cells, this method has the potential to drastically reduce the systemic side effects often experienced by breast cancer patients. This not only improves treatment outcomes and quality of life, but also encourages earlier treatment for those hesitant about treatment side effects. The study also underscores the role of biomarkers, such as elevated TRPC1 expression, in transforming cancer care by enabling precision-driven treatment options.

Future work will focus on translating these findings into clinical practice by localising magnetic field exposure specifically to tumours in patients. This would further validate the potential to reduce systemic DOX doses while maximising localised drug delivery in cancer cells.

"Our approach will be patented and form the foundation for a startup specialising in breast cancer treatment. We are currently in discussions with potential investors in Southeast Asia and the United States to translate this technology from bench to bedside," shared Assoc Prof Franco-Obregón.

Read more at: https://news.nus.edu.sg/boosting-chemotherapy-uptake-in-breast-cancer-treatment/ 

An inventive, energy-efficient solution to combat the escalating global freshwater crisis

SINGAPORE, Dec. 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The world is on the brink of a freshwater crisis. Estimations indicate that by 2025, half of the world's population may reside in areas facing water scarcity. In response to this challenge, researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have developed a novel aerogel designed to enhance the efficiency of atmospheric water harvesting.

This development, led by Associate Professor TAN Swee Ching from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering under the College of Design and Engineering at NUS, offers a practical solution to the pressing issue of freshwater scarcity, particularly in arid regions.

The aerogel is capable of absorbing moisture from the air up to about 5.5 times its weight, maintaining its performance across a wide range of humidity levels, and effective even in conditions as low as 20 per cent relative humidity, making it suitable for diverse environments. Demonstrating the aerogel's applicability, the research team has integrated it into a solar-driven, autonomous atmospheric water generator that efficiently collects and releases freshwater without requiring external energy sources.

Tapping into the atmosphere

The Earth's atmosphere holds an estimated 13,000 trillion litres of water — representing an untapped reservoir that could potentially alleviate water scarcity across many arid and drought-prone regions across the globe. However, the challenge has always been to efficiently convert water vapour into a usable resource, considering the variability of atmospheric conditions and the energy demands of current technologies.

Sorption-based atmospheric water harvesting (SAWH) employs sorbents to extract water from the air, presenting a low-energy, easy-to-operate solution applicable across diverse environments, including regions with limited resources. Despite its potential, SAWH faces challenges with conventional sorbents such as activated alumina, silica gels and zeolites, which either have inadequate water uptake or require high temperatures for water release. Although newer sorbents, including hygroscopic salts and metal-organic frameworks, improve upon these aspects, they struggle with issues like deliquescence and agglomeration, which compromise their efficiency and water sorption capacity. Additionally, SAWH devices are generally incapable of supporting more than one water capture-release cycle daily, limiting their utility for continuous and large-scale freshwater production.

Addressing these limitations, the NUS researchers tapped into their creativity to craft a more adaptable and energy-efficient material for SAWH. By converting magnesium chloride into a super hygroscopic magnesium complex and incorporating it into aerogels composed of sodium alginate and carbon nanotubes, they developed a composite aerogel that overcomes the drawbacks of previous technologies.

Like a sponge, the aerogel absorbs water vapour directly from the air into its porous structure, where it condenses and is stored until needed. When exposed to sunlight or a slight increase in ambient temperature (around 50 deg C), the aerogel releases the stored water as fresh, liquid water. The process is facilitated by the aerogel's unique composition, which combines the moisture-attracting properties of the magnesium complex with the thermal properties of carbon nanotubes — enabling rapid water absorption and release.

Key properties of the aerogel include its high water uptake capacity — about 5.5 times its weight at 95 per cent relative humidity and 27 per cent of its weight at 20 per cent relative humidity, typical of desert climates. Moreover, its robust structure allows for repeated use without a loss in efficiency. It is also cost-efficient to produce — raw materials necessary for producing one square metre of the aerogel cost only US$2.

"The aerogel exhibits rapid absorption/desorption kinetics with 12 cycles per day at 70 per cent relative humidity, equivalent to a water yield of 10 litres per kilogramme of aerogel per day," said Assoc Prof Tan. "Carbon nanotubes play a crucial role in boosting the aerogel's photothermal conversion efficiency, enabling quicker water release with minimal energy consumption."

From concept to reality

The researchers have also designed and constructed a fully solar-driven, autonomous atmospheric water generator that incorporates two layers of the novel aerogel. Each layer alternately engages in the water absorption/desorption cycle, operating without any external energy input. This setup showcases the aerogel's practicality for facilitating continuous freshwater production — a feature beneficial in underdeveloped regions or areas lacking necessary clean-water infrastructure.

Potential applications of this technology are vast, encompassing evaporative cooling and energy harvesting to smart sensing and urban agriculture. The team has filed a patent for their technology.

The NUS researchers are looking forward to collaborating with local farms and industry partners alike to advance their research and commercialise their technology.

Read more at: https://news.nus.edu.sg/advanced-aerogels-for-autonomous-atmospheric-water-harvesting/

SINGAPORE, Dec. 6, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Lepidopterans (butterflies and moths) exhibit a splendid diversity of wing colour patterns, and many species display black and white, or dark and bright, wing colour pattern variants associated with the presence and absence of melanin. Many of these wing colour pattern variants are textbook examples of natural selection and evolution. Iconic examples include the rapid increase in frequency of the melanic form of the British peppered moth Biston betularia, driven by the sootier and darker environment caused by carbon burning and industrialisation in the late 1800s in the United Kingdom, and the mimetic radiation of Heliconius butterflies, among others.

Despite the often well-understood ecological drivers that favour the presence or absence of melanin in the wings of these lepidopterans, the genetic and developmental basis of changes in colouration has remained unclear.

How do butterflies and moths paint their wings either black or white?

Over the past two decades, scientists discovered that the majority of melanic wing colour variants are controlled by a single genomic region surrounding the protein-coding gene 'cortex'. It was assumed, then, that cortex was the melanic colour switch. A team of international researchers from Singapore, Japan, and the United States of America, led by Professor Antónia MONTEIRO and Dr Shen TIAN from the Department of Biological Sciences at the National University of Singapore (NUS), discovered that cortex does not affect melanic colouration. Instead, a previously ignored microRNA (miRNA), is the actual colour switch.

The findings were published in the journal Science on 5 December 2024.

Dr Tian, the lead author of this work said, "Piles of evidence from previous studies cast doubt on whether cortex was really the melanic colour switch, which inspired me to test the function of some other genomic features within this genomic region – miRNAs." He conducted this research work as a PhD/postdoctoral researcher in Professor Monteiro's laboratory at NUS, and is now a postdoctoral researcher at Duke University, USA.

"MiRNAs are small RNA molecules that do not encode proteins like most genes do, yet they play essential roles in gene regulation by repressing the expression of target genes," added Dr Tian.

In this study, Dr Tian and colleagues found a miRNA located next to cortex, mir-193. The team disrupted mir-193 using a gene editing tool CRISPR-Cas9 in three deeply diverged lineages of butterflies. The complete disruption of mir-193 eliminated black and dark wing colours in the African squinting bush brown butterfly, Bicyclus anynana, the Indian cabbage white butterfly, Pieris canidia, and the common mornon butterfly, Papilio polytes. In contrast, disrupting cortex and three other protein-coding genes from the same genomic region in B. anynana had no effect on wing colours. This indicated that mir-193, not cortex or any other nearby gene, is the key melanic colour regulator across these Lepidoptera.

The team further confirmed that mir-193 is processed from a long non-protein-coding RNA, ivory, and it functions by directly repressing multiple pigmentation genes. Since the sequence of mir-193 is deeply conserved not only in Lepidoptera but across the animal kingdom, the team also tested the role of mir-193 in Drosophila flies. Surprisingly, mir-193 was also found to control melanic colouration in these flies, suggesting a deeply conserved role for mir-193 beyond Lepidoptera.

Prof Monteiro said, "While previous studies exclusively focused on the role of cortex in generating melanic colour variations, this work brings a twist to this long-standing hypothesis and demonstrates that a small, non-protein coding RNA is the switch that, by being expressed or not expressed, brings about the diverse melanic wing colour variations in nature."

"This study shows that poorly annotated non-protein-coding RNAs, such as miRNAs, should never be ignored in genotype-phenotype association studies, which would otherwise lead to misleading conclusions," added Prof Monteiro.

Dr Tian said, "The role of non-coding RNAs in phenotypic diversification is largely understudied. This study prompts further investigations on how non-coding RNAs such as miRNAs can contribute to phenotypic diversifications in organisms."

Read more at: https://www.science.nus.edu.sg/blog/2024/12/a-microrna-solves-an-evolutionary-mystery-of-butterfly-and-moth-wing-colouration/

Novel multifunctional SHINE fibres enhance human-robot interactions in applications ranging from smart textiles to robotics

SINGAPORE, Dec. 6, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- A team of interdisciplinary scientists from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering under the College of Design and Engineering at the National University of Singapore (NUS) has developed flexible fibres with self-healing, light-emitting and magnetic properties.

The Scalable Hydrogel-clad Ionotronic Nickel-core Electroluminescent (SHINE) fibre is bendable, emits highly visible light, and can automatically repair itself after being cut, regaining nearly 100 per cent of its original brightness. In addition, the fibre can be powered wirelessly and manipulated physically using magnetic forces.

With multiple useful features incorporated into a single device, the fibre finds potential applications as light-emitting soft robotic fibres and interactive displays. It can also be woven into smart textiles.

"Most digital information today is transmitted largely through light-emissive devices. We are very interested in developing sustainable materials that can emit light and explore new form factors, such as fibres, that could extend application scenarios, for example, smart textiles. One way to engineer sustainable light-emitting devices is to make them self-healable, just like biological tissues such as skin," said Associate Professor Benjamin Tee, the lead researcher for this study.

The team's research, conducted in collaboration with the Institute for Health Innovation & Technology (iHealthtech) at NUS, was published in Nature Communications on 3 December 2024.

Multifunctional innovation in a single device

Light-emitting fibres have become an area of burgeoning interest owing to their potential to complement existing technologies in multiple domains, including soft robotics, wearable electronics and smart textiles. For instance, providing functionalities like dynamic lighting, interactive displays and optical signalling, all while offering flexibility and adaptability, could improve human-robot interactions by making them more responsive and intuitive.

However, the use of such fibres is often limited by physical fragility and the difficulty of integrating multiple features into one single device without adding complexity or increasing energy demands.

The NUS research team's SHINE fibre addresses these challenges by combining light emission, self-healing and magnetic actuation in a single, scalable device. In contrast to existing light-emitting fibres on the market, which cannot self-repair after damage or be physically manipulated, the SHINE fibre offers a more efficient, durable and versatile alternative.

The fibre is based on a coaxial design combining a nickel core for magnetic responsiveness, a zinc sulphide-based electroluminescent layer for light emission and a hydrogel electrode for transparency. Using a scalable ion-induced gelation process, the team fabricated fibres up to 5.5 metres long that retained functionality even after nearly a year of open-air storage.

"To ensure clear visibility in bright indoor lighting conditions, a luminance of at least 300 to 500 cd/m2 is typically recommended," said Assoc Prof Tee. "Our SHINE fibre has a record luminance of 1068 cd/m2, comfortably exceeding the threshold, making it highly visible even in well-lit indoor environments."

The fibre's hydrogel layer self-heals through chemical bond reformation under ambient conditions, while the nickel core and electroluminescent layer restore structural and functional integrity through heat-induced dipole interactions at 50 degrees Celsius.

"More importantly, the recovery process restores over 98 per cent of the fibre's original brightness, ensuring it can endure mechanical stresses post-repair," added Assoc Prof Tee. "This capability supports the reuse of damaged and subsequently self-repaired fibres, making the invention much more sustainable in the long term."

The SHINE fibre also features magnetic actuation enabled by its nickel core. This property allows the fibre to be manipulated with external magnets. "This is an interesting property as it enables applications like light-emitting soft robotic fibres capable of manoeuvring tight spaces, performing complicated motions and signalling optically in real-time," said Dr Fu Xuemei, the first author of the paper.

Unravelling new human-robot interactions

The SHINE fibre can be knitted or woven into smart textiles that emit light and easily self-heal after being cut, adding an element of durability and functionality to wearable technology. With its intrinsic magnetic actuation, the fibre itself can also function as a soft robot, capable of emitting light, self-healing, navigating confined spaces and signalling optically even after being completely severed. Additionally, the fibre can be used in interactive displays, where its magnetism allows for dynamic pattern changes that facilitate optical interaction and signalling in the dark.

Looking ahead, the team plans to refine the precision of the fibre's magnetic actuation to support more dexterous robotic applications. They are also exploring the possibility of weaving sensing capabilities – such as the ability to detect temperature and humidity – into light-emitting textiles made entirely from SHINE fibres.

Read more at: https://news.nus.edu.sg/nus-researchers-innovate-scalable-robotic-fibres/.

SINGAPORE, Nov. 25, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- PSA International (PSA) and National University of Singapore (NUS) announced today the launch of the PSA-NUS Supply Chain Living Lab. Recognising the growing need for integrated solutions that extend beyond container handling within ports, PSA has in recent years, expanded its role as a leading global port operator to also encompass complementary services in the broader supply chain sphere. In line with its overall strategy, PSA will be supporting the initiative with funds totalling up to S$10 million.

The PSA-NUS Supply Chain Living Lab will strengthen collaboration between industry and academic expertise to address critical supply chain challenges. The Lab will provide a sandbox to foster the development of community-centric solutions for supply chain optimisation together with industry stakeholders, with a focus on enhancing agility, resilience and sustainability for supply chain operations both regionally and globally.

Mr Ong Kim Pong, Group CEO of PSA International, said, "As we navigate the rapidly evolving landscape of global trade, it has become essential for PSA Group to continually adapt and refine our business strategy. We will continue to look for new areas of expansion whilst enhancing our presence in key locations, and connecting these strategic nodes to form a cohesive and integrated network across the globe. This collaboration with NUS also marks a significant step in our journey towards strengthening PSA's position as a leading global port operator and supply chain services provider, capable of delivering supply chain efficiency and resilience across the world."

Professor Tan Eng Chye, NUS President, said, "The establishment of the PSA-NUS Supply Chain Living Lab marks a significant milestone in our collaborative efforts to advance supply chain innovation. This initiative exemplifies the synergy between academia and industry, leveraging our combined strengths to address complex challenges such as optimising logistical efficiency, enhancing data-driven decision-making, and integrating sustainable practices across supply chain operations. By fostering a dynamic ecosystem for research and development, we aim to drive transformative solutions that enhance the resilience and efficiency of supply chain operations, ultimately benefitting communities and economies worldwide."

The launch of the Supply Chain Living Lab follows the recent groundbreaking of the upcoming PSA Supply Chain Hub (PSCH), which is an integral part of PSA's strategic expansion of Singapore's Tuas Port Ecosystem. The state-of-the-art PSCH facility is scheduled to be ready by 2027 and will seamlessly integrate with Singapore's extensive supply chain ecosystem, offering unparalleled connectivity and supply chain synergies.

Read more at: https://news.nus.edu.sg/psa-and-nus-launch-supply-chain-living-lab/