In alternative embodiments, provided are compositions, including recombinant expression systems and vectors, products of manufacture and kits, and methods, for remotely-controlled and non-invasive manipulation of intracellular nucleic acid expression, genetic processes, function and activity in live cells such as T cells in vivo, for example, activating, adding functions or changing or adding specificities for immune cells, for monitoring physiologic processes, for the correction of pathological processes and for the control of therapeutic outcomes. In alternative embodiments, provided are blue-light-mediated light-inducible nuclear translocation and dimerization (LINTAD) systems for gene regulation to control cell activation based on the integration of light-sensitive LOV2-based nuclear localization, light-induced active transportation via the biLINuS motif, and CRY2-CIB1 dimerization that feature high spatiotemporal control to control or alter cell activities in vivo, for example, to limit CAR T cell activity to the tumor site for immunotherapy applications.

The present invention relates to a composition comprising a supernatant of a peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) cell culture for use in the treatment or prevention of an allergy or an allergic reaction caused by the administration of at least one food and/or inhalation allergen or by the systemic administration of at least one drug to a human or mammal body.

The present invention relates to a method comprising the steps of provision of a sample derived from a blood sample of a subject that has received a checkpoint-inhibitor therapy and is suspected of developing or has developed symptoms of immune-related adverse events (irAE), adding a photosensitizing agent to the sample, and subjecting the sample to irradiation, which preferably generates immunoregulatory NK cells in said sample. In embodiments, the photosensitizing agent is 8-methoxypsoralen and/or the irradiation is UVA irradiation. In another aspect, the invention relates to immunoregulatory NK cells obtained from a method comprising the steps of provision of a sample derived from an isolated blood sample of a subject, adding a photosensitizing agent to the sample, and subjecting the sample to irradiation. Furthermore, the invention encompasses immunoregulatory NK cells for use in the treatment and/ or prevention of irAE in a subject that has received a checkpoint-inhibitor therapy.

A cell culture substrate includes: a first layer that includes a first gel in which gold nanoparticles dispersed; and a second layer that includes a second gel in which the gold nanoparticles are not present or are present in a lower concentration in comparison with the first layer.

The present invention discloses a partially crosslinked hydrogels blended composition with enhanced viscosity and yield stress, which is formed by the polymerization of one or more colloid monomers through crosslinking. The polymerization is initiated by a photoinitiator under irradiation of the light of a specific wavelength, which promotes crosslinking of the one or more colloid monomers. The hydrogels blended composition can be further crosslinked with one or more other colloid monomers through repeated excitation of the photoinitiator. The hydrogels blended composition can be polymerized into a gel upon re-irradiation, and can also be used as a biomaterial for wound repair, three-dimensional cell culture, personal nursing care, health care, medical and pharmaceutical applications.

An access system having a communication component that interfaces with a first device and a second device, where the first device is located inside or on an entity and coupled to a biological organism of the entity, and where the second device is located outside the entity and a controller component that controls a function of the first device, employing the communication component, to provide treatment to the biological organism of the entity coupled to the first device based on a request received from the second device.

Disclosed is a technique for constructing optogenetic amplifier and inverter circuits utilizing transcriptional activator/repressor pairs, in which expression of the transcriptional activator or repressor, respectively, is controlled by light-controlled transcription factors. This system is demonstrated utilizing the quinic acid regulon system from Neurospora crassa, or Q System, a transcriptional activator/repressor system. This is also demonstrated utilizing the galactose regulon from Saccharomyces cerevisiae, or GAL System. Such optogenetic amplifier circuits enable multi-phase microbial fermentations, in which different light schedules are applied in each phase to dynamically control different metabolic pathways for the production of proteins, fuels or chemicals. The orthogonal nature of the Q and GAL systems enable the co-expression of amplifier and inverter circuits to simultaneously amplify and invert the response of light-controlled transcriptional controls over different sets of genes in the same cell.

Microbial consortia exert great influence over the physiology of humans, animals, plants, and ecosystems. However, difficulty in controlling their composition and population dynamics have limited their application in medicine, agriculture, biotechnology, and the environment. The approach disclosed herein provides an effective method to dynamically control population compositions in microbial consortia, which we demonstrate in the context of co-culture fermentations for chemical production. Co-culture fermentations can improve chemical production from complex biosynthetic pathways over monocultures by distributing enzymes across multiple strains, thereby reducing metabolic burden, overcoming endogenous regulatory mechanisms, or exploiting natural traits of different microbial species. However, stabilizing and optimizing microbial sub-populations for maximal chemical production remains a major obstacle in the field. An optogenetic circuit, called OptoTA, is disclosed for regulating a toxin-antitoxin system, which enables tunability of, e.g., Escherichia coli growth using only blue light. With the disclosed system, one can control population ratios of co-cultures of, e.g., E. coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae containing different metabolic modules of biosynthetic pathways. Results reveal that intermediate light duty cycles improve chemical production by establishing optimal co-culture populations.

Provided are compositions and methods for production of anti-inflammatory cytokines, growth factors, or chemokines. Provided are nucleic acids (e.g., expression vectors) that include an NFκB inflammation response element operably linked to a nucleotide sequence encoding an anti-inflammatory cytokine (e.g., IL-4). In some cases, the nucleic acid is an expression vector selected from: a linear expression vector, a circular expression vector, a plasmid, and a viral expression vector. Also provided are cells (e.g., mesenchymal stem cells—MSCs) comprising a nucleic acid that includes an NFκB inflammation response element operably linked to a nucleotide sequence encoding an anti-inflammatory cytokine. In some cases, the nucleic acid is integrated into the cell's genome. Also provided are methods for treating an individual having an inflammation-associated ailment, which can include administering an MSC to the individual, where the MSC includes an NFκB inflammation response element operably linked to a nucleotide sequence encoding an anti-inflammatory cytokine.

The present disclosure relates to microbial stem cell technology that enables a growing microbial culture to stably maintain two or more distinct cell types in a ratio that can be genetically programmed and/or dynamically controlled during cultivation. It is contemplated that embodiments described herein can be utilized to increase product yield in microbial fermentations and advanced engineering of biomaterials using genetically engineered microbial cells, among others.