📄 Category

bioengineering

279 papers

Bioengineering sits at the vibrant intersection of biology and engineering, where scientists design new tools to understand life and solve real-world problems. From creating artificial organs to developing smart materials that mimic natural tissues, this field turns complex biological questions into tangible innovations that improve human health and our environment.

At Gist.Science, we track every new preprint in this category directly from bioRxiv. Our team processes each submission to provide both plain-language explanations for curious minds and detailed technical summaries for researchers, ensuring these cutting-edge discoveries are accessible to everyone. Below are the latest papers in bioengineering that have recently appeared on bioRxiv.

📄 bioengineering

Transferrin receptor binding valency determines the circulating half-life and weight-loss efficacy of Fc-FGF21 in TfR-humanized mice

This study demonstrates that while engineering Fc-FGF21 to bind the human transferrin receptor (hTfR) aims to enhance blood-brain barrier transport, the resulting bivalent hTfR engagement in humanized mice drastically shortens the protein's circulating half-life and abolishes its weight-loss efficacy, highlighting a critical design trade-off where systemic clearance by the shuttle receptor compromises the therapeutic activity of metabolic hormones.

Zhou, H., Deng, Y., Li, H., Meng, J., Straub, L. G., Zhao, S., Zhu, Y.2026-11-04
📄 bioengineering

Cross-species structure-mechanics prediction in the intervertebral disc

This study establishes a multiscale cross-species framework linking hierarchical collagen architecture to mechanical vulnerability in intervertebral discs, demonstrating that a novel Structure Index can predict deformation patterns and identify mechanically vulnerable regions across rats, mini-pigs, and humans to enable non-invasive biomechanical assessment of disc degeneration.

Chen, J., Parmenter, A. L., Sharma, A., Henderson, I., Brunet, J., Zwingenberger, S., Raina, D. B., Urban, T., Dejea, H. (…)2026-11-02
📄 bioengineering

Perceptual sensitivity supports online control, while perceptual errors drive motor memory formation during locomotor adaptation

This study demonstrates that in human locomotor adaptation, perceptual sensitivity drives immediate online motor corrections while perceptual prediction errors guide the formation of long-term motor memories, thereby validating error-based learning as a core principle for whole-body movement.

Gonzalez-Rubio, M., Costello, A. R., Iturralde, P. A., Torres-Oviedo, G.2026-10-30
📄 bioengineering

Machine Learning-Based Early Prediction of Neural Microelectrode Lifetime Under Accelerated Aging Conditions

This paper demonstrates that a machine learning model based on Elastic Net regression can accurately predict the accelerated aging lifetime of neural microelectrodes using only early-life electrochemical data, offering a promising method to expedite the development of long-lived implantable medical devices.

Hua, H., Niemiec, M., Li, T., Manna, R., Jo, H., Kim, K., Hu, C.2026-10-30
📄 bioengineering

Quantifying the role of hyaluronic acid on collagen fiber mechanics via femtosecond laser ablation

This study demonstrates that femtosecond laser ablation combined with second harmonic generation imaging reveals hyaluronic acid's critical role in facilitating collagen fiber sliding and viscoelastic behavior in tendons, showing that its depletion impairs micromechanics while supplementation with methacrylated hyaluronic acid effectively restores these properties.

Larson, H. M., Miller, F., Hawley, N., Ward, O., DeFoe, A., Burdick, J. A., Calve, S.2026-10-29
📄 bioengineering

From group-level neurophysiological biomarkers to individual-level phenotyping to identify mechanisms of neurodegenerative disease

This study demonstrates that while group-level neurophysiological biomarkers from resting-state MEG may not reliably translate to individual-level classification in neurodegenerative diseases like bvFTD and PSP, combining clinical scores with mechanistic biophysical parameters derived from dynamic causal modelling offers a promising framework to balance diagnostic accuracy with interpretability for precision medicine.

Jafarian, A., Hughes, L. E., Naessens, M., Rouse, M., Cope, T. E., Holland, N., Murley, A. G., Tan Yong Wei, S., Rittman (…)2026-10-28
📄 bioengineering

Growing Macroscopic Functional Human Tissues on 3D Printed Peptide Hydrogels

This study demonstrates that 3D-printed peptide hydrogels serve as macroscopic frameworks to guide the growth and functional organization of centimeter-scale human cardiac and neural tissues, including directionally biased hippocampal circuits, while preserving their intrinsic self-organizing capacity.

Farsheed, A. C., Makhoul, J. T., Liu, J., Thornton, M. A., Maldonado, E., Alsolami, S., Li, E., Lu, C., Hodge, S., Pratt (…)2026-10-28