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.

Amplified genome editing by in vivo editor production

This study introduces NANITE, a nonviral strategy that amplifies in vivo genome editing by programming transfected cells to produce and transfer editing enzymes via lipid vesicles to neighboring cells, thereby significantly boosting therapeutic efficiency in both cultured cells and mouse models.

Ngo, W., Rosas-Rivera, D., Wasko, K. M., Qiu, L., Kang, M. H., Gogna, S., Zeng, J., Hooks, M. T., Wu, J. L. Y., Li, Z., Doudna, J. A.2026-05-28📄 bioengineering

Objective curriculum-guided design of multi-property proteins

The paper introduces OCDesign, an objective curriculum-guided framework that sequentially introduces design objectives (such as solubility, stability, and binding affinity) to successfully engineer multi-property proteins with fewer experimental iterations than traditional one-shot optimization methods.

Liu, L., Zhao, J., Xie, X., Xu, S., Ren, M., Zhang, X., He, Z., Liu, F., Yu, C., Wang, K., Wang, X., Liang, X., Ye, X., Bu, D., Zhou, H.2026-05-28📄 bioengineering

Nanostructured Zirconia thin films as neurogliomorphic interface for neural cells of central and peripheral nervous system

This study demonstrates that nanostructured zirconia thin films serve as active neurogliomorphic interfaces that selectively enhance glial calcium signaling and modulate neuron-glia communication in both central and peripheral nervous system cultures, paving the way for advanced biohybrid neural interfaces.

Conte, G., Borghi, F., Lazzarini, C., Piazzoni, C., Konstantoulaki, A., Fabbri, R., Caprini, M., Milani, P., Benfenati, V.2026-05-28📄 bioengineering

In Vivo 4D Oxy-Wavelet MRI as a Non-Invasive Biomarker of Brain Mitochondrial Function across the Lifespan

This study introduces and validates 4D Oxy-wavelet MRI as a novel, non-invasive, high-resolution imaging technique capable of spatially mapping mitochondrial electron transport chain function across the lifespan in both animal models and humans by analyzing oxygen homeostasis responses to hypoxic challenges.

Cortes, D. R. E., Hartwick, S., Becker-Szurszewski, T., Schwab, K. E., Ruck, C., Manzoor, S., Coulson, N. W., West, D., Stapleton, M. C., Wyman, S., Lo, C. W.-Y., Bharathi, S., Goetzman, E. S., Chirst (…)2026-05-23📄 bioengineering

Systematic Evaluation of Signal Peptide-Driven Protein Secretion in the Fast-Growing Cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. PCC 11901

This study establishes *Synechococcus* sp. PCC 11901 as a secretion-competent chassis for photosynthetic biomanufacturing by systematically evaluating signal peptides, revealing that while the Tat pathway leader FutA outperforms Sec candidates for eYFP, optimal signal peptide selection is cargo-dependent, as evidenced by the superior performance of the thermitase Sec signal for lichenase secretion.

Moreno-Cabezuelo, J. A., Booth, A., Lin, D., Gathani, K., Kim, D., Sagaram, U. S.2026-05-22📄 bioengineering

Retinal Electrophysiological Patterns in Alzheimer's Disease: A Multi-Domain Signal Processing Framework for Non-Invasive Biomarker Discovery Using a Portable ERG Device

This pilot study demonstrates that a multi-domain signal processing framework applied to portable electroretinogram (ERG) recordings can effectively identify novel retinal temporal dysfunction biomarkers, achieving 85.8% accuracy in distinguishing Alzheimer's disease patients from controls and supporting the potential of portable ERG devices for early, non-invasive AD detection.

Barria, J. A., Slachevsky, A., Palacios, A. G., Medina, L. E.2026-05-22📄 bioengineering

A Comprehensive Computational Model of the Human head for Designing and Optimizing Visual Brain-Machine Interfaces

This paper presents and validates a comprehensive computational model of the human head that integrates the entire visual pathway and surrounding tissues to optimize visual brain-machine interfaces, demonstrating its utility in evaluating neuromodulation technologies, identifying superior stimulation sites, and designing advanced electrode arrays for vision restoration.

Lu, S., Yang, T., Geng, Y., Wu, H., Huang, Y., Zheng, T., Chen, H., Huang, S., Cao, Y., Yang, J., Yan, W., Zhang, Y., Wu, W.2026-05-18📄 bioengineering

Targeted extracellular degradation of LRP8 promotes ferroptosis in cancer cells

This study demonstrates that using bispecific cytokine receptor-targeting chimeras (KineTACs) to induce targeted extracellular degradation of the selenium uptake receptor LRP8 effectively depletes the ferroptosis-protective enzyme GPX4, thereby sensitizing cancer cells to ferroptosis and offering a novel strategy to overcome therapy resistance.

Zhao, F., Inague, A., Peters-Clarke, T. M., Chen, Y., Ganjave, S. D., Zhang, Y., Miao, K., Yao, Z., Wu, Y., Seto, M. K. C., Leung, K. K., Olzmann, J., Wells, J. A.2026-05-18📄 bioengineering