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Cole DeForest @coledeforest.bsky.social · 1d

Our new paper entitled “Boolean Logic-gated Protein Presentation through Autonomously Compiled Molecular Topology” is now live at Nature Chemical Biology (@natchembio.nature.com)! Check it out!

📜: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

@uwnews.uw.edu feature write-up: www.washington.edu/news/2025/10...

Stimulus-responsive materials have enabled advanced applications in biosensing, tissue engineering and therapeutic delivery. Although controlled molecular topology has been demonstrated as an effective route toward creating materials that respond to prespecified input combinations, prior efforts suffer from a reliance on complicated and low-yielding multistep organic syntheses that dramatically limit their utility. Harnessing the power of recombinant expression, we integrate emerging chemical biology tools to create topologically specified protein cargos that can be site-specifically tethered to and conditionally released from biomaterials following user-programmable Boolean logic. Critically, construct topology is autonomously compiled during expression through spontaneous intramolecular ligations, enabling direct and scalable synthesis of advanced operators. Using this framework, we specify protein release from biomaterials following all 17 possible YES/OR/AND logic outputs from input combinations of three orthogonal protease actuators, multiplexed delivery of three distinct biomacromolecules from hydrogels, five-input-based conditional cargo liberation and logically defined protein localization on or within living mammalian cells.

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Reposted by Cole DeForest

Addgene @addgene.bsky.social · 21d

Cool science alert! A plasmid encoding a photodegradable hydrogel-forming protein called PhoCoil. Find it here:
https://twp.ai/4iqKMK
@coledeforest.bsky.social

Addgene: PhoCoil

Plasmid PhoCoil from Dr. Cole DeForest's lab contains the insert PhoCoil and is published in Sci Adv. 2025 Aug 29;11(35):eadx3472. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adx3472. Epub 2025 Aug 27. This plasmid is available through Addgene.

twp.ai

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Cole DeForest @coledeforest.bsky.social · Sep 12

Thanks also to @uwiscrm.bsky.social for nicely highlighting the work!

iscrm.uw.edu/helper-or-cu...

Fibroblasts: Helpers or Culprits / ISCRM

Multiscale analysis reveals that fibroblasts play a more active role in dilated cardiomyopathy than previously suspected.

iscrm.uw.edu

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Cole DeForest @coledeforest.bsky.social · Sep 12

Mike Regnier, Farid Moussavi-Harami, Nate Sniadecki, and their respective labs also played instrumental roles on these exciting efforts!

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Cole DeForest @coledeforest.bsky.social · Sep 12

This has been a huge collaborative effort overseen by Jennifer Davis and driven by co-first authors Ross Bretherton (co-advised between the DeForest and Davis labs) and Bella Reichardt.

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Cole DeForest @coledeforest.bsky.social · Sep 12

New in @ScienceMagazine, we report that dilated cardiomyopathy can be alleviated by preventing hypocontractility-induced fibroblast expansion! The story is a fun combination of advanced in vivo and biomaterial-based in vitro models. Check it out!

📜 : doi.org/10.1126/scie...

Preventing hypocontractility-induced fibroblast expansion alleviates dilated cardiomyopathy

Cardiomyocyte hypocontractility underlies inherited dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). Yet, whether fibroblasts modify DCM phenotypes remains unclear despite their regulation of fibrosis, which strongly pr...

doi.org

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Cole DeForest @coledeforest.bsky.social · Sep 3

Our new manuscript entitled "PhoCoil: A Photodegradable and Injectable Single-component Recombinant Protein Hydrogel for Minimally Invasive Delivery and Degradation" is now live at @ScienceAdvances!

Check it out here (🔓): www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

PhoCoil: A photodegradable and injectable single-component recombinant protein hydrogel for minimally invasive delivery and degradation

PhoCoil is a genetically encoded hydrogel that enables noninvasive delivery and subsequent user-controlled photodegradation.

www.science.org

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Cole DeForest @coledeforest.bsky.social · Aug 13

Check out our new paper entitled "Genetically Encoded Interpenetrating Polymer Networks as Injectable Biomaterials for Controlled Therapeutic Protein Delivery", appearing in ACS Biomat Science & Eng!

pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Genetically Encoded Interpenetrating Polymer Networks as Injectable Biomaterials for Controlled Therapeutic Protein Delivery

Though recombinant protein therapeutics hold great potential in treating many diseases, their intravenous delivery introduces challenges with off-target effects and short circulation half-lives. Injec...

pubs.acs.org

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Cole DeForest @coledeforest.bsky.social · May 20

Congrats, @nrichbourg.bsky.social ! Looking forward to watching your lab grow at FASU-FSU!

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Cole DeForest @coledeforest.bsky.social · May 20

Fantastic! This is such great news. Congrats on the new position, @monicaohnsorg.bsky.social !

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Cole DeForest @coledeforest.bsky.social · May 13

For the 2nd year in a row, one of our lab members has been selected for the prestigious Goldwater Scholarship. Huge congrats to Shivani Kottantharayil for her 2025 selection (and to Annabella Li for receiving the award last year)!

UW press release is here: www.washington.edu/uaa/2025/04/...

Four UW undergraduates named 2025 Goldwater Scholars

Four University of Washington students have been named Goldwater Scholars by the Goldwater Foundation, advancing the University’s tradition of undergraduate academic excellence and...

www.washington.edu

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Cole DeForest @coledeforest.bsky.social · Apr 3

In our latest manuscript, we demonstrate that grayscale control over local #biomaterial biochemistry and mechanics can be rapidly achieved across large constructs using an inexpensive (~$300) and commercially available LCD-based printer.

Find it published in JBMR-A! doi.org/10.1002/jbm....

Rapid and Inexpensive Image‐Guided Grayscale Biomaterial Customization via LCD Printing

Grayscale control over local biomaterial biochemistry and mechanics can be rapidly achieved across large constructs using an inexpensive (~$300) and commercially available liquid crystal display (LCD....

doi.org

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Cole DeForest @coledeforest.bsky.social · Dec 12

Happy Holidays from the DeForest Lab!

What fun to celebrate the group’s 2024 achievements, especially in the baking sector. Our annual dessert bake-off competition was a tasty success!

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Cole DeForest @coledeforest.bsky.social · Dec 12

The Anseth lab continues to pioneer many of the best and most versatile photoresponsive biomaterials known to our community. Congrats to @monicaohnsorg.bsky.social and Ella Hushka for summarizing the group's last 15 years of exciting efforts in their new paper!

Monica Ohnsorg, Ph.D. @monicaohnsorg.bsky.social · Dec 12

🌟 Perfect timing to check out our new @acspublications.bsky.social Accounts of Chemical Research article out online today summarizing the past 15 years of work with photoresponsive synthetic ECMs for biological applications conducted in the Anseth Lab! 🌟
#chemsky

pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

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Cole DeForest @coledeforest.bsky.social · Dec 4

Fun story from @matthewfainor.bsky.social on how next-gen recombinant proteins are being expressed in fruit flies, and what implications that could have for our lab-grown hydrogel biomaterials!

Matthew Fainor @matthewfainor.bsky.social · Dec 4

You're telling me the next generation of medical therapies will be made INSIDE fruit flies? But how? And why?

fleshyfutures.substack.com/p/fruit-flie...

Fruit flies will produce the next groundbreaking medical therapy

And, according to a new life cycle assessment, will significantly reduce biotech's environmental footprint

fleshyfutures.substack.com

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Cole DeForest @coledeforest.bsky.social · Dec 2

Professors often tell graduate students that “Your PhD is a #marathon, not a sprint”.

Having now run the 2024 Seattle Marathon (many years after finishing a PhD), I now actually feel qualified to make such a statement.

@uwmedicine.bsky.social

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Cole DeForest @coledeforest.bsky.social · Nov 21

Would love to be included here! Thanks for organizing!

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Reposted by Cole DeForest

Kelly Stevens @kellystevens.bsky.social · Nov 13

Introducing the Humanity Unlocking Biomaterials (HUB) national coordinating center. Opportunity to become involved with an incredible community, $100k research grants, core resources, and much more. Come join us! See more at our new website, here: www.humanityunlockingbiomaterials.org