Cells communicate through secreted biomolecules, however, there are few tools to directly record these signals. Embedding fluorescent aptamer sensors within a biocompatible hydrogel enables tracking of cell-to-cell signaling with molecular specificity and high temporal resolution, demonstrated by monitoring of the molecular signals driving slime mold cell migration. This technology shall be applicable for studying a wide range of biological systems.

In this article,  we report an electrochemical biosensor to distinguish molecules with a minuscule difference in chemical composition by tuning the charge state of the surface on which the aptamer probes are immobilized. As an exemplar, it is shown that the strategy can distinguish between doxorubicin and many structurally similar analytes, including its primary metabolite, doxorubicin, which only differs by a single hydroxyl group.

Organized assemblies of cells have demonstrated promise as bioinspired actuators and devices. In this article, we develop a strategy for the rapid formation of functional biorobots composed of live cardiomyocytes. These biorobots can perform actuation functions both through naturally occurring contraction–relaxation cycles and through external control with chemical and electrical stimuli.

Nanopore electrode arrays have emerged as powerful tools to investigate electrochemistry at the single-entity level. In this review, we discuss their use to achieve gating of transport, permselectivity, electrochemical zero-mode waveguides for spectroelectrochemistry, and enhanced electrochemical processing.

In this article, we present living immunocyte templated micromotors that demonstrate significantly increased surface interactions and efficient removal of various targets across multiple scales, from ions to cells, compared to smooth synthetic material templated micromotors with the same size and surface chemistry.