From artificial organs to advanced batteries: A breakthrough 3D-printable polymer

University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science

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Liheng Cai’s foldable bottlebrush polymers can yield a variety of material structures with different properties that could enable applications from organ transplants to battery technology.

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Credit: Liheng Cai/Softbiomatter Lab/University of Virginia

A new type of 3D-printable material that gets along with the body’s immune system, pioneered by a University of Virginia research team, could lead to safer medical technology for organ transplants and drug delivery systems. It could also improve battery technologies.

The breakthrough is the subject of a new article in the journal Advanced Materials, based on work done by the University of Virginia’s Soft Biomatter Laboratory, led by Liheng Cai, an associate professor of materials science and engineering and chemical engineering. 

The paper’s first author is Baiqiang Huang, a Ph.D. student in the School of Engineering and Applied Science.

Their research shows a way to change the properties of polyethylene glycol to make stretchable networks. PEG, as it’s known, is a material already used in many biomedical technologies such as tissue engineering, but the way PEG networks are currently produced — created in water by crosslinking linear PEG polymers, with the water removed afterward — leaves a brittle, crystallized structure that can’t stretch without losing its integrity. 

The breakthrough in elasticity is an important feature, because stretchiness would allow PEG networks’ use in larger structures, or in structures that require some flexibility and movement, such as the scaffolding needed someday for synthetic human organs. 

Stretch Lies in Foldable Design

To create this stretchiness, the team built upon existing work from Cai’s lab, which had already developed a way to create very strong synthetic polymers. The approach took a page from the methods used to create stretchy, strong rubber: store length in internal structures at the molecular level. 

These internal structures, called a “foldable bottlebrush” design, make for a material that can be both very strong and very stretchy. The polymeric molecules have many flexible side chains radiating out from a central backbone that can collapse like an accordion — storing extra length that can be unfolded.

“Our group discovered this polymer and used this architecture to show any materials made this way are very stretchable.” Cai said.

To create the new material described in Advanced Materials, Huang applied the foldable bottlebrush polymer concept to PEG. He exposed the precursor mixture to ultraviolet light for a few seconds, which initiates polymerization to form a bottlebrush-architecture network. This resulted in 3D-printable, highly stretchable PEG-based hydrogels and solvent-free elastomers. 

“We can change the shape of the UV lights to create so many complicated structures,” Huang said, including structures that are either soft or stiff but remain stretchy by design. This type of versatility in design could one day allow for the creation of new techniques for creating artificial organs or delivery medicines. 

The paper also shows that the stretchy 3D-printable PEG materials are biologically friendly. The researchers cultured cells alongside the materials, to make sure they can live side-by-side, and they were compatible, Huang said. This is good news for its potential use for materials that would go inside the body, such as scaffolding for an organ. 

Future Applications

In a future application, it might also be possible to combine PEG with other materials to create 3D-printable materials with different chemical compositions, opening the door to many possible uses. 

For example, compared to existing materials for solid-state polymer electrolytes, the new materials show greater electrical conductivity and much higher stretchability at room temperature. 

“This property highlights the new material as a promising high-performance solid-state electrolyte for advanced battery technologies,” Cai said. “Our team continues to explore potential extensions of the research in solid-state battery technologies.” 

The paper’s other authors include UVA Engineering colleagues Myoeum Kim, Pu Zhang, Emmanuel Oduro and Daniel A. Rau. The work was funded by the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, UVA LaunchPad for Diabetes and Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation’s Commonwealth Commercialization fund. 

The paper, “Additive Manufacturing of Molecular Architecture Encoded Stretchable Polyethylene Glycol Hydrogels and Elastomers,” was published in Advanced Materials on Oct. 29. 

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Journal

Advanced Materials

DOI

10.1002/adma.202512806 

Article Title

Additive Manufacturing of Molecular Architecture Encoded Stretchable Polyethylene Glycol Hydrogels and Elastomers

 

How people identify scents and perceive their pleasantness

Distinct patterns of brain activity occurring at different time points support distinguishing between odors and perceiving their pleasantness.

Society for Neuroscience

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In a new JNeurosci paper, Masako Okamoto and colleagues, from the University of Tokyo, explored the brain activity involved in smelling odors. 

The researchers recorded brain activity as study volunteers inhaled a panel of odors. The volunteers also completed questionnaires as well as tests for odor detection, identification, and discrimination. A distinct frequency of brain activity arising soon after odor presentation was linked to detecting odors. Notably, the quality of this activity was associated with the ability to discriminate between odors with high accuracy. Another frequency of activity was linked with scent pleasantness, and this activity didn’t occur until later. Based on questionnaire answers, the fidelity of this activity was associated with a greater awareness of odor pleasantness in daily life. 

Summing up their research, says Okamoto, “In the very early stage after odor onset, the brain primarily encodes objective molecular features of odors to support odor discrimination at the behavioral level, and only later does it begin to represent subjective perceptual attributes, such as pleasantness.” The researchers suggest that the different kinds of brain activity they identified may serve as a way to assess olfactory disorders or inform new strategies for enhancing olfactory function. 

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Please contact media@sfn.org for full-text PDF. 

About JNeurosci 

JNeurosci was launched in 1981 as a means to communicate the findings of the highest quality neuroscience research to the growing field. Today, the journal remains committed to publishing cutting-edge neuroscience that will have an immediate and lasting scientific impact, while responding to authors' changing publishing needs, representing breadth of the field and diversity in authorship. 

About The Society for Neuroscience 

The Society for Neuroscience is the world's largest organization of scientists and physicians devoted to understanding the brain and nervous system. The nonprofit organization, founded in 1969, now has nearly 35,000 members in more than 95 countries. 

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Journal

JNeurosci

DOI

10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0203-25.2025 

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Behavioral Relevance of Early Neural Coding of Low-Level Odor Features in Humans

Article Publication Date

17-Nov-2025

Medicaid expansion increases access to HIV prevention medication for high-risk populations

Rutgers Health researchers found that prescription rates for preexposure prophylaxis rose overall, but racial disparities persist

Rutgers University

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Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) significantly increased the number of people at risk of HIV diagnosis who were prescribed preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a preventative medication taken in pill or injectable form, according to Rutgers Health–led research.

The study, published in Health Affairs, analyzed PrEP prescription data from all 50 states and Washington, D.C., between 2012 and 2023.

Researchers found rates of PrEP prescribing increased overall and significantly increased relative to the number of new HIV diagnoses across all demographic groups, potentially because of overall increases in PrEP access and decreases in HIV diagnoses. Gains in access to PrEP, though, were greater for white populations compared to Black, Hispanic and Latino populations.

“Medicaid expansion is a powerful tool for improving HIV prevention,” said Elizabeth Stone, lead author of the study and a core member of the Rutgers Center for Health Services Research at the Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research. “But the disparities we observed underscore the need to intentionally address barriers that may be limiting access to PrEP for Black and Hispanic communities specifically.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 35,000 to 40,000 new HIV infections are reported annually in the United States and it is estimated that 36% of people who could benefit from PrEP receive the prescription. Common PrEP medication brands include Truvada and Descovy.

When broken down by race, however, disparities are evident. Ninety-four percent of white Americans who could benefit from PrEP received a prescription in 2022, while 13% of Black Americans and 24% of Hispanic and Latino Americans received prescriptions.

Medicaid, which provides health insurance for disabled and low-income populations, is jointly funded by the federal government and states. The ACA expansion gave states the option to expand coverage to adults with incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty line with increased federal funding for this population. As of November, 40 states and the District of Columbia have expanded their Medicaid coverage through the ACA.

Rutgers researchers said that progress made in HIV prevention through Medicaid expansion is at risk of being lost because of recent policy changes. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law in July, eliminates the increased federal funding for Medicaid expansion populations and introduces additional barriers, including work requirements and more frequent eligibility determinations for enrollees. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that over the next 10 years, 7.5 million people will lose Medicaid coverage because of these changes.

In their study, researchers found the strongest increases in the ratio of PrEP prescriptions to new HIV diagnoses occurred among men, individuals ages 25 to 34, and white populations. In contrast, Black, Hispanic and Latino populations, who bear a disproportionate burden of new HIV diagnoses, experienced smaller gains.

“These disparities highlight the limitations of relying solely on state-by-state insurance expansion to close gaps in HIV prevention,” said Stone, an instructor in the Department of Psychiatry at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. “We need policy interventions that address the social and systemic factors driving inequities in PrEP access.”

Coauthors of the study include Nicholas Seewald of the University of Pennsylvania and Joseph Rosen of Rhode Island Hospital.

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Journal

Health Affairs

DOI

10.1377/hlthaff.2025.00211 

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Impact Of Medicaid Expansion On HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Coverage, 2012–23

 

Arkansas research awarded for determining cardinal temps for eight cover crops

New information offers better guidance for cover crop growth models

University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture

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Research at the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station determined the cardinal temperatures — base, optimal and maximum — of eight cover crops, including crimson clover.

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Credit: U of A System Division of Agriculture photo by Mila Pessotto

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Knowing what temperatures that a plant can withstand is a hallmark of botanical science, but those temperatures had not been well documented for many cover crops.

Grown in periods of the year when the cash crop is absent, cover crops are planted for erosion control, as well as weed suppression and to improve soil structure, moisture retention and nutrient cycling. They also provide habitat for beneficial insects and can serve as forage for farm animals.

Without knowledge of the cover crops’ base, optimal and maximum temperature ranges —known as cardinal temperatures — agricultural scientists could not develop accurate plant growth and biomass prediction models, which help farmers optimize decisions like when to terminate the cover crop. The models also help assess weed suppression, estimate nutrient cycling and quantify the benefits of soil carbon and potential negative impacts of a cover crop.

A team of researchers with the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, led by Trent Roberts, professor of soil fertility and soil testing and Endowed Chair in Soil Fertility Research in the crop, soil and environmental sciences department, took on the problem by evaluating eight commonly grown cover crop species in growth chambers to find their cardinal temperatures.

The base temperature is the lowest temperature at which the plant will still exhibit a measurable growth rate. Optimal is where plant growth is at its peak, and maximum is the temperature at which plant growth ceases due to excessive heat. For many plant species, the relationship between temperature and growth rate or developmental stage can be correlated and predicted using mathematical models. 

Not only did the researchers identify the base temperatures for two cover crop species and the optimum temperatures for three of the eight cover crop species for the first time, they also determined the maximum temperature values of all eight cover crops, which included crimson clover, Austrian winter pea, balansa clover, barley, black-seeded oats, common vetch, cereal rye, crimson clover and hairy vetch.

Estimates were required for maximum temperatures of five of the cover crop species due to the 34 Celsius upper limits of the growth chamber. Although maximum temperatures may not be as critical for growth modeling as the base and optimum temperatures, the researchers pointed out that knowledge of the maximum temps may be more crucial in the Mid-South and Southern states, where temperatures can rise quickly in late winter and early spring.

In all, they offered 14 newly identified cardinal temperatures for the eight cover crop species. Five cardinal temperatures determined in the study were different from what was previously recorded and three of the base temperature values were found to differ from previously reported values, including cereal rye, which was almost 9 degrees Celsius lower than the previously reported value in the scientific literature.

“Such a large difference in base temperature values would lead to gross underestimations of plant growth and development for cereal rye when using the data reported in the literature," said Roberts, whose role includes research and outreach work through the Division of Agriculture’s Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service.

Mila Pessotto, Ph.D., was the lead author of the research article titled “Determining Cardinal Temperatures for Eight Cover Crop Species” as a masters student in the crop, soil and environmental sciences department of the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences at the University of Arkansas.

“The refinement or identification of 18 of the 24 possible cardinal temperatures investigated in this study generates a significant step forward in the ability to model cover crop species growth and development,” Pessotto said.

Tri Societies Recognition

The work, originally published in 2023, recently earned Pessotto and her collaborators a 2025 Outstanding Paper Award from the American science societies for crop, soil and agronomy.

The American Society of Agronomy, the Crop Science Society of America, and the Soil Science Society of America — also known as the Tri Societies — recognize outstanding publications from their journals each year based on advancement of knowledge in the profession, effectiveness of communication, methodology, originality and impact.

Co-authors of the study included Roberts, Mary Savin, professor and horticulture department head, Matt Bertucci, assistant professor of sustainable fruit and vegetable production in the horticulture department, Jeremy Ross, professor and extension soybean agronomist, and Caio dos Santos, who received a master’s degree from the University of Arkansas in 2020.

Pessotto is now a postdoc research associate in the department of agronomy at Iowa State University, where dos Santos also recently earned his doctorate.

The study was supported with funding and technical assistance from the Arkansas Corn and Grain Sorghum Board and the Arkansas Soybean Promotion Board.

To learn more about the Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website. Follow us on X at @ArkAgResearch, subscribe to the Food, Farms and Forests podcast and sign up for our monthly newsletter, the Arkansas Agricultural Research Report. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit uada.edu. Follow us on X at @AgInArk. To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit uaex.uada.edu.

About the Division of Agriculture

The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation’s historic land grant education system. 

The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on three system campuses.  

Pursuant to 7 CFR § 15.3, the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs and services (including employment) without regard to race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, sexual preference, pregnancy or any other legally protected status, and is an equal opportunity institution.

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DOI

10.1002/agg2.20393