Recently, stem cells have been drawing increasing interest in basic and translational research that aims to understand stem cell biology and generate new therapies for various disorders. Many stem cells can be cultured in 2D relatively easily using tissue culture plastic. However, many of these cultures do not represent the natural conditions of stem cells in the body. In the body, microenvironments include numerous supporting cells and molecules. Therefore, researchers and clinicians have sought ideal stem cell preparations for basic research and clinical applications, which may be attainable through 3D culture of stem cells. The 3D cultures mimic the conditions of the natural environment of stem cells better, as cells in 3D cultures exhibit many unique and desirable characteristics that could be beneficial for therapeutic interventions. 3D stem cell cultures may employ supporting structures, such as various matrices or scaffolds, in addition to stem cells, to support complex structures. This book brings together recent research on 3D cultures of various stem cells to increase the basic understanding of stem cell culture techniques and also to highlight stem cell preparations for possible novel therapeutic applications.

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The use of composite materials is ubiquitous in every field of human activities, including in the agricultural, industrial, environmental, biomedical and transport sectors. After a pandemic with the simultaneous unfolding of an energy and climatic crisis, we now realize how necessary it is to carry out studies on composite materials based on polymers to positively affect our current society and, in particular, future generations.To this aim, in the present selection of scientific articles we have given visibility to worthy contributions on a wide variety of topics, highlighting how essential plastic-based composite materials and their derivatives are in our daily lives. The articles in this Special Issue were wide-ranging and devoted to the properties and characterization of composites for innovative and strategic applications and, more generally, for the development of the chemical–physical properties of these materials.

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This book collected recent innovative research and review articles on analytical techniques, production protocols, biotechnological tools, and new insights into bioactivities of ginsenosides including the effects on epithelial-mesenchymal transition, hippocampal neurogenesis and inflammation as well as on diseases such as ischemic stroke, autoimmune diseases, and allergic disorders. Additionally, the analysis through molecular docking and an overview of the Panax ginseng pharmacopuncture were also presented.

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This book covedered high-quality contributions (original research articles or review papers) providing a picture on innovations in microbial fermentative processes, including improvements of quality/safety of fermented foods and beverages, production of high added-values products, and valorization/recovery of agro-food wastes.

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Nowadays, we are witnessing highly dynamic research activities related to the intriguing field of biodegradable materials with plastic-like properties. These activities are stimulated by the strengthened public awareness of prevailing ecological issues connected to growing piles of plastic waste and increasing greenhouse gas emissions; this goes hand-in-hand with the ongoing depletion of fossil feedstocks, which are traditionally used to produce full carbon backbone polymers. Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) biopolyesters, a family of plastic-like materials with versatile material properties, are increasing considered to be a future-oriented solution for diminishing these concerns. PHA production is based on renewable resources and occurs in a bio-mediated fashion through the action of living organisms. If accomplished in an optimized way, PHA production and the entire PHA lifecycle are embedded into nature´s closed cycles of carbon. Sustainable and efficient PHA production requires understanding and improvement of all the individual process steps. Holistic improvement of PHA production, applicable on an industrially relevant scale, calls for, inter alia, consolidated knowledge about the enzymatic and genetic particularities of PHA-accumulating organisms, an in-depth understanding of the kinetics of the bioprocess, the selection of appropriate inexpensive fermentation feedstocks, tailoring of PHA composition at the level of its monomeric constituents, optimized biotechnological engineering, and novel strategies for PHA recovery from biomass characterized by low energy and chemical requirements. This Special Issue represents a comprehensive compilation of articles in which these individual aspects have been addressed by globally recognized experts.

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Environmental quality is crucial to our health, economy, lives, and for future generations. However, during the last few years, we have faced several serious challenges, which include, but are not limited to, climate change, unsustainable consumption and production, as well as various forms of pollution. These challenges are of global concerns for the sustainable development of human beings. This reprint has collected review and research papers aimed at a wide range of environmental topics: water and wastewater treatment and management, soil degradation and conservation, pollution control, the environmental impact of technologies, air quality and the indoor environment, and advanced environmental materials. Analytical methods developed for the determination of environmental pollutants were also welcomed. Papers dealing in the synthesis of adsorbents for the solid-phase extraction of environmental pollutants also fell within the scope of this Special Issue. Contributions describing novel and significant knowledge, scientific results, and advanced applications in the field of environmental sciences and technology were also welcomed. This reprint provides an integrated view of the trends in solving the problems associated with the achievement of sustainability in environmental technology.

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Compared to conventional chemical technologies and other similar industrial processes, bioprocesses represent a more sustainable and environmentally-friendly alternative for the production of fuels and platform chemicals. In biorefineries, different kinds of feedstocks, such as biomass or lignocellulosic materials in general, can be used and fermented by microorganisms (e.g., bacteria, fungi, algae), after some pretreatment steps, to produce high added-value metabolites. More recently, wastes, wastewaters and also waste gases have been shown to be suitable for resource recovery or for their bioconversion to (bio)fuels (e.g., ethanol, butanol, hexanol, biodiesel, biohydrogen, biogas) or other commercial products (e.g., biopolymers). In this sense, much effort has also been made to bioconvert greenhouse gases, such as CO2, into useful products.The goal of this Special Issue is to publish both recent innovative research data, as well as review papers on the fermentation of different types of substrates to commercial (bio)fuels and (bio)products, mainly focusing on the bioconversion of pollutants in solid, liquid, or gas phases (wastes, wastewaters, waste gases).

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Process monitoring and control are fundamental to all processes; this holds especially for bioprocesses, due to their complex nature. Usually, bioprocesses deal with living cells, which have their own regulatory systems. It helps to adjust the cell to its environmental condition. This must not be the optimal condition that the cell needs to produce whatever is desired. Therefore, a close monitoring of the cell and its environment is essential to provide optimal conditions for production. Without measurement, no information of the current process state is obtained. In this book, methods and techniques are provided for the monitoring and control of bioprocesses. From new developments for sensors, the application of spectroscopy and modelling approaches, the estimation and observer implementation for ethanol production and the development and scale-up of various bioprocesses and their closed loop control information are presented. The processes discussed here are very diverse. The major applications are cultivation processes, where microorganisms were grown, but also an incubation process of bird’s eggs, as well as an indoor climate control for humans, will be discussed. Altogether, in 12 chapters, nine original research papers and three reviews are presented.

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Biopharmaceutical and pharmaceutical manufacturing are strongly influenced by the process analytical technology initiative (PAT) and quality by design (QbD) methodologies, which are designed to enhance the understanding of more integrated processes. The major aim of this effort can be summarized as developing a mechanistic understanding of a wide range of process steps, including the development of technologies to perform online measurements and real-time control and optimization. Furthermore, minimization of the number of empirical experiments and the model-assisted exploration of the process design space are targeted. Even if tremendous progress has been achieved so far, there is still work to be carried out in order to realize the full potential of the process systems engineering toolbox. Within this reprint, an overview of cutting-edge developments of process systems engineering for biopharmaceutical and pharmaceutical manufacturing processes is given, including model-based process design, Digital Twins, computer-aided process understanding, process development and optimization, and monitoring and control of bioprocesses. The biopharmaceutical processes addressed focus on the manufacturing of biopharmaceuticals, mainly by Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells, as well as adeno-associated virus production and generation of cell spheroids for cell therapies.

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The present book recapitulates the articles published within the Special Issue "Cartilage Repair and Regeneration: Focus on Multi-Disciplinary Strategies", Applied Sciences, MDPI, dealing with the innovative multi-disciplinary therapeutic approaches for musculoskeletal diseases. In particular the published studies space from advanced 3D bioprinting technology to obtain a scaffold with different zonal cell densities, and biphasic scaffold (ChondroMimetic) construction, pass through the comparison of different techniques for cartilage regeneration such as of mosaicplasty and matrix-assisted autologous chondrocyte transplantation (MACT) and histopathological features of osteochondral units, and end with the considerations regarding development of bioreactors able to mimic the biomechanical load on chondrocytes in vitro, giving some interesting insights in this specific scientific field.

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Computational fluid dynamics (CFD), which uses numerical analysis to predict and model complex flow behaviors and transport processes, has become a mainstream tool in engineering process research and development. Complex chemical processes often involve coupling between dynamics at vastly different length and time scales, as well as coupling of different physical models. The multiscale and multiphysics nature of those problems calls for delicate modeling approaches. This book showcases recent contributions in this field, from the development of modeling methodology to its application in supporting the design, development, and optimization of engineering processes.

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This book is a printed edition of the Special Issue Looking Forward to the Future of Heparin: New Sources, Developments and Applications that was published in Molecules

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This eBook is a collection of articles from a Frontiers Research Topic. Frontiers Research Topics are very popular trademarks of the Frontiers Journals Series: they are collections of at least ten articles, all centered on a particular subject. With their unique mix of varied contributions from Original Research to Review Articles, Frontiers Research Topics unify the most influential researchers, the latest key findings and historical advances in a hot research area! Find out more on how to host your own Frontiers Research Topic or contribute to one as an author by contacting the Frontiers Editorial Office: frontiersin.org/about/contact

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Microalgae have been intensively studied for CO2 capture, nutrient removal from wastewater, and biofuels production. These photosynthetic microorganisms use solar energy with efficiency ten times greater than terrestrial plants and are responsible for about 50% of the world’s oxygen production. Therefore, microalgae have been considered a sustainable solution for CO2 capture. Besides carbon, their growth also requires other macronutrients: nitrogen and phosphorus. To avoid the addition of fertilizers (increasing the production costs), these nutrients can be supplied if wastewater is used as the culture medium. The integration of biomass production with wastewater treatment enables a reduction in operational costs and the environmental impact. Microalgae are also known for their high lipid contents and high growth rates and are a promising oil source for biodiesel production. This Special Issue Book presents the recent research activities concerning the environmental applications of microalgae and their potential for biofuels production, focusing on the main challenges for their large-scale application. Since microalgal culturing can address different environmental and non-environmental issues, the achievements from the integration of multiple microalgal applications are also considered in this Special Issue Book.

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The use of biocatalysts, including enzymes and metabolically engineered cells, has attracted a great deal of attention in the chemical and bio-industry, because biocatalytic reactions can be conducted under environmentally-benign conditions and in more sustainable ways. The catalytic efficiency and chemo-, regio-, and stereo-selectivity of enzymes can be enhanced and modulated using protein engineering. Metabolic engineering seeks to enhance cellular biosynthetic productivity of target metabolites via controlling and redesigning metabolic pathways using multi-omics analysis, genome-scale modeling, metabolic flux control, and reconstruction of novel pathways. The aim of this book is to cover the recent advances in biocatalysis and metabolic engineering for biomanufacturing of biofuels, chemicals, biomaterials, and pharmaceuticals. Reviews and original research articles on the development of new strategies to improve the catalytic efficiency of enzymes, biosynthetic capability of cell factories, and their applications in production of various bioproducts and chemicals are included.

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This Special Issue is a second collection of top-quality papers from some of the Editorial Board Members of Fluids, Guest Editors, and leading researchers, discussing new knowledge or new cutting-edge developments in all aspects of fluid mechanics. Research in turbulence continues to be one of the active areas; other papers focus on mixing, multiphase flows and porous media, slow (creeping) flows, potential flows, non-Newtonian fluids, fluid–structure interaction, and numerical methods.

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The next healthcare revolution will apply regenerative medicines using human cells and tissues. The aim of the regenerative medicine approach is to create biological therapies or substitutes in vitro for the replacement or restoration of tissue function in vivo lost through failure or disease. However, whilst science has revealed the potential, and early products have shown the power of such therapies, there is an immediate and long-term need for expertise with the necessary skills to face the engineering and life science challenges before the predicted benefits in human healthcare can be realized. Specifically, there is a need for the development of bioprocess technology for the successful transfer of laboratory-based practice of stem cell and tissue culture to the clinic as therapeutics through the application of engineering principles and practices. This Special Issue of Bioengineering on Stem Cell Bioprocessing and Manufacturing addresses the central role in defining the engineering sciences of cell-based therapies, by bringing together contributions from worldwide experts on stem cell biology and engineering, bioreactor design and bioprocess development, scale-up, and manufacturing of stem cell-based therapies.

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Even today, cardiovascular diseases are the main cause of death worldwide, and therapeutic approaches are very restricted. Due to the limited regenerative capabilities of terminally differentiated cardiomyocytes post injury, new strategies to treat cardiac patients are urgently needed. Post myocardial injury, resident fibroblasts begin to generate the extracellular matrix, resulting in fibrosis, and finally, cardiac failure. Recently, preclinical investigations and clinical trials raised hope in stem cell-based approaches, to be an effective therapy option for these diseases. So far, several types of stem cells have been identified to be promising candidates to be applied for treatment: cardiac progenitor cells, bone marrow derived stem cells, embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells, as well as their descendants. Furthermore, the innovative techniques of direct cardiac reprogramming of cells offered promising options for cardiovascular research, in vitro and in vivo. Hereby, the investigation of underlying and associated mechanisms triggering the therapeutic effects of stem cell application is of particular importance to improve approaches for heart patients. This Special Issue of Cells provides the latest update in the rapidly developing field of regenerative medicine in cardiology.

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This book aims to highlight recent advances in the synthesis of nanocellulose and surface modifications for the design of functional nanocellulose, as well as its applications and potential biological impact. It features two review articles and four original research articles which targets a broad readership of chemists, materials scientists, biochemists, nanotechnologists and others with an interest in nanocellulose research.

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Viruses are microscopic agents that exist worldwide and are present in humans, animals, plants, and other living organisms in which they can cause devastating diseases. However, the advances of biotechnology and next-generation sequencing technologies have accelerated novel virus discovery, identification, sequencing, and manipulation, showing that they present unique characteristics that place them as valuable tools for a wide variety of biotechnological applications. Many applications of viruses have been used for agricultural purposes, namely concerning plant breeding and plant protection. Nevertheless, it is interesting to mention that plants have also many advantages to be used in vaccine production, such as the low cost and low risks they entail, showing once more the versatility of the use of viruses in biotechnology. Although it will obviously never be ignored that viruses are responsible for devastating diseases, it is clear that the more they are studied, the more possibilities they offer to us. They are now on the front line of the most revolutionizing techniques in several fields, providing advances that would not be possible without their existence. In this book there are presented studies that demonstrate the work developed using viruses in biotechnology. These studies were brought by experts that focus on the development and applications of many viruses in several fields, such as agriculture, the pharmaceutical industry, and medicine.

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