Mechanical forces play important roles in the regulation of various biological processes at the molecular and cellular level, such as gene expression, adhesion, migration, and cell fate, which are essential to the maintenance of tissue homeostasis. In this review, we discuss emerging bioengineered tools enabled by microscale technologies for studying the roles of mechanical forces in cell biology. In addition to traditional mechanobiology experimental techniques, we review recent advances of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)-based approaches for cell mechanobiology and discuss how microengineered platforms can be used to generate in vivo–like micromechanical environment in in vitro settings for investigating cellular processes in normal and pathophysiological contexts. These capabilities also have significant implications for mechanical control of cell and tissue development and cell-based regenerative therapies.

We developed a novel method to fabricate a crab-like microrobot that can actuate for a long period in a physiological condition. The microrobot backbone was built with a biocompatible and elastic material—polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)—by using a specially designed 3D molding aligner, and consisted of three strips of PDMS “legs” connected across a “body.” Cardiomyocytes were then plated on the grooved top surface of the backbone, resulting in a high concentration of pulsating cells. These key techniques enabled the microrobot to walk continuously for over ten days. The performance of our crab-like microrobot was measured at an average velocity of 100 µm s⁻¹, and the estimated total distance it travelled was 50 m over a one-week period. Thus, we have demonstrated for the first time a walking robot that exhibited reliable and long-term actuation performances.

The brain’s remarkable and efficient information processing capability is driving research into brain-inspired (neuromorphic) computing paradigms. Artificial aqueous ion channels are emerging as an exciting platform for neuromorphic computing, representing a departure from conventional solid-state devices by directly mimicking the brain’s fluidic ion transport. Supported by a quantitative theoretical model, we present easy-to-fabricate tapered microchannels that embed a conducting network of fluidic nanochannels between a colloidal structure. Due to transient salt concentration polarization, our devices are volatile memristors (memory resistors) that are remarkably stable. The voltage-driven net salt flux and accumulation, that underpin the concentration polarization, surprisingly combine into a diffusionlike quadratic dependence of the memory retention time on the channel length, allowing channel design for a specific timescale. We implement our device as a synaptic element for neuromorphic reservoir computing. Individual channels distinguish various time series, that together represent (handwritten) numbers, for subsequent in silico classification with a simple readout function. Our results represent a significant step toward realizing the promise of fluidic ion channels as a platform to emulate the rich aqueous dynamics of the brain.

This letter presents a biomimetic humidity sensor inspired by the humidity-dependent color change observed in the cuticle of the Hercules beetle. A thin-film-type humidity sensor with nanoporous structures (three-dimensional photonic crystals) mimicking the spongy multilayer in the beetles was designed and fabricated using the colloidal templating method and a hydrophilic surface treatment. The visible color of the fabricated humidity sensor changes from blue-green to red as the environmental humidity increases. The wavelength of reflected light that is predicted by Bragg’s equation considering the effect of water absorption shows a good agreement with experimental results.