Gene

Cell biology

Ecology

Neuroscience

Biology

Materials science

Biochemistry

Genetically engineered

Computational biology

Nerve cells

Polymer

Genetics

Nanotechnology

Organic chemistry

Enzyme

Chemistry

Organism

Living systems

Synthetic biology

Science

From genetics to material to behavior Introducing new genes into an organism can endow new biochemical functions or change the patterns of existing functions, but extending these manipulations to structure at the tissue level is challenging. Combining genetic engineering and polymer chemistry, Liu et al. directly leveraged complex cellular architectures of living organisms to synthesize, fabricate, and assemble bioelectronic materials (see the Perspective by Otto and Schmidt). An engineered enzyme expressed in genetically targeted neurons synthesized conductive polymers in tissues of freely moving animals. These polymers enabled modulation of membrane properties in specific neuron populations and manipulation of behavior in living animals. Science , this issue p. 1372 ; see also p. 1303

Genetically targeted chemical assembly of functional materials in living cells, tissues, and animals