Cole DeForest
@coledeforest.bsky.social
Weyerhaeuser Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering & Bioengineering, University of Washington | User-Programmable Biomaterials | Photochemistry | Optogenetics | Protein Engineering
http://www.coledeforest.com
http://www.coledeforest.com
Reposted by Cole DeForest
Medicine isn’t just about finding the right therapies — it’s also about getting them to where in the body they’re needed. These new smart proteins can autonomously read bodily cues to zero in on the exact locations of diseases. @coledeforest.bsky.social
Programmable proteins use logic to improve targeted drug delivery
Targeted drug delivery is a powerful and promising area of medicine. Therapies that pinpoint precise areas of the body can reduce the medicine dosage and avoid potentially harmful “off target”...
www.washington.edu
October 21, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Medicine isn’t just about finding the right therapies — it’s also about getting them to where in the body they’re needed. These new smart proteins can autonomously read bodily cues to zero in on the exact locations of diseases. @coledeforest.bsky.social
Our latest collaborative paper with David Baker's lab is now live in Cell Biomaterials (@cp-cellbiomat.bsky.social, Cell Press)! Check out "Stimuli-triggered Formation of De Novo-designed Protein Biomaterials"!
🔓 : www.cell.com/cell-biomate...
🔓 : www.cell.com/cell-biomate...
October 20, 2025 at 10:46 PM
Our latest collaborative paper with David Baker's lab is now live in Cell Biomaterials (@cp-cellbiomat.bsky.social, Cell Press)! Check out "Stimuli-triggered Formation of De Novo-designed Protein Biomaterials"!
🔓 : www.cell.com/cell-biomate...
🔓 : www.cell.com/cell-biomate...
Our new paper entitled “Boolean Logic-gated Protein Presentation through Autonomously Compiled Molecular Topology” is now live at Nature Chemical Biology (@natchembio.nature.com)! Check it out!
📜: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
@uwnews.uw.edu feature write-up: www.washington.edu/news/2025/10...
📜: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
@uwnews.uw.edu feature write-up: www.washington.edu/news/2025/10...
October 13, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Our new paper entitled “Boolean Logic-gated Protein Presentation through Autonomously Compiled Molecular Topology” is now live at Nature Chemical Biology (@natchembio.nature.com)! Check it out!
📜: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
@uwnews.uw.edu feature write-up: www.washington.edu/news/2025/10...
📜: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
@uwnews.uw.edu feature write-up: www.washington.edu/news/2025/10...
Reposted by Cole DeForest
Cool science alert! A plasmid encoding a photodegradable hydrogel-forming protein called PhoCoil. Find it here:
https://twp.ai/4iqKMK
@coledeforest.bsky.social
https://twp.ai/4iqKMK
@coledeforest.bsky.social
Addgene: PhoCoil
Plasmid PhoCoil from Dr. Cole DeForest's lab contains the insert PhoCoil and is published in Sci Adv. 2025 Aug 29;11(35):eadx3472. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adx3472. Epub 2025 Aug 27. This plasmid is available through Addgene.
twp.ai
September 23, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Cool science alert! A plasmid encoding a photodegradable hydrogel-forming protein called PhoCoil. Find it here:
https://twp.ai/4iqKMK
@coledeforest.bsky.social
https://twp.ai/4iqKMK
@coledeforest.bsky.social
New in @ScienceMagazine, we report that dilated cardiomyopathy can be alleviated by preventing hypocontractility-induced fibroblast expansion! The story is a fun combination of advanced in vivo and biomaterial-based in vitro models. Check it out!
📜 : doi.org/10.1126/scie...
📜 : doi.org/10.1126/scie...
Preventing hypocontractility-induced fibroblast expansion alleviates dilated cardiomyopathy
Cardiomyocyte hypocontractility underlies inherited dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). Yet, whether fibroblasts modify DCM phenotypes remains unclear despite their regulation of fibrosis, which strongly pr...
doi.org
September 12, 2025 at 7:46 PM
New in @ScienceMagazine, we report that dilated cardiomyopathy can be alleviated by preventing hypocontractility-induced fibroblast expansion! The story is a fun combination of advanced in vivo and biomaterial-based in vitro models. Check it out!
📜 : doi.org/10.1126/scie...
📜 : doi.org/10.1126/scie...
Our new manuscript entitled "PhoCoil: A Photodegradable and Injectable Single-component Recombinant Protein Hydrogel for Minimally Invasive Delivery and Degradation" is now live at @ScienceAdvances!
Check it out here (🔓): www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Check it out here (🔓): www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
PhoCoil: A photodegradable and injectable single-component recombinant protein hydrogel for minimally invasive delivery and degradation
PhoCoil is a genetically encoded hydrogel that enables noninvasive delivery and subsequent user-controlled photodegradation.
www.science.org
September 3, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Our new manuscript entitled "PhoCoil: A Photodegradable and Injectable Single-component Recombinant Protein Hydrogel for Minimally Invasive Delivery and Degradation" is now live at @ScienceAdvances!
Check it out here (🔓): www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Check it out here (🔓): www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Check out our new paper entitled "Genetically Encoded Interpenetrating Polymer Networks as Injectable Biomaterials for Controlled Therapeutic Protein Delivery", appearing in ACS Biomat Science & Eng!
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
Genetically Encoded Interpenetrating Polymer Networks as Injectable Biomaterials for Controlled Therapeutic Protein Delivery
Though recombinant protein therapeutics hold great potential in treating many diseases, their intravenous delivery introduces challenges with off-target effects and short circulation half-lives. Injec...
pubs.acs.org
August 13, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Check out our new paper entitled "Genetically Encoded Interpenetrating Polymer Networks as Injectable Biomaterials for Controlled Therapeutic Protein Delivery", appearing in ACS Biomat Science & Eng!
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
For the 2nd year in a row, one of our lab members has been selected for the prestigious Goldwater Scholarship. Huge congrats to Shivani Kottantharayil for her 2025 selection (and to Annabella Li for receiving the award last year)!
UW press release is here: www.washington.edu/uaa/2025/04/...
UW press release is here: www.washington.edu/uaa/2025/04/...
Four UW undergraduates named 2025 Goldwater Scholars
Four University of Washington students have been named Goldwater Scholars by the Goldwater Foundation, advancing the University’s tradition of undergraduate academic excellence and...
www.washington.edu
May 13, 2025 at 7:50 PM
For the 2nd year in a row, one of our lab members has been selected for the prestigious Goldwater Scholarship. Huge congrats to Shivani Kottantharayil for her 2025 selection (and to Annabella Li for receiving the award last year)!
UW press release is here: www.washington.edu/uaa/2025/04/...
UW press release is here: www.washington.edu/uaa/2025/04/...
In our latest manuscript, we demonstrate that grayscale control over local #biomaterial biochemistry and mechanics can be rapidly achieved across large constructs using an inexpensive (~$300) and commercially available LCD-based printer.
Find it published in JBMR-A! doi.org/10.1002/jbm....
Find it published in JBMR-A! doi.org/10.1002/jbm....
Rapid and Inexpensive Image‐Guided Grayscale Biomaterial Customization via LCD Printing
Grayscale control over local biomaterial biochemistry and mechanics can be rapidly achieved across large constructs using an inexpensive (~$300) and commercially available liquid crystal display (LCD....
doi.org
April 3, 2025 at 3:37 PM
In our latest manuscript, we demonstrate that grayscale control over local #biomaterial biochemistry and mechanics can be rapidly achieved across large constructs using an inexpensive (~$300) and commercially available LCD-based printer.
Find it published in JBMR-A! doi.org/10.1002/jbm....
Find it published in JBMR-A! doi.org/10.1002/jbm....
Happy Holidays from the DeForest Lab!
What fun to celebrate the group’s 2024 achievements, especially in the baking sector. Our annual dessert bake-off competition was a tasty success!
What fun to celebrate the group’s 2024 achievements, especially in the baking sector. Our annual dessert bake-off competition was a tasty success!
December 12, 2024 at 8:41 PM
Happy Holidays from the DeForest Lab!
What fun to celebrate the group’s 2024 achievements, especially in the baking sector. Our annual dessert bake-off competition was a tasty success!
What fun to celebrate the group’s 2024 achievements, especially in the baking sector. Our annual dessert bake-off competition was a tasty success!
The Anseth lab continues to pioneer many of the best and most versatile photoresponsive biomaterials known to our community. Congrats to @monicaohnsorg.bsky.social and Ella Hushka for summarizing the group's last 15 years of exciting efforts in their new paper!
🌟 Perfect timing to check out our new @acspublications.bsky.social Accounts of Chemical Research article out online today summarizing the past 15 years of work with photoresponsive synthetic ECMs for biological applications conducted in the Anseth Lab! 🌟
#chemsky
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
#chemsky
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
December 12, 2024 at 5:45 PM
The Anseth lab continues to pioneer many of the best and most versatile photoresponsive biomaterials known to our community. Congrats to @monicaohnsorg.bsky.social and Ella Hushka for summarizing the group's last 15 years of exciting efforts in their new paper!
Fun story from @matthewfainor.bsky.social on how next-gen recombinant proteins are being expressed in fruit flies, and what implications that could have for our lab-grown hydrogel biomaterials!
You're telling me the next generation of medical therapies will be made INSIDE fruit flies? But how? And why?
fleshyfutures.substack.com/p/fruit-flie...
fleshyfutures.substack.com/p/fruit-flie...
Fruit flies will produce the next groundbreaking medical therapy
And, according to a new life cycle assessment, will significantly reduce biotech's environmental footprint
fleshyfutures.substack.com
December 4, 2024 at 4:03 PM
Fun story from @matthewfainor.bsky.social on how next-gen recombinant proteins are being expressed in fruit flies, and what implications that could have for our lab-grown hydrogel biomaterials!
Professors often tell graduate students that “Your PhD is a #marathon, not a sprint”.
Having now run the 2024 Seattle Marathon (many years after finishing a PhD), I now actually feel qualified to make such a statement.
@uwmedicine.bsky.social
Having now run the 2024 Seattle Marathon (many years after finishing a PhD), I now actually feel qualified to make such a statement.
@uwmedicine.bsky.social
December 2, 2024 at 9:16 PM
Professors often tell graduate students that “Your PhD is a #marathon, not a sprint”.
Having now run the 2024 Seattle Marathon (many years after finishing a PhD), I now actually feel qualified to make such a statement.
@uwmedicine.bsky.social
Having now run the 2024 Seattle Marathon (many years after finishing a PhD), I now actually feel qualified to make such a statement.
@uwmedicine.bsky.social
Reposted by Cole DeForest
Introducing the Humanity Unlocking Biomaterials (HUB) national coordinating center. Opportunity to become involved with an incredible community, $100k research grants, core resources, and much more. Come join us! See more at our new website, here: www.humanityunlockingbiomaterials.org
HUB
www.humanityunlockingbiomaterials.org
November 13, 2024 at 5:36 PM
Introducing the Humanity Unlocking Biomaterials (HUB) national coordinating center. Opportunity to become involved with an incredible community, $100k research grants, core resources, and much more. Come join us! See more at our new website, here: www.humanityunlockingbiomaterials.org