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Since the advent of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), various industrial sectors have been significantly affected. Considering the widespread threat of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, scientists worldwide have been working at a rapid pace to understand the virus, develop vaccines and find possible treatment options. Drastic public health measures such as social distancing, use of PPE, quarantine and complete lockdown have been implemented globally to minimize the spread of the virus. Whilst these measures currently seem the only plausible option, they come at the price of compromised economies. Though there are many collaterally affected industries, this review paper highlights current and forecasted changes in manufacturing, medical, climate change, energy and food processing sectors. Some of these sectors have been positively impacted, such as climate change, whilst others have experienced mixed consequences. Some also face an uphill rebuilding processes, which needs to begin sooner rather than later. This paper highlights important recent developments and perspectives on how industries may adapt and learn from COVID-19.

The cellular niche provides combination of biomolecular and biophysical cues to control stem cell fate. Three-dimensional (3D) aligned nanofibrous scaffolds can effectively augment stem cell cardiomyogenesis. This work aims to understand the role of biomolecular signals from extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins and leverage them to further promote cardiomyogenesis on nanofibrous scaffolds. Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) were cultured on 3D aligned polycaprolactone scaffolds coated with different ECM proteins. Among multiple coatings tested, collagen coated fibers were most effective in promoting cardiomyogenesis as determined from increased expression of cardiac biomarkers and intracellular calcium flux. At molecular level, enhanced differentiation on collagen coated fibers was associated with an increased level of sirtuin 6 (SIRT6). Depletion of SIRT6 using siRNA attenuated the differentiation process through activation of Wnt signaling pathway. This study, thus, demonstrates that protein coated scaffolds can augment cardiomyogenic differentiation of stem cells through a combination of topographical and biomolecular signals.

Keratin has been attracting interest due to its stability against enzymatic degradation thereby allowing more predictable degradation profile for tissue regeneration applications. While the efficacy of keratin has been demonstrated in different tissue models, there has been no systematic study to investigate and compare the different routes of keratin extraction from human hair. Here, we compared the four commonly used extraction methods and highlighted both physical and chemical differences in the extracted keratin. Keratin was extracted from human hair using one of four common agents, namely, sodium sulfide, peracetic acid, urea and thioglycolic add. Whereas no specific trend was observed, the keratin extracted through peracetic acid method had significantly different properties. It resulted in lowest yield of 52 mu g/mL and low crystallinity but the protein formed aggregates with highest hydrodynamic average size of around 283 nm compared to the other three methods. However, despite greater aggregation, keratin extracted from peracetic acid method exhibited secondary structural conformation similar to thioglycolic acid method. All the four extracted keratin promoted cellular proliferation of osteoblasts compared to the uncoated surface. These results provide new insight into the extraction of keratin from human hair with implications for its use as a biomaterial.