Abbasnejad, B, Thorby, W, Razmjou, A, Jin, D, Asadnia, M & Ebrahimi Warkiani, M 2018, 'MEMS piezoresistive flow sensors for sleep apnea therapy', Sensors and Actuators A: Physical, vol. 279, pp. 577-585.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2018 Elsevier B.V. A MEMS liquid crystal polymer (LCP), used in the membrane-based pressure sensor, has been found highly useful as a flow sensor. Here we conducted a set of elaborate experiments using an air flow generator to investigate the potential of our LCP flow sensor for sleep apnea therapy. Critical properties of the LCP flow sensor, including flow range, resolution (sensitivity), accuracy, and response time, have been systematically characterized. As a result, LCP flow sensor achieves a limit of detection of 8 LPM to measure flow rate, better than the commercial flow sensor (>10 LPM). Our LCP flow sensor shows a favourable response in a large flow range (8–160 LPM) with a sensitivity of detecting a linear voltage response of 0.004 V per 1 LPM flow rate. With minimum detectable flow, high sensitivity and resolution, we further demonstrated our LCP flow sensor for detecting human respiration. Moreover, using a two- dimensional simulation in COMSOL Multiphysics, we demonstrated the deformation of LCP membrane in response to different flow velocities which leads to resistance change in sensor's strain gauge.
Alqudah, A, McKinley, MC, McNally, R, Graham, U, Watson, CJ, Lyons, TJ & McClements, L 2018, 'Risk of pre‐eclampsia in women taking metformin: a systematic review and meta‐analysis', Diabetic Medicine, vol. 35, no. 2, pp. 160-172.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
AbstractAimsTo perform meta‐analyses of studies evaluating the risk of pre‐eclampsia in high‐risk insulin‐resistant women taking metformin prior to, or during pregnancy.MethodsA search was conducted of the Medline, EMBASE, Web of Science and Scopus databases. Both randomized controlled trials and prospective observational cohort studies of metformin treatment vs. placebo/control or insulin either prior to or during pregnancy were selected. The main outcome measure was the incidence of pre‐eclampsia in each treatment group.ResultsOverall, in five randomized controlled trials comparing metformin treatment (n = 611) with placebo/control (n = 609), no difference in the risk of pre‐eclampsia was found [combined/pooled risk ratio (RR), 0.86 (95% CI 0.33–2.26); P = 0.76; I2 = 66%]. Meta‐analysis of four cohort studies again showed no significant effect [RR, 1.21 (95% CI 0.56–2.61); P = 0.62; I2 = 30%]. A meta‐analysis of eight randomized controlled trials comparing metformin (n = 838) with insulin (n = 836), however, showed a reduced risk of pre‐eclampsia with metformin...
Bao, G, Wong, K-L, Jin, D & Tanner, PA 2018, 'A stoichiometric terbium-europium dyad molecular thermometer: energy transfer properties', Light: Science & Applications, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 1-10.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
AbstractThe optical thermometer has shown great promise for use in the fields of aeronautical engineering, environmental monitoring and medical diagnosis. Self-referencing lanthanide thermo-probes distinguish themselves because of their accuracy, calibration, photostability, and temporal dimension of signal. However, the use of conventional lanthanide-doped materials is limited by their poor reproducibility, random distance between energy transfer pairs and interference by energy migration, thereby restricting their utility. Herein, a strategy for synthesizing hetero-dinuclear complexes that comprise chemically similar lanthanides is introduced in which a pair of thermosensitive dinuclear complexes, cycTb-phEu and cycEu-phTb, were synthesized. Their structures were geometrically optimized with an internuclear distance of approximately 10.6Å. The sensitive linear temperature-dependent luminescent intensity ratios of europium and terbium emission over a wide temperature range (50–298K and 10–200K, respectively) and their temporal dimension responses indicate that both dinuclear complexes can act as excellent self-referencing thermometers. The energy transfer from Tb3+ to Eu3+ is thermally activated, with the most important pathway involving the 7F1 Eu3+J-multiplet at room temperature. The energy transfer from the antenna to Eu3+ was simulated, and it was found that the most important ligand contributions to the rate come from transfers to the Eu3+ upper states rather than direct ligand–metal transfer to 5D1 or 5D0. As the first molecular-based thermometer with clear validation of the metal ratio and a fixed distance between the metal pairs, these dinuclear complexes can...
Bao, G, Zha, S, Liu, Z, Fung, Y-H, Chan, C-F, Li, H, Chu, P-H, Jin, D, Tanner, PA & Wong, K-L 2018, 'Reversible and Sensitive Hg2+ Detection by a Cell-Permeable Ytterbium Complex', Inorganic Chemistry, vol. 57, no. 1, pp. 120-128.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2017 American Chemical Society. A cell-permeable ytterbium complex shows reversible binding with Hg2+ in aqueous solution and in vitroby off-on visible and NIR emission. The fast response and 150 nM sensitivity of Hg2+ detection is based upon FRET and the lanthanide antenna effect. The reversible Hg2+ detection can be performed in vitro, and the binding mechanism is suggested by NMR employing the motif structure in a La complex and by DFT calculations.
Bazaz, SR, Mehrizi, AA, Ghorbani, S, Vasilescu, S, Asadnia, M & Warkiani, ME 2018, 'A hybrid micromixer with planar mixing units', RSC Advances, vol. 8, no. 58, pp. 33103-33120.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Taguchi-optimized “hybrid micromixer” has been proposed which can be utilized in a wide range of chemical and biological applications.
Berry, T, Dutta, D, Chen, R, Leong, A, Wang, H, Donald, WA, Parviz, M, Cornell, B, Willcox, M, Kumar, N & Cranfield, CG 2018, 'Lipid Membrane Interactions of the Cationic Antimicrobial Peptide Chimeras Melimine and Cys-Melimine', Langmuir, vol. 34, no. 38, pp. 11586-11592.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Copyright © 2018 American Chemical Society. Melimine and its derivatives are synthetic chimeric antimicrobial agents based on protamine and melittin. The binding of solubilized melimine and its derivative, with a cysteine on N-terminus, (cys-melimine) on tethered bilayer lipid membranes (tBLMs) was examined using ac electrical impedance spectroscopy. The addition of melimine and cys-melimine initially increased membrane conduction, which subsequently falls over time. The results were obtained for tBLMs comprising zwitterionic phosphatidylcholine, anionic phosphatidylglycerol, or tBLMs made using purified lipids from Escherichia coli. The effect on conduction is more marked with the cysteine variant than the noncysteine variant. The variation in membrane conduction most probably arises from individual melimines inducing increased ionic permeability, which is then reduced as the melimines aggregate and phase-separate within the membrane. The actions of these antimicrobials are modeled in terms of altering the critical packing parameter (CPP) of the membranes. The variations in the peptide length of cys-melimine were compared with a truncated version of the peptide, cys-mel4. The results suggest that the smaller molecule impacts the membrane by a mechanism that increases the average CPP, reducing membrane conduction. Alternatively, an uncharged alanine-replacement version of melimine still produced an increase in membrane conduction, further supporting the CPP model of geometry-induced toroidal pore alterations. All the data were then compared to their antimicrobial effectiveness for the Gram-positive and Gram-negative strains of bacteria, and their fusogenic properties were examined using dynamic light scattering in 1-oleoyl-2-hydroxy-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine lipid spheroids. We conclude that a degree of correlation exists between the antimicrobial effectiveness of the peptides studied here and their modulation of membrane conductivity.
Bray, K, Cheung, L, Hossain, KR, Aharonovich, I, Valenzuela, SM & Shimoni, O 2018, 'Versatile multicolor nanodiamond probes for intracellular imaging and targeted labeling', Journal of Materials Chemistry B, vol. 6, no. 19, pp. 3078-3084.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
We report on the first demonstration of FNDs containing either silicon or nitrogen vacancy color centers for multi-color bio-imaging.
Cao, L, Wen, Q, Feng, Y, Ji, D, Li, H, Li, N, Jiang, L & Guo, W 2018, 'On the Origin of Ion Selectivity in Ultrathin Nanopores: Insights for Membrane‐Scale Osmotic Energy Conversion', Advanced Functional Materials, vol. 28, no. 39.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
AbstractNanopores in ultrathin or atomically thin membranes attract broad interest because the infinitesimal pore depth allows selective transport of ions and molecules with ultimate permeability. Toward large‐scale osmotic energy conversion, great challenges remain in extrapolating the promising single‐pore demonstration to really powerful macroscopic applications. Herein, the origin of the selective ion transport in ultrathin nanopores is systematically investigated. Based on a precise Poisson and Nernst–Planck model calculation, it is found that the generation of net diffusion current and membrane potential stems from the charge separation within the electric double layer on the outer membrane surface, rather than that on the inner pore wall. To keep the charge selectivity of the entire membrane, a critical surface charged area surrounding each pore orifice is therefore highly demanded. Otherwise, at high pore density, the membrane selectivity and the overall power density would fall down instead, which explains the giant gap between the actual experimental achievements and the single‐pore estimation. To maximize the power generation, smaller nanopores (pore diameter ≈1–2 nm) are appropriate for large‐scale osmotic energy conversion. With a porosity of ≈10%, the total power density approaches more than 200 W m‐2, anticipating a substantial advance toward high‐performance large‐scale nanofluidic power sources.
Chen, C, Wang, F, Wen, S, Su, QP, Wu, MCL, Liu, Y, Wang, B, Li, D, Shan, X, Kianinia, M, Aharonovich, I, Toth, M, Jackson, SP, Xi, P & Jin, D 2018, 'Multi-photon near-infrared emission saturation nanoscopy using upconversion nanoparticles', Nature Communications, vol. 9, no. 1.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
AbstractMultiphoton fluorescence microscopy (MPM), using near infrared excitation light, provides increased penetration depth, decreased detection background, and reduced phototoxicity. Using stimulated emission depletion (STED) approach, MPM can bypass the diffraction limitation, but it requires both spatial alignment and temporal synchronization of high power (femtosecond) lasers, which is limited by the inefficiency of the probes. Here, we report that upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) can unlock a new mode of near-infrared emission saturation (NIRES) nanoscopy for deep tissue super-resolution imaging with excitation intensity several orders of magnitude lower than that required by conventional MPM dyes. Using a doughnut beam excitation from a 980 nm diode laser and detecting at 800 nm, we achieve a resolution of sub 50 nm, 1/20th of the excitation wavelength, in imaging of single UCNP through 93 μm thick liver tissue. This method offers a simple solution for deep tissue super resolution imaging and single molecule tracking.
Chen, H, Ng, JPM, Bishop, DP, Milthorpe, BK & Valenzuela, SM 2018, 'Gold nanoparticles as cell regulators: beneficial effects of gold nanoparticles on the metabolic profile of mice with pre-existing obesity', Journal of Nanobiotechnology, vol. 16, no. 1.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Chen, H, Ng, JPM, Tan, Y, McGrath, K, Bishop, DP, Oliver, B, Chan, YL, Cortie, MB, Milthorpe, BK & Valenzuela, SM 2018, 'Gold nanoparticles improve metabolic profile of mice fed a high-fat diet', Journal of Nanobiotechnology, vol. 16, no. 1.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2018 The Author(s). Background: Obesity is a high risk for multiple metabolic disorders due to excessive influx of energy, glucose and lipid, often from a western based diet. Low-grade inflammation plays a key role in the progression of such metabolic disorders. The anti-inflammatory property of gold compounds has been used in treating rheumatoid arthritis in the clinic. Previously we found that pure gold nanoparticles (AuNPs, 21 nm) also possess anti-inflammatory effects on the retroperitoneal fat tissue following intraperitoneal injection, by downregulating tumor necrosis factor (TNF) α. However, whether such an effect can change the risk of metabolic disorders in the obese has not been well studied. The study employed C57BL/6 mice fed a pellet high fat diet (HFD, 43% as fat) that were treated daily with AuNPs [low (HFD-LAu) or high (HFD-HAu) dose] via intraperitoneal injection for 9 weeks. In the in vitro study, RAW264.7 macrophages and 3T3-L1 adipocytes were cultured with low and high concentrations of AuNPs alone or together. Results: The HFD-fed mice showed a significant increase in fat mass, glucose intolerance, dyslipidemia, and liver steatosis. The HFD-LAu group showed an 8% reduction in body weight, ameliorated hyperlipidemia, and normal glucose tolerance; while the HFD-HAu group had a 5% reduction in body weight with significant improvement in their glucose intolerance and hyperlipidemia. The underlying mechanism may be attributed to a reduction in adipose and hepatic local proinflammatory cytokine production, e.g. TNFα. In vitro studies of co-cultured murine RAW264.7 macrophage and 3T3-L1 adipocytes supported this proposed mechanism. Conclusion: AuNPs demonstrate a promising profile for potential management of obesity related glucose and lipid disorders and are useful as a research tool for the study of biological mechanisms.
Chen, Y, Duong, HTT, Wen, S, Mi, C, Zhou, Y, Shimoni, O, Valenzuela, SM & Jin, D 2018, 'Exonuclease III-Assisted Upconversion Resonance Energy Transfer in a Wash-Free Suspension DNA Assay', Analytical Chemistry, vol. 90, no. 1, pp. 663-668.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2017 American Chemical Society. Sensitivity is the key in optical detection of low-abundant analytes, such as circulating RNA or DNA. The enzyme Exonuclease III (Exo III) is a useful tool in this regard; its ability to recycle target DNA molecules results in markedly improved detection sensitivity. Lower limits of detection may be further achieved if the detection background of autofluorescence can be removed. Here we report an ultrasensitive and specific method to quantify trace amounts of DNA analytes in a wash-free suspension assay. In the presence of target DNA, the Exo III recycles the target DNA by selectively digesting the dye-tagged sequence-matched probe DNA strand only, so that the amount of free dye removed from the probe DNA is proportional to the number of target DNAs. Remaining intact probe DNAs are then bound onto upconversion nanoparticles (energy donor), which allows for upconversion luminescence resonance energy transfer (LRET) that can be used to quantify the difference between the free dye and tagged dye (energy acceptor). This scheme simply avoids both autofluorescence under infrared excitation and many tedious washing steps, as the free dye molecules are physically located away from the nanoparticle surface, and as such they remain 'dark' in suspension. Compared to alternative approaches requiring enzyme-assisted amplification on the nanoparticle surface, introduction of probe DNAs onto nanoparticles only after DNA hybridization and signal amplification steps effectively avoids steric hindrance. Via this approach, we have achieved a detection limit of 15 pM in LRET assays of human immunodeficiency viral DNA.
Chen, Y, Su, QP, Sun, Y & Yu, L 2018, 'Visualizing Autophagic Lysosome Reformation in Cells Using In Vitro Reconstitution Systems', Current Protocols in Cell Biology, vol. 78, no. 1, pp. 11.24.1-11.24.15.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
AbstractAutophagy is a lysosome‐based degradation pathway. Autophagic lysosome reformation (ALR) is a lysosomal membrane recycling process that marks the terminal step of autophagy. During ALR, LAMP1‐positive tubules, named reformation tubules, are extruded from autolysosomes, and nascent lysosomes are generated from these tubules. By combining proteomic analysis of purified autolysosomes and RNA interference screening of identified candidates, we systematically elucidated the ALR pathway at the molecular level. Based on the key components clathrin, PtdIns(4,5)P2, and the motor protein KIF5B, among others, we reconstituted this process in vitro. This unit describes a detailed method for visualizing ALR in cells during the autophagy process. This unit also present a protocol for reconstituting the ALR tubular protrusion and elongation process in vitro and three methods for preparing materials for in vitro reconstitution: (1) autolysosome purification from cultured cells, (2) liposome preparation, and (3) KIF5B purification and quality testing. © 2018 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Clarke, C, Liu, D, Wang, F, Liu, Y, Chen, C, Ton-That, C, Xu, X & Jin, D 2018, 'Large-scale dewetting assembly of gold nanoparticles for plasmonic enhanced upconversion nanoparticles', Nanoscale, vol. 10, no. 14, pp. 6270-6276.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
The integrated methods of core shell upconversion nanoparticle synthesis, thermal annealing and gold dewetting produce gold-decorated upconversion nanoparticles with enhanced emission.
Deplazes, E, Poger, D, Cornell, B & Cranfield, CG 2018, 'The effect of H3O+ on the membrane morphology and hydrogen bonding of a phospholipid bilayer', Biophysical Reviews, vol. 10, no. 5, pp. 1371-1376.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
At the 2017 meeting of the Australian Society for Biophysics, we presented the combined results from two recent studies showing how hydronium ions (H3O+) modulate the structure and ion permeability of phospholipid bilayers. In the first study, the impact of H3O+ on lipid packing had been identified using tethered bilayer lipid membranes in conjunction with electrical impedance spectroscopy and neutron reflectometry. The increased presence of H3O+ (i.e. lower pH) led to a significant reduction in membrane conductivity and increased membrane thickness. A first-order explanation for the effect was assigned to alterations in the steric packing of the membrane lipids. Changes in packing were described by a critical packing parameter (CPP) related to the interfacial area and volume and shape of the membrane lipids. We proposed that increasing the concentraton of H3O+ resulted in stronger hydrogen bonding between the phosphate oxygens at the water-lipid interface leading to a reduced area per lipid and slightly increased membrane thickness. At the meeting, a molecular model for these pH effects based on the result of our second study was presented. Multiple μs-long, unrestrained molecular dynamic (MD) simulations of a phosphatidylcholine lipid bilayer were carried out and showed a concentration dependent reduction in the area per lipid and an increase in bilayer thickness, in agreement with experimental data. Further, H3O+ preferentially accumulated at the water-lipid interface, suggesting the localised pH at the membrane surface is much lower than the bulk bathing solution. Another significant finding was that the hydrogen bonds formed by H3O+ ions with lipid headgroup oxygens are, on average, shorter in length and longer-lived than the ones formed in bulk water. In addition, the H3O+ ions resided for longer periods in association with the carbonyl oxygens than with either phosphate oxygen in lipids. In summary, the MD simulations support a model where the hy...
Deplazes, E, Poger, D, Cornell, B & Cranfield, CG 2018, 'The effect of hydronium ions on the structure of phospholipid membranes', Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 357-366.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
This work studies the mechanisms by which hydronium ions modulate the structure of phospholipid bilayers.
Duong, HTT, Chen, Y, Tawfik, SA, Wen, S, Parviz, M, Shimoni, O & Jin, D 2018, 'Systematic investigation of functional ligands for colloidal stable upconversion nanoparticles', RSC Advances, vol. 8, no. 9, pp. 4842-4849.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Here we quantitatively investigate the competitive adsorption of polymers bearing phosphate, carboxylic acid and sulphonic acid anchoring groups onto the surface of UCNPs and study their binding strength to identify the best conjugation strategy.
Farooq, A, Ashraf, MA, Rasheed, A, Khan, JU & Irshad, F 2018, 'Development of a novel method for natural dyeing of cotton fabrics using ultrasonic radiations and acacia bark', Journal of Natural Fibers, vol. 15, no. 5, pp. 680-686.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Gai, S, Yang, G, Yang, P, He, F, Lin, J, Jin, D & Xing, B 2018, 'Recent advances in functional nanomaterials for light–triggered cancer therapy', Nano Today, vol. 19, pp. 146-187.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2018 Elsevier Ltd Photo–triggered therapeutic modalities for cancer have attracted enormous attention in recent years due to the easily focused and tuned properties of irradiation light that enable the localized treatment with non–invasive, direct and accurate characteristics. In addition, by using new developed functional nanomaterials, different therapeutic modalities can be integrated into a single platform, and co–therapies with dramatically enhanced anti–cancer ability by synergetic therapeutic effects are obtained. In the view of the fast development of anti–cancer strategy, we present an in–depth review of major breakthroughs in recent advanced functional nanomaterials for photo–triggered therapy. This review first summarizes the organic and inorganic photosensitizers for photodynamic therapy (PDT), four kinds of photothermal materials for photothermal therapy (PTT), as well as photo–switchable molecules or photolabile chemical groups bonded materials for chemotherapy. For each part, the therapeutic materials, mechanisms, superiorities and typical representatives are examined extensively. Then, we systematically discuss the optimized multifunctional nanomaterials consist of the above materials for PTT/PDT co–therapy, PTT/chemo co–therapy, PDT/chemo co–therapy and radiotherapy–composed co–therapy etc. And the synergetic therapeutic mechanism, anti–cancer efficiency, safety and design of therapeutic materials are highlighted. Finally, we give an outlook of the future directions of the rapidly growing functional nanomaterials for photo–triggered therapy, and propose several associated challenges and potential solutions.
Ghorbani, S, Eyni, H, Tiraihi, T, Salari Asl, L, Soleimani, M, Atashi, A, Pour Beiranvand, S & Ebrahimi Warkiani, M 2018, 'Combined effects of 3D bone marrow stem cell-seeded wet-electrospun poly lactic acid scaffolds on full-thickness skin wound healing', International Journal of Polymeric Materials and Polymeric Biomaterials, vol. 67, no. 15, pp. 905-912.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2017 Taylor & Francis. Tissue engineering has emerged as an alternative treatment to traditional grafts for skin wound healing. Three-dimensional nanofibers have been used extensively for this purpose due to their excellent biomedical-related properties. In this study, high porous 3D poly lactic acid nanofibrous scaffolds (PLA-S) were prepared by wet-electrospinning technique and seeded with rat bone-marrow stem cells (BMSCs) to characterize the biocompatibility and therapeutic efficacy of these fibers on the treating full-thickness dermal wounds. The results of in vitro andin vivo studies indicate that the 3D fibrous PLA-S can be a potential wound dressing for wound repair, particularly when seeded with BMSCs. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT.
Guan, M, Zhou, Z, Mei, L, Zheng, H, Ren, W, Wang, L, Du, Y, Jin, D & Zhou, J 2018, 'Direct cation exchange of surface ligand capped upconversion nanocrystals to produce strong luminescence', Chemical Communications, vol. 54, no. 69, pp. 9587-9590.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
We develop a facile and rapid cation exchange method for upconversion nanocrystals (UCNCs) without removing surface ligands.
Hassanzadeh-Barforoushi, A, Law, AMK, Hejri, A, Asadnia, M, Ormandy, CJ, Gallego-Ortega, D & Ebrahimi Warkiani, M 2018, 'Static droplet array for culturing single live adherent cells in an isolated chemical microenvironment', Lab on a Chip, vol. 18, no. 15, pp. 2156-2166.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Rapid and reliable capture and analysis of single cells in a chemically isolated static droplet array for fast-tracking single cell discoveries.
He, H, Howard, CB, Chen, Y, Wen, S, Lin, G, Zhou, J, Thurecht, KJ & Jin, D 2018, 'Bispecific Antibody-Functionalized Upconversion Nanoprobe', Analytical Chemistry, vol. 90, no. 5, pp. 3024-3029.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2018 American Chemical Society. Upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) are new optical probes for biological applications. For specific biomolecular recognition to be realized for diagnosis and imaging, the key lies in developing a stable and easy-to-use bioconjugation method for antibody modification. Current methods are not yet satisfactory regarding conjugation time, stability, and binding efficiency. Here, we report a facile and high-yield approach based on a bispecific antibody (BsAb) free of chemical reaction steps. One end of the BsAb is designed to recognize methoxy polyethylene glycol-coated UCNPs, and the other end of the BsAb is designed to recognize the cancer antigen biomarker. Through simple vortexing, BsAb-UCNP nanoprobes form within 30 min and show higher (up to 54%) association to the target than that of the traditional UCNP nanoprobes in the ELISA-like assay. We further demonstrate its successful binding to the cancer cells with high efficiency and specificity for background-free fluorescence imaging under near-infrared excitation. This method suggests a general approach broadly suitable for functionalizing a range of nanoparticles to specifically target biomolecules.
He, H, Liu, B, Wen, S, Liao, J, Lin, G, Zhou, J & Jin, D 2018, 'Quantitative Lateral Flow Strip Sensor Using Highly Doped Upconversion Nanoparticles', Analytical Chemistry, vol. 90, no. 21, pp. 12356-12360.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2018 American Chemical Society. Paper-based lateral flow assays, though being low-cost and widely used for rapid in vitro diagnostics, are indicative and do not provide sufficient sensitivity for the detection and quantification of low abundant biomarkers for early stage cancer diagnosis. Here, we design a compact device to create a focused illumination spot with high irradiance, which activates a range of highly doped 50 nm upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) to produce orders of magnitude brighter emissions. The device employs a very low-cost laser diode, simplified excitation, and collection optics and permits a mobile phone camera to record the results. Using highly erbium ion (Er 3+ )-doped and thulium ion (Tm 3+ )-doped UCNPs as two independent reporters on two-color lateral flow strips, new records of limit of detection (LOD), 89 and 400 pg/mL, have been achieved for the ultrasensitive detection of prostate specific antigen (PSA) and ephrin type-A receptor 2 (EphA2) biomarkers, respectively, without crosstalk. The technique and device presented in this work suggests a broad scope of low-cost, rapid, and quantitative lateral flow assays in early detection of bioanalytes.
Hoseini, SJ, Bahrami, M, Maddahfar, M, Hashemi Fath, R & Roushani, M 2018, 'Polymerization of graphene oxide nanosheet by using of aminoclay: Electrocatalytic activity of its platinum nanohybrids', Applied Organometallic Chemistry, vol. 32, no. 1, pp. e3894-e3894.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
This study describes the polymerization of graphene oxide (GO) nanosheet to reduced‐GO‐aminoclay (RGC) by covalent functionalization of chemically reactive epoxy groups on the basal planes of GO with amine groups of magnesium phyllosilicate clay (known as aminoclay). The resulting RGC sheets were characterized and applied to support platinum nanostructures at toluene/water interface. Pt nanoparticles (NPs) with diameters about several nanometers were adhered to RGC sheets by chemical reduction of [PtCl2(cod)] (cod = cis,cis‐1,5‐cyclooctadiene) complex. Catalytic activity of Pt NPs thin films were investigated in the methanol oxidation reaction. Cyclic voltammetry results exhibit that the Pt/reduced‐GO (RGO) and Pt/RGC thin films showed improved catalytic activity in methanol oxidation reaction in comparison to other Pt NPs thin films, demonstrating that the prepared Pt/RGO and Pt/RGC thin films are promising catalysts for direct methanol fuel cell.
Hoseini, SJ, Bahrami, M, Sadri, N, Aramesh, N, Fard, ZS, Iran, HR, Agahi, BH, Maddahfar, M, Dehghani, M, Arabi, AZB, Heidari, N, Fard, SFH & Moradi, Z 2018, 'Multi-metal nanomaterials obtained from oil/water interface as effective catalysts in reduction of 4-nitrophenol', Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, vol. 513, pp. 602-616.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Huang, S, Li, X, Li, G & Jin, D 2018, 'Effect of Bacillus thuringiensis CAB109 on the growth, development, and generation mortality of Spodoptera exigua (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidea)', Egyptian Journal of Biological Pest Control, vol. 28, no. 1.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Jin, D & Cao, J 2018, '“Perspective” – A new approach to serve our Light community', Light: Science & Applications, vol. 7, no. 1.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Jin, D, Xi, P, Wang, B, Zhang, L, Enderlein, J & van Oijen, AM 2018, 'Nanoparticles for super-resolution microscopy and single-molecule tracking', Nature Methods, vol. 15, no. 6, pp. 415-423.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2018 The Author(s). We review the use of luminescent nanoparticles in super-resolution imaging and single-molecule tracking, and showcase novel approaches to super-resolution imaging that leverage the brightness, stability, and unique optical-switching properties of these nanoparticles. We also discuss the challenges associated with their use in biological systems, including intracellular delivery and molecular targeting. In doing so, we hope to provide practical guidance for biologists and continue to bridge the fields of super-resolution imaging and nanoparticle engineering to support their mutual advancement.
Kapeleris, J, Kulasinghe, A, Warkiani, ME, Vela, I, Kenny, L, O'Byrne, K & Punyadeera, C 2018, 'The Prognostic Role of Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs) in Lung Cancer', Frontiers in Oncology, vol. 8, no. AUG.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2018 Kapeleris, Kulasinghe, Warkiani, Vela, Kenny, O'Byrne and Punyadeera. Lung cancer affects over 1. 8 million people worldwide and is the leading cause of cancer related mortality globally. Currently, diagnosis of lung cancer involves a combination of imaging and invasive biopsies to confirm histopathology. Non-invasive diagnostic techniques under investigation include 'liquid biopsies' through a simple blood draw to develop predictive and prognostic biomarkers. A better understanding of circulating tumor cell (CTC) dissemination mechanisms offers promising potential for the development of techniques to assist in the diagnosis of lung cancer. Enumeration and characterization of CTCs has the potential to act as a prognostic biomarker and to identify novel drug targets for a precision medicine approach to lung cancer care. This review will focus on the current status of CTCs and their potential diagnostic and prognostic utility in this setting.
Khan, H, Razmjou, A, Ebrahimi Warkiani, M, Kottapalli, A & Asadnia, M 2018, 'Sensitive and Flexible Polymeric Strain Sensor for Accurate Human Motion Monitoring', Sensors, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 418-418.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Flexible electronic devices offer the capability to integrate and adapt with human body. These devices are mountable on surfaces with various shapes, which allow us to attach them to clothes or directly onto the body. This paper suggests a facile fabrication strategy via electrospinning to develop a stretchable, and sensitive poly (vinylidene fluoride) nanofibrous strain sensor for human motion monitoring. A complete characterization on the single PVDF nano fiber has been performed. The charge generated by PVDF electrospun strain sensor changes was employed as a parameter to control the finger motion of the robotic arm. As a proof of concept, we developed a smart glove with five sensors integrated into it to detect the fingers motion and transfer it to a robotic hand. Our results shows that the proposed strain sensors are able to detect tiny motion of fingers and successfully run the robotic hand.
Kulasinghe, A, Schmidt, H, Perry, C, Whitfield, B, Kenny, L, Nelson, C, Warkiani, ME & Punyadeera, C 2018, 'A Collective Route to Head and Neck Cancer Metastasis', Scientific Reports, vol. 8, no. 1.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
AbstractDistant metastasis (DM) from head and neck cancers (HNC) portends a poor patient prognosis. Despite its important biological role, little is known about the cells which seed these DM. Circulating tumour cells (CTCs) represent a transient cancer cell population, which circulate in HNC patients’ peripheral blood and seed at distant sites. Capture and analysis of CTCs offers insights into tumour metastasis and can facilitate treatment strategies. Whilst the data on singular CTCs have shown clinical significance, the role of CTC clusters in metastasis remains limited. In this pilot study, we assessed 60 treatment naïve HNC patients for CTCs with disease ranging from early to advanced stages, for CTC clusters utilizing spiral CTC enrichment technology. Single CTCs were isolated in 18/60–30% (Ranging from Stage I-IV), CTC clusters in 15/60–25% (exclusively Stage IV) with 3/15–20% of CTC clusters also containing leukocytes. The presence of CTC clusters associated with the development of distant metastatic disease(P = 0.0313). This study demonstrates that CTC clusters are found in locally advanced patients, and this may be an important prognostic marker. In vivo and in vitro studies are warranted to determine the role of these CTC clusters, in particular, whether leukocyte involvement in CTC clusters has clinical relevance.
Kulasinghe, A, Wu, H, Punyadeera, C & Warkiani, M 2018, 'The Use of Microfluidic Technology for Cancer Applications and Liquid Biopsy', Micromachines, vol. 9, no. 8, pp. 397-397.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
There is growing awareness for the need of early diagnostic tools to aid in point-of-care testing in cancer. Tumor biopsy remains the conventional means in which to sample a tumor and often presents with challenges and associated risks. Therefore, alternative sources of tumor biomarkers is needed. Liquid biopsy has gained attention due to its non-invasive sampling of tumor tissue and ability to serially assess disease via a simple blood draw over the course of treatment. Among the leading technologies developing liquid biopsy solutions, microfluidics has recently come to the fore. Microfluidic platforms offer cellular separation and analysis platforms that allow for high throughout, high sensitivity and specificity, low sample volumes and reagent costs and precise liquid controlling capabilities. These characteristics make microfluidic technology a promising tool in separating and analyzing circulating tumor biomarkers for diagnosis, prognosis and monitoring. In this review, the characteristics of three kinds of circulating tumor markers will be described in the context of cancer, circulating tumor cells (CTCs), exosomes, and circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA). The review will focus on how the introduction of microfluidic technologies has improved the separation and analysis of these circulating tumor markers.
Kuppusamy, R, Yasir, M, Berry, T, Cranfield, CG, Nizalapur, S, Yee, E, Kimyon, O, Taunk, A, Ho, KKK, Cornell, B, Manefield, M, Willcox, M, Black, DS & Kumar, N 2018, 'Design and synthesis of short amphiphilic cationic peptidomimetics based on biphenyl backbone as antibacterial agents', European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, vol. 143, pp. 1702-1722.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) and their synthetic mimics have received recent interest as new alternatives to traditional antibiotics in attempts to overcome the rise of antibiotic resistance in many microbes. AMPs are part of the natural defenses of most living organisms and they also have a unique mechanism of action against bacteria. Herein, a new series of short amphiphilic cationic peptidomimetics were synthesized by incorporating the 3′-amino-[1,1′-biphenyl]-3-carboxylic acid backbone to mimic the essential properties of natural AMPs. By altering hydrophobicity and charge, we identified the most potent analogue 25g that was active against both Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus (MIC = 15.6 μM) and Gram-negative Escherichia coli (MIC = 7.8 μM) bacteria. Cytoplasmic permeability assay results revealed that 25g acts primarily by depolarization of lipids in cytoplasmic membranes. The active compounds were also investigated for their cytotoxicity to human cells, lysis of lipid bilayers using tethered bilayer lipid membranes (tBLMs) and their activity against established biofilms of S. aureus and E. coli.
Li, D, Wen, S, Sun, W, Zhang, J, Jin, D, Peng, C, Shen, M & Shi, X 2018, 'One-Step Loading of Gold and Gd2O3 Nanoparticles within PEGylated Polyethylenimine for Dual Mode Computed Tomography/Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Tumors', ACS Applied Bio Materials, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 221-225.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
We report here a facile method for one-step loading of gold (Au) and gadolinium oxide (Gd2O3) nanoparticles (NPs) within polyethylenimine (PEI) premodified with polyethtylene glycol (PEG) for dual mode computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging of tumors. PEGylated PEI was used as a template to complex Au(III) and Gd(III) salts, followed by sodium borohydride reduction and acetylation of remaining PEI surface amines to generate the hybrid PEI@Au/Gd2O3 NPs. The hybrid NPs exhibit a remarkable colloidal stability and cytocompatibility and possess a high X-ray attenuation efficacy and r1 relaxivity, enabling their uses for dual mode CT/MR imaging of tumors.
Lin, G & Jin, D 2018, 'Taking upconversion to lase in microcavity', Nature Nanotechnology, vol. 13, no. 7, pp. 534-536.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2018 The Publisher. Stable, sharp-bandwidth and upconverted stimulated emissions are generated from a 5-μm polystyrene cavity pumped by a low-power continuous-wave excitation.
Lin, G, Baker, MAB, Hong, M & Jin, D 2018, 'The Quest for Optical Multiplexing in Bio-discoveries', Chem, vol. 4, no. 5, pp. 997-1021.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2018 Elsevier Inc. Optical multiplexing has significantly boosted our capacity to acquire and process information in the modern era. This review surveys new methods for coding optical information to move from the macroscopic to the nanoscale. We highlight that advances in new materials, fabrication methods, super-resolution imaging tools, and microfluidic devices are the enabling technologies for many recent breakthroughs in micro- and nanoscale biophotonics. Multidimensional optical coding has been developed to assign addressable molecular probes for multiplexed molecular and cellular sensing. While illustrating the principles of coding information in multiple dimensions, we discuss prospective opportunities in material design and technological advancement and identify the challenges for eventually integrating and translating these biophotonic tools into cellular insights. Recent discoveries in luminescent materials, the advent of lasers, and high-resolution microscopy offer improvements to bio-discovery processes and better reporting that will ultimately boost healthcare efficiency. However, slow analysis of the screening process has limited the delivery of improved patient care. Analysis of one or two molecular or cellular targets is no longer sufficient for characterizing a disease or biochemical process, and cellular imaging typically generates significant amounts of information from even a single cell, let alone larger interacting biological systems. By developing optical multiplexing into multiple dimensions, we can significantly increase the throughput of imaging, allowing simultaneous tracking of multiple targets. The eventual goal of optical multiplexing is to synchronize developments in materials and platforms to boost the throughput of bio-discovery to enable us to mine the enormous amounts of information buried inside living organisms. Analysis of one or two molecular or cellular targets is no longer sufficient for characterizing a diseas...
Liu, X, Zhou, J, Zhou, S, Yue, Y & Qiu, J 2018, 'Transparent glass-ceramics functionalized by dispersed crystals', Progress in Materials Science, vol. 97, pp. 38-96.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2018 Elsevier Ltd Transparent glass ceramics (TGCs) with minimized scattering loss offer the combined characteristics of both glasses and (transparent) ceramics. The functionalities of the dispered crystals make TGCs a new generation of tailorable optical materials with a wide range of applications from optics to photonics. Most of conventional glass ceramics (GCs), e.g., silicate glass ceramics, contain crystals involving both network formers and modifiers, and they are known for their superior mechanical/thermal performances. In this paper, we pay more attention to those TGCs containing crystalline phases composed of only network modifiers, including nanocrystals of noble metals, metal fluorides, oxides, chalcogenides, etc. We review recent advances in conventional fabrication methods as well as in emerging techniques for the production of TGCs, such as solid state reaction, sol–gel and laser–induced crystallization. We then discuss the applications of TGCs, particularly the TGCs functionalized by crystals that exhibit various optical functionalities, including photoluminescence, optical nonlinearity, plasmonic absorption, etc. Experimental advances in the use of TGCs for lasers, optical amplifiers and different spectral converters are highlighted. We also anticipate that TGCs will find new applications, and the investigations into TGCs will unravel the mechanism of crystal formation, and hence, lead to the discovery of novel TGC systems.
Luo, Y, Liu, Z, Hau, SC-K, Yeung, YY, Wong, K-L, Shiu, KK, Chen, X, Zhu, H, Bao, G & Tanner, PA 2018, 'Electronic Spectra of Cs2NaYb(NO2)6: Is There Quantum Cutting?', The Journal of Physical Chemistry A, vol. 122, no. 17, pp. 4381-4388.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2018 American Chemical Society. The crystal structure and electronic spectra of the Th symmetry hexanitritoytterbate(III) anion have been studied in Cs2NaY0.96Yb0.04(NO2)6, which crystallizes in the cubic space group Fm3. The emission from Yb3+ can be excited via the NO2- antenna. The latter electronic transition is situated at more than twice the energy of the former, but at room temperature, one photon absorbed at 470 nm in the triplet state produces no more than one photon emitted. Some degree of quantum cutting is observed at 298 K under 420 nm excitation into the singlet state and at 25 K using excitation into either state. The quantum efficiency is ∼10% at 25 K. The energy level scheme of Yb3+ has been deduced from excitation and emission spectra and calculated by crystal field theory. New improved energy level calculations are also reported for the Cs2NaLn(NO2)6 (Ln = Pr, Eu, Tb) series using the f-Spectra package. The neat crystal Cs2NaYb(NO2)6 has also been studied, but results were unsatisfactory due to sample decomposition, and this chemical instability makes it unsuitable for applications.
Lv, Y, Huang, C, Xu, H, Han, X, Zhang, L, Mao, W, Ji, Y, Jin, D, Lou, W & Xu, X 2018, 'Clinicopathological Characteristics of the primary and metastatic Hepatic Neuroendocrine Tumors and the relevant Prognosis-Related Factors: A Retrospective Study of 81 Cases in a Single Chinese Center', Journal of Cancer, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 479-487.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Lv, Y, Pu, N, Mao, W-L, Chen, W-Q, Wang, H-Y, Han, X, Ji, Y, Zhang, L, Jin, D-Y, Lou, W-H & Xu, X-F 2018, 'Development of predictive prognostic nomogram for NECs of rectum on population-based exploration', Endocrine Connections, vol. 7, no. 11, pp. 1178-1185.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
AimWe aim to investigate the clinical characteristics of the rectal NECs and the prognosis-related factors and construct a nomogram for prognosis prediction.MethodsThe data of 41 patients and 1028 patients with rectal NEC were retrieved respectively from our institution and SEER database. OS or PFS was defined as the major study outcome. Variables were compared by chi-square test and t-test when appropriate. Kaplan–Meier analysis with log-rank test was used for survival analysis and the Cox regression analysis was applied. The nomogram integrating risk factors for predicting OS was constructed by R to achieve superior discriminatory ability. Predictive utility of the nomogram was determined by concordance index (C-index) and calibration curve.ResultsIn the univariate and multivariate analyses, tumor differentiation, N stage, M stage and resection of primary site were identified as independent prognostic indicators. The linear regression relationship was found between the value of Ki-67 index and the duration of OS (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the independent prognostic factors were added to formulate prognostic nomogram. The constructed nomogram showed good performance according to the C-index.ConclusionsContrary to WHO classification guideline, we found that the rectal NEC diseases are heterogeneous and should be divided as different categories according to the pathological differentiation. Besides, the nomogram formulated in this study showed excellent discriminative capability to predict OS for those patients. More advanced predictive model for this disease is required to assist risk stratification via the formulated nomogram.
Ma, T, Chen, L, Shi, M, Niu, J, Zhang, X, Yang, X, Zhanghao, K, Wang, M, Xi, P, Jin, D, Zhang, M & Gao, J 2018, 'Developing novel methods to image and visualize 3D genomes', Cell Biology and Toxicology, vol. 34, no. 5, pp. 367-380.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2018, The Author(s). To investigate three-dimensional (3D) genome organization in prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, three main strategies are employed, namely nuclear proximity ligation-based methods, imaging tools (such as fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and its derivatives), and computational/visualization methods. Proximity ligation-based methods are based on digestion and re-ligation of physically proximal cross-linked chromatin fragments accompanied by massively parallel DNA sequencing to measure the relative spatial proximity between genomic loci. Imaging tools enable direct visualization and quantification of spatial distances between genomic loci, and advanced implementation of (super-resolution) microscopy helps to significantly improve the resolution of images. Computational methods are used to map global 3D genome structures at various scales driven by experimental data, and visualization methods are used to visualize genome 3D structures in virtual 3D space-based on algorithms. In this review, we focus on the introduction of novel imaging and visualization methods to study 3D genomes. First, we introduce the progress made recently in 3D genome imaging in both fixed cell and live cells based on long-probe labeling, short-probe labeling, RNA FISH, and the CRISPR system. As the fluorescence-capturing capability of a particular microscope is very important for the sensitivity of bioimaging experiments, we also introduce two novel super-resolution microscopy methods, SDOM and low-power super-resolution STED, which have potential for time-lapse super-resolution live-cell imaging of chromatin. Finally, we review some software tools developed recently to visualize proximity ligation-based data. The imaging and visualization methods are complementary to each other, and all three strategies are not mutually exclusive. These methods provide powerful tools to explore the mechanisms of gene regulation and transcription in cell nuclei.
Mao, W, Lyu, Y, Pu, N, Li, J, Xin, B, Chen, W, Jin, D, Lou, W & Xu, X 2018, '[Prognostic analysis and clinicopathological features of 20 patients with appendiceal neuroendocrine neoplasms].', Zhonghua Wei Chang Wai Ke Za Zhi, vol. 21, no. 5, pp. 564-568.
View description>>
OBJECTIVE: To investigate clinicopathological features and prognostic factors of appendiceal neuroendocrine neoplasms(a-NEN). METHODS: Clinical data of 20 patients diagnosed with a-NEN at Zhongshan Hospital of Fudan University between January 2000 and December 2016 were retrospectively analyzed. Pathological diagnosis was based on the WHO classification criteria of digestive system tumors (2010 edition). Based on the mitotic count and Ki-67 index, a-NENs were divided into grade 1 neuroendocrine tumor (NET G1), grade 2(G2) NET G2) and grade 3 (neuroendocrine carcinoma, NEC). Some special types of a-NEN (e.g. goblet cell carcinoid) and mixed adenoneuroendocrine neoplasms were classified as mixed adenoneuroendocrine carcinoma (MANEC). Follow-up was conducted by telephone or return visits. Univariate analysis was carried out using the Kaplan-Meier method, and the log-rank test was used to draw survival curves. RESULTS: Of 20 patients, 14 were male and 6 were female with median age of 54 years. Seventeen cases presented acute right lower quadrant abdominal pain, 1 chronic right lower quadrant abdominal pain, 1 persistent abdominal discomfort with outburst whole abdominal pain and 1 was found during body check without symptoms. Twenty cases comprised 8 G1 patients, 4 G2 patients, 3 G3 patients, and 5 MANEC patients. When diagnosed, there was 1 patient with liver metastasis, 1 patient with abdominal and pelvic metastases, and 2 patients with postoperative pathological findings of lymph node metastasis. Six patients underwent appendectomy, 12 underwent right hemicolectomy, 1 underwent right hemicolectomy plus small intestine resection, and 1 underwent partial hepatectomy plus right hemicolectomy. The follow-up time was 7-187 months(average, 36 months). The total 1- and 3-year survival rates were 94.7% and 60.2%, respectively. Univariate analysis showed that age >50 years (χ2=7.036, P=0.008), pathology grade as MANEC (χ2=5.297, P=0.021), and metastasis (χ2=6.558...
Marsavela, G, Aya-Bonilla, CA, Warkiani, ME, Gray, ES & Ziman, M 2018, 'Melanoma circulating tumor cells: Benefits and challenges required for clinical application', Cancer Letters, vol. 424, pp. 1-8.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2018 The implementation of novel therapeutic interventions has improved the survival rates of melanoma patients with metastatic disease. Nonetheless, only 33% of treated cases exhibit long term responses. Circulating tumor cell (CTC) measurements are currently of clinical value in breast, prostate and colorectal cancers. However, the clinical utility of melanoma CTCs (MelCTCs) is still unclear due to challenges that appear intrinsic to MelCTCs (i.e. rarity, heterogeneity) and a lack of standardization in their isolation, across research laboratories. Here, we review the latest developments, pinpoint the challenges in MelCTC isolation and address their potential role in melanoma management.
Moazzam, P, Tavassoli, H, Razmjou, A, Warkiani, ME & Asadnia, M 2018, 'Mist harvesting using bioinspired polydopamine coating and microfabrication technology', Desalination, vol. 429, pp. 111-118.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2017 Elsevier B.V. The fascinating biopolymer of polydopamine (PDA) and negative photolithography method was utilized to produce porous membrane surfaces with contrast wettabilities via creating hydrophilic patterns (nanoscale PDA coated SU-8 bumps) on the hydrophobic background of polypropylene (PP) membranes. The high rate of water collection (97 mg cm− 2 h− 1) highlighted the impact of hydrophilic patterns and wetting properties on mist-harvesting results. Modified samples exhibited droplet motion by coalescence rather than rolling which means created hydrophilic patterns also have a significant impact on the behavior of the droplets on these surfaces. Surface characterization including Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and contact angle as well as surface free energy measurement were performed to study the effect of topography and roughness on the system performance. This created structure has the great potential to be fabricated in large scale. Also, due to the porous nature of its hydrophobic background, water collection rate can be substantially increased by using vacuum pressure, makes it attractive for industry.
Moloudi, R, Oh, S, Yang, C, Ebrahimi Warkiani, M & Naing, MW 2018, 'Inertial particle focusing dynamics in a trapezoidal straight microchannel: application to particle filtration', Microfluidics and Nanofluidics, vol. 22, no. 3.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2018, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature. Inertial microfluidics has emerged recently as a promising tool for high-throughput manipulation of particles and cells for a wide range of flow cytometric tasks including cell separation/filtration, cell counting, and mechanical phenotyping. Inertial focusing is profoundly reliant on the cross-sectional shape of channel and its impacts on not only the shear field but also the wall-effect lift force near the wall region. In this study, particle focusing dynamics inside trapezoidal straight microchannels was first studied systematically for a broad range of channel Re number (20 OpenSPiltSPi Re OpenSPiltSPi 800). The altered axial velocity profile and consequently new shear force arrangement led to a cross-lateral movement of equilibration toward the longer side wall when the rectangular straight channel was changed to a trapezoid; however, the lateral focusing started to move backward toward the middle and the shorter side wall, depending on particle clogging ratio, channel aspect ratio, and slope of slanted wall, as the channel Reynolds number further increased (Re CloseSPigtSPi 50). Remarkably, an almost complete transition of major focusing from the longer side wall to the shorter side wall was found for large-sized particles of clogging ratio K ~ 0.9 (K = a/Hmin) when Re increased noticeably to ~ 650. Finally, based on our findings, a trapezoidal straight channel along with a bifurcation was designed and applied for continuous filtration of a broad range of particle size (0.3 OpenSPiltSPi K OpenSPiltSPi 1) exiting through the longer wall outlet with ~ 99% efficiency (Re OpenSPiltSPi 100).
Moloudi, R, Oh, S, Yang, C, Teo, KL, Lam, AT-L, Warkiani, ME & Naing, MW 2018, 'Inertial-Based Filtration Method for Removal of Microcarriers from Mesenchymal Stem Cell Suspensions', Scientific Reports, vol. 8, no. 1.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
AbstractRapidly evolving cell-based therapies towards clinical trials demand alternative approaches for efficient expansion of adherent cell types such as human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs). Using microcarriers (100–300 µm) in a stirred tank bioreactor offers considerably enhanced surface to volume ratio of culture environment. However, downstream purification of the harvested cell product needs to be addressed carefully due to distinctive features and fragility of these cell products. This work demonstrates a novel alternative approach which utilizes inertial focusing to separate microcarriers (MCs) from the final cell suspension. First, we systematically investigated MC focusing dynamics inside scaled-up curved channels with trapezoidal and rectangular cross-sections. A trapezoidal spiral channel with ultra-low-slope (Tan(α) = 0.0375) was found to contribute to strong MC focusing (~300 < Re < ~400) while managing high MC volume fractions up to ~1.68%. Accordingly, the high-throughput trapezoidal spiral channel successfully separated MCs from hMSC suspension with total cell yield~94% (after two passes) at a high volumetric flow rate of ~30 mL/min (Re~326.5).
Moshksayan, K, Kashaninejad, N, Warkiani, ME, Lock, JG, Moghadas, H, Firoozabadi, B, Saidi, MS & Nguyen, N-T 2018, 'Spheroids-on-a-chip: Recent advances and design considerations in microfluidic platforms for spheroid formation and culture', Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, vol. 263, pp. 151-176.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2018 Elsevier B.V. A cell spheroid is a three-dimensional (3D) aggregation of cells. Synthetic, in-vitro spheroids provide similar metabolism, proliferation, and species concentration gradients to those found in-vivo. For instance, cancer cell spheroids have been demonstrated to mimic in-vivo tumor microenvironments, and are thus suitable for in-vitro drug screening. The first part of this paper discusses the latest microfluidic designs for spheroid formation and culture, comparing their strategies and efficacy. The most recent microfluidic techniques for spheroid formation utilize emulsion, microwells, U-shaped microstructures, or digital microfluidics. The engineering aspects underpinning spheroid formation in these microfluidic devices are therefore considered. In the second part of this paper, design considerations for microfluidic spheroid formation chips and microfluidic spheroid culture chips (μSFCs and μSCCs) are evaluated with regard to key parameters affecting spheroid formation, including shear stress, spheroid diameter, culture medium delivery and flow rate. This review is intended to benefit the microfluidics community by contributing to improved design and engineering of microfluidic chips capable of forming and/or culturing three-dimensional cell spheroids.
Motamedi, M, Warkiani, ME & Taylor, RA 2018, 'Transparent Surfaces Inspired by Nature', Advanced Optical Materials, vol. 6, no. 14, pp. 1800091-1800091.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
AbstractNature has long inspired scientists and engineers. As one ubiquitous example of this, nature has provided all with several clever methods to absorb, repel, and/or allow both sunlight and water to pass through surfaces. Moth's eyes (highly antireflective) and lotus leaves (highly hydrophobic and self‐cleaning) represent durable natural surfaces which exhibit nearly ideal physical and optical properties. Man‐made transparent surfaces must also be able to cope with water and dust while reaching the maximum possible light transmission for solar collectors, displays, and other optical devices. To explore the link between these – particularly for transparent surfaces – this review puts the physics, progress, and limitations of synthetic materials in context with natural materials. This perspective reveals that there is still much more to learn (and implement) if it is hoped to match the multifunctionality and resilience of natural materials.
Nguyen, T, Li, GE, Chen, H, Cranfield, CG, McGrath, KC & Gorrie, CA 2018, 'Maternal E-Cigarette Exposure Results in Cognitive and Epigenetic Alterations in Offspring in a Mouse Model', Chemical Research in Toxicology, vol. 31, no. 7, pp. 601-611.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2018 American Chemical Society. Electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use is on the rise worldwide and is particularly attractive to young people and as a smoking substitute by pregnant woman. There is a perception in pregnant women and women of child-bearing age that the use of e-cigarettes (vaping) is safer than smoking tobacco cigarettes during pregnancy. However, there is little evidence to support this perception. Here, we examined the offspring from mouse dams that had been exposed during and after pregnancy to ambient air (sham) (n = 8), e-cigarette aerosols with nicotine (n = 8), or e-cigarette aerosols without nicotine (n = 8). Offspring underwent cognitive testing at 12 weeks of age and epigenetic testing of brain tissues at 1 day, 20 days, and 13 weeks after birth. The findings showed deficits in short-term memory, reduced anxiety, and hyperactivity in offspring following maternal e-cigarette exposure using the novel object recognition and elevated plus maze tests. In addition, global DNA methylation was increased in the brains of offspring soon after birth. Using a quantitative-PCR array specific to chromatin modification enzymes on genomic DNA and histones,13 key genes were identified to be significantly altered in the offspring brains from the e-cigarette groups compared to the nonexposed groups. The changes to genes Aurka, Aurkb, Aurkc, Kdm5c, Kdm6b, Dnmt3a, Dnmt3b, and Atf2, all associated with modulating neurological activity, were validated using RT-qPCR. In conclusion, in a mouse model, maternal exposure to e-cigarette aerosols resulted in both cognitive and epigenetic changes in offspring. This suggests that the use of e-cigarettes during pregnancy may have hitherto undetected neurological consequences on newborns.
Pu, N, Zhao, G, Yin, H, Li, J-A, Nuerxiati, A, Wang, D, Xu, X, Kuang, T, Jin, D, Lou, W & Wu, W 2018, 'CD25 and TGF-β blockade based on predictive integrated immune ratio inhibits tumor growth in pancreatic cancer', Journal of Translational Medicine, vol. 16, no. 1.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Rath, EM, Cheng, YY, Pinese, M, Sarun, KH, Hudson, AL, Weir, C, Wang, YD, Håkansson, AP, Howell, VM, Liu, GJ, Reid, G, Knott, RB, Duff, AP & Church, WB 2018, 'BAMLET kills chemotherapy-resistant mesothelioma cells, holding oleic acid in an activated cytotoxic state', PLOS ONE, vol. 13, no. 8, pp. e0203003-e0203003.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2018 Rath et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Malignant pleural mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer with poor prognosis. Here we have investigated in vitro efficacy of BAMLET and BLAGLET complexes (anti-cancer complexes consisting of oleic acid and bovine α-lactalbumin or β-lactoglobulin respectively) in killing mesothelioma cells, determined BAMLET and BLAGLET structures, and investigated possible biological mechanisms. We performed cell viability assays on 16 mesothelioma cell lines. BAMLET and BLAGLET having increasing oleic acid content inhibited human and rat mesothelioma cell line proliferation at decreasing doses. Most of the non-cancer primary human fibroblasts were more resistant to BAMLET than were human mesothelioma cells. BAMLET showed similar cytotoxicity to cisplatin-resistant, pemetrexed-resistant, vinorelbine-resistant, and parental rat mesothelioma cells, indicating the BAMLET anti-cancer mechanism may be different to drugs currently used to treat mesothelioma. Cisplatin, pemetrexed, gemcitabine, vinorelbine, and BAMLET, did not demonstrate a therapeutic window for mesothelioma compared with immortalised non-cancer mesothelial cells. We demonstrated by quantitative PCR that ATP synthase is downregulated in mesothelioma cells in response to regular dosing with BAMLET. We sought structural insight for BAMLET and BLAGLET activity by performing small angle X-ray scattering, circular dichroism, and scanning electron microscopy. Our results indicate the structural mechanism by which BAMLET and BLAGLET achieve increased cytotoxicity by holding increasing amounts of oleic acid in an active cytotoxic state encapsulated in increasingly unfolded protein. Our structural studies revealed similarity in the molecular structure of the protein com...
Ren, W, Wen, S, Tawfik, SA, Su, QP, Lin, G, Ju, LA, Ford, MJ, Ghodke, H, van Oijen, AM & Jin, D 2018, 'Anisotropic functionalization of upconversion nanoparticles', Chemical Science, vol. 9, no. 18, pp. 4352-4358.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Ligand competition directs heterogeneous bio-chemistry surface and self-assembly for upconversion nanoparticles.
Ren, W, Zhou, Y, Wen, S, He, H, Lin, G, Liu, D & Jin, D 2018, 'DNA-mediated anisotropic silica coating of upconversion nanoparticles', Chemical Communications, vol. 54, no. 52, pp. 7183-7186.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
We report a facile approach of using DNA molecules as switches to selectively activate silica coating onto specific facets of upconversion nanoparticles.
Shang, Y, Bao, G, Zhou, J, Wong, K, Yang, C & Jin, D 2018, 'Lanthanide-Doped Upconversion Luminescent Materials for Point of Care Diagnosis', Zhongguo Xitu Xuebao/Journal of the Chinese Rare Earth Society, vol. 36, no. 2, pp. 129-146.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Point of care (POC) diagnosis has attracted much research interest due to its rapid, specific and sensitive detection of biomarkers and pathogens. This decentralized diagnostic approach undoubtedly has huge advantage over laboratory testing at large hospitals or community laboratories regarding cost-effectiveness, healthcare delivery, especially with the emerging and spreading of smart technologies. Among all the materials for POC, lanthanides have become a rising star because of their excellent photophysical properties such as long life time, characteristic luminescence. Here, we focus on the wide-spread platforms of POC diagnostic devices and the applications of lanthanide upconverting materials in this field. With the market and social trend analysis, we will give our future perspective about the applications of lanthanide materials in POC.
Sofela, S, Sahloul, S, Rafeie, M, Kwon, T, Han, J, Warkiani, ME & Song, Y-A 2018, 'High-throughput sorting of eggs for synchronization ofC. elegansin a microfluidic spiral chip', Lab on a Chip, vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 679-687.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
High-throughput isolation ofC. eleganseggs from a mixed worm population in a spiral chip using inertial microfluidics.
Stefen, H, Hassanzadeh-Barforoushi, A, Brettle, M, Fok, S, Suchowerska, AK, Tedla, N, Barber, T, Warkiani, ME & Fath, T 2018, 'A Novel Microfluidic Device-Based Neurite Outgrowth Inhibition Assay Reveals the Neurite Outgrowth-Promoting Activity of Tropomyosin Tpm3.1 in Hippocampal Neurons', Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology, vol. 38, no. 8, pp. 1557-1563.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2018, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature. Overcoming neurite inhibition is integral for restoring neuronal connectivity after CNS injury. Actin dynamics are critical for neurite growth cone formation and extension. The tropomyosin family of proteins is a regarded as master regulator of actin dynamics. This study investigates tropomyosin isoform 3.1 (Tpm3.1) as a potential candidate for overcoming an inhibitory substrate, as it is known to influence neurite branching and outgrowth. We designed a microfluidic device that enables neurons to be grown adjacent to an inhibitory substrate, Nogo-66. Results show that neurons, overexpressing hTpm3.1, have an increased propensity to overcome Nogo-66 inhibition. We propose Tpm3.1 as a potential target for promoting neurite growth in an inhibitory environment in the central nervous system.
Su, QP & Ju, LA 2018, 'Biophysical nanotools for single-molecule dynamics', Biophysical Reviews, vol. 10, no. 5, pp. 1349-1357.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
The focus of the cell biology field is now shifting from characterizing cellular activities to organelle and molecular behaviors. This process accompanies the development of new biophysical visualization techniques that offer high spatial and temporal resolutions with ultra-sensitivity and low cell toxicity. They allow the biology research community to observe dynamic behaviors from scales of single molecules, organelles, cells to organoids, and even live animal tissues. In this review, we summarize these biophysical techniques into two major classes: the mechanical nanotools like dynamic force spectroscopy (DFS) and the optical nanotools like single-molecule and super-resolution microscopy. We also discuss their applications in elucidating molecular dynamics and functionally mapping of interactions between inter-cellular networks and intra-cellular components, which is key to understanding cellular processes such as adhesion, trafficking, inheritance, and division.
Sun, Y, Zhang, W, Wang, B, Xu, X, Chou, J, Shimoni, O, Ung, AT & Jin, D 2018, 'A supramolecular self-assembly strategy for upconversion nanoparticle bioconjugation', Chemical Communications, vol. 54, no. 31, pp. 3851-3854.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
An efficient surface modification and bioconjugation strategy for upconversion nanoparticles is reported via supramolecular host–guest self-assembly.
Syed, MS, Rafeie, M, Vandamme, D, Asadnia, M, Henderson, R, Taylor, RA & Warkiani, ME 2018, 'Selective separation of microalgae cells using inertial microfluidics', Bioresource Technology, vol. 252, pp. 91-99.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd Microalgae represent the most promising new source of biomass for the world's growing demands. However, the biomass productivity and quality is significantly decreased by the presence of bacteria or other invading microalgae species in the cultures. We therefore report a low-cost spiral-microchannel that can effectively separate and purify Tetraselmis suecica (lipid-rich microalgae) cultures from Phaeodactylum tricornutum (invasive diatom). Fluorescent polystyrene-microbeads of 6 μm and 10 μm diameters were first used as surrogate particles to optimize the microchannel design by mimicking the microalgae cell behaviour. Using the optimum flowrate, up to 95% of the P. tricornutum cells were separated from the culture without affecting the cell viability. This study shows, for the first time, the potential of inertial microfluidics to sort microalgae species with minimal size difference. Additionally, this approach can also be applied as a pre-sorting technique for water quality analysis.
Tavassoli, H, Alhosseini, SN, Tay, A, Chan, PPY, Weng Oh, SK & Warkiani, ME 2018, 'Large-scale production of stem cells utilizing microcarriers: A biomaterials engineering perspective from academic research to commercialized products', Biomaterials, vol. 181, pp. 333-346.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2018 Elsevier Ltd Human stem cells, including pluripotent, embryonic and mesenchymal, stem cells play pivotal roles in cell-based therapies. Over the past decades, various methods for expansion and differentiation of stem cells have been developed to satisfy the burgeoning clinical demands. One of the most widely endorsed technologies for producing large cell quantities is using microcarriers (MCs) in bioreactor culture systems. In this review, we focus on microcarriers properties that can manipulate the expansion and fate of stem cells. Here, we provide an overview of commercially available MCs and focus on novel stimulus responsive MCs controlled by temperature, pH and field changes. Different features of MCs including composition, surface coating, morphology, geometry/size, surface functionalization, charge and mechanical properties, and their cellular effects are also highlighted. We then conclude with current challenges and outlook on this promising technology.
Tavassoli, H, Javadpour, J, Taheri, M, Mehrjou, M, Koushki, N, Arianpour, F, Majidi, M, Izadi-Mobarakeh, J, Negahdari, B, Chan, P, Ebrahimi Warkiani, M & Bonakdar, S 2018, 'Incorporation of Nanoalumina Improves Mechanical Properties and Osteogenesis of Hydroxyapatite Bioceramics', ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering, vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 1324-1336.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2018 American Chemical Society. A handful of work focused on improving the intrinsic low mechanical properties of hydroxyapatite (HA) by various reinforcing agents. However, the big challenge regarding improving mechanical properties is maintaining bioactivity. To address this issue, we report fabrication of apatite-based composites by incorporation of alumina nanoparticles (n-Al2O3). Although numerous studies have used micron or submicron alumina for reinforcing hydroxyapatite, only few reports are available about the use of n-Al2O3. In this study, spark plasma sintering (SPS) method was utilized to develop HA-nAl2O3 dense bodies. Compared to the conventional sintering, decomposition of HA and formation of calcium aluminates phases are restricted using SPS. Moreover, n-Al2O3 acts as a bioactive agent while its conventional form is an inert bioceramics. The addition of n-Al2O3 resulted in 40% improvement in hardness along with a 110% increase in fracture toughness, while attaining nearly full dense bodies. The in vitro characterization of nanocomposite demonstrated improved bone-specific cell function markers as evidenced by cell attachment and proliferation, alkaline phosphatase activity, calcium and collagen detection and nitric oxide production. Specifically, gene expression analysis demonstrated that introduction of n-Al2O3 in HA matrix resulted in accelerated osteogenic differentiation of osteoblast and mesenchymal stem cells, as expression of Runx-2 and OSP showed 2.5 and 19.6 fold increase after 2 weeks (p < 0.05). Moreover, protein adsorption analysis showed enhanced adsorption of plasma proteins to HA-nAl2O3 sample compared to HA. These findings suggest that HA-nAl2O3 could be a prospective candidate for orthopedic applications due to its improved mechanical and osteogenic properties.
Teng, B, Han, Y, Zhang, X, Xiao, H, Yu, C, Li, H, Cheng, Z, Jin, D, Wong, K-L, Ma, P & Lin, J 2018, 'Phenanthriplatin(iv) conjugated multifunctional up-converting nanoparticles for drug delivery and biomedical imaging', Journal of Materials Chemistry B, vol. 6, no. 31, pp. 5059-5068.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Platinum-based drugs cisplatin, carboplatin, and oxaliplatin are widely used in the clinical treatment of cancer.
WANG De-jiang, 王, DI Xiang-jun, 狄, WANG Bao-ming, 王, WANG Fan, 王帆, GUO Zhi-yong, 郭 & JIN Da-yong, 金 2018, 'Advances in single particle tracking in living cells', Chinese Optics, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 281-295.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2018, China Science Publishing & Media LTD. All right reserved. Single particle tracking(SPT) technique locates and tracks individual fluorescent or scattering particles within a cell with the help of microscope system. Based on the ability of real-time monitoring of the complex and highly dynamic changes in tissue structure within living cells and the ability to provide dynamic relationships between structure and function, SPT has important applications in cell biology. In this review,the mechanism of SPT and its application on cells are summarized. Firstly, the dynamics of SPT are introduced, including single particle localization, trajectory reconstruction and analysis. Then the optical materials and instruments that SPT technology focuses on at the present stage are described. Finally, the application of SPT in cell membrane, intracellular signaling pathway, molecular transport mechanism, genetic information expression, and viral infection mechanism are proposed. In addition, the advance of SPT technology are prospected in this paper.
Wang, F, Wen, S, He, H, Wang, B, Zhou, Z, Shimoni, O & Jin, D 2018, 'Microscopic inspection and tracking of single upconversion nanoparticles in living cells', Light: Science & Applications, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 18007-18007.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2018 The Author(s). Nanoparticles have become new tools for cell biology imaging, sub-cellular sensing, super-resolution imaging, and drug delivery. Long-term 3D tracking of nanoparticles and their intracellular motions have advanced the understanding of endocytosis and exocytosis as well as of active transport processes. The sophisticated operation of correlative optical-electron microscopy and scientific-grade cameras is often used to study intercellular processes. Nonetheless, most of these studies are still limited by the insufficient sensitivity for separating a single nanoparticle from a cluster of nanoparticles or their aggregates8. Here we report that our eyes can track a single fluorescent nanoparticle that emits over 4000 photons per 100 milliseconds under a simple microscope setup. By tracking a single nanoparticle with high temporal, spectral and spatial resolution, we show the measurement of the local viscosity of the intracellular environment. Moreover, beyond the colour domain and 3D position, we introduce excitation power density as the fifth dimension for our eyes to simultaneously discriminate multiple sets of single nanoparticles.
Wang, M, Chen, M, Zhanghao, K, Zhang, X, Jing, Z, Gao, J, Zhang, MQ, Jin, D, Dai, Z, Xi, P & Dai, Q 2018, 'Polarization-based super-resolution imaging of surface-enhanced Raman scattering nanoparticles with orientational information', Nanoscale, vol. 10, no. 42, pp. 19757-19765.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Super-resolution imaging and orientation detection of surface enhanced Raman scattering nanoparticles using polarization modulation.
Wen, S, Zhou, J, Zheng, K, Bednarkiewicz, A, Liu, X & Jin, D 2018, 'Advances in highly doped upconversion nanoparticles', Nature Communications, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 2415-2415.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
AbstractLanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) are capable of converting near-infra-red excitation into visible and ultraviolet emission. Their unique optical properties have advanced a broad range of applications, such as fluorescent microscopy, deep-tissue bioimaging, nanomedicine, optogenetics, security labelling and volumetric display. However, the constraint of concentration quenching on upconversion luminescence has hampered the nanoscience community to develop bright UCNPs with a large number of dopants. This review surveys recent advances in developing highly doped UCNPs, highlights the strategies that bypass the concentration quenching effect, and discusses new optical properties as well as emerging applications enabled by these nanoparticles.
Winter, M, Hardy, T, Rezaei, M, Nguyen, V, Zander‐Fox, D, Ebrahimi Warkiani, M & Thierry, B 2018, 'Isolation of Circulating Fetal Trophoblasts Using Inertial Microfluidics for Noninvasive Prenatal Testing', Advanced Materials Technologies, vol. 3, no. 7, pp. 1800066-1800066.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
AbstractWhile noninvasive prenatal testing based on cell‐free fetal DNA has recently revolutionized the field of aneuploidy screening in pregnancy, it remains limited to aneuploidy and microdeletion screening, and is unable to reliably detect single gene disorders. A number of recent studies have demonstrated the potential of circulating trophoblastic cells in providing cell‐based noninvasive diagnosis with sequencing or array‐based assays. However, considering the extreme rarity of these cells in blood, efficient, high‐throughput, and clinically applicable enrichment technologies are yet to be developed. This study demonstrates for the first time the utility of inertial microfluidics for efficient isolation of trophoblastic cells from maternal peripheral blood. Under optimal operating conditions, high‐recovery yields (79%) are obtained using a trophoblastic cell‐line, which is subsequently confirmed with analysis of maternal blood. Feasibility of obtaining a diagnosis from cells isolated from a maternal sample is demonstrated in a case of confirmed fetal trisomy 21 in which six fetal cells are found in a 7 mL blood sample using fluorescence in situ hybridization. Finally, it is demonstrated that trophoblastic cells isolated using inertial microfluidics could be picked and subjected to a clinically validated sequencing assay, paving the way for further validation of this technology and larger clinical studies.
Wu, P-J, Kabakova, IV, Ruberti, JW, Sherwood, JM, Dunlop, IE, Paterson, C, Török, P & Overby, DR 2018, 'Water content, not stiffness, dominates Brillouin spectroscopy measurements in hydrated materials', Nature Methods, vol. 15, no. 8, pp. 561-562.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
Wu, P-J, Masouleh, MI, Dini, D, Paterson, C, Torok, P, Overby, DR & Kabakova, IV 2018, 'Detection of Proteoglycan Loss from Articular Cartilage using Brillouin Microscopy, with Applications to Osteoarthritis', Biomedical Optics Express, vol. 10, no. 5, pp. 2457-2466.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
The degeneration of articular cartilage (AC) occurs in osteoarthritis (OA),which is a leading cause of pain and disability in middle-aged and olderpeople. The early disease related changes in cartilage extra-cellular matrix(ECM) start with depletion of proteoglycan(PG), leading to an increase intissue hydration and permeability. These early compositional changes are small(<10%) and hence difficult to register with conventional non-invasive imagingtechnologies (magnetic resonance and ultrasound imaging). Here we applyBrillouin microscopy for detecting changes in the mechanical properties andcomposition of porcine AC. OA-like degradation is mimicked by enzymatic tissuedigestion, and we compare Brillouin microscopy measurements againsthistological staining of PG depletion over varying digestion times and enzymeconcentrations. The non-destructive nature of Brillouin imaging technologyopens new avenues for creating minimally invasive arthroscopic devices for OAdiagnostics and therapeutic monitoring.
Yu, C, Ding, B, Zhang, X, Deng, X, Deng, K, Cheng, Z, Xing, B, Jin, D, Ma, P & Lin, J 2018, 'Targeted iron nanoparticles with platinum-(IV) prodrugs and anti-EZH2 siRNA show great synergy in combating drug resistance in vitro and in vivo', Biomaterials, vol. 155, pp. 112-123.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd Resistance to platinum agents is challenging in cancer treatment with platinum drugs. Such resistant cells prevent effective platinum accumulation intracellular and alter cellular adaptations to survive from cytotoxicity by regulating corresponding proteins expression. Ideal therapeutics should combine resolution to these pump and non-pump relevant resistance of cancer cells to achieve high efficacy and low side effect. Fe3O4 nanocarrier loaded with drugs could enter cells in a more efficient endocytosis manner which circumvents pump-relevant drug resistance. EZH2 protein which was previously found to be over-expressed in drug-resistant cancer cells was reported to be involved in platinum drug resistance and play a vital role in anti-apoptosis pathways. Here, we report Fe3O4 nanoparticles loaded with siEZH2 (siRNA), a platinum prodrug in +4 oxidation state (cis, cis, trans-diamminedichlorodisuccinato-platinum-(IV), namely Pt(IV)) and luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) targeting polypeptides. Results show that targeted nanoparticles loading with siEZH2 synergize with Pt(IV) and result in similar cell killing performance to A2780/DDP cells (cisplatin resistant) compared with non-siEZH2 loaded nanoparticles to A2780 cells (cisplatin sensitive). Thus, this Fe3O4@PEI-Pt(IV)-PEG-LHRH@siEZH2 nanoparticles reverse the cisplatin resistance from the pump and non-pump relevant aspects, fully taking advantage of nanocarrier system.
Zhanghao, K, Gao, J, Jin, D, Zhang, X & Xi, P 2018, 'Super-resolution fluorescence polarization microscopy', Journal of Innovative Optical Health Sciences, vol. 11, no. 01, pp. 1730002-1730002.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
Fluorescence polarization is related to the dipole orientation of chromophores, making fluorescence polarization microscopy possible to reveal structures and functions of tagged cellular organelles and biological macromolecules. Several recent super resolution techniques have been applied to fluorescence polarization microscopy, achieving dipole measurement at nanoscale. In this review, we summarize both diffraction limited and super resolution fluorescence polarization microscopy techniques, as well as their applications in biological imaging.
Zhao, L, Ge, X, Zhao, H, Shi, L, Capobianco, JA, Jin, D & Sun, L 2018, 'Double-Sensitive Drug Release System Based on MnO2 Assembled Upconversion Nanoconstruct for Double-Model Guided Chemotherapy', ACS Applied Nano Materials, vol. 1, no. 4, pp. 1648-1656.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
A double-sensitive drug release system based on MnO2 nanosheets was synthesized using a facile method for imaging guided chemotherapy in cancer cells. The upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) as core are used for upconversion luminescence (UCL) imaging, and the coating of mesoporous silica shows excellent ability for loading drug. The assembly with MnO2 nanosheets can respond to low intracellular pH and GSH in cancer cells. The obtained UCNPs@mSiO2-MnO2 nanoparticles with excellent biocompatibility can be applied as drug carriers. As expected, the UCNPs@mSiO2(DOX)-MnO2 (UCDMs) nanoconstruct loading with DOX offer practical chemotherapeutic effects in vitro, suggesting the active drug release in cancer cells. The luminescence intensity and magnetic resonance signals increased with the decomposition of the MnO2 nanosheets and the release of DOX under low pH and high levels of GSH. In addition, the UCDMs exhibit excellent intracellular UCL imaging, indicating that they can be used as a selective imaging agent in a cancerous environment. Thus, the UCDMs present potential application for use as theranostic agents in imaging guided therapy.
Zhao, L, Wen, S, Zhu, M, Li, D, Xing, Y, Shen, M, Shi, X & Zhao, J 2018, '99mTc-labelled multifunctional polyethylenimine-entrapped gold nanoparticles for dual mode SPECT and CT imaging', Artificial Cells, Nanomedicine, and Biotechnology, vol. 46, no. sup1, pp. 488-498.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2018, © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. In this study, we report the synthesis, characterization and utilization of 99m Tc-labelled polyethylenimine-entrapped gold nanoparticles ( 99m Tc-Au-PENPs) for dual mode single-photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography (SPECT/CT) imaging applications. Polyethylenimine (PEI) was selected as a platform to conjugate with diethylene triamine pentacetate acid (DTPA) and polyethylene glycol monomethyl ether to synthesize Au PENPs, followed by acetylation or hydroxylation modification of the remaining PEI surface amine groups and radiolabelling of 99m Tc. The generated multifunctional 99m Tc-Au-PENPs with different surface groups (acetyl or hydroxyl) were characterized via different methods. The Au PENPs before 99m Tc labelling are colloidally stable, haemocompatibility and noncytotoxic at an Au concentration up to 100 μM. The 99m Tc-labelled Au PENPs exhibit high radiochemical purity, good stability and SPECT/CT imaging performance of different organs and lymph node. The designed strategy to use the radionuclide labelling technique and PEI-facilitated versatile nanoplatform may be extended to develop various novel nanoprobes for precision imaging applications.
Zhou, J & Jin, D 2018, 'Triplet state brightens upconversion', Nature Photonics, vol. 12, no. 7, pp. 378-379.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2018 The Publisher. Efficient photon upconversion is desired for applications ranging from molecular sensing to solar-energy harvesting. Now, the population of hidden triplet state electrons, created on dye antennas and rare-earth-doped nanoparticles, has been amplified to brighten upconversion by five orders of magnitude.
Zhou, J, Leaño, JL, Liu, Z, Jin, D, Wong, K, Liu, R & Bünzli, JG 2018, 'Impact of Lanthanide Nanomaterials on Photonic Devices and Smart Applications', Small, vol. 14, no. 40, pp. 1801882-1801882.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
AbstractHalf a century after its initial emergence, lanthanide photonics is facing a profound remodeling induced by the upsurge of nanomaterials. Lanthanide‐doped nanomaterials hold promise for bioapplications and photonic devices because they ally the unmatched advantages of lanthanide photophysical properties with those arising from large surface‐to‐volume ratios and quantum confinement that are typical of nanoobjects. Cutting‐edge technologies and devices have recently arisen from this association and are in turn promoting nanophotonic materials as essential tools for a deeper understanding of biological mechanisms and related medical diagnosis and therapy, and as crucial building blocks for next‐generation photonic devices. Here, the recent progress in the development of nanomaterials, nanotechnologies, and nanodevices for clinical uses and commercial exploitation is reviewed. The candidate nanomaterials with mature synthesis protocols and compelling optical uniqueness are surveyed. The specific fields that are directly driven by lanthanide doped nanomaterials are emphasized, spanning from in vivo imaging and theranostics, micro‐/nanoscopic techniques, point‐of‐care medical testing, forensic fingerprints detection, to micro‐LED devices.
Zhou, J, Wen, S, Liao, J, Clarke, C, Tawfik, SA, Ren, W, Mi, C, Wang, F & Jin, D 2018, 'Activation of the surface dark-layer to enhance upconversion in a thermal field', Nature Photonics, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 154-158.
View/Download from: Publisher's site
View description>>
© 2018 The Author(s). Thermal quenching, in which light emission experiences a loss with increasing temperature, broadly limits luminescent efficiency at higher temperature in optical materials, such as lighting phosphors 1-3 and fluorescent probes 4-6 . Thermal quenching is commonly caused by the increased activity of phonons that leverages the non-radiative relaxation pathways. Here, we report a kind of heat-favourable phonons existing at the surface of lanthanide-doped upconversion nanomaterials to combat thermal quenching. It favours energy transfer from sensitizers to activators to pump up the intermediate excited-state upconversion process. We identify that the oxygen moiety chelating Yb3+ ions, [Yb···O], is the key underpinning this enhancement. We demonstrate an approximately 2,000-fold enhancement in blue emission for 9.7 nm Yb3+-Tm3+ co-doped nanoparticles at 453 K. This strategy not only provides a powerful solution to illuminate the dark layer of ultra-small upconversion nanoparticles, but also suggests a new pathway to build high-efficiency upconversion systems.