Lifeboat Foundation

Rayleigh scattering enhanced nanoparticle-doped optical fibers, for distributed sensing applications, is a new technology that offers unique advantages to optical fiber community. However, the existing fabrication technology, based on in situ grown alkaline earth nanoparticles, is restricted to few compositions and exhibit a great dependence on many experimental conditions. Moreover, there is still several uncertainties about the effect of drawing process on the nanoparticle characteristics and its influence on the scattering enhancement and the induced optical loss. In this work, we shed light on all these issues that prevent the progress in the field and demonstrate the suitability of doping optical fibers with YPO4 nanocrystals for developing tunable Rayleigh scattering enhanced nanoparticle-doped optical fibers.

A new efficient system of cancer treatment using vitamin k3 (Vk3)-loaded copper zinc ferrite nanoparticles having therapeutic capabilities, could benefit millions of cancer patients worldwide.

With the ever-increasing prevalence of cancer cases worldwide, newer approaches to cancer therapy are increasingly needed to tackle the problem. Since conventional cancer therapies such as chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery have significant drawbacks such as resistance to chemotherapeutic drugs, adverse effects and lower efficacy, development of nanotherapies that can target hypoxic (when oxygen is not available in sufficient amounts at the tissue level) tumors, with minimum side-effects is necessary.

At present, magnetic hyperthermia-based cancer therapy (MHCT) therapy has been shown to be therapeutic. However, in most cases, it is not as effective due to the generation of lower levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in a hypoxic tumor microenvironment (TME) and low heat transmission.

The current influenza A vaccines utilize surface proteins as antigens, predominantly hemagglutinin. These antigens change each season, requiring new vaccine formulations and annual administration; thus, development of a universal influenza vaccine is a high priority. In an industry-sponsored phase 2a trial, investigators evaluated a recombinant, nanoparticle-based influenza A vaccine candidate containing influenza nucleoprotein (an invariant protein) and designed to elicit cell-mediated immunity. In all, 137 healthy adults (age range, 18–55) were randomized to receive vaccine (180 µg, 300 µg, or 480 µg) or placebo as a single intramuscular injection.

The vaccine elicited mild-to-moderate local and systemic reactogenicity at all active doses. Cell-mediated responses, as measured by nucleoprotein-specific interferon-gamma ELISpot, showed statistically significant increases compared with baseline in all vaccine groups. In addition to polyfunctional CD4 T-cells and increased antibody levels, the higher doses elicited CD8 T-cell responses. Preliminary evaluation of RT-PCR–positive influenza illness among participants was consistent with vaccine efficacy.

This candidate for a universal influenza A vaccine was safe and showed promise to elicit a strong immune-mediated response. Further studies are needed to evaluate protection against infection and disease compared with the currently available products. However, durability of protection will be the key requirement if a single administration of vaccine is to have a long-lasting effect.

In many cases, cells are very active in their movement and serve as power generators. The ability of cells to produce physical forces is one of the basic functions of the body. When running, for example, the forces generated in the cells cause the muscles to contract and the breath to work. It has been possible to measure even the forces experienced by individual proteins by force sensors developed in the past, but previously intracellular forces and mechanical strains could not have been measured.

Together with the scientists from The Ohio State University OSU, cell biology researchers at Tampere University have developed a force sensor that can be attached to the side of a mechanically responding protein, allowing it to sense forces and strain on the protein within the cell.

The development of the micro-sized sensor began on a conference travel in December 2019.

A collaborative research team led by Interim Head of Physics Professor Shuang Zhang from The University of Hong Kong (HKU), along with National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Imperial College London and University of California, Berkeley, has proposed a new synthetic complex frequency wave (CFW) approach to address optical loss in superimaging demonstration. The research findings were recently published in the journal Science.

Imaging plays an important role in many fields, including biology, medicine and material science. Optical microscopes use light to obtain imaging of miniscule objects. However, conventional microscopes can only resolve feature sizes in the order of the optical wavelength at best, known as the diffraction limit.

To overcome the diffraction limit, Sir John Pendry from Imperial College London introduced the concept of superlenses, which can be constructed from negative index media or noble metals like silver. Subsequently, Professor Xiang Zhang, the current President and Vice-Chancellor of HKU, along with his then team at the University of California, Berkeley, experimentally demonstrated superimaging using both a silver thin film and a silver/dielectric multilayer stack.

This could lead to cures of all diseases and disorders of the human biological systems because one could edit them out 😗😁.

A molecular machine that can be programmed to position a substrate at one of two directing sites on a molecule, which control the stereochemistry of addition to the substrate, demonstrates complexity, precision and function previously only observed in nature.

Creating novel materials by combining layers with unique, beneficial properties seems like a fairly intuitive process—stack up the materials and stack up the benefits. This isn’t always the case, however. Not every material will allow energy to travel through it the same way, making the benefits of one material come at the cost of another.

Using cutting-edge tools, scientists at the Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN), a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) User Facility at Brookhaven National Laboratory, and the Institute of Experimental Physics at the University of Warsaw have created a new layered structure with 2D materials that exhibits a unique transfer of energy and charge. Understanding its material properties may lead to advancements in technologies such as solar cells and other optoelectronic devices. The results were published in the journal Nano Letters.

Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are a class of materials structured like sandwiches with atomically thin layers. The meat of a TMD is a transition metal, which can form chemical bonds with electrons on their outermost orbit or shell, like most elements, as well as the next shell. That metal is sandwiched between two layers of chalcogens, a category of elements that contains oxygen, sulfur, and selenium.

Researchers have developed “smart rust,” iron oxide nanoparticles that clean water by attracting pollutants such as oil, nano-and microplastics, glyphosate, and even estrogen hormones.

Pouring flecks of rust into water typically makes it dirtier. However, a groundbreaking development by researchers has led to the creation of “smart rust,” a type of iron oxide nanoparticle that can purify water. This smart rust has the unique ability to attract various pollutants, such as oil, nano-and microplastics, and the herbicide glyphosate, depending on the particles’ coating. What makes it even more efficient is its magnetic nature, which allows easy removal from water using a magnet, taking the pollutants along with it. Recently, the team has optimized these particles to capture estrogen hormones, which can be detrimental to aquatic life.

Presentation and Significance.

A thin film patterned with nanoantennas exhibits negative refraction of light, a useful feature for subwavelength imaging.

Materials that refract light the “wrong way” could be used to make optical lenses that can image objects smaller than visible wavelengths. So-called negative refraction has been demonstrated in thin films in which surface plasmons—collective charge oscillations—have been excited by a powerful laser. Now, an international team involving Purdue University, Indiana, the University of Glasgow, UK, and Imperial College London show that they can more efficiently achieve the same effect by placing an array of nanoscale antennas on the film.