Scavenging Bacterial Siderophores with Engineered Lipocalin Proteins as an Alternative Antimicrobial Strategy

Iron acquisition mediated by siderophores, high-affinity chelators for which bacteria have evolved specific synthesis and uptake mechanisms, plays a crucial role in microbiology and in host–pathogen interactions. In the ongoing fight against bacterial infections, this area has attracted biomedical interest. Beyond several approaches to interfere with siderophore-mediated iron uptake from medicinal and immunochemistry, the development of high-affinity protein scavengers that tightly complex the siderophores produced by pathogenic bacteria has appeared as a novel strategy. Such binding proteins have been engineered based on siderocalin—also known as lipocalin 2—an endogenous human scavenger of enterobactin and bacillibactin that controls the systemic spreading of commensal bacteria such as Escherichia coli. By using combinatorial protein design, siderocalin was reshaped to bind several siderophores from Pseudomonas aeruginosa and, in particular, petrobactin from Bacillus anthracis, none of which is recognized by the natural protein. Such engineered versions of siderocalin effectively suppress the growth of corresponding pathogenic bacteria by depriving them of their iron supply and offer the potential to complement antibiotic therapy in situations of acute or persistent infection.     

海洋工程和船舶焊接变形预测方法研究

目前,影响海洋工程和船舶焊接结构质量的重要影响因素之一就是焊接变形,其产生的根本原因就是在焊接过程中因结构体受热不均、热梯度、残余应力等。基于此,本文对焊接变形预测的理论发展进程及其相关理论内涵进行详细阐述,并对基于神经网络的新型焊接变形预测理论的研究发展简单概述。     

负载型Pt-Fe/SiO_2催化剂催化环己烷一步氧化制己二酸

己二酸是合成尼龙-66和尼龙-46纤维的重要原料,并进一步用于生产许多重要的化工产品。工业上的己二酸多采用以硝酸为氧化剂的两步法合成,该工艺不仅工艺复杂,而且对设备有腐蚀作用,还会释放大量的温室气体N_2O。本文以负载型Pt/SiO_2、Fe/SiO_2和Pt-Fe/SiO_2为催化剂,采用过氧化氢和氧气为氧源,研究了环己烷一步氧化制己二酸的绿色合成路线。对催化剂进行ICP、BET比表面积、XRD、TEM等表征,结果表明,Pt-Fe/SiO_2催化剂中不存在与Pt或Fe对应的衍射峰。在最佳反应条件下,用高压釜进行了催化剂性能评价,结果表明,Pt-Fe/SiO_2催化活性略优于Pt/SiO_2和Fe/SiO_2。在环己烷转化率为28%的情况下,己二酸选择性达到33%。     

Predictive association of metal–organic systems in the solid-state: the molecular electrostatic potential based approach

Designing crystalline solids with improved properties or performances remains a challenging task, despite great strides that have been made within the field of crystal engineering since its birth several decades ago. Herein, we are bringing examples that illustrate recent successes in taking supramolecular synthetic guidelines from the organic crystal engineering and adjusting those to metal-containing systems, particularly to the lower-dimensional ones. The versatility of calculated molecular electrostatic potential (MEP) as a new crystal engineering tool is demonstrated.     

What is a crystal to the new chemical crystallographer,after that first,automated structure analysis?

This educational review postulates the importance of maintaining an adequate level of crystallographic education among structure-dependent scientists whose interests are not primarily in crystallography, at a time when automation and validation have made it possible to obtain high-quality structure analyses in many cases with a minimum of crystallographic background. The topics addressed are intended to form a second round of crystallographic education for a novice user whose first round involved hands-on experience with structure solution and an introduction to elementary concepts. The specific topics, chosen for their relevance as basic knowledge and their lack of emphasis in many formal treatments, are (1) crystallographic reference frames and the utility of the reciprocal cell in geometrical calculations; (2) the relationship between the two concepts that constitute our model of the crystal, namely the unit cell and the lattice; (3) the manner in which an atom is represented in concept and in practice; (4) the importance of interleaved symmetry elements required by the presence of additional symmetry on a lattice; (5) the harnessing of the natural properties of the crystalline state for the potential manipulation of properties of synthetic crystals; and (6) useful terminology for navigating a crystal structure.     

Layered-Perovskite Nanowires with Long-Range Orientational Order for Ultrasensitive Photodetectors

2D layered metal-halide perovskites combine efficient exciton radiative recombination in crystal interior with long-distance free-carrier conduction at layer edges, which are promising candidates for realizing high-performance photovoltaic, light-emission and photodetection devices. The anisotropic electrical conductivity in layered perovskites imposes an additional requirement of orientational control for enabling favorable charge transport. However, rational fabrication of single-crystalline nanostructures with pure crystallographic orientation is still elusive. Herein, large-scale pure (101)-orientated 2D-perovskite single-crystalline nanowire arrays are realized by combining solvent engineering with the capillary-bridge lithography technique. Ordered nucleation at liquid–air interface and unidirectional growth along the dewetting direction are demonstrated by fluorescence microscopy and grazing-incidence X-ray scattering in discrete capillary bridges. In consideration of crystal interior exhibiting high resistance arising from the serial insulating organic barriers and ultrafast dissociation of excitons to generate long-lived free carriers at layer edges, ultrasensitive photodetectors are demonstrated with average responsivity exceeding 1.1 × 10⁴ A W⁻¹ and detectivity exceeding 9.1 × 10¹⁵ Jones.     

Ceramics based on calcium phosphates substituted with magnesium ions for bone regeneration

In this study, chemical precipitation methods were used to obtain ceramic materials doped with magnesium ions in order to improve the regeneration properties of materials used for tissue engineering. Two different ratios of magnesium oxide were used to dope the ceramic powder, more precisely 5% and 10%. The synthesized materials were characterized to determine the calcination temperature of the precursor powder by means of thermal analysis; to determine the mineralogical composition, X-ray diffraction was employed and the scanning electron microscopy was used to determine the microstructure. To make use of these ceramics as biomaterials, viability and proliferation cell tests have been performed. Since synthetic materials have several limitations with regard to medical applications, the materials based on HAp substituted with Mg ions are a promising solution for the regeneration of bone defects because they have a similar bone structure. The presence of Mg in the material proves to be beneficial because this element plays an important role in bone cell regeneration, and more specifically, in stimulating osteoblast proliferation. The materials synthesized in this work present a suitable morphology for uses in bone regeneration because they offer to cells a friendly environment for growth and anchoring.     

Mechanophysical Cues in Extracellular Matrix Regulation of Cell Behavior

The extracellular matrix (ECM) is a macromolecular network that can provide biochemical and structural support for cell adhesion and formation. It regulates cell behavior by influencing biochemical and physical cues. It is a dynamic structure whose components are modified, degraded, or deposited during connective tissue development, giving tissues strength and structural integrity. The physical properties of the natural ECM environment control the design of naturally or synthetically derived biomaterials to guide cell function in tissue engineering. Tissue engineering is an important field that explores physical cues of the ECM to produce new viable tissue for medical applications, such as in organ transplant and organ recovery. Understanding how the ECM exerts physical effects on cell behavior, when cells are seeded in synthetic ECM scaffolds, is of utmost importance. Herein we review recent findings in this area that report on cell behaviors in a variety of ECMs with different physical properties, i.e., topology, geometry, dimensionality, stiffness, and tension.     

A cathode support structure for use in a magnetron oscillator experiment

A low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) material system has been used to develop a protype field emission cathode structure for use in an experimental magnetron oscillator. The structure is designed for used with 30 gated field emission array (GFEA) die electrically connected through silver metal traces and electrical vias. To approximate a cylinder, the cathode structure (48 mm long and 13.7 mm in diameter) is comprised of 10 faceted plates which cover the GFEA dies. Slits in the facet plates allow electron injection. The GFEA die (3 mm × 8 mm) are placed in axial columns of 3 and spaced azimuthally around a cylindrical support structure in a staggered configuration resulting in 10 azimuthal locations. LTCC manufacturing techniques were developed in order to fabricate the newly designed cathode with seven layers wrapped to form the cylinder with electrical traces and vias. Two different cathode wrapping techniques and two different via filling techniques were studied and compared. Two different facet plate manufacturing techniques were studied. Finally, four different support stand configurations for firing the cylindrical structure were also compared with a square post stand having the best circularity and linearity measurements of the fired structure.