Matrix Manipulation of Directly-Synthesized PbS Quantum Dot Inks Enabled by Coordination Engineering

The direct-synthesis of conductive PbS quantum dot (QD) ink is facile, scalable, and low-cost, boosting the future commercialization of optoelectronics based on colloidal QDs. However, manipulating the QD matrix structures still is a challenge, which limits the corresponding QD solar cell performance. Here, for the first time a coordination-engineering strategy to finely adjust the matrix thickness around the QDs is presented, in which halogen salts are introduced into the reaction to convert the excessive insulating lead iodide into soluble iodoplumbate species. As a result, the obtained QD film exhibits shrunk insulating shells, leading to higher charge carrier transport and superior surface passivation compared to the control devices. A significantly improved power-conversion efficiency from 10.52% to 12.12% can be achieved after the matrix engineering. Therefore, the work shows high significance in promoting the practical application of directly synthesized PbS QD inks in large-area low-cost optoelectronic devices.     

Fabrication and properties of 3D printed zirconia scaffold coated with calcium silicate/hydroxyapatite

The scaffold of bone repair needs a variety of material combinations to meet its intended performance; a typical single material such as zirconia has excellent mechanical properties, while hydroxyapatite and calcium silicate are bioactive materials with different degradation rates. In this paper, porous zirconia scaffolds were fabricated using 3D printing technology. The surface of the scaffold was coated by dipping with different contents of calcium silicate and hydroxyapatite to improve the biological activity and mechanical properties. Mechanical tests show that the coating material can effectively fill the pores of the porous scaffold, increasing its compressive strength by an average of 55%. The simulated body fluid (SBF) test showed that the higher calcium silicate in the coating increased the degradation rate. Cell experiments showed that the coated scaffolds exhibited good cytocompatibility and were beneficial to the proliferation and differentiation of cells. In conclusion, coated scaffolds have potential applications in the field of bone repair.     

特种工程胎硫化外胎质量缺陷原因分析以及解决措施

我公司使用的硫化机采用氮气定型,二次水硫化的工艺。由于特种工程胎胎体偏厚且大,成型机都比较大,生产过程中的帘布筒、钢丝、胎侧等部件都比较重且大。成型胎面使用胎面缠绕机缠绕,所以整个生产过程难度较大。特种工程胎硫化外胎的主要质量问题有:胎面皮泡、胎侧缺胶、胎侧泡、胎肩侧皮泡、子口内侧露线、子口缺胶、胎肚内缺(窝气)、胎肚露线、胎肚皮泡、胎肚串泡、子口支边、胎冠支边、子口鼓包、外胎花缺等。通过对特种工程胎硫化外胎质量缺陷原因分析,找到相应的解决措施,从而减少硫化外胎质量缺陷。     

A High-Throughput Screening System Based on Fluorescence-Activated Cell Sorting for the Directed Evolution of Chitinase A

Chitinases catalyze the degradation of chitin, a polymer of N-acetylglucosamine found in crustacean shells, insect cuticles, and fungal cell walls. There is great interest in the development of improved chitinases to address the environmental burden of chitin waste from the food processing industry as well as the potential medical, agricultural, and industrial uses of partially deacetylated chitin (chitosan) and its products (chito-oligosaccharides). The depolymerization of chitin can be achieved using chemical and physical treatments, but an enzymatic process would be more environmentally friendly and more sustainable. However, chitinases are slow-acting enzymes, limiting their biotechnological exploitation, although this can be overcome by molecular evolution approaches to enhance the features required for specific applications. The two main goals of this study were the development of a high-throughput screening system for chitinase activity (which could be extrapolated to other hydrolytic enzymes), and the deployment of this new method to select improved chitinase variants. We therefore cloned and expressed the Bacillus licheniformis DSM8785 chitinase A (chiA) gene in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) cells and generated a mutant library by error-prone PCR. We then developed a screening method based on fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) using the model substrate 4-methylumbelliferyl β-d-N,N′,N″-triacetyl chitotrioside to identify improved enzymes. We prevented cross-talk between emulsion compartments caused by the hydrophobicity of 4-methylumbelliferone, the fluorescent product of the enzymatic reaction, by incorporating cyclodextrins into the aqueous phases. We also addressed the toxicity of long-term chiA expression in E. coli by limiting the reaction time. We identified 12 mutants containing 2–8 mutations per gene resulting in up to twofold higher activity than wild-type ChiA.     

Trypsiligase-Catalyzed Labeling of Proteins on Living Cells

Fluorescent fusion proteins are powerful tools for studying biological processes in living cells, but universal application is limited due to the voluminous size of those tags, which might have an impact on the folding, localization or even the biological function of the target protein. The designed biocatalyst trypsiligase enables site-directed linkage of small-sized fluorescence dyes on the N terminus of integral target proteins located in the outer membrane of living cells through a stable native peptide bond. The function of the approach was tested by using the examples of covalent derivatization of the transmembrane proteins CD147 as well as the EGF receptor, both presented on human HeLa cells. Specific trypsiligase recognition of the site of linkage was mediated by the dipeptide sequence Arg-His added to the proteins’ native N termini, pointing outside the cell membrane. The labeling procedure takes only about 5 minutes, as demonstrated for couplings of the fluorescence dye tetramethyl rhodamine and the affinity label biotin as well.     

Recent Advances in Design of Functional Biocompatible Hydrogels for Bone Tissue Engineering

Bone related diseases have caused serious threats to human health owing to their complexity and specificity. Fortunately, owing to the unique 3D network structure with high aqueous content and functional properties, emerging hydrogels are regarded as one of the most promising candidates for bone tissue engineering, such as repairing cartilage injury, skull defect, and arthritis. Herein, various design strategies and synthesis methods (e.g., 3D-printing technology and nanoparticle composite strategy) are introduced to prepare implanted hydrogel scaffolds with tunable mechanical strength, favorable biocompatibility, and excellent bioactivity for applying in bone regeneration. Injectable hydrogels based on biocompatible materials (e.g., collagen, hyaluronic acid, chitosan, polyethylene glycol, etc.) possess many advantages in minimally invasive surgery, including adjustable physicochemical properties, filling irregular shapes of defect sites, and on-demand release drugs or growth factors in response to different stimuli (e.g., pH, temperature, redox, enzyme, light, magnetic, etc.). In addition, drug delivery systems based on micro/nanogels are discussed, and its numerous promising designs used in the application of bone diseases (e.g., rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, cartilage defect) are also briefed in this review. Particularly, several key factors of hydrogel scaffolds (e.g., mechanical property, pore size, and release behavior of active factors) that can induce bone tissue regeneration are also summarized in this review. It is anticipated that advanced approaches and innovative ideas of bioactive hydrogels will be exploited in the clinical field and increase the life quality of patients with the bone injury.     

Tissue-Engineered Vascular Grafts: Emerging Trends and Technologies

Vascular tissue engineering has made prodigious progress in recent years by converging multidisciplinary approaches. Latest technological advancements foster the development of next-generation tissue-engineered vascular grafts (TEVGs) for treating various vasculopathies. While traditional therapeutic methods rely on bypassing the severely damaged vessels with synthetic counterparts with no growth potential, contemporary perspectives focus on biodegradable conduits bestowing an inherent remodeling capability. This review highlights emerging innovative trends and technologies adopted to pragmatically fulfill current scientific needs while improving overall TEVG performance in pre-clinical and clinical settings. A comprehensive overview of various milestones achieved in the past few decades is first summarized, followed by an appraisal of the significant hurdles for clinical translation. The latest techniques to rationally address critical challenges, viz., intimal hyperplasia, thrombosis, constructive graft remodeling, and adequate neo-tissue formation are discussed. Finally, an update on ongoing clinical trials is provided and future perspectives required to persuade TEVGs to become a clinical reality are delineated.     

Current advances concerning the most cited metal ions doped bioceramics and silicate-based bioactive glasses for bone tissue engineering

Studies related to biomaterials that stimulate the repair of living tissue have increased considerably, improving the quality of many people's lives that require surgery due to traumatic accidents, bone diseases, bone defects, and reconstructions. Among these biomaterials, bioceramics and bioactive glasses (BGs) have proved to be suitable for coating materials, cement, scaffolds, and nanoparticles, once they present good biocompatibility and degradability, able to generate osteoconduction on the surrounding tissue. However, the role of biomaterials in hard tissue engineering is not restricted to a structural replacement or for guiding tissue regeneration. Nowadays, it is expected that biomaterials develop a multifunctional role when implanted, orchestrating the process of tissue regeneration and providing to the body the capacity to heal itself. In this way, the incorporation of specific metal ions in bioceramics and BGs structure, including magnesium, silver, strontium, lithium, copper, iron, zinc, cobalt, and manganese are currently receiving enhanced interest as biomaterials for biomedical applications. When an ion is incorporated into the bioceramic structure, a new category of material is created, which has several unique properties that overcome the disadvantages of primitive material and favors its use in different biomedical applications. The doping can enhance handling properties, angiogenic and osteogenic performance, and antimicrobial activity. Therefore, this review aims to summarize the effect of selected metal ion dopants into bioceramics and silicate-based BGs in bone tissue engineering. Furthermore, new applications for doped bioceramics and BGs are highlighted, including cancer treatment and drug delivery.     

Development and characterisation of microporous biomimetic scaffolds loaded with magnetic nanoparticles as bone repairing material

Fine-tuning of the scaffolds structural features for bone tissue engineering can be an efficient approach to regulate the specific response of the osteoblasts. Here, we loaded magnetic nanoparticles aka superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) into 3D composite scaffolds based on biological macromolecules (chitosan, collagen, hyaluronic acid) and calcium phosphates for potential applications in bone regeneration, using a biomimetic approach. We assessed the effects of organic (chitosan/collagen/hyaluronic acid) and inorganic (calcium phosphates, SPIONs) phase over the final features of the magnetic scaffolds (MS). Mechanical properties, magnetic susceptibility and biological fluids retention are strongly dependent on the final composition of MS and within the recommended range for application in bone regeneration. The MS architecture/pore size can be made bespoken through changes of the final organic/inorganic ratio. The scaffolds undertake mild degradation as the presence of inorganic components hinders the enzyme catalytic activity. In vitro studies indicated that osteoblasts (SaOS-2) on MS9 had similar cell behaviour activity in comparison with the TCP control. In vivo data showed an evident development of integration and resorption of the MS composites with low inflammation activity. Current findings suggest that the combination of SPIONs into 3D composite scaffolds can be a promising toolkit for bone regeneration.     

Surface modification of cellulose nanocrystals towards new materials development

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) are a kind of sustainable nanoparticle from biomass, which are widely used as reinforcing filler and assembly building block for high-performance composites and function materials including biomaterial, optics, and so forth. Here, their unique advantages in material applications were reviewed based on their rod-like morphology, crystalline structure, dimension-related effects, and multi-level order structure. Then, we focused on the molecular engineering of CNCs, including the structure and physicochemical properties of their surface, along with surface modification methods and steric effects. We further discussed the performance-improvement and functionalization methods based on multi-component complex systems, together with the effects of surface molecular engineering on the performance and functions. Meanwhile, methods of optimizing orientation in uniaxial arrays were discussed along with those of enhancing photoluminescence efficiency via surface chemical modification and substance coordination. In the end, we prospected the design, development, and construction methods of new CNCs materials.