A Microfluidic 3D Endothelium-on-a-Chip Model to Study Transendothelial Migration of T Cells in Health and Disease

The recruitment of T cells is a crucial component in the inflammatory cascade of the body. The process involves the transport of T cells through the vascular system and their stable arrest to vessel walls at the site of inflammation, followed by extravasation and subsequent infiltration into tissue. Here, we describe an assay to study 3D T cell dynamics under flow in real time using a high-throughput, artificial membrane-free microfluidic platform that allows unimpeded extravasation of T cells. We show that primary human T cells adhere to endothelial vessel walls upon perfusion of microvessels and can be stimulated to undergo transendothelial migration (TEM) by TNFα-mediated vascular inflammation and the presence of CXCL12 gradients or ECM-embedded melanoma cells. Notably, migratory behavior was found to differ depending on T cell activation states. The assay is unique in its comprehensiveness for modelling T cell trafficking, arrest, extravasation and migration, all in one system, combined with its throughput, quality of imaging and ease of use. We envision routine use of this assay to study immunological processes and expect it to spur research in the fields of immunological disorders, immuno-oncology and the development of novel immunotherapeutics.     

Improvement of 19F MR image uniformity in a mouse model of cellular therapy using inductive coupling

Magnetic Resonance Materials in Physics, Biology and Medicine - Improve 19F magnetic resonance imaging uniformity of perfluorocarbon (PFC)-labeled cells by using a secondary inductive resonator...     

eFeed-Hungers.com: Mitigating global hunger crisis using next generation technologies

Hunger is a global crisis and impacting the world for a very long time. Significant efforts have been made in the past by various organizations employing various means to address this persisting problem. Despite this, it still remains far from being resolved. Recently, the United Nations has published a report on global hunger, which claims that the global food production is fairly enough to feed the entire world with a population of about 7.3 billion. However, a major quantity of the food grown is not channeled appropriately and effectively to reach the needy and thus gets wasted unfortunately. Using the advanced computer technologies, we devise and develop a web-based computational framework (eFeed-Hungers.com) that serves as a bridge between the food waste and the hunger to mitigate the hunger issue; the food waste is the excess, unused, edible food, which otherwise is destined to the dumpster unfortunately. The eFeed-Hungers.com encourages and assists the food waste donation announcements with the least minimal efforts with the best possible outreach. Through the eFeed-Hungers.com, the food donations are globally searchable by the needy, with enough additional information imparted for quick decisions making to fetch the appropriate donated food. The eFeed-Hungers.com is envisioned to be a fully functional organization eventually with global outreach.     

Can Reconstructed Se-Deficient Line Defects in Monolayer VSe2 Induce Magnetism?

There have been several recent conflicting reports on the ferromagnetism of clean monolayer VSe₂. Herein, the controllable formation of 1D defect line patterns in vanadium diselenide (VSe₂) monolayers initiated by thermal annealing is presented. Using scanning tunneling microscopy and q-plus atomic force microscopy techniques, the 1D line features are determined to be 8-member-ring arrays, formed via a Se deficient reconstruction process. The reconstructed VSe₂ monolayer with Se-deficient line defects displays room-temperature ferromagnetism under X-ray magnetic circular dichroism and magnetic force microscopy, consistent with the density functional theory calculations. This study possibly resolves the controversy on whether ferromagnetism is intrinsic in monolayer VSe₂, and highlights the importance of controlling and understanding the atomic structures of surface defects in 2D crystals, which could play key roles in the material properties and hence potential device applications.     

Analysis of the Finite Element Method for the Laplace–Beltrami Equation on Surfaces with Regions of High Curvature Using Graded Meshes

We derive error estimates for the piecewise linear finite element approximation of the Laplace–Beltrami operator on a bounded, orientable, \(C^3\), surface without boundary on general shape regular meshes. As an application, we consider a problem where the domain is split into two regions: one which has relatively high curvature and one that has low curvature. Using a graded mesh we prove error estimates that do not depend on the curvature on the high curvature region. Numerical experiments are provided.