Bio‐Hybrid Tumor Cell‐Templated Capsules: A Generic Formulation Strategy for Tumor Associated Antigens in View of Immune Therapy

For the development of effective anti‐cancer vaccines, tumor associated antigens need to be internalized by antigen presenting cells alongside specific co‐stimulatory signals. Interestingly, relative to soluble antigens, nano‐ and micro‐particulate antigens are much better presented to CD8 T cells, a crucial step in the induction of cytotoxic T cells that can eliminate malignant cells. In this regard, a generic strategy to encapsulate cancer cell derived proteins into a particulate delivery system would be of high interest. Here we present a versatile approach to incorporate cancer cell proteins into polymeric capsules using the cells themselves as templates for layer‐by‐layer assembly of complimentary interacting species. After coating, the cells are killed by hypo‐osmotic treatment leading to bio‐hybrid capsules loaded with cell lysate. Particular focus is devoted in this work on choosing the optimal coating components and conditions to maximize cell membrane integrity during the coating process, minimize pre‐mature protein release and achieve optimal encapsulation of cell lysate upon lysis of the cells. To further underline the generic nature of our approach, we demonstrate that heat shock proteins, important immune‐activators, can be induced and encapsulated into the bio‐hybrid capsules.     

Physical Properties of Sm1?x Gd x Ni4B compounds

Physical properties of the Sm_1?x Gd _x Ni₄B (0??x??1.0) compounds have been investigated by means of the X-ray powder diffraction, AC susceptibility techniques. All the compounds studied crystallize in CeCo₄B type structure with P6/mmm space group. The substitution of Gd for Sm leads to a decrease of the unit-cell parameters a and the unit-cell volume V, while the unit-cell parameter c remains almost constant. Magnetic measurements present the visible magnetic phase transition, around definite transition temperatures. The magnetic phase transition temperatures are found at the temperature where the maximum of ?? _ac(T) occurs. We have obtained the transition temperatures for the samples x=0.0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0 as 39, 37.77, 37.22, 36.75, 35.74, and 35.1?K, respectively.     

Physical and Magnetic Properties of Nd1?x Gd x Ni4B Compounds

We have produced Nd_1?x Gd _x Ni₄B (0??x??1.0) compounds by the arc-melting method. Physical properties of the produced samples have been investigated by means of the X-ray powder diffraction, zero field/field cooled magnetization between the temperature interval of 9?C70 K, and magnetic hysteresis at 9.5 K. We have observed that the substitution of Gd for Nd leads to a decrease of the unit-cell parameters a, c and the unit-cell volume V. The magnetic phase transition temperatures are found to be 12, 14, 18, 24, 29 and 35 K, for x=0.0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0, respectively.     

Magnetic Properties of Sm1?x Tb x Ni4B compounds

Physical properties of the Sm_1?x Tb _x Ni₄B (0??x??0.8) compounds have been investigated by means of the X-ray powder diffraction, AC-susceptibility and DC-magnetization techniques. All the compounds studied crystallize in CeCo₄B-type structure with P6/mmm space group. The substitution of Tb for Sm leads to a decrease of the unit-cell parameters a,c and the unit-cell volume V. The magnetic phase transition temperatures are found as 39, 30, 26, 22 and 15 K, for x=0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6 and 0.8, respectively. In addition, we have seen the second magnetic phase transition around 230 K, at the ac-susceptibility results. We have concluded that this behavior may arise from the Tb?CTb interaction in crystal structure.     

Improvement of Bi<Subscript>2</Subscript>Sr<Subscript>2</Subscript>Co<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>y</Subscript> thermoelectric performances by Na doping

Bi₂Sr_2-xNa_xCo₂O_y thermoelectric materials with x = 0, 0.025, 0.05, 0.075, 0.10, 0.125, and 0.15 have been prepared by the classical solid state reaction. Microstructure has shown an important grain growth when Na is added, leading to very high bulk densities confirmed through density measurements. These modifications have produced a drastic decrease of electrical resistivity without significant modification of Seebeck coefficient. As a consequence, Power Factor has been increased in all Na-doped samples, reaching the maximum value (0.21 mW/K².m at 650 °C) for 0.075 Na samples, which is fairly close to the reported for single crystals.