Article
Physics, Multidisciplinary
Md. Bellal Hossain, Jan Kriz, Vigneswaran Dhasarathan, Md. Ekhlasur Rahaman
Summary: This article presents a square-core photonic crystal fiber (PhCF) for liquid (petrochemical) sensing application. The sensor performance is studied numerically in the frequency range from 1.2 to 3.8 THz, with the core hole filled with pure petrol, kerosene, and diesel, and the strut size varied to explore the sensor's performance. The photonic crystal fiber sensor shows a relative sensitivity of around 97.0% and a confinement loss in the order of 10(-14) at 3.7 THz. This photonic crystal fiber sensor can be fabricated using extrusion and 3D-printing technologies.
FRONTIERS IN PHYSICS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Ahmet Yasli
Summary: This study investigates early cancer detection of a single living cell using a surface plasmon resonance-based photonic crystal fiber biosensor structure. Different cancer cells exhibit refractive index variations, with the highest sensitivities reported for spectral interrogation and amplitude methods. The numerical analysis results indicate the potential for accurate detection of cancer cells based on refractive index changes.
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Richard Lee, Hadi M. Zareie, Mehmet Sarikaya
Summary: This study designed a bifunctional chimeric biomolecule for nucleic acid detection on solid sensor surfaces, demonstrating the effect of steric hindrance on probe assembly. The dual nature of the construct allows specific recognition and probe immobilization on sensor surfaces, providing facile functionalization.
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
(2022)
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Loredana Mereuta, Alina Asandei, Irina Schiopu, Jonggwan Park, Yoonkyung Park, Tudor Luchian
Summary: Nanopores offer sensitive and cost-effective single-molecule sensing capabilities, and the advent of nanopore-based DNA detection and sequencing technologies has had a significant societal impact. To address the challenge of forming stable, long-lasting single nanopores, we have developed a new approach for detecting small single-stranded DNA using dynamic hybrid constructs.
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
(2023)
Article
Biophysics
Bin Zhang, Mingyu Chen, Jiasheng Cao, Yitao Liang, Tingting Tu, Jiahao Hu, Tianyu Li, Yu Cai, Shijie Li, Boqiang Liu, Junjie Xu, Bo Liang, Xuesong Ye, Xiujun Cai
Summary: The study presents a fully integrated electrochemical POCT platform using Au nanoflowers and PNA modification for circRNA detection, demonstrating low detection limit and high specificity, with good capability to handle one-base mismatch.
BIOSENSORS & BIOELECTRONICS
(2021)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Vinay G. Joshi, Kantaraja Chindera, Manish Bais, Basavaraj Sajjanar, Ashok K. Tiwari, Satish Kumar
Summary: PNA is a chimeric molecule with advantages over natural antisense nucleic acid molecules, but faces challenges in cellular delivery due to its charge-neutral nature. The proposed novel RATH-2 peptide-based non-covalent PNA delivery mechanism showed promising results in cellular delivery and therapeutic application in antiviral intervention.
APPLIED MICROBIOLOGY AND BIOTECHNOLOGY
(2021)
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Xingguo Liang, Mengqin Liu, Makoto Komiyama
Summary: Peptide nucleic acid (PNA) is a DNA analog widely used in chemistry, biochemistry, medicine, nanotechnology, and other fields. Recent developments have focused on designing PNA derivatives for specific recognition of DNA and RNA, leading to applications in gene expression regulation, gene editing, nanostructure construction, and more. The advantages and disadvantages of PNAs compared to other sequence-recognizing molecules are discussed in terms of physicochemical and biological features.
BULLETIN OF THE CHEMICAL SOCIETY OF JAPAN
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Medicinal
Kentaro Tabara, Kazunori Watanabe, Hajime Shigeto, Shohei Yamamura, Takamasa Kishi, Mizuki Kitamatsu, Takashi Ohtsuki
Summary: This study introduces a new double-stranded PNA/DNA probe for miR-221 detection, showing higher target sensitivity and promising applications for miRNA diagnosis.
BIOORGANIC & MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY LETTERS
(2021)
Article
Crystallography
Abraham Loredo-Trejo, Antonio Diez, Enrique Silvestre, Miguel Andres
Summary: This study reports the generation of widely spaced PMI sidebands in a wide collection of photonic crystal fibers, including liquid-filled ones, and investigates the contribution of chromatic dispersion and birefringence to the net linear phase mismatch of PMI. Experimental demonstration of large frequency shift sidebands is shown, and suitable fabrication parameters for air-filled and liquid-filled PCFs are proposed for the development of dual-wavelength light sources based on PMI.
Article
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Yassmin K. A. Alrayk, B. M. Younis, Walid S. El-Deeb, Mohamed Farhat O. Hameed, S. S. A. Obayya
Summary: A novel photonic crystal fiber design with highly negative dispersion for THz applications is proposed and analyzed in this study. The PCF is made of TOPAS material with low material loss in the THz regime. Dual porous cores are constructed and selectively infiltrated with liquid crystal material to control the dispersion characteristics. By applying an external electric field on the LC material, the coupling between the TE and TM modes can be switched. The dispersion analysis shows that the TE and TM modes have large negative chromatic dispersions at specific frequencies.
OPTICAL AND QUANTUM ELECTRONICS
(2023)
Article
Microbiology
Montserrat Nacher-Vazquez, Bruno Santos, Nuno Filipe Azevedo, Laura Cerqueira
Summary: Fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) is a powerful tool for detecting and studying the spatial distribution of microorganisms. The emergence of Nucleic Acid Mimics (NAMs) has improved the FISH technique, enhancing its sensitivity, specificity, and flexibility.
MICROBIOLOGICAL RESEARCH
(2022)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Gurpreet Singh, Vikramdeep Monga
Summary: Nucleic acids, specifically peptide nucleic acids (PNAs), are ideal drug candidates for protein targets that are difficult to target or develop drugs against. PNAs are synthetic impersonators of nucleic acids and offer a wide range of applications in biotechnology, diagnostics, and potential therapeutics. Various strategies have been explored to modify the polypeptide backbone of PNAs to improve target selectivity and stability in the body.
BIOORGANIC CHEMISTRY
(2023)
Article
Physics, Multidisciplinary
Zihan Liu, Jialin Wen, Zhengyong Zhou, Yuming Dong, Tianyu Yang
Summary: In this study, a highly birefringent photonic crystal fiber (PCF) with a simple center trielliptic is presented. By adjusting the ellipticity and other parameters, the fiber performances can be optimized. This PCF exhibits high birefringence, low confinement loss, and has applications in long distance optical fiber communication, fiber sensing, dispersion compensation, and supercontinuum generation.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Andrea Mosseri, Maria Sancho-Albero, Marilisa Leone, Donatella Nava, Francesco Secundo, Daniela Maggioni, Luisa De Cola, Alessandra Romanelli
Summary: This study reports the formation of homogeneous chiral fibers through self-assembly of peptide nucleic acids. Nucleobases play a key role in determining the morphology and chirality of the fibers. By spectroscopic characterization and microscopy studies, a structural model consistent with the experimental evidence was obtained.
CHEMISTRY-A EUROPEAN JOURNAL
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Ling Chen, Jiajun Tian, Qiang Wu, Jiewen Li, Yong Yao, Jiawei Wang
Summary: A temperature-insensitive gas pressure sensor based on a photonic crystal fiber (PCF) was studied. The length of PCF was found to have little effect on the sensitivity to gas pressure. The sensor showed high gas pressure sensitivity and excellent stability and reversibility, with negligible temperature cross-sensitivity. It also demonstrated high refractive index sensitivity for liquid sample detection.
IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Federica Poli, Jesper Laegsgaard, Annamaria Cucinotta, Stefano Selleri
Summary: This article analyzes the influence of heat load generated in Yb-doped cores of four-core fibers on the guiding properties of supermodes, calculating effective area and single-mode regime for fibers with different core-to-core separations. Useful guidelines for choosing core number in multicore fiber cross-section are provided, showing a trade-off between effective area and single-mode regime.
JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Polymer Science
Ruben Foresti, Benedetta Ghezzi, Matteo Vettori, Lorenzo Bergonzi, Silvia Attolino, Stefano Rossi, Giuseppe Tarabella, Davide Vurro, Didier von Zeppelin, Salvatore Iannotta, Andrea Zappettini, Guido Maria Macaluso, Michele Miragoli, Marcello Giuseppe Maggio, Cosimo Costantino, Stefano Selleri, Claudio Macaluso
Summary: This study explores the use of additive manufacturing technologies to produce 3D printed respirator masks, meeting the sudden demand for safety protection devices due to the pandemic. The research demonstrates that masks printed with home-grade equipment have similar performances to industrial-grade ones, highlighting the importance of post-processing phases for human safety in the production of 3D printed custom medical devices.
Article
Optics
Paolo Serena, Alexis Carbo Meseguer, Federica Poli, Alberto Bononi, Jean-Christophe Antona
Summary: The study investigates guided acoustic-wave Brillouin scattering (GAWBS) in single-mode optical fibers and proposes a formula to evaluate the GAWBS variance due to radial modes. Experimental results show that GAWBS dominates at variable signal power. Additionally, comparisons between GAWBS and the Kerr effect were made to analyze their common grounds and differences.
Article
Materials Science, Biomaterials
Martina Neri, Jinyoung Kang, Jonathan M. Zuidema, Jessica Gasparello, Alessia Finotti, Roberto Gambari, Michael J. Sailor, Alessandro Bertucci, Roberto Corradini
Summary: In this study, it is demonstrated that peptide nucleic acids (PNAs) can be easily loaded into porous silicon nanoparticles (pSiNPs) using a simple salt-based trapping procedure. The net charge of PNAs can be adjusted to optimize their loading and release kinetics within the nanoparticles, allowing for potential biomedical applications.
ACS BIOMATERIALS SCIENCE & ENGINEERING
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Jessica Gasparello, Chiara Papi, Matteo Zurlo, Laura Gambari, Andrea Rozzi, Alex Manicardi, Roberto Corradini, Roberto Gambari, Alessia Finotti
Summary: Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a highly lethal tumor with no curative treatment available. This study investigated the potential of a combined therapy using sulforaphane (SFN) and a peptide nucleic acid (PNA) to target miR-15b-5p in GBM cells. The results showed that SFN and PNA-a15b synergistically induced apoptosis in GBM cells, suggesting the feasibility of using combined treatments based on PNAs and nutraceuticals to stimulate apoptosis in GBM.
Article
Optics
Federica Poli, Jesper Liegsgaard
Summary: This study numerically investigates the use of a higher-order HE12-like mode to generate weak normal dispersion over a significant wavelength range in a microstructured optical fiber. The results show that the effective area and pulse energy can be scaled up by an order of magnitude compared to using the fundamental mode in a single-mode fiber. Multimode nonlinear simulations suggest that single-mode operation in the HE12 mode will not be disturbed by nonlinear mode coupling at least until the threshold for polarization modulation instability. (C) 2022 Optica Publishing Group.
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Federica Curti, Simone Fortunati, Wolfgang Knoll, Marco Giannetto, Roberto Corradini, Alessandro Bertucci, Maria Careri
Summary: Efficient and timely testing plays a crucial role in managing, controlling, and monitoring the COVID-19 pandemic. This study developed an electrochemical sensing platform based on single-walled carbon nanotube screen-printed electrodes, which can specifically detect the S1 subunit of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. The detection is achieved by a concentration-dependent folding of a redox-tagged DNA aptamer, which reduces the electron transfer efficiency and suppresses the amperometric signal.
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
(2022)
Article
Optics
Mesay Addisu Jima, Alessandro Tonello, Alioune Niang, Tigran Mansuryan, Katarzyna Krupa, Daniele Modotto, Annamaria Cucinotta, Vincent Couderc, Stefan Wabnitz
Summary: Recent experiments have shown that beam self-cleaning or nonlinear beam reshaping can occur in active multimode fibers. This study numerically analyzes these processes by considering an ideal diode-pumped signal amplifier made of a graded-index multimode fiber with uniform Yb doping. Simulations confirm that beam cleaning can occur in amplifying fibers even without beam power conservation. Moreover, the study reveals how the locally generated signal intensity maxima from the self-imaging process can affect the population inversion of doping atoms and locally saturate the amplifier gain.
JOURNAL OF THE OPTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA B-OPTICAL PHYSICS
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Analytical
Foroogh Khozeymeh, Federico Melli, Sabrina Capodaglio, Roberto Corradini, Fetah Benabid, Luca Vincetti, Annamaria Cucinotta
Summary: This paper studies a novel platform for lab-in-fiber-based biosensors. Hollow-core tube lattice fibers (HC-TLFs) are proposed as a label-free biosensor for the detection of DNA molecules. By performing internal chemical functionalization of the fiber and comparing the transmission spectra before and after the flowing, the presence of a specific DNA sequence in the solution can be identified.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Chiara Papi, Jessica Gasparello, Matteo Zurlo, Alex Manicardi, Roberto Corradini, Giulio Cabrini, Roberto Gambari, Alessia Finotti
Summary: The study found that targeting CFTR-regulating microRNAs with antisense PNAs can increase CFTR production. Particularly, highly effective combinations were identified with PNAs targeting miR-145-5p and miR-101-3p in the treatment of Calu-3 cells.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Pierre Picchetti, Stefano Volpi, Marianna Rossetti, Michael D. Dore, Tuan Trinh, Frank Biedermann, Martina Neri, Alessandro Bertucci, Alessandro Porchetta, Roberto Corradini, Hanadi Sleiman, Luisa De Cola
Summary: The development of smart nanoparticles with responsive features has expanded the applications of NP-based drugs, vaccines, and diagnostic tools. By combining nucleic acid interactions and sol-gel chemistry, researchers have successfully incorporated synthetic nucleic acids into organosilica nanoparticles, enabling them to respond to various biological, physical, and chemical inputs.
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
(2023)
Article
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Jessica Gasparello, Chiara Papi, Matteo Zurlo, Stefano Volpi, Roberto Gambari, Roberto Corradini, Alessandro Casnati, Francesco Sansone, Alessia Finotti
Summary: One of the most promising approaches for gene regulation is the microRNA therapeutic method, which focuses on controlling the activity of microRNAs (miRNAs) that are dysregulated in diseases such as cancer. This can be achieved by inhibiting overexpressed miRNAs or restoring downregulated miRNAs using miRNA-mimics. The development of efficient and targeted vectors for delivering these molecules is a crucial topic in pharmacological modulation of miRNAs.
Article
Oncology
Jessica Gasparello, Chiara Papi, Matteo Zurlo, Laura Gambari, Alex Manicardi, Andrea Rozzi, Matteo Ferrarini, Roberto Corradini, Roberto Gambari, Alessia Finotti
Summary: Starting from a list of nine dysregulated miRNAs in early-stage CRC patients, the study verified the therapeutic effects of anti-miRNA PNAs targeting the most relevant up-regulated miRNAs. PNAs down-regulated these target miRNAs and induced apoptosis in CRC cellular models. Combining anti-miRNA PNAs with pro-apoptotic compounds like sulforaphane resulted in high levels of apoptosis induction.
