Article
Polymer Science
Takuma Aoyama, Naoto Yamada, Kenji Urayama
Summary: Unequal biaxial stretching experiments on ultrasoft near-critical gels reveal their unique nonlinear elasticity, which is influenced by an extremely sparse infinite network. In near-critical gels, the strain cross-effect disappears due to a low weight fraction of the elastic backbone, while a simple Gent hyperelastic model can accurately reproduce the stress-strain relationships of different chemical structures in these gels. These exceptional features are attributed to the absence of trapped entanglement effect and the extremely sparse network backbone mainly composed of singly connected chains in near-critical gels.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Valentin Romanov, Giulia Silvani, Huiyu Zhu, Charles D. Cox, Boris Martinac
Summary: This study demonstrates the high-throughput characterization of adherent cells using acoustic force spectroscopy (AFS), showing that cells' stiffness and viscoelasticity can be influenced by temperature and pharmacological treatments targeting the membrane-cytoskeleton interface. Furthermore, the ability to differentiate between cells based on protein expression levels was shown by rapidly probing over 1000 cells from three different cell lines expressing different levels of the mechanosensitive protein Piezo1 using AFS.
Article
Oncology
Julie Le Naour, Sylvain Thierry, Sarah Adriana Scuderi, Mathilde Boucard-Jourdin, Peng Liu, Marc Bonnin, Yuhong Pan, Clemence Perret, Liwei Zhao, Misha Mao, Chloe Renoux, Maria Perez-Lanzon, Baptiste Martin, Oliver Kepp, Guido Kroemer, Bettina Werle
Summary: A novel TLR3 agonist TL-532 was shown to have favorable pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic, mechanistic, and toxicological properties. It stimulated the production of multiple chemokines and interleukins, resulting in anticancer immune responses. TL-532 demonstrated efficacy in reducing bladder cancer growth and restoring the response to immunogenic chemotherapy in immunodeficient mice.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Yinliang Huang, Yiyi Xu, Hari Krishna Bisoyi, Zhongcheng Liu, Jinyu Wang, Yu Tao, Tao Yang, Shuai Huang, Hong Yang, Quan Li
Summary: In this study, a photocontrollable elongation actuation with a large strain is achieved in polydomain LCEs by programming the crease structures. The efficient photoactuation is enabled by a well-designed photosensitive molecular switch crosslinker. This study simplifies the design of soft robotic devices and provides a design strategy for expanding their functions.
ADVANCED MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Foad Vashahi, Michael R. Martinez, Erfan Dashtimoghadam, Farahnaz Fahimipour, Andrew N. Keith, Egor A. Bersenev, Dimitri A. Ivanov, Ekaterina B. Zhulina, Pavel Popryadukhin, Krzysztof Matyjaszewski, Mohammad Vatankhah-Varnosfaderani, Sergei S. Sheiko
Summary: Researchers have developed an injectable hydrogel material with softness and firmness that matches tissue, making it suitable for biomedical applications.
Article
Polymer Science
Takahiro Kawatsu, Keita Fuchise, Katsuhiko Takeuchi, Jun-Chul Choi, Kazuhiko Sato, Kazuhiro Matsumoto
Summary: This study successfully synthesized macrocyclic polysiloxanes with unique structures, and then transformed them into novel organofunctional polysiloxanes, maintaining the macrocyclic and spiro structures.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Kyohei Hisano, Seiya Kimura, Kyosun Ku, Tomoki Shigeyama, Norihisa Akamatsu, Atsushi Shishido, Osamu Tsutsumi
Summary: This study introduces a design concept for tuning the recovery response of liquid crystal elastomers by utilizing layered materials. By changing the layering materials, it was possible to significantly reduce the relaxation time from months to seconds, enabling the development of highly sensitive and stretchable mechano-optical sensors with real-time strain detection and high spatial resolution storage capabilities.
ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Zequan Li, You-Liang Zhu, Wenwen Niu, Xiao Yang, Zhiyong Jiang, Zhong-Yuan Lu, Xiaokong Liu, Junqi Sun
Summary: The material inspired by spider silk has higher strength and toughness, with exceptional crack tolerance and elastic restorability. These extraordinary mechanical performances mainly originate from meticulously engineered hydrogen-bonding segments, making it the strongest and toughest healable elastomer so far.
ADVANCED MATERIALS
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Ryan W. Barrs, Jia Jia, Michael Ward, Dylan J. Richards, Hai Yao, Michael J. Yost, Ying Mei
Summary: This study develops a peptide-functionalized alginate hydrogel bioink with defined mechanical, rheological, and biochemical properties for direct bioprinting of microvascularized tissues. The bioink synergistically promotes vascular morphogenesis and capillary-scale endothelial tube formation by conjugating an integrin-binding peptide and a vascular endothelial growth factor-mimetic peptide with a protease-sensitive linker onto a biodegradable alginate. The resulting vascularized tissue construct exhibits pericyte-endothelial cell colocalization, angiogenic sprouting, and deposition of fibronectin and collagen in vascular and tissue components.
Article
Polymer Science
Takuya Ohzono, Emiko Koyama
Summary: In this study, the efficiency of converting light energy into mechanical changes in photoresponsive nematic liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) was investigated. It was found that the modulation range can be controlled and optimized by adjusting the operating temperature. The results provide useful guidelines for optimizing the materials and operating conditions for efficient conversion of light energy into mechanical work in photo-LCEs.
Article
Mechanics
Roberto Brighenti, Timon Rabczuk, Xiaoying Zhuang
Summary: The paper discusses the application of the phase-field approach in describing damage and failure of highly deformable strain rate-dependent materials. By using a continuous field variable to mimic the physical discontinuity, the behavior of rate-dependent polymers can be simulated in large deformations.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF MECHANICS A-SOLIDS
(2021)
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Xuemei Chu, Rui Wang, Hui Zhao, Minxuan Kuang, Jiao Yan, Bin Wang, Huiling Ma, Meng Cui, Xiuqin Zhang
Summary: This study reports a degradable elastomer with low modulus, self-adhesion, high resilience, and low hysteresis. Epidermal strain sensors and stretchable electroluminescent devices based on this elastomer are prepared, which exhibit good adhesion, high sensitivity, high response rate, excellent fatigue resistance, and recyclability of nondegradable materials in electronic devices.
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Jun Yong Kim, Won-Kyu Rhim, Jiwon Woo, Seung-Gyu Cha, Chun Gwon Park, Dong Keun Han
Summary: This study proposes a cell modulation method with melatonin for human umbilical cord MSCs (hUCMSCs) cultured in serum-free chemically defined media (CDM) to eliminate the effects of serum-derived impurities and enhance regeneration-related activities. EVs derived from melatonin-stimulated hUCMSCs in CDM (CDM mEVs) exhibit high expression levels of regeneration-related miRNAs and show upregulated functionalities associated with wound healing, angiogenesis, anti-inflammation, ROS scavenging, and anti-apoptosis.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2022)
Review
Polymer Science
Aymeric Genest, Daniel Portinha, Emmanuel Pouget, Khalid Lamnawar, Francois Ganachaud, Etienne Fleury
Summary: Supramolecular zwitterionic silicones were synthesized by aza-Michael reaction between acrylic acid and amine-functional polydimethylsiloxanes. The study showed that the aza-Michael addition proceeded smoothly under mild conditions, resulting in the formation of monoadducts, di-adducts, and residual amine. The assembly of zwitterionic moieties led to an increase in viscosity and phase separation, with the observation of an additional glass transition at -40 degrees C.
MACROMOLECULAR RAPID COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Bei Liu, Shi Chen, Yaxing Xu, Yulin Lyu, Jinlin Wang, Yuanyuan Du, Yongcheng Sun, Heming Liu, Haoying Zhou, Weifeng Lai, Anqi Xue, Ming Yin, Cheng Li, Yun Bai, Jun Xu, Hongkui Deng
Summary: The study introduces a chemically defined and xeno-free culture system for culturing and deriving human EPS cells, which can be long-term maintained in vitro with stable genetics and developmental potentials. This system also allows efficient derivation of human EPS cells from human fibroblast through reprogramming, showing promise for future biomedical applications.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Aakash Sharma, Margarita Kruteva, Michaela Zamponi, Sascha Ehlert, Dieter Richter, Stephan Foerster
Summary: The dynamics of pure oleic acid and grafted oleic acid have been studied using quasielastic neutron scattering. It was found that pure oleic acid mainly undergoes translational diffusion at room temperature, while grafted oleic acid in nanocomposites exhibits uniaxial rotation due to grafting and crowding effects. Additionally, grafted oleic acid shows mobility below the crystallization temperature of pure oleic acid. The results suggest potential research on confined surfactant systems using the approach described in this study.
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL PHYSICS
(2022)
Article
Polymer Science
Mariapaola Staropoli, Dominik Gerstner, Benoit Duez, Michael Sztucki, Guido Vehres, Aurel Radulescu, Stephan Westermann, Wim Pyckhout-Hintzen, Jean-Sebestien Thomann
Summary: This study investigates the structural and dynamic characteristics of a silica filler network in an industrial elastomeric composite using time-resolved Ultra Small-Angle-X-ray Scattering (USAXS) technique. The in-situ observation under periodic uniaxial deformation reveals a correlation between the filler network evolution and the dynamic-mechanical stress-strain response of the composite. By analyzing the sector-averaged scattering intensities, the researchers identify the jamming/de-jamming transition between clusters during the deformation process.
Review
Literary Theory & Criticism
David H. Richter
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
David H. Richter, Charlotte E. Wainwright
Summary: The exchange of enthalpy and momentum at the air-sea interface plays a crucial role in tropical cyclone (TC) development and intensification. The impact of sea spray, particularly at high wind speeds, has been uncertain. In this study, we conducted high-resolution simulations of a spray-laden TC boundary layer using a coupled large-eddy simulation and Lagrangian cloud model. Our results show that spray droplets have no effect on C-D at wind speeds up to 48 m/s. C-E and C-H are modified initially but quickly relax back to their unladen values due to surface layer saturation, with faster relaxation at higher wind speeds.
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Polymer Science
Ana Rita Bras, Ana Arizaga, Daria Sokolova, Uxue Agirre, Maria Teresa Viciosa, Aurel Radulescu, Sylvain Francois Prevost, Margarita Kruteva, Wim Pyckhout-Hintzen, Annette Monika Schmidt
Summary: This study focuses on the effects of polymer polarity and hydrogen-bonding strength on the structure and dynamics of supramolecular model polymers. The results show that lower polarity leads to stronger associations and the hydrogen-bonding dynamics are influenced by the main chain polarity.
Article
Physics, Multidisciplinary
A-M Philippe, C. Sill, S. Westermann, J. Allgaier, M. Staropoli, M. Monkenbusch, D. Gerstner, Y. Fleming, A. Wischnewski, I Hoffmann, P. Zolnierczuk, C. Do, W. Pyckhout-Hintzen
Summary: This study investigates the dynamics of long polymer chains in the presence of nanoparticles. The results show that the polymer dynamics is significantly slowed down at a very local scale in the presence of nano-fillers.
FRONTIERS IN PHYSICS
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
N. Miyashita, A. E. Yakini, W. Pyckhout-Hintzen, B. N. J. Persson
Summary: We studied the friction between different materials and ice surfaces at varying temperatures and sliding speeds. Rubber compounds show similar friction on ice at all tested temperatures. The main contribution to the friction force comes from slip between the ice surface and ice fragments attached to the rubber surface. At temperatures around 0 degrees C, a thin pre-melted water film reduces the contribution of shearing the area of contact, and the friction force is dominated by viscoelastic deformations of the rubber by the ice asperities. Polyethylene and silica glass blocks exhibit different friction characteristics with relatively weakly velocity dependent friction for polyethylene and very large friction coefficients at low temperatures for silica glass.
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL PHYSICS
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Matthias Ruebsam, Robin Puellen, Frederik Tellkamp, Alessandra Bianco, Marc Peskoller, Wilhelm Bloch, Kathleen J. J. Green, Rudolf Merkel, Bernd Hoffmann, Sara A. Wickstroem, Carien M. Niessen
Summary: Epithelia maintain a functional barrier during tissue turnover while facing varying mechanical stress. However, it is not known how these two systems crosstalk to coordinate cellular movement and mechanical resilience.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2023)
Article
Physics, Fluids & Plasmas
Colin J. Denzel, Andrew D. Bragg, David H. Richter
Summary: This paper develops a simple stochastic model based on direct numerical simulation to accurately describe the residence times of particles in a particle-laden turbulent flow. The model takes into account the competition between gravity settling and particle-turbulence interaction. Despite its simplicity, the model provides quantitatively accurate predictions of the distribution of particle residence times in the flow. The independent roles of gravity and inertia in governing these residence times are also investigated by varying the Stokes numbers and settling velocities.
PHYSICAL REVIEW FLUIDS
(2023)
Article
Cell Biology
Lisann Esser, Ronald Springer, Georg Dreissen, Lukas Loevenich, Jens Konrad, Nico Hampe, Rudolf Merkel, Bernd Hoffmann, Erik Noetzel
Summary: Cell contractility regulates epithelial tissue geometry development and homeostasis. We developed an elastomeric pillar cage (EPC) array to quantify cell contractility as a mechanoresponse of epithelial microtissues to substrate stiffness and topography. This work introduced a versatile biophysical tool to explore mechanobiological regulation circuits driving low and high-tensional states during microtissue development and homeostasis.
Article
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Marco Hoffmann, Sven Gerlach, Masanari Takamiya, Samar Tarazi, Nils Hersch, Agnes Csiszar, Ronald Springer, Georg Dreissen, Hanno Scharr, Sepand Rastegar, Tanja Beil, Uwe Straehle, Rudolf Merkel, Bernd Hoffmann
Summary: Efficient and biocompatible transfer of nucleic acids into mammalian cells is a challenging task. Viral transduction is highly efficient but has safety concerns. Lipo- or polyplexes have low transfer efficiencies and may cause inflammatory responses. Using fusogenic liposomes, we achieved highly efficient and biocompatible transfer of RNA molecules, bypassing recognition mechanisms and minimizing inflammatory cytokine responses.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Michael Monkenbusch, Margarita Kruteva, Dieter Richter
Summary: In this work, the single chain dynamic structure factors for five different polymers were compared. The De Gennes approximation was extended to describe the dynamic structure factor. Important results include the approximation of tube diameter by the simple De Gennes structure factor, the description of neutron spin echo spectra using the extended De Gennes structure factor, and the improvement of scattering function representation by introducing non-Gaussianity corrections. The required number of chains spanning the entanglement volume was consistently about 40% larger than that obtained from rheology.
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL PHYSICS
(2023)
Article
Polymer Science
Margarita Kruteva, Michael Monkenbusch, Juergen Allgaier, Wim Pyckhout-Hintzen, Lionel Porcar, Dieter Richter
Summary: We conducted a systematic investigation on ring-linear blends using small angle neutron scattering, where we varied the ring volume fraction in a long linear matrix or the matrix length at a low ring fraction. We observed that the ring radius of gyration decreased with increasing ring fraction and approached the value of the ring melt at a volume fraction of φ(R) = 0.5. The fractal dimension, which was close to a Gaussian conformation at low φ(R), decreased to the value of the ring melt. The ring size was found to be independent of the host length, except for very short matrices.
Article
Mathematics
David Richter
Summary: This article introduces the concept of rectangulation, which is the subdivision of a rectangle into smaller rectangles. A specific type of rectangulation called generic rectangulation is discussed, which does not involve any crossing segments. The article presents several observations and raises questions about generic rectangulations. Additionally, the article explores the concept of centrally inverting a generic rectangulation around a given rectangle, similar to classical reflection across a circle. Furthermore, the article delves into the study of 3-dimensional orthogonal polytopes related to marked rectangulations and drawings of planar maps.
CONTRIBUTIONS TO DISCRETE MATHEMATICS
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Laura Maria Schmitt, Georg Dreissen, Rejhana Kolasinac, Agnes Csiszar, Rudolf Merkel
Summary: Fusogenic liposomes, widely used for molecule delivery, have little understood physicochemical state. Our study shows that the membranes of these liposomes are fluid and under high mechanical tension before aspiration. Based on this, we developed a theoretical framework to determine the area expansion modulus and membrane tension of these pre-tensed vesicles.
