Article
Chemistry, Physical
Yuanfang Sun, Dongliang Song, Xin Zhang, Qinglan Zhang, Baoyun Li, Kuangcai Chen, Ning Fang
Summary: Single particle orientation and rotational tracking (SPORT) is a highly effective upgrade to conventional single particle tracking (SPT) techniques, providing valuable information about nanoscale rotational dynamics in chemical and biological systems. This study used gold nanorods (AuNRs) on synthetic lipid bilayers as a model system to investigate the conditions for accurate extraction of rotational mode and speed using correlation and autocorrelation analyses. The results of this systematic study on data treatment will contribute to future interpretations and designs in SPORT.
JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY C
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Analytical
Alvaro Ruiz-Arias, Rocio Jurado, Francisco Fueyo-Gonzalez, Rosario Herranz, Natividad Galvez, Juan A. Gonzalez-Vera, Angel Orte
Summary: The presence of neuritic plaques and amyloid fibrils is key in neurodegenerative diseases, and new methodologies are emerging to study the early stages of amyloid aggregation. This study utilizes two different fluorophores to detect and quantify amyloid species through multidimensional fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy, providing a better understanding of the mechanism of fibrillization and cytotoxicity.
SENSORS AND ACTUATORS B-CHEMICAL
(2022)
Article
Biophysics
Xiaolu Liu, Xin Lu, Tong Zhu, Du Wenli, Yang Zhenghui, Hongzhi Cao, Siyou Wang, Yupeng Tian, Zhongping Zhang, Ruilong Zhang, Senio Campos De Souza, Xiaohe Tian
Summary: A newly designed LDs probe BoCz-Lip shows specific live-cell targeting capability with minimal impact on cell viability and good photostability. The study reveals how proteohormone influences LDs ultrastructure, providing insights for better understanding disease correlation at the nanoscale.
BIOSENSORS & BIOELECTRONICS
(2021)
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Francois Bonneau, Dietrich Stoyan
Summary: This paper proposes a second-order statistical theory to characterize the inner variability of fracture networks in 2D. The theory utilizes marked point process theory to treat fracture barycenters as points and fracture lengths and orientations as marks. It employs pair-correlation and mark-correlation functions to describe fracture network variability based on oriented distances between object centers. The application of these ideas on three fracture networks demonstrates their effectiveness.
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-SOLID EARTH
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Ignacio Sallaberry, Alexis Luszczak, Natalia Philipp, Guadalupe S. Costa Navarro, Manuela Gabriel, Enrico Gratton, Andrea Gamarnik, Laura C. Estrada
Summary: Flaviviruses, including dengue virus, are major human pathogens causing significant social and economic burdens globally. The capsid protein of DENV plays a crucial role in genome encapsidation and viral particle formation. Studies have shown that the DENV C protein shuttles between the nucleus and cytoplasm in infected cells, suggesting potential new strategies for antiviral interventions.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Roman Schmidt, Tobias Weihs, Christian A. Wurm, Isabelle Jansen, Jasmin Rehman, Steffen J. Sahl, Stefan W. Hell
Summary: The MINFLUX concept has advanced the resolution of fluorescence microscopy to molecular dimensions, achieving 1-3 nm resolution in three dimensions. This widely applicable technique allows for nanometer-precise and accurate real-time localization of individually activated fluorophores, with potential applications in cellular and neurobiological research.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Automation & Control Systems
Tao Wang, Shengzhe Qi, Jian Yang, Zexuan Ji, Quansen Sun, Qi Ge
Summary: This article explores the relationships between image element pairs and label pairs, extends label diffusion to label pair diffusion, and designs a probability learning process on a tensor product graph to smooth label priors. The proposed algorithm maintains computational efficiency and achieves superior performance in segmentation tasks.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL INFORMATICS
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Xin Guo, Rui Pu, Zhimin Zhu, Shuqian Qiao, Yusen Liang, Bingru Huang, Haichun Liu, Lucia Labrador-Paez, Uliana Kostiv, Pu Zhao, Qiusheng Wu, Jerker Widengren, Qiuqiang Zhan
Summary: The authors introduce a new nanoscopy technique called stimulated-emission induced excitation depletion (STExD), which uses a single pair of low-power, near-infrared, continuous-wave lasers to inhibit the emission of multichromatic probes. By manipulating the common sensitizer in lanthanide upconversion systems, emission inhibition is achieved for a wide range of emitters, with high depletion efficiency and low saturation intensity.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Physics, Multidisciplinary
William Beatrez, Arjun Pillai, Otto Janes, Dieter Suter, Ashok Ajoy
Summary: We report on experiments that quantify the role of a central electronic spin as a relaxation source for nuclear spins in its nanoscale environment. Our strategy exploits hyperpolarization injection from the electron as a means to controllably probe an increasing number of nuclear spins in the bath and subsequently interrogate them with high fidelity. These results suggest interesting new means to spatially discriminate nuclear spins in a nanoscale environment and have direct relevance to dynamic nuclear polarization and quantum sensors and memories constructed from hyperpolarized nuclei.
PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Multidisciplinary
Pawel Weronski, Karolina Palka
Summary: This paper presents a novel approach to analyzing random monolayers of sphere-like features using power spectral density (PSD), demonstrated on the example of monolayer height function PSD. The analysis shows that two components of the function depend on the pair-correlation function, providing means to determine particle size, surface coverage, and radius of analyzed area with relative errors less than 0.3%, 2%, and 1%, respectively. The results suggest that the radial distribution function significantly affects the PSD, making it a promising tool for characterizing particle or cavity monolayers quantitatively.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Ron Shnapp, Stefano Brizzolara, Marius M. Neamtu-Halic, Alessandro Gambino, Markus Holzner
Summary: This article discusses the significance and universality of turbulent pair dispersion at different scales. By studying the alignment between relative velocity and position vectors, a universal constant of turbulence is revealed. This has important implications for understanding and modeling transport and mixing processes.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Physics, Multidisciplinary
Shiyong Tan, Rui Ni
Summary: Research has found that in turbulent flow, the classical Richardson cubic scaling is not reached when the initial separation between particles tends towards zero, but at a critical value. This critical value does not appear to depend on the Reynolds number, providing an effective way to study universal dispersion dynamics.
PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Yonghui Xing, Song Liu, Xuesong Luo, Wenjie Wan, Jie Wan, Tianyuan Zhang, Wenli Chen, Qiaoyun Huang
Summary: In this study, a medium was designed for the preparation of nano-scale carbonate hydroxyapatite through microbial mineralization, which has a large specific surface area and adsorption capacity, making it a potential candidate for heavy metal bioremediation in polluted environments.
JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Martin Fuhrmann, Nala Gockel, Misa Arizono, Yulia Dembitskaya, U. Valentin Naegerl, Francesca Pennacchietti, Martina Damenti, Ilaria Testa, Katrin I. Willig
Summary: Super-resolution fluorescence microscopy has great potential in neuroscience for visualizing nanoscale structures and biochemical activities. Recent technical progress has enhanced the performance and accessibility of this technology, but in vivo applications still face challenges. This review presents vivid examples based on STED and RESOLFT super-resolution microscopy, providing insights into the nanoscale mechanisms of cellular communication between neurons and glia.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Polymer Science
Krzysztof Piechocki, Kaloian Koynov, Justyna Piechocka, Kordian Chamerski, Jacek Filipecki, Paulina Maczugowska, Marcin Kozanecki
Summary: Understanding the diffusion of solutes in hydrogels is crucial for developing applications, and this study investigated the influence of structural parameters on diffusion in POEGMAs hydrogels. FCS was used to analyze the diffusion process, revealing two components attributed to steric effects and interactions with the polymer. The relationship between diffusion and polymer concentration showed two regimes, influenced by hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity and cross-links. The release time of a model drug was found to be shorter in denser hydrogel networks, indicating the importance of drug affinity over diffusion.
Article
Optics
Colin J. R. Sheppard, Artemi Bendandi, Aymeric Le Gratiet, Alberto Diaspro
Summary: This article reexamines the measures of purity for 3D partially polarized fields, focusing on the separation of circularly and linearly polarized contributions and introducing a new degree of total linear polarization. Explicit expressions for the characteristic decomposition based on coherency matrix elements are presented, including the special case of an intrinsic coherency matrix. The parameterization of the coherency matrix in terms of ellipticity, and the directions of the ellipse normal and major axis are investigated. The discussion also includes phase consistency and provides a comprehensive collection of results regarding intrinsic polarization properties.
JOURNAL OF THE OPTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA A-OPTICS IMAGE SCIENCE AND VISION
(2022)
Article
Optics
Colin J. R. Sheppard, Artemi Bendandi, Aymeric Le Gratiet, Alberto Diaspro
Summary: Depolarization is an important contrast mechanism in biological and medical imaging. This paper presents a historical review on polarization algebra, measures of depolarization, and purity spaces, and discusses their connections with the eigenvalues of the coherency matrix. The advantages of a barycentric eigenvalue space are outlined, and a new parameter called diattenuation-corrected purity is introduced. The use of a combination of eigenvalues of coherency matrices to specify the depolarization condition is proposed. The relationships between optical and polarimetric radar formalisms are also reviewed.
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Pietro Delcanale, Eleonora Uriati, Matteo Mariangeli, Andrea Mussini, Ana Moreno, Davide Lelli, Luigi Cavanna, Paolo Bianchini, Alberto Diaspro, Stefania Abbruzzetti, Cristiano Viappiani
Summary: Hypericin, as a photosensitizing drug, shows promise in treating SARS-CoV-2 infections due to its antiviral activity against membrane-enveloped viruses. Experimental studies reveal the interaction of hypericin with SARS-CoV-2 and evaluate its antiviral efficacy. Hypericin exhibits a strong affinity for viral particles, particularly the viral envelope, and approximately 30 molecules can be loaded onto each viral particle. Photoactivated hypericin at nanomolar concentrations significantly reduces virus infectivity on Vero E6 cells, indicating potential multiple mechanisms of action for this drug.
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
(2022)
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Andrea Mussini, Eleonora Uriati, Cormac Hally, Santi Nonell, Paolo Bianchini, Alberto Diaspro, Stefano Pongolini, Pietro Delcanale, Stefania Abbruzzetti, Cristiano Viappiani
Summary: We report the development of a supramolecular structure with photosensitizing properties and targeting capability for antimicrobial photodynamic inactivation. The structure is based on streptavidin, labeled with the photosensitizer eosin, and bound to biotinylated immunoglobulin G from human serum. The complex demonstrates efficient photoinactivation of Staphylococcus aureus suspensions when exposed to green light.
BIOCONJUGATE CHEMISTRY
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Barbara Storti, Benedetta Carlotti, Grazia Chiellini, Martina Ruglioni, Tiziano Salvadori, Marco Scotto, Fausto Elisei, Alberto Diaspro, Paolo Bianchini, Ranieri Bizzarri
Summary: By combining steady-state and ultrafast spectroscopy with gated STED imaging, this study demonstrates that F99S/M153T/V163A GFP is an efficient genetic reporter for STED imaging, with no excited state absorption at depletion wavelengths <600 nm and a long emission lifetime. This makes c3GFP a valuable alternative to more common, but less photostable, EGFP and YFP/Citrine mutants for STED imaging studies targeting the green-yellow region of the optical spectrum.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Optics
Colin J. R. Sheppard, Marco Castello, Giorgio Tortarolo, Alessandro Zunino, Eli Slenders, Paolo Bianchini, Giuseppe Vicidomini, Alberto Diaspro
Summary: This article reviews the properties of signal strength and integrated intensity in a scanned imaging system, with a particular focus on confocal imaging systems, including image scanning microscopy. The integrated intensity, which represents the image of a uniform planar object rather than the peak of the point spread function, serves as a measure of the flux in an image. Analytic expressions are provided for the intensity in the detector plane for a uniform volume object and its resulting background. The article also demonstrates the variation in integrated intensity with defocus for an offset point detector, which remains unchanged regardless of pixel reassignment. Furthermore, it reveals that the intensity in the detector plane carries defocus information, and simple processing of recorded data can enhance optical sectioning and background rejection.
JOURNAL OF THE OPTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA A-OPTICS IMAGE SCIENCE AND VISION
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Giorgio Tortarolo, Alessandro Zunino, Francesco Fersini, Marco Castello, Simonluca Piazza, Colin J. R. Sheppard, Paolo Bianchini, Alberto Diaspro, Sami Koho, Giuseppe Vicidomini
Summary: The feasibility of super-resolution microscopy for live and thick sample imaging is limited. We propose a method that combines ISM and STED techniques to achieve high-resolution imaging without introducing photodamage and background degradation.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Irene Nepita, Simonluca Piazza, Martina Ruglioni, Sofia Cristiani, Emanuele Bosurgi, Tiziano Salvadori, Giuseppe Vicidomini, Alberto Diaspro, Marco Castello, Paolo Bianchini, Barbara Storti, Ranieri Bizzarri
Summary: Super-resolution microscopy has been used to understand the 3D topology of chromatin at an intermediate genomic scale. Polycomb proteins, specifically PRC1 and PRC2, play a role in gene repression and operate on chromatin in a complex mechanism. The functional colocalization study using Image Scanning Microscopy (ISM) suggests a simultaneous effort of PRC1 and PRC2 in shaping the chromatin topology.
APPLIED SCIENCES-BASEL
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Francesca Signori, Jos W. H. Wennink, Simona Bronco, Jan Feijen, Marcel Karperien, Ranieri Bizzarri, Pieter J. Dijkstra
Summary: Poly(lactide) (PLA) and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-based hydrogels were prepared by mixing enantiomerically pure copolymers with opposite chirality. The gelation process was found to follow different mechanisms depending on the nature of the linker R. Mixing equimolar amounts of the enantiomeric copolymers resulted in micellar aggregates with a stereocomplexed PLA core and a hydrophilic PEG corona.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Elisabetta Di Franco, Angelita Costantino, Elena Cerutti, Morgana D'Amico, Anna P. Privitera, Paolo Bianchini, Giuseppe Vicidomini, Massimo Gulisano, Alberto Diaspro, Luca Lanzano
Summary: In point-scanning microscopy, optical sectioning is achieved using a small aperture to reject out-of-focus background. A compromise must be made between axial resolution and signal-to-noise ratio due to the reduction of detected signal when the pinhole is closed. However, using the SPLIT-pinhole algorithm, optical sectioning can be achieved without closing the pinhole by tuning its size and analyzing the image series acquired.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2023)
Review
Biology
Irene Nepita, Simonluca Piazza, Martina Ruglioni, Sofia Cristiani, Emanuele Bosurgi, Tiziano Salvadori, Giuseppe Vicidomini, Alberto Diaspro, Marco Castello, Andrea Cerase, Paolo Bianchini, Barbara Storti, Ranieri Bizzarri
Summary: This article reviews the application of super-resolution microscopy in metazoan chromatin, specifically focusing on the role of polycomb proteins in shaping 3D chromatin topology and function. The use of super-resolution microscopy has greatly contributed to our understanding of nano-/mesoscale chromatin domains.
Article
Optics
Colin J. R. Sheppard, Marco Castello, Giorgio Tortarolo, Alessandro Zunino, Eli Slenders, Paolo Bianchini, Giuseppe Vicidomini, Alberto Diaspro
Summary: We discuss the properties of signal strength and integrated intensity in two-photon excitation confocal microscopy and image scanning microscopy. The resolution, optical sectioning, and background rejection are all improved over nonconfocal two-photon microscopy. Replacing the pinhole of confocal two-photon microscopy with a detector array increases the peak intensity of the point spread function. The outer pixels of a detector array give signals from defocused regions, and thus the processing of these, such as through subtraction, can further improve optical sectioning and background rejection.