Review
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Lucie A. Low, Christine Mummery, Brian R. Berridge, Christopher P. Austin, Danilo A. Tagle
Summary: OoCs, also known as microphysiological systems or 'tissue chips', have the potential to be informative at multiple stages of drug discovery and development, providing insights into normal human organ function and disease pathophysiology, as well as predicting the safety and efficacy of investigational drugs in humans. The field of OoCs has seen significant advances in recent years, but there are still challenges and opportunities that need to be addressed to fully realize their potential for translational research.
NATURE REVIEWS DRUG DISCOVERY
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Feng Lin, Xia Li, Shiyu Sun, Zhongyi Li, Chenglin Lv, Jianbo Bai, Lin Song, Yizhao Han, Bo Li, Jianping Fu, Yue Shao
Summary: Researchers have developed an efficient biomaterial system that can generate gut spheroids from human pluripotent stem cells through mechanically enhanced tissue morphogenesis. The study also reveals the mechanisms behind gut spheroid formation, including the effects of cell multilayering and crowding, and proposes a mechanism for morphogenetic transitions.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence
Hongfu Liu, Junxiang Chen, Jennifer Dy, Yun Fu
Summary: K-means is a widely used clustering algorithm known for its simplicity and efficiency. This review paper focuses on generalizing K-means to solve challenging and complex problems. It unifies the available approaches in terms of data representation, distance measure, label assignment, and centroid updating. Concrete applications of modified K-means formulations are reviewed, including iterative subspace projection and clustering, consensus clustering, constrained clustering, domain adaptation, and outlier detection.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PATTERN ANALYSIS AND MACHINE INTELLIGENCE
(2023)
Article
Polymer Science
Celine W. S. Yeung, Mercy Halleluyah Periayah, Jerald Y. Q. Teo, Eunice Tze Leng Goh, Pei Lin Chee, Wei Wei Loh, Xian Jun Loh, Rajamani Lakshminarayanan, Jason Y. C. Lim
Summary: Petroleum-based polyolefin plastics have unsustainable life cycles, but they can be transformed into water-soluble antimicrobial polymers to combat the spread of fungal pathogens. This study demonstrates the conversion of polyethylene into low-molecular-weight antimicrobial polymers with potential applications in controlling fungal infections.
Review
Biochemical Research Methods
Luis Cisneros-Zevallos, Mahshad Maghoumi, Manuel Lopez-Torres, Belem Beltran-Maldonado
Summary: This paper presents the current status and future trends of transforming stressed plants into healthy foods. It describes the key elements to advance this field, including understanding the mode of action of oxidative stress on nutraceutical biosynthesis, designing healthy products based on stressed fresh produce, and enhancing nutraceuticals in plants. Additionally, it proposes designing studies with stressed plants to target immunomodulatory properties for preventive and therapeutic effects against chronic diseases.
CURRENT OPINION IN BIOTECHNOLOGY
(2023)
Editorial Material
Chemistry, Physical
Sophie H. van Vreeswijk, Bert M. Weckhuysen
Summary: The process of converting coke molecules into active intermediates through regeneration to produce valuable syngas as a by-product, leading to enhanced selectivity for ethylene.
Review
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Junbo Hou, Min Yang, Liwei Zhou, Xiaohui Yan, Changchun Ke, Junliang Zhang
Summary: Although significant progress has been made in the research and development of materials science and engineering, chemistry, electrochemistry, and solid-state physics in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) over the past 30 years, there is a lack of reporting on the critical technologies and applied science underlying manufacturing and processing. This paper highlights the intrinsic relationship between materials processing and performance, emphasizing the importance of various production steps including slurry mixing, coating, drying, calendering, electrolyte filling, and formatting in relation to electrode compositions, structures, and overall battery performance. The in-depth understanding of these individual steps and their interactions is crucial for further improvements in materials and manufacturing for LIBs.
ADVANCED MATERIALS TECHNOLOGIES
(2021)
Review
Neurosciences
You-Quan Ding, Jian-Guo Qi
Summary: The sense of touch is essential for daily life, but can be perceived abnormally as pain in certain diseases. Understanding the neuropathological changes and cellular mechanisms underlying painful touch is crucial for both mechanistic understanding and clinical management of chronic pain. Recent progress has shed light on the neural circuits for painful touch, emphasizing the roles of non-neuronal cells, particularly myelin sheaths, which have been implicated in various neuropsychiatric diseases. Demyelination in sensory roots may represent an underappreciated neuropathological change in neuropathic conditions of painful touch, offering insights into tactile sensation and potential therapeutic targets.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Ben Kew, Melvin Holmes, Evangelos Liamas, Rammile Ettelaie, Simon D. Connell, Daniele Dini, Anwesha Sarkar
Summary: The authors developed plant protein microgels with improved lubricity for sustainable foods. Plant protein consumption is necessary to reduce emissions from the meat industry, but the astringent off-sensation has hindered its adoption. By transforming plant proteins into physically cross-linked microgels, the lubricity of these proteins was remarkably improved, providing a platform for designing the next generation of healthy and sustainable foods.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Editorial Material
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Robert A. Montgomery, Sapna A. Mehta, Brendan Parent, Adam Griesemer
Summary: Pigs can potentially provide a large supply of organs for human transplantation, but extensive research collaboration, iterative approaches, and involvement of transplant patients and the public are necessary.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Yan Liu, Guoxing Zhu, Ang Li, Jiajing Pei, Yamin Zheng, Wenxing Chen, Jun Ding, Wenjie Wu, Tao Wang, Dingsheng Wang, Junjie Mao
Summary: The stability of catalysts has always been a focus in materials science and catalysis. Single atom site catalysts (SACs) are generally believed to be less stable than nanocatalysts. However, it has been discovered that nanocrystals, such as nanowires (NWs), can be directly converted into SACs at high temperatures, resulting in excellent catalytic performance for the hydrogenation of nitroarenes. This is due to the significant decrease in energy barriers of the rate-determining step.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Yushan Yang, Shaoyu Yuan, Heli Pan, Zixuan Li, Xinlei Shen, Yongjun Gao
Summary: The efficient utilization of natural energy sources is crucial for sustainable development. A solvent-free catalytic system has been developed to convert cellulose and corn straw into methane under solar irradiation. The research demonstrates high yields and carbon balance, making cycling experiments easier. The in situ experiments reveal the intermediates in the conversion process and suggest that this method could be used for biomass conversion under natural solar irradiation.
Article
Education & Educational Research
Christine M. Jacknick, Derya Duran
Summary: Teachers in pre-service training classrooms in Turkey introduce specialized terms and guide students to think and talk like professionals through follow-up turns; these actions serve to familiarize students with academic language and ways of thinking specific to their discipline, while confirming and elaborating on student contributions in pedagogically relevant ways.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Alexander K. Mengele, Dominik Weixler, Sebastian Amthor, Bernhard J. Eikmanns, Gerd M. Seibold, Sven Rau
Summary: This study successfully mimics the process of generating NADPH and ATP in the light-dependent reaction of photosynthesis by combining molecular ruthenium polypyridine-based photocatalysts and inverted vesicles derived from Escherichia coli.
ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Organic
Zhe Liu, Wenru Song, Chaoxian Yan, Zitong Liu, Hao-Li Zhang, Xiangfeng Shao
Summary: Hetero-buckybowl trichalcogenasumanenes (TCSs, 1/2) are selectively oxidized to afford diverse products using nitric oxide species as oxidants. The resulting compounds can serve as electron acceptors and exhibit electrochromism, with LUMO energies comparable to perylene diimide.
ORGANIC CHEMISTRY FRONTIERS
(2021)
