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Chen W, Li J, Wang P, Ma S, Li B. Study on the Flow Field Distribution in Microfluidic Cells for Surface Plasmon Resonance Array Detection. MATERIALS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2024; 17:2426. [PMID: 38793492 PMCID: PMC11122974 DOI: 10.3390/ma17102426] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2024] [Revised: 04/19/2024] [Accepted: 04/25/2024] [Indexed: 05/26/2024]
Abstract
This research is dedicated to optimizing the design of microfluidic cells to minimize mass transfer effects and ensure a uniform flow field distribution, which is essential for accurate SPR array detection. Employing finite element simulations, this study methodically explored the internal flow dynamics within various microfluidic cell designs to assess the impact of different contact angles on flow uniformity. The cells, constructed from Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), were subjected to micro-particle image velocimetry to measure flow velocities in targeted sections. The results demonstrate that a contact angle of 135° achieves the most uniform flow distribution, significantly enhancing the capability for high-throughput array detection. While the experimental results generally corroborated the simulations, minor deviations were observed, likely due to fabrication inaccuracies. The microfluidic cells, evaluated using a custom-built SPR system, showed consistent repeatability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wanwan Chen
- Department of Precision Instrument, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; (P.W.)
| | - Jing Li
- College of Mechanical Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225012, China
| | - Peng Wang
- Department of Precision Instrument, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; (P.W.)
| | - Shuai Ma
- College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225012, China
| | - Bin Li
- Department of Precision Instrument, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; (P.W.)
- Research Institute of Tsinghua, Pearl River Delta, Guangzhou 510530, China
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Zheng J, Huang R, Lin Z, Chen S, Yuan K. Nano/Micromotors for Cancer Diagnosis and Therapy: Innovative Designs to Improve Biocompatibility. Pharmaceutics 2023; 16:44. [PMID: 38258055 PMCID: PMC10821023 DOI: 10.3390/pharmaceutics16010044] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2023] [Revised: 12/18/2023] [Accepted: 12/21/2023] [Indexed: 01/24/2024] Open
Abstract
Nano/micromotors are artificial robots at the nano/microscale that are capable of transforming energy into mechanical movement. In cancer diagnosis or therapy, such "tiny robots" show great promise for targeted drug delivery, cell removal/killing, and even related biomarker sensing. Yet biocompatibility is still the most critical challenge that restricts such techniques from transitioning from the laboratory to clinical applications. In this review, we emphasize the biocompatibility aspect of nano/micromotors to show the great efforts made by researchers to promote their clinical application, mainly including non-toxic fuel propulsion (inorganic catalysts, enzyme, etc.), bio-hybrid designs, ultrasound propulsion, light-triggered propulsion, magnetic propulsion, dual propulsion, and, in particular, the cooperative swarm-based strategy for increasing therapeutic effects. Future challenges in translating nano/micromotors into real applications and the potential directions for increasing biocompatibility are also described.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiahuan Zheng
- Department of Chemistry, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou 515041, China;
| | - Rui Huang
- Bio-Analytical Laboratory, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou 515041, China; (R.H.); (Z.L.)
| | - Zhexuan Lin
- Bio-Analytical Laboratory, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou 515041, China; (R.H.); (Z.L.)
| | - Shaoqi Chen
- Department of Ultrasound, First Affiliated Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, Shantou 515041, China
| | - Kaisong Yuan
- Bio-Analytical Laboratory, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou 515041, China; (R.H.); (Z.L.)
- Department of Ultrasound, First Affiliated Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, Shantou 515041, China
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Luo X, Li W, Liang Z, Liu Y, Fan DE. Portable Bulk-Water Disinfection by Live Capture of Bacteria with Divergently Branched Porous Graphite in Electric Fields. ACS NANO 2023. [PMID: 37224419 DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.2c12229] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/26/2023]
Abstract
Easy access to clean water is essential to functioning and development of modern society. However, it remains arduous to develop energy-efficient, facile, and portable water treatment systems for point-of-use (POU) applications, which is particularly imperative for the safety and resilience of society during extreme weather and critical situations. Here, we propose and validate a meritorious working scheme for water disinfection via directly capturing and removing pathogen cells from bulk water using strategically designed three-dimensional (3D) porous dendritic graphite foams (PDGFs) in a high-frequency AC field. The prototype, integrated in a 3D-printed portable water-purification module, can reproducibly remove 99.997% E. coli bacteria in bulk water at a few voltages with among the lowest energy consumption at 435.5 J·L-1. The PDGFs, costing $1.47 per piece, can robustly operate at least 20 times for more than 8 h in total without functional degradation. Furthermore, we successfully unravel the involved disinfection mechanism with one-dimensional Brownian dynamics simulation. The system is practically applied that brings natural water in Waller Creek at UT Austin to the safe drinking level. This research, including the working mechanism based on dendritically porous graphite and the design scheme, could inspire a future device paradigm for POU water treatment.
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Haldavnekar R, Venkatakrishnan K, Tan B. Cancer Stem Cell Derived Extracellular Vesicles with Self-Functionalized 3D Nanosensor for Real-Time Cancer Diagnosis: Eliminating the Roadblocks in Liquid Biopsy. ACS NANO 2022; 16:12226-12243. [PMID: 35968931 DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.2c02971] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Liquid biopsy for determining the presence of cancer and the underlying tissue of origin is crucial to overcome the limitations of existing tissue biopsy and imaging-based techniques by capturing critical information from the dynamic tumor heterogeneity. A newly emerging liquid biopsy with extracellular vesicles (EVs) is gaining momentum, but its clinical relevance is in question due to the biological and technical challenges posed by existing technologies. The biological barriers of existing technologies include the inability to generate fundamental details of molecular structure, chemical composition as well as functional variations in EVs by gathering simultaneous information on multiple intra-EV molecules, unavailability of holistic qualitative analysis, in addition to the inability to identify tissue of origin. Technological barriers include reliance on EV isolation with a few labeled biomarkers, resulting in the inability to generate comprehensive information on the disease. A more favorable approach would be to generate holistic information on the disease without the use of labels. Such a marker-free diagnosis is impossible with the existing liquid biopsy due to the unavailability clinically validated cancer stem cells (CSC)-specific markers and dependence of existing technologies on EV isolation, undermining the clinical relevance of EV-based liquid biopsy. Here, CSC EVs were employed as an independent liquid biopsy modality. We hypothesize that tracking the signals of CSCs in peripheral blood with CSC EVs will provide a reliable solution for accurate cancer diagnosis, as CSC are the originators of tumor contributing to tumor heterogeneity. We report nanoengineered 3D sensors of extremely small nano-scaled probes self-functionalized for SERS, enabling integrative molecular and functional profiling of otherwise undetectable CSC EVs. A substantially enhanced SERS and ultralow limit of detection (10 EVs per 10 μL) were achieved. This was attributed to the efficient probe-EV interaction due to the 3D networks of nanoprobes, ensuring simultaneous detection of multiple EV signals. We experimentally demonstrate the crucial role of CSC EVs in cancer diagnosis. We then completed a pilot validation of this modality for cancer detection as well as for identification of the tissue of origin. An artificial neural network distinguished cancer from noncancer with 100% sensitivity and 100% specificity for three hard to detect cancers (breast, lung, and colorectal cancer). Binary classification to distinguish one tissue of origin against all other achieved 100% accuracy, while simultaneous identification of all three tissues of origin with multiclass classification achieved up to 79% accuracy. This noninvasive tool may complement existing cancer diagnostics, treatment monitoring as well as longitudinal disease monitoring by validation with a large cohort of clinical samples.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rupa Haldavnekar
- Institute for Biomedical Engineering, Science and Technology (I BEST), Partnership between Ryerson University and St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario M5B 1W8, Canada
- Ultrashort Laser Nanomanufacturing Research Facility, Faculty of Engineering and Architectural Sciences, Ryerson University, 350 Victoria Street, Toronto, Ontario M5B 2K3, Canada
- Nanocharacterization Laboratory, Faculty of Engineering and Architectural Sciences, Ryerson University, 350 Victoria Street, Toronto, Ontario M5B 2K3, Canada
- Nano-Bio Interface Facility, Faculty of Engineering and Architectural Sciences, Ryerson University, 350 Victoria Street, Toronto, Ontario M5B 2K3, Canada
| | - Krishnan Venkatakrishnan
- Keenan Research Center for Biomedical Science, Unity Health Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5B 1W8, Canada
- Ultrashort Laser Nanomanufacturing Research Facility, Faculty of Engineering and Architectural Sciences, Ryerson University, 350 Victoria Street, Toronto, Ontario M5B 2K3, Canada
- Nanocharacterization Laboratory, Faculty of Engineering and Architectural Sciences, Ryerson University, 350 Victoria Street, Toronto, Ontario M5B 2K3, Canada
- Nano-Bio Interface Facility, Faculty of Engineering and Architectural Sciences, Ryerson University, 350 Victoria Street, Toronto, Ontario M5B 2K3, Canada
| | - Bo Tan
- Keenan Research Center for Biomedical Science, Unity Health Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5B 1W8, Canada
- Nanocharacterization Laboratory, Faculty of Engineering and Architectural Sciences, Ryerson University, 350 Victoria Street, Toronto, Ontario M5B 2K3, Canada
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Huang Y, Guo J, Li Y, Li H, Fan DE. 2D-Material-Integrated Micromachines: Competing Propulsion Strategy and Enhanced Bacterial Disinfection. ADVANCED MATERIALS (DEERFIELD BEACH, FLA.) 2022; 34:e2203082. [PMID: 35656917 DOI: 10.1002/adma.202203082] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2022] [Revised: 05/27/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
2D transition-metal-dichalcogenide materials, such as molybdenum disulfide (MoS2 ) have received immense interest owing to their remarkable structure-endowed electronic, catalytic, and mechanical properties for applications in optoelectronics, energy storage, and wearable devices. However, 2D materials have been rarely explored in the field of micro/nanomachines, motors, and robots. Here, MoS2 with anatase TiO2 is successfully integrated into an original one-side-open hollow micromachine, which demonstrates increased light absorption of TiO2 -based micromachines to the visible region and the first observed motion acceleration in response to ionic media. Both experimentation and theoretical analysis suggest the unique type-II bandgap alignment of MoS2 /TiO2 heterojunction that accounts for the observed unique locomotion owing to a competing propulsion mechanism. Furthermore, by leveraging the chemical properties of MoS2 /TiO2 , the micromachines achieve sunlight-powered water disinfection with 99.999% Escherichia coli lysed in an hour. This research suggests abundant opportunities offered by 2D materials in the creation of a new class of micro/nanomachines and robots.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yun Huang
- Materials Science and Engineering Program, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 78712, USA
| | - Jianhe Guo
- Materials Science and Engineering Program, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 78712, USA
| | - Yufan Li
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 21218, USA
| | - Huaizhi Li
- Materials Science and Engineering Program, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 78712, USA
| | - Donglei Emma Fan
- Materials Science and Engineering Program, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 78712, USA
- Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 78712, USA
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De Tommasi E, De Luca AC. Diatom biosilica in plasmonics: applications in sensing, diagnostics and therapeutics [Invited]. BIOMEDICAL OPTICS EXPRESS 2022; 13:3080-3101. [PMID: 35774319 PMCID: PMC9203090 DOI: 10.1364/boe.457483] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/17/2022] [Revised: 04/13/2022] [Accepted: 04/16/2022] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
Several living organisms are able to synthesize complex nanostructures provided with peculiar physical and chemical properties by means of finely-tuned, genetically controlled biomineralization processes. Frustules, in particular, are micro- and nano-structured silica shells produced by ubiquitous diatom microalgae, whose optical properties have been recently exploited in photonics, solar energy harvesting, and biosensing. Metallization of diatom biosilica, both in the shape of intact frustules or diatomite particles, can trigger plasmonic effects that in turn can find application in high-sensitive detection platforms, allowing to obtain effective nanosensors at low cost and on a large scale. The aim of the present review article is to provide a wide, complete overview on the main metallization techniques applied to diatom biosilica and on the principal applications of diatom-based plasmonic devices mainly but not exclusively in the fields of biochemical sensing, diagnostics and therapeutics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edoardo De Tommasi
- National Research Council, Institute of Applied Sciences and Intelligent Systems "Eduardo Caianiello", Unit of Naples, Via P. Castellino 111, I-80131, Naples, Italy
| | - Anna Chiara De Luca
- National Research Council, Institute for Endocrinology and Experimental Oncology "Gaetano Salvatore", Unit of Naples, Via P. Castellino 111, I-80131, Naples, Italy
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