Tobramycin nanoformulation for chronic pulmonary infections: From drug product definition to scale-up for preclinical evaluation.

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is characterized by abnormal mucus hydration due to a defective CF Transmembrane Regulator (CFTR) protein, leading to the production of difficult-to-clear mucus. This causes airflow obstruction, recurrent infections, and respiratory complications. Chronic lung infections are the leading cause of death for CF patients and inhaled tobramycin is the first-in-line antibiotic treatment against these infections, mainly caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa in adult patients.

Giant Purcell Broadening and Lamb Shift for DNA-Assembled Near-Infrared Quantum Emitters.

Controlling the light emitted by individual molecules is instrumental to a number of advanced nanotechnologies ranging from super-resolution bioimaging and molecular sensing to quantum nanophotonics. Molecular emission can be tailored by modifying the local photonic environment, for example, by precisely placing a single molecule inside a plasmonic nanocavity with the help of DNA origami. Here, using this scalable approach, we show that commercial fluorophores may experience giant Purcell factors and Lamb shifts, reaching values on par with those recently reported in scanning tip experiments.

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy: a half-century historical perspective.

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) has evolved significantly over fifty years into a powerful analytical technique. This review aims to achieve five main goals. (1) Providing a comprehensive history of SERS's discovery, its experimental and theoretical foundations, its connections to advances in nanoscience and plasmonics, and highlighting collective contributions of key pioneers.

A Novel Class of FKBP12 Ligands Rescues Premature Aging Phenotypes Associated with Myotonic Dystrophy Type 1.

Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) is an autosomal dominant disorder clinically characterized by progressive muscular weakness and multisystem degeneration, which correlates with the size of CTG expansion and MBLN decrease. These changes induce a calcium and redox homeostasis imbalance in several models that recapitulate the features of premature tissue aging. In this study, we characterized the impact of a new family of FKBP12 ligands (generically named MPs or MP compounds) designed to stabilize FKBP12 binding to the ryanodine receptors and normalize calcium dysregulation under oxidative stress.

An overview on plasmon-enhanced photoluminescence via metallic nanoantennas.

In the realm of nanotechnology, the integration of quantum emitters with plasmonic nanostructures has emerged as an innovative pathway for applications in quantum technologies, sensing, and imaging. This research paper provides a comprehensive exploration of the photoluminescence enhancement induced by the interaction between quantum emitters and tailored nanostructure configurations. Four canonical nanoantennas (spheres, rods, disks, and crescents) are systematically investigated theoretically in three distinct configurations (single, gap, and nanoparticle-on-mirror nanoantennas), as a representative selection of the most fundamental and commonly studied structures and arrangements.

Fluorescence from a single-molecule probe directly attached to a plasmonic STM tip.

The scanning tunneling microscope (STM) provides access to atomic-scale properties of a conductive sample. While single-molecule tip functionalization has become a standard procedure, fluorescent molecular probes remained absent from the available tool set. Here, the plasmonic tip of an STM is functionalized with a single fluorescent molecule and is scanned on a plasmonic substrate.

Theoretical Procedure for Precise Evaluation of Chemical Enhancement in Molecular Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering.

The enhancement of the molecular Raman signal in plasmon-assisted surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) results from electromagnetic and chemical mechanisms, the latter determined to a large extent by the chemical interaction between the molecules and the hosting plasmonic nanoparticles. A precise quantification of the chemical mechanism in SERS based on quantum chemistry calculations is often challenging due to the interplay between the chemical and electromagnetic effects. Based on an atomistic description of the SERS signal, which includes the effect of strong field inhomogeneities, we introduce a comprehensive approach to evaluate the chemical enhancement in SERS, which conveniently removes the electromagnetic contribution inherent to any quantum calculation of the Raman polarization.

Impact of Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy in Catalysis.

Catalysis stands as an indispensable cornerstone of modern society, underpinning the production of over 80% of manufactured goods and driving over 90% of industrial chemical processes. As the demand for more efficient and sustainable processes grows, better catalysts are needed. Understanding the working principles of catalysts is key, and over the last 50 years, surface-enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) has become essential.

Uncovering low-frequency vibrations in surface-enhanced Raman of organic molecules.

Accessing the terahertz (THz) spectral domain through surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is challenging and opens up the study of low-frequency molecular and electronic excitations. Compared to direct THz probing of heterogenous ensembles, the extreme plasmonic confinement of visible light to deep sub-wavelength scales allows the study of hundreds or even single molecules. We show that self-assembled molecular monolayers of a set of simple aromatic thiols confined inside single-particle plasmonic nanocavities can be distinguished by their low-wavenumber spectral peaks below 200 cm, after removal of a bosonic inelastic contribution and an exponential background from the spectrum.

Influence of atomistic features in plasmon-exciton coupling and charge transfer driven by a single molecule in a metallic nanocavity.

When an organic molecule is placed inside a plasmonic cavity formed by two metallic nanoparticles (MNP) under illumination, the electronic excitations of the molecule couple to the plasmonic electromagnetic modes of the cavity, inducing new hybrid light-matter states called polaritons. Atomistic ab initio methods accurately describe the coupling between MNPs and molecules at the nanometer scale and allow us to analyze how atomistic features influence the interaction. In this work, we study the optical response of a porphine molecule coupled to a silver nanoparticle dimer from first principles, within the linear-response time-dependent density functional theory framework, using the recently developed Python Numeric Atomic Orbitals implementation to compute the optical excitations.

Comparison of Gap-Enhanced Raman Tags and Nanoparticle Aggregates with Polarization Dependent Super-Resolution Spectral SERS Imaging.

Strongly confined electric fields resulting from nanogaps within nanoparticle aggregates give rise to significant enhancement of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). Nanometer differences in gap sizes lead to drastically different confined field strengths; so much attention has been focused on the development and understanding of nanostructures with controlled gap sizes. In this work, we report a novel petal gap-enhanced Raman tag (GERT) consisting of a bipyramid core and a nitrothiophenol (NTP) spacer to support the growth of hundreds of small petals and compare its SERS emission and localization to a traditional bipyramid aggregate.

Footprints of atomic-scale features in plasmonic nanoparticles as revealed by electron energy loss spectroscopy.

We present a first-principles theoretical study of the atomistic footprints in the valence electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) of nanometer-size metallic particles. Charge density maps of excited plasmons and EEL spectra for specific electron paths through a nanoparticle (Na atom cluster) are modeled using calculations within time-dependent density functional theory. Our findings unveil the atomic-scale sensitivity of EELS within this low-energy spectral range.

Giant Quantum Electrodynamic Effects on Single SiV Color Centers in Nanosized Diamonds.

Understanding and mastering quantum electrodynamics phenomena is essential to the development of quantum nanophotonics applications. While tailoring of the local vacuum field has been widely used to tune the luminescence rate and directionality of a quantum emitter, its impact on their transition energies is barely investigated and exploited. Fluorescent defects in nanosized diamonds constitute an attractive nanophotonic platform to investigate the Lamb shift of an emitter embedded in a dielectric nanostructure with high refractive index.

Amplifying Sensing Capabilities: Combining Plasmonic Resonances and Fresnel Reflections through Multivariate Analysis.

Multivariate analysis applied in biosensing greatly improves analytical performance by extracting relevant information or bypassing confounding factors such as nonlinear responses or experimental errors and noise. Plasmonic sensors based on various light coupling mechanisms have shown impressive performance in biosensing by detecting dielectric changes with high sensitivity. In this study, gold nanodiscs are used as metasurface in a Kretschmann setup, and a variety of features from the reflectance curve are used by machine learning to improve sensing performance.

Phospholipase C Zeta in Human Spermatozoa: A Systematic Review on Current Development and Clinical Application.

During fertilization, the fusion of the spermatozoa with the oocytes causes the release of calcium from the oocyte endoplasmatic reticulum. This, in turn, triggers a series of calcium ion (Ca) oscillations, a process known as oocyte activation. The sperm-specific factor responsible for oocyte activation is phospholipase C zeta (PLCζ).

Probing optical anapoles with fast electron beams.

Optical anapoles are intriguing charge-current distributions characterized by a strong suppression of electromagnetic radiation. They originate from the destructive interference of the radiation produced by electric and toroidal multipoles. Although anapoles in dielectric structures have been probed and mapped with a combination of near- and far-field optical techniques, their excitation using fast electron beams has not been explored so far.

Quantum Plasmonics in Sub-Atom-Thick Optical Slots.

We show using time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) that light can be confined into slot waveguide modes residing between individual atomic layers of coinage metals, such as gold. As the top atomic monolayer lifts a few Å off the underlying bulk Au (111), ab initio electronic structure calculations show that for gaps >1.5 Å, visible light squeezes inside the empty slot underneath, giving optical field distributions 2 Å thick, less than the atomic diameter.

Nonlinear Optical Response of a Plasmonic Nanoantenna to Circularly Polarized Light: Rotation of Multipolar Charge Density and Near-Field Spin Angular Momentum Inversion.

The spin and orbital angular momentum carried by electromagnetic pulses open new perspectives to control nonlinear processes in light-matter interactions, with a wealth of potential applications. In this work, we use time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) to study the nonlinear optical response of a free-electron plasmonic nanowire to an intense, circularly polarized electromagnetic pulse. In contrast to the well-studied case of the linear polarization, we find that the th harmonic optical response to circularly polarized light is determined by the multipole moment of order of the induced nonlinear charge density that rotates around the nanowire axis at the fundamental frequency.

Impact of light on task-evoked pupil responses during cognitive tasks.

Light has many non-image-forming functions including modulation of pupil size and stimulation of alertness and cognition. Part of these non-image-forming effects may be mediated by the brainstem locus coeruleus. The processing of sensory inputs can be associated with a transient pupil dilation that is likely driven in part by the phasic activity of the locus coeruleus.

Impact of repeated short light exposures on sustained pupil responses in an fMRI environment.

Light triggers numerous non-image-forming, or non-visual, biological effects. The brain correlates of these non-image-forming effects have been investigated, notably using magnetic resonance imaging and short light exposures varying in irradiance and spectral quality. However, it is not clear whether non-image-forming responses estimation may be biased by having light in sequential blocks, for example, through a potential carryover effect of one light onto the next.

Composite material with enhanced recyclability as encapsulant for photovoltaic modules.

Encapsulation of photovoltaic cells was carried out using a transparent glass fiber reinforced composite with enhanced chemical recyclability based on a matrix of an epoxy resin containing cleavable functional groups. The current-voltage curves showed a decrease of 6.3% on the short-circuit current (Isc) after encapsulation of the cell, lower than the one observed for the reference non-recyclable standard epoxy composite.

Light modulates task-dependent thalamo-cortical connectivity during an auditory attentional task.

Exposure to blue wavelength light stimulates alertness and performance by modulating a widespread set of task-dependent cortical and subcortical areas. How light affects the crosstalk between brain areas to trigger this stimulating effect is not established. Here we record the brain activity of 19 healthy young participants (24.

Human Sperm Head Vacuoles Are Related to Nuclear-Envelope Invaginations.

Nuclear vacuoles are specific structures present on the head of the human sperm of fertile and non-fertile men. Human sperm head vacuoles have been previously studied using motile sperm organelle morphology examination (MSOME) and their origin related to abnormal morphology, abnormal chromatin condensation and DNA fragmentation. However, other studies argued that human sperm vacuoles are physiological structures and consequently, to date, the nature and origin of the nuclear vacuoles remains to be elucidated.

Molecular-Induced Chirality Transfer to Plasmonic Lattice Modes.

Molecular chirality plays fundamental roles in biology. The chiral response of a molecule occurs at a specific spectral position, determined by its molecular structure. This fingerprint can be transferred to other spectral regions via the interaction with localized surface plasmon resonances of gold nanoparticles.

Dispersive surface-response formalism to address nonlocality in extreme plasmonic field confinement.

The surface-response formalism (SRF), where quantum surface-response corrections are incorporated into the classical electromagnetic theory the Feibelman parameters, serves to address quantum effects in the optical response of metallic nanostructures. So far, the Feibelman parameters have been typically obtained from many-body calculations performed in the long-wavelength approximation, which neglects the nonlocality of the optical response in the direction parallel to the metal-dielectric interface, thus preventing to address the optical response of systems with extreme field confinement. To improve this approach, we introduce a SRF based on a general Feibelman parameter (, ), which is a function of both the excitation frequency, , and the wavenumber parallel to the planar metal surface, .