Agrin-Matrix Metalloproteinase-12 axis confers a mechanically competent microenvironment in skin wound healing.

An orchestrated wound healing program drives skin repair via collective epidermal cell proliferation and migration. However, the molecular determinants of the tissue microenvironment supporting wound healing remain poorly understood. Herein we discover that proteoglycan Agrin is enriched within the early wound-microenvironment and is indispensable for efficient healing.

An integrated platform to facilitate the calculation, validation and visualization of optical flow velocities in biological images.

Optical flow algorithms have seen poor adoption in the biological community compared with particle image velocimetry for quantifying cellular dynamics because of the lack of proper validation and an intuitive user interface. To address these challenges, we present OpFlowLab, an integrated platform that integrates our motion estimation workflow. Using routines in our workflow, we demonstrate that optical flow algorithms are more accurate than PIV in simulated images of the movement of nuclei.

Spherical microwell arrays for studying single cells and microtissues in 3D confinement.

Microwell arrays have emerged as three-dimensional substrates for cell culture due to their simplicity of fabrication and promise for high-throughput applications such as 3D cell-based assays for drug screening. To date, most microwells have had cylindrical geometries. Motivated by our previous findings that cells display 3D physiological characteristics when grown in the spherical micropores of monodisperse foam scaffolds (Lee et al 2013 Integr.

Revealing the dependence of cell spreading kinetics on its spreading morphology using microcontact printed fibronectin patterns.

Since the dawn of in vitro cell cultures, how cells interact and proliferate within a given external environment has always been an important issue in the study of cell biology. It is now well known that mammalian cells typically exhibit a three-phase sigmoid spreading on encountering a substrate. To further this understanding, we examined the influence of cell shape towards the second rapid expansion phase of spreading.

P-type 3C-SiC nanowires and their optical and electrical transport properties.

We report for the first time the fabrication of p-type SiC nanowire field-effect transistors (FETs) using an individual Al-doped 3C-SiC nanowire with a single crystalline structure. The Raman spectroscopy of the as-grown p-type wire indicates that the linewidth and peak intensity of LO-phonon bands are sensitive to temperature variations.

In situ real-time investigation of cancer cell photothermolysis mediated by excited gold nanorod surface plasmons.

The photothermolysis of living EMT-6 breast tumor cells triggered by gold nanorods (AuNRs) with two-photon irradiation was conducted in situ and under real-time observation. The morphology and plasma membrane permeability of the cells were key indicators to the phenomena. AuNRs with an aspect ratio of 3.