"Hepatitis virus indicator"----the simultaneous detection of hepatitis B and hepatitis C viruses based on the automatic particle enumeration.

As the common hepatitis viruses, hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) are important causes of liver diseases, which greatly threaten human health and public hygiene. Furthermore, due to the similar transmission routes of HBV and HCV, it is highly susceptible to suffer from the cross-infection of HBV and HCV when humans are infected by hepatitis viruses. So it is urgent to develop strategies with high sensitivity to distinguish HBV/HCV and detect their overlapping infection.

Size-Dependent Plasmonic Resonance Scattering Characteristics of Gold Nanorods for Highly Sensitive Detection of microRNA-27a.

MicroRNAs, as one kind of significant biomarkers, play indispensable roles in the diagnosis and treatment of cancers. Yet, owing to low expression and high sequence homology, high sensitivity and specificity for microRNA detection are greatly challenging. Herein, a sensitive sensing platform with high specificity was developed for microRNA-27a (miRNA-27a) based on the miRNA-27a-triggered chemical etching of gold nanorods to a smaller size, which was accompanied by a significant blue shift and a large decrease of intensity in the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) scattering and remarkable color variability from red to green.

High-Resolution Vertical Polarization Excited Dark-Field Microscopic Imaging of Anisotropic Gold Nanorods for the Sensitive Detection and Spatial Imaging of Intracellular microRNA-21.

As an important biomarker for early diagnosis of cancers, sensitive detection and high-resolution imaging of microRNA-21 in cancer cells have become important and challengeable. In this work, highly sensitive detection and spatial imaging of intracellular microRNA-21 were realized by the reduced signal background through vertical polarization excitation with a polarizer. The lateral local surface plasmon resonance property of gold nanorods (AuNRs) displayed a pronounced green color with low scattering intensity, which was adjusted to red color with strong scattering intensity when the core-satellite gold nanoparticle (AuNP) assembly was constructed on the side of AuNRs through a catalyzed hairpin assembly (CHA) circuit in the presence of microRNA-21.

DEVD-based hydrogelator minimizes cellular apoptosis induction.

Herein, we report the rational design of a DEVD-based heptapeptide hydrogelator 1 which is susceptible to caspase-3 (CASP3), and its isomeric control hydrogelator 2 with a DEDV-based heptapeptide sequence. Self-assembly of 1 in water results in flexuous, long nanofibers to form supramolecular hydrogel I with higher mechanical strength than that of hydrogel II which is composed of rigid, short nanofibers of 2. In vitro enzymatic analysis indicated that 1 is susceptive to CASP3 while 2 is not.

Controlled intracellular self-assembly of gadolinium nanoparticles as smart molecular MR contrast agents.

Herein we developed a new "smart" Gd-based MR contrast agent (i.e., 1) which is susceptive to furin, a protease overexpressed in tumor.

Multifunctional small molecule for controlled assembly of oligomeric nanoparticles and crosslinked polymers.

One multifunctional small molecule can undergo a natural condensation reaction under the control of reducing agent to generate amphiphilic oligomers which quickly self-assemble supramolecular nanoparticles or form crosslinked, reversibly degradable polymers.

Caspase-3 controlled assembly of nanoparticles for fluorescence turn on.

A caspase-3 controlled condensation was applied to self-assemble biotinylated nanoparticles for capturing FITC-labelled streptavidin and subsequently turning on the fluorescence signal.

Semisynthesis and antitumor activities of new styryl-lactone derivatives.

Nineteen new derivatives of the naturally occurring compound, goniothalamin, were prepared by chemical modification and semi-synthetic methods. The antitumor activities of these derivatives and goniothalamin were evaluated in vitro against human tumor cell lines, and most of them showed an inhibitory effect against HL-60 cancer cells. The derivatives 10-nitro-goniothalamin and 10-amino-goniothalamin gave selective inhibition concentration (IC50) of 1.

Metabolites and the pharmacokinetics of kobophenol A from Caragana sinica in rats.

This research aims to study the metabolism and pharmacokinetics of phytoestrogen kobophenol A (1), the main active compound of Caragana sinica (Buc'hoz) Rehd. (Fabaceae), in rats. Metabolites of 1 in rats' feces were isolated and purified by multi-chromatograph techniques; three new metabolites of 1, named koboquinone A (M1), koboquinone B (M2) and koboquinone C (M3), were isolated, purified from rats' feces after they being orally administered with 1.