Therapeutic efficacy of Holmium siloxane in microbrachytherapy of induced glioblastoma in minipig tumor model.

Glioblastoma is considered the most common malignant primary tumor of central nervous system. In spite of the current standard and multimodal treatment, the prognosis of glioblastoma is poor. For this reason, new therapeutic approaches need to be developed to improve the survival time of the glioblastoma patient.

Current and future chemical treatments to fight biodeterioration of outdoor building materials and associated biofilms: Moving away from ecotoxic and towards efficient, sustainable solutions.

All types of building materials are rapidly colonized by microorganisms, initially through an invisible and then later a visible biofilm that leads to their biodeterioration. Over centuries, this natural phenomenon has been managed using mechanical procedures, oils, or even wax. In modern history, many treatments such as high-pressure cleaners, biocides (mainly isothiazolinones and quaternary ammonium compounds) are commercially available, as well as preventive ones, such as the use of water-repellent coatings in the fabrication process.

In situ nanoremediation of soils and groundwaters from the nanoparticle's standpoint: A review.

Anthropogenic pollution coming from industrial processes, agricultural practices and consumer products, results in the release of toxic substances into rural and urban environments. Once released, these chemicals migrate through the atmosphere and water, and find their way into matrices such as sediments and groundwaters, thus making large areas potentially uninhabitable. Common pollutants, including heavy metal(loid)s, radionuclides, aliphatic hydrocarbons and halogenated organics, are known to adversely affect physiological systems in animal species.

Feasibility of intratumoral 165Holmium siloxane delivery to induced U87 glioblastoma in a large animal model, the Yucatan minipig.

Glioblastoma is the most aggressive primary brain tumor leading to death in most of patients. It comprises almost 50-55% of all gliomas with an incidence rate of 2-3 per 100,000. Despite its rarity, overall mortality of glioblastoma is comparable to the most frequent tumors.

The antimicrobial effect of silicon nanowires decorated with silver and copper nanoparticles.

The paper reports on the preparation and antibacterial activity of silicon nanowire (SiNW) substrates coated with Ag or Cu nanoparticles (NPs) against Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria. The substrates are easily prepared using the metal-assisted chemical etching of crystalline silicon in hydrofluoric acid/silver nitrate (HF/AgNO3) aqueous solution.

Cell micropatterning on superhydrophobic diamond nanowires.

Cell micropatterning was achieved in a spatially controlled manner based on heterogeneously wetted superhydrophilic/superhydrophobic diamond nanowire (NW) surfaces. Diamond NWs were synthesized on boron-doped diamond substrates using reactive ion etching and functionalized with octadecyltrichlorosilane to achieve superhydrophobicity. Superhydrophilic motifs of 400×400 μm(2) and 10×10 μm(2) single cell-sized motifs, surrounded by superhydrophobic regions, were then generated by selectively exposing the substrates to UV light.

Preparation and characterization of Zonyl-coated nanodiamonds with antifouling properties.

The paper reports on covalent linking of a modified amphiphilic polymer, the alkynyl-terminated Zonyl, to azide-terminated nanodiamonds by click chemistry. An analysis of the hybrid particle stability is presented based on size and zeta potential measurements. The antifouling character of the grafted nanodiamonds was investigated using bovine serum albumin as a model protein.

Cell adhesion properties on chemically micropatterned boron-doped diamond surfaces.

The adhesion properties of living cells were investigated on a range of chemically modified boron-doped diamond (BDD) surfaces. We studied the influence of oxidized, H-, amine- (NH(2)-), methyl- (CH(3)-), trifluoromethyl- (CF(3)-) and vinyl- (CH(2)═CH-) terminated BDD surfaces on human osteosarcoma U2OS and mouse fibroblast L929 cells behavior. Cell-surface interactions were analyzed by fluorescence microscopy in terms of cell attachment, spreading and proliferation.

Functionalization of diamond nanoparticles using "click" chemistry.

The paper reports on covalent linking of different alkyne-containing (decyne, ethynylferrocene, and N-propargyl-1-pyrenecarboxamide) compounds to azide-terminated nanodiamond (ND) particles. Azide-terminated particles (ND-N(3)) were obtained from amine-terminated nanodiamond particles (ND-NH(2)) through the reaction with 4-azidobenzoic acid in the presence of a carbodiimide coupling agent. Functionalized ND particles with long alkyl chain groups can be easily dispersed in various organic solvents without any apparent precipitation after several hours.

'On-the-fly' optical encoding of combinatorial peptide libraries for profiling of protease specificity.

Large solid-phase combinatorial libraries currently play an important role in areas such as infectious disease biomarker discovery, profiling of protease specificity and anticancer drug discovery. Because compounds on solid support beads are not positionally-encoded as they are in microarrays, innovative methods of encoding are required. There are many advantages associated with optical encoding and several strategies have been described in the literature to combine fluorescence encoding methods with solid-phase library synthesis.

Photochemical immobilization of proteins and peptides on benzophenone-terminated boron-doped diamond surfaces.

The successful covalent linking of green fluorescence protein and streptavidin to patterned benzophenone-modified boron-doped diamond (BDD) electrodes is demonstrated. Photoreactive benzophenone moieties were covalently grafted to oxidized diamond surfaces via an esterification reaction. Patterned BDD surfaces were obtained using a UV/ozone lithographic approach either on hydrogen-terminated BDD or on poly(ethylene)-glycol-modified BDD surfaces.

Improving the signal-to-noise performance of molecular diagnostics with PEG-lysine copolymer dendrons.

The synthesis, characterization, and use of dendron-like poly(ethylene glycol)-lysine (PEG-Lys) copolymers as an intermediate layer for biomolecular diagnostic signal enhancement is presented. Solid phase Fmoc-peptide synthesis was used to synthesize polymers with one, two, and three PEG-Lys comonomer units in both a linear and first and second-generation dendronic structure directly onto organosilica microspheres. The microsphere surface loadings (number of free amine sites) were modified and quantified through an innovative use of the protecting groups of coupled amino acids.

Flow cytometric detection of proteolysis in peptide libraries synthesised on optically encoded supports.

The concept of optically encoding particles for solid phase organic synthesis has existed in the literature for several years. However, there remains a significant challenge to producing particles that are capable of withstanding harsh solvents and reagents whilst maintaining the integrity and range of the optical encoding. In this study, a new generation of fluorescently encoded support particles was used for both solid phase peptide synthesis and on-particle analysis of proteolysis in a multiplexed, flow cytometric assay.

Characterization of nanogap chemical reactivity using peptide-capped gold nanoparticles and electrical detection.

Nanogaps are usually combined with synthetic or biological molecules to produce nanodevices having novel properties. This combination is better realized by controlling the chemical properties of the nanogap. We show here that the presence of a specific chemical group inside nanogaps (30-90 nm) can be probed electrically using 10 nm gold nanoparticles derivatized by complementary functional groups.

A dual-purpose synthetic colloidal platform for protease mapping: substrate profiling for Dengue and West Nile virus proteases.

In a proof of concept study, we created a small focused fluorescent hexapeptide library onto 14 multiplexed barcoded sets of silica particles to probe the substrate recognition specificity of West Nile and Dengue virus proteases. A flow cytometric analysis demonstrated that the optical signature of each bead population remained distinguishable throughout the solid-phase peptide synthesis and proteolytic assay. As expected, both proteases displayed a narrow specificity for lysine and arginine residues in the P(1) and P(2) substrate positions.

Current based antibodies detection from human serum enhanced by secondary antibodies labelled with gold nanoparticles immobilized in a nanogap.

We present the electrical detection of immunoglobulin G (IgGs) from human serum using a nanogap-based biosensor. The detection method is based on the capture of IgGs by a probe immobilized between gold nanoelectrodes of 30-90nm spacing. The captured IgGs are further reacted with secondary antibodies labelled with gold nanoparticles (GNPs).

Electrical detection of human immunoglobulins G from human serum using a microbiosensor.

A biosensor for the electrical detection of human antibodies from serum has been fabricated and experimentally demonstrated. The device is based on the immobilization of proteins used as probes between a set of microelectrodes. Incubation with diluted human serum was followed by incubation with anti-human secondary antibodies labeled with gold nanoparticles (GNPs) and then precipitation of silver on the nanoparticles.