Assessing the Challenges of Nanotechnology-Driven Targeted Therapies: Development of Magnetically Directed Vectors for Targeted Cancer Therapies and Beyond.

Targeted delivery, in which therapeutic agents are preferentially concentrated at the diseased site, has the potential to improve therapeutic outcomes by minimizing off-target interactions in healthy tissue. Both passive and active methods of targeting delivery have been proposed, often with particular emphasis on cancer treatment. Passive methods rely on the overexpression of a biomarker in diseased tissue that can then be used to target the therapy.

β1 integrin is a sensor of blood flow direction.

Endothelial cell (EC) sensing of fluid shear stress direction is a critical determinant of vascular health and disease. Unidirectional flow induces EC alignment and vascular homeostasis, whereas bidirectional flow has pathophysiological effects. ECs express several mechanoreceptors that respond to flow, but the mechanism for sensing shear stress direction is poorly understood.

A new class of magnetically actuated pumps and valves for microfluidic applications.

We propose a new class of magnetically actuated pumps and valves that could be incorporated into microfluidic chips with no further external connections. The idea is to repurpose ferromagnetic low Reynolds number swimmers as devices capable of generating fluid flow, by restricting the swimmers' translational degrees of freedom. We experimentally investigate the flow structure generated by a pinned swimmer in different scenarios, such as unrestricted flow around it as well as flow generated in straight, cross-shaped, Y-shaped and circular channels.

Magnetically controlled ferromagnetic swimmers.

Microscopic swimming devices hold promise for radically new applications in lab-on-a-chip and microfluidic technology, diagnostics and drug delivery etc. In this paper, we demonstrate the experimental verification of a new class of autonomous ferromagnetic swimming devices, actuated and controlled solely by an oscillating magnetic field. These devices are based on a pair of interacting ferromagnetic particles of different size and different anisotropic properties joined by an elastic link and actuated by an external time-dependent magnetic field.

Experimental Approaches to Study Endothelial Responses to Shear Stress.

Significance: Shear stress controls multiple physiological processes in endothelial cells (ECs).

Recent Advances: The response of ECs to shear has been studied using a range of in vitro and in vivo models.

Critical Issues: This article describes some of the experimental techniques that can be used to study endothelial responses to shear stress.

Nanoscale switch for vortex polarization mediated by Bloch core formation in magnetic hybrid systems.

Vortices are fundamental magnetic topological structures characterized by a curling magnetization around a highly stable nanometric core. The control of the polarization of this core and its gyration is key to the utilization of vortices in technological applications. So far polarization control has been achieved in single-material structures using magnetic fields, spin-polarized currents or spin waves.

Mechanoresponsive networks controlling vascular inflammation.

Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease of arteries that develops preferentially at branches and bends that are exposed to disturbed blood flow. Vascular function is modified by flow, in part, via the generation of mechanical forces that alter multiple physiological processes in endothelial cells. Shear stress has profound effects on vascular inflammation; high uniform shear stress prevents leukocyte recruitment to the vascular wall by reducing endothelial expression of adhesion molecules and other inflammatory proteins, whereas low oscillatory shear stress has the opposite effects.

Forgery: 'fingerprinting' documents and packaging.

We have found that almost all paper documents, plastic cards and product packaging contain a unique physical identity code formed from microscopic imperfections in the surface. This covert 'fingerprint' is intrinsic and virtually impossible to modify controllably. It can be rapidly read using a low-cost portable laser scanner.

Exacerbation of cerebral amyloid angiopathy-associated microhemorrhage in amyloid precursor protein transgenic mice by immunotherapy is dependent on antibody recognition of deposited forms of amyloid beta.

Passive immunization with an antibody directed against the N terminus of amyloid beta (Abeta) has recently been reported to exacerbate cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA)-related microhemorrhage in a transgenic animal model. Although the mechanism responsible for the deleterious interaction is unclear, a direct binding event may be required. We characterized the binding properties of several monoclonal anti-Abeta antibodies to deposited Abeta in brain parenchyma and CAA.