Rational Design of Peptide-Functionalized Poly(Methacrylic Acid) Brushes for On-Chip Detection of Protease Biomarkers.

There is an increasing demand for developing new materials and approaches for rapid and sensitive detection of protease biomarkers. Herein, the poly(methacrylic acid) (PMAA) brushes were synthesized from silica nanoparticles via surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP), and flexibly functionalized with different fluorescein-labeled peptides, serving as the substrates for protease assay. To facilitate the point-of-care detection of protease, polyacrylamide gel pad arrays were fabricated to allow permeation of fluorescein-labeled peptide fragments cleaved from the PMAA brushes.

Effect of surfactant concentration in electrolyte on the fabrication and properties of nickel-graphene nanocomposite coating synthesized by electrochemical co-deposition.

Long-time environmental protection of metallic materials is still required in the manufacturing and engineering applications. Nickel-graphene nanocomposite coatings have been prepared on carbon steel using sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) as a dispersant in the electrolyte by an electrochemical co-deposition technique. In this study, the effects of surfactants on graphene dispersion, carbon content in the coatings, surface morphology, microstructures, microhardness and corrosion resistance properties of the nanocomposite coatings are explored.

PGMA-based gene carriers with lipid molecules.

Lipids, as the greatest constituent in cell membranes, have been widely used for biomedical applications because of their excellent biological properties. The introduction of membrane lipid molecules into gene vectors would embody greater biocompatibility, cellular uptake and transfection efficiency. In this work, one flexible strategy for readily conjugating lipid molecules with polycations was proposed based on atom transfer radical polymerization to produce a series of cholesterol (CHO)- and phosphatidylinositol (PI)-terminated ethanolamine-functionalized poly(glycidyl methacrylate)s, namely CHO-PGEAs and PI-PGEAs, as effective gene carriers.