EGFR-targeting antitumor therapy: Neuregulins or antibodies?

Malignancies such as lung, breast and pancreatic carcinomas are associated with increased expression of the epidermal growth factor receptor, EGFR, and its role in the pathogenesis and progression of tumors has made this receptor a prime target in the development of antitumor therapies. In therapies targeting EGFR, the development of resistance owing to mutations and single nucleotide polymorphisms, and the expression of the receptor ligands themselves are very serious issues. In this work, both the ligand neuregulin and a bispecific antibody fragment to EGFR are conjugated separately or together to the same drug-delivery system to find the most promising candidate.

Impact of Small Adsorbates in the Vibrational Spectra of Mg- and Zn-MOF-74 Revealed by First-Principles Calculations.

In this work, we analyze the influence of small adsorbates on the vibrational spectra of Mg- and Zn-metal-organic framework MOF-74 by means of first-principles calculations. In particular, we consider the adsorption of four representative species of different interaction strengths: Ar, CO, HO, and NH. Apart from a comprehensive characterization of the structural and energetic aspects of empty and loaded MOFs, we use a fully quantum approach to evaluate the Raman and IR activities of the normal modes, leading to the construction of the whole vibrational spectra.

Molecular Sieves for the Separation of Hydrogen Isotopes.

Stable molecular hydrogen isotopes, D and T, are both scarce and essential in several energy, industrial, and large-scale fundamental research applications. Due to the chemical similarity of these isotopes, their extraction and purification from hydrogen has relied for decades on expensive and energy-demanding processes. However, factoring in the phenomenon of quantum sieving could provide a new route for these separations.

Synthesis and Characterization of Elongated-Shaped Silver Nanoparticles as a Biocompatible Anisotropic SERS Probe for Intracellular Imaging: Theoretical Modeling and Experimental Verification.

Progress in the field of biocompatible SERS nanoparticles has promising prospects for biomedical applications. In this work, we have developed a biocompatible Raman probe by combining anisotropic silver nanoparticles with the dye rhodamine 6G followed by subsequent coating with bovine serum albumin. This nanosystem presents strong SERS capabilities in the near infrared (NIR) with a very high (2.

Zeolites for CO-CO-O Separation to Obtain CO-Neutral Fuels.

Carbon dioxide release has become an important global issue due to the significant and continuous rise in atmospheric CO concentrations and the depletion of carbon-based energy resources. Plasmolysis is a very energy-efficient process for reintroducing CO into energy and chemical cycles by converting CO into CO and O utilizing renewable electricity. The bottleneck of the process is that CO remains mixed with O and residual CO.