Vascular endothelial cells derived from transgene-free pig induced pluripotent stem cells for vascular tissue engineering.

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) hold great promise for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases through cell-based therapies, but these therapies require extensive preclinical testing that is best done in species-in-species experiments. Pigs are a good large animal model for these tests due to the similarity of their cardiovascular system to humans. However, a lack of adequate pig iPSCs (piPSCs) that are analogous to human iPSCs has greatly limited the potential usefulness of this model system.

Tunable hyperbolic polaritons with plasmonic phase-change material InSbTe.

Hyperbolic polaritons that originate from the extreme optical anisotropy in van der Waals (vdW) crystals have gained much attention for their potential in controlling nanolight. For practical use, there has been a strong interest to develop various manipulation strategies to customize the propagation of hyperbolic polaritons on a deeply sub-diffractional scale. In this regard, phase-change materials (PCMs) that possess two phases with different refractive indices offer suitably a tunable dielectric environment.

Time-Domain-Filtered Terahertz Nanoscopy of Intrinsic Light-Matter Interactions.

Terahertz (THz) technology holds great potential across diverse applications, including biosensing and information communications, but conventional far-field techniques are limited by diffraction. Near-field optical microscopy overcomes this barrier through a sharp tip that concentrates incident THz waves into nanometric volumes, detecting scattered near-field to reveal nanoscale optical properties. However, owing to the large THz wavelengths, resonant surface waves arising on the tip and cantilever obscure the intrinsic response.

Hyperbolic-to-hyperbolic transition at exceptional Reststrahlen point in rare-earth oxyorthosilicates.

Anisotropic optical crystals can exhibit a hyperbolic response within the Reststrahlen band (RB) and support directional polaritonic propagations when interacting with light. Most of the reported low-symmetry optical crystals showcase the evolution from hyperbolic to elliptic dispersion topologies, largely owing to their adjacent RBs being either overlapped or separated. Here, we report an exceptional Reststrahlen point (ERP) in rare-earth oxyorthosilicate YSiO, at which two neighboring RBs almost kiss each other.

Hybrid Ghost Phonon Polaritons in Thin-Film Heterostructure.

Ghost phonon polaritons (g-PhPs), a unique class of phonon polaritons in the infrared, feature ultralong diffractionless propagation (>20 μm) across the surface and tilted wavefronts in the bulk. Here, we study hybrid g-PhPs in a heterostructure of calcite and an ultrathin film of the phase change material (PCM) InSbTe, where the optical field is bound in the PCM film with enhanced confinement compared with conventional g-PhPs. Near-field optical images for hybrid g-PhPs reveal a lemniscate pattern in the momentum distribution.

Patterns of Cytogenomic Findings from a Case Series of Recurrent Pregnancy Loss Provide Insight into the Extent of Genetic Defects Causing Miscarriages.

 A retrospective study was performed to evaluate the patterns of cytogenomic findings detected from a case series of products of conception (POC) in recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) over a 16-year period from 2007 to 2023.  This case series of RPL was divided into a single analysis (SA) group of 266 women and a consecutive analysis (CA) group of 225 women with two to three miscarriages analyzed. Of the 269 POC from the SA group and the 469 POC from the CA group, a spectrum of cytogenomic abnormalities of simple aneuploidies, compound aneuploidies, polyploidies, and structural rearrangements/pathogenic copy number variants (pCNVs) were detected in 109 (41%) and 160 cases (34%), five (2%) and 11 cases (2%), 35 (13%) and 36 cases (8%), and 10 (4%) and 19 cases (4%), respectively.

Spatiotemporal beating and vortices of van der Waals hyperbolic polaritons.

In conventional thin materials, the diffraction limit of light constrains the number of waveguide modes that can exist at a given frequency. However, layered van der Waals (vdW) materials, such as hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), can surpass this limitation due to their dielectric anisotropy, exhibiting positive permittivity along one optic axis and negativity along the other. This enables the propagation of hyperbolic rays within the material bulk and an unlimited number of subdiffractional modes characterized by hyperbolic dispersion.

Van der Waals quaternary oxides for tunable low-loss anisotropic polaritonics.

The discovery of ultraconfined polaritons with extreme anisotropy in a number of van der Waals (vdW) materials has unlocked new prospects for nanophotonic and optoelectronic applications. However, the range of suitable materials for specific applications remains limited. Here we introduce tellurite molybdenum quaternary oxides-which possess non-centrosymmetric crystal structures and extraordinary nonlinear optical properties-as a highly promising vdW family of materials for tunable low-loss anisotropic polaritonics.

Optical nanoimaging of laser-switched phase-change plasmonic infrared antennas.

We investigate the plasmonic properties of laser-printed chalcogenide phase-change material InSeTb (IST) antennas through near-field nanoimaging. Antennas of varying lengths were fabricated by laser switching an amorphous IST film into its crystalline metallic state. Near-field imaging elucidates the pronounced field confinement and enhancement at the antenna extremities along with the emergence of different ordered plasmonic modes with increasing length.

Guided spiraling phonon polaritons in rolled one-dimensional MoO nanotubes.

Polaritons in reduced-dimensional materials, such as nanowire, nanoribbon and rolled nanotube, usually provide novel avenues for manipulating electromagnetic fields at the nanoscale. Here, we theoretically propose and study hyperbolic phonon polaritons (HPhPs) with rolled one-dimensional molybdenum trioxide (MoO) nanotube structure. We find that the HPhPs in rolled MoO nanotubes exhibit low propagation losses and tunable electromagnetic confinement along the rolled direction.

Visible to mid-infrared giant in-plane optical anisotropy in ternary van der Waals crystals.

Birefringence is at the heart of photonic applications. Layered van der Waals materials inherently support considerable out-of-plane birefringence. However, funnelling light into their small nanoscale area parallel to its out-of-plane optical axis remains challenging.

Optical nanoimaging of highly-confined phonon polaritons in atomically-thin nanoribbons of α-MoO.

Phonon polaritons (PhPs), collective modes hybridizing photons with lattice vibrations in polar insulators, enable nanoscale control of light. In recent years, the exploration of in-plane anisotropic PhPs has yielded new levels of confinement and directional manipulation of nano-light. However, the investigation of in-plane anisotropic PhPs at the atomic layer limit is still elusive.

Ultrafast anisotropic dynamics of hyperbolic nanolight pulse propagation.

Polariton pulses-transient light-matter hybrid excitations-traveling through anisotropic media can lead to unusual optical phenomena in space and time. However, studying these pulses presents challenges with their anisotropic, ultrafast, and nanoscale field variations. Here, we demonstrate the creation, observation, and control of polariton pulses, with in-plane hyperbolic dispersion, on anisotropic crystal surfaces by using a time-resolved nanoimaging technique and our developed high-dimensional data processing.

Integrated exome sequencing and microarray analyses detected genetic defects and underlying pathways of hepatocellular carcinoma.

We performed whole exome sequencing (WES) and microarray analysis to detect somatic variants and copy number alterations (CNAs) for underlying mechanisms in a case series of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with paired DNA samples from tumor and adjacent nontumor tissues. Clinicopathologic findings based on Edmondson-Steiner (E-S) grading, Barcelona-Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) stages, recurrence, and survival status and their associations with tumor mutation burden (TMB) and CNA burden (CNAB) were evaluated. WES from 36 cases detected variants in the TP53, AXIN1, CTNNB1, and SMARCA4 genes, amplifications of the AKT3, MYC, and TERT genes, and deletions of the CDH1, TP53, IRF2, RB1, RPL5, and PTEN genes.

Phonon polaritons in van der Waals polar heterostructures for broadband strong light-matter interactions.

Phonon polaritons in polar crystals have recently gained significant attention due to their remarkable confinement and enhancement of electromagnetic fields, low group velocities, and low losses. However, these unique properties, resulting from the coupling between photons and lattice vibrations, exhibit limited spectral responses that may hinder their practical applications. Here, we propose and experimentally demonstrate that polar van der Waals heterostructures can integrate their polar constituents to enable broadband phonon polariton responses.

Observation of directional leaky polaritons at anisotropic crystal interfaces.

Extreme anisotropy in some polaritonic materials enables light propagation with a hyperbolic dispersion, leading to enhanced light-matter interactions and directional transport. However, these features are typically associated with large momenta that make them sensitive to loss and poorly accessible from far-field, being bound to the material interface or volume-confined in thin films. Here, we demonstrate a new form of directional polaritons, leaky in nature and featuring lenticular dispersion contours that are neither elliptical nor hyperbolic.

Tailored thermal emission in bulk calcite through optic axis reorientation.

The polar nature of calcite results in lattice vibrations that can be stimulated through gratings and nanostructures to design spatially and spectrally coherent thermal radiation patterns. In order to obtain optimal design control over such patterned materials, it is first necessary to understand the fundamental emissivity properties of the lattice vibrations themselves. Because calcite is a uniaxial material, when the optic axis (OA) is tilted with respect to the crystal surface, the surface wave solutions to Maxwell's equations and vibrational modes that are permitted will change due to the crystal's structural anisotropy.

Estimation on risk of spontaneous abortions by genomic disorders from a meta-analysis of microarray results on large case series of pregnancy losses.

A meta-analysis on seven large case series (>1000 cases) of chromosome microarray analysis (CMA) on products of conceptions (POC) evaluated the diagnostic yields of genomic disorders and syndromic pathogenic copy number variants (pCNVs) from a collection of 35,130 POC cases. CMA detected chromosomal abnormalities and pCNVs in approximately 50% and 2.5% of cases, respectively.

A mouse model for X-linked Alport syndrome induced by Del-ATGG in the gene.

Alport syndrome (AS) is an inherited glomerular basement membrane (GBM) disease leading to end-stage renal disease (ESRD). X-linked AS (XLAS) is caused by pathogenic variants in the gene. Many pathogenic variants causing AS have been detected, but the genetic modifications and pathological alterations leading to ESRD have not been fully characterized.

Broadband hyperbolic thermal metasurfaces based on the plasmonic phase-change material InSbTe.

Thermal radiation modulation facilitated by phase change materials (PCMs) needs a large thermal radiation contrast in broadband as well as in a non-volatile phase transition, which are only partially satisfied by conventional PCMs. In contrast, the emerging plasmonic PCM InSbTe (IST) that undergoes a non-volatile dielectric-to-metal phase transition during crystallization offers a fitting solution. Here, we have prepared IST-based hyperbolic thermal metasurfaces and demonstrated their capabilities to modulate thermal radiation.

Gate-tunable negative refraction of mid-infrared polaritons.

Negative refraction provides a platform to manipulate mid-infrared and terahertz radiation for molecular sensing and thermal emission applications. However, its implementation based on metamaterials and plasmonic media presents challenges with optical losses, limited spatial confinement, and lack of active tunability in this spectral range. We demonstrate gate-tunable negative refraction at mid-infrared frequencies using hybrid topological polaritons in van der Waals heterostructures.

Real-space nanoimaging of hyperbolic shear polaritons in a monoclinic crystal.

Various optical crystals possess permittivity components of opposite signs along different principal directions in the mid-infrared regime, exhibiting exotic anisotropic phonon resonances. Such materials with hyperbolic polaritons-hybrid light-matter quasiparticles with open isofrequency contours-feature large-momenta optical modes and wave confinement that make them promising for nanophotonic on-chip technologies. So far, hyperbolic polaritons have been observed and characterized in crystals with high symmetry including hexagonal (boron nitride), trigonal (calcite) and orthorhombic (α-MoO or α-VO) crystals, where they obey certain propagation patterns.

The past, present, and future for constitutional ring chromosomes: A report of the international consortium for human ring chromosomes.

Human ring chromosomes (RCs) are rare diseases with an estimated newborn incidence of 1/50,000 and an annual occurrence of 2,800 patients globally. Over the past 60 years, banding cytogenetics, fluorescence hybridization (FISH), chromosome microarray analysis (CMA), and whole-genome sequencing (WGS) has been used to detect an RC and further characterize its genomic alterations. Ring syndrome featuring sever growth retardation and variable intellectual disability has been considered as general clinical presentations for all RCs due to the cellular losses from the dynamic mosaicism of RC instability through mitosis.

Doping-driven topological polaritons in graphene/α-MoO heterostructures.

Control over charge carrier density provides an efficient way to trigger phase transitions and modulate the optoelectronic properties of materials. This approach can also be used to induce topological transitions in the optical response of photonic systems. Here we report a topological transition in the isofrequency dispersion contours of hybrid polaritons supported by a two-dimensional heterostructure consisting of graphene and α-phase molybdenum trioxide.