Current State and Challenges of Tissue and Organ Cryopreservation in Biobanking.

Recent years have witnessed significant advancements in the cryopreservation of various tissues and cells, yet several challenges persist. This review evaluates the current state of cryopreservation, focusing on contemporary methods, notable achievements, and ongoing difficulties. Techniques such as slow freezing and vitrification have enabled the successful preservation of diverse biological materials, including embryos and ovarian tissue, marking substantial progress in reproductive medicine and regenerative therapies.

Extreme Electron-Photon Interaction in Disordered Perovskites.

The interaction of light with solids can be dramatically enhanced owing to electron-photon momentum matching. This mechanism manifests when light scattering from nanometer-sized clusters including a specific case of self-assembled nanostructures that form a long-range translational order but local disorder (crystal-liquid duality). In this paper, a new strategy based on both cases for the light-matter-interaction enhancement in a direct bandgap semiconductor - lead halide perovskite CsPbBr - by using electric pulse-driven structural disorder, is addressed.

Optical Sensing of Tissue Freezing Depth by Sapphire Cryo-Applicator and Steady-State Diffuse Reflectance Analysis.

This work describes a sapphire cryo-applicator with the ability to sense tissue freezing depth during cryosurgery by illumination of tissue and analyzing diffuse optical signals in a steady-state regime. The applicator was manufactured by the crystal growth technique and has several spatially resolved internal channels for accommodating optical fibers. The method of reconstructing freezing depth proposed in this work requires one illumination and two detection channels.

Charge Trapping and Defect Dynamics as Origin of Memory Effects in Metal Halide Perovskite Memlumors.

Large language models for artificial intelligence applications require energy-efficient computing. Neuromorphic photonics has the potential to reach significantly lower energy consumption in comparison with classical electronics. A recently proposed memlumor device uses photoluminescence output that carries information about its excitation history via the excited state dynamics of the material.

Blue-Emitting Cs(Pb,Cd)Br Nanocrystals Resistant to Electric Field-Induced Ion Segregation.

High-performance solution-processed perovskite light-emitting diodes (PeLEDs) have emerged as a good alternative to the well-established technology of epitaxially grown AB semiconductor alloys. Colloidal cesium lead halide perovskite nanocrystals (CsPbX NCs) exhibit room-temperature excitonic emission that can be spectrally tuned across the entire visible range by varying the content of different halogens at the X-site. Therefore, they present a promising platform for full color display manufacturing.

Photoinduced Transition from Quasi-Two-Dimensional Ruddlesden-Popper to Three-Dimensional Halide Perovskites for the Optical Writing of Multicolor and Light-Erasable Images.

Optical data storage, information encryption, and security labeling technologies require materials that exhibit local, pronounced, and diverse modifications of their structure-dependent optical properties under external excitation. Herein, we propose and develop a novel platform relying on lead halide Ruddlesden-Popper phases that undergo a light-induced transition toward bulk perovskite and employ this phenomenon for the direct optical writing of multicolor patterns. This transition causes the weakening of quantum confinement and hence a reduction in the band gap.

Dual Modulator of ASIC Channels and GABA Receptors from Thyme Alters Fear-Related Hippocampal Activity.

Acid-sensing ion channels (ASICs) are proton-gated ion channels that mediate nociception in the peripheral nervous system and contribute to fear and learning in the central nervous system. Sevanol was reported previously as a naturally-occurring ASIC inhibitor from thyme with favorable analgesic and anti-inflammatory activity. Using electrophysiological methods, we found that in the high micromolar range, the compound effectively inhibited homomeric ASIC1a and, in sub- and low-micromolar ranges, positively modulated the currents of α1β2γ2 GABA receptors.

Ligand-free template-assisted synthesis of stable perovskite nanocrystals with near-unity photoluminescence quantum yield within the pores of vaterite spheres.

Ligand-free methods for the synthesis of halide perovskite nanocrystals are of great interest because of their excellent performance in optoelectronics and photonics. In addition, template-assisted synthesis methods have become a powerful tool for the fabrication of environmentally stable and bright nanocrystals. Here we develop a novel approach for the facile ligand-free template-assisted fabrication of perovskite nanocrystals with a near-unity absolute quantum yield, which involves CaCO vaterite micro- and submicrospheres as templates.

Light-Controlled Multiphase Structuring of Perovskite Crystal Enabled by Thermoplasmonic Metasurface.

Halide perovskites belong to an important family of semiconducting materials with electronic properties that enable a myriad of applications, especially in photovoltaics and optoelectronics. Their optical properties, including photoluminescence quantum yield, are affected and notably enhanced at crystal imperfections where the symmetry is broken and the density of states increases. These lattice distortions can be introduced through structural phase transitions, allowing charge gradients to appear near the interfaces between phase structures.

Giant and Tunable Excitonic Optical Anisotropy in Single-Crystal Halide Perovskites.

During the last years, giant optical anisotropy has demonstrated its paramount importance for light manipulation. In spite of recent advances in the field, the achievement of continuous tunability of optical anisotropy remains an outstanding challenge. Here, we present a solution to the problem through the chemical alteration of halogen atoms in single-crystal halide perovskites.

Phototrophy by antenna-containing rhodopsin pumps in aquatic environments.

Energy transfer from light-harvesting ketocarotenoids to the light-driven proton pump xanthorhodopsins has been previously demonstrated in two unique cases: an extreme halophilic bacterium and a terrestrial cyanobacterium. Attempts to find carotenoids that bind and transfer energy to abundant rhodopsin proton pumps from marine photoheterotrophs have thus far failed. Here we detected light energy transfer from the widespread hydroxylated carotenoids zeaxanthin and lutein to the retinal moiety of xanthorhodopsins and proteorhodopsins using functional metagenomics combined with chromophore extraction from the environment.

Perovskite Microlaser Integration with Metasurface Supporting Topological Waveguiding.

Halide perovskite nano- and microlasers have become a very convenient tool for many applications from sensing to reconfigurable optical chips. Indeed, they exhibit outstanding emission robustness to crystalline defects due to so-called "defect tolerance" allowing for their simple chemical synthesis and further integration with various photonic designs. Here we demonstrate that such robust microlasers can be combined with another class of resilient photonic components, namely, with topological metasurfaces supporting topological guided boundary modes.

On the Operational Conditions' Effect on the Performance of an Anion Exchange Membrane Water Electrolyzer: Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy Study.

The performance of an anion exchange membrane water electrolyzer under various operational conditions (including voltage, KOH-supporting electrolyte concentration, and flow rate) is studied using conventional time-domain technics and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The water electrolyzer EIS footprint, depending on the variation in operational conditions, is studied and discussed, providing valuable data on the faradaic and non-faradaic processes in MEA, considering their contribution to the total polarization resistance. The distribution of the AEMWE cell voltage contributions is valuable to accessing the key directions in the system performance improvement.

Perovskite Nanowire Laser for Hydrogen Chloride Gas Sensing.

Detection of hazardous volatile organic and inorganic species is a crucial task for addressing human safety in the chemical industry. Among these species, there are hydrogen halides (HX, X = Cl, Br, I) vastly exploited in numerous technological processes. Therefore, the development of a cost-effective, highly sensitive detector selective to any HX gas is of particular interest.

Topic-based classification and identification of global trends for startup companies.

To foresee global economic trends, one needs to understand the present startup companies that soon may become new market leaders. In this paper, we explore textual descriptions of more than 250 thousand startups in the Crunchbase database. We analyze the 2009-2019 period by using topic modeling.

A study of prostate multiprobe cryoablation near urethra for precision treatment planning.

The simplified preoperative planning of multiprobe prostate cryoablation limits its efficiency. In order to improve it, the thermal history prediction software is being developed. However, the problem of high risks at the prostate-urethra boundary has not been solved yet.

Annealing-Dependent Morphotropic Phase Boundary in the BiMgTiO-BiZnTiO Perovskite System.

The annealing behavior of (1-x)BiMg0.5Ti0.5O3−xBiZn0.

Proton-transporting heliorhodopsins from marine giant viruses.

Rhodopsins convert light into signals and energy in animals and microbes. Heliorhodopsins (HeRs), a recently discovered new rhodopsin family, are widely present in archaea, bacteria, unicellular eukaryotes, and giant viruses, but their function remains unknown. Here, we report that a viral HeR from Emiliania huxleyi virus 202 (V2HeR3) is a light-activated proton transporter.

Searching Metagenomes for New Rhodopsins.

Most microbial groups have not been cultivated yet, and the only way to approach the enormous diversity of rhodopsins that they contain in a sensible timeframe is through the analysis of their genomes. High-throughput sequencing technologies have allowed the release of community genomics (metagenomics) of many habitats in the photic zones of the ocean and lakes. Already the harvest is impressive and included from the first bacterial rhodopsin (proteorhodopsin) to the recent discovery of heliorhodopsin by functional metagenomics.

Diverse heliorhodopsins detected via functional metagenomics in freshwater Actinobacteria, Chloroflexi and Archaea.

The recently discovered rhodopsin family of heliorhodopsins (HeRs) is abundant in diverse microbial environments. So far, the functional and biological roles of HeRs remain unknown. To tackle this issue, we combined experimental and computational screens to gain some novel insights.

Directional Lasing from Nanopatterned Halide Perovskite Nanowire.

Halide perovskite nanowire-based lasers have become a powerful tool for modern nanophotonics, being deeply subwavelength in cross-section and demonstrating low-threshold lasing within the whole visible spectral range owing to the huge gain of material even at room temperature. However, their emission directivity remains poorly controlled because of the efficient outcoupling of radiation through their subwavelength facets working as pointlike light sources. Here, we achieve directional lasing from a single perovskite CsPbBr nanowire by imprinting a nanograting on its surface, which provides stimulated emission outcoupling to its vertical direction with a divergence angle around 2°.

Halide Perovskite Nanocrystals with Enhanced Water Stability for Upconversion Imaging in a Living Cell.

Halide perovskite nanomaterials are widely used in optoelectronics and photonics due to their outstanding luminescent properties, whereas their strong multiphoton absorption makes them prospective for bioimaging. Nonetheless, instability of perovskites in aqueous solutions is an important limitation that prevents their application in biology and medicine. Here, we demonstrate fluorescence and upconversion imaging in living cells by employing CsPbBr nanocrystals (NCs) that show an improved water-resistance (at least for 24 h) after their coating as individual particles with various silica-based shells.

Light-Induced Conformational Alterations in Heliorhodopsin Triggered by the Retinal Excited State.

Heliorhodopsins are a recently discovered diverse retinal protein family with an inverted topology of the opsin where the retinal protonated Schiff base proton is facing the cell cytoplasmic side in contrast to type 1 rhodopsins. To explore whether light-induced retinal double-bond isomerization is a prerequisite for triggering protein conformational alterations, we utilized the retinal oxime formation reaction and thermal denaturation of a native heliorhodopsin of SG8-52-1 (TaHeR) as well as a -locked retinal analogue (TaHeR) in which the critical C═C double-bond isomerization is prevented. We found that both reactions are light-accelerated not only in the native but also in the "locked" pigment despite lacking any isomerization.

Discovery of a microbial rhodopsin that is the most stable in extreme environments.

Microbial rhodopsin is a retinal protein that functions as an ion pump, channel, and sensory transducer, as well as a light sensor, as in biosensors and biochips. Tara76 rhodopsin is a typical proton-pumping rhodopsin that exhibits strong stability against extreme pH, detergent, temperature, salt stress, and dehydration stress and even under dual and triple conditions. Tara76 rhodopsin has a thermal stability approximately 20 times higher than that of thermal rhodopsin at 80°C and is even stable at 85°C.