Structural DNA nanotechnology is an emerging field and is expected to be used for various applications in materials science. In this study, we designed a DNA tensegrity triangle to accommodate the bipyridine complexes with metal ions (Ni and Fe) at the center of the space within the triangle. A metal-bipyridine-incorporated DNA tensegrity triangle was crystalized, and the presence of metals within it was confirmed through X-ray crystal structure analysis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMetal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have emerged as promising nanocarriers for cancer treatment due to their unique properties. Featuring high porosity, extensive surface area, chemical stability, and good biocompatibility, MOFs are ideal for efficient drug delivery, targeted therapy, and controlled release. They can be designed to target specific cellular organelles to disrupt metabolic processes in cancer cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFQuantum dots, which won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, have recently gained significant attention in precision medicine due to their unique properties, such as size-tunable emission, high photostability, efficient light absorption, and vibrant luminescence. Consequently, there is a growing demand to identify new types of quantum dots from various sources and explore their potential applications as stimuli-responsive biosensors, biomolecular imaging probes, and targeted drug delivery agents. Biomass-waste-derived carbon quantum dots (CQDs) are an attractive alternative to conventional QDs, which often require expensive and toxic precursors, as they offer several merits in eco-friendly synthesis, preparation from renewable sources, and cost-effective production.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFToll-like receptor 9 (TLR-9) is a protein that helps our immune system identify specific DNA types. Upon detection, CpG oligodeoxynucleotides signal the immune system to generate cytokines, essential proteins that contribute to the body's defence against infectious diseases. Native phosphodiester type B CpG ODNs induce only Interleukin-6 with no effect on interferon-α.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChalcone derivatives are an extremely valuable class of compounds, primarily due to the keto-ethylenic group, CO-CH[double bond, length as m-dash]CH-, they contain. Moreover, the presence of a reactive α,β-unsaturated carbonyl group confers upon them a broad range of pharmacological properties. Recent developments in heterocyclic chemistry have led to the synthesis of chalcone derivatives, which have been biologically investigated for their activity against certain diseases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTranscription therapy is an emerging approach that centers on identifying the factors associated with the malfunctioning gene transcription machinery that causes diseases and controlling them with designer agents. Until now, the primary research focus in therapeutic gene modulation has been on small-molecule drugs that target epigenetic enzymes and critical signaling pathways. However, nucleic acid-based small molecules have gained popularity in recent years for their amenability to be pre-designed and realize operative control over the dynamic transcription machinery that governs how the immune system responds to diseases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOver recent years, carbon quantum dots (CQDs) have advanced significantly and gained substantial attention for their numerous benefits. These benefits include their simple preparation, cost-effectiveness, small size, biocompatibility, bright luminescence, and low cytotoxicity. As a result, they hold great potential for various fields, including bioimaging.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFColorectal cancer (CRC) accounts for considerable mortalities worldwide. Several modifiable risk factors, including a high intake of certain foods and beverages can cause CRC. This review summarized the latest findings on the intake of various foods, nutrients, ingredients, and beverages on CRC development, with the objective of classifying them as a risk or protective factor.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Biomol Struct Dyn
February 2024
Viral infections cause significant health problems all over the world, and it is critical to develop treatments for these problems. Antivirals that target viral genome-encoded proteins frequently cause the virus to become more resistant to treatment. Because viruses rely on several cellular proteins and phosphorylation processes that are essential to their life cycle, drugs targeting host-based targets could be a viable treatment option.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Biomol Struct Dyn
December 2023
Heterocyclic derivatives have more interesting biological properties which hold a remarkable place in pharmaceutical industries due to their unique physiochemical properties and ease of adaption in various biological environments. Of many, the above-said derivatives have been recently examined for their promising action against a few malignancies. Specifically, anti-cancer research has benefited from these derivatives' natural flexibility and dynamic core scaffold.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn recent years, the field of nanomaterials has exponentially expanded with versatile biological applications. However, one of the roadblocks to their clinical translation is the critical knowledge gap about how the nanomaterials interact with the biological microenvironment (nano-bio interactions). When nanomaterials are used as drug carriers or contrast agents for biological imaging, the nano-bio interaction-mediated protein conformational changes and misfolding could lead to disease-related molecular alterations and/or cell death.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA compact sensory platform has been fabricated using a graphene field effect transistor (GFET) to identify the biomolecules by pH sensing. The monolayer GFET is driven by an in-built top-gate for detecting the pH of the contacting buffer solution. The GFET device detects the effect of hydroxide ions on a graphite surface.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFX-ray irradiation of high Z elements causes photoelectric effects that include the release of Auger electrons that can induce localized DNA breaks. We have previously established a tumor spheroid-based assay that used gadolinium containing mesoporous silica nanoparticles and synchrotron-generated monochromatic X-rays. In this work, we focused on iodine and synthesized iodine-containing porous organosilica (IPO) nanoparticles.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiodegradable periodic mesoporous organosilica (BPMO) has recently emerged as a promising type of mesoporous silica-based nanoparticle for biomedical applications. Like mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN), BPMO possesses a large surface area where various compounds can be attached. In this work, we attached boronophenylalanine (BPA) to the surface and explored the potential of this nanomaterial for delivering boron-10 for use in boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA better understanding of the compatibility of water-soluble semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) upon contact with the bloodstream is important for biological applications, including biomarkers working in the first therapeutic spectral window for deep tissue imaging. Herein, we investigated the conformational changes of blood plasma proteins during the interaction with near-infrared light-emitting nanoparticles, consisting of Pluronic F127 shells and cores comprised of assembled silicon QDs terminated with decane monolayers. Albumin and transferrin have high quenching constants and form a hard protein corona on the nanoparticle.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPorous nanomaterials can be used to load various anti-cancer drugs efficiently and deliver them to a particular location in the body with minimal toxicity. Biodegradable periodic mesoporous organosilica nanoparticles (BPMOs) have recently emerged as promising candidates for disease targeting and drug delivery. They have a large functional surface and well-defined pores with a biodegradable organic group framework.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProtein conformational changes are associated with potential cytotoxicity upon interaction with small molecules or nanomaterials. Protein misfolding leads to protein-mediated diseases; thus, it is important to study the conformational changes in proteins using nanoparticles as drug carriers. In this study, the conformational changes in hemoglobin and thrombin were observed using fluorescence spectroscopy, circular dichroism spectroscopy and molecular modelling studies after interaction with non-toxic, water-soluble near-infrared silicon quantum dot micelles.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Technol Adv Mater
April 2019
Luminescence probe has been broadly used for bio-imaging applications. Among them, near-infrared (NIR) quantum dots (QDs) are more attractive due to minimal tissue absorbance and larger penetration depth. Above said reasons allowed whole animal imaging without slice scan or dissection.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhospholipid quantum dot micelles are useful for bio-applications because of their amphiphilicity and exceptional biocompatibilities. We investigated the uptake of phospholipid [polyethylene glycol (PEG), biotin, and folic acid terminated] modified CdSe/ZnS quantum dot micelles by cancer cells and its photostability under ultrviolet light in the C spectrum (UV-C) (254 nm) or UV-A (365 nm) light irradiation. The stability of micelles to the exposure of UV-C and UV-A light was assessed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this present study on understanding the taxol (PTX) binding interaction mechanism in both the β-tubulin and bovine serum albumin (BSA) molecule, various optical spectroscopy and computational techniques were used. The fluorescence steady-state emission spectroscopy result suggests that there is a static quenching mechanism of the PTX drug in both β-tubulin and BSA, and further time-resolved emission spectroscopy studies confirm that the quenching mechanism exists. The excitation-emission matrix (EEM), Fourier transform infrared, and resonance light scattering spectra (FT-IR) confirm that there are structural changes in both the BSA and β-tubulin molecule during the binding process of PTX.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe present study focuses on the determination of the biologically significant N-acetylneuraminic acid (NANA) drug binding interaction mechanism between bovine serum albumin (BSA) and human α-1 acid glycoprotein (HAG) using various optical spectroscopy and computational methods. The steady state fluorescence spectroscopy result suggests that the fluorescence intensity of BSA and HAG was quenched by NANA in a static mode of quenching. Further time-resolved emission spectroscopy measurements confirm that mode of quenching mechanism of NANA in the BSA and HAG system.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHere we report for the first time highly flexible quantum dot light-emitting diodes (QLEDs), in which a layer of red-emitting colloidal silicon quantum dots (SiQDs) works as the optically active component, by replacing a rigid glass substrate with a thin sheet of polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The enhanced optical performance for electroluminescence (EL) at room temperature in air is achieved by taking advantage of the inverted device structure. Our QLEDs do not exhibit parasitic EL emissions from the neighboring compositional layers or surface states of QDs over a wide range of driving voltages and do not exhibit a shift in the EL peak position as the operational voltage increases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLuminescence
June 2018
In this study the interaction mechanism between newly synthesized 4-(3-acetyl-5-(acetylamino)-2-methyl-2, 3-dihydro-1,3,4-thiadiazole-2-yl) phenyl benzoate (thiadiazole derivative) anticancer active drug with calf thymus DNA was investigated by using various optical spectroscopy techniques along with computational technique. The absorption spectrum shows a clear shift in the lower wavelength region, which may be due to strong hypochromic effect in the ctDNA and the drug. The results of steady state fluorescence spectroscopy show that there is static quenching occurring while increasing the thiadiazole drug concentration in the ethidium bromide-ctDNA system.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAtomically thin, two-dimensional materials ranging from superconductors, metals, semiconductors to insulators are emerging as potential candidates for the next-generation digital electronics and optoelectronic applications. Their synthesis on a commonly used substrate and fast transfer to a plenty of desired substrates need to be addressed to meet the industrialization criteria for practical applications. In this study, fused silica, which is amorphous, transparent, and inexpensive, was examined as a substrate for MoS synthesis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDetection of disease-related gene expression by DNA hybridization is a useful diagnostic method. In this study a monolayer graphene field effect transistor (GFET) was fabricated for the detection of a particular single-stranded DNA (target DNA). The probe DNA, which is a single-stranded DNA with a complementary nucleotide sequence, was directly immobilized onto the graphene surface without any linker.
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