May 2024 • 2024 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO), 1-2, 2024
O Sefi, Y Klein, A Ben Yehuda, S Bloch, H Schwartz, E Cohen, S Shwartz
We demonstrate resolution enhancement of a standard hard x-ray imaging system from 500 μm to approximately 20 μm by extending the concept of ghost imaging to multipixel ghost imaging, enabling mega-pixel scale imaging in a short timeframe.
Show moreMay 2024 • CLEO: Fundamental Science, FM2R. 1, 2024
Y Klein, E Strizhevsky, H Aknin, M Deutsch, E Cohen, A Peer, K Tamasaku, T Schulli, E Karimi, S Shwartz
We demonstrate the pioneering use of a quantum interferometer with x-rays, highlighting its effectiveness in precisely measuring the phase accumulated in opaque media. Our work uncovers novel opportunities for measuring sub-Angstrom optical-path differences.
Show moreMay 2024 • 2024 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO), 1-2, 2024
L Dokhanian, S Kumar Bag, M Hen, A Zadok
Thermoelastic stimulation of surface acoustic waves in standard silicon photonic circuits is enhanced through the absorption of pump light in surface plasmon resonant unit cells. Transmission losses are reduced by 20 dB.
Show moreMay 2024 • Molecular Catalysis
Or Rimon, Wenjamin Moschkowitsch, Gili Cohen Taguri, Lior Elbaz, Maytal Caspary Toroker
May 2024 • 245th ECS Meeting (May 26-30, 2024)
Nils Heppe, Charlotte Gallenkamp, Rifael Z Snitkoff-Sol, Stephen Daniel Paul, Nicole Segura Salas, Vasily Potapkin, Atefeh Jafari, Olaf Leupold, Volker Schuenemann, Lior Elbaz, Vera Krewald, Ulrike I Kramm
May 2024 • Nucleic Acids Research
Mor Angel, Eden Fleshler, Mohammad Khaled Atrash, Noa Kinor, Jennifer IC Benichou, Yaron Shav-Tal
Stress granules (SGs) are cytoplasmic assemblies formed under various stress conditions as a consequence of translation arrest. SGs contain RNA-binding proteins, ribosomal subunits and messenger RNAs (mRNAs). It is well known that mRNAs contribute to SG formation; however, the connection between SG assembly and nuclear processes that involve mRNAs is not well established. Here, we examine the effects of inhibiting mRNA transcription, splicing and export on the assembly of SGs and the related cytoplasmic P body (PB). We demonstrate that inhibition of mRNA transcription, splicing and export reduces the formation of canonical SGs in a eukaryotic initiation factor 2α phosphorylation-independent manner, and alters PB size and quantity. We find that the splicing inhibitor madrasin promotes the assembly of stress-like granules. We show that the addition of synthetic mRNAs directly to the cytoplasm …
Show moreMay 2024 • Briefings in Bioinformatics
Ayelet Peres, Vered Klein, Boaz Frankel, William Lees, Pazit Polak, Mark Meehan, Artur Rocha, João Correia Lopes, Gur Yaari
May 2024 • Histochemistry and Cell Biology
Chaya Bohrer, Eli Varon, Eldar Peretz, Gita Reinitz, Noa Kinor, David Halle, Aviram Nissan, Yaron Shav-Tal
Super-enhancers are unique gene expression regulators widely involved in cancer development. Spread over large DNA segments, they tend to be found next to oncogenes. The super-enhancer c-MYC locus forms long-range chromatin looping with nearby genes, which brings the enhancer and the genes into proximity, to promote gene activation. The colon cancer-associated transcript 1 (CCAT1) gene, which is part of the MYC locus, transcribes a lncRNA that is overexpressed in colon cancer cells through activation by MYC. Comparing different types of cancer cell lines using RNA fluorescence in situ hybridization (RNA FISH), we detected very prominent CCAT1 expression in HeLa cells, observed as several large CCAT1 nuclear foci. We found that dozens of CCAT1 transcripts accumulate on the gene locus, in addition to active transcription occurring from the gene. The accumulating transcripts are released …
Show moreMay 2024 • Langmuir
Adan Marzouq, Lion Morgenstein, Carlos A Huang-Zhu, Shimon Yudovich, Ayelet Atkins, Asaf Grupi, Reid C Van Lehn, Shimon Weiss
Insertion of hydrophobic nanoparticles into phospholipid bilayers is limited to small particles that can incorporate into a hydrophobic membrane core between two lipid leaflets. Incorporation of nanoparticles above this size limit requires the development of challenging surface engineering methodologies. In principle, increasing the long-chain lipid component in the lipid mixture should facilitate incorporation of larger nanoparticles. Here, we explore the effect of incorporating very long phospholipids (C24:1) into small unilamellar vesicles on the membrane insertion efficiency of hydrophobic nanoparticles that are 5–11 nm in diameter. To this end, we improve an existing vesicle preparation protocol and utilized cryogenic electron microscopy imaging to examine the mode of interaction and evaluate the insertion efficiency of membrane-inserted nanoparticles. We also perform classical coarse-grained molecular …
Show moreMay 2024 • arXiv preprint arXiv:2405.02036
TR Devidas, Jonathan T Reichanadter, Shannon C Haley, Matan Sterenberg, Joel E Moore, Jeffrey B Neaton, James G Analytis, Beena Kalisky, Eran Maniv
Materials that transition between metal and insulator, the two opposing states that distinguish all solids, are fascinating because they underlie many mysteries in the physics of the solid state. In 1T-TaS, the metal-insulator transition is linked to a series of metastable states of a chiral charge density wave whose basic nature is still an open question. In this work, we show that pulses of current through these materials create current-carrying boundary channels that distinguish the metallic and insulating states. We demonstrate electrical control of these channels' properties, suggesting their formation could be due to the complex interplay of the formation of domain walls and the viscous flow of electrons. Our findings show that physical boundaries play a key role in the properties of the metastable states of the metal-insulator transition, highlighting new possibilities for in-situ electrical design and active manipulation of electrical components.
Show moreMay 2024 • 2024 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO), 1-2, 2024
Tomer Bucher, Harel Nahari, Hanan Herzig Sheinfux, Ron Ruimy, Arthur Niedermayr, Raphael Dahan, Qinghui Yan, Yuval Adiv, Michael Yannai, Jialin Chen, Yaniv Kurman, Sang Tae Park, Daniel J Masiel, Eli Janzen, James H Edgar, Fabrizio Carbone, Guy Bartal, Shai Tsesses, Frank HL Koppens, Giovanni Maria Vanacore, Ido Kaminer
We present free-electron imaging of sub-cycle spatio-temporal dynamics of 2D polariton wavepackets, demonstrating the first simultaneous time-, space-, and phase-resolved measurement of such phenomena, and resolving their novel features like vortex-anti-vortex singularities for record-low intensities.
Show moreMay 2024 • Journal of Clinical Microbiology
Michael Margulis, Hanan Rohana, Oran Erster, Michal Mandelboim, Asaf Biber, Eli Schwartz, Avi Peretz, Amos Danielli
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the necessity of fast, sensitive, and efficient methods to test large populations for respiratory viruses. The “gold standard” molecular assays for detecting respiratory viruses, such as quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and reverse transcription qPCR (RT-qPCR), rely on invasive swab samples and require time-consuming and labor-intensive extraction processes. Moreover, the turnaround time for RT-qPCR-based assays is too lengthy for rapid screening. Extraction-free saliva-based methods provide a non-invasive sampling process with a fast turnaround time and are suitable for high-throughput applications. However, when used with a standard RT-qPCR system, the absence of extraction significantly reduces the assays’ sensitivity. Here, using a novel optical modulation biosensing (OMB) platform, we developed a rapid and highly sensitive extraction-free saliva …
Show moreMay 2024 • Beilstein Journal of Organic Chemistry
Naziha Tarannam, Prashant Kumar Gupta, Shani Zev, Dan Thomas Major
In the current work, we analyzed the origin of difference in stabilities among the germacrene A and hedycaryol-derived carbocations. This study focused on twelve hydrocarbons derived from germacrene A and twelve from hedycaryol, which can be divided into three groups: four molecules containing 6-6 bicyclic rings, four 5-7 bicyclic compounds with the carbocation being on the seven-membered ring and the remaining four 5-7 bicyclic compounds with the carbocation on the five-membered ring. The variations in energy within the groups of carbocations (ie, 6-6 and two kinds of 5-7 bicyclic carbocations) can be ascribed to intramolecular repulsion interactions, as seen from non-covalent interactions plots. Despite the structural similarities between germacrene A and hedycaryol cations, they possess a somewhat different stability trend. These differences are attributed to C+··· OH intramolecular interactions present in some hedycaryol cations, which are absent in the carbocations derived from germecrene A.
Show moreMay 2024 • Biotechnology Journal
Jonathan Giron, Merav Antman‐Passig, Neta Zilony, Hadas Schori, Ido Bachelet, Orit Shefi
Self‐assembly of biological elements into biomimetic cargo carriers for targeting and delivery is a promising approach. However, it still holds practical challenges. We developed a functionalization approach of DNA origami (DO) nanostructures with neuronal growth factor (NGF) for manipulating neuronal systems. NGF bioactivity and its interactions with the neuronal system were demonstrated in vitro and in vivo models. The DO elements fabricated by molecular self‐assembly have manipulated the surrounding environment through static spatially and temporally controlled presentation of ligands to the cell surface receptors. Our data showed effective bioactivity in differentiating PC12 cells in vitro. Furthermore, the DNA origami NGF (DON) affected the growth directionality and spatial capabilities of dorsal root ganglion neurons in culture by introducing a chemotaxis effect along a gradient of functionalized DO …
Show moreMay 2024 • ChemBioChem
Ameer Yasin, Alysia Mandato, Lukas Hofmann, Yasmin Igbaria-Jaber, Yulia Shenberger, Lada Gevorkyan-Airapetov, Sunil Saxena, Sharon Ruthstein
Bacteria use specialized proteins, like transcription factors, to rapidly control metal ion balance. CueR is a Gram‐negative bacterial copper regulator. The structure of E. coli CueR complexed with Cu(I) and DNA was published, since then many studies have shed light on its function. However, P. aeruginosa CueR, which shows high sequence similarity to E. coli CueR, has been less studied. Here, we applied room‐temperature electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) measurements to explore changes in dynamics of P. aeruginosa CueR in dependency of copper concentrations and interaction with two different DNA promoter regions. We showed that P. aeruginosa CueR is less dynamic than the E. coli CueR protein and exhibits much higher sensitivity to DNA binding as compared to its E. coli CueR homologue. Moreover, a difference in dynamical behavior was observed when P. aeruginosa CueR binds to the …
Show moreMay 2024 • Energy Storage Materials
Elad Ballas, Amey Nimkar, Gil Bergman, Ran Elazari, Racheli Wakshlak, Daniel Sharon, Mikhael D Levi, Dan Thomas Major, Daniel Mandler, Netanel Shpigel, Doron Aurbach
Several decades after the invention of the flow Zn-Br2 systems persistent attempts have been made to develop stationary Zn-Br2 batteries. Such development should increase the energy density of the system simultaneously significantly reducing their cost and opening new challenges associated with the cell design and its performance. One of the major concerns is the rapid self-discharge of stationary systems leading to spontaneous charge loss during battery storage time. While self-discharge in flow cells is generally attributed to the chemical oxidation of the Zn anode, we show that the origin of self-discharge in a static configuration is completely different. By systematic investigations of activated carbon with different surface areas under varied charging conditions, mechanistic insights into this phenomenon were provided. Based on this understanding, we proposed herein an effective way to suppress the cathode …
Show moreMay 2024 • Crystal Growth & Design
Gil Otis, Matan Oliel, Subhomoy Das, Yarden Ben Moshe, Yulia Shenberger, Sharon Ruthstein, Yitzhak Mastai
Chiral induction of chiral crystals attracts significant attention due to its implications for developing chiral materials and understanding mechanisms of symmetry breaking enantioselective crystallization of naturally chiral inorganic crystals and their potential use in chiral discrimination, which are, however, largely unexplored. Here, we investigate the chiral induction during the crystallization of naturally chiral Ag2CO3 crystals using arginine amino acid as the chiral inducer. The chiral nature of Ag2CO3 was evaluated using various techniques. Chiral crystals exhibited chiral selective binding toward different amino acid enantiomers. The significant selectivity in adsorption was confirmed by circular dichroism, high-performance liquid chromatography, and isothermal titration calorimetry. Understanding chiral induction in crystal growth may open avenues for the controlled assembly of chiral materials and the development …
Show moreMay 2024 • arXiv preprint arXiv:2305.12468
A Ben Yehuda, O Sefi, Y Klein, RH Shukrun, H Schwartz, E Cohen, S Shwartz
X-ray imaging is a prevalent technique for non-invasively visualizing the interior of the human body and opaque instruments. In most commercial x-ray modalities, an image is formed by measuring the x-rays that pass through the object of interest. However, despite the potential of scattered radiation to provide additional information about the object, it is often disregarded due to its inherent tendency to cause blurring. Consequently, conventional imaging modalities do not measure or utilize these valuable data. In contrast, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a high-resolution technique for x-ray computed tomography (CT) that measures scattered radiation by exploiting computational ghost imaging (CGI). We show that our method can provide sub-200 {\mu}m resolution, exceeding the capabilities of most existing x-ray imaging modalities. Our research reveals a promising technique for incorporating scattered radiation data in CT scans to improve image resolution and minimize radiation exposure for patients. The findings of our study suggest that our technique could represent a significant advancement in the fields of medical and industrial imaging, with the potential to enhance the accuracy and safety of diagnostic imaging procedures.
Show moreMay 2024 • Journal of Clinical Microbiology
Michael Margulis, Hanan Rohana, Oran Erster, Michal Mandelboim, Asaf Biber, Eli Schwartz, Avi Peretz, Amos Danielli
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the necessity of fast, sensitive, and efficient methods to test large populations for respiratory viruses. The “gold standard” molecular assays for detecting respiratory viruses, such as quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and reverse transcription qPCR (RT-qPCR), rely on invasive swab samples and require time-consuming and labor-intensive extraction processes. Moreover, the turnaround time for RT-qPCR-based assays is too lengthy for rapid screening. Extraction-free saliva-based methods provide a non-invasive sampling process with a fast turnaround time and are suitable for high-throughput applications. However, when used with a standard RT-qPCR system, the absence of extraction significantly reduces the assays’ sensitivity. Here, using a novel optical modulation biosensing (OMB) platform, we developed a rapid and highly sensitive extraction-free saliva …
Show moreMay 2024 • Cell Reports
K Shanmugha Rajan, Saurav Aryal, Disha-Gajanan Hiregange, Anat Bashan, Hava Madmoni, Mika Olami, Tirza Doniger, Smadar Cohen-Chalamish, Pascal Pescher, Masato Taoka, Yuko Nobe, Aliza Fedorenko, Tanaya Bose, Ella Zimermann, Eric Prina, Noa Aharon-Hefetz, Yitzhak Pilpel, Toshiaki Isobe, Ron Unger, Gerald F Späth, Ada Yonath, Shulamit Michaeli
Leishmania is the causative agent of cutaneous and visceral diseases affecting millions of individuals worldwide. Pseudouridine (Ψ), the most abundant modification on rRNA, changes during the parasite life cycle. Alterations in the level of a specific Ψ in helix 69 (H69) affected ribosome function. To decipher the molecular mechanism of this phenotype, we determine the structure of ribosomes lacking the single Ψ and its parental strain at ∼2.4–3 Å resolution using cryo-EM. Our findings demonstrate the significance of a single Ψ on H69 to its structure and the importance for its interactions with helix 44 and specific tRNAs. Our study suggests that rRNA modification affects translation of mRNAs carrying codon bias due to selective accommodation of tRNAs by the ribosome. Based on the high-resolution structures, we propose a mechanism explaining how the ribosome selects specific tRNAs.
Show moreMay 2024 • 2024 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO), 1-2, 2024
Qinghui Yan, Ron Ruimy, Arthur Niedermayr, Tomer Bucher, Harel Nahari, Hanan Herzig Sheinfux, Raphael Dahan, Yuval Adiv, Michael Yannai, Eli Janzen, James H Edgar, Guy Bartal, Shai Tsesses, Frank HL Koppens, Giovanni Maria Vanacore, Ido Kaminer
We experimentally demonstrate the generation of chiral electron beams in an ultrafast transmission electron microscope without the necessity for chiral light or chiral-shaping structures, but by breaking mirror symmetry in the light-electron interaction.
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