BINA

Visualizing the current distribution in materials is a powerful tool to investigate and understand unconventional transport they exhibit. In the present work, we study a few microns thick devices of the layered chalcogenide material 1T-TaS 2. Pulsed DC excitation of the commensurate charge density wave (CCDW) phase in the system leads to a controllable, non-volatile, resistance-switching states. We use scanning SQUID microscopy to image, in-situ, the local current density map by mapping the field generated by the current flow. The images reveal the presence of electrical domains in the device and their effect on the current flow.

Vertical growth of Zn crystals is widely recognized as a primary factor responsible for the premature failure of aqueous Zn batteries. These vertically aligned sharp-tipped Zn plates can easily pierce the separator, propagating toward the cathode side, and short-circuit the cell. While inhibition of this phenomenon may be achieved by electrolyte engineering or manipulation of the anode’s interface, we propose herein an effective suppression of vertical Zn growth by replacing the conventional separators with highly affordable commercially available printing paper. Based on electrochemical and structural studies followed by small punch measurements, we found that these papers comprise nanometric rigid ceramic particles that act as a physical barrier for the growth of Zn plates, preventing their penetration through the paper-based separator. As a result, the examined cells demonstrate excellent long-term performance …

Reliable disease models are critical for medicine advancement. Here, we established a versatile human disease model system using patient-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs), which transfer a pathology-inducing cargo from a patient to a recipient naïve model organism. As a proof of principle, we applied EVs from the serum of patients with muscular dystrophy to Caenorhabditis elegans and demonstrated their capability to induce a spectrum of muscle pathologies, including lifespan shortening and robust impairment of muscle organization and function. This demonstrates that patient-derived EVs can deliver disease-relevant pathologies between species and can be exploited for establishing novel and personalized models of human disease. Such models can potentially be used for disease diagnosis, prognosis, analyzing treatment responses, drug screening and identification of the disease-transmitting cargo of …

Phase transitions are fundamental features of statistical physics. While the well-studied continuous phase transitions are known to be controlled by external \textit{macroscopic} changes in the order parameter, the origin of abrupt transitions is not yet clear. Here we show that abrupt phase transitions may occur due to a unique internal \textit{microscopic} cascading mechanism, resulting from dependency interactions. We experimentally unveil the underlying mechanism of the abrupt transition in interdependent superconducting networks to be governed by a unique metastable state of a long-living resistance cascading plateau. This plateau is characterized by spontaneous \textit{microscopic} changes that last for \textit{thousands} of seconds, followed by a \textit{macroscopic} phase shift of the system. Similar microscopic mechanisms are expected to be found in a variety of systems showing abrupt transitions.

The growing demand for energy has increased the need for battery storage, with lithium-ion batteries being widely used. Among those, nickel-rich layered lithium transition metal oxides [LiNi1–x–yCoxMnyO2 NCM (1 – x – y > 0.5)] are some of the promising cathode materials due to their high specific capacities and working voltages. In this study, we demonstrate that a thin, simple coating of polyalanine chiral molecules improves the performance of Ni-rich cathodes. The chiral organic coating of the active material enhances the discharge capacity and rate capability. Specifically, NCM811 and NCM622 electrodes coated with chiral molecules exhibit lower voltage hysteresis and better rate performance, with a capacity improvement of >10% at a 4 C discharge rate and an average improvement of 6%. We relate these results to the chirally induced spin selectivity effect that enables us to reduce the resistance of the …

Summary Knowledge of immunoglobulin and T cell receptor encoding genes is derived from high-quality genomic sequencing. High throughput sequencing is delivering large volumes of data, and precise, high-throughput approaches to annotation are needed. Digger is an automated tool that identifies coding and regulatory regions of these genes, with results comparable to those obtained by current expert curational methods. Availability and Implementation Digger is published under open source licence at https://github.com/williamdlees/Digger and is available as a Python package and a Docker container.

Infectious diseases are one of the world's leading causes of morbidity. Their rapid spread emphasizes the need for accurate and fast diagnostic methods for large-scale screening. Here, we describe a robust method for the detection of pathogens based on microscale thermophoresis (MST). The method involves the hybridization of a fluorescently labeled DNA probe to a target RNA, and the assessment of thermophoretic migration of the resulting complex in solution within a 2-30 second time window. We found that the thermophoretic migration of the nucleic acid-based probes is primarily determined by the fluorescent molecule used, rather than the nucleic acid sequence of the probe. Furthermore, a panel of uniformly labeled probes that bind to the same target RNA yields a more responsive detection pattern than a single probe, and moreover, can be used for detection of specific pathogen variants. In addition …

The COVID-19 pandemic has emphasized the inability of diagnostic laboratories' testing capacity to keep up with the surging demand. The primary reasons were the lack of reagents (e.g., viral transport media and nucleic acid extraction kits) and the low throughput of the gold-standard molecular detection method (RT-qPCR). While the reagent shortages were eventually resolved, the limited throughput of the RT-qPCR remains a bottleneck for high-throughput testing applications even today. Here, we introduce a rapid saliva-based extraction-free molecular assay, which utilizes a non-invasive saliva sampling and extraction-free sample preparation, a fast endpoint RT-PCR and a high-throughput optical modulation biosensing (ht-OMBi) detection platform. We blindly tested 364 paired nasopharyngeal swabs and saliva samples from suspected SARS-CoV-2 cases in Israel. Compared with the gold standard swab …

The paradigm of interdependent networks has recently been manifested in experimentally testable lab setup of interdependent superconducting networks. This system experiences an abrupt transition due to the thermal dissipation between the networks but its underlying mechanism remains elusive. Here we study the critical behavior and the underlying mechanism of the transition, unveiling its unique microscopic nature. The microscopic characteristics of the transition result in a macroscopic long-living plateau that lasts for thousands of seconds and increases with the size of the system. We characterize the critical behavior of the transition and find that the critical exponents are consistent with those predicted theoretically for percolation of abstract interdependent networks and interdependent ferromagnetic networks, supporting a common universal origin of interdependent systems.

The development of new nanoparticle-based antibiotics with biocompatible properties is an emerging advance in nanotechnology. This study advocated the development of carbon dots (CDs) doped with nitrogen, nitrogen with sulfur, and nitrogen with boron (N, NS, and NB-CDs). This led to changes in the properties of the CDs, both chemically and biologically. A facile hydrothermal technique was used to synthesize CDs and the formation of CDs was confirmed through various analytical techniques. The CDs had sizes ranging from 3.2–4.8 nm and ζ-potential values of +13 to 27 mV. The doped CDs exhibited moderate changes in fluorescence behaviors depending on the excitation wavelength (λex). The N- and NB-doped CDs were effective at eliminating gram-negative pathogens (E. coli and K. pneumoniae), with minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of 300 µg/mL and 400 µg/mL, respectively. The bactericidal …

Significance Glaucoma, a leading cause of global blindness, disproportionately affects low-income regions due to expensive diagnostic methods. Affordable intraocular pressure (IOP) measurement is crucial for early detection, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Aim We developed a remote photonic IOP biomonitoring method by deep learning of the speckle patterns reflected from an eye sclera stimulated by a sound source. We aimed to achieve precise IOP measurements. Approach IOP was artificially raised in 24 pig eyeballs, considered similar to human eyes, to apply our biomonitoring method. By deep learning of the speckle pattern videos, we analyzed the data for accurate IOP determination. Results Our method demonstrated the possibility of high-precision IOP measurements. Deep learning effectively analyzed the speckle patterns, enabling accurate IOP determination, with the potential for global …

Terpene synthases (TPS) catalyze the first step in the formation of terpenoids, which comprise the largest class of natural products in nature. TPS employ a family of universal natural substrates, composed of isoprenoid units bound to a diphosphate moiety. The intricate structures generated by TPS are the result of substrate binding and folding in the active site, enzyme‐controlled carbocation reaction cascades, and final reaction quenching. A key unaddressed question in class I TPS is the asymmetric nature of the diphosphate‐(Mg2+)3 cluster, which forms a critical part of the active site. In this asymmetric ion‐cluster, two diphosphate oxygens protrude into the active site pocket. The substrate hydrocarbon tail, which is eventually molded into terpenes, can bind to either of these oxygens, yet to which is unknown. Here, we employ structural, bioinformatics, and EnzyDock docking tools to address this enigma. We bring …

G54. 00011: Light chaotic dynamics and ray engineering transformed from curved to flat space

Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) have garnered significant attention in biomedical applications, particularly as versatile platforms for drug delivery and targeted therapy. The conjugation of GNPs with antibodies offers a promising strategy to enhance their specificity and efficacy in various therapeutic approaches. In this study, we focus on synthesizing different types of GNPs conjugated with antibodies and investigate the influence of various synthesis methods on nanoparticle characterization. The results demonstrated that different synthesis methods lead to different degrees of antibody conjugation on the GNP surface and to varied efficiency on biosystems. This work has the potential to outline design principles that could positively affect the development of targeted nanotherapeutics for various biomedical applications.

Superconducting non-granular quasi-one-dimensional (1D) NbN nanowires and relatively wide granular wires of the same material exhibit similar magneto-transport behavior arising from different physical origin. Both types of wires exhibit a broad transition into the superconducting state with non-vanishing resistance well below Tc, and negative magnetoresistance (nMR) decreasing in magnitude with temperature. A distinct behavior between the two wires is revealed in their response to increasing current. In V-I measurements, the 1D wires exhibit finite initial slope, i.e., zero critical current, at all temperatures below the transition, while the granular wires exhibit a nonzero critical current that depends on temperature. Also, the two wires differ from each other in the current dependence of the nMR. In the 1D wires, at low temperature, the nMR decreases monotonically with the current, while in the granular wires the …

Water pollution, particularly from hazardous substances like heavy metal ions, poses a serious threat to both human health and the environment. The conventional methods used to measure these pollutants in water are not only expensive and time-consuming but also require extensive sample preparation. Addressing this challenge, we propose an optical approach that utilizes the full scattering profile, focusing on the iso-pathlength (IPL) point. The IPL point remains constant for different scattering coefficients, with absorption affecting only its intensity, not its position. This paper demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach detecting FeCl2 and intralipid in concentrations of 70-100 and 20-30 ppm, respectively. These findings highlight the IPL point as an intrinsic calibration parameter, offering an efficient means to differentiate water contamination. The method is not only precise and versatile but also emerges as a …

Light-induced modification of material properties has garnered widespread interest within the scientific community. In fact, several effects can be potentially modified or enhanced when light interacts strongly with matter. As an alternative to ultrafast pump-probe experiments, cavity-mediated light-matter interaction offers the possibility to tailor the steady-state behavior of a material system by designing on-purpose electromagnetic environments.

X-ray imaging is a prevalent technique for non-invasively visualizing the interior of the human body and other opaque samples. 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 the resolution of our method can exceed 500 µm, which is approximately an order of magnitude higher than the typical resolution of X-ray imaging modalities based on scattered radiation …

The unexpected discovery of superconductivity in magic angle twisted bilayer graphene immediately generated a wave of intense theoretical and experimental research attracted by its rich phase diagram, which seemingly resembles ones of copper-oxide high-temperature superconductors. Originated in the low-energy narrow electronic bands, a family of magic angle graphene compounds hosts a collection of exotic phases including but not limited to superconductivity, correlated insulators, topological and magnetic orders. Compared to other strongly-correlated systems, 2D multilayers offer a unique opportunity to tune the charge carrier density in situ and adjust system properties in other ways (for example, by alternating the distance to the gate or varying the dielectric environment), thus offering a potentially faster progress in understanding the underlying microscopic mechanisms governing its strong correlations …

Rapid, highly sensitive, and high-throughput detection of biomarkers at low concentrations is invaluable for the early diagnosis of various diseases. In many sensitive immunoassays, the protocol is time-consuming and requires a complicated and expensive detection system. Previously, we presented a high-throughput optical modulation biosensing (ht-OMB) system, which enables reading a 96-well plate within 10 minutes. In ht-OMB, to aggregate and immobilize the magnetic beads to one spot, a single cylindrical permanent magnet with a sharp tip is positioned under a 96-well plate. To reduce washing and separation steps, the laser beam is manipulated relative to the fixed magnetic beads. Recently, MagBiosense Inc., which commercializes the ht-OMB technology, provided us with a fully automated OMBi detection system. Here, we show the use of the OMBi system for highly sensitive serological (clinical anti …

The effect of doping concentration on the temperature performance of the novel split-well resonant-phonon (SWRP) terahertz quantum-cascade laser (THz QCL) scheme supporting a clean 4-level system design was analyzed using non-equilibrium Green’s functions (NEGF) calculations. Experimental research showed that increasing the doping concentration in these designs led to better results compared to the split-well direct-phonon (SWDP) design, which has a larger overlap between its active laser states and the doping profile. However, further improvement in the temperature performance was expected, which led us to assume there was an increased gain and line broadening when increasing the doping concentration despite the reduced overlap between the doped region and the active laser states. Through simulations based on NEGF calculations we were able to study the contribution of the different …