BINA

Carbon-supported platinum nanoparticles (Pt/C) are currently the state-of-the-art catalyst in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). Unfortunately, the carbon support lacks the ability to stabilize the metal catalyst, as platinum tends to dissolve and agglomerate, significantly compromising the durability. Herein, we synthesized a ceramic material, molybdenum carbide aerogel (MCAG), and utilized it as a Pt support for PEMFCs, as an alternative for conventional carbon supports. N2 adsorption and XRD analysis showed that the MCAG possesses a combination of high porosity and a well-defined ceramic crystalline structure. The Pt/MCAG system was studied for its electrocatalytic activity toward ORR in a half-cell and demonstrated satisfactory reaction kinetics and electrochemical active surface area, comparable to the commercial Pt/C. For durability examination, an accelerated stress test (AST) in a single …

Significance Stroke is a leading cause of disability worldwide, necessitating rapid and accurate diagnosis to limit irreversible brain damage. However, many advanced imaging modalities (computerized tomography, magnetic resonance imaging) remain inaccessible in remote or resource-constrained settings due to high costs and logistical barriers. Aim We aim to evaluate the feasibility of a laser speckle–based technique, coupled with deep learning, for detecting simulated stroke conditions in a tissue phantom. We investigate whether speckle patterns can be leveraged to differentiate healthy from restricted flow states in arteries of varying diameters and depths. Approach Artificial arteries (3 to 6 mm diameters) were embedded at different depths (0 to 10 mm) within a skin-covered chicken tissue, to mimic blood-flow scenarios ranging from no flow (full occlusion) to high flow. A high-speed camera captured the secondary …

Thermal imaging technology has revolutionized various fields, but current high operating temperature (HOT) mid-wave infrared (MWIR) cameras, particularly those based on xBn detectors, face limitations in size and cost due to the need for cooling to 150 Kelvin. This study explores the potential of extending the operating temperature of these cameras to 180 Kelvin, leveraging advanced AI algorithms to mitigate the increased thermal noise expected at higher temperatures. This research investigates the feasibility and effectiveness of this approach for remote sensing applications, combining experimental data with cutting-edge image enhancement techniques like Enhanced Super-Resolution Generative Adversarial Networks (ESRGAN). The findings demonstrate the potential of 180 Kelvin operation for xBn MWIR cameras, particularly in daylight conditions, paving the way for a new generation of more affordable and compact thermal imaging systems.

Developing non‐invasive techniques that can probe how solvents modulate the nucleation pathways of bioorganic molecules in solution remains an active and open area of research. Herein, we investigate the crystallization of the amino acid L‐Cysteine and show that both the structure of the crystal and its intrinsic fluorescence can be drastically altered by solvent isotope effects. Crystals formed in heavy water exhibit markedly different intermolecular packing as well as strikingly different monomer conformations compared to those in light water. Remarkably, these differences in the supramolecular packing result in significantly elevated intrinsic fluorescence in the crystal that is formed in heavy water. Using a combination of experimental techniques and advanced electronic structure approaches, we elucidate the molecular interactions within the crystals that govern both the electronic origins and the intensity of their …

The back-focal plane (BFP) of a high-numerical aperture objective contains the fluoro-phore radiation pattern, which encodes information about the axial fluorophore position, molecular orientation and the local refractive index of the embedding medium. BFP image acquisition and analysis are common to conoscopy, k-space imaging, supercritical-angle fluorescence (SAF) and single-molecule detection, but they are rarely being used in biological fluorescence. This work addresses a critical gap in quantitative microscopy by enabling reliable, real-time BFP imaging under low-light conditions and/or short exposure times, typical of biological experiments. By systematically analyzing how key parameters - such as Bertrand lens position, defocus, pixel size, and binning - affect BFP image quality and SAF/UAF ratios, we provide a robust framework for accurate axial fluorophore localization and near-membrane refractive-index measurements. The described hardware- and software integration allows for multi-dimensional image-series and online quality control, reducing experimental error and enhancing reproducibility. Our contributions lay the foundation for standardized BFP imaging across laboratories, expanding its application to dynamic biological systems, and opening the door to machine learning-based analysis pipelines. Ultimately, this work transforms BFP imaging from an expert-dependent technique into a reproducible and scalable tool for surface-sensitive fluorescence microscopy.

The effects of gamma radiation on the cladding modes of a pure silica core fiber are investigated for the first time. The effective indices of certain cladding modes increase with accumulated dose of gamma radiation, whereas those of others decrease. By contrast, all cladding modes of standard fibers exhibit an increase in index following exposure. The distinction between sets of cladding modes in the pure silica core fiber might be due to radiation induced strain at the interface between the inner depressed cladding and the outer region of pure silica. The pure silica core fiber might provide radiation resilience in its core mode alongside sensitive dosimetry through its cladding modes.

Polymer coating layers are essential for the handling and proper function of optical fibers in their service environment. The analysis and monitoring of the elastic characteristics of coating layers are important for materials research and development, quality assurance, and maintenance. Most measurement protocols are destructive, require specialty samples, and may only be carried out offline. In this work, we monitor the velocities of dilatational acoustic waves in several coating layers of standard fibers, using forward Brillouin scattering processes. The measurements are non-destructive and performed over working fiber. Velocities are measured in three polyimide-based coating layers as functions of temperature up to 220 °C. Thermal changes in velocity are identified with 1% precision. The results suggest that the incorporation of nanoparticles within the polymer coating matrix improves its thermal stability.

Glioblastoma is one of the most aggressive and lethal forms of brain cancer, with limited therapeutic options and poor patient prognosis. Recent research has identified the TMED family of proteins as key regulators of tumor progression and aggressiveness across multiple cancer types. TMED members are cargo receptors expressed within the early secretory pathway and involved in bidirectional traffic of various proteins including EGFR, TGF-ɑ and WNT. In this study, we explored the therapeutic potential of genetic and pharmacologic inhibition of the cargo receptor TMED9 in glial tumor models. Our findings demonstrate that TMED9 expression is upregulated in glioma and that this upregulation is associated with poor patient survival. Using patient-derived glioma tumor cells, we demonstrate that TMED9 is highly expressed in the cancer stem cell population and that this upregulation promotes the cells’ self-renewal and migration. This is the first time, to the best of our knowledge, that TMED9 has been shown to play a major role in the function and tumorigenesis of brain tumor cancer stem cells. BRD4780, a small molecule that targets TMED9, effectively reduced TMED9 abundance, resulting in decreased viability, migration and stemness of patient-derived glioma stem cells. Moreover, BRD4780 mitigated the proliferation and migration of differentiated glioma tumor cells. When applied together with temozolomide, an established glioblastoma treatment, BRD4780 elicited an enhanced anti-tumor response. Lastly, to demonstrate the broad applicability of our findings, we targeted TMED9 in pediatric glioma cells and showed efficient inhibition of …

The ability of bacteria to commit to surface colonization and biofilm formation is a highly regulated process. In this study, we characterized the activity and structure of SadB, initially identified as a key regulator in the transition from reversible to irreversible surface attachment. Our results show that SadB acts as an adaptor protein that tightly regulates the master regulator AmrZ at the post-translational level. SadB directly binds to the C-terminal domain of AmrZ, leading to its rapid degradation, primarily by the Lon protease. Structural analysis suggests that SadB does not directly interact with small molecules upon signal transduction, differing from previous findings in Pseudomonas fluorescens. Instead, the SadB structure supports its role in mediating protein-protein interactions, establishing it as a major checkpoint for biofilm commitment.

We present the design, fabrication, and application of robust metal/protein/metal junctions with ultrathin (~20 nm) protein films demonstrating long-term stability in ambient conditions and preserving their electron transport behavior also at ~10 K. These junctions establish a reliable platform with a permanent contact configuration, where the confined protein layer retains its functional activity after metal contact evaporation on the protein. A bottom-up micropore device (MpD) fabrication strategy was used and optimized to ensure reproducibility. The sub-nanometer roughness of the bottom electrode was preserved within the micropore, enabling uniform protein layer deposition and film formation. In the MpD structures, protein layers are integrated between Au-covered substrates and an e-beam evaporated Pd contacts. Depositing multi-layered protein films allows for defining film widths, as tested by the AFM-based scratching technique. The films were composed of human serum albumin (HSA) and bacteriorhodopsin (bR). Pd’s preferred two-dimensional growth minimized metal penetration and short circuits. Impedance phase response analysis shows that ~60% of the junctions are functional ones, demonstrating the effectiveness of the fabrication approach. These protein-based MpD junctions provide a stable platform for electron transport studies of bio- and other soft materials.

EnzyDock is a multistate, multiscale CHARMM-based docking program which enables mechanistic docking, i.e., modeling enzyme reactions by docking multiple reaction states, like substrates, intermediates, transition states, and products to the enzyme, in addition to standard protein–ligand docking. To achieve docking of multiple reaction states with similar poses (i.e., consensus docking), EnzyDock employs consensus pose restraints of the docked ligand states relative to a docking template. In the current work, we present an implementation of a Maximum Common Substructure (MCS)-guided docking strategy using EnzyDock, enabling the automatic detection of similarity among query ligands. Specifically, the MCS multistate approach is employed to efficiently dock ligands along enzyme reaction coordinates, including reactants, intermediates, and products, which allows efficient and robust mechanistic docking …

Planar Hall effect (PHE) magnetic sensors are attractive for various applications where the field resolution is required in the range of sub-nano Tesla or in Pico Tesla. Here we present a detailed noise study of the PHE sensors consisting of two or three intersecting ellipses. It can be used to measure two axes of the magnetic field in the sensor plane in particular along the two perpendicular easy axes in the overlapping region for two intersecting ellipses and three easy axes at an angle of 60 degrees for three crossing ellipses. Thus, for each remanent magnetic state in the overlap area, the sensor can measure the vector component of the magnetic field perpendicular to the direction of the remanent magnetization. The two field components are measured with a field resolution less than 200 pT/sqrt (Hz) at 10 Hz and 350 pT/sqrt (Hz) at 1 Hz in the same region, while maintaining a similar size and noise level of a single …

High-entropy (HE) materials comprise a family of emerging solid-state materials, where multiple elements can occupy the same lattice positions and therefore enhance the configurational entropy. HE oxides (HEOs) can mitigate challenges facing layered cathode materials, such as capacity fading, and facilitate long-term cyclability. However, the mechanism behind the effect of HE on electrochemical properties is still poorly understood. In the current work, we employed classical force field and first-principles density functional theory (DFT) calculations to gain atomistic-level understanding of the thermodynamic and electrochemical features of a family of recently developed high-entropy oxyfluoride (HEO-F) cathode materials with the general formula NaxLi1–xMO1.9F0.1 (M ∈ Ni, Fe, Mn, Ti, Mg; x = 1.0, 0.9, 0.8). We used Monte Carlo simulated annealing (MCSA) in conjunction with classical force fields to determine …

A new class of Janus chiral magnetic polymeric particles was fabricated for chiral resolution by enantioselective crystallization. N-Acryloyl-l/d-Phe methyl ester beads were prepared with controlled sizes and coated with ferromagnetic permalloy. Chiral discrimination by enantiopure d-Ala crystals was investigated in a model for racemic crystallization. X-ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry support the crystallization of the particles. Analysis of optical rotation reveals a d-Ala enantiomeric excess of about 11%, effectively establishing the concept of chiral discrimination by enantioselective crystallization on these Janus chiral magnetic polymeric particles.

Triggered by the development of exfoliation and the identification of a wide range of extraordinary physical properties in self-standing films consisting of one or few atomic layers, two-dimensional (2D) materials such as graphene, transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), and other van der Waals (vdW) crystals currently constitute a wide research field protruding in multiple directions in combination with layer stacking and twisting, nanofabrication, surface-science methods, and integration into nanostructured environments. Photonics encompasses a multidisciplinary collection of those directions, where 2D materials contribute with polaritons of unique characteristics such as strong spatial confinement, large optical-field enhancement, long lifetimes, high sensitivity to external stimuli (eg, electric and magnetic fields, heating, and strain), a broad spectral range from the far infrared to the ultraviolet, and hybridization with …

Triggered by the development of exfoliation and the identification of a wide range of extraordinary physical properties in self-standing films consisting of one or few atomic layers, two-dimensional (2D) materials such as graphene, transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), and other van der Waals (vdW) crystals currently constitute a wide research field protruding in multiple directions in combination with layer stacking and twisting, nanofabrication, surface-science methods, and integration into nanostructured environments. Photonics encompasses a multidisciplinary collection of those directions, where 2D materials contribute with polaritons of unique characteristics such as strong spatial confinement, large optical-field enhancement, long lifetimes, high sensitivity to external stimuli (e.g., electric and magnetic fields, heating, and strain), a broad spectral range from the far infrared to the ultraviolet, and hybridization with spin and momentum textures of electronic band structures. The explosion of photonics with 2D materials as a vibrant research area is producing breakthroughs, including the discovery and design of new materials and metasurfaces with unprecedented properties as well as applications in integrated photonics, light emission, optical sensing, and exciting prospects for applications in quantum information, and nanoscale thermal transport. This Roadmap summarizes the state of the art in the field, identifies challenges and opportunities, and discusses future goals and how to meet them through a wide collection of topical sections prepared by leading practitioners.