A semiconducting hybrid of RhOx/GaN@InGaN for simultaneous activation of methane and water toward syngas by photocatalysis

Prior to the eventual arrival of carbon neutrality, solar-driven syngas production from methane steam reforming presents a promising approach to produce transportation fuels and chemicals. Simultaneous activation of the two reactants, i.e. methane and water, with notable geometric and polar discrepancy is at the crux of this important subject yet greatly challenging. This work explores an exceptional semiconducting hybrid of RhOx/GaN@InGaN nanowires for overcoming this critical challenge to achieve efficient syngas generation from methane steam reforming by photocatalysis. By coordinating density functional theoretical calculations and microscopic characterizations, with in situ spectroscopic measurements, it is found that the multifunctional RhOx/GaN interface is effective for simultaneously activating both CH4 and H2O by stretching the C-H and O-H bonds because of its unique Lewis acid/base attribute. With the aid of energetic charge carriers, the stretched C-H and O-H bonds of reactants are favorably cleaved, resulting in the key intermediates, i.e. *CH3, *OH, and *H, to sit on Rh sites, Rh sites, and N sites, respectively. Syngas is subsequently produced via energetically favored pathway without additional energy inputs except for light. As a result, a benchmarking syngas formation rate of 8.1 mol·gcat-1·h-1 is achieved with varied H2/CO ratios from 2.4 to 0.8 under concentrated light illumination of 6.3 W·cm-2, enabling the achievement of a superior turnover number of 10,493 mol syngas per mol Rh species over 300 min of long-term operation. This work presents a promising strategy for green syngas production from methane steam reforming by utilizing unlimited solar energy.

Crystallization Engineering of CuNi2 S4 Ultra-Fine Nanocrystals with Optimized Band Structures for Efficient Photocatalytic Pollutant Degradation and Hydrogen Production

The mono-dispersed cubic siegenite CuNi2 S4 ultra-fine (≈5 nm) nanocrystals are fabricated through crystallization engineering under hot injection. The strong hydroxylation on mostly exposed CuNi2 S4 (220) surface leads to the formation of multi-valence (Cu+ , Cu2+ , Ni2+ , Ni3+ ) species with unsaturated hybridization and coordination micro-environments, which can induce rich redox reactions to optimize interfacial kinetics for the adsorbed reaction intermediates. The as-synthesized CuNi2 S4 nanocrystals with ultra-small particle size and the characteristics of being highly dispersed can increase specific surface area and hydroxylated active sites, which considerably contribute to the improvement of photocatalytic activities. Experimental and theoretical studies indicate that the CuNi2 S4 with unique surface condition can properly modulate the charge density distribution and the electronic band structure, thus achieving an optimal band gap for enhancing visible light absorption. Additionally, the strong hydroxylation on CuNi2 S4 (220) surface can not only make the photocatalytic process stable in alkaline environment but also bring about an impurity level between conduction and valence band, which facilitates the separation of photo-induced charge carriers by suppressing the rapid re-combination of exited electrons and holes. The optimization of band structure should be the intrinsic reason for the efficient photocatalytic pollutant degradation and hydrogen production under visible light illumination.

Three-Dimensional Printing Multi-Drug Delivery Core/Shell Fiber Systems with Designed Release Capability

A hydrogel system with the ability to control the delivery of multiple drugs has gained increasing interest for localized disease treatment and tissue engineering applications. In this study, a triple-drug-loaded model based on a core/shell fiber system (CFS) was fabricated through the co-axial 3D printing of hydrogel inks. A CFS with drug 1 loaded in the core, drug 2 in the shell part, and drug 3 in the hollow channel of the CFS was printed on a rotating collector using a co-axial nozzle. Doxorubicin (DOX), as the model drug, was selected to load in the core, with the shell and channel part of the CFS represented as drugs 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Drug 2 achieved the fastest release, while drug 3 showed the slowest release, which indicated that the three types of drugs printed on the CFS spatially can achieve sequential triple-drug release. Moreover, the release rate and sustained duration of each drug could be controlled by the unique core/shell helical structure, the concentration of alginate gels, the cross-linking density, the size and number of the open orifices in the fibers, and the CFS. Additionally, a near-infrared (NIR) laser or pH-responsive drug release could also be realized by introducing photo-thermal materials or a pH-sensitive polymer into this system. Finally, the drug-loaded system showed effective localized cancer therapy in vitro and in vivo. Therefore, this prepared CFS showed the potential application for disease treatment and tissue engineering by sequential- or stimulus-responsively releasing multi-drugs.

WDR54 exerts oncogenic roles in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia

WDR54 has been recently identified as a novel oncogene in colorectal and bladder cancers. However, the expression and function of WDR54 in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) were not reported. In this study, we investigated the expression of WDR54 in T-ALL, as well as its function in T-ALL pathogenesis using cell lines and T-ALL xenograft. Bioinformatics analysis indicated high mRNA expression of WDR54 in T-ALL. We further confirmed that the expression of WDR54 was significantly elevated in T-ALL. Depletion of WDR54 dramatically inhibited cell viability and induced apoptosis and cell cycle arrest at S phase in T-ALL cells in vitro. Moreover, knockdown of WDR54 impeded the process of leukemogenesis in a Jurkat xenograft model in vivo. Mechanistically, the expression of PDPK1, phospho-AKT (p-AKT), total AKT, phospho-ERK (p-ERK), Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL were downregulated, while cleaved caspase-3 and cleaved caspase-9 were upregulated in T-ALL cells with WDR54 knockdown. Additionally, RNA-seq analysis indicated that WDR54 might regulate the expression of some oncogenic genes involved in multiple signaling pathways. Taken together, these findings suggest that WDR54 may be involved in the pathogenesis of T-ALL and serve as a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of T-ALL.

Modular microfluidics for life sciences

The advancement of microfluidics has enabled numerous discoveries and technologies in life sciences. However, due to the lack of industry standards and configurability, the design and fabrication of microfluidic devices require highly skilled technicians. The diversity of microfluidic devices discourages biologists and chemists from applying this technique in their laboratories. Modular microfluidics, which integrates the standardized microfluidic modules into a whole, complex platform, brings the capability of configurability to conventional microfluidics. The exciting features, including portability, on-site deployability, and high customization motivate us to review the state-of-the-art modular microfluidics and discuss future perspectives. In this review, we first introduce the working mechanisms of the basic microfluidic modules and evaluate their feasibility as modular microfluidic components. Next, we explain the connection approaches among these microfluidic modules, and summarize the advantages of modular microfluidics over integrated microfluidics in biological applications. Finally, we discuss the challenge and future perspectives of modular microfluidics.