The reaction rate of the stellar reaction 13C(alpha,n)16O, which is currently considered to be the main neutron source for the slow (s) process at low energies, has been rederived using the direct alpha-transfer reaction 13C(6Li,d)17O leading to the subthreshold state at 6.356 MeV in 17O. The contribution of the subthreshold state is found to be much smaller than the currently accepted predictions for the main neutron source of the s process, indicating less of a role of this reaction as the neutron source for the s-process scenario in low-mass stars at the asymptotic giant branch.

Despite their simplicity, monolayer cell cultures are not able to accurately predict drug behavior in vivo due to their inability to accurately mimic cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions. In contrast, cell spheroids are able to reproduce these interactions and thus would be a viable tool for testing drug behavior. However, the generation of homogenous and reproducible cell spheroids on a large scale is a labor intensive and slow process compared to monolayer cell cultures. Here, we present a droplet-based microfluidic device for the automated, large-scale generation of homogenous cell spheroids in a uniform manner. Using the microfluidic system, the size of the spheroids can be tuned to between 100 and 130 μm with generation frequencies of 70 Hz. We demonstrated the photothermal therapy (PTT) application of brain tumor spheroids generated by the microfluidic device using a reduced graphene oxide-branched polyethyleneimine-polyethylene glycol (rGO-BPEI-PEG) nanocomposite as the PTT agent. Furthermore, we generated uniformly sized neural stem cell (NSC)-derived neurospheres in the droplet-based microfluidic device. We also confirmed that the neurites were regulated by neurotoxins. Therefore, this droplet-based microfluidic device could be a powerful tool for photothermal therapy and drug screening applications.

The electrical stimuli play an important role in regulating the delivery of the plasmonic nanomaterials with cancer targeting peptides. Here, we developed the electro-responsive hydrogel-based microfluidic actuator platform for brain...

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We developed the microfluidic co-culture platform to study photothermal therapy applications. We conjugated folic acid (FA) to target breast cancer cells using reduced graphene oxide (rGO)-based functional nanomaterials. To characterize the structure of rGO-based nanomaterials, we analyzed the molecular spectrum using UV-visible and Fouriertransform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). We demonstrated the effect of rGO-FA-based nanomaterials on photothermal therapy of breast cancer cells in the microfluidic co-culture platform. From the microfluidic co-culture platform with breast cancer cells and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), we observed that the viability of breast cancer cells treated with rGO-FA-based functional nanomaterials was significantly decreased after near-infrared (NIR) laser irradiation. Therefore, this microfluidic co-culture platform could be a potentially powerful tool for studying cancer cell targeting and photothermal therapy.

The intestinal microbiome affects a number of biological functions of the organism. Although the animal model is a powerful tool to study the relationship between the host and microbe, a physiologically relevant in vitro human intestinal system has still unmet needs. Thus, the establishment of an in vitro living cell-based system of the intestine that can mimic the mechanical, structural, absorptive, transport and pathophysiological properties of the human intestinal environment along with its commensal bacterial strains can promote pharmaceutical development and potentially replace animal testing. In this paper, we present a microfluidic-based gut model which allows co-culture of human and microbial cells to mimic the gastrointestinal structure. The gut microenvironment is recreated by flowing fluid at a low rate (21 μL/h) over the microchannels. Under these conditions, we demonstrated the capability of gut-on-a-chip to recapitulate in vivo relevance epithelial cell differentiation including highly polarized epithelium, mucus secretion, and tight membrane integrity. Additionally, we observed that the co-culture of damaged epithelial layer with the probiotics resulted in a substantial responded recovery of barrier function without bacterial overgrowth in a gut-on-a-chip. Therefore, this gut-on-a-chip could promote explorations interaction with host between microbe and provide the insights into questions of fundamental research linking the intestinal microbiome to human health and disease.

Responding to the need for recombinant acidic fibroblast growth factor in the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries, we established a scalable expression system for recombinant human aFGF using transient and a DNA replicon vector expression in . Recombinant human-acidic fibroblast growth factor was recovered following infiltration of . The optimal time point at which to harvest recombinant human acidic fibroblast growth factor expressing leaves was found to be 4 days post-infiltration, before necrosis was evident. Commassie-stained SDS-PAGE gels of His-tag column eluates, concentrated using a 10 000 molecular weight cut-off column, showed an intense band at the expected molecular weight for recombinant human acidic fibroblast growth factor. An immunoblot confirmed that this band was recombinant human acidic fibroblast growth factor. Up to 10 µg recombinant human-acidic fibroblast growth factor/g of fresh leaves were achieved by a simple affinity purification protocol using protein extract from the leaves of agroinfiltrated. The purified recombinant human acidic fibroblast growth factor improved the survival rate of UVB-irradiated HaCaT and CCD-986sk cells approximately 89 and 81 %, respectively. -derived recombinant human acidic fibroblast growth factor showed similar effects on skin cell proliferation and UVB protection compared to those of-derived recombinant human acidic fibroblast growth factor. Additionally, derived recombinant human acidic fibroblast growth factor increased type 1 procollagen synthesis up to 30 % as well as reduced UVB-induced intracellular reactive oxygen species generation in fibroblast (CCD-986sk) cells.UVB is a well-known factor that causes various types of skin damage and premature aging. Therefore, the present study demonstrated that-derived recombinant human acidic fibroblast growth factor effectively protects skin cell from UVB, suggesting its potential use as a cosmetic or therapeutic agent against skin photoaging.