A fungal biofilm refers to the agglomeration of fungal cells surrounded by a polymeric extracellular matrix (ECM). The ECM is composed primarily of polysaccharides that facilitate strong surface adhesion, proliferation,...

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In the fight against drug-resistant pathogenic bacterial and fungal cells, low-dimensional materials are emerging as a promising alternative treatment method. Specifically, few-layer black phosphorus (BP) has demonstrated its effectiveness against...

Gallium-based liquid metals (LMs) have emerged as novel materials for biomedical applications. Gallium (Ga) is considered significantly less toxic than other LMs, such as mercury. However, Ga droplets have not been thoroughly assessed for their cytotoxicity. Here, we report the concentration-dependent cytotoxic effects of Ga nano- and microdroplets on HaCaT cells, a human keratinocyte cell line. We found that Ga droplets demonstrated substantial cytotoxic effects at 1000 μg/mL after 24 h exposure, while lower concentrations such as 500 μg/mL indicated only a slight reduction in cell viability at longer exposure times. At higher concentrations, it was observed that the cells were unable to form confluent layers and the cytoplasmic membrane became damaged. The formation of a protein corona on the Ga droplets in cell media is also described, which will be an important consideration for future research on Ga droplets for bio-applications. Importantly, this work provides an indication of the concentration at which Ga droplets become damaging to human cells, which will be useful information for a wide range of researchers and regulatory bodies.

Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) and ionic liquids (ILs) are highly tailorable solvents that have shown a lot of promise for a variety of applications including cryopreservation, drug delivery, and protein stabilisation. However, to date, there is very limited information on the detailed interactions of these solvents with mammalian cells. In this work, we studied six DESs and one IL that show promise as cryoprotective agents, applying synchrotron macro–ATR–FTIR to examine their effects on key biochemical components of HaCat mammalian cells. These data were paired with resazurin metabolic assays and neutron reflectivity experiments to correlate cellular interactions with cellular toxicity. Stark differences were observed even between solvents that shared similar components. In particular, it was found that solvents that are effective cryoprotective agents consistently showed interactions with cellular membranes, while high toxicity correlated with strong interactions of the DES/IL with nucleic acids and proteins. This work sheds new light on the interactions between novel solvents and cells that may underpin future biomedical applications.