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ExperimentalSample Preparation: A thin layer of photoresist (Shipley S1818, Shipley, MA) was spin-coated on cleaned glass substrates. A monolayer of sacrificial nanospheres was generated by drop-casting a 0.1 % solution of polystyrene colloids (150 nm; Duke Scientific, CA), which was allowed to dry overnight in a clean-zone hood to minimize contamination of the samples by dust and to stabilize the rate of evaporation. After the arrays of beads dried, metal films in various thicknesses were deposited by conventional electron-beam evaporation. The sample substrate was placed above the metal-pellet sources with a certain tilt angle (∼ 60°) with respect to the substrate surface. The substrate was rotated at a constant speed (∼ 60 revolutions per minute, rpm) during the deposition. The metal-coated colloids were released from the glass support into an aqueous suspension by lift-off with acetone. Next, the coated polymer nanospheres were collected by centrifugation (∼ 5000 rpm, 5-10 min) and suspended in toluene to dissolve the polystyrene. The sample was then centrifuged and washed three to four times in water. The nanocrescents were collected and resuspended in water or ethanol to form diluted colloids.Fluorescence Imaging and Raman Microspectroscopy: A microscopy system combining fluorescence imaging and Raman spectroscopy was used to monitor the fluorescence intensity and to acquire Ramanscattering spectra from single nanocrescents. The system consisted of a Carl Zeiss Axiovert 200 inverted microscope (Carl Zeiss, Germany) equipped with a high-speed, high-sensitivity digital camera (Cascade 512B, Roper Scientific, NJ), and a 300 mm focal length monochromator (Acton Research, MA) with a 1024 pixel × 256 pixel cooled spectrograph charge-coupled device (CCD) camera (Roper Scientific, NJ). The time-resolved fluorescence images of the nanocrescents were taken using the Cascade camera at a frame rate of 10 frames per second, a 40× objective lens (numerical aperture NA= 0.8), a fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) fluorescence filter set, and a 100 W mercury lamp for illumination. A 785 nm semiconductor laser was used in our experiments as the excitation source of Raman scattering, and the laser beam was focused by a 100× objective lens on the nanocrescent. The excitation power was measured by a photometer (Newport, CA) to be ∼ 1 mW. The Raman scattering light was then collected through the same optical pathway through a long-pass filter and analyzed by the spectrometer.

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In this article we provide an overview of the fabrication and properties of polyoxometalate/polymer hybrid materials. Physical blending, electrostatic adsorption, covalent bonding and supramolecular modification are the main strategies to incorporate polyoxometalates into organic or inorganic (taking silica as an example) polymer matrices. The polyoxometalate/polymer hybrid materials obtained concurrently possess the unique optical, electrical or catalytic properties of polyoxometalates and the favorable processability and stability of polymer matrices. Polyoxometalate/polymer hybrid materials may have potential applications in optics, electronics, biology, medicine and catalysis. Copyright © 2009 Society of Chemical Industry

T cells expressing CD19-targeting chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) reveal high efficacy in the treatment of B cell malignancies. Here, we report that T cell receptor fusion constructs (TRuCs) comprising an antibody-based binding domain fused to T cell receptor (TCR) subunits can effectively reprogram an intact TCR complex to recognize tumor surface antigens. Unlike CARs, TRuCs become a functional component of the TCR complex. TRuC-T cells kill tumor cells as potently as second-generation CAR-T cells, but at significant lower cytokine release and despite the absence of an extra co-stimulatory domain. TRuC-T cells demonstrate potent anti-tumor activity in both liquid and solid tumor xenograft models. In several models, TRuC-T cells are more efficacious than respective CAR-T cells. TRuC-T cells are shown to engage the signaling capacity of the entire TCR complex in an HLA-independent manner.

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Lignocellulosic biomass is considered as one of the most promising feedstocks for producing fuel ethanol because of its global availability and environmental benefits of its use. In this paper, the process of lignocellulosic ethanol production was investigated at its present state of development. The experimental data from the East China University of Science and Technology were used to develop a process model and evaluate the performance of the whole process design. For the process simulation, all relevant information about the process streams, physical properties, and mass and energy balances were also considered. Energy integration is investigated to identify the best ways to supply heat to the process, realizing also combined heat and power production from wastewater and residue treatment. The sensitivity on ethanol yield and the overall system performance are also investigated.