Drug-loaded DNA-capped metal–organic framework nanoparticles are unlocked by pH or Mg2+ ions/ATP triggers, resulting in the release of the loads.

Cu-functionalized carbon nitride nanoparticles (Cu-g-CN NPs), ∼200 nm, and Cu-carbon dots (Cu-C-dots), ∼8 nm, act as horseradish peroxidase-mimicking catalysts. The nanoparticles catalyze the generation of chemiluminescence in the presence of luminol/HO and catalyze the oxidation of dopamine by HO to form aminochrome. The Cu-g-CN-driven generation of chemiluminescence is used to develop a HO sensor and is implemented to develop a glucose detection platform and a sensor for probing glucose oxidase. Also, the Cu-C-dots are functionalized with the β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) receptor units. The concentration of dopamine, at the Cu-C-dots' surface, by means of the β-CD receptor sites, leads to a 4-fold enhancement in the oxidation of dopamine by HO to yield aminochrome compared to that of the unmodified C-dots.

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Nanoparticles consisting of metal-organic frameworks (NMOFs) modified with nucleic acid binding strands are synthesized. The NMOFs are loaded with a fluorescent agent or with the anticancer drug doxorubicin, and the loaded NMOFs are capped by hybridization with a complementary nucleic acid that includes the ATP-aptamer or the ATP-AS1411 hybrid aptamer in caged configurations. The NMOFs are unlocked in the presence of ATP via the formation of ATP-aptamer complexes, resulting in the release of the loads. As ATP is overexpressed in cancer cells, and since the AS1411 aptamer recognizes the nucleolin receptor sites on the cancer cell membrane, the doxorubicin-loaded NMOFs provide functional carriers for targeting and treatment of cancer cells. Preliminary cell experiments reveal impressive selective permeation of the NMOFs into MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells as compared to MCF-10A normal epithelial breast cells. High cytotoxic efficacy and targeted drug release are observed with the ATP-AS1411-functionalized doxorubicin-loaded NMOFs. The ORCID identification number(s) for the author(s) of this article can be found under https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201702102.conductivity material for fuel cells, [16][17][18] and as a composite material for sensing applications. [4,[19][20][21] Substantial recent efforts are directed toward the development of stimulitriggered reconfigurable nucleic acid structures (DNA switches and DNA machines). [22][23][24][25][26][27] Porous inorganic materials, e.g., SiO 2 nanoparticles, [28] microcapsules, [29] or organic hydrogels, [30][31][32] were loaded with substrates (or drugs) and caged with stimuli-responsive nucleic acid locks. In the presence of appropriate triggers, the stimuli-responsive loaded matrices were unlocked, resulting in the release of the loads. Different stimuli such as pH, [33] light, [34] heat, [35] catalytic nucleic acids, [36] or aptamer-ligand complexes [37] were used to unlock the substrate-loaded materials. Naturally, the capping of the highly porous substrate-loaded MOFs with stimuli-responsive DNAs could yield efficient DNA/ MOFs hybrids as drug delivery systems. Despite the chemical modification of MOFs with stimuli-responsive chemical capping units, [38][39][40][41][42][43] the integration of nucleic acids with MOFs is scarce and involved only the carrying of DNA. [44][45][46][47] Recently, we reported [48] on the successful entrapment of substrates in macrocrystalline MOFs protected by pH-responsive or K + -stabilized G-quadruplex capping units and the triggered unlocking of the MOFs, and the release of loads, by altering the pH, or their treatment with 18-crown-6 ether. While this study demonstrated the successful synthesis of stimuli-responsive DNAgated, substrate-loaded, microcrystalline MOFs, these materials suffer from a basic limitation because they are nonpermeable into cells. That is, their potential application as stimuli-responsive drug carriers is limited. The synthesis of nanometersized MOF particles is well established, [49][50][51][52][53][54] but ...

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In this work, we reported a simple rapid and point-of-care magnetic immunofluorescence assay for avian influenza virus (AIV) and developed a portable experimental setup equipped with an optical fiber spectrometer and a microfluidic device. We achieved the integration of immunomagnetic target capture, concentration, and fluorescence detection in the microfluidic chip. By optimizing flow rate and incubation time, we could get a limit of detection low up to 3.7 × 10(4) copy/μL with a sample consumption of 2 μL and a total assay time of less than 55 min. This approach had proved to possess high portability, fast analysis, high specificity, high precision, and reproducibility with an intra-assay variability of 2.87% and an interassay variability of 4.36%. As a whole, this microfluidic system may provide a powerful platform for the rapid detection of AIV and may be extended for detection of other viral pathogens; in addition, this portable experimental setup enables the development of point-of-care diagnostic systems while retaining adequate sensitivity.

The Kagome superconductors AV3Sb5 (A = K, Rb, Cs) have received enormous attention due to their nontrivial topological electronic structure, anomalous physical properties and superconductivity. Unconventional charge density wave (CDW) has been detected in AV3Sb5. High-precision electronic structure determination is essential to understand its origin. Here we unveil electronic nature of the CDW phase in our high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission measurements on KV3Sb5. We have observed CDW-induced Fermi surface reconstruction and the associated band folding. The CDW-induced band splitting and the associated gap opening have been revealed at the boundary of the pristine and reconstructed Brillouin zones. The Fermi surface- and momentum-dependent CDW gap is measured and the strongly anisotropic CDW gap is observed for all the V-derived Fermi surface. In particular, we have observed signatures of the electron-phonon coupling in KV3Sb5. These results provide key insights in understanding the nature of the CDW state and its interplay with superconductivity in AV3Sb5 superconductors.

Rapid and simultaneous detection of multiple potential pathogens by portable devices can facilitate early diagnosis of infectious diseases, and allow for rapid and effective implementation of disease prevention and treatment measures. The development of a ZnO nanorod integrated microdevice as a multiplex immunofluorescence platform for highly sensitive and selective detection of avian influenza virus (AIV) is described. The 3D morphology and unique optical property of the ZnO nanorods boost the detection limit of the H5N2 AIV to as low as 3.6 × 10 EID mL (EID : 50% embryo infectious dose), which is ≈22 times more sensitive than conventional enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The entire virus capture and detection process could be completed within 1.5 h with excellent selectivity. Moreover, this microfluidic biosensor is capable of detecting multiple viruses simultaneously by spatial encoding of capture antibodies. One prominent feature of the device is that the captured H5N2 AIV can be released by simply dissolving ZnO nanorods under slightly acidic environment for subsequent off-chip analyses. As a whole, this platform provides a powerful tool for rapid detection of multiple pathogens, which may extent to the other fields for low-cost and convenient biomarker detection.