DNA‐Engineered Hydrogels with Light‐Adaptive Plasmonic Responses

Abstract

Orientational control of anisotropic plasmonic nanoparticles is an attractive proposition to generate dynamic plasmonic responses. Particularly, the use of light as a stimulus to modulate the orientation is extremely useful owing to its spatiotemporal operative ability. This work showcases a light-mediated approach to tune the orientational features of gold nanorods in DNAengineered hydrogel materials. The strategy relies on the use of visible-lightinduced photothermal effects to cause deformation of the hydrogel matrix, resulting in temperature-controlled polarization-dependent optical responses whose anisotropy features are highly adaptive to the nature of DNA crosslinks. The visible-light-mediated approach showcased here can open novel avenues to create dynamic light-responsive materials with reconfigurable plasmonic responses.

Magnetic microrheometry of tumor-relevant stiffness levels and probabilistic quantification of viscoelasticity differences inside 3D cell culture matrices

“…We have advanced methods [ 31 , 33 , 37 ] to quantify microscale differences in viscoelasticity within 3D culture matrices that have a stiffness (E) range relevant to breast-tumor tissue, from 100 Pa to 10 kPa. We specifically report on three pertinent areas: the microrheometer’s calibration/uncertainty, heterogeneity within different matrix types, and pointwise measurements at breast-tumor relevant stiffness levels.…”

“…Here, we have developed magnetic-microrheometry methods, based upon [ 31 , 33 , 37 ], for measurements of microscale viscoelastic properties within 3D-culture matrices that have a range of Young’s moduli (E) relevant to breast-tumor tissue, from 100 Pa to 10 kPa ( Fig 1A ). The brief operating principle of the used magnetic microrheometer involves exertion of controlled forces onto ≃30 μ m or ≃100 μ m diameter magnetic spheres, and detection of the sphere-displacement responses.…”

Switching on Versatility: Recent Advances in Switchable Plasmonic Nanostructures

“…Followed by bending, stretching the substrate is easy to mechanically change the spatial relationship of a metallic array including lattice grating, [169] nanodisks, [170] self-assembled nanodomes, [171] and gold NR crosslinked polymer. [172,173] By controlling the distance of individual components, for example, by stretching plasmonic array, plasmonic response can be shifted by the change of SLR discussed in Section 2.2.3.…”

Historical Perspectives and Recent Research on DNA Hydrogel-Based Stimuli-Responsive Systems and Bioengineering Applications

“…One system involved the synthesis of CMC chains with electron-donor dopamine site modification and self-complementary nucleic acid chains to construct a tough hydrogel via dopamine/DTEc donor−receptor interactions and costabilization using doublestranded nucleic acids in the presence of DTEc and CMC scaffolds. Ryssy et al 109 disclosed a photoconductive approach for adjusting the orientation characteristics of gold nanorods in hydrogel materials for DNA engineering. Liu et al developed 110 a near-infrared (NIR) response and injectable DNA-mediated upconversion and gold nanoparticle hybrid (DNA-UCNP-Au) hydrogel for in vivo photothermal therapy (Figure 6B).…”