Search Our Scientific Publications & Authors

J Phys Condens Matter 2021 Feb 25. Epub 2021 Feb 25.

Advanced Computing and Simulation Laboratory, Monash University, Clayton,, Victoria 3800, Melbourne, Victoria, 3800, AUSTRALIA.

We design a tunable plasmonic resonator that may have applications in sensing and plasmon generation|our design uses graphene-based Bragg reflectors of periodically modulated conductivity. Specically, we explore and utilize the ability to use an array of Gaussian conductivity gratings as fully reflecting mirrors for Surface Plasmon Polaritons (SPPs) propagating along a 2-Dimensional graphene sheet sandwiched between two dielectric materials. Graphene supports SPPs in the near-infrared to terahertz (THz) regime of the electromagnetic spectrum compared to those observed in metal-dielectric systems. Read More

J Clin Invest 2021 Feb 25. Epub 2021 Feb 25.

Department of Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, United States of America.

Efferocytosis, the process through which apoptotic cells (ACs) are cleared through actin-mediated engulfment by macrophages, prevents secondary necrosis, suppresses inflammation, and promotes resolution. Impaired efferocytosis drives the formation of clinically dangerous necrotic atherosclerotic plaques, the underlying etiology of coronary artery disease (CAD). An intron of the gene encoding PHACTR1 contains a common variant rs9349379 (A > G) associated with CAD. Read More

J Power Sources 2021 Feb;484

Department of Civil, Environmental, and Construction Engineering, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, 32816, USA.

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) have recently been applied to generate electricity from oily wastewater. Although MFCs that utilize microalgae to provide a self-supporting oxygen (O) supply at the cathode have been well discussed, those with microalgae at the anode as an active biomass for treating wastewater and producing electrons are still poorly studied and understood. Here, we demonstrated a bilgewater treatment using single- and double-chamber microalgal fuel cells (SMAFC and DMAFC) capable of generating energy with a novel microalgal strain () that was initially isolated from oily wastewater. Read More

ACS Nano 2021 Feb 24. Epub 2021 Feb 24.

Center for Nanoscale Materials, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, Illinois 60439, United States.

While offering high-precision control of neural circuits, optogenetics is hampered by the necessity to implant fiber-optic waveguides in order to deliver photons to genetically engineered light-gated neurons in the brain. Unlike laser light, X-rays freely pass biological barriers. Here we show that radioluminescent Gd(WO):Eu nanoparticles, which absorb external X-rays energy and then downconvert it into optical photons with wavelengths of ∼610 nm, can be used for the transcranial stimulation of cortical neurons expressing red-shifted, ∼590-630 nm, channelrhodopsin ReaChR, thereby promoting optogenetic neural control to the practical implementation of minimally invasive wireless deep brain stimulation. Read More

Plant Cell 2021 Feb 24. Epub 2021 Feb 24.

Department of Molecular Cell Biology of Plants, Goethe University, Max-von-Laue Str. 9; D-60438 Frankfurt, Germany.

The insertion of organellar membrane proteins with the correct topology requires the following: First, the proteins must contain topogenic signals for translocation across and insertion into the membrane. Second, proteinaceous complexes in the cytoplasm, membrane, and lumen of organelles are required to drive this process. Many complexes required for the intracellular distribution of membrane proteins have been described, but the signals and components required for the insertion of plastidic β-barrel-type proteins into the outer membrane are largely unknown. Read More