Prospects for the therapeutic development of umbilical cord bloodderived mesenchymal stem cells

Umbilical cord blood(UCB)is a primitive and abundant source of mesenchymal stem cells(MSCs).UCB-derived MSCs have a broad and efficient therapeutic capacity to treat various diseases and disorders.Despite the high latent selfrenewal and differentiation capacity of these cells,the safety,efficacy,and yield of MSCs expanded for ex vivo clinical applications remains a concern.However,immunomodulatory effects have emerged in various disease models,exhibiting specific mechanisms of action,such as cell migration and homing,angiogenesis,anti-apoptosis,proliferation,anti-cancer,anti-fibrosis,anti-inflammation and tissue regeneration.Herein,we review the current literature pertaining to the UCB-derived MSC application as potential treatment strategies,and discuss the concerns regarding the safety and mass production issues in future applications.

Recent advances of flexible perovskite solar cells

In few years only, the efficiency record of perovskite solar cells（PSCs） has raised quickly from 3.8% to over 22%. This emerging photovoltaic technology has primarily shown its great potential of industrialization. Flexible PSCs are thought to be one of the most priority options for mass production, related to the intrinsic advantage of perovskite thin films which could be deposited by facile solution processes at low temperature. Flexible PSCs have at least four advantages in comparison to the rigid counterpart：（1） it can generate higher power output at lighter weight,（2） it is easily portable,（3） it can be easily attached to architectures or textiles with diverse shapes, and（4） it is compatible with roll-to-roll fabrication in a large scale. In this review, we have summarized recent development of the key materials and technologies applied in flexible PSCs. The key materials including flexible substrates, transparent and conductive electrodes, and interfacial materials; some key technologies about roll-to-roll manufacture, encapsulation technology have been overviewed. Finally, a prospect on possible application directions of flexible PSCs has been discussed.

Epigenome-Metabolome-Epigenome signaling cascade in cell biological processes

Cell fate determination as a fundamental question in cell biology has been extensively studied at different regulatory levels for many years.However,the mechanisms of multilevel regulation of cell fate determination remain unclear.Recently,we have proposed an Epigenome-Metabolome-Epigenome(E-M-E)signaling cascade model to describe the cross-over cooperation during mouse somatic cell reprogramming.In this review,we summarize the broad roles of E-M-E signaling cascade in different cell biological processes,including cell differentiation and dedifferentiation,cell specialization,cell proliferation,and cell pathologic processes.Precise E-M-E signaling cascades are critical in these cell biological processes,and it is of worth to explore each step of E-M-E signaling cascade.E-M-E signaling cascade model sheds light on and may open a window to explore the mechanisms of multilevel regulation of cell biological processes.

Over 9% efficiency achieved for all-polymer solar cells processed by a green solvent

Bulk-heterojunction polymer solar cells(PSCs)have attracted considerable attention owning to their potential for fabricating flexible,light-weight and large area solar cell panels via high-throughput roll-to-roll technologies.Compared with conventional PSCs comprising small molecule acceptors,such as fullerenes,all-polymer solar cells(all-PSCs)containing blends of p-type/n-type polymers in the photoactive layer provide advantages including

Interfacial engineering of printable bottom back metal electrodes for full-solution processed flexible organic solar cells

Printing of metal bottom back electrodes of flexible organic solar cells（FOSCs） at low temperature is of great significance to realize the full-solution fabrication technology. However, this has been difficult to achieve because often the interfacial properties of those printed electrodes, including conductivity, roughness, work function,optical and mechanical flexibility, cannot meet the device requirement at the same time. In this work, we fabricate printed Ag and Cu bottom back cathodes by a low-temperature solution technique named polymer-assisted metal deposition（PAMD） on flexible PET substrates. Branched polyethylenimine（PEI） and ZnO thin films are used as the interface modification layers（IMLs） of these cathodes. Detailed experimental studies on the electrical, mechanical, and morphological properties, and simulation study on the optical properties of these IMLs are carried out to understand and optimize the interface of printed cathodes. We demonstrate that the highest power conversion efficiency over 3.0% can be achieved from a full-solution processed OFSC with the device structure being PAMDAg/PEI/P3 HT：PC61BM/PH1000. This device also acquires remarkable stability upon repeating bending tests.

Real time monitoring of bioreactor mAb IgG3 cell culture process dynamics via Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy： Implications for enabling cell culture process analytical technology

Compared to small molecule process analytical technology （PAT） applications, biotechnology product PAT applications have certain unique challenges and opportunities. Understanding process dynamics of bioreactor cell culture process is essential to establish an appropriate process control strategy for biotechnology product PAT applications. Inline spectroscopic techniques for real time monitoring of bioreactor cell culture process have the distinct potential to develop PAT approaches in manufac- turing biotechnology drug products. However, the use of inline Fourier transform infrared （FTIR） spectroscopic techniques for bioreactor cell culture process monitoring has not been reported. In this work, real time inline FTIR Spectroscopy was applied to a lab scale bioreactor mAb IgG3 cell culture fluid biomolecular dynamic model. The technical feasibility of using FTIR Spectroscopy for real time tracking and monitoring four key cell culture metabolites （including glucose, glutamine, lactate, and ammonia） and protein yield at increasing levels of complexity （simple binary system, fully formulated media, actual bioreactor cell culture process） was evaluated via a stepwise approach. The FTIR fingerprints of the key metabolites were identified. The multivariate partial least squares （PLS） calibration models were established to correlate the process FTIR spectra with the concentrations of key metabolites and protein yield of in-process samples, either individually for each metabolite and protein or globally for all four metabolites simultaneously. Applying the 2＇ld derivative pre-processing algorithm to the FTIR spectra helps to reduce the number of PLS latent variables needed significantly and thus simplify the interpretation of the PLS models. The validated PLS models show promise in predicting the concentration profiles of glucose, glutamine, lactate, and ammonia and protein yield over the course of the bioreactor cell culture process. Therefore, this work demonstrated the technical feasibility of real time monitoring of the bioreactor cell culture process via FTIR spectroscopy. Its implications for enabling cell culture PAT were discussed.

Efficient perovskite solar cells based on the novel low-temperature processed electron transport layer

With the support by the National Natural Science Foundation of China,the research team led by Prof.Hou Yu(侯宇)and Prof.Yang Huagui(杨化桂)at the Key Laboratory for Ultrafine Materials of Ministry of Education,School of Materials Science and Engineering,East China University of Science

A putative plant organelle RNA recognition protein gene is essential for maize kernel development

Basal endosperm transfer layer（BETL） cells are responsible for transferring apoplastic solutes from the maternal pedicel into the endosperm,supplying the grain with compounds required for embryo development and storage reserve accumulation.Here,we analyze the maize（Zea mays L.） empty pericarp6（emp6） mutant,which causes early arrest in grain development.The Emp6 tgene function is required independently in both the embryo and endosperm.The emp6 mutant causes a notable effect on the differentiation of BETL cells;the extensive cell wall ingrowths that distinguish BETL cells are diminished and BETL marker gene expression is compromised in mutant kernels.Transposon tagging identified the emp6 locus as encoding a putative plant organelle RNA recognition（PORR） protein,1 of 15 PORR family members in maize.The emp6 transcript is widely detected in plant tissues with highest Researclevels in embryos and developing kernels.EMP6-green fluorescent protein（GFP） fusion proteins transiently expressed in Nicotiana benthamiana leaves were targeted specifically to mitochondria.These results suggest that BETL cell differentiation might be particularly energy intensive,or alternatively,that mitochondria might confer a developmental function.