A Novel Synthesis Route to Produce Boron Nitride Nanotubes for Bioapplications

Nanostructures of boron nitride have attracted a great deal of interest due to their potential applications that comprise a broad range of topics, including biomedical technology, since it presents good chemical stability and suggests good biological inertia. This paper reports a facile and effective synthesis based on CVD process with new conditions to produce boron nitride nanotubes in higher amount using boron powder, ammonium nitrate and hematite as catalysts in tubular furnace, without using extreme conditions. The characterization of the material was carried out by Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). From the results, it was possible to verify the production of a hexagonal BN nanotube filled with Fe nanoparticles. It was possible to understand the reactions involved in synthesis process, and also confirm the formation of hexagonal boron nitride nanotubes with iron nanoparticles as catalysts. Depending on the final use, samples need to be purified to analyze their unique properties in some bioapplications. In the other hand, sometimes BNNTs containing Fe nanoparticles have potential for use in therapeutic drug, gene and radionuclide delivery, and radio frequency methods for the catabolism of tumors via hyperthermia. In this sense, some application-related studies on BNNTs such as biocompatibility tests have also been investigated in both pure and BN nanotube filled with Fe.

Photosensitive hydrogels: from structure, mechanisms, design to bioapplications

Hydrogel is a smart material with a three-dimensional network structure and has been widely used in various fields due to its good biodegradability, biocompatibility, and modification. Photosensitive hydrogel is a smart hydrogel, and its amenability to remote, precise control, and flexible and convenient regulation of stimulating factors make it an ideal candidate for use in fields such as biological materials, drug carriers, and sensors. In this review, we discuss the structure, mechanisms, design principles,and bioapplications of photosensitive hydrogels as developed in recent years. Finally, their potential for development and potential future challenges are outlined.

Defect Luminescence Based Persistent Phosphors—From Controlled Synthesis to Bioapplications

Persistent luminescence is an optical phenomenon where solid phosphors can store photoenergy in defects and release the energy by luminescence after stopping excitation.Due to the intriguing optical characteristics,the defect luminescence based persistent phosphors have attracted enormous attention in recent decades,especially in biomedical fields such as biosensing and bioimagin8.Persistent luminescence nanoparticles(PLNPs)can effectively avoid the autofluorescence interference from complex samples or tissues,leading to significantly improved sensitivity in biological analysis.In this review,we summarized the methods to control the optical performance of PLNPs from the perspectives of controlled synthesis and defect regulation,and emphasized the close relationship between their optical performance and applications.We further provided a summary about a series of PLNPs nanoprobes designed by our group for biosensing and bioimaging.Our efforts,summarized in this review,will not only open a window for manipulating luminescence in PLNPs,but also further promote the application of PLNPs in biomedicine.

Fluorescent probes for detection of biothiols based on “aromatic nucleophilic substitution-rearrangement” mechanism

Biothiols,including cysteine(Cys),homocysteine(Hey),and glutathione(GSH) play important roles in physiological processes,and the detection of thiol using fluorescent probes has attracted attention due to their high sensitivity and selectively and invasive on-time imaging.However,the similar structures and reactivity of these biothiols present great challenges for selective detection.This review focused on the the "aromatic nucleophilic substitution-rearrangement(SNAr-rearrangement) mechanism",which provided a powerful tool to design fluorescent probes for the discrimination between biothiols.We classify the fluorescent probes according to types of fluorophores,such as difluoroboron dipyrromethene(BODIPY),nitrobenzoxadiazole(NBD),cyanine,pyronin,naphthalimide,coumarin,and so on.We hope this review will inspire exploration of new fluorescent probes for biothiols and other relevant analytes.

DNA Functionalized Fluorescent Quantum Dots for Bioanalytical Applications

As a newly developed fluorescent probe, DNA functionalized quantum dots （QDs） with unique optical proper- ties play a critical role in the bioanalytical applications. The present review provides an overview on the conjugation technologies of DNA to QDs, including electrostatic attraction, covalent attachment, specific effect and direct syn- thesis. In addition, we summarize recent advances on DNA functionalized QDs in the bioapplications, such as tar- geting nucleic acids, ions, small molecules and the protein detection, cell imaging and disease diagnosis. Finally, we envision aspects concerning current challenges on the DNA functionalized fluorescent QDs.

Activating Surface Dark Emitters in Lanthanide-Doped Ultrasmall Nanoparticles for Biological Applications Based on Interparticle Energy Transfer

Lanthanide-doped ultrasmall nanoparticles(NPs)are attractive for diverse applications because of their unique optical properties compared with their bulk materials;their practical use,however,is greatly limited by extremely weak photoluminescence(PL)associated with severe surface quenching.Herein,we demonstrate an effective strategy to activate surface dark emitters of Eu3+in ultrasmall Sc_(2)O_(3).

96孔板快速扫描分析

从事新药开发和基础研究的科学家使用Cellomics公司的新软件可以快速进行多种细胞分析。应用软件Spot Detector BioApplication结合了先进的目标选择和精密的运算来进行最新的分析，可以在5分钟之内完成扫描并分析一个96孔板。