Monolayer van der Waals (vdW) magnets provide an exciting opportunity for exploring two-dimensional (2D) magnetism for scientific and technological advances, but the intrinsic ferromagnetism has only ...been observed at low temperatures. Here, we report the observation of room temperature ferromagnetism in manganese selenide (MnSe x ) films grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Magnetic and structural characterization provides strong evidence that, in the monolayer limit, the ferromagnetism originates from a vdW manganese diselenide (MnSe2) monolayer, while for thicker films it could originate from a combination of vdW MnSe2 and/or interfacial magnetism of α-MnSe(111). Magnetization measurements of monolayer MnSe x films on GaSe and SnSe2 epilayers show ferromagnetic ordering with a large saturation magnetization of ∼4 Bohr magnetons per Mn, which is consistent with the density functional theory calculations predicting ferromagnetism in monolayer 1T-MnSe2. Growing MnSe x films on GaSe up to a high thickness (∼40 nm) produces α-MnSe(111) and an enhanced magnetic moment (∼2×) compared to the monolayer MnSe x samples. Detailed structural characterization by scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), and reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED) reveals an abrupt and clean interface between GaSe(0001) and α-MnSe(111). In particular, the structure measured by STEM is consistent with the presence of a MnSe2 monolayer at the interface. These results hold promise for potential applications in energy efficient information storage and processing.
Mineralization is a ubiquitous process in the animal kingdom and is fundamental to human development and health. Dysfunctional or aberrant mineralization leads to a variety of medical problems, and ...so an understanding of these processes is essential to their mitigation. Osteoblasts create the nano-composite structure of bone by secreting a collagenous extracellular matrix (ECM) on which apatite crystals subsequently form. However, despite their requisite function in building bone and decades of observations describing intracellular calcium phosphate, the precise role osteoblasts play in mediating bone apatite formation remains largely unknown. To better understand the relationship between intracellular and extracellular mineralization, we combined a sample-preparation method that simultaneously preserved mineral, ions, and ECM with nano-analytical electron microscopy techniques to examine osteoblasts in an in vitro model of bone formation. We identified calcium phosphate both within osteoblast mitochondrial granules and intracellular vesicles that transported material to the ECM. Moreover, we observed calcium-containing vesicles conjoining mitochondria, which also contained calcium, suggesting a storage and transport mechanism. Our observations further highlight the important relationship between intracellular calcium phosphate in osteoblasts and their role in mineralizing the ECM. These observations may have important implications in deciphering both how normal bone forms and in understanding pathological mineralization.
Skyrmion imaging and electrical detection via topological Hall (TH) effect are two primary techniques for probing magnetic skyrmions, which hold promise for next-generation magnetic storage. However, ...these two kinds of complementary techniques have rarely been employed to investigate the same samples. We report the observation of nanoscale skyrmions in SrIrO3/SrRuO3 (SIO/SRO) bilayers in a wide temperature range from 10 to 100 K. The SIO/SRO bilayers exhibit a remarkable TH effect, which is up to 200% larger than the anomalous Hall (AH) effect at 5 K, and zero-field TH effect at 90 K. Using variable-temperature, high-field magnetic force microscopy (MFM), we imaged skyrmions as small as 10 nm, which emerge in the same field ranges as the TH effect. These results reveal a rich space for skyrmion exploration and tunability in oxide heterostructures.
Sepsis, a condition caused by severe infections, affects more than 30 million people worldwide every year and remains the leading cause of death in hospitals
. Moreover, antimicrobial resistance has ...become an additional challenge in the treatment of sepsis
, and thus, alternative therapeutic approaches are urgently needed
. Here, we show that adoptive transfer of macrophages containing antimicrobial peptides linked to cathepsin B in the lysosomes (MACs) can be applied for the treatment of multidrug-resistant bacteria-induced sepsis in mice with immunosuppression. The MACs are constructed by transfection of vitamin C lipid nanoparticles that deliver antimicrobial peptide and cathepsin B (AMP-CatB) mRNA. The vitamin C lipid nanoparticles allow the specific accumulation of AMP-CatB in macrophage lysosomes, which is the key location for bactericidal activities. Our results demonstrate that adoptive MAC transfer leads to the elimination of multidrug-resistant bacteria, including Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli, leading to the complete recovery of immunocompromised septic mice. Our work provides an alternative strategy for overcoming multidrug-resistant bacteria-induced sepsis and opens up possibilities for the development of nanoparticle-enabled cell therapy for infectious diseases.
Systemic delivery of mRNA-based therapeutics remains a challenging issue for preclinical and clinical studies. Here, we describe new lipid-like nanoparticles (TT-LLNs) developed through an orthogonal ...array design, which demonstrates improved delivery efficiency of mRNA encoding luciferase in vitro by over 350-fold with significantly reduced experimental workload. One optimized TT3 LLN, termed O-TT3 LLNs, was able to restore the human factor IX (hFIX) level to normal physiological values in FIX-knockout mice. Consequently, these mRNA based nanomaterials merit further development for therapeutic applications.
•A simplified but effective phase retrieval method that exploits the complementary intensity changes of the transmitted disk at different scattering angles from defocused STEM data.•Visualizing both ...light and heavy elements with atomic resolution.•Revealing high SNR large-scale fine-structured magnetic phase that cannot be uncovered using conventional methods.•Significant advantages in dose-efficient, noise-robust and easy-of-use when combined with fast direct electron detectors.
We introduce a phase imaging mechanism for scanning transmission electron microscopy that exploits the complementary intensity changes of transmitted disks at different scattering angles. For scanning transmission electron microscopy, this method provides a straightforward, dose-efficient, and noise-robust phase imaging, from atomic resolution to intermediate length scales, as a function of scattering angles and probe defocus. At atomic resolution, we demonstrate that the phase imaging using the method can detect both light and heavy atomic columns. Furthermore, we experimentally apply the method to the imaging of nanoscale magnetic phases in FeGe samples. Compared with conventional methods, phase retrieval using the new method has higher effective spatial resolution and robustness to non-phase background contrast. Our method complements traditional phase imaging modalities in electron microscopy and has the potential to be extended to other scanning transmission techniques and to characterize many emerging material systems.
Attaining fast oxygen exchange kinetics on perovskite and related mixed ionic and electronic conducting oxides is critical for enabling their applications in electrochemical energy conversion ...systems. This study focuses on understanding the relationship between surface chemistry and the surface oxygen exchange kinetics on epitaxial films made of (La1–x Sr x )2CoO4, a prototypical Ruddlesden–Popper structure that is considered as a promising cathode material for fuel cells. The effects of crystal orientation on the surface composition, morphology, oxygen diffusion, and surface exchange kinetics were assessed by combining complementary surface-sensitive analytical techniques, specifically low energy ion scattering, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Auger electron spectroscopy, scanning transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and secondary ion mass spectroscopy. The films were grown in two different crystallographic orientations, (001) and (100), and with two different Sr compositions, at x = 0.25 (LSC25) and 0.50 (LSC50), by using pulsed laser deposition. In the as-prepared state, a Sr enriched layer at the top surface and a Co enriched subsurface layer were found on films with both orientations. After annealing at elevated temperatures in oxygen, the Sr enrichment increased, followed by clustering into Sr-rich secondary phase particles. Both the LSC25 and LSC50 films showed anisotropic oxygen diffusion kinetics, with up to 20 times higher oxygen diffusion coefficient along the ab-plane compared that along the c-axis at 400–500 °C. However, no dependence of surface oxygen exchange coefficient was found on the crystal orientation. This result indicates that the strong Sr segregation at the surface overrides the effect of the structural anisotropy that was also expected for the surface exchange kinetics. The larger presence of Co cations exposed at the LSC25 surface compared to that at the LSC50 surface is likely the reason for the faster oxygen surface exchange kinetics on LSC25 compared to LSC50. This work demonstrated the critical role of surface chemistry on the oxygen exchange kinetics on perovskite related oxides, which are thus far underexplored at elevated temperatures, and provides a generalizable approach to probe the surface chemistry on other catalytic complex oxides.
Antibodies targeting costimulatory receptors of T cells have been developed for the activation of T cell immunity in cancer immunotherapy. However, costimulatory molecule expression is often lacking ...in tumor-infiltrating immune cells, which can impede antibody-mediated immunotherapy. Here, we hypothesize that delivery of costimulatory receptor mRNA to tumor-infiltrating T cells will enhance the antitumor effects of antibodies. We first design a library of biomimetic nanoparticles and find that phospholipid nanoparticles (PL1) effectively deliver costimulatory receptor mRNA (CD137 or OX40) to T cells. Then, we demonstrate that the combination of PL1-OX40 mRNA and anti-OX40 antibody exhibits significantly improved antitumor activity compared to anti-OX40 antibody alone in multiple tumor models. This treatment regimen results in a 60% complete response rate in the A20 tumor model, with these mice being resistant to rechallenge by A20 tumor cells. Additionally, the combination of PL1-OX40 mRNA and anti-OX40 antibody significantly boosts the antitumor immune response to anti-PD-1 + anti-CTLA-4 antibodies in the B16F10 tumor model. This study supports the concept of delivering mRNA encoding costimulatory receptors in combination with the corresponding agonistic antibody as a strategy to enhance cancer immunotherapy.
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