•Recent advances towards infectious pathogens diagnostics are introduced.•Integrated microfluidic devices for infectious disease diagnostics are summarized.•Current challenges and future perspectives ...for POC diagnostics are discussed.
Rapid and timely diagnosis of infectious diseases is a critical determinant of clinical outcomes and general public health. For the detection of various pathogens, microfluidics-based platforms offer many advantages, including speed, cost, portability, high throughput, and automation. This review provides an overview of the recent advances in microfluidic technologies for point-of-care (POC) diagnostics for infectious diseases. The key aspects of such technologies for the development of a fully integrated POC platform are introduced, including sample preparation, on-chip nucleic acid analysis and immunoassay, and system integration/automation. The current challenges to practical implementation of this technology are discussed together with future perspectives.
With the increasing adoption of renewable energy sources globally, hydropower contributes significantly to energy generation through various schemes ranging from big to small-scale plants. In ...small-scale hydropower plants, the preference for reverse-operated pumps (known as pump as turbines or PATs) over small-scale hydroturbines has increased. However, apart from the associated economic advantages, PATs, like any other hydraulic machinery, are not free from common problems such as cavitation. Cavitation is a phenomenon in which air bubbles are formed within the fluid medium due to substantial local pressure drop and their eventual collapse causes material erosion and degrades the overall machine efficiency. Several studies have focused on PAT conventional operating mode, while its reverse mode just begun to gain research interest. Nevertheless, cavitation remains a common problem in PATs at various hydro-sites. Therefore, to analyze PAT cavitation performance and highlight the differences between its two operating modes in terms of their development mechanisms, this article presents a thorough review of PAT cavitation dynamics and influencing parameters, as well as the future research directions. It is found that PAT reverse mode is more prone to cavitation, but more damages would occur in the conventional mode. Nevertheless, modifying the PAT geometric design parameters can considerably improve its cavitation performance. However, this approach has not been sufficiently investigated for PAT reverse operating mode and hence requires further research. Note that the terms “PAT conventional mode,” “PAT pumping mode,” and “pump” are equally used throughout this paper.
•Studies on cavitation performance in hydraulic pumps as turbines (PATs) are reviewed.•Both pump and turbine modes are considered in the review.•PATs are found to have gained importance due to their applicability in remote areas.•PAT reverse mode operations require high heads and flows; prone to cavitation.•Geometric design modification is widely used for PAT cavitation performance improvement.
Diabetic nephropathy is a major chronic renal complication of diabetes mellitus, and is the leading cause of end-stage kidney diseases. Establishing a disease model of diabetic nephropathy in vitro ...can accelerate the understanding of its mechanisms and pharmaceutical development. We provide the proof-of-principle for using a glomerulus-on-a-chip microdevice that reconstitutes organ-level kidney functions to create a human disease model of early stage diabetic nephropathy on chip. The microfluidic device, which recapitulates the glomerular microenvironment, consists of parallel channels lined by isolated primary glomerular microtissues that experience fluid flow to mimic the glomerular filtration barrier (GFB), including glomerular endothelial cells, 3D basement membrane and podocytes. This device was used to reproduce high glucose-induced critical pathological responses in diabetic nephropathy as observed in humans. The results reveal that hyperglycemia plays a crucial role in the development of increased barrier permeability to albumin and glomerular dysfunction that lead to proteinuria. This organ-on-a-chip microdevice mimics the critical pathological responses of glomerulus that are characteristic of diabetic nephropathy that has not been possible by cell-based and animal models, providing a useful platform for studying the mechanism of diabetic nephropathy and developing an effective therapy in glomerular diseases.
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•Generation of magnetic biohybrid microspheres in a controlled and high throughput manner using microfluidic electrospray technology.•Flexible and efficient purification of vascular ...endothelial growth factor (VEGF) protein from E. coli expression system using magnetic biohybrid microspheres.•Induced epithelialization and angiogenesis, and the synergetic antibacterial effects by VEGF-conjugated biohybrid microspheres.•Enhanced wound healing in mice using VEGF-conjugated biohybrid microspheres.
Growth factors are vital to regulate cellular responses for wound healing process. Engineered microspheres provide a promising tool for developing effective growth factor-loaded matrix for regenerative medicine therapy. Here, we report a novel multifunctional chitosan microsphere that enables facile one-step capture and efficient growth factor delivery for enhanced wound repair. The microfluidic technique was used to fabricate magnetic chitosan (MCS) microspheres. By immobilization with Zn2+ ions, the biohybrid MCS allowed for the flexible operation to capture histidine-tagged vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) produced in Escherichia coli (E. coli). The VEGF-conjugated MCS were then applied onto the wounds to examine their capabilities in promoting wound healing. Zn2+ and chitosan in MCS exhibited a synergetic antibacterial effect towards both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Using a rat model, we further demonstrated that the microspheres significantly promoted wound healing process, as evidenced by rapid wound closure, induced epithelialization and angiogenesis, and reduced inflammation response. Together, our data indicated the presented MCS as a versatile tool for capturing and locally delivering growth factors, which can be applied to wound repair. Moreover, with the functional flexibility, this biohybrid MCS could be empolyed in a wide range of biomedical applications by conjugating proteins of interest.
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•An up-to-the-date review summarizes the key features of lung chips.•Current trends in the fabrication of lung chips.•Recent progresses in the application of lung chip to assess air ...pollutants exposure.•Current challenges and future opportunities of lung chip development.
Atmospheric pollutants, including particulate matters, nanoparticles, bioaerosols, and some chemicals, have posed serious threats to the environment and the human’s health. The lungs are the responsible organs for providing the interface betweenthecirculatory system and the external environment, where pollutant particles can deposit or penetrate into bloodstream circulation. Conventional studies to decipher the mechanismunderlying air pollution and human health are quite limited, due to the lack of reliable models that can reproduce in vivo features of lung tissues after pollutants exposure. In the past decade, advanced near-to-native lung chips, combining cell biology with bioengineered technology, present a new strategy for atmospheric pollutants assessment and narrow the gap between 2D cell culture and in vivo animal models. In this review, the key features of artificial lung chips and the cutting-edge technologies of the lung chip manufacture are introduced. The recent progresses of lung chip technologies for atmospheric pollutants exposure assessment are summarized and highlighted. We further discuss the current challenges and the future opportunities of the development of advanced lung chips and their potential utilities in atmospheric pollutants associated toxicity testing and drug screening.
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•High-throughput controlled generation of magnetic biohybrid microspheres.•Flexible and efficient purification of bFGF protein using biohybrid microspheres.•Enhanced diabetic wound ...healing using bFGF-conjugated biohybrid microspheres.
Chronic wounds represent a major clinical problem with high morbidity and mortality. A variety of biomaterials and bioactive compounds have been proven to be effective on wound healing. Here, novel multifunctional biohybrid microspheres are presented, and one-step protein separation and applications in chronic wound healing was realized for the first time. The magnetic biohybrid microspheres composed of agarose and hyaluronic acid are simply produced by the microfluidic electrospray. With glutathione, microspheres are capable to capture and isolate the growth factor-bFGF, which is produced using E. coli expression system. Moreover, hyaluronic acid and glutathione as natural anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative agents, are observed to reduce oxidative stress and inflammatory responses. Conjugated with active bFGF, these biohybrid microspheres could significantly promote angiogenesis in chronic wounds as evidenced by in vivo studies using diabetic mice. Thus, this flexible, biohybrid and multifunctional microsphere system may be widely used in the design of various bioactive proteins and relevant biomedical applications.
Fluorescent carbon dots (CDs) are a novel class of carbon-based nanomaterials that were discovered in 2004. However, nobody knew that CDs existed in food items naturally until 2012. Properties of ...nanosize materials are distinct from those of their bulk materials due to the particle size and accordingly alter their bioavailability and/or biocompatibility. Therefore, the potential health risk of nanoparticles in food has drawn massive attention. Currently, almost all studies regarding the biosafety of nanoparticles in food have mainly focused on engineered nanoparticles used as food additives and have excluded the endogenous nanoparticles in food. Therefore, investigation of the properties of food-borne fluorescent CDs and their potential health risk to humans is of great significance.
This review summarizes the existing literature on fluorescent carbon dots (CDs) in food, with particular attention to their properties, formation process, and the potential health risks posed to consumers. The knowledge gap between food-borne nanoparticles and their potential risks is identified, and future research is proposed.
The presence of fluorescent CDs in food produced during food processing has been summarized. Fluorescent CDs less than 10 nm in size mainly contain carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and/or nitrogen. The presence of CDs in food items was first demonstrated in 2012, and their formation was attributed to heating of the starting material. The properties of CDs in food are different from the engineered nanoparticles used as food as additives and represent a novel kind of nanostructure in food. Further studies should focus on the chronic effects of CDs, although their toxicity is low, because investigations both in vivo and in vitro are limited.
Pesticides have become an integral part of modern agricultural practices, but their widespread use poses a significant threat to human health. As such, there is a pressing need to develop effective ...methods for detecting pesticides in food and environmental samples. Traditional chromatography methods and common rapid detection methods cannot satisfy accuracy, portability, long storage time, and solution stability at the same time. In recent years, photoelectrochemical (PEC) sensing technology has gained attention as a promising approach for detecting various pesticides due to its salient advantages, including high sensitivity, low cost, simple operation, fast response, and easy miniaturization, thus becoming a competitive candidate for real-time and on-site monitoring of pesticide levels. This review provides an overview of the recent advancements in PEC methods for pesticide detection and their applications in ensuring food and environmental safety, with a focus on the categories of photoactive materials, from single semiconductor to semiconductor-semiconductor heterojunction, and signaling mechanisms of PEC sensing platforms, including oxidation of pesticides, steric hindrance, generation/decrease in sacrificial agents, and introduction/release of photoactive materials. Additionally, this review will offer insights into future prospects and confrontations, thereby contributing novel perspectives to this evolving domain.
Glioma is one of the most aggressive and highly fatal diseases with an extremely poor prognosis. Considering the poor clinical response to therapy in glioma, it is urgent to establish an in vitro ...model to facilitate the screening and assessment of anti-brain-tumor drugs. The blood–brain barrier (BBB), as well as liver metabolism plays an important role in determining the pharmacological activity of many anti-brain-tumor drugs. In this work, we designed a multi-interface liver-brain chip integrating co-culture system to assess hepatic metabolism dependent cytotoxicity of anti-brain-tumor drug in vitro. This microdevice composed of three microchannels which were separated by porous membrane and collagen. HepG2 and U87 cells were cultured in separated channels as mimics of liver and glioblastoma. Brain microvascular endothelial cells (BMECS) and cerebral astrocytes were co-cultured on collagen to mimic the brain microvascular endothelial barrier. Three common anti-tumor drugs, paclitaxel (PTX), capecitabine (CAP) and temozolomide (TMZ), were evaluated on this chip. In integrated liver-brain chip, liver enhanced the cytotoxicity of CAP on U87 cells by 30%, but having no significant effect on TMZ. The BBB decreased the cytotoxicity of PTX by 20%, while no significant effects were observed on TMZ and CAP, indicating the importance of liver metabolism and blood–brain barrier on the evaluation of anti-brain-tumor drugs. This work provides a biomimetic liver-brain model to mimic the physiological and pharmacological processes in vitro and presents a simple platform for long-term cell co-culture, drug delivery and metabolism, and real-time analysis of drug effects on brain cancer.
Artificial intelligence (AI) coupled with promising machine learning (ML) techniques well known from computer science is broadly affecting many aspects of various fields including science and ...technology, industry, and even our day-to-day life. The ML techniques have been developed to analyze high-throughput data with a view to obtaining useful insights, categorizing, predicting, and making evidence-based decisions in novel ways, which will promote the growth of novel applications and fuel the sustainable booming of AI. This paper undertakes a comprehensive survey on the development and application of AI in different aspects of fundamental sciences, including information science, mathematics, medical science, materials science, geoscience, life science, physics, and chemistry. The challenges that each discipline of science meets, and the potentials of AI techniques to handle these challenges, are discussed in detail. Moreover, we shed light on new research trends entailing the integration of AI into each scientific discipline. The aim of this paper is to provide a broad research guideline on fundamental sciences with potential infusion of AI, to help motivate researchers to deeply understand the state-of-the-art applications of AI-based fundamental sciences, and thereby to help promote the continuous development of these fundamental sciences.
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•“Can machines think?” The goal of artificial intelligence (AI) is to enable machines to mimic human thoughts and behaviors, including learning, reasoning, predicting, and so on.•“Can AI do fundamental research?” AI coupled with machine learning techniques is impacting a wide range of fundamental sciences, including mathematics, medical science, physics, etc.•“How does AI accelerate fundamental research?” New research and applications are emerging rapidly with the support by AI infrastructure, including data storage, computing power, AI algorithms, and frameworks.
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