Many organelle-targeted anticancer strategies are designed primarily to perturb a specific organelle, potentially allowing tumor cells to activate compensatory responses that limit therapeutic efficacy. Paraptosis, a non-apoptotic programmed cell death characterized by multi-organelle vacuolization, provides an alternative strategy to bypass apoptosis resistance. Here, we report a photon-driven therapeutic platform based on self-assembled FA-Au-Ag alloy nanomushroom-nanowires for fluorescence-guided induction of paraptosis in tumor cells. Equipped with folate targeting and plasmonic properties, the nanostructures enable precise intracellular translocation under light irradiation. Combined with 4D live-cell imaging and FIB-SEM 3D reconstruction, we show that the photoresponsive nanosystem triggers endoplasmic reticulum stress and calcium dyshomeostasis. Such cascade responses further disrupt mitochondrial redox balance, causing synchronous foaming of multiple organelles to initiate caspase-independent paraptosis. This multi-organelle destructive pattern efficiently abrogates tumor compensatory capability. This work develops a multifunctional alloy nanoplatform, offering great potential for fluorescence-guided phototherapy.
Label-free methods that measure both the biochemical composition and physical properties of cells could improve the identification of closely related cell populations without destructive assays. Here, we report a mechano-molecular classification approach that combines molecular information from broadband coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (BCARS) spectroscopy with mechanical phenotypes measured by real-time deformability cytometry (RT-DC). We also introduce an axicon-based dark-field illumination scheme for RT-DC that enhances cell contrast during microfluidic deformation while maintaining measurement throughput. Using offline feature fusion, we combine measurements from cells belonging to the same biological populations. Across differentiated HL60/S4 myeloid lineages and breast cancer cells stratified by endothelial cell-selective adhesion molecule (ESAM) expression, combined molecular and mechanical features improve discrimination over either modality alone, achieving >75% accuracy with linear models and >90% with nonlinear classifiers. These results support the development of integrated single-cell mechano-molecular cytometry platforms.
Glycerol electrooxidation is a promising way to utilize the oversupply from biodiesel production. Another attractive bio-derived polyol for chemicals production is xylitol, which has not yet attracted much scientific attention. In this study, we investigate the influence of the chain lengths of glycerol, erythritol, and xylitol on the electrooxidation and product distribution. We contrast the outcomes of using Pt and Ag electrodes. On Pt, we observe the oxidation to the corresponding aldehyde. Subsequently, homogeneous C-C bond cleavage of erythrose and xylose in the alkaline media dominates the product outcome, while glyceraldehyde mainly yields C3 acids upon further oxidation. For Ag, we observe the formation of the same three acids, glyceric acid, glycolic acid, and formic acid. Our findings indicate that direct C-C cleavage occurs alongside oxidation. Depending on the polyol length, the ratios of the three acids vary, providing information about the preferred splitting behavior. This study offers insights into the electrooxidation of larger polyols with bearing on their suitability for selective chemicals production.
Sustainable routes to metal generation and reuse will underpin critical technologies in the coming decades. In this Voices piece, researchers tackling diverse parts of the problem give their opinion on key innovations and challenges in the pursuit of sustainable metal production.
Thermal modeling is a requirement for designing high-performance battery systems. However, thermal modeling depends on accurate thermal properties of battery components. Thermal conductivity of liquid electrolytes is particularly important, but data on electrolyte thermal conductivity remains scarce. Using immersion thermo-optic phase spectroscopy (I-TOPS), we determine the thermal conductivity of common battery electrolyte solvents and mixtures. Studied were dimethyl carbonate (DMC), ethylene carbonate (EC), dimethoxyethane (DME), and 1,3-dioxolane (DOL) with lithium hexafluorophosphate (LiPF6) and lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI) salts at temperatures from room temperature to 55°C. Binary mixtures of DMC/EC do not follow a simple rule of mixtures in terms of thermal conductivity, while the DME/DOL mixture follows a rule of mixtures. LiPF6 is shown to have no impact on thermal conductivity in an EC/DMC mixture, while LiTFSI decreases thermal conductivity when added to a DME/DOL mixture and pure DME. Density, dn/dT, heat capacity, refractive index, and speed of sound are included.
