5 results
Search Results
Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
- ItemToward light‐regulated living biomaterials(Hoboken, NJ : Wiley, 2018) Sankaran, Shrikrishnan; Zhao, Shifang; Muth, Christina; Paez, Julieta; Del Campo, AránzazuLiving materials are an emergent material class, infused with the productive,adaptive, and regenerative properties of living organisms. Property regulation in living materials requires encoding responsive units in the living components to allow external manipulation of their function. Here, an optoregulated Escherichia coli (E. coli)-based living biomaterial that can be externally addressed using light to interact with mammalian cells is demonstrated. This is achieved by using a photoactivatable inducer of gene expression and bacterial surface display technology to present an integrin-specific miniprotein on the outer membrane of an endotoxin-free E. coli strain. Hydrogel surfaces functionalized with the bacteria can expose cell adhesive molecules upon in situ light-activation, and trigger cell adhesion. Surface immobilized bacteria are able to deliver a fluorescent protein to the mammalian cells with which they are interacting, indicating the potential of such a bacterial material to deliver molecules to cells in a targeted manner.
- ItemFunnel-shaped microstructures for strong reversible adhesion(Hoboken, NJ : Wiley, 2017) Fischer, Sarah C.L.; Groß, Katja; Abad, Oscar Torrents; Becker, MIchael M.; Park, Euiyoung; Hensel, René; Arzt, EduardThe potential of a new design of adhesive microstructures in the micrometer range for enhanced dry adhesion is investigated. Using a two-photon lithography system, complex 3D master structures of funnel-shaped microstructures are fabricated for replication into poly(ethylene glycol) dimethacrylate polymer. The diameter, the flap thickness, and the opening angle of the structures are varied systematically. The adhesion of single structures is characterized using a triboindenter system equipped with a flat diamond punch. The pull-off stresses obtained reaches values up to 5.6 MPa, which is higher than any values reported in literature for artificial dry adhesives. Experimental and numerical results suggest a characteristic attachment mechanism that leads to intimate contact formation from the edges toward the center of the structures. van der Waals interactions most likely dominate the adhesion, while contributions by suction or capillarity play only a minor role. Funnel-shaped microstructures are a promising concept for strong and reversible adhesives, applicable in novel pick and place handling systems or wall-walking robots.
- ItemQuinone-decorated onion-like carbon/carbon fiber hybrid electrodes for high-rate supercapacitor applications(Hoboken, NJ : Wiley, 2015) Zeiger, Marco; Weingarth, Daniel; Presser, VolkerThe energy performance of carbon onions can be significantly enhanced by introducing pseudocapacitive materials, but this is commonly at the cost of power handling. In this study, a novel synergistic electrode preparation method was developed by using carbon-fiber substrates loaded with quinone-decorated carbon onions. The electrodes are free standing, binder free, extremely conductive, and the interfiber space filling overcomes the severely low apparent density commonly found for electrospun fibers. Electrochemical measurements were performed in organic and aqueous electrolytes. For both systems, a high electrochemical stability after 10 000 cycles was measured, as well as a long-term voltage floating test for the organic electrolyte. The capacitance in 1 M H2SO4 was 288 F g^−1 for the highest loading of quinones, which is similar to literature values, but with a very high power handling, showing more than 100 F g^−1 at a scan rate of 2 Vs^−1.
- ItemFibrillar elastomeric micropatterns create tunable adhesion even to rough surfaces(Hoboken, NJ : Wiley, 2016) Barreau, Viktoriia; Hensel, René; Guimard, Nathalie K.; Ghatak, Animangsu; McMeeking, Robert M.; Arzt, EduardBiologically inspired, fibrillar dry adhesives continue to attract much attention as they are instrumental for emerging applications and technologies. To date, the adhesion of micropatterned gecko-inspired surfaces has predominantly been tested on stiff, smooth substrates. However, all natural and almost all artificial surfaces have roughnesses on one or more different length scales. In the present approach, micropillar-patterned PDMS surfaces with superior adhesion to glass substrates with different roughnesses are designed and analyzed. The results reveal for the first time adhesive and nonadhesive states depending on the micropillar geometry relative to the surface roughness profile. The data obtained further demonstrate that, in the adhesive regime, fibrillar gecko-inspired adhesive structures can be used with advantage on rough surfaces; this finding may open up new applications in the fields of robotics, biomedicine, and space exploration.
- ItemMaximizing transfection efficiency of vertically aligned silicon nanowire arrays(Hoboken, NJ : Wiley, 2015) Elnathan, Roey; Delalat, Bahman; Brodoceanu, Daniel; Alhoud, Hashim; Harding, Frances J.; Buehler, Katrin; Nelson, Adrienne; Isa, Lucio; Kraus, Tobias; Voelcker, Nicolas H.Vertically aligned silicon nanowire (VA‐SiNW) arrays are emerging as a powerful new tool for gene delivery by means of mechanical transfection. In order to utilize this tool efficiently, uncertainties around the required design parameters need to be removed. Here, a combination of nanosphere lithography and templated metal‐assisted wet chemical etching is used to fabricate VA‐SiNW arrays with a range of diameters, heights, and densities. This fabrication strategy allows identification of critical parameters of surface topography and consequently the design of SiNW arrays that deliver plasmid with high transfection efficiency into a diverse range of human cells whilst maintaining high cell viability. These results illuminate the cell‐materials interactions that mediate VA‐SiNW transfection and have the potential to transform gene therapy and underpin future treatment modalities.