Nano and Advanced Materials Institute

Prosthetics, exoskeletons, and rehabilitation devices that seamlessly respond to the user's motion intent are essential for improving the quality of life for individuals with physical disabilities. However, existing motion intent recognition systems based on Electromyography (EMG) often experience significant performance degradation over time and limb positions. To address this, this paper proposed a Hierarchical EMG-FMG Fusion (HEFF) framework that incorporates Force Myography (FMG) as a complementary modality to enhance robustness in long-term and multi-position motion intent recognition. The HEFF framework introduced three new strategies: (1) Complementary Pyramid Fusion, a neural network architecture that effectively integrates the complementary characteristics of EMG and FMG; (2) Position Compensation and Pairing, to increase the generalizability of the model by producing augmented training data mimicking the temporal and positional variability; and (3) Feedback-based Baseline Correction, to dynamically counteract FMG baseline drift. The robustness of the system was evaluated through 10 distinct motions performed in 3 different limb positions, retested after an interval of approximately 7 days. Notably, the training data were only collected in a single limb position on the first day. The real-time experiments with 15 subjects showed that the HEFF framework maintained 91.89% classification accuracy in the primary limb position and 85.39% across multiple unseen positions. According to offline analysis, HEFF improved classification accuracy by up to 34.99% across various limb positions compared to the conventional fusion method. These results highlight HEFF's robustness across various conditions, being well-suited for assistive technology applications.

Plant-derived self-assembled nanoparticles, especially from food-medicine homology sources, are gaining attention, yet their structure-function relationships remain unclear. This study identified such nanoparticles from leaf decoction of Eucommia ulmoides, a key plant in traditional Asian medicine and diet, termed EUPs. These spherical particles (~287.8 nm) were primarily composed of polysaccharides and polyphenols, with 268 polyphenolic compounds detected via UPLC-QTOF-MS. Stepwise dissociation-ultrafiltration and spectroscopic analyses revealed that polyphenols were bound to the polysaccharide through noncovalent interactions, including hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic forces, forming a layered structure with sustained-release and thermo-responsive properties. Compared with free polyphenols, EUPs exhibited significantly prolonged anti-inflammatory effects in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages, reflected by the suppression of key inflammatory cytokines, including TNF-α, IL-6 and NO. Therefore, it aims to offer mechanistic insights into the multi-component synergistic anti-inflammatory effects of E. ulmoides and supporting the material basis of food-medicine homology.

The physical properties of drug delivery vehicles are important for the development of effective and targeted treatment options for human disease. In this review, we elucidate the role of the fundamental physical properties such as size, charge, elasticity, curvature, fluidity, and asymmetry in optimizing lipid-based drug delivery systems. These properties significantly influence the performance of such drug delivery vehicles in overcoming biological barriers, minimizing clearance, and improving cellular uptake. The optimization of physical properties is important in bridging the translational gap and achieving consistent clinical outcomes. By focusing on the fundamental physical properties, we also provide a comprehensive review that identifies remaining knowledge gaps and guides future development of lipid-based nanocarriers. This Review explores the role of fundamental physical properties, such as size, charge, elasticity, curvature, fluidity, and asymmetry, on optimizing lipid-based drug delivery systems. Knowledge gaps and guidance for the future development of lipid-based nanocarriers are also discussed.

Coordinated eye-body movements are essential for adaptive behavior, yet little is known about how multisensory input, particularly chemosensory cues, shapes this coordination. Using our enhanced Fish-On-Chips optofluidic platform, we uncovered complex dynamics in how larval zebrafish coordinate saccadic eye movements with tail flips. Under baseline conditions, spontaneous tail flips dynamically align with saccades in frequency and direction for coordinated turns. Chemosensory valence further modulates this coordination: death-associated cues intensify both the strength and frequency of coupled saccade-tail flips during turns, whereas food-related cues promote forward gliding without altering saccade coupling. Concurrent brain-wide neuronal imaging reveals that the zebrafish pallium represents the transformation of aversive valence into enhanced saccade-tail coordination, with stronger coupling associated with higher pallium activation. These findings uncover the neural basis by which chemosensory inputs of different valences distinctly regulate eye-body coordination to drive adaptive locomotion in a developing vertebrate, offering insights into principles of sensory-motor integration.

A new class of multifunctional electrolyte additives based on soluble metal–organic polyhedra (MOP) enables stable CEI/SEI formation with film-forming and anion-regulating properties, boosting interfacial stability in high-voltage Li-metal batteries.

We report the synthesis of atomically dispersed polynuclear Ag–Co–Mn sites supported on CeZrOx for the selective catalytic reduction of NOx by CO (CO-SCR) under O2-rich conditions, overcoming the typical activity-selectivity trade-off of this reaction. This catalytic system achieves >95% NO conversion with 100% N2 selectivity at 250–400 °C under 5 vol % O2. Mechanistic studies reveal that Mn serves as an “electron relay” that facilitates electron flow from Ag to Mn to Co, generating electron-rich Co sites and electron-deficient Ag sites. This charge redistribution effectively enhances the coadsorption of two NO molecules on adjacent Co and Ag sites, where electron transfer from Co and Mn to NO activates the adsorbed NO molecules to form a N2O2 intermediate. This simultaneously weakens O2 adsorption, promoting the reduction of N2O2 to N2O by CO and subsequent N2O dissociation to produce N2. This work demonstrates the synergistic role of multinuclear centers in NOx reduction and offers a strategic approach to designing efficient catalysts for complex reactions.

Mapping the interaction potential of different variant combinations of viral antigens and human cell receptors and understanding how viral antigen mutations interact with human genetic polymorphisms are critical for predicting infection susceptibility and informing precision public health strategies. Here, we develop a droplet-based single-cell pairing and library-on-library interaction screening (SPLIS) system for high-throughput profiling of the syncytium-formation landscapes of various spike–angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) variant combinations. This system uses combined droplet sorting and merging to deterministically encapsulate one antigen-presenting sender cell and one receptor-expressing receiver cell into each drop, followed by selection and sequencing of the fused DNA readouts to characterize the syncytium-formation potential of each combination. We applied SPLIS to characterize both fusion-enhancing and -inhibiting variant pairs, comprehensively profiling how ACE2 single-nucleotide polymorphisms modulate susceptibility to emerging severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 spike mutations. Our system emerges as a powerful tool to interrogate the interactions between two libraries of variants, offering valuable insights into host susceptibility patterns and viral infectivity trends.

Background: Bone fracture is a partial or complete break in the continuity of a bone, which poses a significant healthcare burden. It is important to discover a novel method to stimulate and speed-up the healing of bone fractures. Aim: This study aimed to investigate the effects and mechanisms of alternating current (AC) in promoting bone fracture healing. Methods: A rabbit bone fracture model was used. X-ray and Micro-CT evaluated fracture healing, while HE staining and immunohistochemistry assessed morphological changes. In vitro, pre-osteoblastic cells were tested with alizarin red S staining and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity. RNA-seq analysis explored potential mechanisms. Results: X-ray evaluation showed that alternating current stimulation (ACS) promoted bone formation and shaping by day 14 post-treatment. Micro-CT results revealed significant new bone formation as early as day 3 and day 7 (p < 0.05). HE staining indicated more trabecular bone formation in the ACS group compared to the model group at days 7 and 14. Immunohistochemistry showed higher expression of BMP-2 and VEGF in the ACS group by day 7. In vitro, ACS enhanced osteogenic differentiation, increasing calcified nodule formation and ALP activity. Gene expression analysis demonstrated significant changes in key osteogenic genes, confirmed by multiple immunohistochemical staining. Conclusions: ACS may be a novel method for treating bone fractures more rapidly, significantly relieving the patient’s burden, particularly in the early stages of bone healing.

Electrochemical aptamer biosensors (E‐ABs) are promising tools for rapid point‐of‐care (POC) diagnosis which utilize aptamers for the molecular recognition of specific disease biomarkers. However, E‐AB sensitivity is typically limited by the binding affinity (KD) of the aptamer (often in the micromolar‐nanomolar range), while biomarker concentrations in biofluids are often at the picomolar level or below. Liquid‐liquid phase separation (LLPS) provides a robust framework to concentrate the target biomarker based on affinity‐controlled partitioning within an all‐aqueous environment. In this study, the integration of LLPS into E‐AB is reported to overcome the sensitivity limitation and achieve picomolar Severe acute respiratory syndroome coronavirus 2 spike protein (SARS‐CoV‐2 S protein) detection. Preferential spike protein partition upon LLPS is verified by microscopic imaging and biochemical assays. The LLPS‐integrated E‐AB is developed by a peroxidase catalytic reaction to generate electrical signals in the presence of the S protein. The LLPS demonstrates successful protein concentration from synthetic human biofluids and leads to at least 100‐fold sensitivity improvement to the picomolar level of the limit of detection (LOD) by altering the volume ratio (VR) of the two segregated phases. This is the first report of an LLPS‐embedded E‐AB application, advancing the sensitivity of aptamer electrochemical biosensing without a multi‐step downstream signal amplification cascade.