Synthetic Antiferromagnetic Designer Nanodisks for High-Performance Magnetic Separation.

Magnetic separation of magnetic particles offers an appealing route to rapid and selective target capturing and isolation. However, to leverage such an approach to its full potential, high colloidal stability of the nanoparticles in the absence of a magnetic field for optimal binding, and rapid and quantitative recovery upon magnetic gradient field application are imperative. While these properties are mutually exclusive for conventional nanoparticles synthesized by wet-chemistry approaches, sputter deposition gives access to layered architectures featuring the properties of a synthetic antiferromagnet (SAF, no magnetization in zero field, high magnetization upon field application).

Alternative digestion strategy for Ti, Zr and Hf oxides: eliminating hydrofluoric acid.

Group IV metal oxides have a broad impact on the environment and human health due to their diverse applications in industry, consumer products and biomedicine. However, their chemical inertness poses significant challenges for accurate quantification in biological matrices, which is essential for assessing biodistribution, toxicity, and regulatory compliance. Traditional digestion methods often rely on hydrofluoric acid (HF), a hazardous reagent requiring specialized handling and infrastructure.

The Topology of Poly(2-methyl-2-oxazine) Shells on Nanoparticles Determines Their Interaction with Serum and Uptake by Immune Cells.

Cyclic poly(2-methyl-2-oxazine) (-PMOZI) brush shells on Au nanoparticles (NPs) exhibit enhanced stealth properties toward serum and different cell lines compared to their linear PMOZI (-PMOZI) counterparts. While selectively recruiting immunoglobulins, -PMOZI shells reduce overall human serum (HS) protein binding and alter the processing of complement factor 3 (C3) compared to chemically identical linear shells. Polymer cyclization significantly decreases NP uptake by nonphagocytic cells and macrophages in both complement-deficient fetal bovine serum (FBS) and complement-expressing HS, indicating ineffective functional opsonization.

Catalytically Active Ti-Based Nanomaterials for Hydroxyl Radical Mediated Clinical X-Ray Enhancement.

Nanoparticle radioenhancement offers a promising strategy for augmenting radiotherapy by locally increasing radiation damage to tumor tissue. While past research has predominantly focused on nanomaterials with high atomic numbers, such as Au and HfO, recent work has revealed that their radioenhancement efficacy decreases considerably when using clinically relevant megavoltage X-rays as opposed to the orthovoltage X-rays typically employed in research settings. Here, radiocatalytically active Ti-based nanomaterials for clinical X-ray therapy settings are designed.

Cathodoluminescent and Characteristic X-Ray-Emissive Rare-Earth-Doped Core/Shell Protein Labels for Spectromicroscopic Analysis of Cell Surface Receptors.

Understanding the localization and the interactions of biomolecules at the nanoscale and in the cellular context remains challenging. Electron microscopy (EM), unlike light-based microscopy, gives access to the cellular ultrastructure yet results in grey-scale images and averts unambiguous (co-)localization of biomolecules. Multimodal nanoparticle-based protein labels for correlative cathodoluminescence electron microscopy (CCLEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectromicroscopy (EDX-SM) are presented.

Epitaxial Core/Shell Nanocrystals of (Europium-Doped) Zirconia and Hafnia.

A careful design of the nanocrystal architecture can strongly enhance the nanocrystal function. So far, this strategy has faced a synthetic bottleneck in the case of refractory oxides. Here we demonstrate the epitaxial growth of hafnia shells onto zirconia cores and pure zirconia shells onto europium-doped zirconia cores.

Reusable magnetic mixture of CuFeO-FeO and TiO for photocatalytic degradation of pesticides in water.

Photocatalysis is a promising treatment method to remove pollutants from water. TiO-P25 is a commercially available model photocatalyst, which very efficiently degrades organic pollutants under UVA light exposure. However, the collection and the recovery of TiO-P25 from cleaned water poses significant difficulties, severely limiting its usability.

Protein Aggregation on Metal Oxides Governs Catalytic Activity and Cellular Uptake.

Engineering of catalytically active inorganic nanomaterials holds promising prospects for biomedicine. Catalytically active metal oxides show applications in enhancing wound healing but have also been employed to induce cell death in photodynamic or radiation therapy. Upon introduction into a biological system, nanomaterials are exposed to complex fluids, causing interaction and adsorption of ions and proteins.

Bioglass/ceria nanoparticle hybrids for the treatment of seroma: a comparative long-term study in rats.

Seroma formation is a common postoperative complication. Fibrin-based glues are typically employed in an attempt to seal the cavity. Recently, the first nanoparticle (NP)-based treatment approaches have emerged.

Embedding Pd into SnO drastically enhances gas sensing.

Combustion aerosol processes can uniquely embed noble metals into semiconducting particles. Here, monocrystalline SnO particles embedded with Pd and/or PdO were made by flame spray pyrolysis (FSP) of appropriate precursors through microexplosions by droplet-to-particle conversion as the crystal size was proportional to the cube root of precursor solution concentration, . These particles were air-annealed and leached with nitric acid for removal of metallic Pd from their surface.

Boron Nitride Nanosheets Induce Lipid Accumulation and Autophagy in Human Alveolar Lung Epithelial Cells Cultivated at Air-Liquid Interface.

Hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) is an emerging 2D material attracting significant attention due to its superior electrical, chemical, and therapeutic properties. However, inhalation toxicity mechanisms of hBN in human lung cells are poorly understood. Here, cellular interaction and effects of hBN nanosheets is investigated in alveolar epithelial cells cultured on porous inserts and exposed under air-liquid interface conditions for 24 h.

Material-Intrinsic NIR-Fluorescence Enables Image-Guided Surgery for Ceramic Fracture Removal.

Hip arthroplasty effectively treats advanced osteoarthritis and is therefore entitled as "operation of the 20th century." With demographic shifts, the USA alone is projected to perform up to 850 000 arthroplasties annually by 2030. Many implants now feature a ceramic head, valued for strength and wear resistance.

Biochemical transformations of inorganic nanomedicines in buffers, cell cultures and organisms.

The field of nanomedicine is rapidly evolving, with new materials and formulations being reported almost daily. In this respect, inorganic and inorganic-organic composite nanomaterials have gained significant attention. However, the use of new materials in clinical trials and their final approval as drugs has been hampered by several challenges, one of which is the complex and difficult to control nanomaterial chemistry that takes place within the body.

X-ray radio-enhancement by TiCT MXenes in soft tissue sarcoma.

Radiotherapy is a cornerstone of cancer treatment. However, due to the low tissue specificity of ionizing radiation, damage to the surrounding healthy tissue of the tumor remains a significant challenge. In recent years, radio-enhancers based on inorganic nanomaterials have gained considerable interest.

Nanoanalytical Insights into the Stability, Intracellular Fate, and Biotransformation of Metal-Organic Frameworks.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have found increasing applications in the biomedical field due to their unique properties and high modularity. Although the limited stability of MOFs in biological environments is increasingly recognized, analytical techniques have not yet been harnessed to their full potential to assess the biological fate of MOFs. Here, we investigate the environment-dependent biochemical transformations of widely researched nanosized MOFs (nMOFs) under conditions relevant to their medical application.

Metal-Organic Framework Mediated Radio-Enhancement Assessed in High-Throughput-Compatible 3D Tumor Spheroid Co-Cultures.

Inorganic nanomaterials have gained increasing attention in radiation oncology, owing to their radiation therapy enhancing properties. To accelerate candidate material selection and overcome the disconnect between conventional 2D cell culture and in vivo findings, screening platforms unifying high-throughput with physiologically relevant endpoint analysis based on 3D in vitro models are promising. Here, a 3D tumor spheroid co-culture model based on cancerous and healthy human cells is presented for the concurrent assessment of radio-enhancement efficacy, toxicity, and intratissural biodistribution with full ultrastructural context of radioenhancer candidate materials.

Multiscale Multimodal Investigation of the Intratissural Biodistribution of Iron Nanotherapeutics with Single Cell Resolution Reveals Co-Localization with Endogenous Iron in Splenic Macrophages.

Imaging of iron-based nanoparticles (NPs) remains challenging because of the presence of endogenous iron in tissues that is difficult to distinguish from exogenous iron originating from the NPs. Here, an analytical cascade for characterizing the biodistribution of biomedically relevant iron-based NPs from the organ scale to the cellular and subcellular scales is introduced. The biodistribution on an organ level is assessed by elemental analysis and quantification of magnetic iron by electron paramagnetic resonance, which allowed differentiation of exogenous and endogenous iron.

Cellular fate and performance of group IV metal organic framework radioenhancers.

Nano-sized metal organic frameworks (nanoMOFs) have gained increasing importance in biomedicine due to their tunable properties. In addition to their use as carriers in drug delivery, nanoMOFs containing hafnium have been successfully employed as radio-enhancers augmenting damage caused by X-ray irradiation in tumor tissue. While results are encouraging, there is little mechanistic understanding available, and the biological fate of these radio-enhancer nanoparticles remains largely unexplored.

Evaluation of fiber and debris release from protective COVID-19 mask textiles and in vitro acute cytotoxicity effects.

Since the start of the current COVID-19 pandemic, for the first time a significant fraction of the world's population cover their respiratory system for an extended period with mostly medical facemasks and textile masks. This new situation raises questions about the extent of mask related debris (fibers and particles) being released and inhaled and possible adverse effects on human health. This study aimed to quantify the debris release from a textile-based facemask in comparison to a surgical mask and a reference cotton textile using both liquid and air extraction.

Catalytic activity imperative for nanoparticle dose enhancement in photon and proton therapy.

Nanoparticle-based radioenhancement is a promising strategy for extending the therapeutic ratio of radiotherapy. While (pre)clinical results are encouraging, sound mechanistic understanding of nanoparticle radioenhancement, especially the effects of nanomaterial selection and irradiation conditions, has yet to be achieved. Here, we investigate the radioenhancement mechanisms of selected metal oxide nanomaterials (including SiO, TiO, WO and HfO), TiN and Au nanoparticles for radiotherapy utilizing photons (150 kVp and 6 MV) and 100 MeV protons.

The Role of Inorganics in Preeclampsia Assessed by Multiscale Multimodal Characterization of Placentae.

Preeclampsia is one of the most dangerous diseases in pregnancy. Because of the hypertensive nature of preeclampsia, placental calcifications are believed to be a predictor for its occurrence, analogous to their role in cardiovascular diseases. However, the prevalence and the relevance of calcifications for the clinical outcome with respect to preeclampsia remains controversial.

Release of gold (Au), silver (Ag) and cerium dioxide (CeO) nanoparticles from sewage sludge incineration ash.

Engineered nanoparticles (NPs) that are released into wastewater are retained by wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and accumulate in sewage sludge. Increasing shares of sludge are incinerated and landfilled, especially in industrialized countries. It is debated whether certain types of NPs can outlive the incineration process and subsequently be released from sewage sludge ash (SSA) landfills.

Antibiofilm activity of nanosilver coatings against Staphylococcus aureus.

Implant infections due to bacterial biofilms constitute a major healthcare challenge today. One way to address this clinical need is to modify the implant surface with an antimicrobial nanomaterial. Among such nanomaterials, nanosilver is arguably the most powerful one, due to its strong and broad antimicrobial activity.

Acetone Sensing and Catalytic Conversion by Pd-Loaded SnO.

Noble metal additives are widely used to improve the performance of metal oxide gas sensors, most prominently with palladium on tin oxide. Here, we photodeposit different quantities of Pd (0-3 mol%) onto nanostructured SnO and determine their effect on sensing acetone, a critical tracer of lipolysis by breath analysis. We focus on understanding the effect of operating temperature on acetone sensing performance (sensitivity and response/recovery times) and its relationship to catalytic oxidation of acetone through a packed bed of such Pd-loaded SnO.