Bonnevide, Marine; Jimenez, Andrew M.; Dhara, Deboleena; Phan, Trang N.T.; Malicki, Nicolas; Abbas, Zaid M.; Benicewicz, Brian; Kumar, Sanat K.; Couty, Marc; Gigmes, Didier; Jestin, Jacques
Morphologies of Polyisoprene-Grafted Silica Nanoparticles in Model Elastomers
We control nanoparticle (NP) dispersion by leveraging the entropic and enthalpic effects associated with mixing silica NPs grafted with polyisoprene (PI) chains into matrices of varying degrees of chemical dissimilarity. Previous work in this area has primarily focused on entropic factors alone, and hence, this work represents a significant advance…
The structure of spray-dried detergent powders
Farshchi, Amin; Hassanpour, Ali; Bayly, Andrew E.
The complex multiscale structure of spray dried detergent granules has been characterized using a complementary range of techniques including scanning electron microscopy (SEM), image analysis, wide angle and small angle X-ray scattering (WAXS, SAXS) and X-ray microtomography. A complex composite structure is revealed due to the multiphase nature of the…
PrP (58–93) peptide from unstructured N-terminal domain of human prion protein forms amyloid-like fibrillar structures in the presence of Zn2+ ions
Gielnik, Maciej; Pietralik, Zuzanna; Zhukov, Igor; Szymańska, Aneta; Kwiatek, Wojciech M.; Kozak, Maciej
Many transition metal ions modulate the aggregation of different amyloid peptides. Substoichiometric zinc concentrations can inhibit aggregation, while an excess of zinc can accelerate the formation of cytotoxic fibrils. In this study, we report the fibrillization of the octarepeat domain to amyloid-like structures. Interestingly, this self-assembling process occurred only in…
Preparation of isoporous membranes from low χ block copolymers via co-assembly with H-bond interacting homopolymers
Zhu, Guo-Dong; Yang, Cao-Ying; Yin, Yu-Rong; Yi, Zhuan; Chen, Xian-Hong; Liu, Li-Fen; Gao, Cong-Jie
Self-assembly and non-solvent induced phase separation (SNIPS) was extensively used in the fabrication of isoporous membranes for its compatibility with massive production. However, for the well-defined SNIPS, preparation of isoporous membranes from low χ block copolymers is challenging because self-assembly of these polymers is usually hard to induce. In this…
Typical experiment vs. in-cell like conditions in magnetic hyperthermia: Effects of media viscosity and agglomeration
Bruvera, I. J.; Actis, D. G.; Calatayud, M. P.; Mendoza Zélis, P.
Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) can be used to transform electromagnetic energy into heat in hyperthermic treatment of cancer and other thermally activated therapies. The MNPs heating efficiency depends strongly on the combination of the MNPs’ structural properties and environmental conditions. MNPs hyperthermic yield is usually studied in diluted suspensions, although, in…
NMR and crystallographic structural studies of the extremely stable monomeric variant of human cystatin C with single amino acid substitution
Maszota‐Zieleniak, Martyna; Jurczak, Przemyslaw; Orlikowska, Marta; Zhukov, Igor; Borek, Dominika; Otwinowski, Zbyszek; Skowron, Piotr; Pietralik, Zuzanna; Kozak, Maciej; Szymańska, Aneta; Rodziewicz‐Motowidło, Sylwia
Human cystatin C (hCC), a member of the superfamily of papain-like cysteine protease inhibitors, is the most widespread cystatin in human body fluids. This small protein, in addition to its physiological function, is involved in various diseases, including cerebral amyloid angiopathy, cerebral hemorrhage, stroke, and dementia. Physiologically active hCC is…
A highly transparent and ultra-stretchable conductor with stable conductivity during large deformation
Lei, Zhouyue; Wu, Peiyi
Intrinsically stretchable conductors have undergone rapid development in the past few years and a variety of strategies have been established to improve their electro-mechanical properties. However, ranging from electronically to ionically conductive materials, they are usually vulnerable either to large deformation or at high/low temperatures, mainly due to the fact…
Arguments for an additional long-lived intermediate in the photocycle of the full-length aureochrome 1c receptor: A time-resolved small-angle X-ray scattering study
Bannister, Saskia; Böhm, Elena; Zinn, Thomas; Hellweg, Thomas; Kottke, Tilman
Aureochromes (AUREO) act as blue-light photoreceptors in algae. They consist of a light-, oxygen-, voltage-sensitive (LOV) domain and a DNA-binding basic region/leucine zipper. Illumination of the flavin cofactor in LOV leads to the formation of an adduct, followed by global structural changes. Here, we first applied UV/vis spectroscopy to characterize…
Self-Assembly of the Bio-Surfactant Aescin in Solution: A Small-Angle X-ray Scattering and Fluorescence Study
Dargel, Carina; Geisler, Ramsia; Hannappel, Yvonne; Kemker, Isabell; Sewald, Norbert; Hellweg, Thomas
This work investigates the temperature-dependent micelle formation as well as the micellar structure of the saponin aescin. The critical micelle concentration ( cmc ) of aescin is determined from the concentration-dependent autofluorescence (AF) of aescin. Values between cmcaescin,AF (10°C) = 0.38 ± 0.09 mM and cmcaescin,AF (50°C) = 0.32 ±…
Diversified α-phase nanostructure of isotactic polypropylene under cylindrical confinement via cross diffraction analysis
Zeng, Xingming; Zhang, Shuailin; Zheng, Nan; Yu, Shichen; Li, Xiaoguang; Ageishi, Masaki; Lotz, Bernard; Liu, Gengxin; Cao, Yan
Understanding polymer nanostructures is a prerequisite to manipulate their physical properties. Molecular self-assembly under confinement effectively generates novel polymer nanostructures. However, in one confined system, diffraction signals of different nanostructures are merged in a typical two-dimensional (2D) wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) measurement. For comparison, selected-area…