Super‐Soft and Super‐Elastic DNA Robot with Magnetically Driven Navigational Locomotion for Cell Delivery in Confined Space

Soft organisms such as earthworms can access confined, narrow spaces, inspiring scientists to fabricate soft robots for in vivo manipulation of cells or tissues and minimally invasive surgery. We report a super‐soft and super‐elastic magnetic DNA hydrogel‐based soft robot (DNA robot), which presents a shape‐adaptive property and enables magnetically driven navigational locomotion in confined and unstructured space. The DNA hydrogel is designed with a combinational dynamic and permanent crosslinking network through chain entanglement and DNA hybridization, resulting in shear‐thinning and cyclic strain properties. DNA robot completes a series of complex magnetically driven navigational locomotion such as passing through narrow channels and pipes, entering grooves and itinerating in a maze by adapting and recovering its shape. DNA robot successfully works as a vehicle to deliver cells in confined space by virtue of the 3D porous networked structure and great biocompatibility.     

Modeling and understanding locomotion of pneumatic soft robots

Imitating natural locomotion of biological systems (soft-bodied animals) opens the door to the development of a new class of machine, referring to soft robots. A variety of soft robots have been demonstrated by researchers and engineers through incorporating soft technologies into their designs. Yet computer modeling of locomotion of soft robots remains to be a challenging task, not merely because their intrinsic deformation is continuous, complex, and highly nonlinear compared to conventional rigid-bodied robots, but moreover because of the complicated contact problems encountered during locomotion of soft robotics. Herein, we present a combined analytical and numerical analysis of the locomotion of pneumatic network-based soft robots. Concerning a quadruped robot, two fundamental different gaits (undulation and crawling) were identified and numerically validated by two driving modes of pneumatic robots. Extracting ground reaction forces and centroid trajectory from the simulation throws a light on the underlying mechanism of locomotion of soft robots. Our efforts would enhance the understanding and facilitate the control, manipulation, and trajectory optimization of bio-inspired soft robots.     

Magnetically powered flexible metal nanowire motors

Fuel-free magnetically driven propulsion of flexible Au/Ag/Ni nanowires, with a gold 'head' and nickel 'tail', linked by a partially dissolved and weakened silver bridge, is described. The flexible bridge facilitates the cyclic mechanical deformations under an external rotating magnetic field. Under such a field the nickel segment starts to rotate, facilitating the rotation of the gold segment at a different amplitude, hence breaking the system symmetry and inducing the movement. Forward ('pushing') and backward ('pulling') magnetically powered locomotion and a precise On/Off motion control are achieved by tailoring the length of the nickel and gold segments and modulating the magnetic field, respectively. Efficient locomotion in urine samples and in high-salt media is illustrated. The new magnetic nanowire swimmers can be prepared in large scale using a simple template electrodeposition protocol and offer considerable promise for diverse practical applications.     

Self-assembly of gears at a fluid/air interface

This paper describes a dynamic system-a system that develops order only when dissipating energy-comprising millimeter to centimeter scale gears that self-assemble into a simple machine at a fluid/air interface. The gears are driven externally and indirectly by magnetic interactions; they are made of poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) or magnetically doped PDMS, and fabricated by soft lithography. Transfer of torque between gears can take place through three different mechanisms: mechanical interaction, hydrodynamic shear, and capillarity/overlap of menisci. Interplay between these forces allows interactions and motions that are not possible with conventional systems of gears.     

Colloidal crystallization and banding in a cylindrical geometry

Colloidal crystallization takes advantage of the strong interfacial forces and tunable interactions that organize particles into regular structures at small scales. Thus, colloidal crystallization and patterning provide a powerful and simple method to functionalize planar surfaces with applications to optical, catalytic, sensing, and cleansing materials. Nevertheless, the ability to pattern topologically more complex surfaces such as curved, confined, or soft substrates can open new avenues for novel, "intelligent", and responsive materials. We present one step in this direction by characterizing colloidal crystallization inside circular capillaries: a nearly periodic banding is observed, and the colloidal packing is dictated by confinement produced by the wedge-like region formed by a capillary confined meniscus. The packing consists of a succession of hexagonally close-packed regions, which are separated by narrow regions of "buckled phase crystals".     

Towards Artificial Cells: Engineering Encapsulated Molecular Signaling with Intelligent DNA Nanomachines

The building and engineering of an artificial molecular signaling system in encapsulated vesicles is a key step towards artificial cells. Recently, Tan et al. reached a new milestone by integrating an intelligent DNA nano- gatekeeper with an artificial vesicle system. The DNA nanogatekeeper driven by adenosine triphosphate(ATP) is able to receive outside stimulus, which in turn switches the diffusion of environmental ions into the integrated vesicle. Most importantly, this system enables triggering downstream signaling cascaded reactions confined in the artificial vesicle, as well as returning feedback to the DNA nanogatekeeper, mimicking real cellular behaviors of reception, transduction and response. This work has been published online in Nature Communications aon February 20, 2020.     

Liquid Metal Nanocores Initiated Construction of Smart DNA-Polymer Microgels with Programmable and Regulable Functions and Near-Infrared Light-Driven Locomotion

Due to their sequence-directed functions and excellent biocompatibility, smart DNA microgels have attracted considerable research interest, and the combination of DNA microgels with functional nanostructures can further expand their applications in biosensing and biomedicine. Gallium-based liquid metals (LMs) exhibiting both fluidic and metallic properties hold great promise for the development of smart soft materials; in particular, LM particles upon sonication can mediate radical-initiated polymerization reactions, thus allowing the combination of LMs and polymeric matrix to construct “soft–soft” materials. Herein, by forming active surfaces under sonication, LM nanoparticles (LM NPs) initiated localized radical polymerization reactions allow the combination of functional DNA units and different polymeric backbones to yield multifunctional core/shell microgels. The localized polymerization reaction allows fine control of the microgel compositions, and smart DNA microgels with tunable catalytic activities can be constructed. Moreover, due to the excellent photothermal effect of LM NPs, the resulting temperature gradient between microgels and surrounding solution upon NIR light irradiation can drive the oriented locomotion of the microgels, and remote control of the activity of these smart microgels can be achieved. These microgels may hold promise for various applications, such as the development of in vivo and in vitro biosensing and drug delivery systems.     

Programmed Locomotion of an Active Gel Driven by Spiral Waves

Active media that host spiral waves can display complex modes of locomotion driven by the dynamics of those waves. We use a model of a photosensitive stimulus‐responsive gel that supports the propagation of spiral chemical waves to study locomotive transition and programmed locomotion. The mode transition between circular and toroidal locomotion results from the onset of spiral tip meandering that arises via a secondary Hopf bifurcation as the level of illumination is increased. This dynamic instability of the system introduces a second circular locomotion with a small diameter caused by tip meandering. The original circular locomotion with large diameter is driven by the push‐pull asymmetry of the wavefront and waveback of the simple spiral waves initiated at one corner of gel. By harnessing this mode transition of the gel locomotion via coded illumination, we design programmable pathways of nature‐inspired angular locomotion of the gel.     

Microfluidic DNA microarray analysis: a review

Microarray DNA hybridization techniques have been used widely from basic to applied molecular biology research. Generally, in a DNA microarray, different probe DNA molecules are immobilized on a solid support in groups and form an array of microspots. Then, hybridization to the microarray can be performed by applying sample DNA solutions in either the bulk or the microfluidic manner. Because the immobilized probe DNA binds and retains its complementary target DNA, detection is achieved through the read-out of the tagged markers on the sample target molecules. The recent microfluidic hybridization method shows the advantages of less sample usage and reduced incubation time. Here, sample solutions are confined in microfabricated channels and flow through the probe microarray area. The high surface-to-volume ratio in microchannels of nanolitre volume greatly enhanced the sensitivity as obtained with the bulk solution method. To generate nanolitre flows, different techniques have been developed, and this including electrokinetic control, vacuum suction and syringe pumping. The latter two are pressure-driven methods which are more flexible without the need of considering the physicochemical properties of solutions. Recently, centrifugal force is employed to drive liquid movement in microchannels. This method utilizes the body force from the liquid itself and there are no additional solution interface contacts such as from electrodes or syringes and tubing. Centrifugal force driven flow also features the ease of parallel hybridizations. In this review, we will summarize the recent advances in microfluidic microarray hybridization and compare the applications of various flow methods.     

软机器人的运动行为研究进展

软机器人的出现不仅弥补了传统机器人的缺点,并逐渐成为机器人领域的热点和前沿之一,近年来该领域研究进展十分迅速。本文总结了典型软机器人的运动行为的研究进展,介绍了软机器人按材质类型的分类(包括液晶软机器人、生物分子软机器人、PDMS软机器人、液体软机器人和自振荡凝胶软机器人)及其功能和潜在应用,讨论了当前不同类别软机器人运动的特点和存在的问题,在此基础上展望了软机器人领域面临的机遇、挑战和未来发展方向。     

Magnetic Micromotors for Multiple Motile Sperm Cells Capture,Transport, and Enzymatic Release

An integrated system combining a magnetically‐driven micromotor and a synthetized protein‐based hyaluronic acid (HA) microflake is presented for the in situ selection and transport of multiple motile sperm cells (ca. 50). The system appeals for targeted sperm delivery in the reproductive system to assist fertilization or to deliver drugs. The binding mechanism between the HA microflake and sperm relies on the interactions between HA and the corresponding sperm HA receptors. Once sperm are captured within the HA microflake, the assembly is trapped and transported by a magnetically‐driven helical microcarrier. The trapping of the sperm‐microflake occurs by a local vortex induced by the microcarrier during rotation‐translation under a rotating magnetic field. After transport, the microflake is enzymatically hydrolyzed by local proteases, allowing sperm to escape and finally reach the target location. This cargo‐delivery system represents a new concept to transport not only multiple motile sperm but also other actively moving biological cargoes.     

Temperature gradient-cooled smectic A phase orientation and its effects on Cl orientation in ferroelectric liquid crystals

The temperature gradient cooling of ferroelectric liquid crystals (FLCs) confined to a closed long narrow rectilinear space causes the molecules constituting the smectic layers to acquire significant movement. The ordinary layer structure of the SmA phase consequently undergoes deformation which in turn determines the mode of the SmA SmC* phase transition. SmA stripe-shaped texture was found to result from molecular movement only when the direction of the temperature gradient is the same as the rubbing direction. For FLCs whose SmA temperature range exceeds 20 C, the SmA phase undergoes virtually defect-free C1 orientation without change to C2 orientation, when the direction of the temperature gradient is opposite that of rubbing. Defect-free C2 orientation is possible irrespective of the SmA temperature range in temperature gradient cooling. C1 and C2 orientations may combine with no zigzag defects through the use of such FLCs.     

Criteria for the first order Freedericksz transitions

This paper summarizes the exact criteria for the first order Freedericksz transition to occur in magnetically, electrically or optically driven liquid crystal cells. All these criteria are in terms of the material parameters, cell geometrical parameters and surface anchoring parameters.     

Criteria for the first order Freedericksz transitions

This paper summarizes the exact criteria for the first order Fréedericksz transition to occur in magnetically, electrically or optically driven liquid crystal cells. All these criteria are in terms of the material parameters, cell geometrical parameters and surface anchoring parameters.     

Development and research for applying innovative magnetic soft mold imprinting techniques in microstructure component manufacturing

The present study employs an innovative technique, which uses PDMS soft mold, blended with magnetic powder as the transmission and imprinting methods, and integrates features from soft micromolding PMMA, an electro‐magnetically controlled, well‐proportioned, pressing technique in order to study how to create microlens arrays through a magnetic soft mold imprinting resist technique. Thus, it renders nanometer imprinting applications, and its technology, more developed and mature. The research findings revealed that, PDMS, blended with magnetic powder, can accurately recast and duplicate nanometer microstructures. Under well‐proportioned magnetic pressing, controlled by an electro‐magnetic disk, it can effectively fill and shape resist microstructures. The composite material of PDMS, with added magnetic iron powder, can effectively improve mechanical strength properties of pure PDMS soft mold, which is easily transformed for imprinting. Meanwhile, owing to the unique features of PDMS soft mold, conformal contact with the base material is possible; therefore, the effective imprinting area and the duplicated representation are significantly improved. In addition, as magnetic PDMS soft mold is easily produced and fast in recasting, the costs can be effectively reduced. In addition, due to features such as low surface free energy and a tendency not to stick to resist in imprinting, the soft mold is evenly controlled by the electro‐magnetic disk for imprinting duplication, highlighting the advantages of microstructure imprinting procedures. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Influence of boundary on the effect of double-layer polarization and the electrophoretic behavior of soft biocolloids

The electrophoresis of a soft particle comprising a rigid core and a charged porous membrane layer in a narrow space is modeled. This simulates, for example, the capillary electrophoresis of biocolloids such as cells and microorganisms, and biosensor types of device. We show that, in addition to the boundary effect, the effects of double-layer polarization (DLP) and the electroosmotic retardation flow can be significant, yielding interesting electrophoretic behaviors. For example, if the friction coefficient of the membrane layer and/or the boundary is large, then the DLP effect can be offset by the electroosmotic retardation flow, making the particle mobility to decrease with increasing double layer thickness, which is qualitatively consistent with many experimental observations in the literature, but has not been explained clearly in previous analyses. In addition, depending upon the thickness of double layer, the friction of the membrane layer of a particle can either retard or accelerate its movement, an interesting result which has not been reported previously. This work is the first attempt to show solid evidence for the influence of a boundary on the effect of DLP and the electrophoretic behavior of soft particles. The model proposed is verified by the experimental data in the literature. The results of numerical simulation provide valuable information for the design of bio-analytical apparatus such as nanopore-based sensing applications and for the interpretation of relevant experimental data.     

Confinement induced critical micelle concentration shift

In this work, extensive lattice Monte Carlo simulations were performed to investigate the influence of confinement on critical micelle concentration (CMC). It is found that the CMC of surfactants in a confined space is shifted from its bulk value, and the shift is affected by the presence of the confining boundaries, which induces both the finite size effect and the wall-surfactant interaction. In general, for strongly confined system (the system with narrow pore size), the finite size effect dominates the CMC shift because the confined space cannot accommodate fully developed micelles, and the rapid increase of the entropic loss due to the decrease of the pore size results in the rapid increase of CMC. In contrast, for a weakly confined space, the CMC shift depends on the interaction between the walls and surfactants. For the systems with two weakly hydrophilic surfaces, the local density depletion of the surfactants near the walls results in lower CMCs than the bulk value, and the CMC shifts to a higher value as the pore size increases. For the systems with moderately hydrophilic surfaces, the shifts of CMCs show a similar behavior as those for weakly hydrophilic surfaces, but the CMCs are near their bulk values in the range of weak confinement. For the systems with strongly attractive wall-surfactant interactions, the strong adsorption also results in lower CMCs than their bulk value, but the CMCs decrease with the increase of pore size.     

Polymer chains in a soft nanotube: a Monte Carlo study

We study the equilibrium properties of flexible polymer chains confined in a soft tube by means of extensive Monte Carlo simulations. The tube wall is that of a single sheet six-coordinated self-avoiding tethered membrane. Our study assumes that there is no adsorption of the chain on the wall. By varying the length N of the polymer and the tube diameter D we examine the variation of the polymer gyration radius Rg and diffusion coefficient Ddiff in soft and rigid tubes of identical diameter and compare them to scaling theory predictions. We find that the swollen region of the soft tube surrounding the chain exhibits a cigarlike cylindrical shape for sufficiently narrow tubes with D相似文献   

Synthesis‐Enabled Probing of Mitosene Structural Space Leads to Improved IC50 over Mitomycin C

A DNA crosslinking approach, which is distinct but related to the double alkylation by mitomycin C, involving a novel electrophilic spiro‐cyclopropane intermediate is hypothesized. Rational design and substantial structural simplification permitted the expedient chemical synthesis and rapid discovery of MTSB‐6, a mitomycin C analogue which is twice as potent as mitomycin C against the prostate cancer cells. MTSB‐6 shows improvements in its selective action against noncancer prostate cells over mitomycin C. This hypothesis‐driven discovery opens novel yet synthetically accessible mitosene structural space for discovering more potent and less toxic therapeutic candidates.     

The effect of corrugation of pore wall on the thermal diffusion in nanopores by molecular dynamics simulations

In this work we have studied the effect of corrugation on the thermal diffusion (soret effect) in isotopic and non-isotopic fluid mixtures confined in a slit pore. We used a boundary driven non-equilibrium molecular dynamics to simulate thermal diffusion in Lennard–Jones (LJ) binary mixtures confined in structureless Steele 10-4-3 and atomistic Lennard–Jones pore walls. The results showed that for the isotopic mixture thermal diffusion factor for both wall types agrees and the corrugation of the LJ wall has no effect in isotopic mixture. However, for non-isotopic mixture confined in atomistic LJ pore the component with stronger attraction adsorbs more to the wall than the structureless Steele wall. The effect of corrugation of pore wall on the thermal diffusion is noticeable in narrow slit pore and mixture with large difference in molecular attraction parameter of components.