基于微流控技术的蛋白质结晶及其筛选方法的研究进展简

微流控技术以其高通量、低消耗和集成化等优点成为蛋白质结晶微型化研究的重要手段. 本文综述了基于微流控技术的蛋白质结晶技术和方法,主要包括微泵微阀、液滴(Droplet)、滑动芯片(SlipChip)以及液滴实验室(DropLab)等技术. 此外,还针对当前膜蛋白在结构生物学研究中的重要地位,综述了应用于膜蛋白结晶的微流控技术的研究进展.     

基于布谷鸟算法与BP神经网络的煤灰变形温度预测

以120种煤样为数据基础,采用布谷鸟算法(CS)优化BP(Back Propagation)神经网络,建立了CSBP模型对单煤、煤掺添加剂和配煤等3类样本的煤灰变形温度(DT)样本进行预测。模型以煤灰化学成分及其组合参数等13个变量作为输入量,以变形温度(DT)作为输出量。CSBP模型预测结果与BP神经网络模型预测结果进行对比发现,无论是单煤、煤掺添加剂还是配煤,CSBP模型较BP模型对煤灰变形温度(DT)的预测都更加精准,平均相对误差分别达到了3.11%、4.08%和4.22%。另外,对比3类样本预测结果发现,无论是CSBP模型还是BP模型,相比单煤预测而言,煤掺添加剂及配煤的预测误差都有明显的增加。     

Three trithiadiazepines and a trithiatriazepine

The structures of 6‐nitro‐1,3λ⁴δ²,5,2,4‐trithiadiazepine [C₂HN₃O₂S₃, ( 1 )], 6,7‐dinitro‐1,3λ⁴δ²,5,2,4‐trithiadiazepine [C₂N₄O₄S₃, ( 2 )], 1,3λ⁴δ²,5,2,4‐trithiadiazepine‐6,7‐dicarbonitrile [C₄N₄S₃, ( 3 )] and 7‐acetyl‐1,3λ⁴δ²,5,2,4,6‐trithiatriazepine [C₃H₃N₃OS₃, ( 4 )] presented here include the most precise determinations of these seven‐membered 10 π‐electron aromatic ring systems published to date. Both ( 2 ) and ( 3 ) are sited around crystallographic twofold axes with half a molecule per asymmetric unit. Comparison with other published derivatives of these rings reveals the effect of substituents on bonding, conformations and intermolecular interactions, including π‐stacking. The deformation density analysis of ( 2 ) is consistent with the expected bonding electron density from other theoretical and experimental studies.     

Heterostructured composite of NiFe-LDH nanosheets with Ti4O7 for oxygen evolution reaction

Developing oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalyst based on earth-abundant materials holds great promise for ascertaining water-splitting to surmount its deprived kinetics. In this regard, NiFe-LDH (layered double hydroxide) receives considerable attention owing to their layered structure. However, they still suffer from poor electronic conductivity and structural stability. We combined NiFe-LDH nanosheets with Magnéli phase Ti₄O₇ into a heterostructured composite. A series of analyses reveal that decorating Ti₄O₇ facilitates charge transfer to enhance the conductivity of NiFe-LDH-Ti₄O₇. During electrochemical measurement, Ni²⁺ is transformed to metastable Ni³⁺ (Ni (OH)→ NiOOH) before the OER onset potential. Thus, the presence of Ni³⁺ as the main active sites could improve the chemisorption of OH^? to facilitate OER. As a result, the NiFe-LDH-Ti₄O₇ catalyst delivers as low as onset potential (1.43 V). Combining the holey structure (NiFe-LDH and Ti₄O₇) and the defect engineering generated on NiFe-LDH-Ti₄O₇ as a synergistic effect improves the OER performance. The inclusion of Ti₄O₇ in the composite leads to more vacancy sites, as evidenced by the extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) analysis. The obtained defective structure with a low coordination environment would improve the electronic conductivity and facilitate the adsorption process of H₂O onto metal cations, thereby increasing the intrinsic catalytic activity of NiOOH. The strong coupling of NiFe-LDH and Ti₄O₇ also increases the stability, and the heterostructured composite helps maintain the structural robustness of the LDH.     

Hardness and slip systems of orthorhombic hen egg-white lysozyme crystals

Hardness and slip systems by an indentation method were investigated on different habit planes of orthorhombic hen egg-white lysozyme (O-HEWL) crystals containing water. A dependence of the hardness on the water-evaporation time exhibits three stages as incubation, transition and saturated ones, as tetragonal (T)-HEWL crystals reported previously. The hardness values of (1 1 0), (0 1 0) and (0 1 1) habit planes of O-HEWL in the incubation stage or wet condition exhibits 6, 8 and 10 MPa, respectively. The hardness depends on indented planes but it is independent of the air-humidity and crystal volumes. These values correspond to the intrinsic hardness for O-HEWL crystals containing water. In the incubation stage, the slip traces are clearly observed around the indentation mark and the corresponding six kinds of slip systems are identified to be {0 1 1}<1 0 0>, {1 1 0}<1 1 0>, {0 1 1}<0 1 1>, {1 1 0}<0 0 1>, {1 0 0}<0 0 1> and {0 1 0}<0 0 1>.     

Design rule of indium bump in infrared focal plane array for longer cycling life

In light of the proposed equivalent method, a three-dimensional structural modeling of InSb infrared focal plane arrays (IRFPAs) is created, and the simulated strain distribution is identical to the deformation distribution on the top surface of InSb IRFPAs. After comparing the deformation features at different regions with the structural characteristics of IRFPAs, we infer that the flatness of InSb IRFPAs will be improved with a thinner indium bump array, and this inference is verified by subsequent simulation results. That is, when the diameter of indium bump is smaller than 20 μm, the simulated Z-components of strain on the whole top surface of InSb IRFPAs is uniform, and the deformation amplitude is small. When the diameter of indium bump is larger than 28 μm, the simulated Z-components of strain increases rapidly with the thicker indium bump, and the flatness of InSb IRFPAs is worsened rapidly. According to the changing trend of deformation amplitude with diameters of indium bump, and employing element pitches normalization method, a design rule of indium bump is proposed. That is, when the diameter of indium bump is shorter than 0.4 times the element pitch, the flatness of InSb IRFPAs is in an acceptable range. This design rule was supported by different IRFPAs with different formats delivered by several main research groups for achieving a longer cycling life.     

Electrical actuation of dielectric droplets by negative liquid dielectrophoresis

This paper presents an electrical actuation scheme of dielectric droplet by negative liquid dielectrophoresis. A general model of lumped parameter electromechanics for evaluating the electromechanical force acting on the droplets is established. The model reveals the influence of actuation voltage, device geometry, and dielectric parameter on the actuation force for both conductive and dielectric medium. Using this model, we compare the actuation forces for four liquid combinations in the parallel-plate geometry and predict the low voltage actuation of dielectric droplets by negative dielectrophoresis. Parallel experimental results demonstrate such electric actuation of dielectric droplets, including droplet transport, splitting, merging, and dispending. All these dielectric droplet manipulations are achieved at voltages < 100 V_rms. The frequency dependence of droplet actuation velocity in aqueous solution is discussed and the existence of surfactant molecules is believed to play an important role by realigning with the AC electric field. Finally, we present coplanar manipulation of oil and water droplets and formation of oil-in-water emulsion droplet by applying the same low voltage.     

微流控芯片液滴生成与检测技术研究进展

微流控芯片液滴技术是一种操控微小体积液体的新技术,既可实现高通量微观样本的生成及控制,也可进行独立液滴的操作。分散的微液滴单元可作为理想的微反应器,在生物医药中的药物筛选、材料筛选和高附加值微颗粒材料合成领域展现出巨大的应用潜力。液滴微流控芯片是利用流体剪切力的改变,使互不相溶的两相流体在其界面处生成稳定、有序的液滴,目前微液滴的生成方法主要有水动力法、气动法、光控法和电动法等。基于液滴的微流控系统越来越多地被应用于执行复杂的多重反应、测量和分析,可以进行超小体积和超高吞吐量的化学和生物实验。对液滴微流控系统而言,液滴的速度、大小和内容物含量会影响最终的检验结果,因此对液滴形成速率和液滴的内容物含量的实时检测至关重要,目前最常用的液滴检测方法有光学检测技术与电学传感检测技术。对两相流液滴生成机理以及现有液滴生成技术开展了讨论分析,同时对液滴检测技术进行了评述。     

Three dimensional accurate morphology measurements of polystyrene standard particles on silicon substrate by electron tomography

Polystyrene latex (PSL) nanoparticle (NP) sample is one of the most widely used standard materials. It is used for calibration of particle counters and particle size measurement tools. It has been reported that the measured NP sizes by various methods, such as Differential Mobility Analysis, dynamic light scattering (DLS), optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM), differ from each other. Deformation of PSL NPs on mica substrate has been reported in AFM measurements: the lateral width of PSL NPs is smaller than their vertical height. To provide a reliable calibration standard, the deformation must be measured by a method that can reliably visualize the entire three dimensional (3D) shape of the PSL NPs. Here we present a method for detailed measurement of PSL NP 3D shape by means of electron tomography in a transmission electron microscope. The observed shape of the PSL NPs with 100 nm and 50 nm diameter were not spherical, but squished in direction perpendicular to the support substrate by about 7.4% and 12.1%, respectively. The high difference in surface energy of the PSL NPs and that of substrate together with their low Young modulus appear to explain the squishing of the NPs without presence of water film.