Rapid progress in identifying biomarkers that are hallmarks of disease has increased demand for high-performance detection technologies. Implementation of electrochemical methods in clinical analysis may provide an effective answer to the growing need for rapid, specific, inexpensive, and fully automated means of biomarker analysis. This Review summarizes advances from the past 5 years in the development of electrochemical sensors for clinically relevant biomolecules, including small molecules, nucleic acids, and proteins. Various sensing strategies are assessed according to their potential for reaching relevant limits of sensitivity, specificity, and degrees of multiplexing. Furthermore, we address the remaining challenges and opportunities to integrate electrochemical sensing platforms into point-of-care solutions.

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Electrochemical Methods for the Analysis of Clinically Relevant Biomolecules

Four-dimensional (4D) bioprinting, encompassing a wide range of disciplines including bioengineering, materials science, chemistry, and computer sciences, is emerging as the next-generation biofabrication technology. By utilizing stimuli-responsive materials and advanced three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting strategies, 4D bioprinting aims to create dynamic 3D patterned biological structures that can transform their shapes or behavior under various stimuli. In this review, we highlight the potential use of various stimuli-responsive materials for 4D printing and their extension into biofabrication. We first discuss the state of the art and limitations associated with current 3D printing modalities and their transition into the inclusion of the additional time dimension. We then suggest the potential use of different stimuli-responsive biomaterials as the bioink that may achieve 4D bioprinting where transformation of fabricated biological constructs can be realized. We finally conclude with future perspectives.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1758-5090/9/1/012001/pdf

4D bioprinting: the next-generation technology for biofabrication enabled by stimuli-responsive materials.

Roles of thiolate ligands in the synthesis, properties and catalytic application of gold nanoclusters

Microfluidics is a relatively newly emerged field based on the combined principles of physics, chemistry, biology, fluid dynamics, microelectronics, and material science. Various materials can be processed into miniaturized chips containing channels and chambers in the microscale range. A diverse repertoire of methods can be chosen to manufacture such platforms of desired size, shape, and geometry. Whether they are used alone or in combination with other devices, microfluidic chips can be employed in nanoparticle preparation, drug encapsulation, delivery, and targeting, cell analysis, diagnosis, and cell culture. This paper presents microfluidic technology in terms of the available platform materials and fabrication techniques, also focusing on the biomedical applications of these remarkable devices.

https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/22/4/2011/pdf

Fabrication and Applications of Microfluidic Devices: A Review.

Recent progress of microfluidic reactors for biomedical applications

A review: fabrications, detections and applications of peptide nucleic acids (PNAs) microarray.

A technique for encapsulating fluorescent organic probes in a micelle system offers an important alternative method to manufacture water-soluble organic nanoparticles (ONPs) for use in sensing Hg2+. This article reports on a study of a surfactant-free micelle-like ONPs based on a 3,6-di(2-thienyl)-2,5-dihydropyrrolo[3,4-c]pyrrole-1,4-dione (TDPP) amphiphile, (2-(2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethyl)-3,6-di(2-thiophyl)-2,5-dihydropyrrolo[3,4-c]pyrrole-1,4-dione (NDPP) fabricated to monitor Hg2+ in water. NDPP was synthesized through a simple one-step modification of a commercially available dye TDPP with a flexible and hydrophilic alkoxy. This study reports, for the first time, that TDPP dyes can respond reversibly, sensitively, and selectively to Hg2+ through TDPP–Hg–TDPP complexation, similar to the well-known thymine(T)–Hg–thymine(T) model and the accompanying molecular aggregation. Interestingly, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS) confirmed that, in water, NDPP forms loose mi...

Diketopyrrolopyrrole Amphiphile-Based Micelle-Like Fluorescent Nanoparticles for Selective and Sensitive Detection of Mercury(II) Ions in Water

Mixing enhancement via a serpentine micromixer for real-time activation of carboxyl

Peptide nucleic acids (PNAs) are a class of nucleic acid mimics that can bind to the complementary DNA or RNA with high specificity and sensitivity. PNA-based microarrays have distinct characteristics and have improved performance in many aspects compared to DNA microarrays. A new set of PNA monomers has been synthesized and used as the building blocks for the preparation of high density PNA microarrays. These monomers have their backbones protected by the photolabile group 2-(2-nitrophenyl)propyloxy carbonyl (NPPOC), and their exocyclic amino groups protected by amide carbonyl groups. A light-directed synthesis system was designed and applied to the in situ synthesis of a PNA microarray with a density of over 10 000 probes per square centimeter. This PNA microarray was able to detect single and multiple base-mismatches correctly with a high discrimination ratio.

Bo Dong

Papers

Recent progress of microfluidic reactors for biomedical applications

A review: fabrications, detections and applications of peptide nucleic acids (PNAs) microarray.

Diketopyrrolopyrrole Amphiphile-Based Micelle-Like Fluorescent Nanoparticles for Selective and Sensitive Detection of Mercury(II) Ions in Water

Mixing enhancement via a serpentine micromixer for real-time activation of carboxyl

Light-Directed Synthesis of High-Density Peptide Nucleic Acid Microarrays.