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The benzocoumarin dyes fluoresce negligibly in aqueous media but very strongly in cells, whereas representative conventional dyes display contrasting behaviour; the distinct emission behaviour of the fluorophores in organic solutions, in aqueous media, and in cell convinces the uniqueness of the cellular environment. The in cellulo superbright benzocoumarins also reveal an environment-insensitive emission behaviour, which is required for the reliable analysis via ratiometric imaging.

Propionibacterium acnes is a lipophilic commensal bacterium mainly found on the skin and in the gastrointestinal tract. Pathophysiological effects of P. acnes have recently been reported not only in acne progression but in various diseases. As an emerging mode of bacterial communication, extracellular vesicles (EVs) have been demonstrated to conduct critical pathophysiological functions. To provide information on P. acnes lipid composition for the first time, we conducted a comparative lipidomic analysis of P. acnes and P. acnes EVs and identified 214 lipids with high confidence using triplicated liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) analyses. P. acnes EVs contained substantially more PCs, DGs, PAs, PEs, LPAs, LPCs, and MGs than P. acnes, and contained fewer PSs, SO1Ps, SA1Ps, LPGs, LPIs, and LPSs. Distinctively, P. acnes EVs possessed a markedly reduced amount of TG. These findings will provide useful clues for understanding the biological and pathophysiological mechanisms of P. acnes and for clinical applications such as vaccine development, diagnostics and therapeutics.

Although various studies related to nanoparticles-based photothermal therapy have been actively performed, an epoch-making photothermolysis therapy exhibiting both high selectivity and efficiency has yet not been discovered. For the first time, we have developed novel valuable therapeutic complexes, namely, dual aptamer-modified gold nanostars, for the targeting of prostate cancers, including PSMA(+) and PSMA(−) cells. The synthesized probes were characterized through several techniques, including UV-VIS spectral analysis, DLS analysis, zeta potential measurements, and TEM imaging, and were subsequently subjected to cytotoxicity tests, cell uptake confirmation, and in vitro photothermal therapy. The homogeneously well-fabricated nanostars presented high selectivity to prostate cancer cells and extremely high efficiency for therapy using an 808 nm laser under an irradiance of 0.3 W cm−2, which is lower than the permitted value for skin exposure (0.329 W cm−2). It is anticipated that this novel photothermal agent will become the general platform for targeted therapy.

A gold nanoparticle-based competitive colorimetric assay can detect mismatched DNAs using MutS, a mismatch binding protein, and determine their relative binding affinities for this protein by a simple color change and the melting temperature of DNA-functionalized nanoparticle assemblies.