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Precisely analyzing the target materials in living cells can reveal the essence and mystery of life at a deeper level, which will provide reliable theoretical basis for the occurrence, development, treatment and prognosis of major diseases. However, because living cells are in the dynamic process of metabolism, there are several challenges existed in accurate analysis, including subcellular compartment heterogeneity, plasma membrane interface barrier, and cell cycle regulation. In this regard, our group has designed and synthesized a series of multifunctional aggregates by mainly integrating the peptide elements, nucleic acid elements and aggregation elements to overcome the barriers. This article summarizes the latest developments of multifunctional aggregates for precise cell analysis by our group, and systematically introduces them according to different design concepts and targeting dimensions, such as space, efficiency as well as time. We hope this work could contribute to analyzing the biomarkers in cells through constructing the multifunctional aggregates, understanding the operation mechanism of cells, finally inspiring technology breakthroughs in biomedical fields.

Downregulating programmed cell death ligand 1(PD-L1) protein levels in tumor cells is an effective way to achieve immune system activation for oncology treatment, but current strategies are inadequate. Here, we design a caged peptide-AIEgen probe (GCP) to self-assemble with miR-140 forming GCP/miR-140 nanoparticles. After entering tumor cells, GCP/miR-140 disassembles in the presence of Cathepsin B (CB) and releases caged GO203 peptide, miR-140 and PyTPA. Peptide decages in the highly reductive intracellular environment and binds to mucin 1 (MUC1), thereby downregulating the expression of PD-L1. Meanwhile, miR-140 reduces PD-L1 expression by targeting downregulation of PD-L1 mRNA. Under the action of PyTPA-mediated photodynamic therapy (PDT), tumor-associated antigens are released, triggering immune cell attack on tumor cells. This multiple mechanism-based strategy of deeply downregulating PD-L1 in tumor cells activates the immune system and thus achieves effective immunotherapy.

A novel coupled yeast-sludge system (CYSS) was constructed by the yeast Candida sp. PNY integrated with activated sludge to treat non-sterile mainstream wastewater. After 240-day cultivation, compared with single activated sludge, simultaneous removal efficiency of total organic carbon (TOC), nitrogen and phosphorus increased by 19.5% (176.34 mg TOC g

A novel hybrid material silica gel chemically modified by diethylenetriaminemethylenephosphonic acid GH-D-P has been developed and characterized. The results of the adsorption thermodynamics and kinetics of the as-synthesized GH-D-P for Au(III) showed that this high efficient inorganic–organic hybrid adsorbent had good adsorption capacity for Au(III), and the best interpretation for the experimental data was given by the Langmuir isotherm equation, the maximum adsorption capacity for Au(III) is 357.14 mg/g at 35 °C. Moreover, the study indicated the adsorption kinetics of GH-D-P could be modeled by the pseudo-second-order rate equation wonderfully, and the adsorption thermodynamic parameters Δ G , Δ H and Δ S were −20.43 kJ mol −1 , 9.17 kJ mol −1 , and 96.24 J K −1 mol −1 , respectively. Therefore, the high adsorption capacity make this hybrid material have significant potential for Au(III) uptake from aqueous solutions using adsorption method.

The unique chemical and physical properties of gold are increasingly being sought for use in a growing number of industrial and medical applications. The agricultural residue spent buckwheat hulls (60 mesh) modified with organodiphosphonic acid (denoted as ODPA-BH) was successfully developed and characterized, and cellulose with an organodiphosphonic acid group was calculated at the B3LYP/6-31G(d) level. ODPA-BH was employed to adsorb Au(III) ions in both spiked samples and industrial wastewater samples, and the relevant adsorption kinetics and isotherms were investigated. A better interpretation for the experimental data was obtained with the Langmuir isotherm equation, and the maximum adsorption capacity for Au(III) was found to be 465.16 mg/g at 35 °C. The adsorption kinetics were modeled by a pseudo-second-order rate equation, and the thermodynamic parameters ΔG, ΔH, and ΔS were determined to be −8.89 kJ·mol–1, 70.93 kJ·mol–1, and 257.25 J·K–1·mol–1, respectively.