Search

Cryptococcus is a family of strongly infectious pathogens that results in a wide variety of symptoms, particularly threatening the patients undergoing the immune‐deficiency or medical treatment. Rapidly identifying Cryptococcus subtypes and accurately quantifying their contents remain urgent needs for infection control and timely therapy. However, traditional detection techniques heavily rely on expensive, specialized instruments, significantly compromising their applicability for large‐scale population screening. In this work, we report a portable microwell array chip platform integrated with a deep learning‐based image recognition program, which enables rapid, precise quantification of the specific subtypes of Cryptococcus. The platform features four zones of microwell arrays preloaded with the subtype‐targeted CRISPR–Cas12a system that avoid dependence on slow, instrumental‐mediated target amplification, achieving rapid (10 min), high specificity for identifying the sequence of Cryptococcus. The deep learning‐based image recognition program utilizing segment anything model (SAM) significantly enhances automation and accuracy in identifying target concentrations, which eventually achieves ultra‐low limit of detection (0.5 pM) by personal smartphones. This platform can be further customized to adapt to various scenarios in clinical settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In vitro, drug assessment holds tremendous potential to success in novel drug development and precision medicine. Traditional techniques for drug assessment, however, face remarkable challenges to achieve high speed, as limited by incubation‐based drug delivery (>several hours) and cell viability measurements (>1 d), which significantly compromise the efficacy in clinical trials. In this work, a nano‐electroporation‐DNA tensioner platform is reported that shortens the time of drug delivery to less than 3 s, and that of cellular mechanical force analysis to 30 min. The platform adopts a nanochannel structure to localize a safe electric field for cell perforation, while enhancing delivery speed by 103 times for intracellular delivery, as compared to molecular diffusion in coculture methods. The platform is further equipped with a DNA tensioner to detect cellular mechanical force for quantifying cell viability after drug treatment. Systematic head‐to‐head comparison, by analyzing FDA (food and drug administration)‐approved drugs (paclitaxel, doxorubicin), demonstrated the platform with high speed, efficiency, and safety, showing a simple yet powerful tool for clinical drug screening and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate prediction of the efficacy of immunotherapy for cancer patients through the characterization of both genetic and phenotypic heterogeneity in individual patient cells holds great promise in informing targeted treatments, and ultimately in improving care pathways and clinical outcomes. Here, we describe the nanoplatform for interrogating living cell host-gene and (micro-)environment (NICHE) relationships, that integrates micro- and nanofluidics to enable highly efficient capture of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from blood samples. The platform uses a unique nanopore-enhanced electrodelivery system that efficiently and rapidly integrates stable multichannel fluorescence probes into living CTCs for in situ quantification of target gene expression, while on-chip coculturing of CTCs with immune cells allows for the real-time correlative quantification of their phenotypic heterogeneities in response to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI). The NICHE microfluidic device provides a unique ability to perform both gene expression and phenotypic analysis on the same single cells in situ, allowing us to generate a predictive index for screening patients who could benefit from ICI. This index, which simultaneously integrates the heterogeneity of single cellular responses for both gene expression and phenotype, was validated by clinically tracing 80 non-small cell lung cancer patients, demonstrating significantly higher AUC (area under the curve) (0.906) than current clinical reference for immunotherapy prediction., Competing Interests: Competing interests statement:The authors declare no competing interest.

The photorelease of bioactive molecules has emerged as a valuable tool in biochemistry. Nevertheless, many important bioactive molecules, such as pyridine derivatives, cannot benefit from currently available organic photoremovable protecting groups (PPGs). We found that the inefficient photorelease of pyridines is attributed to intramolecular photoinduced electron transfer (PET) from PPGs to pyridinium ions. To alleviate PET, we rationally designed a strategy to drive the excited state of PPG from S 1 to T 1 with a heavy atom, and synthesized a new PPG by substitution of the H atom at the 3-position of 7-dietheylamino-coumarin-4-methyl (DEACM) with Br or I. This resulted in an improved photolytic efficiency of the pyridinium ion by hundreds-fold in aqueous solution. The PPG can be applied to various pyridine derivatives. The successful photorelease of a microtubule inhibitor, indibulin, in living cells was demonstrated for the potential application of this strategy in biochemical research., (© 2020 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Exosomes, which are 30-150 nm extracellular vesicles containing a variety of biomolecules (i.e., proteins, RNA, DNA, and lipids), have emerged as important analytes in liquid biopsy. Although exosome detection offers a valuable chance to understand disease status in a multidimensional manner, comprehensive analysis of different exosomal biomolecules with limited specimens remains a challenge. Herein, we introduced an aptamer-based PCR (polymerase chain reaction) platform and realized highly sensitive detection of CD63 protein positive exosomes as low as 50 particles/μL. More importantly, simultaneous analysis of exosomal RNA and surface protein is available using this method. In a proof of concept experiment, simultaneous detection of two immunotherapy-related biomarkers, programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) protein and indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1) mRNA, was demonstrated with clinical samples. Our method provides a strategy for the comprehensive analysis of exosomes, with the advantages of high sensitivity and practicability.