Mechanism of the interaction between Au nanoparticles and polymerase in nanoparticle PCR

Nanoparticle PCR is a novel method to optimize DNA amplification. It performs well in improving specificity, enhancing sensitivity and speed. Several mechanisms were proposed in previous studies: one was based on the interaction between gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and DNA while the other was attributed to the heat transfer property of AuNPs. In this paper, we propose that the interaction between AuNPs and DNA polymerase can significantly influence PCR. First, the addition of DNA polymerase can eliminate the inhibitory effects of excess AuNPs. Second, the addition of AuNPs will increase yield of the desired PCR product and make the optimum concentration of DNA polymerase move to higher value. Third, while excess polymerase might inhibit amplification efficiency, AuNPs can reverse this process and the yield of PCR amplification. Based on these results we propose a possible mechanism that AuNPs might modulate the activity of polymerase and improve PCR amplification.     

基于DNA/RNA的逻辑门与逻辑运算

DNA和RNA具有精确的分子识别能力以及强大的信号存储能力. 利用DNA/RNA分子的生物学特性来构建分子级别的逻辑门并实现逻辑运算是近年来计算机科学和分子生物学交叉产生的新兴领域, 引起了研究者的广泛关注. 本文介绍了利用DNA/RNA分子的酶活性、结构特性来构建逻辑门的方法, 探讨了将单一逻辑门整合成复杂的逻辑运算的途径. 并且对于DNA/RNA逻辑门在体外检测和体内诊疗等生物医学中的应用进行了介绍, 提出了未来的发展方向.     

Detection of infrared photons with a superconductor

A superconductor single photon detector based on NbN nanowire was fabricated using electron beam lithography （EBL） and reactive ion etching （RIE） for infrared photon detection. When biased well below its critical current at 4.2 K, NbN nanowire is very sensitive to the incident photons. Typical telecommunication photons with a wavelength of 1550 nm were detected by this detector. Data analysis indicates the repeating rate of the device with 200 nm NbN nanowire may be up to 100 MHz, and the quantum efficiency is about 0,01% when biased at 0.95/c.     

Design and fabrication of superconducting HEB mixer

This paper describes the design and fabrication of superconducting hot electron bolometer （HEB） mixer based on ultra-thin superconducting NbN films. The high quality films were epitaxially grown on high resistance Si substrates. The device was fabricated by magnetron sputtering, electron beam lithography （EBL）, reactive ion etching （RIE）, lithography, and so on. The device＇s resistance-temperature （R-T） curves and current-voltage （I-V） curves were studied. The results of THz response of the device are presented. Y-factor technique was used to measure the device＇s noise temperature. When the device was irradiated with a laser radiation of 2.5 THz, the obtained lowest noise temperature of the device was 2213 K.     

Programmed self-assembly of DNA origami nanoblocks into anisotropic higher-order nanopatterns

Anisotropic nanopatterns have potentials in constructing novel plasmonic structures which have various applications in such as super-resolution microscopy, medicine, and sensors. However, it remains challenging to build big anisotropic nanopatterns that are suitable for big noble metal nanoparticles. Herein, we report a simple and reliable strategy for constructing DNA origami-based big anisotropic nanopatterns with controlled size and shape, nanoscale resolution, and fully addressability. Two kinds of basic DNA origami nanoblocks-cross-shaped and rectangular DNA origami units were used. We have demonstrated that by encoding nanoblocks’ edges, anisotropic higher-order nanopatterns, such as dimer, trimer, tetramer and mini "windmill" like pentamer nanopatterns could be constructed. To show the potential use as template to direct the assembly of anisotropic nanoparticles arrays, a proof of concept work was conducted by anchoring streptavidin nanoparticles on the "windmill" template to form a chiral array. Significantly, these nanopatterns have the sizes of hundreds of nanometers, which are in principle also suitable for big noble metal nanoparticles arrays.     

DNA纳米自组装的研究进展及应用

DNA纳米技术是一种自下而上的分子自组装模式,由分子构造为起点基于核酸分子的物理和化学性质自发地形成稳定结构,遵循严格的核酸碱基配对原则,使得DNA被用作构建结构的材料基元而不是在活细胞中那样作为遗传信息的载体.通过合理地设计碱基链来达成精密控制的纳米级复杂结构的目的,研究人员在这个领域已经建立起诸多二维、三维的复杂纳米结构以及各种具有不同功能的分子机器,比如DNA计算机.本文总结了近年来DNA纳米自组装方面取得的最新进展,同时介绍DNA纳米自组装的几种不同组装方法,并对其相关应用进行了展望.     

基于纳米材料的CpG核酸药物载运系统

人工合成的含有胞嘧啶-鸟嘌呤二核苷酸的脱氧寡核苷酸(CpG ODN)可以模拟细菌DNA的免疫激活作用,被哺乳动物免疫系统视为"危险"信号而引发机体产生免疫应答.因此,CpG ODN可以作为潜在的治疗性DNA和免疫佐剂,在感染性疾病、过敏性疾病和癌症的辅助治疗中发挥作用.然而,未经修饰的CpG ODN通常易被核酸酶降解,细胞摄取率低,需要较高的给药剂量和反复给药,这些缺陷严重地限制了CpG的应用.近年来,纳米技术的发展为解决核酸药物的递送问题提供了新的工具.已有大量研究报道显示,纳米材料负载的CpG核酸药物表现出高活性、低毒性、生物相容性好等特点,有望作为新型免疫治疗制剂应用于相关疾病的预防和治疗中.本文对CpG核酸药物的发展背景进行了简述,介绍了CpG药物的作用机制、CpG载运对载体材料提出的要求,重点对近年来兴起的多种基于新型纳米材料(包括纳米脂质体/共聚物、各种无机纳米材料和DNA纳米结构等)的CpG载运体系进行了评述,总结了各种载运系统的原理和特点,并对纳米材料递送CpG药物的发展趋势进行了展望.     

Character and fabrication of Al/Al<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>3</Subscript>/Al tunnel junctions for qubit application

The superconductive Josephson junction is the key device for superconducting quantum computation. We have fabricated Al/Al2O3/Al tunnel junctions using a double angle evaporation method based on a suspended shadow mask. The Al2O3 junction barrier has been formed by introducing pure oxygen into the chamber during the fabrication process. We have adjusted exposure conditions by changing either the oxygen pressure or the oxidizing time during the formation of tunnel barriers to control the critical current density Jc and the junction specific resistance Rc. Measurements of the leakage in Al/Al2O3/Al tunnel junctions show that the devices are suitable for qubit applications.     

High-conductivity graphene nanocomposite via facile, covalent linkage of gold nanoparticles to graphene oxide

Graphene and its derivative,graphene oxide (GO) have been substantively used as the main framework for dispersing or building nanoarchitectures because of their excellent properties in electronics and catalysis.The requirement to obtain superior graphene-metal hybrid nanomaterials has led us to explore a facile way to design 4-aminobenzenethiol/1-hexanethiolate-protected gold nanoparticles (aAuNPs)-functionalized graphene oxide composite (aAuNPs-GO) in solution.We demonstrate that when aAuNPs with amino groups are exposed to GO,well-dispersed coverage of Au nanoparticles are mainly observed on the edge of GO sheet.In contrast,when 1-hexanethiolate-protected gold nanoparticles (hAuNPs) without amino groups are exposed to GO,hAuNPs simply aggregate on the surface of GO.This indicates that amino groups located on the surface of Au nanoparticles are an essential prerequisite for attachment of nearly monodispersed aAuNPs.The strategy described here for the fabrication of aAuNPs-GO provides a straightforward approach to develop graphene-based nanocomposites with undamaged sheets structure and good solubility and also improve the conductivity of GO sheets evidently.     

硅纳米线场效应晶体管生物传感器在肿瘤分子诊断中的应用

肿瘤的早期诊断是目前临床医学最具挑战性的问题之一.分子诊断不仅能对肿瘤早期做出确切的诊断,而且能对肿瘤分期、分型、疗效监测和预后评估做出判断.硅纳米线作为新型一维半导体纳米材料,具有超高灵敏度、专一选择性、无标记检测、快速实时响应等独特优势,在近年来的生物医学检测应用,特别是肿瘤的分子诊断方面引起了极大的关注.基于此,本文介绍了硅纳米线场效应晶体管(FET)的工作原理、硅纳米线的制备方法、传感灵敏度的影响因素,综述了硅纳米线FET生物传感器在肿瘤分子诊断中的应用(包括核酸的定性与定量检测、肿瘤蛋白标志物检测、以及分子间相互作用研究),并展望了硅纳米线生物传感器的未来发展趋势,希望能为硅纳米线在肿瘤早期诊断的进一步应用提供一定的参考.