142 - and K. K. Parker. 11/6/2020. “
Some Data Is Hard To Get-Some Data You Have to Be Hard to Get.” Matter, 3, 3, Pp. 623–627.
Publisher's VersionAbstractMy second tour of duty in the Global War on Terror took me, an Army reservist, from my research and teaching at Harvard to the mountainous valleys of eastern Afghanistan. My job on this tour, working for the Center for Army Lessons Learned, was to try to understand how we were trying to rid the battlefield of improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, which were causing most of the Coalition casualties. A field-grade officer with no troops under my command, I roamed my area of operation attached to tactical units to collect data. One such group was Route Clearance Patrol 13 (RCP13), an amalgam of combat engineers, explosive specialists, and specialized teams, clearing roads of IEDs (Figure 1). On these missions, I sat strapped into its Buffalo, a motorized beast whose extraordinary size and robotic arm capabilities were designed to directly engage the explosive devices in lieu of dispatching someone to check it out themselves.
Some Data Is Hard To Get-Some Data You Have to Be Hard to Get 141 -, Parker KK, Longobardi L, and Sulicz A. 11/5/2020. “
Welcome to Biophysics Reviews, a big tent for the biophysics community.” Biophysics Reviews, 1, 1, Pp. 010401.
Publisher's VersionAbstractIt is our pleasure to welcome you to the first issue of Biophysics Reviews (BPR), a new journal from AIP Publishing covering the diverse field of biophysics. The journal expands on the tradition of excellence set by Applied Physics Reviews (APR) by publishing high impact, cutting edge research and reviews that are valuable for both emerging and experienced researchers.
Welcome to Biophysics Reviews, a big tent for the biophysics community 140 -, Yadid M, Lind JU, Ardoña HAM, Sheehy SP, Dickinson LE, Eweje F, Bastings MCB, Pope B, O’Connor BB, Straubhaar JR, and Kleb Budnik B. 10/14/2020. “
Endothelial extracellular vesicles contain protective proteins and rescue ischemia-reperfusion injury in a human heart-on-chip.” Science Translational Medicine, 12, 565, Pp. eaax8005.
AbstractExtracellular vesicles, small membrane-bound particles released from cells, have been shown to have cardioprotective effects. Here, Yadid et al. analyzed the proteins contained in vesicles released from endothelial cells under normoxia and hypoxia and investigated cardioprotective effects on cardiac tissues in vitro. Using a human heart-on-chip composed of cardiomyocytes, the authors showed that endothelial cell–derived vesicles supported metabolic function, tissue contraction, and viability during ischemia-reperfusion injury. This study helps to elucidate the mechanism by which vesicles are cardioprotective in human tissue.
Endothelial extracellular vesicles contain protective proteins and rescue ischemia-reperfusion injury in a human heart-on-chip 139 -, Aytac Z, Huang R, Vaze N, Xu T, Eitzer BD, Krol W, MacQueen LA, Chang H, Bousfield DW, Chan-Park MB, Ng KW, Parker KK, White JC, and Demokritou P. 9/21/2020. “
Development of biodegradable and antimicrobial electrospun zein fibers for food packaging.” ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 8, 40, Pp. 15354-15365.
Publisher's VersionAbstractThere is an urgent need to develop biodegradable and nontoxic materials from biopolymers and nature-derived antimicrobials to enhance food safety and quality. In this study, electrospinning was used as a one-step, scalable, green synthesis approach to engineer antimicrobial fibers from zein using nontoxic organic solvents and a cocktail of nature-derived antimicrobials which are all FDA-classified Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) for food use. Morphological and physicochemical properties of fibers, as well as the dissolution kinetics of antimicrobials were assessed along with their antimicrobial efficacy using state of the art analytical and microbiological methods. A cocktail of nature-derived antimicrobials was developed and included thyme oil, citric acid, and nisin. Its ability to inactivate a broad-spectrum of with food-related pathogens was demonstrated. Morphological characterization of the electrospun antimicrobial fibers revealed bead-free fibers with a small average diameter of 165 nm, whereas physicochemical characterization showed high surface area-to-volume ratio (specific surface area:21.91 m2/g) and presence of antimicrobial analytes in the fibers. The antimicrobials exhibited initial rapid release from the fibers in 2 h into various food simulants. Furthermore, the antimicrobial fibers effectively reduced E. coli and L. innocua populations by ∼5 logs for after 24 h and 1 h of exposure, respectively. More importantly, due to the small diameter and high surface area-to-volume ratio of the fibers, only miniscule quantities of fiber mass and antimicrobials per surface area (2.50 mg/cm2 of fibers) are needed for pathogen inactivation. The scalability of this fiber synthesis process was also demonstrated using a multineedle injector with production yield up to 1 g/h. This study shows the potential of using nature-derived biopolymers and antimicrobials to synthesize fibers for sustainable food packaging materials.
Development of biodegradable and antimicrobial electrospun zein fibers for food packaging