(Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health)
Proteins called photosystems are critical to photosynthesis – the process used by plants to convert light energy from the sun into chemical energy. Combining one kind of these proteins, called photosystem I, with platinum nanoparticles, creates a biohybrid catalyst. Now, researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory and Yale University have determined the structure of the photosystem I biohybrid solar fuel catalyst. Building on more than 13 years of research pioneered at Argonne, the team reports the first high-resolution view of a biohybrid structure. This advancement opens the door for researchers to develop biohybrid solar fuel systems with improved performance, which would provide a sustainable alternative to traditional energy sources.

(Funded by the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the U.S. National Science Foundation)
Researchers from Caltech, the University of Southern California, Santa Clara University, and the National University of Singapore have developed microrobots that decreased the size of bladder tumors in mice by delivering therapeutic drugs directly to the bladders. The microrobots incorporated magnetic nanoparticles and the therapeutic drug within the outer structure of the spheres. The magnetic nanoparticles allowed the scientists to direct the robots to a desired location using an external magnetic field. When the microrobots reached their targets, they remained in that spot, and the drug passively diffused out.

(Funded by the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. National Science Foundation)
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have shown that lipid nanoparticles can mediate more than 100-fold greater mRNA delivery to the placenta of pregnant mice with pre-eclampsia than a lipid nanoparticle formulation approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. These lipid nanoparticles can decrease high blood pressure and increase vasodilation in these pre-eclamptic pregnant mice.

(Funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health)
Researchers at the University of Kentucky and the New York Blood Center in New York City have discovered that combining magnetic nanoparticles with ascorbic acid destroyed breast cancer cells, but only if the nanoparticles were added and went inside the cells first before the ascorbic acid was added. “This discovery underscores the significance of coordinating nanoparticles and ascorbic acid in cancer treatment,” said Sheng Tong, the scientist who led this study. The researchers also engineered a specific type of immune cell, called macrophages, to carry the nanoparticles to the tumor site. When loaded with magnetic nanoparticles, the macrophages can be guided to the tumor using an external magnetic field.

(Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. National Science Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health)
Researchers at Southern Methodist University, the University of Texas at Arlington, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory, and the Korea Institute of Science and Technology in Seoul have discovered a way to enhance the sensitivity of nanopores for early detection of diseases. They integrated octahedral DNA origami structures with solid-state nanopores to significantly improve the detection of proteins, especially those that are present in low concentrations. Nanopores are tiny holes that can detect individual molecules as they pass through. The researchers determined that combining the precision of DNA origami with the robustness of solid-state nanopores could create a “hybrid nanopore” system, enabling more precise analysis.