(Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation)
Researchers from New York University have begun to explore exosomes, tiny membrane-bound vesicles, as promising tools for wound healing. These nanovesicles carry various biological materials – nucleic acids, proteins, and lipids – allowing them to mediate intercellular communication and influence processes such as tissue repair. By combining them with hydrogels, which are composed of networks of cross-linked polymers, the researchers showed that hydrogel-exosome combinations consistently lead to faster wound closure than either hydrogels or exosomes used alone.

(Funded by the National Science Foundation)
Researchers have developed an innovative nanofibrous membrane to remove microplastics from drinking water. Water filters on the market today can remove some contaminants, but they’re not designed to capture microplastics. The filter membrane is made from polyvinyl alcohol fibers, which are polymers currently used in biomedical applications. The team chose the material because it is low-cost and is not toxic to humans, animals, or plants. “The idea is to design a filter that can be attached to a faucet so it can remove microplastic and lead at the same time from tap water,” said Maryam Salehi, one of the researchers involved in this study.

(Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation)
Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; the University of Washington; North Carolina State University; and Xiamen University in China have achieved a uniform two-dimensional (2D) layer of silk protein fragments on graphene, a carbon-based material useful for its excellent electrical conductivity. This combination of materials—silk-on-graphene—could form a sensitive, tunable transistor highly desired by the microelectronics industry for wearable and implantable health sensors. The researchers also see potential for their use as a key component of memory transistors or “memristors,” in computing neural networks. Memristors allow computers to mimic how the human brain functions.

(Funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation)
Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania have demonstrated a new kind of nanopore platform that consists of two or more nanopores stacked just nanometers apart, allowing for more precise detection and control of DNA as it wiggles through. “With current platforms, when molecules like DNA are placed near the nanopores, it’s sort of like having spaghetti in a pot—tangled and difficult to work with, let alone guiding through one hole,” explains Dimitri Monos, one of the scientists involved in this study. “So, typically, researchers need to use proteins to capture, unwind, and straighten it, which, while effective, has many limitations. But with this new design, we’re essentially guiding molecules through two coupled nanopores in the material, providing a controlled, smoother passage of molecules.”

(Funded by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the National Science Foundation)
Researchers at the University of Minnesota and the University of Arizona have provided new insights into how next-generation electronics break down or degrade over time. Using a sophisticated electron microscope, the researchers looked at the nanopillars within magnetic tunnel junctions – the building blocks for the non-volatile memory in smart watches and in-memory computing. The researchers ran a current through the device to see how it operates. As they increased the current, they were able to observe how the device degrades and eventually dies in real time. “What was unusual with this discovery is that we observed this burn out at a much lower temperature than what previous research thought was possible,” said Andre Mkhoyan, one of the scientists involved in this research.