Although the endocrine capacity of bone is widely recognized, interactions between bone and the reproductive system have until now focused on the gonads as a regulator of bone remodeling. We now show that in males, bone acts as a regulator of fertility. Using co-culture assays, we demonstrate that osteoblasts are able to induce testosterone production by the testes, while they fail to influence estrogen production by the ovaries. Analyses of cell-specific loss- and gain-of-function models reveal that the osteoblast-derived hormone osteocalcin performs this endocrine function. By binding to a G-protein coupled receptor expressed in the Leydig cells of the testes, osteocalcin regulates in a CREB-dependent manner the expression of enzymes required for testosterone synthesis, promoting germ cell survival. This study expands the physiological repertoire of osteocalcin, and provides the first evidence that the skeleton is an endocrine regulator of reproduction.

Combining nanomaterials and biomolecule recognition units is promising in developing novel clinic diagnostic and protein analysis techniques. In this work, a highly sensitive and specific fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) aptasensor for thrombin detection is developed based on the dye labeled aptamer assembled graphene. Due to the noncovalent assembly between aptamer and graphene, fluorescence quenching of the dye takes place because of FRET. The addition of thrombin leads to the fluorescence recovery due to the formation of quadruplex-thrombin complexes which have weak affinity to graphene and keep the dyes away from graphene surface. Because of the high fluorescence quenching efficiency, unique structure, and electronic properties of graphene, the graphene aptasensor exhibits extraordinarily high sensitivity and excellent specificity in both buffer and blood serum. A detection limit as low as 31.3 pM is obtained based on the graphene FRET aptasensor, which is two orders magnitude lower than those of fluorescent sensors based on carbon nanotubes. The excellent performance of FRET aptasensor based on graphene will also be ascribed to the unique structure and electronic properties of graphene.

Graphene and graphene-like two-dimensional (2D) materials have attracted much attention due to its extraordinary electronic and optical properties, which accommodate a large potential in optoelectronic applications such as photodetection. However, although much progress has been made, many challenges exist in fundamental and practical aspects hindering graphene and graphene-like 2D materials from photodetector and other photonic and optoelectronic applications. Here, we review the recent progress in photodetection based on graphene and graphene-like 2D materials and start with the summary of some most important physical mechanisms, including photoelectric, photo-thermoelectric, and photo-bolometric regimes. Then methodology-level discussions are given from viewpoints of state-of-the-art designs in device geometry and materials. It is worth emphasizing that emerging photodetection and photodetectors based on graphene-like 2D materials such as metal chalcogenide nanosheets are reviewed systematically. Finally, we conclude this review in a brief discussion with remaining challenges in photodetection of two-dimensional photonics and optoelectronics (2D POE) and note that complete understandings of 2D materials and 2D POE may inspire solar energy conversion and other new applications.