Stimuli‐Responsive Self‐Assembled DNA Nanomaterials for Biomedical Applications

Abstract

In article number 1603135, S.-Y. Zheng and co-workers develop a point of care device integrated with porous silicon nanowire forests for influenza virus capturing based on their sizes only. By dissolving nanowire forests in physiological aqueous environments, subsequently captured viruses could be released without damage for culturing, characterization, and other analysis. The device shows potential for virus discovery, isolation, and functional studies Nanotheranostics In article number 1602580, J. Lin, P. Huang, Y. Xu, Z. Li, and co-workers present a light/pH dual-stimuli responsive nanotheranostic for multimodal imaging such as two-photon luminescence, fluorescence, photoacoustic, photothermal imaging, as well as trimodal synergistic therapy such as photothermal therapy, photodynamic therapy, and chemotherapy. The cover image depicts how this activatable theranostic nanoplatform fights against cancer like "ten thousand arrows shot at once". Upconversion Nanoparticles Innovative strategies to unleash the freedom of the excitation wavelengths of upconversion nanoparticles have recently been developed. In article number 1602843, W. Huang, G. Han, and co-workers comprehensively review recent advances in the design, property tuning, and applications of ≈800 nm excited upconversion nanoparticles. These nanoparticles show superior potential for biosensing, bioimaging, drug delivery, and therapy. Shifting the upconversion excitation wavelength to a biological "sweet spot" at 800 nm offers opportunities for the further development of lanthanide-doped upcon-version nanoparticles. Recent advances in the emerging ≈800 nm excited upconver-sion nanoparticles, ranging from design principles and property tuning, to their current applications and future development, are discussed. reviews Upconversion Nanoparticles An ultrathin, lightweight, and wearable Li-O 2 battery with a novel segmented structure is first fabricated by employing a "break up the whole into parts" strategy. Superior battery performance including low overpotential, high specific capacity, good rate capability, excellent cycle stability, and high gravimetric/ volumetric energy density (294.68 Wh kg −1 / 274.06 Wh L −1) is successfully achieved even under repeatedly various deformation. communications A novel approach is proposed to enhance the thermal rectification ratio, namely, arranging two thermal rectifiers in series. Through theoretical analysis and molecular dynamics simulations on graphene/ phononic crystal structures, the results show that the series thermal rectifiers enhance thermal rectification ratio significantly , compared to a single rectifier. Meanwhile, the results of theoretical prediction match well with simulation results. A Series Circuit of Thermal Rectifiers: An Effective Way to Enhance Rectification Ratio Fullerene-like nickel oxysulfide hollow nanospheres with ≈50 nm are constructed by in situ growth on the surface of nickel foam by taking advantage of solvothermal reaction. The as-prepared composite exhibits exhilaratingly high HER...

The Role of Photochemical Reactions in the Development of Advanced Soft Materials for Biomedical Applications

“…Other path for improving photoresponsive DDS is the use of non‐conventional structures based on, for instance, DNA . DNA intercalating drugs like DOX are extensively used in cancer therapy, and can often be encapsulated in the most diverse DDS but they are usually not very effective.…”

G‐Quadruplex‐Mediated Molecular Switching of Self‐Assembled 3D DNA Nanocages

“…So far, the use of G‐quadruplex‐functionalized 3D DNA nanostructures for structural reconfiguration is highly limited. Not surprisingly, 3D DNA nanostructures capable of molecular switching play an important role because of their potential applications in molecular sensing, drug delivery, miniaturized robotics and dynamic nanomaterials . Different strategies including addition of specific DNA strands, small molecules, protons, enzymes or photons have been used to control the 3D movement in terms of shapes and sizes.…”

Single-molecule dynamic DNA junctions for engineering robust molecular switches

“…3 Dynamic DNA nanostructures incorporating functional nucleic acids such as aptamers and DNAzymes that are responsive to chemical/biochemical stimuli have been utilized to develop smart responsive systems. 4 DNA molecular switches are a class of rationally designed dynamic nanostructures that utilize a programmable network of reactions to execute complex algorithms in order to process molecular information and computation. 5,6 DNA molecular switches translate the language of living organisms and have helped in developing micro-and nanoscale tools for sensing, adapting and making decisions.…”