Hydrogel Encapsulated Core–Shell Photonic Barcodes for Multiplex Biomarker Quantification

Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is one of the most fatal diseases in the world in recent decades. Because rapid and accurate determination of AMI has the potential to save millions of lives globally, the development of new diagnostic method is of great significance. Here, we designed a magnetic responsive structural color core–shell hydrogel microcarrier as a novel platform for a high-throughput detection of a variety of cardiovascular biomarkers. The composite hydrogel shell was formed from methacrylated gelatin, acrylic acid, and poly­(ethylene glycol diacrylate), and the core silica photonic crystals acted as a detector. Fe3O4 nanoparticles were infused into the void of the core–shell structure to impart magnetic response properties to the encoded carrier. The findings indicated that our method possessed high sensitivity and reliable specificity in the high-throughput detection of AMI-related biomarkers Myo, cTnI, and BNP. In addition, the developed method not only showed good specificity and high sensitivity in clinical samples but also was comparable to the clinical gold standard method. Therefore, the magnetic response structural color core–shell hydrogel carriers were regarded as a potential approach to detect some AMI disease-related biomarkers

Core–Shell Silica Nanoparticle-Based Barcodes Combined with a Hybridization Chain Reaction for Multiplex Quantitative Detection of Bacterial Drug-Resistance Genes

Bacterial multidrug resistance has become a major global health threat. The multiplex quantitative detection of drug-resistance genes in pathogens is of great significance for addressing public health. Herein, a barcode composed of a silica nanoparticle-based photonic crystal (PhC) core and hydrogel shell is combined with a hybridization chain reaction (HCR) to realize a multiplex quantitative detection of drug-resistance genes. The core with remarkable structural colors serves as a stable encoding element. The shell provides effective cavities and abundant groups for probe immobilization. The DNA target can be captured by the barcodes labeled with the corresponding probes followed by an HCR to achieve signal amplification. Additionally, the magnetic core–shell barcodes are loaded into a microfluidic chip to develop a portable, multiplex, and high-throughput detection platform. The results show that the screening strategy is reasonably accurate, reliable, and repeatable for single or multiplex detection of carbapenem-resistance genes. This demonstrates that the magnetic core–shell structure barcodes offer a pathway toward sensitive and specific multiplex analysis of low-abundance drug-resistance genes

Additional file 1 of Tailoring conductive inverse opal films with anisotropic elliptical porous patterns for nerve cell orientation

Additional file 1: Figure S1. SEM images of (a) the silica colloidal crystal template, (b) the PS hybrid colloidal crystal template, (c) the PS inverse opal film. Scale bars are 500 nm. Figure S2. Different stretching degrees. (a) 3-times, (b) 6-times, (c) 9-times, (d) 12-times stretched PS inverse opal films. Scale bars are 1 μm. Figure S3. (a) MTT assays and (b) adhesion properties of PC12 cells cultured on ordinary glass slides, PS substrates stretched at 0°, 15°, 30°, 45° for 1 day, 2 days, and 3 days, respectively. Error bars represent SD. Figure S4. (a) Immunofluorescence image, (b) SEM image, (c) angle distribution of neurites of PC12 cells cultured on ordinary glass slides. Scale bars are 50 μm. Figure S5. Orientation angle frequency distribution of PC12 cells cultured on PS inverse opal films stretched at different angles. θ or θ’ means the angle between the direction of neurite (the red dotted line) and the stretching orientation (the black solid line), respectively. Figure S6. Raman spectrum of PEDOT:PSS-doped PAAm hydrogels. Figure S7. (a) MTT assays and (b) adhesion properties of PC12 cells cultured on ordinary glass slides, PS inverse opal films, composite films for 1 day, 2 days, and 3 days, respectively. Error bars represent SD. Figure S8. (a) Differentiation rates of PC12 cells cultured on ordinary glass slides, PS inverse opal films and composite films on the 7th day. (b) Orientation angle frequency distribution of PC12 cells on PS inverse opal films and composite films

Folic Acid-Functionalized Hybrid Photonic Barcodes for Capture and Release of Circulating Tumor Cells

Recovery of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from cancer patients by an efficient CTCs capture and release method can greatly increase their application in diagnostics and treatment of cancers. In this paper, we presented a folic acid (FA)-functionalized hybrid photonic barcode for capture and release of CTCs. The hybrid photonic barcodes were formed by two nano-ordered parts, poly­(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) inverse opal structure for sustaining integrity and methacrylated gelatin (GelMA) gel filler for conjugating FA molecules to mediate cell capture. The nano-ordered structures of the hybrid photonic barcodes not only increased contact area, but also decreased steric hindrance among FA molecules. Thus, the topographic interaction between the barcodes and CTCs was greatly enhanced. In addition, GelMA gel was soft and extracellular matrix (ECM) alike, which was beneficial to decrease impairment to CTCs during the CTCs-barcode interaction as well as preserving their viability. Demonstrated by four CTCs types, Hela (epithelial tissue, folate receptor positive, FR+), A02 (bone marrow, FR+), Raji (lymphoid tissue, FR+), and A549 (epithelial tissue, folate receptor negative, FR-), FR+ CTCs could be captured efficiently with reliability and specificity. The captured cells could be controllably released with high viability just by quick trypsinization. The whole processes were simple and efficient. These features indicated that the FA-functionalized hybrid photonic barcodes were promising for full recovery of CTCs from cancer patients, which was important for diagnosis and treatment of cancer