Bismuthene nanosheets produced by ionic liquid assisted grinding exfoliation and their use for oxygen reduction reaction

We report the simple synthesis of bismuthene nanosheets (BiNS) by ionic liquid assisted grinding exfoliation, followed by size selection sequential centrifugation steps for the first time. The exfoliation process results in the formation of self-assembled spherule-like superstructures with abundant edge sites, which are able to catalyze the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) via a two-electron pathway, with a higher efficiency than the bulk Bismuth. We rationalize the enhanced ORR activity of the BiNS to: (i) the presence of 1 dimensional topological edge states, which provide strong conduction channels for electron hopping between the bismuth layers and (ii) the more active role of edge sites in facilitating O(2) adsorption and dissociation of O–O bonds compared to the basal plane. The present study provides a pathway for employing 2D topological insulators as a new class of electrocatalysts for clean energy applications

Editorial

The Indian National Young Academy of Sciences often called “INYAS” functioning under the tutelage of the Indian National Science Academy (INSA), New Delhi is a vibrant and talented academy of young scientists. INYAS was established in December 2014 and is the first and only such young academy in India. At present, INYAS has over 100 members out of which 30% members are females. The Vision of INYAS is to attract the youth towards science, disseminate the excitement of science at pre-college, college and university levels, and establish a network of young scientists in India. Considering the importance of science communication, dissemination and outreach, INYAS do serve as a crusader and embraces different stakeholders such as faculties, researchers from academia, research institutes, polytechnic, schools, industries, incubation centers, policy-makers and decision-makers

Live Cell Integrated Surface Plasmon Resonance BiosensingApproach to Mimic the Regulation of Angiogenic Switch upon Anti-CancerDrug Exposure

In this work, we report a novel surface plasmon resonance (SPR) based live-cell biosensing platform to measure and compare the binding affinity of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) to vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR) and VEGF to bevacizumab. Results have shown that bevacizumab binds VEGF with a higher association rate and affinity compared to VEGFR. Further, this platform has been employed to mimic the in vivo condition of the VEGF?VEGFR angiogenic switch. Competitive binding to VEGF between VEGFR and bevacizumab was monitored in real-time using this platform. Results demonstrated a significant blockage of VEGF?VEGFR binding by bevacizumab. From the results, it is evident that the proposed strategy is simple and highly sensitive for the direct and real-time measurements of bevacizumab drug efficacy to the VEGF?VEGFR angiogenic switch in living SKOV-3 cells

Development of a Micro-Electrochemical Immunosensor

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Molecular Diagnosis and Cancer Prognosis—A Concise Review

Cancer is a complicated disease. Globally, it is one of the major causes for morbidity and mortality. A critical challenge associated with it is the difficulty to accurately diagnose it at an early stage. The malignancy due to multistage and heterogeneity that result from genetic and epigenetic modifications poses critical challenge to diagnose and monitor the progress at an early stage. Current diagnostic techniques normally suggest invasive biopsy procedure that can cause further infections and bleeding. Therefore, noninvasive diagnostic methods with high accuracy, safety and earliest detection are the needs of the hour. Herein, we provide a detailed review on the advanced methodologies and protocols developed for the detection of cancer biomarkers based on proteins, nucleic acids and extracellular vesicles. Furthermore, existing challenges and the improvements essential for the rapid, sensitive and noninvasive detection have also been discussed

Chitosan-graphene biosensors and methods for their use

Provided herein is a method for detecting mutations in polynucleotide sequences through the use of a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) coated with a chitosan-graphene nanosheet material (also referred to herein as a “CMG electrode.”) It is a surprising finding of the present invention that the CMG electrodes can be used to detect non-hybridization of capture and target polynucleotides using voltammetry, wherein non-hybridization indicates a mutation or difference in the target polynucleotide as compared to a control

Volammetric Characteristics of Physically Small Cylindrical Carbon Electrodes with a Hydrogenated Surface

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Evaluation of hydrogenated physically small carbon electrodes in resisting fouling during voltammetric detection of dopamine

In this work, a hydrogenated film deposited on physically small carbon cylinder electrodes was used to minimise electrode fouling that is commonly encountered during electrochemical detection of the neurotransmitter dopamine in vivo. Electrode fouling generally arises from the inhibition of electron transfer reactions on an electrode surface covered by hydrophilic surface active agents including proteins, peptides and lipids present in a biological matrix. The hydrophobic hydrogenated film discourages adsorption of these agents and hence acts as a protective membrane against fouling. Characterisation of the hydrogenated carbon electrodes in three redox systems including Fe(CN)³⁻₆, ferrocene and anthraquinone-2,6-disulfonate supported a reduction of carbonyl functionalities and surface oxides on the hydrogenated carbon electrodes. These electrodes were found to remain stable for at least 3 months and they exhibited more resistance towards fouling compared to bare carbon electrodes. Cyclic voltammetry of dopamine at hydrogenated carbon cylinder electrodes in the presence of bovine serum albumin (as a model protein) and N-formyl methionyl leucionyl phenylalanine (a model peptide) showed a 5.5% (0.6% standard deviation; N = 5 electrodes) decrease in the limiting current. A detection limit (based on three times the standard deviation of the blank signal) of 750 nM was also estimated when dopamine was detected at hydrogenated carbon cylinder electrodes in the presence of bovine serum albumin and N-formyl methionyl leucionyl phenylalanine in vitro.7 page(s