New Series of BPL Inhibitors To Probe the Ribose-Binding Pocket of <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> Biotin Protein Ligase

Replacing the labile adenosinyl-substituted phosphoanhydride of biotinyl-5′-AMP with a N1-benzyl substituted 1,2,3-triazole gave a new truncated series of inhibitors of <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> biotin protein ligase (<i>Sa</i>BPL). The benzyl group presents to the ribose-binding pocket of <i>Sa</i>BPL based on <i>in silico</i> docking. Halogenated benzyl derivatives (<b>12t</b>, <b>12u</b>, <b>12w</b>, and <b>12x</b>) proved to be the most potent inhibitors of <i>Sa</i>BPL. These derivatives inhibited the growth of <i>S. aureus</i> ATCC49775 and displayed low cytotoxicity against HepG2 cells

High-speed photonic crystal modulator with non-volatile memory via structurally-engineered strain concentration in a piezo-MEMS platform

Numerous applications in quantum and classical optics require scalable, high-speed modulators that cover visible-NIR wavelengths with low footprint, drive voltage (V) and power dissipation. A critical figure of merit for electro-optic (EO) modulators is the transmission change per voltage, dT/dV. Conventional approaches in wave-guided modulators seek to maximize dT/dV by the selection of a high EO coefficient or a longer light-material interaction, but are ultimately limited by nonlinear material properties and material losses, respectively. Optical and RF resonances can improve dT/dV, but introduce added challenges in terms of speed and spectral tuning, especially for high-Q photonic cavity resonances. Here, we introduce a cavity-based EO modulator to solve both trade-offs in a piezo-strained photonic crystal cavity. Our approach concentrates the displacement of a piezo-electric actuator of length L and a given piezoelectric coefficient into the PhCC, resulting in dT/dV proportional to L under fixed material loss. Secondly, we employ a material deformation that is programmable under a "read-write" protocol with a continuous, repeatable tuning range of 5 GHz and a maximum non-volatile excursion of 8 GHz. In telecom-band demonstrations, we measure a fundamental mode linewidth = 5.4 GHz, with voltage response 177 MHz/V corresponding to 40 GHz for voltage spanning -120 to 120 V, 3dB-modulation bandwidth of 3.2 MHz broadband DC-AC, and 142 MHz for resonant operation near 2.8 GHz operation, optical extinction down to min(log(T)) = -25 dB via Michelson-type interference, and an energy consumption down to 0.17 nW/GHz. The strain-enhancement methods presented here are applicable to study and control other strain-sensitive systems