Functionalizing dendrimers for targeted delivery of bioactive molecules to macrophages: A potential treatment for Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection—A review

This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Insights into Tuberculosis Research and Drug Discovery.Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis that replicates inside human alveolar macrophages. This disease causes significant morbidity and mortality throughout the world. According to the World Health Organization 1.4 million people died of this disease in 2021. This indicates that despite the progress of modern medicine, improvements in diagnostics, and the development of drug susceptibility tests, TB remains a global threat to public health. In this sense, host-directed therapy may provide a new approach to the cure of TB, and the expression of miRNAs has been correlated with a change in the concentration of various inflammatory mediators whose concentrations are responsible for the pathophysiology of M. tuberculosis infection. Thus, the administration of miRNAs may help to modulate the immune response of organisms. However, direct administration of miRNAs, without adequate encapsulation, exposes nucleic acids to the activity of cytosolic nucleases, limiting their application. Dendrimers are a family of highly branched molecules with a well-defined architecture and a branched conformation which gives rise to cavities that facilitate physical immobilization, and functional groups that allow chemical interaction with molecules of interest. Additionally, dendrimers can be easily functionalized to target different cells, macrophages among them. In this sense, various studies have proposed the use of different cell receptors as target molecules to aim dendrimers at macrophages and thus release drugs or nucleic acids in the cell of interest. Based on the considerations, the primary objective of this review is to comprehensively explore the potential of functionalized dendrimers as delivery vectors for miRNAs and other therapeutic agents into macrophages. This work aims to provide insights into the use of functionalized dendrimers as an innovative approach for TB treatment, focusing on their ability to target and deliver therapeutic cargo to macrophages.This research was funded by the Chilean National Fund for Scientific and Technological Development (FONDECYT) N° 3220479 (C.S.), N° 3210533 (D.V.) and N° 11200620 (A.C.-A.).Peer reviewe

Exciton tuning and strain imaging in WS2supported on PDMS micropillars

Since the raise of 2D materials, significant research has been dedicated to their strain-dependent electronic and mechanical properties. In this work, we studied exciton energies and low-frequency phonon modes in CVD-grown mono- and few-layer WS2 transferred on PDMS micropillars. The modification of the band structure under strain was investigated by photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy at room temperature. Machine learning (ML) methods were used to analyze the PL spatial maps and facilitate the spectral deconvolution. For monolayer (1L) WS2, red shift in the exciton energy was detected as a function of the position, which was ascribed to the presence of residual strain. For three-layer (3L) strained WS2, a significant increase in the PL intensity corresponding to direct (K-K) band transition together with a change of exciton energy was observed. From the PL spectra, strain distribution maps were extracted for both studied samples, which strongly resembled the ML clustering results. Finally, the low-frequency Raman modes of WS2 were studied on both Si/SiO2 and PDMS substrates and no significant change of their frequency was observed for the 3L-WS2.This work has been supported by the Severo Ochoa Program (No. SEV-2017-0706 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033), by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) under Contract Nos. PGC2018-095032-B-I00 and PID2021-124568NB-I00, and by the CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya. The authors acknowledge the European Union's H2020 FET Proactive Project TOCHA (Grant No. 824140) and the ERC-AdG Project LEIT (Grant No. 885689)

Exploring the Potential of Green Hydrogen Production and Application in the Antofagasta Region of Chile

Green hydrogen is gaining increasing attention as a key component of the global energy transition towards a more sustainable industry. Chile, with its vast renewable energy potential, is well positioned to become a major producer and exporter of green hydrogen. In this context, this paper explores the prospects for green hydrogen production and use in Chile. The perspectives presented in this study are primarily based on a compilation of government reports and data from the scientific literature, which primarily offer a theoretical perspective on the efficiency and cost of hydrogen production. To address the need for experimental data, an ongoing experimental project was initiated in March 2023. This project aims to assess the efficiency of hydrogen production and consumption in the Atacama Desert through the deployment of a mobile on-site laboratory for hydrogen generation. The facility is mainly composed by solar panels, electrolyzers, fuel cells, and a battery bank, and it moves through the Atacama Desert in Chile at different altitudes, from the sea level, to measure the efficiency of hydrogen generation through the energy approach. The challenges and opportunities in Chile for developing a robust green hydrogen economy are also analyzed. According to the results, Chile has remarkable renewable energy resources, particularly in solar and wind power, that could be harnessed to produce green hydrogen. Chile has also established a supportive policy framework that promotes the development of renewable energy and the adoption of green hydrogen technologies. However, there are challenges that need to be addressed, such as the high capital costs of green hydrogen production and the need for supportive infrastructure. Despite these challenges, we argue that Chile has the potential to become a leading producer and exporter of green hydrogen or derivatives such as ammonia or methanol. The country’s strategic location, political stability, and strong commitment to renewable energy provide a favorable environment for the development of a green hydrogen industry. The growing demand for clean energy and the increasing interest in decarbonization present significant opportunities for Chile to capitalize on its renewable energy resources and become a major player in the global green hydrogen market.We acknowledge financial support from for Gobierno Regional de Antofagasta and FIC-R project código BIP: 40033431-0. CICITEM is supported by the Gobierno regional de Antofagasta. ICN2 is supported by the Severo Ochoa program from the Spanish Research Agency (AEI, grant no. SEV-2017-0706) and by the CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya.Peer reviewe

Dataset related to the publication "Thermal properties of nanocrystalline silicon nanobeams"

Versión 1. El artículo en el que se basan los datos fue publicado en Advanced Functional Materials 32(4): 2105767 (2022)Dataset contains the raw data from which the graphs in paper "Thermal properties of nanocrystalline silicon nanobeams".Grants: European Commission: PHENOMEN - All-Phononic circuits Enabled by Opto-mechanics (713450) NANOPOLY - Artificial permittivity and permeability engineering for future generation sub wavelength analogue integrated circuits and systems (829061)Peer reviewe