Challenges for Australia's Bio/Nanopharma Policies: trade deals, public goods and reference pricing in sustainable industrial renewal

Industrial renewal in the bio/nanopharma sector is important for the long term strength of the Australian economy and for the health of its citizens. A variety of factors, however, may have caused inadequate attention to focus on systematically promoting domestic generic and small biotechnology manufacturers in Australian health policy

Heterostructured WO3@CoWO4 bilayer nanosheets for enhanced visible-light photo, electro and photoelectro-chemical oxidation of water

Herein, a facile interface-induced synthesis method is first established to newly fabricate two-dimensional (2D) bilayer nanosheets of WO3@CoWO4 as highly efficient catalysts for enhanced photo, electro and photoelectro-chemical oxygen evolution reactions (OERs). The heterostructure and the interfacial oxygen vacancy of WO3@CoWO4 reduce the energy barriers in the OER. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations and material characterizations reveal that the WO3@CoWO4 p–n heterojunction endows the composite with a narrowed band gap for better visible-light harvesting, rapid charge transfer across the interface and a lower recombination rate of the photo-excited carriers. The interface O-vacancy vests the active Co site with an enhanced density of state (DOS) at the valence band maximum (VBM), which can increase the concentration of the photogenerated holes to improve photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical (PEC) activity. This study presents a proof-of-concept design towards low cost and multi-metal 2D/2D nanosheets for water oxidation applications

CD25(+), interleukin-10-producing CD4(+) T cells are required for suppressor cell production and immune privilege in the anterior chamber of the eye

An important factor in the establishment of ocular immune privilege is the dynamic down regulation of T helper 1 (Th1) immune responses that occurs in response to antigens delivered intraocularly; a phenomenon that has been termed anterior chamber-associated immune deviation (ACAID). ACAID is characterized by the generation of splenic regulatory cells that inhibit the expression of delayed-type hypersensitivity. Previous studies have shown that antigens introduced into the anterior chamber of the eye induce the generation of a CD4(+) T-cell population that suppress the induction of Th1 immune responses and the appearance of a second population of CD8(+) T regulatory cells that suppresses the expression of Th1 inflammatory responses (= efferent suppressor cells). Experiments described here characterized the function of the CD4(+) ACAID suppressor cell population and its effect on the generation of CD8(+) efferent suppressor cells that inhibit the expression of DTH in situ. Both in vivo and in vitro experiments demonstrated that CD4(+) T cells are required for the generation of CD8(+) efferent suppressor cells. CD4(+) T cells do not require cell contact with CD8(+) T cells; instead they produce soluble IL-10 that is sufficient for the generation of ACAID suppressor cells. Finally, the CD4(+) afferent T suppressor cells are not natural killer T cells, but do express the CD25 cell surface marker