Image2_Pan-cancer analysis of the prognostic and immunological role of Fanconi anemia complementation group E.JPEG

Fanconi anemia (FA) genes contribute to tumorigenesis by regulating DNA repair. Despite its importance for assembly and functionality of the FA core complex, no pan-cancer analysis of FANCE was performed. We aimed to provide a comprehensive understanding of the role of FANCE in cancers. Based on The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia (CCLE), Genotype Tissue-Expression (GTEx), Human Protein Atlas (HPA), Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), and Cancer Single-cell Atlas (CancerSEA) databases, we investigated the carcinogenicity of FANCE using various bioinformatics methods, including FANCE expression and prognosis, immune invasion, tumor mutation burden, microsatellite instability, and neoantigens. We monitored Fance mutations in mice that caused tumorigenesis. FANCE expression and activity scores were upregulated in 15 and 21 cancers. High expression of FANCE affected shorter overall survival (OS) in seven cancers and longer overall survival in three cancers. It was correlated with shorter overall survival and progression-free interval (PFI) in endometrial cancer and longer overall survival and PFI in cervical cancer. FANCE expression negatively correlated with stromal/immune scores in 21 cancers including cervical cancer, endometrial cancer, and ovarian cancer. FANCE expression negatively correlated with CD8 T cells in endometrial cancer and positively correlated with M1 macrophages in cervical cancer, possibly related to cancer prognosis. FANCE positively correlated with immune checkpoint inhibitors PD-1, PD-L1, and CTLA4 in endometrial cancer and ovarian cancer. FANCE expression positively correlated with microsatellite instability, tumor mutational burden, and neoantigens in 7, 22, and five cancers, especially in endometrial cancer, potentially increasing the effectiveness of immunotherapy. Single-cell sequencing data showed FANCE was primarily expressed in cancer cells in cervical and ovarian cancer, and in fibroblasts in endometrial cancer. Fance heterozygous mutant mice had increased tumor incidences and shorter overall survival and tumor-free survival (TFS) than Fance homozygous mutant mice and wild-type mice. Conclusively, FANCE potential to serve as a biomarker for cancer prognosis and may predict cancer immunotherapy responses. Fance heterozygous mutant resulted in increased tumorigenesis and poor prognosis in mice.</p

Image1_Pan-cancer analysis of the prognostic and immunological role of Fanconi anemia complementation group E.JPEG

Fanconi anemia (FA) genes contribute to tumorigenesis by regulating DNA repair. Despite its importance for assembly and functionality of the FA core complex, no pan-cancer analysis of FANCE was performed. We aimed to provide a comprehensive understanding of the role of FANCE in cancers. Based on The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia (CCLE), Genotype Tissue-Expression (GTEx), Human Protein Atlas (HPA), Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), and Cancer Single-cell Atlas (CancerSEA) databases, we investigated the carcinogenicity of FANCE using various bioinformatics methods, including FANCE expression and prognosis, immune invasion, tumor mutation burden, microsatellite instability, and neoantigens. We monitored Fance mutations in mice that caused tumorigenesis. FANCE expression and activity scores were upregulated in 15 and 21 cancers. High expression of FANCE affected shorter overall survival (OS) in seven cancers and longer overall survival in three cancers. It was correlated with shorter overall survival and progression-free interval (PFI) in endometrial cancer and longer overall survival and PFI in cervical cancer. FANCE expression negatively correlated with stromal/immune scores in 21 cancers including cervical cancer, endometrial cancer, and ovarian cancer. FANCE expression negatively correlated with CD8 T cells in endometrial cancer and positively correlated with M1 macrophages in cervical cancer, possibly related to cancer prognosis. FANCE positively correlated with immune checkpoint inhibitors PD-1, PD-L1, and CTLA4 in endometrial cancer and ovarian cancer. FANCE expression positively correlated with microsatellite instability, tumor mutational burden, and neoantigens in 7, 22, and five cancers, especially in endometrial cancer, potentially increasing the effectiveness of immunotherapy. Single-cell sequencing data showed FANCE was primarily expressed in cancer cells in cervical and ovarian cancer, and in fibroblasts in endometrial cancer. Fance heterozygous mutant mice had increased tumor incidences and shorter overall survival and tumor-free survival (TFS) than Fance homozygous mutant mice and wild-type mice. Conclusively, FANCE potential to serve as a biomarker for cancer prognosis and may predict cancer immunotherapy responses. Fance heterozygous mutant resulted in increased tumorigenesis and poor prognosis in mice.</p

Versatile Miniature Tunable Liquid Lenses Using Transparent Graphene Electrodes

This paper presents, for the first time, versatile and low-cost miniature liquid lenses with graphene as electrodes. Tunable focal length is achieved by changing the droplet curvature using electrowetting on dielectric (EWOD). Ionic liquid and KCl solution are utilized as lens liquid on the top of a flexible Teflon-coated PDMS/parylene membrane. Transparent and flexible, graphene allows transmission of visible light as well as large deformation of the polymer membrane to achieve requirements for different lens designs and to increase the field of view without damaging of electrodes. The tunable range for the focal length is between 3 and 7 mm for a droplet with a volume of 3 μL. The visualization of bone marrow dendritic cells is demonstrated by the liquid lens system with a high resolution (456 lp/mm)

Vertically Stacked and Self-Encapsulated van der Waals Heterojunction Diodes Using Two-Dimensional Layered Semiconductors

van der Waals heterojunctions using 2D semiconducting materials could overcome the defect issues included by lattice mismatch in conventional epitaxially grown heterojunctions with bulk materials and could enable a much wider palette for choice of materials and more sophisticated device design. Such 2D heterojunction devices are of great interest for important functional devices such as diodes, bipolar junction transistors, light-emitting diodes, and photodetectors. In this paper, we demonstrate a truly vertical p–n heterojunction diode built from 2D semiconductors (MoS₂ and BP) and compare its performance against conventional lateral 2D heterojunction devices (partially overlapped 2D heterostructures). Both vertical and lateral p–n heterostructure diodes exhibit a strong rectification ratio even with no gate voltage applied. More importantly, the results show that the vertical diode delivers 70 times higher current density under forward bias than a conventional lateral device design and the improved device performance can be attributed to the complete elimination of series resistance. Low-temperature measurements and TCAD simulations are used to determine the barrier height at the junctions. Moreover, the vertical device structure allows certain ambiently unstable 2D semiconductors to be fully encapsulated by the materials on top, preventing the material from degradation. This work demonstrates the potential of using the vertically stacked 2D semiconductors for future nanoelectronic and optoelectronic devices with optimal performance

Low-Resistance 2D/2D Ohmic Contacts: A Universal Approach to High-Performance WSe₂, MoS₂, and MoSe₂ Transistors

We report a new strategy for fabricating 2D/2D low-resistance ohmic contacts for a variety of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) using van der Waals assembly of substitutionally doped TMDs as drain/source contacts and TMDs with no intentional doping as channel materials. We demonstrate that few-layer WSe₂ field-effect transistors (FETs) with 2D/2D contacts exhibit low contact resistances of ∼0.3 kΩ μm, high on/off ratios up to >10⁹, and high drive currents exceeding 320 μA μm^–1. These favorable characteristics are combined with a two-terminal field-effect hole mobility μ_FE ≈ 2 × 10² cm² V^–1 s^–1 at room temperature, which increases to >2 × 10³ cm² V^–1 s^–1 at cryogenic temperatures. We observe a similar performance also in MoS₂ and MoSe₂ FETs with 2D/2D drain and source contacts. The 2D/2D low-resistance ohmic contacts presented here represent a new device paradigm that overcomes a significant bottleneck in the performance of TMDs and a wide variety of other 2D materials as the channel materials in postsilicon electronics

High-Performance WSe₂ Phototransistors with 2D/2D Ohmic Contacts

We report high-performance WSe₂ phototransistors with two-dimensional (2D) contacts formed between degenerately p-doped WSe₂ and undoped WSe₂ channel. A photoresponsivity of ∼600 mA/W with a high external quantum efficiency up to 100% and a fast response time (both rise and decay times) shorter than 8 μs have been achieved concurrently. More importantly, our WSe₂ phototransistor exhibits a high specific detectivity (∼10¹³ Jones) in vacuum, comparable or higher than commercial Si- and InGaAs-based photodetectors. Further studies have shown that the high photoresponsivity and short response time of our WSe₂ phototransistor are mainly attributed to the lack of Schottky-barriers between degenerately p-doped WSe₂ source/drain contacts and undoped WSe₂ channel, which can reduce the RC time constant and carrier transit time of a photodetector. Our experimental results provide an accessible strategy to achieve high-performance WSe₂ phototransistor architectures by improving their electrical transport and photocurrent generation simultaneously, opening up new avenues for engineering future 2D optoelectronic devices