Luminescent gold nanoclusters for bioimaging applications

• Nonappa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 533–546, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.42

• ; biosensing; gold nanoclusters; immunoassay; luminescence; self-assembly; theranostics; Introduction Imaging methods play a central role in understanding the structural and functional biological processes of biomolecules, cells, tissues, organs, and even entire living organisms [1][2]. The importance of

• biomolecules [7]. Antibodies conjugated to low molecular weight fluorescent dyes have been used for various bioimaging applications [8]. Despite their cost-effectiveness, and water solubility, organic dyes display a small Stokes shift, low photochemical stability and they undergo photobleaching [9][10

• rapid detection and the development of new immunoassays. Imaging and labeling mammalian cell lines Beyond their antibacterial effect and pathogen sensing, the surface functionalities of NCs allow for selective labeling for the detection of biomolecules, intracellular metal ion sensing, live-cell imaging

Multilayer capsules made of weak polyelectrolytes: a review on the preparation, functionalization and applications in drug delivery

• Varsha Sharma and
• Anandhakumar Sundaramurthy

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 508–532, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.41

• multilayer capsules as drug delivery vehicles [17]. They are capable of encapsulating all kinds of substances and/or molecules ranging from enzymes, nucleic acid, peptides, proteins, therapeutic drugs, biomolecules, fluorescent molecules and nanoparticles (NPs) in their hollow cavity [18]. This can be

• in the shell are also used to carry out the release of the encapsulated payload in a controlled manner. The incorporation of functionalities such as organic molecules, NPs, fluorescent dyes, polymers, nanotubes and other biomolecules into the PE multilayers during the fabrication makes it easy to

• calixarene units covalently bound in various ways. Although there are many reports on calixerene [59], cyclodextrins offer a wide scope for such interactions in biological applications. They could act as a host for many biomolecules or drugs via hydrogen bonding, hydrophobic interaction or van der Waals

Interactions at the cell membrane and pathways of internalization of nano-sized materials for nanomedicine

• Valentina Francia,
• Daphne Montizaan and
• Anna Salvati

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 338–353, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.25

• success [13][14], and so far only few targeted nanomedicines are currently present in the market, even if several are in clinical trials [6]. Recent advances in the field have shown the complexity of achieving targeted uptake by specific cells. For example, it has been shown that the biomolecules

• biomolecules leading to the formation of a corona [36][37][38][39]. It has been shown that, in some cases, the presence of the corona can mask the targeting moieties grafted on the nanoparticle surface, preventing recognition by cell receptors [15][16][40]. Corona formation can affect not only the targeting

• modifications reduce the amount of biomolecules bound on the surface of nanomedicines after administration (though it has been shown that PEGylated surfaces can still adsorb proteins [46][47]) and usually also lead to decreased uptake by cells. At the same time, the corona confers a new biological identity to

Facile biogenic fabrication of hydroxyapatite nanorods using cuttlefish bone and their bactericidal and biocompatibility study

• Satheeshkumar Balu,
• Manisha Vidyavathy Sundaradoss,
• Swetha Andra and
• Jaison Jeevanandam

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 285–295, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.21

• nanorods into the bacterial cell wall to interact with the cellular biomolecules that increases the osmotic potential and its associated irreversible damage and (ii) the generation of free reactive oxygen species (ROS) radicals that are induced by nanorods that interact with the bacterial membrane and

Using gold nanoparticles to detect single-nucleotide polymorphisms: toward liquid biopsy

• María Sanromán Iglesias and
• Marek Grzelczak

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 263–284, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.20

• simple blood test, setting thus a milestone of “liquid biopsy”. Liquid biopsy has the potential to accelerate the early cancer diagnosis by the detection of biomolecules such as cell-fee DNA directly in blood samples. Currently, the development of liquid biopsies is directly linked to the state-of-the

• nanoparticles (metallic gold) are widely applied in the development of biological sensing devices. Gold is an inert metal that exhibits exceptional chemical stability in physiological media and the readiness for surface functionalization with desired biomolecules through stable Au–S bonds. The key properties of

Rational design of block copolymer self-assemblies in photodynamic therapy

• Maxime Demazeau,
• Laure Gibot,
• Anne-Françoise Mingotaud,
• Patricia Vicendo,
• Clément Roux and
• Barbara Lonetti

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 180–212, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.15

Molecular architectonics of DNA for functional nanoarchitectures

• Debasis Ghosh,
• Lakshmi P. Datta and
• Thimmaiah Govindaraju

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 124–140, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.11

• attractive concept in materials science [1][2]. Exploitation of biomolecules and their in-built information for molecular recognition to engineer ordered assemblies and coassemblies of SFMs is termed as molecular architectonics [3][4]. The construction of molecular architectures through the controlled

• assembly of designed molecular units with fascinating properties and functions is central to all materials and bioengineering processes [1][2][3][4]. The use of biomolecules or synthetic systems with biomolecular components is capable of aiding the judicious regulation of molecular assembly parameters and

• properties to construct novel functional architectures in the scheme of molecular architectonics [1][2]. Among all biomolecules, DNA, with a well-defined structure, is the epitome of molecular recognition and a robust system for molecular and materials engineering. The molecular stability, predictable

Small protein sequences can induce cellular uptake of complex nanohybrids

• Jan-Philip Merkl,
• Malak Safi,
• Christian Schmidtke,
• Fadi Aldeek,
• Johannes Ostermann,
• Tatiana Domitrovic,
• Sebastian Gärtner,
• John E. Johnson,
• Horst Weller and
• Hedi Mattoussi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2477–2482, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.238

• nanostructures made of more than one component nanomaterial, combined with biomolecules is a highly sought goal in biomedical science, and can find applications in multimodal imaging and therapeutics [1][2]. Although interest in developing such hybrid nanostructures by, for example, combining plasmonic and

Coating of upconversion nanoparticles with silica nanoshells of 5–250 nm thickness

• Cynthia Kembuan,
• Maysoon Saleh,
• Bastian Rühle,
• Ute Resch-Genger and
• Christina Graf

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2410–2421, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.231

• be similarly necessary for applications in plasmonics or chemical sensing [20][21]. One of the most versatile ways to protect the surface of NP, making hydrophobic particle surfaces hydrophilic and simultaneously providing functional groups for subsequent covalent attachment of, e.g., biomolecules

• the UCL emission spectra. This stepwise shell growth can most likely be also utilized for the coating of other NPs with similar hydrophobic surface chemistries of the initial particles such as iron oxide NPs or semiconductor NPs. Further applications can include the covalent attachment of biomolecules

Use of data processing for rapid detection of the prostate-specific antigen biomarker using immunomagnetic sandwich-type sensors

• Camila A. Proença,
• Tayane A. Freitas,
• Thaísa A. Baldo,
• Elsa M. Materón,
• Flávio M. Shimizu,
• Gabriella R. Ferreira,
• Frederico L. F. Soares,
• Ronaldo C. Faria and
• Osvaldo N. Oliveira Jr.

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2171–2181, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.210

• magnetism than other iron oxide nanoparticles [17]. These MNPs can be synthesized through various techniques, such as ultrasound irradiation, sol–gel methods, thermal decomposition, and co-precipitation [18][19][20][21]. In addition, they can be modified with biomolecules and other compounds to improve the

• polymer-based immunosensor [34][55]. This rather low value is expected for biosensors where the index n is characteristic of heterogeneous adsorption with polyclonal biomolecules that have many active sites with different degrees of affinity and selectivity. Application of the immunosensor in real samples

Nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond for nanoscale magnetic resonance imaging applications

• Alberto Boretti,
• Lorenzo Rosa,
• Jonathan Blackledge and
• Stefania Castelletto

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2128–2151, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.207

• ultrashort 10 ms acquisition times in sub-nanomolar amounts of Gd spins. The photobleaching and blinking issues of NV are addressed in [27] by use of fluorescent ND (FND), which has an extremely high NV center concentration. Their lifetimes are longer than fluorescent biomolecules, and the emission can be

Review of advanced sensor devices employing nanoarchitectonics concepts

• Katsuhiko Ariga,
• Tatsuyuki Makita,
• Masato Ito,
• Taizo Mori,
• Shun Watanabe and
• Jun Takeya

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2014–2030, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.198

• . Placing such water-insoluble receptor molecules at a water-contacting interface is crucial to sense water-soluble substances such as important biomolecules. Not limited to this technical requirement, interfacial media have the benefit to greatly enhance molecular recognition capability [146][147

• biomolecules including amino acids [156], peptides [157][158][159], sugars [160][161], nucleic acid bases [162][163], and nucleotides [164][165][166] at well-designed interfacial environments. In order to design and fabricate sensors with better performance, interfacial nanoarchitectonics should be crucial

Toxicity and safety study of silver and gold nanoparticles functionalized with cysteine and glutathione

• Barbara Pem,
• Igor M. Pongrac,
• Lea Ulm,
• Ivan Pavičić,
• Valerije Vrček,
• Darija Domazet Jurašin,
• Marija Ljubojević,
• Adela Krivohlavek and
• Ivana Vinković Vrček

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1802–1817, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.175

• circulation via different routes [40][41][42][43]. Absorbed or intravenously applied NPs will accumulate in different body compartments [44][45][46]. AgNPs are prone to oxidative dissolution in biological media and the released Ag+ reacts with thiolate groups of sulfur-containing biomolecules [47], which may

Biocatalytic oligomerization-induced self-assembly of crystalline cellulose oligomers into nanoribbon networks assisted by organic solvents

• Yuuki Hata,
• Yuka Fukaya,
• Toshiki Sawada,
• Masahito Nishiura and
• Takeshi Serizawa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1778–1788, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.173

• harmonization of mutual interactions [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. Such harmonized mechanisms are found ubiquitously in biological systems consisting of a huge number of components; biomolecules, such as DNAs and peptides, and even living cells have therefore attracted considerable attention in

Materials nanoarchitectonics at two-dimensional liquid interfaces

• Katsuhiko Ariga,
• Michio Matsumoto,
• Taizo Mori and
• Lok Kumar Shrestha

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1559–1587, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.153

• bottom-up approaches are self-assembly and self-organization based on supramolecular chemistry [69]. These supramolecular mechanisms can be widely observed in various species including small molecules, nanomaterials, and biomolecules [70][71][72][73][74][75]. Despite this generality, there are still many

A silver-nanoparticle/cellulose-nanofiber composite as a highly effective substrate for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy

• Yongxin Lu,
• Yan Luo,
• Zehao Lin and
• Jianguo Huang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1270–1279, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.126

• ][58][59]. The SERS substrate was also applied to monitor the molecular recognition through multiple hydrogen bonds between adenosine and thymidine. This paper-based SERS substrate could hold potential in the detection of trace amounts of analytes and for the spectroscopic study of biomolecules

• hydrogen bonds between nucleosides to test its potential in monitoring biomolecules. Figure 6 shows the Raman spectra obtained from adenosine and thymidine, measured before and after the molecular recognition between the two nucleosides on the substrate. Compared to the Raman spectra of the powder samples

Scavenging of reactive oxygen species by phenolic compound-modified maghemite nanoparticles

• Małgorzata Świętek,
• Yi-Chin Lu,
• Rafał Konefał,
• Liliana P. Ferreira,
• M. Margarida Cruz,
• Yunn-Hwa Ma and
• Daniel Horák

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1073–1088, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.108

• , targeting tumor sites using an external magnetic field, MRI contrast agents, or magnetic hyperthermia. Under physiological conditions, the nanoparticle surface is exposed to the action of biomolecules, oxygen, peroxides, and radicals, which changes particle properties and behavior. Moreover, Fe2+ ions can

Enhanced inhibition of influenza virus infection by peptide–noble-metal nanoparticle conjugates

• Zaid K. Alghrair,
• David G. Fernig and
• Bahram Ebrahimi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1038–1047, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.104

• allows for the detection at very low levels, using a range of approaches, from absorbance [17][18] to photothermal microscopy [19] and various extensions of the latter [20][21]. Noble-metal nanoparticles can be passivated and functionalised with biomolecules such that they possess the biological

Serum type and concentration both affect the protein-corona composition of PLGA nanoparticles

• Katrin Partikel,
• Robin Korte,
• Dennis Mulac,
• Hans-Ulrich Humpf and
• Klaus Langer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1002–1015, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.101

• ]. Nevertheless, FBS is still widely used as protein source for the investigation of the reaction at the interface between NPs and biomolecules [14][18]. Consequently, we propose to examine the protein corona formation in the respective medium of the desired species (e.g., murine or human) for a better prediction

Polydopamine-coated Au nanorods for targeted fluorescent cell imaging and photothermal therapy

• Boris N. Khlebtsov,
• Andrey M. Burov,
• Timofey E. Pylaev and
• Nikolai G. Khlebtsov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 794–803, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.79

• ], Fe3O4 [35], graphene [36], and many others [37][38]. The PDA shell surface contains numerous catechol and quinone groups suitable for click conjugation with various biomolecules through Michael addition and Schiff-base reaction [39][40]. The high loading capacity and biocompatibility of the PDA layer

Mechanical and thermodynamic properties of Aβ₄₂, Aβ₄₀, and α-synuclein fibrils: a coarse-grained method to complement experimental studies

• Adolfo B. Poma,
• Horacio V. Guzman,
• Mai Suan Li and
• Panagiotis E. Theodorakis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 500–513, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.51

• experimental observations. Keywords: β-amyloid; atomic force microscopy, mechanical deformation; molecular simulation; proteins; α-synuclein; Introduction All-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have been employed to study the physical and chemical behaviour of the fundamental biomolecules of life (e.g

• ], AFM base-force spectroscopy [51], or by the design of sophisticated microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) [52]. These techniques have been successfully used to predict the elastic properties of several biomolecules. However, OT are limited to applied loads below 0.1 nN and AFM has delicate calibration

• range of applications of AFM technique span from biomolecules to single cells [31][56][57]. The AFM nanoindentation force–distance curves typically depend on the correct determination of the cantilever stiffness and only measurements of biological fibrils located at the centre of the fibril are

Surface plasmon resonance enhancement of photoluminescence intensity and bioimaging application of gold nanorod@CdSe/ZnS quantum dots

• Siyi Hu,
• Yu Ren,
• Yue Wang,
• Jinhua Li,
• Junle Qu,
• Liwei Liu,
• Hanbin Ma and
• Yuguo Tang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 22–31, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.3

• and they show excellent quantum confinement for charge carrier and lattice mismatch. In such cases, the energy range of the QDs depends on the relative conduction and valence band offsets for the two materials, and this characteristic can enable many chemical materials or biomolecules to conjugate

The nanoscaled metal-organic framework ICR-2 as a carrier of porphyrins for photodynamic therapy

• Jan Hynek,
• Sebastian Jurík,
• Martina Koncošová,
• Jaroslav Zelenka,
• Ivana Křížová,
• Tomáš Ruml,
• Kaplan Kirakci,
• Ivo Jakubec,
• František Kovanda,
• Kamil Lang and
• Jan Demel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2960–2967, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.275

• internalisation by cells [18]. Moreover, the downsizing of MOFs also facilitates the diffusion of O2(1∆g), and makes interactions with bulky biomolecules inside the cells more effective. This concept was successfully applied using the UiO-66 family of MOFs: nanoparticles made of Hf6-based SBUs with dicarboxylic

Charged particle single nanometre manufacturing

• Philip D. Prewett,
• Cornelis W. Hagen,
• Claudia Lenk,
• Steve Lenk,
• Marcus Kaestner,
• Tzvetan Ivanov,
• Ahmad Ahmad,
• Ivo W. Rangelow,
• Xiaoqing Shi,
• Stuart A. Boden,
• Alex P. G. Robinson,
• Dongxu Yang,
• Sangeetha Hari,
• Marijke Scotuzzi and
• Ejaz Huq

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2855–2882, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.266

• example, is interesting for the localisation and analysis of biomolecules. Miyazoe [91] used a conventional SEM fitted with an external reservoir for precursor injection to etch holes as small as 18 nm in diameter in a thin carbon membrane using both H2O and XeF2. Yemini [92] fabricated a nanopore array

Accurate control of the covalent functionalization of single-walled carbon nanotubes for the electro-enzymatically controlled oxidation of biomolecules

• Naoual Allali,
• Veronika Urbanova,
• Mathieu Etienne,
• Xavier Devaux,
• Martine Mallet,
• Brigitte Vigolo,
• Jean-Joseph Adjizian,
• Chris P. Ewels,
• Sven Oberg,
• Alexander V. Soldatov,
• Edward McRae,
• Yves Fort,
• Manuel Dossot and
• Victor Mamane

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2750–2762, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.257

• putting oxidative defects on their sidewalls and extremities to decrease their hydrophobicity, ii) to use non-covalent interaction with hydrophilic biomolecules or surfactants [15][16][17][18] or iii) to use covalently grafted polyethyleneglycol (PEG) linkers, as described by us [9][11][12]. Many studies