In a Rare Head-to-Head Matchup, New Psoriasis Drug Seems a Winner.

Taltz is indicated for the treatment of adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis who are candidates for systemic therapy or phototherapy. It is delivered as a subcutaneous injection. The agent comes as either a pre-filled syringe or an autoinjector and can be self-injected after proper training and with physician supervision.

Biorecognition by DNA oligonucleotides after exposure to photoresists and resist removers.

Combining biological molecules with integrated circuit technology is of considerable interest for next generation sensors and biomedical devices. Current lithographic microfabrication methods, however, were developed for compatibility with silicon technology rather than bioorganic molecules, and consequently it cannot be assumed that biomolecules will remain attached and intact during on-chip processing. Here, we evaluate the effects of three common photoresists (Microposit S1800 series, PMGI SF6, and Megaposit SPR 3012) and two photoresist removers (acetone and 1165 remover) on the ability of surface-immobilized DNA oligonucleotides to selectively recognize their reverse-complementary sequence. Two common DNA immobilization methods were compared: adsorption of 5'-thiolated sequences directly to gold nanowires and covalent attachment of 5'-thiolated sequences to surface amines on silica coated nanowires. We found that acetone had deleterious effects on selective hybridization as compared to 1165 remover, presumably due to incomplete resist removal. Use of the PMGI photoresist, which involves a high temperature bake step, was detrimental to the later performance of nanowire-bound DNA in hybridization assays, especially for DNA attached via thiol adsorption. The other three photoresists did not substantially degrade DNA binding capacity or selectivity for complementary DNA sequences. To determine whether the lithographic steps caused more subtle damage, we also tested oligonucleotides containing a single base mismatch. Finally, a two-step photolithographic process was developed and used in combination with dielectrophoretic nanowire assembly to produce an array of doubly contacted, electrically isolated individual nanowire components on a chip. Postfabrication fluorescence imaging indicated that nanowire-bound DNA was present and able to selectively bind complementary strands.

Bottom-up assembly of large-area nanowire resonator arrays.

Directed-assembly of nanowire-based devices will enable the development of integrated circuits with new functions that extend well beyond mainstream digital logic. For example, nanoelectromechanical resonators are very attractive for chip-based sensor arrays because of their potential for ultrasensitive mass detection. In this letter, we introduce a new bottom-up assembly method to fabricate large-area nanoelectromechanical arrays each having over 2,000 single-nanowire resonators. The nanowires are synthesized and chemically functionalized before they are integrated onto a silicon chip at predetermined locations. Peptide nucleic acid probe molecules attached to the nanowires before assembly maintain their binding selectivity and recognize complementary oligonucleotide targets once the resonator array is assembled. The two types of cantilevered resonators we integrated here using silicon and rhodium nanowires had Q-factors of approximately 4,500 and approximately 1,150, respectively, in vacuum. Taken together, these results show that bottom-up nanowire assembly can offer a practical alternative to top-down fabrication for sensitive chip-based detection.