Construction of Rapid Extracellular Matrix-Deposited Small-Diameter Vascular Grafts Induced by Hypoxia in a Bioreactor.

Cardiovascular disease has become one of the most globally prevalent diseases, and autologous or vascular graft transplantation has been the main treatment for the end stage of the disease. However, there are no commercialized small-diameter vascular graft (SDVG) products available. The design of SDVGs is promising in the future, and SDVG preparation using an in vitro bioreactor is a favorable method, but it faces the problem of long-term culture of >8 weeks. Herein, we used different oxygen (O2) concentrations and mechanical stimulation to induce greater secretion of extracellular matrix (ECM) from cells in vitro to rapidly prepare SDVGs. Culturing with 2% O2 significantly increased the production of the ECM components and growth factors of human dermal fibroblasts (hDFs). To accelerate the formation of ECM, hDFs were seeded on a polycaprolactone (PCL) scaffold and cultured in a flow culture bioreactor with 2% O2 for only 3 weeks. After orthotopic transplantation in rat abdominal aorta, the cultured SDVGs (PCL-decellularized ECM) showed excellent endothelialization and smooth muscle regeneration. The vascular grafts cultured with hypoxia and mechanical stimulation could accelerate the reconstruction speed and obtain an improved therapeutic effect and thereby provide a new research direction for improving the production and supply of SDVGs.

Engineered bacterium-binding protein promotes root recruitment of functional bacteria for enhanced cadmium removal from wastewater by phytoremediation.

Functional bacteria promote the efficiency of phytoremediation by enhancing plant growth and participating in decontamination. However, their activity is frequently compromised by the weakness of their interaction with plant roots. In this study, we designed the artificial protein LcGC composed of a bacterium-binding domain, a GFP fluorescence reporter, and a carbohydrate-binding domain to function as a physical contact between functional bacteria and plant roots. This protein was then expressed in an engineered yeast cell factory and extracted to assess its effect on rhizosphere microbiome composition, plant growth, and cadmium removal in a simulated phytoremediation system containing the remediation plant Lemna minor and the functional heavy metal-capturing bacteria Cupriavidus taiwanensis and Pseudomonas putida. LcGC efficiently bound bacterial cell wall components and glucan, endowing it high efficiency to bind both functional bacteria and plant roots. Scanning microscopy and microbiome analysis revealed that LcGC enhanced root recruitment and colonization of functional bacteria on the root surfaces. Furthermore, LcGC with the aid of single C. taiwanensis or of C. taiwanensis and P. putida in combination promoted plant growth, enhanced tolerance to cadmium-induced oxidative stress, and consequently improved cadmium-removing capacity of the plants, with the percent of cadmium removal reaching up to 91% for LcGC plus C. taiwanensis, and to 96% for LcGC plus C. taiwanensis and P. putida on day 7. This study provided a physical contact-based strategy to enhance the interaction between functional microbes and plant roots for efficient phytoremediation.

Gate-Tunable Polar Optical Phonon to Piezoelectric Scattering in Few-Layer Bi2 O2 Se for High-Performance Thermoelectrics.

Atomically thin Bi2 O2 Se has emerged as a new member in 2D materials with ultrahigh carrier mobility and excellent air-stability, showing great potential for electronics and optoelectronics. In addition, its ferroelectric nature renders an ultralow thermal conductivity, making it a perfect candidate for thermoelectrics. In this work, the thermoelectric performance of 2D Bi2 O2 Se is investigated over a wide temperature range (20-300 K). A gate-tunable transition from polar optical phonon (POP) scattering to piezoelectric scattering is observed, which facilitates the capacity of drastic mobility engineering in 2D Bi2 O2 Se. Consequently, a high power factor of more than 400 µW m-1  K-2 over an unprecedented temperature range (80-200 K) is achieved, corresponding to the persistently high mobility arising from the highly gate-tunable scattering mechanism. This finding provides a new avenue for maximizing thermoelectric performance by changing the scattering mechanism and carrier mobility over a wide temperature range.