Advancements in antimicrobial nanoscale materials and self-assembling systems.

Antimicrobial resistance is directly responsible for more deaths per year than either HIV/AIDS or malaria and is predicted to incur a cumulative societal financial burden of at least $100 trillion between 2014 and 2050. Already heralded as one of the greatest threats to human health, the onset of the coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the prevalence of antimicrobial resistant bacterial infections due to factors including increased global antibiotic/antimicrobial use. Thus an urgent need for novel therapeutics to combat what some have termed the 'silent pandemic' is evident. This review acts as a repository of research and an overview of the novel therapeutic strategies being developed to overcome antimicrobial resistance, with a focus on self-assembling systems and nanoscale materials. The fundamental mechanisms of action, as well as the key advantages and disadvantages of each system are discussed, and attention is drawn to key examples within each field. As a result, this review provides a guide to the further design and development of antimicrobial systems, and outlines the interdisciplinary techniques required to translate this fundamental research towards the clinic.

Next-generation protein-based materials capture and preserve projectiles from supersonic impacts.

Extreme energy-dissipating materials are essential for a range of applications. The military and police force require ballistic armour to ensure the safety of their personnel, while the aerospace industry requires materials that enable the capture, preservation and study of hypervelocity projectiles. However, current industry standards display at least one inherent limitation, such as weight, breathability, stiffness, durability and failure to preserve captured projectiles. To resolve these limitations, we have turned to nature, using proteins that have evolved over millennia to enable effective energy dissipation. Specifically, a recombinant form of the mechanosensitive protein talin was incorporated into a monomeric unit and crosslinked, resulting in a talin shock-absorbing material (TSAM). When subjected to 1.5 km s-1 supersonic shots, TSAMs were shown to absorb the impact and capture and preserve the projectile.

Supramolecular self-associating amphiphiles (SSAs) as nanoscale enhancers of cisplatin anticancer activity.

Many chemotherapeutic drugs have a narrow therapeutic window due to inefficient tumour cell permeation. Supramolecular self-associating amphiphilic salts (SSAs) are a unique class of small molecules that offer potential as next generation cancer drugs and/or therapeutic enhancement agents. Herein, we demonstrate the cytotoxicity of seven SSAs towards both ovarian and glioblastoma cancer cells. We also utilize the intrinsic fluorescent properties of one of these lead SSAs to provide evidence for this class of compound to both bind to the exterior cancer cell surface and permeate the cell membrane, to become internalized. Furthermore, we demonstrate synergistic effects of two lead SSAs on cisplatin-mediated cytotoxicity of ovarian cancer cells and show that this correlates with increased DNA damage and apoptosis versus either agent alone. This work provides the first evidence that SSAs interact with and permeate cancer cell membranes and enhance the cytotoxic activity of a chemotherapeutic drug in human cancer cells.