Fabrication of a flexible porous polypyrrole film with a 3D micro-nanostructure and its electrochemical properties.

Flexible energy storage systems have become attractive alternatives for applications in wearable energy storage and sensor devices. This study reports a simple electro-polymerization method for the fabrication of PPy films coated on PPy nanotubes (PPy NTs), which are binding-free, self-standing, and could be used as a flexible electrode for supercapacitors. With optimized kinetics for ion transportation, the mass specific capacitance of the flexible porous PPy films can be elevated to 1.36 F cm-2 at a charging/discharging rate of 2 mA cm-2 (0.45 A g-1). The mass specific capacitance of the flexible porous PPy films reaches 6.5 times as large as that of compact PPy films at a scan rate of 20 mV s-1. Furthermore, due to the large free space for volume change, the capacitance fading of the flexible porous PPy films is less than 3% after 10 000 cycles. This novel design provides an efficient method to synthesize high-performance, flexible and low-cost materials used in supercapacitors.

Packaging and delivering enzymes by amorphous metal-organic frameworks.

Enzymatic catalysis in living cells enables the in-situ detection of cellular metabolites in single cells, which could contribute to early diagnosis of diseases. In this study, enzyme is packaged in amorphous metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) via a one-pot co-precipitation process under ambient conditions, exhibiting 5-20 times higher apparent activity than when the enzyme is encapsulated in corresponding crystalline MOFs. Molecular simulation and cryo-electron tomography (Cryo-ET) combined with other techniques demonstrate that the mesopores generated in this disordered and fuzzy structure endow the packaged enzyme with high enzyme activity. The highly active glucose oxidase delivered by the amorphous MOF nanoparticles allows the noninvasive and facile measurement of glucose in single living cells, which can be used to distinguish between cancerous and normal cells.

Potential targets of TMEM176A in the growth of glioblastoma cells.

BACKGROUND: Human transmembrane protein 176A (TMEM176A) is upregulated in several tumors. Growing evidence has suggested the high clinical value of TMEM176A as a biomarker for early tumor diagnosis. However, less is known about the function of TMEM176A in glioblastomas (GBMs). METHODS: In this study, we systematically analyzed the effect of TMEM176A knockdown and overexpression in GBM cells (U87, T98G and A172) on cell proliferation, cell cycle and cell apoptosis. RESULTS: Our results indicated that TMEM176A acted as a tumor-promoting factor in GBM cells. Moreover, a specific ERK1/2 inhibitor, U0126, suppressed the function of TMEM176A in GBM cells. Therefore, we proposed that TMEM176A may be involved in a pathway including ERK1/2 in the regulation of the cell cycle. Moreover, we also found that TMEM176A affected the expression of Bcl2 and played a central role in apoptosis of GBM cells. CONCLUSION: Taken together, our results not only elucidated the multiple functions of TMEM176A in GBM cells but also provided a deep insight into the potential targets of TMEM176A in the growth of GBM cells.