Unraveling the Correlation between Raman and Photoluminescence in Monolayer MoS2 through Machine-Learning Models.

2D transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) with intense and tunable photoluminescence (PL) have opened up new opportunities for optoelectronic and photonic applications such as light-emitting diodes, photodetectors, and single-photon emitters. Among the standard characterization tools for 2D materials, Raman spectroscopy stands out as a fast and non-destructive technique capable of probing material's crystallinity and perturbations such as doping and strain. However, a comprehensive understanding of the correlation between photoluminescence and Raman spectra in monolayer MoS2 remains elusive due to its highly nonlinear nature. Here, the connections between PL signatures and Raman modes are systematically explored, providing comprehensive insights into the physical mechanisms correlating PL and Raman features. This study's analysis further disentangles the strain and doping contributions from the Raman spectra through machine-learning models. First, a dense convolutional network (DenseNet) to predict PL maps by spatial Raman maps is deployed. Moreover, a gradient boosted trees model (XGBoost) with Shapley additive explanation (SHAP) to bridge the impact of individual Raman features in PL features is applied. Last, a support vector machine (SVM) to project PL features on Raman frequencies is adopted. This work may serve as a methodology for applying machine learning to characterizations of 2D materials.

Soft-lock drawing of super-aligned carbon nanotube bundles for nanometre electrical contacts.

The assembly of single-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) into high-density horizontal arrays is strongly desired for practical applications, but challenges remain despite myriads of research efforts. Herein, we developed a non-destructive soft-lock drawing method to achieve ultraclean single-walled CNT arrays with a very high degree of alignment (angle standard deviation of ~0.03°). These arrays contained a large portion of nanometre-sized CNT bundles, yielding a high packing density (~400 µm-1) and high current carrying capacity (∼1.8 × 108 A cm-2). This alignment strategy can be generally extended to diverse substrates or sources of raw single-walled CNTs. Significantly, the assembled CNT bundles were used as nanometre electrical contacts of high-density monolayer molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) transistors, exhibiting high current density (~38 µA µm-1), low contact resistance (~1.6 kΩ µm), excellent device-to-device uniformity and highly reduced device areas (0.06 µm2 per device), demonstrating their potential for future electronic devices and advanced integration technologies.

Synthesis of High-Performance Monolayer Molybdenum Disulfide at Low Temperature.

The large-area synthesis of high-quality MoS2 plays an important role in realizing industrial applications of optoelectronics, nanoelectronics, and flexible devices. However, current techniques for chemical vapor deposition (CVD)-grown MoS2 require a high synthetic temperature and a transfer process, which limits its utilization in device fabrications. Here, the direct synthesis of high-quality monolayer MoS2 with the domain size up to 120 µm by metal-organic CVD (MOCVD) at a temperature of 320 °C is reported. Owing to the low-substrate temperature, the MOCVD-grown MoS2 exhibits low impurity doping and nearly unstrained properties on the growth substrate, demonstrating enhanced electronic performance with high electron mobility of 68.3 cm2 V-1 s-1 at room temperature. In addition, by tuning the precursor ratio, a better understanding of the MoS2 growth process via a geometric model of the MoS2 flake shape, is developed, which can provide further guidance for the synthesis of 2D materials.

Designing artificial two-dimensional landscapes via atomic-layer substitution.

Technology advancements in history have often been propelled by material innovations. In recent years, two-dimensional (2D) materials have attracted substantial interest as an ideal platform to construct atomic-level material architectures. In this work, we design a reaction pathway steered in a very different energy landscape, in contrast to typical thermal chemical vapor deposition method in high temperature, to enable room-temperature atomic-layer substitution (RT-ALS). First-principle calculations elucidate how the RT-ALS process is overall exothermic in energy and only has a small reaction barrier, facilitating the reaction to occur at room temperature. As a result, a variety of Janus monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides with vertical dipole could be universally realized. In particular, the RT-ALS strategy can be combined with lithography and flip-transfer to enable programmable in-plane multiheterostructures with different out-of-plane crystal symmetry and electric polarization. Various characterizations have confirmed the fidelity of the precise single atomic layer conversion. Our approach for designing an artificial 2D landscape at selective locations of a single layer of atoms can lead to unique electronic, photonic, and mechanical properties previously not found in nature. This opens a new paradigm for future material design, enabling structures and properties for unexplored territories.

Ultralow contact resistance between semimetal and monolayer semiconductors.

Advanced beyond-silicon electronic technology requires both channel materials and also ultralow-resistance contacts to be discovered1,2. Atomically thin two-dimensional semiconductors have great potential for realizing high-performance electronic devices1,3. However, owing to metal-induced gap states (MIGS)4-7, energy barriers at the metal-semiconductor interface-which fundamentally lead to high contact resistance and poor current-delivery capability-have constrained the improvement of two-dimensional semiconductor transistors so far2,8,9. Here we report ohmic contact between semimetallic bismuth and semiconducting monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) where the MIGS are sufficiently suppressed and degenerate states in the TMD are spontaneously formed in contact with bismuth. Through this approach, we achieve zero Schottky barrier height, a contact resistance of 123 ohm micrometres and an on-state current density of 1,135 microamps per micrometre on monolayer MoS2; these two values are, to the best of our knowledge, the lowest and highest yet recorded, respectively. We also demonstrate that excellent ohmic contacts can be formed on various monolayer semiconductors, including MoS2, WS2 and WSe2. Our reported contact resistances are a substantial improvement for two-dimensional semiconductors, and approach the quantum limit. This technology unveils the potential of high-performance monolayer transistors that are on par with state-of-the-art three-dimensional semiconductors, enabling further device downscaling and extending Moore's law.

Room Temperature Terahertz Electroabsorption Modulation by Excitons in Monolayer Transition Metal Dichalcogenides.

The interaction between off-resonant laser pulses and excitons in monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides is attracting increasing interest as a route for the valley-selective coherent control of the exciton properties. Here, we extend the classification of the known off-resonant phenomena by unveiling the impact of a strong THz field on the excitonic resonances of monolayer MoS2. We observe that the THz pump pulse causes a selective modification of the coherence lifetime of the excitons, while keeping their oscillator strength and peak energy unchanged. We rationalize these results theoretically by invoking a hitherto unobserved manifestation of the Franz-Keldysh effect on an exciton resonance. As the modulation depth of the optical absorption reaches values as large as 0.05 dB/nm at room temperature, our findings open the way to the use of semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides as compact and efficient platforms for high-speed electroabsorption devices.

Asymmetric hot-carrier thermalization and broadband photoresponse in graphene-2D semiconductor lateral heterojunctions.

The massless Dirac electron transport in graphene has led to a variety of unique light-matter interaction phenomena, which promise many novel optoelectronic applications. Most of the effects are only accessible by breaking the spatial symmetry, through introducing edges, p-n junctions, or heterogeneous interfaces. The recent development of direct synthesis of lateral heterostructures offers new opportunities to achieve the desired asymmetry. As a proof of concept, we study the photothermoelectric effect in an asymmetric lateral heterojunction between the Dirac semimetallic monolayer graphene and the parabolic semiconducting monolayer MoS2. Very different hot-carrier cooling mechanisms on the graphene and the MoS2 sides allow us to resolve the asymmetric thermalization pathways of photoinduced hot carriers spatially with electrostatic gate tunability. We also demonstrate the potential of graphene-2D semiconductor lateral heterojunctions as broadband infrared photodetectors. The proposed structure shows an extreme in-plane asymmetry and provides a new platform to study light-matter interactions in low-dimensional systems.

Paraffin-enabled graphene transfer.

The performance and reliability of large-area graphene grown by chemical vapor deposition are often limited by the presence of wrinkles and the transfer-process-induced polymer residue. Here, we report a transfer approach using paraffin as a support layer, whose thermal properties, low chemical reactivity and non-covalent affinity to graphene enable transfer of wrinkle-reduced and clean large-area graphene. The paraffin-transferred graphene has smooth morphology and high electrical reliability with uniform sheet resistance with ~1% deviation over a centimeter-scale area. Electronic devices fabricated on such smooth graphene exhibit electrical performance approaching that of intrinsic graphene with small Dirac points and high carrier mobility (hole mobility = 14,215 cm2 V-1 s-1; electron mobility = 7438 cm2 V-1 s-1), without the need of further annealing treatment. The paraffin-enabled transfer process could open realms for the development of high-performance ubiquitous electronics based on large-area two-dimensional materials.

Additive manufacturing of patterned 2D semiconductor through recyclable masked growth.

The 2D van der Waals crystals have shown great promise as potential future electronic materials due to their atomically thin and smooth nature, highly tailorable electronic structure, and mass production compatibility through chemical synthesis. Electronic devices, such as field effect transistors (FETs), from these materials require patterning and fabrication into desired structures. Specifically, the scale up and future development of "2D"-based electronics will inevitably require large numbers of fabrication steps in the patterning of 2D semiconductors, such as transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs). This is currently carried out via multiple steps of lithography, etching, and transfer. As 2D devices become more complex (e.g., numerous 2D materials, more layers, specific shapes, etc.), the patterning steps can become economically costly and time consuming. Here, we developed a method to directly synthesize a 2D semiconductor, monolayer molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), in arbitrary patterns on insulating SiO2/Si via seed-promoted chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and substrate engineering. This method shows the potential of using the prepatterned substrates as a master template for the repeated growth of monolayer MoS2 patterns. Our technique currently produces arbitrary monolayer MoS2 patterns at a spatial resolution of 2 µm with excellent homogeneity and transistor performance (room temperature electron mobility of 30 cm2 V-1 s-1 and on-off current ratio of 107). Extending this patterning method to other 2D materials can provide a facile method for the repeatable direct synthesis of 2D materials for future electronics and optoelectronics.

Two-dimensional MoS2-enabled flexible rectenna for Wi-Fi-band wireless energy harvesting.

The mechanical and electronic properties of two-dimensional materials make them promising for use in flexible electronics1-3. Their atomic thickness and large-scale synthesis capability could enable the development of 'smart skin'1,3-5, which could transform ordinary objects into an intelligent distributed sensor network6. However, although many important components of such a distributed electronic system have already been demonstrated (for example, transistors, sensors and memory devices based on two-dimensional materials1,2,4,7), an efficient, flexible and always-on energy-harvesting solution, which is indispensable for self-powered systems, is still missing. Electromagnetic radiation from Wi-Fi systems operating at 2.4 and 5.9 gigahertz8 is becoming increasingly ubiquitous and would be ideal to harvest for powering future distributed electronics. However, the high frequencies used for Wi-Fi communications have remained elusive to radiofrequency harvesters (that is, rectennas) made of flexible semiconductors owing to their limited transport properties9-12. Here we demonstrate an atomically thin and flexible rectenna based on a MoS2 semiconducting-metallic-phase heterojunction with a cutoff frequency of 10 gigahertz, which represents an improvement in speed of roughly one order of magnitude compared with current state-of-the-art flexible rectifiers9-12. This flexible MoS2-based rectifier operates up to the X-band8 (8 to 12 gigahertz) and covers most of the unlicensed industrial, scientific and medical radio band, including the Wi-Fi channels. By integrating the ultrafast MoS2 rectifier with a flexible Wi-Fi-band antenna, we fabricate a fully flexible and integrated rectenna that achieves wireless energy harvesting of electromagnetic radiation in the Wi-Fi band with zero external bias (battery-free). Moreover, our MoS2 rectifier acts as a flexible mixer, realizing frequency conversion beyond 10 gigahertz. This work provides a universal energy-harvesting building block that can be integrated with various flexible electronic systems.

Synthetic Lateral Metal-Semiconductor Heterostructures of Transition Metal Disulfides.

Lateral heterostructures with planar integrity form the basis of two-dimensional (2D) electronics and optoelectronics. Here we report that, through a two-step chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process, high-quality lateral heterostructures can be constructed between metallic and semiconducting transition metal disulfide (TMD) layers. Instead of edge epitaxy, polycrystalline monolayer MoS2 in such junctions was revealed to nucleate from the vertices of multilayered VS2 crystals, creating one-dimensional junctions with ultralow contact resistance (0.5 kΩ·µm). This lateral contact contributes to 6-fold improved field-effect mobility for monolayer MoS2, compared to the conventional on-top nickel contacts. The all-CVD strategy presented here hence opens up a new avenue for all-2D-based synthetic electronics.

In Situ-Generated Volatile Precursor for CVD Growth of a Semimetallic 2D Dichalcogenide.

Semimetallic-layered transition-metal dichalcogenides, such as TiS2, can serve as a platform material for exploring novel physics modulated by dimensionality, as well as for developing versatile applications in electronics and thermoelectrics. However, controlled synthesis of ultrathin TiS2 in a dry-chemistry way has yet to be realized because of the high oxophilicity of active Ti precursors. Here, we report the ambient pressure chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method to grow large-size, highly crystalline two-dimensional (2D) TiS2 nanosheets through in situ generating titanium chloride as the gaseous precursor. The addition of NH4Cl promoter can react with Ti powders and switch the solid-phase sulfurization reaction into a CVD process, thus enabling the controllability over the size, shape, and thickness of the TiS2 nanosheets via tuning the synthesis conditions. Interestingly, this semimetallic 2D material exhibits near-infrared surface plasmon resonance absorption and a memristor-like electrical behavior, both holding promise for further application developments. Our method hence opens a new avenue for the CVD growth of 2D metal dichalcogenides directly from metal powders and pave the way for exploring their intriguing properties and applications.

Phase-Modulated Degenerate Parametric Amplification Microscopy.

Second-order nonlinear optical interactions, including second-harmonic generation (SHG) and sum-frequency generation (SFG), can reveal a wealth of information about chemical, electronic, and vibrational dynamics at the nanoscale. Here, we demonstrate a powerful and flexible new approach, called phase-modulated degenerate parametric amplification (DPA). The technique, which allows for facile retrieval of both the amplitude and phase of the second-order nonlinear optical response, has many advantages over conventional or heterodyne-detected SHG, including the flexibility to detect the signal at either the second harmonic or fundamental field wavelength. We demonstrate the capabilities of this approach by imaging multigrain flakes of single-layer MoS2. We identify the absolute crystal orientation of each MoS2 domain and resolve grain boundaries with high signal contrast and sub-diffraction-limited spatial resolution. This robust all-optical method can be used to characterize structure and dynamics in organic and inorganic systems, including biological tissue, soft materials, and metal and semiconductor nanostructures, and is particularly well-suited for imaging in media that are absorptive or highly scattering to visible and ultraviolet light.

Characterization of functionally active interleukin-18/eGFP fusion protein expression during cell cycle phases in recombinant chicken DF1 Cells.

The dependence of foreign gene expression on cell cycle phases in mammalian cells has been described. In this study, a DF1/chIL-18a cell line that stably expresses the fusion protein chIL-18 was constructed and the enhanced green fluorescence protein connected through a (G4 S)3 linker sequence investigated the relationship between cell cycle phases and fusion protein production. DF1/chIL-18a cells (1 × 10(5) ) were inoculated in 60-mm culture dishes containing 5 mL of media to achieve 50%-60% confluence and were cultured in the presence of the cycle-specific inhibitors 10058-F4, aphidicolin, and colchicine for 24 and 48 h. The percentage of cell density and mean fluorescence intensity in each cell cycle phase were assessed using flow cytometry. The inhibitors effectively arrested cell growth. The fusion protein production rate was higher in the S phase than in the G0/G1 and G2/M phases. When cell cycle progression was blocked in the G0/G1, S, and G2/M phases by the addition of 10058-F4, aphidicolin, and colchicine, respectively, the aphidicolin-induced single cells showed higher fusion protein levels than did the 10058-F4- or colchicine-induced phase cells and the uninduced control cells. Although the cells did not proliferate after the drug additions, the amount of total fusion protein accumulated in aphidicolin-treated cells was similar to that in the untreated cultures. Fusion protein is biologically active because it induces IFN-γ production in splenocyte cultures of chicken. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 32:581-591, 2016.

Avian reovirus replication in mononuclear phagocytes in chicken footpad and spleen after footpad inoculation.

Circulating monocytes and tissue macrophages were suggested to be susceptible to avian reovirus (ARV) infection. To determine if ARV infects and replicates in mononuclear phagocytes (KUL01-positive cells), we infected 3-day-old specific-pathogen-free chickens with ARV strain 2408 by inoculation of the left footpad. The left footpads and spleens were collected for analysis at 1.5 and 2.5 d after inoculation. Replication of ARV in the footpad and spleen was demonstrated by detection of the viral protein σNS using immunohistochemical testing and viral S1 RNA expression by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). Furthermore, immunofluorescent double-staining assay of cytocentrifuged cells and cryosections of the footpad and spleen for the viral protein σNS and the surface marker recognized by monoclonal antibody (MAb) KUL01 indicated that KUL01-positive cells costained with MAb H1E1, which recognizes ARV protein σNS. In addition, more ARV S1 RNA was measured by qPCR in the KUL01-positive cell samples prepared from the footpad or spleen 1.5 d after inoculation compared with non-KUL01-positive cell samples. The amounts of ARV S1 RNA in the spleen were significantly lower (P < 0.05) than the amounts in the footpad 1.5 d after inoculation. The results suggest that ARV infects mononuclear phagocytes and then replicates within these cells before migrating to the spleen, where it infects and replicates in KUL01-positive cells.

Il a été suggéré que les monocytes circulants et les macrophages tissulaires étaient sensibles à une infection par le reovirus aviaire (ARV). Afin de déterminer si l'ARV infecte et se réplique dans les phagocytes mononucléaires (cellules KUL01-positives), nous avons infecté des poussins exempts d'agents pathogènes spécifiques âgés de 3 j avec la souche 2408 d'ARV par inoculation dans le coussinet plantaire gauche. Les coussinets plantaires et les rates furent prélevés pour analyse aux jours 1,5 et 2,5 suivant l'inoculation. La réplication d'ARV dans le coussinet plantaire et la rate fut démontrée par détection de la protéine virale σNS par épreuve immunohistochimique et l'expression d'ARN S1 viral par réaction d'amplification en chaîne par la polymérase en temps réel (qPCR). De plus, l'épreuve d'immunofluorescence par double coloration de cellules cytocentrifugées et de coupes congelées du coussinet plantaire et de la rate pour la protéine virale σNS et le marqueur de surface reconnu par l'anticorps monoclonal (AcMo) KUL01 indiquait que les cellules positives pour KUL01se co-coloraient avec l'AcMo H1E1, qui reconnait la protéine σNS de l'ARV. Également, plus d'ARN S1 d'ARV était mesuré par qPCR dans les échantillons de cellules KUL01 positives préparés à partir de coussinets plantaires ou de rates 1,5 j après l'inoculation comparativement à des échantillons de cellules KUL01 négatives. Les quantités d'ARN S1 d'ARV dans la rate étaient significativement plus basses (P < 0,05) que les quantités dans les coussinets plantaires 1,5 j après l'inoculation. Les résultats suggèrent que l'ARV infecte les phagocytes mononucléaires et par la suite se répliquent dans ces cellules avant de migrer à la rate, où il infecte et se réplique dans les cellules KUL01-positives.(Traduit par Docteur Serge Messier).

Production and characterization of active recombinant interleukin-12/eGFP fusion protein in stably-transfected DF1 chicken cells.

The adjuvant activity of chicken interleukin-12 (chIL-12) protein has been described as similar to that of mammalian IL-12. Recombinant chIL-12 can be produced using several methods, but chIL-12 production in eukaryotic cells is lower than that in prokaryotic cells. Stimulating compounds, such as dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), can be added to animal cell cultures to overcome this drawback. In this study, we constructed a cell line, DF1/chIL-12 which stably expressed a fusion protein, chIL-12 and enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) connected by a (G4 S)3 linker sequence. Fusion protein production was increased when cells were cultured in the presence of DMSO. When 1 × 10(6) DF1/chIL-12 cells were inoculated in a T-175 flask containing 30 mL of media, incubated for 15 h, and further cultivated in the presence of 4% DMSO for 48 h, the production of total fusion protein was mostly enhanced compared with the production of total fusion protein by using cell lysates induced with DMSO at other concentrations. The concentrations of the unpurified and purified total fusion proteins in cell lysates were 2,781 ± 2.72 ng mL(-1) and 2,207 ± 3.28 ng mL(-1) , respectively. The recovery rate was 79%. The fusion protein stimulated chicken splenocytes to produce IFN-γ, which was measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, in the culture supernatant, indicating that treating DF1/chIL-12 cells with DMSO or producing chIL-12 in a fusion protein form does not have adverse effects on the bioactivity of chIL-12.

Environmentally benign technology for efficient warm-white light emission.

Nowadays efficient down conversion for white light emission is mainly based on rare-earth doped phosphors or cadmium-containing quantum dots. Although they exhibit high luminescence efficiency, the rare-earth mining and cadmium pollution have so far led to extremely high environmental cost, which conflicts the original purpose of pursuing efficient lighting. Here, we explore a new strategy to achieve efficient luminescence conversion based on polymer-decorated nanoparticles. The ZnO and Mn(2+) doped ZnS nanoparticles are encapsulated by poly(9,9-di-n- hexylfluorenyl-2,7-diyl). The resultant core-shell nanocomposites then encompass three UV-to-visible luminescence conversion routes for photon emissions at blue, green, and orange colors, respectively. As a result, the color temperature is widely tunable (2100 K ~ 6000 K), so candle light or pure white light can be generated. The quantum yield up to 91% could also be achieved. Such rare-earth-element free nanocomposites give the bright perspectives for energy-saving, healthy, and environmentally benign lighting.

Identification and characterization of an RTX toxin-like gene and its operon from Avibacterium paragallinarum.

Avibacterium paragallinarum is the causative agent of infectious coryza, an important respiratory disease of chickens. Whole-genome sequencing analysis showed that A. paragallinarum strain H18 contains an RTX toxin-like operon with strong similarity to the RTX operons of other members of the Pasteurellaceae. Four genes, designated avxIC, avxIA, avxIB, and avxID, were found in this operon. The avxIA gene encodes the structural RTX toxin-like protein, which has a predicted molecular mass of about 250 kDa. The AvxIA protein contains a peptidase S8 domain and a proprotein convertase P-domain, neither of which has been found in other RTX toxins. Recombinant AvxIA proteins expressed in Escherichia coli showed neither hemolytic nor cytotoxic activity. Polymerase chain reaction and sequencing analysis revealed that the avxIA gene was present in all strains and field isolates of A. paragallinarum examined in this study. Sera collected from chickens exposed to A. paragallinarum exhibited strong reactivity to the AvxIA protein, which suggests that AvxIA is immunogenic. This is the first report of the identification of an RTX toxin-like operon from A. paragallinarum. The gene products of this operon may be related to disease pathogenesis and potentially represent a useful vaccine target of A. paragallinarum.

Potentiation of cell-mediated immune responses against recombinant HN protein of Newcastle disease virus by recombinant chicken IL-18.

In this study, recombinant fowlpox viruses (rFPV/HN) expressing Newcastle disease virus (NDV) HN protein and rFPV/HN/chIL-18 co-expressing chicken IL-18 (chIL-18) and HN protein have been constructed and characterized. The co-expressed rHN/chIL-18 antigen or rchIL-18, expressed by our previous construct rFPV/chIL-18 and co-administered with NDV rHN, was assessed for its immunostimulatory activities and protection against NDV challenge in 2-week-old chickens. Chickens were vaccinated, intramuscularly, with various amounts of rHN or rHN/chIL-18 mixed with mineral oil. Production of hemagglutination-inhibition (HI) antibody depended on the concentration of the injected rHN or rHN/chIL-18. The lower HI antibody titers were obtained in chickens group rHN/chIL-18/6 and rHN/chIL-18/7, receiving 50 ng rHN/16.5 ng chIL-18 with mineral oil and 20 ng rHN/6.6 ng chIL-18 with mineral oil, respectively, compared to those in chickens rHN/6 and rHN/7, respectively receiving 50 ng and 20 ng rHN with mineral oil alone. However, the same protection rates were obtained from chickens in groups rHN/chIL-18/6 and rHN/6. Chicken groups rHN/chIL-18/7 and rHN/chIL-18/8 showed higher protective achievements than those in groups rHN/7 and rHN/8, respectively. When rchIL-18 was co-injected with 20ng rHN plus mineral oil, low level of HI antibody titer was produced; whereas, higher level of IFN-γ production and full protection rates were obtained. On the other hand, lower levels of IFN-γ production and lower protection rate (67%) were obtained in chickens injected with the same amount of rHN with mineral oil alone. Similar results were obtained when 10 ng rHN was used. Thus, when the concentration of rHN decreased to 50 ng or less, rchIL-18 reduced HI antibody production. The increase in IFN-γ production suggested that the enhancement of the cell-mediated immunity might confer the protection from NDV challenge, even accompanied with low HI antibody induction.