Nanoroughened Surfaces for Efficient Capture of Circulating Tumor Cells without Using Capture Antibodies

Weiqiang Chen †‡, Shinuo Weng †‡, Feng Zhang †§,Steven Allen , Xiang Li †‡, Liwei Bao ¶, Raymond H. W. Lam #, Jill A. Macoska , Sofia D. Merajver ¶, and Jianping Fu †‡▲*

^†Integrated Biosystems and Biomechanics Laboratory,^‡Department of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, ^¶Department of Internal Medicine, Department of Urology,University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, and^▲Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States

^§ Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200030, China

^# Department of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

ACS Nano, Article ASAP

DOI: 10.1021/nn304719q

Publication Date (Web): November 29, 2012

Copyright © 2012 American Chemical Society

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) detached from both primary and metastatic lesions represent a potential alternative to invasive biopsies as a source of tumor tissue for the detection, characterization and monitoring of cancers. Here we report a simple yet effective strategy for capturing CTCs without using capture antibodies. Our method uniquely utilized the differential adhesion preference of cancer cells to nanorough surfaces when compared to normal blood cells and thus did not depend on their physical size or surface protein expression, a significant advantage as compared to other existing CTC capture techniques .

On-Chip Inductors with Self-Rolled-Up SiNx Nanomembrane Tubes: A Novel Design Platform for Extreme Miniaturization

Wen Huang †‡, Xin Yu †, Paul Froeter †, Ruimin Xu ‡,Placid Ferreira §, and Xiuling Li *†

^† Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States

^‡ EHF Key Laboratory of Fundamental Science, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, Sichuan 611731, China

^§ Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States

Nano Lett., Article ASAP

DOI: 10.1021/nl303395d

Publication Date (Web): November 21, 2012

Copyright © 2012 American Chemical Society

nductors are essential components of radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs). While the active devices in RF systems downscale steadily, inductors have not been able to keep up with the pace of continual miniaturization because of the trade-off between size and performance as well as fabrication complexity. Strain-induced self-rolled-up nanotechnology allows the formation of three-dimensional (3D) architectures, such as multiple-turn spiral tubes, through planar processing. Here, we report on using 3D SiN_x tubular structures with accompanying prepatterned metal layers, as a novel on-chip tube inductor design platform. We found, by an equivalent lumped circuit and electromagnetic modeling, that the 3D metal spiral structure has the ability to significantly better confine magnetic field compared to conventional planar spiral on-chip inductors. More than 100× reduction in footprint can be realized using this platform while achieving excellent electrical performance, including large inductance, high quality (Q) factor, and high self-resonance frequency (f₀).

Malachite Green Derivative–Functionalized Single Nanochannel: Light-and-pH Dual-Driven Ionic Gating

1. Liping Wen¹, 
2. Qian Liu², 
3. Jie Ma¹, 
4. Ye Tian¹,
5. Cuihong Li², 
6. Zhishan Bo^2,*, 
7. Lei Jiang^1,*

Article first published online: 29 NOV 2012

DOI: 10.1002/adma.201290291

An efficient and reversible ionic gating that can be activated by pH and light is demonstrated on page 6193 by Lei Jiang, Zhishan Bo, and co-workers, by modifying a malachite green derivative on the interior surface of an ion track-etched conical nanochannel. The switches between the OFF-state and the ON-state are dependent on the surface charge transition caused by the malachite green derivative, making it suitable for confined spaces. Such a dual-driven ionic gating could find applications in electronics, actuators, and biosensors.

Organic Semiconductors: Dry Lithography of Large-Area, Thin-Film Organic Semiconductors Using Frozen CO2 Resists

1. Matthias E. Bahlke^1,*, 
2. Hiroshi A. Mendoza¹,
3. Daniel T. Ashall², 
4. Allen S. Yin¹, 
5. Marc A. Baldo¹

Article first published online: 29 NOV 2012

DOI: 10.1002/adma.201290293

Frozen carbon dioxide can be used as a phase-change resist to perform dry lithography of organic thin films, as shown by Matthias E. Bahlke and co-workerson page 6136. The resist sublimes closest to the surface, separating the still-solid resist that in turn lifts off undesired organic material. This new technique will help address the incompatibility of organic semiconductors with traditional photolithography.

Direct Imaging of DNA Fibers: The Visage of Double Helix

Francesco Gentile †‡, Manola Moretti †, Tania Limongi †§, Andrea Falqui , Giovanni Bertoni ,Alice Scarpellini , Stefania Santoriello †, Luca Maragliano §, Remo Proietti Zaccaria †, and Enzo di Fabrizio †‡*

^†Nanostructures, ^§Neuroscience and Brain Technologies, and Nanochemistry Departments, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Via Morego 30, 16163 Genova, Italy

^‡ BIONEM, Bio-Nanotechnology and Engineering for Medicine, Department of experimental and clinical medicine, University of Magna Graecia Viale Europa, Germaneto, 88100 Catanzaro, Italy

 IMEM-CNR, Parco Area delle Scienze 37/A, 43124 Parma, Italy

Nano Lett., Article ASAP

DOI: 10.1021/nl3039162

Publication Date (Web): November 22, 2012

Copyright © 2012 American Chemical Society

Direct imaging becomes important when the knowledge at few/single molecule level is requested and where the diffraction does not allow to get structural and functional information. Here we report on the direct imaging of double stranded (ds) λ-DNA in the A conformation, obtained by combining a novel sample preparation method based on super hydrophobic DNA molecules self-aggregation process with transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The experimental breakthrough is the production of robust and highly ordered paired DNA nanofibers that allowed its direct TEM imaging and the double helix structure revealing

Nanoplasmonic Terahertz Photoconductive Switch on GaAs

Barmak Heshmat †, Hamid Pahlevaninezhad †,Yuanjie, Pang †, Mostafa Masnadi-Shirazi ‡, Ryan Burton Lewis ‡§, Thomas Tiedje †, Reuven Gordon *†, and Thomas Edward Darcie †

^† Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering,University of Victoria, V8P 5C2, Victoria, BC Canada

^‡ Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering,University of British Columbia, V6T 1Z4, Vancouver, BC, Canada

^§ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, V6T 1Z1, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Nano Lett., Article ASAP

DOI: 10.1021/nl303314a

Publication Date (Web): November 21, 2012

Copyright © 2012 American Chemical Society

Low-temperature (LT) grown GaAs has a subpicosecond carrier response time that makes it favorable for terahertz photoconductive (PC) switching. However, this is obtained at the price of lower mobility and lower thermal conductivity than GaAs. Here we demonstrate subpicosecond carrier sweep-out and over an order of magnitude higher sensitivity in detection from a GaAs-based PC switch by using a nanoplasmonic structure. As compared to a conventional GaAs PC switch, we observe 40 times the peak-to-peak response from the nanoplasmonic structure on GaAs. The response is double that of a commercial, antireflection coated LT-GaAs PC switch.

Force-Controlled Fluidic Injection into Single Cell Nuclei

1. Orane Guillaume-Gentil¹, 
2. Eva Potthoff¹,
3. Dario Ossola², 
4. Pablo Dörig², 
5. Tomaso Zambelli^2,*, 
6. Julia A. Vorholt^1,*

Article first published online: 20 NOV 2012

DOI: 10.1002/smll.201202276

urpassing the physical barriers of the cytoplasmic and nuclear membranes to deliver biomolecules directly into cell nuclei offers opportunities to investigate dynamic processes in living cells. The potential of atomic force microscopy coupled to microfluidics (FluidFM) for volume-controlled intranuclear delivery is demonstrated, whereby minimally invasive microchanneled probes are remotely driven with high spatiotemporal resolution.