Ni‐Metalloid (B,Si, P,As, and Te) Alloys as Water Oxidation Electrocatalysts

Breakthroughs toward effective water‐splitting electrocatalysts for mass hydrogen production will necessitate material design strategies based on unexplored material chemistries. Herein, Ni‐metalloid (B, Si, P, As, Te) alloys are reported as an emergent class of highly promising electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and insight is offered into the origin of activity enhancement on the premise of the surface electronic structure, the OER activation energy, influence of the guest metalloid elements on the lattice structure of the host metal (Ni), and surface‐oxidized metalloid oxoanions. The metalloids modify the lattice structure of Ni, causing changes in the nearest Ni–Ni interatomic distance (d_Ni–Ni). The activation energy E_a scales with d_Ni–Ni indicating an apparent dependence of the OER activity on lattice properties. During the OER, surface Ni atoms are oxidized to nickel oxyhydroxide, which is the active state of the catalyst, meanwhile, the surface metalloids are oxidized to the corresponding oxoanions that affect the interfacial electrode/electrolyte properties and hence the adsorption/desorption interaction energies of the reacting species.     

A Combination of Proteomic Approaches Identifies A Panel of Circulating Extracellular Vesicle Proteins Related to the Risk of Suffering Cardiovascular Disease in Obese Patients

Plasma‐derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) have been extensively described as putative biomarkers in different diseases. Interestingly, increased levels of EVs subpopulations are well known to associate with obesity. The goal of this study is to identify EVs‐derived biomarkers in plasma from obese patients in order to predict the development of pathological events associated with obesity. Samples are obtained from 22 obese patients and their lean‐matched controls are divided into two cohorts: one for a 2D fluorescence difference gel electrophoresis (2D‐DIGE)‐based study, and the other one for a label free LC–MS/MS‐based approach. EVs are isolated following a serial ultracentrifugation protocol. Twenty‐two and 23 differentially regulated features are detected from 2D‐DIGE and label free LC–MS/MS, respectively; most of them involve in the coagulation and complement cascades. Remarkably, there is an upregulation of complement C4, complement C3, and fibrinogen in obese patients following both approaches, the latter two also validated by 2D‐western‐blotting in an independent cohort. These results correlate with a proinflammatory and prothrombotic state of those individuals. On the other hand, a downregulation of adiponectin leading to an increased risk of suffering cardiovascular diseases has been shown. The results suggest the relevance of plasma‐derived‐EVs proteins as a source of potential biomarkers for the development of atherothrombotic events in obesity.     

Proteomic Profiling of Mouse Helper T Cell Differentiation

Helper T cell differentiation is a key process in the regulation of adaptive immune responses. Here, mouse Th1 and Th2 cells are profiled using high‐throughput proteomics to increase the understanding of the molecular biology of Th differentiation to support the design of prophylactic and therapeutic intervention strategies for (infectious) diseases. Protein profiling of Th1/Th2 differentiated cells results in the quantification of almost 6000 proteins of which 41 are differentially expressed at FDR < 0.1, and 19 at the FDR < 0.05 level, respectively. Differential protein expression analysis identifies a number of the expected canonical Th differentiation markers, and gene set analysis using the REACTOME database and a hypergeometric test (FDR < 0.05) confirms that helper T cell pathways are the top sets that are differentially expressed. Additionally, by network analysis, many differentially expressed proteins are associated with the Th1 and Th2 pathways. Data are available via PRIDE database with identifier PXD004532.     

Proteogenomic Refinement of the Neomegalonema perideroedesT Genome Annotation

Neomegalonema perideroedes (formerly Meganema perideroedes) str. G1 is the type strain and only described isolate of the genus Neomegalonema (formerly Meganema) which belongs to the Alphaproteobacteria. N. perideroedes is distinguished by the ability to accumulate high amounts of polyhydroxyalkanoates and has been associated with bulking problems in wastewater treatment plants due to its filamentous morphology. In 2013, its genome was sequenced as part of the Genomic Encyclopedia of Bacteria and Archaea (GEBA), which aims to improve the sequencing coverage of the poorly represented regions of the bacterial and archaeal branches of the tree of life. As N. perideroedes str. G1 is relatively distantly related to well described species—being the only sequenced member of its proposed family—the in silico prediction of genes by nucleotide homology to reference genes might be less reliable. Here, a proteomic dataset for the refinement of the N. perideroedes genome annotations is generated which clearly indicates the shortcomings of high‐throughput in silico genome annotation.     

Fluorine‐Free Noble Salt Anion for High‐Performance All‐Solid‐State Lithium–Sulfur Batteries

Amongst post‐Li‐ion battery technologies, lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries have captured an immense interest as one of the most appealing devices from both the industrial and academia sectors. The replacement of conventional liquid electrolytes with solid polymer electrolytes (SPEs) enables not only a safer use of Li metal (Li°) anodes but also a flexible design in the shape of Li–S batteries. However, the practical implementation of SPEs‐based all‐solid‐state Li–S batteries (ASSLSBs) is largely hindered by the shuttling effect of the polysulfide intermediates and the formation of dendritic Li° during the battery operation. Herein, a fluorine‐free noble salt anion, tricyanomethanide [C(CN)₃^?, TCM^?], is proposed as a Li‐ion conducting salt for ASSLSBs. Compared to the widely used perfluorinated anions {e.g., bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide anion, [N(SO₂CF₃)₂)]^?, TFSI^?}, the LiTCM‐based electrolytes show decent ionic conductivity, good thermal stability, and sufficient anodic stability suiting the cell chemistry of ASSLSBs. In particular, the fluorine‐free solid electrolyte interphase layer originating from the decomposition of LiTCM exhibits a good mechanical integrity and Li‐ion conductivity, which allows the LiTCM‐based Li–S cells to be cycled with good rate capability and Coulombic efficiency. The LiTCM‐based electrolytes are believed to be the most promising candidates for building cost‐effective and high energy density ASSLSBs in the near future.     

Salt‐enhanced cultivation as a morphology engineering tool for filamentous actinomycetes: Increased production of labyrinthopeptin A1 in Actinomadura namibiensis

Salt‐enhanced cultivation as a morphology engineering tool for the filamentous actinomycete Actinomadura namibiensis was evaluated in 500‐mL shaking flasks (working volume 100 mL) with the aim of increasing the concentration of the pharmaceutically interesting peptide labyrinthopeptin A1. Among the inorganic salts added to a complex production medium, the addition of (NH₄)₂SO₄ led to the highest amount of labyrinthopeptin A1 production. By using 50 mM (NH₄)₂SO₄, the labyrinthopeptin A1 concentration increased up to sevenfold compared to the non‐supplemented control, resulting in 325 mg L^?1 labyrinthopeptin A1 after 10 days of cultivation. The performance of other ammonium‐ and sulfate‐containing salts (e.g., NH₄Cl, K₂SO₄) was much lower than the performance of (NH₄)₂SO₄. A positive correlation between the uptake of glycerol as one of the main carbon sources and nongrowth‐associated labyrinthopeptin productivity was found. The change in the cell morphology of A. namibiensis in conjunction with increased osmolality by the addition of 50 mM (NH₄)₂SO₄, was quantified by image analysis. A. namibiensis always developed a heterogeneous morphology with pellets and loose mycelia present simultaneously. In contrast to the non‐supplemented control, the morphology of (NH₄)₂SO₄‐supplemented cultures was characterized by smaller and circular pellets that were more stable against disintegration in the stationary production phase.     

Production of polycaprolactone nanoparticles with hydrodynamic diameters below 100 nm

Cancer is a worldwide increasing burden and its therapy is often challenging and causes severe side effects in healthy tissue. If drugs are loaded into nanoparticles, side effects can be reduced, and efficiency can be increased via the enhanced permeability and retention effect. This effect is based on the fact that nanoparticles with sizes from 10 to 200 nm can accumulate in tumor tissue due to their leaky vasculature. In this work, we produced polycaprolactone (PCL) in the sizes 1.8, 5.4, and 13.6 kDa and were able to produce spherical shaped nanoparticles with mean diameters of 64 ± 19 nm out of the PCL_5.4 and 45 ± 8 nm out of the PCL_13.6 reproducibly. By encapsulation of paclitaxel the diameter of that nanoparticles did not increase, and we were able to encapsulate 73 ± 7 fmol paclitaxel per 1000 particles in the PCL_5.4‐nanoparticles and 35 ± 8 fmol PTX per 1000 PCL_13.6‐nanoparticles. Furthermore, we coupled the aptamer S15 to preformed PCL_5.4‐nanoparticles resulting in particles with a hydrodynamic diameter of 153 nm. This offers the opportunity to use these nanoparticles for targeted drug delivery.     

Validated numerical fluid simulation of a thin‐layer cascade photobioreactor in OpenFOAM

Recently, microalgae have been considered as a promising alternative for the production of biofuels from CO₂. For the efficient cultivation of these microalgae, several types of photobioreactors have been designed and Pilot scale photobioreactors have been used to assess the performance of these reactors. Therein the primarily investigated reactor type is the Raceway Pond. However, the less researched Thin‐Layer Cascade Photobioreactor (TLC) shows a high potential for efficient production processes. Unfortunately, for low‐value products like biofuels costs must be kept to a minimum for an economic operation. To facilitate this, 3D Computational Fluid Dynamic simulations can be employed to estimate performance of reactor variants e.g. with respect to power input and mixing. Since up to now little effort has been put into the modelling of TLC reactors, this report aims to present a simulation approach for these reactors types that allows simple adaptation to different geometric or operational boundary conditions. All models have been generated for a two‐phase mixture in OpenFOAM. To demonstrate its applicability, validation measurements with a physical unit have been performed and were compared to the simulation results. With errors in the order of 10 % a successful simulation of the reactor geometry could be proven.     

Same but different–Scale up and numbering up in electrobiotechnology and photobiotechnology

Facing energy problems, there is a strong demand for new technologies dealing with the replacement of fossil fuels. The emerging fields of biotechnology, photobiotechnology and electrobiotechnology, offer solutions for the production of fuels, energy, or chemicals using renewable energy sources (light or electrical current e.g. produced by wind or solar power) or organic (waste) substrates. From an engineering point of view both technologies have analogies and some similar challenges, since both light and electron transfer are primarily surface‐dependent. In contrast to that, bioproduction processes are typically volume dependent. To allow large scale and industrially relevant applications of photobiotechnology and electrobiotechnology, this opinion first gives an overview over the current scales reached in these areas. We then try to point out the challenges and possible methods for the scale up or numbering up of the reactors used. It is shown that the field of photobiotechnology is by now much more advanced than electrobiotechnology and has achieved industrial applications in some cases. We argue that transferring knowledge from photobiotechnology to electrobiotechnology can speed up the development of the emerging field of electrobiotechnology. We believe that a combination of scale up and numbering up, as it has been shown for several photobiotechnological reactors, may well lead to industrially relevant scales in electrobiotechnological processes allowing an industrial application of the technology in near future.