Chris Edwards | 03/30/2020

 

On March 24, Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) Chair Professor of Biomedical Engineering Xingyu JIANG was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE).

Dr. Jiang was nominated, reviewed, and elected by peers and members of the College of Fellows for “outstanding contributions in using micro-/nano-materials for multiplexed assays that improves the quality of healthcare and efficiency of biomedical research.”

Under special procedures, Dr. Jiang was remotely inducted along with 156 colleagues who make up the AIMBE College of Fellows Class of 2020.

The American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) is a non-profit organization that represents the most accomplished individuals in the fields of medical and biological engineering. AIMBE’s mission is to provide leadership and advocacy in medical and biological engineering for the benefit of society. It is an organization of leaders in medical and biological engineering, consisting of academic, industrial, professional society councils and elected fellows. The College of Fellows is comprised of experts in areas such as clinical practice, industrial practice, and education. Potential Fellows go through a rigorous peer-review and selection process.

Chair Professor Xingyu JIANG’s research interests include microfluidic chips and nano-biomedicine. Dr. Xingyu JIANG received funding from the National Outstanding Youth Science Fund in 2010, the Top Youth in 2013, the Special Allowance of the State Council in 2014, the Innovative Talents Promotion Plan of the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Chief Scientist in the Key Special Project of the National Key Research and Development Plan of the Ministry of Science and Technology in 2019. He was one of the inaugural winners of the Xplorer Prizes from the Tencent Foundation in 2019. He has published more than 300 papers, and his research directions include microfluidic chips and nano-biomedicine.

Chris Edwards | 03/09/2020

 

A new study by Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) has found a new form of luminescent material ideal for bacterial treatments that had previously shown themselves to be resistant to a broad range of drugs.

Department of Biomedical Engineering Associate Professor Li Kai led the research published in the high-impact journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition (Angew Chem Int Ed). The paper was titled “Planar AIEgens with Enhanced Solid‐State Luminescence and ROS‐Generation for Multidrug‐Resistant Bacteria Treatment.”

Figure 1. The design strategy of fluorine replacing planar AIEgens

Fluorescent materials have shown great potential in optoelectronics and biomedical engineering. However, one of the major flaws behind traditional fluorophores is that they suffer from aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ), a situation where the collection of fluorophores reduces the intensity of luminescence. The discovery of various types of aggregation-induced luminescent agents (AIEgens) provides a promising solution to address this challenge. However, it is still vital to find a simple and effective method to enhance solid-state luminescence of planar AIEgens, which would find significant commercial applications.

Figure 2. UV-vis and fluorescence spectra of planar AIEgens (DMA-AB-F and F-AB-DMA).

The research team designed and synthesized three pairs of planar AIEgens and studied their photophysical properties, intending to apply molecular engineering techniques to restrict the movement of the AIEgens in their aggregated state. Their results showed that they were able to inhibit their molecular movement and their non-radiative transition through the introduction of fluorine atoms to the aromatic ring. They hypothesized that the planar AIEgens they had developed would improve AIE performance and effectively promote the generation of ROS.

Figure 3. Antibacterial effect in vitro.

The research team tested the new AIEgens as photosensitizers against multidrug-resistant bacteria under a mouse model. In vitro testing (testing outside the body of a living organism) showed that their AIEgens would effectively kill MDR E. Coli and MRSA. In the follow-up in vivo testing on mice, they were able to show that their AIEgens would kill significantly more bacteria following photodynamic therapy than the control group.

Figure 4. In vivo antibacterial effect.

The study has proved a new direction in the treatment of multi-drug resistant bacterial infections through the use of reactive oxygen species expressed through the use of planar AIEgens. This unique approach provides more opportunities for researchers to develop a broad range of AIE photosensitizers for use in the biomedical industry.

Research Associate Professor Ni Jen-Shyang and masters students Min Tianling were the co-first authors. Associate Professor Li Kai was the correspondent author. The contributing units were the Department of Biomedical Engineering at SUSTech, the HKUST-Shenzhen Research Institute (SRI), and the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The authors are grateful to the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Thousand Young Talents Program, and the Science and Technology Plan of Shenzhen for financial support. The authors also acknowledge the Center for Computational Science and Engineering at SUSTech for theoretical calculation support and SUSTech Core Research Facilities for technical support.

Paper link: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/anie.202001103

Nanoscale technology is supporting more high-tech devices used in modern society than currently appreciated. The development and manipulation of nanostructures have developed rapidly in recent years and allowed for advances such as imaging and sensing devices with touch screens and high-resolution light-emitting diode (LED) displays.

Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) Chair Professor Dayong Jin was part of an international collaborative research team that was published on March 4 in the high-impact journal, Nature. Their review article was titled, “Single-particle spectroscopy for functional nanomaterials.”

The piece focuses on the luminescent nanoparticles central to many advances with the opportunities and challenges for these technologies to reach full potential. It sought to understand how single nanoparticles behave, so scientists can develop new tools that support a broad range of modern applications such as personalized medicine, cybersecurity, and quantum communication.

The development of single-molecule measurements and the rapid progress in optical microscopy have made it possible to observe the fluorescence of single photons. Advances in this field could lead researchers to discover the underlying photophysics from the nanoscale – with “plenty of room at the bottom.” The article found many promising material candidates for a wide range of commercial and industrial applications, from quantum dots to carbon dots, fluorescent nano-diamonds, and nanoparticles fabricated from obscure minerals such as perovskite.

There are increasing challenges as scientists step ever closer to optimal nanoparticle design, mainly as there is an increasing demand for smaller and more efficient nanoparticles with desirable characteristics.

The research team focused on the development of uniform nanoparticles that are just a few nanometers in size. It is a significant challenge, along with controlling their size and shape, as new knowledge is needed about nanoparticle surface chemistry to better understand these properties, as well as their optical properties.

In a dynamic field such as nanoparticles, there is seemingly no limit except the ability of science and engineering to integrate their knowledge and skill. The paper examines opportunities for continued fundamental research that pushes at the cutting-edge of nanoscale technologies.

Professor Dayong Jin believes that there will be a future where nanoparticles can be used to develop biomedical signatures that answer personalized drug therapy questions from a single drop of blood.

He highlighted the point that everyday technology such as smartphones and touch screens are now the result of decades of research by scientists and engineers trying to answer fundamental scientific questions.

Professor Dayong Jin joined SUSTech in January 2019 and quickly established a research team of more than 40 people. The laboratory has built inorganic rare earth luminescent materials, organic rare earth complexes, super-resolution imaging, and time-resolved imaging research platforms.

Dr. Jiajia Zhou from the Institute for Biomedical Materials and Devices (IBMD) at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) was the first author of the paper. She worked with Dr. Alexey I. Chizik from the Third Institute of Physics at the Georg-August University of Göttingen, Prof. Steven Chu of the Department of Physics at Stanford University and SUSTech Chair Professor Dayong Jin from the Department of Biomedical Engineering. All four authors were correspondent authors. The scholars acknowledge support from the Australian Research Council (ARC), the Discovery Early Career Researcher Award Scheme, the Shenzhen Science and Technology Program, and the Australia China Science and Research Fund Joint Research Center for POCT.

Article link: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2048-8