Shine on You Crazy Books

Series Editors Massimo, Lesley and Evelyne describe their new roles, series of books in photochemical and photobiological sciences and some exciting publications coming soon.

Let there be light! It’s a new beginning for The Comprehensive Series in Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences. First started in 2001, this series has covered some fantastic topics from flavins to lasers. Brand new books have just been published, and the freshly appointed Series Editorial Board is looking for the next big topics.

How did the series emerge?

In addition to primary research and reviews, photochemists, photobiologists and aspiring students can need more. In response to the identified need for comprehensive information sources that cover well-established and emerging fields in depth, in 2001 the European Society for Photobiology (ESP) and the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) agreed to launch a series of books in photoscience. The series title leaves little untold about its purpose: Comprehensive Series in Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences.

Browsing through some documents from the time of its launch, we ran into instructions for authors that suggest manuscripts should be submitted “together with a set of disks (or CD-ROM)…” Today, floppy disks are useless, compact disks are a vintage technology and we submit our scientific papers by clicking on touchscreen devices. So much has changed, but the book series has maintained its high scientific standards and best original features, thanks to the vision of committed previous series editors (Donat-Peter Haeder and the late Giulio Jori).

5000 pages later…

Thirteen books (and over 5000 pages!) have now been published, covering very cool and interesting fields, giving – as the series editors wrote in the foreword of the first published volume – a critical evaluation of the directions that the field is taking. If you glance at the published titles, you will see the results of hard and dedicated work from many chapter authors and volume editors from around the world.

The Executive Committee of the ESP met in September 2015 in Aveiro, Portugal during the biennial Congress of the Society. The Committee has given the three of us the prestigious roles of Series Editors of the book series. We are flattered and honoured by this office. We are committed to work hard to maintain the standards of the Series and to source and invite new edited volumes on important topics.

And what now?

Very soon, two new volumes will be available. Surface Water Photochemistry, edited by Paola Calza and Davide Vione, is now available and it explores the latest research on the photochemical fate of organic pollutants in surface water. Singlet Oxygen, edited by Santi Nonell and Cristina Flors, comprises two volumes that present the physical, chemical and biological properties of this reactive oxygen species and its increasingly important applications across chemical, environmental and biomedical areas. Look out for this book in early 2016.

Currently, we are scouring the literature, attending conferences and speaking to our colleagues to decide what are the topics that have developed significantly in the last few years and that could now do with a new edited book covering the field. The series will be open to and will expand to include any topic where an in-depth coverage need is defined.

Thanks to the impending publication of two new titles, a new series Editorial Board, and beautiful new cover designs, it looks like an exciting new start for the Comprehensive Series in Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences. We do welcome feedback on books in the series and ideas for areas we should cover in future. To get in touch, please email us at books@rsc.org.

Ad maiora!

Read more in the full Editorial published in Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences.

Posted by Alice on behalf of the authors Massimo Trotta, Evelyne Sage and Lesley Rhodes

Lesley E. Rhodes, University of Manchester (Scientific interests include human photobiology and photomedicine); Evelyn Sage, Institut Curie (Focusses on basic aspects of photobiology in her research); Massimo Trotta, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Italy (Research interests are in environmental applications of photosynthesis)

*Apologies to Pink Floyd

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PPS supports the 1st Young Scientist Seminar on Scientific Research on Innovative Areas “Photosynergestics”

Graphical Abstract

(L-R) Ms. Wakana Naito, Ritsumeikan University and Professor Hajime Ito, Hokkaido University

PPS is very proud to have supported the recent 1st Young Scientist Seminar on Scientific Research on Innovative Areas “Photosynergetics”, 31st July – 1st August 2015, Osaka, Japan.

The PPS poster prize, awarded at the seminar, went to Ms. Wakana Naito, of Ritsumeikan University, for her poster titled “Chirality Induction of Pyrrole-Based Cyclic π-Electronic Systems by Inner Modifications”.

The prize was awarded by Professor Hajime Ito of Hokkaido University, Chief of the Prize Awarding Committee of the 1st Young Scientist Seminar for Photosynergetics.

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Highlighted PPS articles

Posted on behalf of Rex Tyrrell, Editor-in-Chief, Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences Editorial Board

The influence of Pluronics® on dark cytotoxicity, photocytotoxicity, localization and uptake of curcumin in cancer cells: studies of curcumin and curcuminoids XLIX.
Ravinder Singh, Hanne Hjorth Tønnesen, Solveig Kristensen and Kristian Berg
Photochem. Photobiol. Sci., 2013, 12, 559-575

Formulation by amphiphilic copolymers, e.g. nonionic Pluronics®, that spontaneously form nanoparticulate micellar carriers (10-100 nm) in aqueous media is one possible strategy to solubilize lipophilic photosensitizers and improve bioavailability, as investigated in this paper by in vitro cellular studies. Pluronics consist of hydrophilic poly-ethylene oxide (EO) and hydrophobic poly-propylene oxide (PO) blocks arranged in a sequential manner (Figure 1).

Pluronic block copolymers

Figure 1. Pluronic block copolymers, x = number of ethylene oxide groups (EO), y = number of propylene oxide groups (PO).

Pluronics form micelles with a hydrophobic core and hydrophilic corona when individual polymer chains spontaneously assemble into nanosized aggregates above a certain concentration (critical micelle concentration, cmc) and temperature (critical micelle temperature, cmt). The self-assembly of amphiphilic polymers is a reversible process. However, owing to a prolonged in vivo circulation time prior to dissociation, a high solubilizing capability and low toxicity, several Pluronics are approved for oral or intravenous administration, e.g. by the US Food and Drug Administration.

Kristian Berg and team

From left to right: Ravinder Singh, Hanne Hjorth Tønnesen, Solveig Kristensen and Kristian Berg

The Pluronic block composition will influence polymeric lipophilicity, micellar aggregation number, shape and size, cmc and cmt values, drug loading and localization, and the release of drug from the formulation. A proper selection of the polymeric blocks may enable development of optimized drug formulations with enhanced accumulation of the selected photosensitizer in cancer cells, as studied in this paper by formulation of the highly lipophilic photosensitizer Curcumin with selected Pluronics.

The field of pluronics has excited much interest lately, not least for the potential of these interesting polymers to assist in targeting cancer calls. The paper described above is an excellent example of how “pluronics” can be applied to improve targeting of photosensitisers in to cells and was one of the most accessed PPS articles on the Royal Society of Chemistry’s website last year.

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ICP Prize Winners

We were delighted to award two delegates at the 16th International Congress on Photobiology, Córdoba, Argentina with Royal Society of Chemistry Poster Prizes.

María Julia Lamberti from Universidad Nacional de Rio Cuarto, Argentina and Francisco Lobos from the Universidad de Concepción, Chile were each awarded a Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences certificate and an RSC book voucher.

Maria presented a poster entitled “Photodynamic therapy mediates the ROS-dependent activation of the tumor prosurvival hypoxia-inducible factor I” and Francisco a poster on “Sequence, structure and function of the gamma 33 subunit of R-phycoerythrin from Gracilaria chilensis”.

Many congratulations to all the winners!


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Ozone depletion and climate change

On behalf of Professor Rex M. Tyrrell, Editor-in-Chief

Under the terms of the Montreal Protocol on protection of the ozone layer, regular assessments of the state of knowledge in this area are required by the signatory parties. The paper “Ozone depletion and climate change: impacts on UV radiation” by McKenzie and co-workers is part of one such assessment which was provided to the United Nations Environmental Panel (UNEP) through their Environmental Effects Assessment Panel (EEAP).

UV index over time

Change in the annual mean of noon-time clear-sky erythemally-weighted UV, 1960-2100, relative to the level in 1980.

The EEAP reports on the Environmental Impacts of Ozone Depletion and, in their more recent assessment, have been asked to comment on any interactions between ozone depletion and the climate change. In an attempt to make these assessments more accessible to the wider scientific community, they are also published in the peer reviewed scientific literature. Both the last two major assessments (2006 and 2010) and several interim reports of the EEAP have been published in Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences.

The paper by McKenzie et al. is essentially the first chapter of the most recent full assessment in 2010. That chapter assesses our progress towards understanding atmospheric research relevant to the effects of ozone depletion and climate change on solar UV radiation. It provides a link between (a) the more detailed and technical WMO/UNEP report on the Science of Ozone Depletion, and (b) the subsequent chapters of the EEAP assessment that report on the environmental effects on human health, the terrestrial environment, the aquatic environment, biogeochemical cycles, air quality, and material damage.

EEAP Panel

L. O. Björn, S. Madronich, R. L. McKenzie, A. F. Bais, P. J. Aucamp (M. Ilyas was absent, shown right). The photo was taken at the UNEP meeting in Zhengzhou China in August 2014 while working on the 2014 Assessment for which A. Bais will be the lead author.

These latter chapters are also published in the same special issue of Photochemical and Photobiological Sciences. Although not designed as a review, the chapter nevertheless provides a digestible short summary of important research results on the subjects of ozone depletion, UV radiation, and interactions between these issues and climate change that have appeared in the literature in the four years since the previous assessment.

Therefore, in addition to the primary purpose of providing an assessment for policymakers, the article also provides a useful introduction to the subject, especially for researchers new to the field and to educators. The scope is unique, as it provides a one-stop update of these diverse, yet interrelated issues. It is written in a style that makes it accessible to the general public without detailed knowledge of the issues.

As the topic is of wide interest to the scientific community, this 2011 article published in Photochemical and Photobiological Sciences is one of the most highly cited in the journal from recent years. The 2014 assessment is currently under review, and will be published in a special issue of Photochemical and Photobiological Sciences in early 2015.

Read the full paper to find out more:

Ozone depletion and climate change: impacts on UV radiation
R. L. McKenzie, P. J. Aucamp, A. F. Bais, L. O. Björn, M. Ilyas and S. Madronich
Photochem. Photobiol. Sci., 2011, 10, 182-198.

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Unravelling UVA-induced mutagenesis

UVB is the portion of the solar spectrum that is absorbed by DNA. It is a major contributor to the biological effect of sunlight, a property that has been known since the early 19th century. The genotoxic effects of UVA have attracted comparatively little interest however research into this portion of the solar spectrum has been revisited in the last twenty years.

Authors

The Sage group. Back (L–R): Pierre-Marie Girard (CNRS researcher), Sylvain Martineau (engineer), Ludovic Tessier (technician) Front : Angela Bellini (PhD student) and Ev Sage

There has been an intense effort to understand how UVA radiation damages DNA, induces mutations and is involved in human skin carcinogenesis. A classic Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences Perspective by Sage and co-workers summarizes the main results of such investigations.

The article highlights unresolved issues in the field and discusses the more controversial data in the recent literature. In particular, the authors summarise the evidence that the formation of cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers, the major DNA damage induced by UVA in mammalian cells, is caused by direct DNA-absorption of UVA photons rather than photosensitized reactions. This research is of particularly great importance for considering approaches to photoprotection.

Mutagenesis

Although contradictory data on UVA mutagenesis has been reported in the literature, the authors offer a critical analysis of the key findings and conclude that the main mutations induced by UVA are C to T transitions at bipyrimidine sites – the same process as for UVB. The authors propose that such a mutational specificity is a general UV signature, regardless of whether the UV radiation in question is UVB or UVA. This raises the question of what are the causative wavelengths when such mutations are observed in skin tumours.

The review also presents new insights on the genotoxic effects of UVA and provides a better understanding of the relative contribution of UVA to skin carcinogenesis, a crucial issue considering exposure of the human population to UVA radiation is unavoidable. The review presents mechanistic arguments that complement epidemiological studies on the risk of melanoma associated with the use of tanning beds, which emit over 99% UVA, and provides a platform for raising new questions on the potential effects of UVA radiation.

Since its publication in 2012, the Perspective has attracted considerable attention from researchers in the field, as evidenced by a growing number of citations.

To find out more, read the full article, which is free to access for 4 weeks:

Unravelling UVA-induced mutagenesis
Evelyne Sage, Pierre-Marie Girard and Stefania Francesconi
Photochem. Photobiol. Sci.,2012, 11, 74-80

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16th International Congress on Photobiology: Abstract submission deadline extended until 4th April

Deadline extended: Submit your abstracts by Friday 4th April 2014

Registration is still open for the 16th International Congress on Photobiology, to be held in Cordoba, Argentina, 7-12 September 2014.

The meeting starts with two talks and a reception on the evening of Sunday 7th and ends on the afternoon of Friday 12th. There are optional excursions on Wednesday afternoon and a special Darwin-steps trip is being organized to take place immediately after the Congress.

For further information and to submit your abstracts, visit: 

www.photobiology2014.com.ar  

16th ICP

 

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Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences issue 4 is now available online

Issue 4 of Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences is now available to read online.

The front cover this month features work by Maria Faustino, Adelaide Almeida and co-workers from Aveiro, Portugal. In their work they set out to assess the efficiency of antimicrobial photodynamic inactivation (PDI) on clinical multidrug-resistant bacteria in hospital wastewaters, in order to evaluate its potential use in treating hospital effluents.

Read the full article – it’s free to access for the next six weeks:
Photodynamic inactivation of multidrug-resistant bacteria in hospital wastewaters: influence of residual antibiotics
Joana Almeida, João P. C. Tomé, Maria G. P. M. S. Neves, Augusto C. Tomé, José A. S. Cavaleiro, Ângela Cunha, Liliana Costa, Maria A. F. Faustino and Adelaide Almeida  
Photochem. Photobiol. Sci., 2014, 13, 626-633, DOI: 10.1039/C3PP50195G

Keep up-to-date with the latest content in Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences by registering for our free table of contents alerts.

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Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences issue 3 is now available online

Issue 3 of Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences  is now available to read online.

PPS issue 3 coverThe front cover this month features work by Carlos Lodeiro and co-workers from Lisbon, Portugal. In their work report the synthesis of bis(indolyl)methane derivatives bearing functionalized arylthiophene spacers, and explore their solvatochromic behaviour in the ground and excited states.

Read the article in full – it’s free to access for the next six weels:
Synthesis and solvatochromism studies of novel bis(indolyl)methanes bearing functionalized arylthiophene groups as new colored materials
Elisabete Oliveira, Rosa M. F. Baptista, Susana P. G. Costa, M. Manuela M. Raposo and Carlos Lodeiro  
Photochem. Photobiol. Sci., 2014, 13, 492-498, DOI: 10.1039/C3PP50352F

Keep up-to-date with the latest content in Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences by registering for our free table of contents alerts.

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Top 10 most accessed articles in 2013

The top 10 most accessed Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences articles in 2013 were as follows:

Singlet oxygen generation using a porous monolithic polymer supported photosensitizer: potential application to the photodynamic destruction of melanoma cells
M. Isabel Burguete, Francisco Galindo, Raquel Gavara, Santiago V. Luis, Miguel Moreno, Paul Thomas and David A. Russell  
Photochem. Photobiol. Sci., 2009,8, 37-44, DOI: 10.1039/B810921D, Paper

Light relief: photochemistry and medicine
David Phillips  
Photochem. Photobiol. Sci., 2010,9, 1589-1596, DOI: 10.1039/C0PP00237B, Perspective
From themed collection Photosciences: a look into the future

UV-induced DNA damage and repair: a review
Rajeshwar P. Sinha and Donat-P. Häder  
Photochem. Photobiol. Sci., 2002,1, 225-236, DOI: 10.1039/B201230H, Perspective

On the genesis of heterogeneous photocatalysis: a brief historical perspective in the period 1910 to the mid-1980s
N. Serpone, A. V. Emeline, S. Horikoshi, V. N. Kuznetsov and V. K. Ryabchuk  
Photochem. Photobiol. Sci., 2012,11, 1121-1150, DOI: 10.1039/C2PP25026H, Perspective

Photoinduced formation of reversible dye radicals and their impact on super-resolution imaging
Sebastian van de Linde, Ivan Krstić, Thomas Prisner, Sören Doose, Mike Heilemann and Markus Sauer  
Photochem. Photobiol. Sci., 2011,10, 499-506, DOI: 10.1039/C0PP00317D, Paper

Engineered photoreceptors as novel optogenetic tools
Andreas Möglich and Keith Moffat  
Photochem. Photobiol. Sci., 2010,9, 1286-1300, DOI: 10.1039/C0PP00167H, Perspective
From themed collection Photofunctional proteins: from understanding to engineering

Signaling mechanisms of LOV domains: new insights from molecular dynamics studies
Peter L. Freddolino, Kevin H. Gardner and Klaus Schulten  
Photochem. Photobiol. Sci., 2013,12, 1158-1170, DOI: 10.1039/C3PP25400C, Paper
From themed collection Blue-light photoreceptors

Photoremovable protecting groups: reaction mechanisms and applications
Anna Paola Pelliccioli and Jakob Wirz  
Photochem. Photobiol. Sci., 2002,1, 441-458, DOI: 10.1039/B200777K, Perspective

Human safety review of “nano” titanium dioxide and zinc oxide
Karsten Schilling, Bobbie Bradford, Dominique Castelli, Eric Dufour, J. Frank Nash, Wolfgang Pape, Stefan Schulte, Ian Tooley, Jeroen van den Bosch and Florian Schellauf  
Photochem. Photobiol. Sci., 2010,9, 495-509, DOI: 10.1039/B9PP00180H, Perspective
From themed collection Topical and systemic photoprotection

Time-resolved fluorescence microscopy
Klaus Suhling, Paul M. W. French and David Phillips  
Photochem. Photobiol. Sci., 2005,4, 13-22, DOI: 10.1039/B412924P, Perspective
From themed collection In honour of Hiroshi Masuhara

Take a look at the articles, and then let us know your thoughts and comments below.

If you are interested in submitting your own work to Photochemical & Photochemical Sciences, you can submit online today, or email us with your ideas and suggestions. Journal guidelines are available on the website.

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