The influence of the crowded cellular environment on cleavage of DNA by a restriction enzymes has been investigated by a team of Polish scientists. The team from the Institute of Physical Chemistry PAS, Warsaw, modeled the crowded cellular environment using glycerol and poly(ethylene glycol) solutions and investigated the role on viscosity on DNA cleavage. Interested to know more? Why not read the full article for free.
A team of scientists led by Susanne Franziska Fenz have used the adhesion of giant unilamellar vesicles to supported bilayers to mimic ligand–receptor mediated cell-cell adhesion. The team investigated the effect of varying the concentration of receptors (neutravidin on the bilayer) and ligands (biotin on the vesicle) on the adhesion and the organization of receptors in the adhesion zone. Interested to know more? Download and read the article for free for a limited time.
Susanne Franziska Fenz, Ana-Sunčana Smith, Rudolf Merkel and Kheya Sengupta, Soft Matter, 2011, DOI:10.1039/C0SM00550A.
Read this Hot Review explaining how the plasma state of soft matter can be used to investigate various phenomena such as phase transitions, phase separation, self-organizations, rheology, linear and nonlinear waves, transport, etc… at the most fundamental kinetic level.
Novel polymer nanowires with triple hydrogen-bonding sites have been prepared by scientists at Tsinghua University, China. The nanowires were prepared from a metallogel template and were tested as adsorbing agents for the ‘uptake’ of thymidine from dilute THF solution. The team claims that the efficient adsorbing performance and reusable properties will render them ideal candidates for applications relating to biological adsorption.
Botian Li, Liming Tang, Lu Qiang and Kai Chen, Soft Matter, 2011, DOI:10.1039/C0SM00857E
A simple approach to selectively immobilize proteins on patterned silicon wafers has been developed by a team of scientists led by Lifeng Chi and Armido Studer.
The team from Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Germany, created nanostripe patterns of proteins over large areas on Si-wafers uing Langmuir–Blodgett patterning and subsequent orthogonal surface chemistry.
Interested to know more? Read the full article here: Yong Li, Julia C. Niehaus, Yueyue Chen, Harald Fuchs, Armido Studer, Hans-Joachim Galla and Lifeng Chi, Soft Matter, 2011, DOI:10.1039/C0SM00994F
Phase diagrams of rod-coil block copolymers using wormlike chain SCFT were constructed by scientists at Fudan University, China, and McMaster University, Canada, to explore the effects of interplay between microphase separation and orientational interaction on microstructures.
The team led by Ping Tang found that the stability of the monolayer and bilayer smectic phases is associated with the competition between interfacial energy and coil-stretching entropy, which strongly depends on the interplay between orientational interaction and microphase separation and the topological disparity between the semiflexible and coil blocks.
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Molecular fluctuations in a liquid crystalline polyrotaxane have been studied by Japanese scientists. The team from The University of Tokyo and Shibaura Institute of Technology used dielectric spectroscopy to investigate a polyrotaxane (CB5PR) consisting of poly(ethylene glycol) and α-cyclodextrins chemically modified with mesogenic cyanobiphenyl groups.
Read the full article for free here: Aoi Inomata, Masatoshi Kidowaki, Yasuhiro Sakai, Hideaki Yokoyama and Kohzo Ito, Soft Matter, 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C0SM00930J
A strategy for inducing two-dimensional crystallization of charged nanoparticles on oppositely charged fluid interfaces has been developed by US scientists.
The team led by Masafumi Fukuto and Lin Yang at Brookhaven National Laboratory, USA, used in situ X-ray scattering measurements at the liquid–vapor interface to investigate the assembly of cowpea mosaic virus on positively charged lipid monolayers.
Interested to know more? Why not read the full article for free here:
A photonic crystal material based on a gelated colloidal crystalline array has been made by a team of Chinese scientists.
The gelated colloidal crystalline array is easy to make and shape and efficiently diffracts visible light. The diffraction wavelength can be tuned anywhere within the visible spectrum simply by varying the concentration of the crystalline colloidal array or by stretching the material. This change could be easily seen by the naked eye they claim.
The team led by Yihua Zhu at the University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, China, made the gelated colloidal crystalline array from PVA hydrogel/colloidal crystalline array composites using an organic solvent. These physically cross-linked PVA gels can be dissolved and rebuilt as the temperature is cycled.
Read the full article for free here: Cheng Chen, Yihua Zhu, Hua Bao, Peng Zhao, Hongliang Jiang, Liming Peng, Xiaoling Yang and Chunzhong Li, Soft Matter, 2011, DOI:10.1039/C0SM00923G
Colloidal spheres with well defined cavities have been fabricated in large quantities from monodisperse emulsions.
In their paper published in Soft Matter, Stefano Sacanna and colleagues at New York University, USA, and Utrecht University, The Netherlands, describe the formation mechanism of “reactive” silicon oil droplets that deform to reproducible shapes via a polymerization-induced buckling instability. The team say that owing to their unique shape, the resulting particles can be successfully used as colloidal building blocks in the assembly of composite clusters via “lock-and-key” interactions.
Why not read the full article here: Stefano Sacanna, William T. M. Irvine, Laura Rossi and David J. Pine, Soft Matter, 2011, DOI:10.1039/C0SM01125H
