Abstract: Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) is a source of cell‐damaging oxidant molecules that may be used as low‐cost cancer treatment with minimal side effects. Liquids treated with cold plasma and enriched with oxidants are a modality for non‐invasive treatment of internal tumors with cold plasma via injection. However, liquids are easily diluted with body fluids which impedes high and localized delivery of oxidants to the target. As an alternative, plasma‐treated hydrogels (PTH) emerge as vehicles for the precise delivery of oxidants. This study reports an optimal protocol for the preparation of injectable alginate PTH that ensures the preservation of plasma‐generated oxidants. The generation, storage, and release of oxidants from the PTH are assessed. The efficacy of the alginate PTH in cancer treatment is demonstrated in the context of cancer cell cytotoxicity and immunogenicity–release of danger signals and phagocytosis by immature dendritic cells, up to now unexplored for PTH. These are shown in osteosarcoma, a hard‐to‐treat cancer. The study aims to consolidate PTH as a novel cold plasma treatment modality for non‐invasive or postoperative tumor treatment. The results offer a rationale for further exploration of alginate‐based PTHs as a versatile platform in biomedical engineering.

Abstract: technologies have been expanding, and one of the most exciting and rapidly growing
applications is in biology and medicine. Most biomedical studies with DBD plasma systems are performed in vitro, which include cells grown on the surface of plastic well plates, or in vivo, which include animal research models (e.g. mice, pigs). Since many DBD systems use the biological target as the secondary electrode for direct plasma generation and treatment, they are sensitive to the surface properties of the target, and thus can be altered based on the in vitro or in vivo system used. This could consequently affect biological response from plasma treatment. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the DBD plasma behavior both in vitro (i.e. 96-well flat bottom plates, 96-well U-bottom plates, and 24-well flat bottom plates), and in vivo (i.e. mouse skin). Intensified charge coupled device (ICCD) imaging was performed and the plasma discharges were visually distinguishable between the different systems. The geometry of the wells did not affect DBD plasma generation for low application distances (≤ 2 mm), but differentially affected plasma uniformity on the bottom of the well at greater distances. Since DBD plasma treatment in vitro is rarely performed in dry wells for plasma medicine experiments, the effect of well wetness was also investigated. In all in vitro cases, the uniformity of the DBD plasma was affected when comparing wet versus dry wells, with the plasma in the wide-bottom wells appearing the most similar to plasma generated on mouse skin. Interestingly, based on quantification of ICCD images, the DBD plasma intensity per surface area demonstrated an exponential one-phase decay with increasing application distance, regardless of the in vitro or in vivo system. This trend is similar to that of the energy per pulse of plasma, which is used to determine the total plasma treatment energy for biological systems. Optical emission spectroscopy performed on the plasma revealed similar trends in radical species generation between the plastic well plates and mouse skin. Therefore, taken together, DBD plasma intensity per surface area may be a valuable parameter to be used as a simple method for in situ monitoring during biological treatment and active plasma treatment control, which can be applied for in vitro and in vivo systems.

Abstract: Live-cell imaging with fluorescence microscopy is a powerful tool, especially in cancer research, widely-used for capturing dynamic cellular processes over time. However, light-induced toxicity (phototoxicity) can be incurred from this method, via disruption of intracellular redox balance and an overload of reactive oxygen species (ROS). This can introduce confounding effects in an experiment, especially in the context of evaluating and screening novel therapies. Here, we aimed to unravel whether phototoxicity can impact cellular homeostasis and response to non-thermal plasma (NTP), a therapeutic strategy which specifically targets the intracellular redox balance. We demonstrate that cells incorporated with a fluorescent reporter for live-cell imaging have increased sensitivity to NTP, when exposed to ambient light or fluorescence excitation, likely through altered proliferation rates and baseline intracellular ROS levels. These changes became even more pronounced the longer the cells stayed in culture. Therefore, our results have important implications for research implementing this analysis technique and are particularly important for designing experiments and evaluating redox-based therapies like NTP.

Abstract: The control of Mott phase is intertwined with the spatial reorganization of the electronic states. Out-of-equilibrium driving forces typically lead to electronic patterns that are absent at equilibrium, whose nature is however often elusive. Here, we unveil a nanoscale pattern formation in the Ca2 RuO4 Mott insulator. We demonstrate how an applied electric field spatially reconstructs the insulating phase that, uniquely after switching off the electric field, exhibits nanoscale stripe domains. The stripe pattern has regions with inequivalent octahedral distortions that we directly observe through high-resolution scanning transmission electron
microscopy. The nanotexture depends on the orientation of the electric field, it is non-volatile and rewritable. We theoretically simulate the charge and orbital reconstruction induced by a quench dynamics of the applied electric field providing clear-cut mechanisms for the stripe phase formation. Our results open the path for the design of non-volatile electronics based on voltage-controlled nanometric phases.

Abstract: High-entropy materials are an emerging pathway in the development of high-activity (electro)catalysts because of the inherent tunability and coexistence of multiple potential active sites, which may lead to earth-abundant catalyst materials for energy-efficient electrochemical energy storage. In this report, we identify how the multication composition in high-entropy perovskite oxides (HEO) contributes to high catalytic activity for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), i.e., the key kinetically limiting half-reaction in several electrochemical energy conversion technologies, including green hydrogen generation. We compare the activity of the (001) facet of LaCr0.2Mn0.2Fe0.2Co0.2Ni0.2O3-delta with the parent compounds (single B-site in the ABO3 perovskite). While the single B-site perovskites roughly follow the expected volcano-type activity trends, the HEO clearly outperforms all of its parent compounds with 17 to 680 times higher currents at a fixed overpotential. As all samples were grown as an epitaxial layer, our results indicate an intrinsic composition-function relationship, avoiding the effects of complex geometries or unknown surface composition. In-depth X-ray photoemission studies reveal a synergistic effect of simultaneous oxidation and reduction of different transition metal cations during the adsorption of reaction intermediates. The surprisingly high OER activity demonstrates that HEOs are a highly attractive, earth-abundant material class for high-activity OER electrocatalysts, possibly allowing the activity to be fine-tuned beyond the scaling limits of mono-or bimetallic oxides.

Abstract: Among oxides, bismuthates have been gaining much interest due to their unique features. In addition to their superconducting properties, they show potential for applications as topological insulators and as possible spin-to-charge converters. After being first investigated in their bulk form in the 1980s, bismuthates have been successfully grown as thin films. However, most efforts have focused on BaBiO₃, with SrBiO₃receiving only little attention. Here, we report the growth of epitaxial films of SrBiO₃on both TiO₂-terminated SrTiO₃and NdO-terminated NdScO₃substrates by pulsed laser deposition. SrBiO₃has a pseudocubic lattice constant of ∼4.25 Å and grows relaxed on NdScO₃. Counter-intuitively, it grows with a slight tensile strain on SrTiO₃despite a large lattice mismatch, which should induce compressive strain. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy reveals that this occurs as a consequence of structural domain matching, with blocks of 10 SrBiO₃unit planes matching blocks of 11 SrTiO₃unit planes. This work provides a framework for the synthesis of high quality perovskite bismuthates films and for the understanding of their interface interactions with homostructural substrates.

Abstract: The ever-increasing energy demand from the world population has made the intensive use of fossil fuels an overarching threat to global environment and human health. An appealing alternative is offered by sunlight-assisted photoelectrochemical water splitting to yield carbon-free hydrogen fuel, but kinetic limitations associated to the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) render the development of cost-effective, eco-friendly and stable electrocatalysts an imperative issue. In the present work, OER catalysts based on graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) were deposited on conducting glass substrates by a simple decantation procedure, followed by functionalization with low amounts of nanostructured CoO and CoFe2O4 by radio frequency (RF)-sputtering, and final annealing under inert atmosphere. A combination of advanced characterization tools was used to investigate the interplay between material features and electrochemical performances. The obtained results highlighted the formation of a p-n junction for the g-C3N4-CoO system, whereas a Z-scheme junction accounted for the remarkable performance enhancement yielded by g-C3N4-CoFe2O4. The intimate contact between the system components also afforded an improved electrocatalyst stability in comparison to various bare and functionalized g-C3N4-based systems. These findings emphasize the importance of tailoring g-C3N4 chemico-physical properties through the dispersion of complementary catalysts to fully exploit its applicative potential.

Abstract: Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) is a partially ionized gas that gains attention
as a well-tolerated cancer treatment that can enhance anti-tumor immune
responses, which are important for durable therapeutic effects. This review
offers a comprehensive and critical summary on the current understanding of
mechanisms in which CAP can assist anti-tumor immunity: induction of
immunogenic cell death, oxidative post-translational modifications of the
tumor and its microenvironment, epigenetic regulation of aberrant gene
expression, and enhancement of immune cell functions. This should provide
a rationale for the effective and meaningful clinical implementation of CAP. As
discussed here, despite its potential, CAP faces different clinical limitations
associated with the current CAP treatment modalities: direct exposure of
cancerous cells to plasma, and indirect treatment through injection of
plasma-treated liquids in the tumor. To this end, a novel modality is proposed:
plasma-treated hydrogels (PTHs) that can not only help overcome some of the
clinical limitations but also offer a convenient platform for combining CAP
with existing drugs to improve therapeutic responses and contribute to the
clinical translation of CAP. Finally, by integrating expertise in biomaterials and
plasma medicine, practical considerations and prospective for the
development of PTHs are offered.

Abstract: Hoofd-halskanker vormt een aanzienlijke uitdaging met bijna 900.000 nieuwe diagnoses per jaar, waarbij de jaarlijkse incidentie blijft stijgen. Vaak wordt de diagnose pas in een laat stadium gesteld, wat complexe behandelingen noodzakelijk maakt. Terugval van patiënten is helaas een veelvoorkomend probleem. De gemiddelde overlevingsduur is beperkt tot enkele maanden. Daarom is er een dringende behoefte om nieuwe, veelbelovende behandelingen te ontwikkelen voor patiënten met hoofd-halskanker. Voor het bereiken van deze vooruitgang spelen innovatieve studiemodellen een cruciale rol. Het ontwikkelen van deze nieuwe behandelingen start met laboratoriumonderzoek, waarbij traditionele tweedimensionale celculturen hun beperkingen hebben. Daarom verschuiven onderzoekers hun aandacht meer en meer naar geavanceerdere driedimensionale modellen, met hoofd-halskankerorganoïden als beloftevol nieuw model. Dit model behoudt immers zowel het genetische profiel als de morfologische kenmerken van de originele tumor van de hoofd-halskankerpatiënt. Hoofdhalskankerorganoïden bieden daarom de mogelijkheid om innovatieve behandelingen te testen en kunnen mogelijk zelfs de respons van een patiënt op bepaalde therapieën voorspellen. Hoewel tumororganoïden als ‘patiënt-in-het-lab’ veelbelovend zijn, zijn er uitdagingen te overwinnen, zoals de ontwikkelingstijd en de toepasbaarheid bij alle tumortypes, evenals het ontbreken van immuuncellen en andere micro-omgevingscomponenten. Er is daarom een grote behoefte aan gestandaardiseerde protocollen voor de ontwikkeling van organoïden en verkorting van de ontwikkelingstijd. Concluderend bieden driedimensionale hoofd-halskankerorganoïden een veelbelovend perspectief voor de toekomst van kankerbehandelingen. Ze hebben het potentieel om bij te dragen aan de ontwikkeling van gepersonaliseerde behandelingen en zo de overlevingskansen van kankerpatiënten te verbeteren. Het is echter belangrijk om hun voorspellend vermogen en toepassingsmogelijkheden verder te onderzoeken, voordat ze op grote schaal worden geïmplementeerd.

Abstract: Background Patient-derived organoids are invaluable for fundamental and translational cancer research and holds great promise for personalized medicine. However, the shortage of available analysis methods, which are often single-time point, severely impede the potential and routine use of organoids for basic research, clinical practise, and pharmaceutical and industrial applications. Methods Here, we developed a high-throughput compatible and automated live-cell image analysis software that allows for kinetic monitoring of organoids, named Organoid Brightfield Identification-based Therapy Screening (OrBITS), by combining computer vision with a convolutional network machine learning approach. The OrBITS deep learning analysis approach was validated against current standard assays for kinetic imaging and automated analysis of organoids. A drug screen of standard-of-care lung and pancreatic cancer treatments was also performed with the OrBITS platform and compared to the gold standard, CellTiter-Glo 3D assay. Finally, the optimal parameters and drug response metrics were identified to improve patient stratification. Results OrBITS allowed for the detection and tracking of organoids in routine extracellular matrix domes, advanced Gri3D (R)-96 well plates, and high-throughput 384-well microplates, solely based on brightfield imaging. The obtained organoid Count, Mean Area, and Total Area had a strong correlation with the nuclear staining, Hoechst, following pairwise comparison over a broad range of sizes. By incorporating a fluorescent cell death marker, infra-well normalization for organoid death could be achieved, which was tested with a 10-point titration of cisplatin and validated against the current gold standard ATP-assay, CellTiter-Glo 3D. Using this approach with OrBITS, screening of chemotherapeutics and targeted therapies revealed further insight into the mechanistic action of the drugs, a feature not achievable with the CellTiter-Glo 3D assay. Finally, we advise the use of the growth rate-based normalised drug response metric to improve accuracy and consistency of organoid drug response quantification. Conclusion Our findings validate that OrBITS, as a scalable, automated live-cell image analysis software, would facilitate the use of patient-derived organoids for drug development and therapy screening. The developed wet-lab workflow and software also has broad application potential, from providing a launching point for further brightfield-based assay development to be used for fundamental research, to guiding clinical decisions for personalized medicine.

Abstract: Electrostriction is a property of dielectric materials whereby an applied electric field induces a mechanical deformation proportional to the square of that field. The magnitude of the effect is usually minuscule (<10(-19) m(2) V-2 for simple oxides). However, symmetry-breaking phenomena at the interfaces can offer an efficient strategy for the design of new properties(1,2). Here we report an engineered electrostrictive effect via the epitaxial deposition of alternating layers of Gd2O3-doped CeO2 and Er2O3-stabilized delta-Bi2O3 with atomically controlled interfaces on NdGaO3 substrates. The value of the electrostriction coefficient achieved is 2.38 x 10(-14) m(2) V-2, exceeding the best known relaxor ferroelectrics by three orders of magnitude. Our theoretical calculations indicate that this greatly enhanced electrostriction arises from coherent strain imparted by interfacial lattice discontinuity. These artificial heterostructures open a new avenue for the design and manipulation of electrostrictive materials and devices for nano/micro actuation and cutting-edge sensors.

Abstract: Intragranular amorphization shear lamellae are found in deformed olivine aggregates. The detailed trans-mission electron microscopy analysis of intragranular lamella arrested in the core of a grain provides novel information on the amorphization mechanism. The deformation field is complex and heteroge-neous, corresponding to a shear crack type instability involving mode I, II and III loading components. The formation and propagation of the amorphous lamella is accompanied by the formation of crystal defects ahead of the tip. These defects are geometrically necessary [001] dislocations, characteristics of high-stress deformation in olivine, and rotational nanodomains which are tentatively interpreted as disclinations. We show that these defects play an important role in dictating the path followed by the amorphous lamella. Stress-induced amorphization in olivine would thus result from a direct crystal-to -amorphous transformation associated with a shear instability and not from a mechanical destabilization due to the accumulation of high number of defects from an intense preliminary deformation. The pref-erential alignment of some lamellae along (010) is a proof of the lower ultimate mechanical strength of these planes.(c) 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Acta Materialia Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )

Abstract: In this paper we study LaAlO3/Eu1-xLaxTiO3/SrTiO3 structures with nominally x = 0, 0.1 and different thicknesses of the Eu1-xLaxTiO3 layer. We observe that both systems have many properties similar to previously studied LaAlO3/EuTiO3/SrTiO3 and other oxide interfaces, such as the formation of a two-dimensional electron liquid for two unit cells of Eu1-xLaxTiO3; a metal-insulator transition driven by the increase in thickness of the Eu1-xLaxTiO3 layer; the presence of an anomalous Hall effect when driving the systems above the Lifshitz point with a back-gate voltage; and a minimum in the temperature dependence of the sheet resistance below the Lifshitz point in the one-band regime, which becomes more pronounced with increasing negative gate voltage. However, and notwithstanding the likely presence of magnetism in the system, we do not attribute that minimum to the Kondo effect, but rather to the properties of the SrTiO3 crystal and the inevitable effects of charge trapping when using back gates.

Abstract: Melanoma remains a deadly cancer despite significant advances in immune checkpoint blockade and targeted therapies. The incidence of melanoma is also growing worldwide, which highlights the need for novel treatment options and strategic combination of therapies. Here, we investigate non-thermal plasma (NTP), an ionized gas, as a promising, therapeutic option. In a melanoma mouse model, direct treatment of tumors with NTP results in reduced tumor burden and prolonged survival. Physical characterization of NTP treatment in situ reveals the deposited NTP energy and temperature associated with therapy response, and whole transcriptome analysis of the tumor identified several modulated pathways. NTP treatment also enhances the cancer-immunity cycle, as immune cells in both the tumor and tumor-draining lymph nodes appear more stimulated to perform their anti-cancer functions. Thus, our data suggest that local NTP therapy stimulates systemic, anti-cancer immunity. We discuss, in detail, how these fundamental insights will help direct the translation of NTP technology into the clinic and inform rational combination strategies to address the challenges in melanoma therapy.

Abstract: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a challenging neoplastic disease, mainly due to the development of resistance to radio- and chemotherapy. Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) is an alternative technology that can eliminate cancer cells through oxidative damage, as shown in vitro, in ovo, and in vivo. However, how CAP affects the pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs), key players in the invasion and metastasis of PDAC, is poorly understood. This study aims to determine the effect of an anti-PDAC CAP treatment on PSCs tissue developed in ovo using mono- and co-cultures of RLT-PSC (PSCs) and Mia PaCa-2 cells (PDAC). We measured tissue reduction upon CAP treatment and mRNA expression of PSC activation markers and extracellular matrix (ECM) remodelling factors via qRT-PCR. Protein expression of selected markers was confirmed via immunohistochemistry. CAP inhibited growth in Mia PaCa-2 and co-cultured tissue, but its effectiveness was reduced in the latter, which correlates with reduced ki67 levels. CAP did not alter the mRNA expression of PSC activation and ECM remodelling markers. No changes in MMP2 and MMP9 expression were observed in RLT-PSCs, but small changes were observed in Mia PaCa-2 cells. Our findings support the ability of CAP to eliminate PDAC cells, without altering the PSCs.