Gao Xiao

Light-powered cell factories Bacteria and fungi are used industrially to produce commodity fine chemicals at vast scale. Sugars are an economical feedstock, but many of the desired products require enzymatic reduction, meaning that some of the sugar must be diverted to regenerate the cellular reductant NADPH (reduced form of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate). Guo et al. show that electrons from light-sensitive nanoparticles can drive reduction of cellular NADPH in yeast, which can then be used for reductive biosynthetic reactions. This system can reduce diversion of carbon to NADPH regeneration and should be compatible with many existing engineered strains of yeast. Science , this issue p. 813

Biomass-derived membrane used for uranium extraction of natural seawater from the East China Sea through the formation of metal–phenolic networks.

Abstract The targeted therapy of metastatic melanoma is an important yet challenging goal that has received only limited attention to date. Herein, green tea polyphenols, (–)‐epigallocatechin‐3‐gallate (EGCG), and lanthanide metal ions (Sm 3+ ) are used as building blocks to engineer self‐assembled Sm III ‐EGCG nanocomplexes with synergistically enhanced tumor inhibitory properties. These nanocomplexes have negligible systemic toxic effects on healthy cells but cause a significant reduction in the viability of melanoma cells by efficiently regulating their metabolic pathways. Moreover, the wound‐induced migration of melanoma cells can be efficiently inhibited by Sm III ‐EGCG, which is a key criterion for metastatic melanoma therapy. In a mouse melanoma tumor model, Sm III ‐EGCG is directly compared with a clinical anticancer drug, 5‐fluorouracil and shows remarkable tumor inhibition. Moreover, the targeted therapy of Sm III ‐EGCG is shown to prevent metastatic lung melanoma from spreading to main organs with no adverse side effects on the body weight or organs. These in vivo results demonstrate significant advantages of Sm III ‐EGCG over its clinical counterpart. The results suggest that these green tea‐based, self‐assembled nanocomplexes possess all of the key traits of a clinically promising candidate to address the challenges associated with the treatment of advanced stage metastatic melanoma.

Flower-like ZnO nanorods with diameters less than 15 nm were synthesized by a sonochemical method. The sensors fabricated from the nanorods exhibited excellent ethanol sensing properties. At the working temperature of 300 °C, their sensitivity was 176.8-100 ppm ethanol vapour. While the working temperature was reduced to 140 °C, they were still able to detect ethanol vapour at the ppm level. The reduced working temperature may be attributed to the small sizes of the nanorods.

Cerium-doped TiO2 (Cex/TiO2) mesoporous nanofibers were prepared by one-pot facile synthesis method using collagen fiber as the biotemplate. The physicochemical properties of the as-prepared Cex/TiO2 nanofibers were well characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), N2 adsorption–desorption isotherms, and UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectrum (UV–vis DRS). The visible light absorption ability and the band gap energy of the Cex/TiO2 nanofibers could be adjusted by changing the doping amount of Ce. For example, when the mole ratio of Ce/Ti was fixed at 0.03, the absorbance wavelength of the Ce0.03/TiO2 reached 739 nm, and the corresponding band gap energy was obviously reduced to 1.678 eV. Photodegradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) was used as the probe reaction to evaluate the visible light photocatalytic activity of the Cex/TiO2 nanofibers. Compared with the undoped TiO2 nanofiber and commercial TiO2 catalyst (Degussa P25), the Cex/TiO2 nanofibers showed the excellent photocatalytic activity. Especially, the degradation degree of RhB using Ce0.03/TiO2 nanofiber reached 99.59% in 80 min, with corresponding TOC removal efficiency of 77.59%.