Copper oxide nanoparticles (CuONPs) offer promising antimicrobial properties against a range of pathogens, addressing the urgent issue of antibiotic resistance. This study details the synthesis of glutamic acid-coated CuONPs (GA-CuONPs) and their functionalisation on medical-grade silicone tubing, using an oxysilane bonding agent. The resulting coating shows significant antimicrobial activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, including multidrug-resistant strains, while remaining non-toxic to human cells and exhibiting stable adherence, without leaching. This versatile coating method can be applied during manufacturing, or for ad hoc modifications, enhancing the antimicrobial properties of medical devices.

A crucial factor when developing e-textiles is ensuring their robustness and functionality during everyday activities, particularly washing. The ability to launder e-textile garments is not merely a matter of convenience but a necessity for widespread adoption. Incorporating electronics into textiles can lead to damage due to mechanical and chemical stresses, which most electronics are not designed to withstand. This work focuses on electronic yarn technology (e-yarn), in which electronic functionality is added to textiles by embedding small electronic components into a flexible yarn-like structure. First, the component is soldered onto thin conductive wires. The soldered component is then enclosed in a protective polymer resin (micro-pod). Micro-pods have different diameters depending on the size of the embedded electronic component. The ensemble is finally covered in a textile sheath. This study focuses on the wash durability of e-yarns integrated with textiles in three different ways: embroidered onto the surface of a woven fabric, within a knitted channel in a knitted fabric, and woven as a weft yarn. Further, the work studied the impact of using different sizes of micro-pods on the e-yarns’ wash durability. Ultimately, good wash durability was observed under all testing conditions.

In recent decades, there has been increased attention to the role of layer-by-layer assembled bio-polymer 3D structures (capsules, beads, and microgels) for biomedical applications. Such free-standing multilayer structures are formed via hard templating onto sacrificial cores such as vaterite CaCO₃ crystals. Immobilization of these structures onto solid surfaces (e.g., implants and catheters) opens the way for the formulation of advanced bio-coating with a patterned surface. However, the immobilization step is challenging. Multiple approaches based mainly on covalent binding have been developed to localize these multilayer 3D structures at the surface. This work reports a novel strategy to formulate multilayer surface-supported microgels (ss-MG) directly on the surface via hard templating onto ss-CaCO₃ pre-grown onto the surface via the direct mixing of Na₂CO₃ and CaCl₂ precursor solutions. ss-MGs were fabricated using biopolymers: polylysine (PLL) as polycation and three polyanions—hyaluronic acid (HA), heparin sulfate (HS), and alginate (ALG). ss-MG biodegradation was examined by employing the enzyme trypsin. Our studies indicate that the adhesion of the ss-MG to the surface and its formation yield directly correlate with the mobility of biopolymers in the ss-MG, which decreases in the sequence of ALG > HA > HS-based ss-MGs. The adhesion of HS-based ss-MGs is only possible via heating during their formation. Dextran-loading increases ss-MG formation yield while reducing ss-MG shrinking. ss-MGs with higher polymer mobility possess slower biodegradation rates, which is likely due to diffusion limitations for the enzyme in more compact annealed ss-MGs. These findings provide valuable insights into the mechanisms underlying the formation and biodegradation of surface-supported biopolymer structures.

Ferritin, a spherical protein shell assembled from 24 subunits, functions as an efficient iron storage and release system through its channels. Understanding how various chemicals affect the structural behaviour of ferritin is crucial for unravelling the origins of iron-related diseases in living organisms including humans. In particular, the influence of chemicals on ferritin’s dynamics and iron release is barely explored at the single-protein level. Here, by employing optical nanotweezers using double nanohole (DNH) structures, we examined the effect of ascorbic acid (reducing reagent) and pH on ferritin’s conformational dynamics. The dynamics of ferritin increased as the concentration of ascorbic acid approached saturation. At pH 2.0 ferritin exhibited significant structural fluctuations and eventually underwent a stepwise disassembly into fragments. This work, for the first time, tracked the disassembly pathway and kinetics of single ferritins in solution. We identified four critical fragments during its disassembly pathway, which are 22-mer, 12-mer, tetramer, and dimer subunits. Moreover, we presented the first single-molecule evidence of the cooperative disassembly of ferritin. Interrogating ferritin’s structural change in response to different chemicals holds importance for understanding their roles in iron metabolism, hence facilitating further development of medical treatments for the associated diseases.

The realization of high-speed, low-power computing beyond conventional electronics demands new paradigms for optical logic processing. Here, we present a passive terahertz (THz) metasurface platform that enables intrinsic frequency-multiplexed logic operations within a single, compact device. By encoding logical inputs through orthogonal polarization states and exploiting the multi-resonant response of fractal H-shaped metastructures, the proposed system performs multiple logic operations simultaneously across the 0.2–2.0 THz band. Unlike existing approaches that rely on active tuning or sequential execution, our design achieves parallel logic functionality in a fully passive and multiplexed architecture. Experimental validation using THz time-domain spectroscopy confirms broadband operation with extinction ratios up to 9.09 dB and robust safety margins exceeding 10%. This work establishes a scalable route toward compact, energy-efficient, and all-optical parallel computing systems in the THz regime.