Scientists from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) and Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology (SIBCB) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences revealed that UDP-glucose accelerates SNAI1 mRNA decay and impairs lung cancer metastasis. Their findings were published in Nature.
　　Metastasis is the primary cause of cancer morbidity and mortality, and accounts for up to 95% of cancer-related deaths. UDP-glucose 6-dehydrogenase (UGDH) is a key enzyme in the uronic acid pathway that converts UDP-glucose to UDP-glucuronic acid; Hu antigen R (HuR) is a ubiquitously expressed RNA-binding protein that binds to the 3'-untranslated region (UTR) region of many short-lived mRNAs and increases their stability.
　　New mechanism of tumour metastasis, and binding modes of UDP-Glc and UDP-GlcUA with HuR.(Image by DICP and SIBCB)  
　　Dr. YANG Weiwei's group from SIBCB has performed the experimental research. The results show that, upon EGFR activation, phosphorylated UGDH interacts with HuR and converts UDP-glucose to UDP-glucuronic acid. The resulting UDP-glucoronic acid attenuated the UDP-glucose-mediated inhibition of the association of HuR with SNAI1 mRNA, thus enhancing SNAI1 mRNA stability.
　　Increased SNAIL expression initiates the epithelial-mesenchymal transition, thereby promoting tumor cell migration and lung cancer metastasis. These findings reveal a tumor-suppressive role for UDP-glucose in lung cancer metastasis and uncover the mechanism by which UGDH promotes tumor metastasis by increasing SNAI1 mRNA stability.
　　Dr. Li Guohui's group from DICP has performed molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to elucidate the structural basis underlying the UDP-Glc- or UDP-GlcUA-regulated binding of HuR to mRNA. The MD results showed that both UDP-Glc and UDP-GlcUA bound to the same RNA-binding domain of HuR.
　　The binding affinity of UDP-Glc with HuR is stronger than UDP-GlcUA with HuR, which is consistent with experimental results. Essentially, two mutants of HuR(Y63F) and HuR(N134A) were generated and studied. It was found that HuR(N134A) had a much lower affinity for both metabolites than HuR(WT) and HuR(Y63F), but still bound to SNAI1 mRNA, and tumor cells rescued with rHuR(N134A) showed more migration.
　　This research was supported by the State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics, the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the National Natural Science Foundation of China. (Text by CHU Huiying)

　　Scientists from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and their collaborators investigated the mechanism of rapid reactivity of the F + H2 reaction at low temperature and found that rapid reactivity was actually induced by resonance-enhanced tunneling.
　　This finding explains the observation of HF in interstellar clouds, which is generated only through the F + H2 reaction. The research was published in Nature Chemistry.
　　Generally, a chemical reaction with an energy barrier can only happen at collision energies higher than the barrier. However, quantum tunneling at energies below the reaction barrier plays a significant role in many chemical processes, especially at low temperature.
　　Chemical reaction plays an important role in the evolution of interstellar clouds. In interstellar space, temperature is particularly low, thus quantum effects in reactions may play a significant role.
　　HF in interstellar clouds was first discovered in 1997, and recent observations have found that HF is ubiquitous in the universe. Since the F + H2 reaction, with an energy barrier of 1.8kcal/mol, is the sole source of observed HF at low temperature in interstellar clouds, how does it rapidly proceed? Even considering normal quantum tunneling, the reaction rate is too low to be observed with a reaction barrier of such height (~800K).
　　With improved molecular crossed beam apparatus, the scientists measured the quantum state specific backward scattering spectroscopy (QSSBSS) as a function of collision energy in the range 1 ~ 35 meV. A peak in QSSBSS was clearly observed at about 5 meV. Using detailed dynamics analysis on an accurate potential energy surfaces (PESs), they found that the peak was produced by the ground resonance state of the F+H2 to HF+H reaction. They also discovered that the oscillations at about 20 meV were produced by the first excited resonance state of the F + H2 reaction.
　　Further theoretical analysis indicated that if the contribution of the resonance-enhanced tunneling were removed from the reactivity, the reaction rate constant of F + H2 below 10K would be reduced more than three orders of magnitude.
　　Thus, the reactivity of the F + H2 reaction is almost completely derived from resonance-enhanced tunneling from the ground resonance state. With an accurate PES, the theory provides the reaction rate constant for the F + H2 reaction over a wide temperature range, which is essential to understanding interstellar chemistry. (Text by SUN Zhigang)

　　The microfluidic research group led by Prof. QIN Jianhua from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences developed a novel human islet organoid-on-a-chip to generate islet organoids from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs). The results were published in Lab on a chip (DOI: 10.1039/C8LC01298A) as a cover article.
　　hPSCs-derived organoids have represented a new class of in vitro organ models for development biology studies, disease modeling and regenerative medicine. Study in stem cell organoids has facilitated high-fidelity modeling of the original tissue or organ via self-renewal and self-organization. These organoids can recapitulate the organ specific functions, cellular architecture and morphologies.
　　Diabetes mellitus caused by damaged pancreatic islets leads to an increase in morbidity and mortality. Rebuilding biomimetic human islet organoids in vitro provides promising platform for diabetes studies, cell replacement treatment and drug screening, which remains challenging.
　　In this work, the scientists presented a new strategy to engineer human islet organoids by combining developmental biology and bioengineering principles.
　　The engineered organ-on-a-chip system contained a multi-layer microfluidic device that allowed for controllable aggregation of embryoid bodies (EBs), in situ pancreatic differentiation and generation of islet organoids under perfused 3D culture in a single device. The generated islet organoids contained heterogeneous islet-specific α and β-like cells that exhibited favorable growth and cell viability. They also exhibited more sensitive glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS) and higher Ca2+ flux, indicating the role of biomimetic mechanical flow in promoting endocrine cell differentiation and maturation of islet organoids.
　　This human islet organoid-on-a-chip provided a proof of concept for synergistic engineering of organoids by combining bioengineering technology and stem cell development biology. This platform could be further integrated with additional microfluidic elements, advanced materials and biosensors to facilitate organoids maturation in a biomimetic microenvironment and functional monitoring, providing a promising platform for organoid engineering, drug testing and regenerative medicine.
　　This research was supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. This paper was dedicated to the 70th anniversary of Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, CAS. (Text by TAO Tingting)

　　Scientists recently developed a method to produce diesel fuel and hydrogen by exploiting light energy (solar energy or artificial light energy) and biomass-derived feedstocks. Their findings were published in Nature Energy.
　　Conceptual process diagram for the production of diesel fuels from lignocellulosic waste. (Image by LUO Nengchao)
　　Biomass, including agricultural straw and forest waste, is the largest source of sustainable carbon resources in nature and is able to replace petrochemical resources to provide abundant derivative products. As an alternative to photocatalytic water splitting to provide hydrogen, splitting of biomass or its derivatives usually yields higher light transformation efficiencies and higher rates of hydrogen production.
　　Nevertheless, oxidative products derived from biomass are mostly useless, causing waste of sustainable biomass resources and environmental pollution. Therefore, developing technologies that merge hydrogen production and biomass conversion into value-added chemicals or fuels is expected to bring about a "double guarantee" of materials and energy for industrial manufacture and daily life.
　　Prof. WANG Feng and his group at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences developed a process for using light energy to drive the valorization of downstream biomass products, namely methyl furan compounds, to produce hydrogen and diesel fuel precursors simultaneously.
　　The reactions were carried out at room temperature and pressure, and produced hydrogen and diesel fuel precursors that are constituted by isomeric oxygenates with variety of carbon numbers typical of diesel fuel. Removal of the oxygen contents from the diesel fuel precursors produced sustainable diesel fuels with components close to current petroleum diesel; hydrogen could be used to remove the oxygen from the diesel fuel precursors or be used alone.
　　This process realizes the directional transformation of light energy and biomass to hydrogen energy and diesel fuels, and provides a way to produce clean energy using solar energy and sustainable carbon sources present on the earth’s surface. (Text by LUO Nengchao)

　　Scientists at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have developed a chemocatalytic approach to convert cellulose into ethanol in a one-pot process by using a multifunctional Mo/Pt/WOx catalyst. This approach opens up an alternative avenue for biofuel production. The findings were published in Joule.
　　One-pot production of cellulosic ethanol via tandem catalysis over multifunctional Mo/Pt/WOx catalyst. (Image by WANG Aiqin)
　　Cellulosic ethanol is one of the most important biofuels, yet commercial production is hindered by the low efficiency and high cost of the bioconversion process.
　　Prof. WANG Aiqin, leader of the research group, and her colleagues developed a chemocatalytic process in which two separate reactions, cellulose conversion to ethylene glycol and ethylene glycol conversion to ethanol, were coupled in a one-pot reaction by using a multifunctional Mo/Pt/WOx catalyst, thus achieving an ethanol yield of higher than 40 %.
　　While noting that the new process can still be made more efficient, WANG said that "in principle" the new process can "overcome the intrinsic limitations on ethanol concentration imposed by the bioconversion process."
　　"With further improvement in catalyst efficiency and robustness, this one-pot chemocatalytic approach shows great potential in the practical production of cellulosic ethanol in the future," WANG said.
　　The research was supported by China's National Key Projects for Fundamental Research and Development program, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. (Text by Aiqin Wang)

　　A research group led by Prof. WU Zhongshuai from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with MAI Yiyong from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, developed 2D polymers with in-plane cylindrical mesopores on graphene nanosheets for micro-supercapacitors. The study was published in Angew. Chem. Int. Ed..
　　Two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials, such as graphene, exhibit unique properties absent in their bulk materials. However, these 2D nanosheets easily tend to stack or aggregate together, leading to the limited accessibility of active sites and thus unsatisfied performance in energy-related applications, e.g., micro-supercapacitors (MSCs).
　　The growth of electrochemically active moieties on 2D nanosheets to produce 2D sandwich-like heterostructures was proven to be a promising strategy for the prevention of the stacking and thus the improvement of their capacitive performance in MSCs. On the other hand, mesoporous structure in electrode materials can largely increase specific surface area, reserve the electrolyte and facilitate the ionic diffusion pathways.
　　Thereby, patterning well-defined mesoporous electrochemically active materials on free-standing nanosheets, such as graphene, will produce novel 2D sandwich-structured hybrid nanomaterials for high-performance MSCs. Nevertheless, this remains a great challenge lacking of suitable templates and innovative techniques.
　　Schematic of the fabrication of 2D mesoporous polymer/graphene with in-plane cylindrical pores for MSCs; Morphological characterizations of mesoporous polypyrrole/graphene nanosheets; Schematic diagram of the roles of cylindrical mesopores parallel to graphene surface in the high performance of planar MSCs. (Image by QIN Jieqiong and HOU Dan)
　　To address the above issue, the scientists synthesized polypyrrole, polyaniline and polydopamine with in-plane cylindrical mesopores on graphene nanosheets by the interface self-assembly strategy.
　　The resultant 2D sandwich-structured nanohybrids were employed as the interdigital microelectrodes for the assembly of planar MSCs, which delivered outstanding volumetric capacitance and energy density. Moreover, the MSCs displayed remarkable flexibility and superior integration for boosting output voltage and capacitance.
　　The interfacial self-assembly protocol opens novel opportunities for patterning 2D porous nanosheets for planar energy storage devices.
　　The above work was supported by China's National Natural Science Foundation, and China's National Key R&D Program, etc. (Text by QIN Jieqiong)