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The West Atlantic trumpetfish (Aulostomus maculatus) performs an unusual hunting strategy, termed shadowing, whereby a trumpetfish swims closely behind or next to another ‘host’ species to facilitate the capture of prey. Despite trumpetfish being observed throughout the Caribbean, observations of this behaviour appear to be concentrated to a handful of localities. Here we assess the degree of geog

An environmentally friendly and inexpensive silica source, sodium silicate solution, was applied to synthesize a free-standing mesoporous silica film at the air/liquid interface, exploiting the co-assembly of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide and polyethylenimine. The effect of the composition of the solution used for the film formation on the mesostructure of the as-synthesized silica films, charact

Deep eutectic systems are currently under intense investigation to replace traditional organic solvents in a range of syntheses. Here, indole in choline chloride-malic acid deep eutectic solvent (DES) was studied as a function of water content, to identify solute interactions with the DES which affect heterocycle reactivity and selectivity, and as a proxy for biomolecule solvation. Empirical Poten

The use of conventional fertilizers is associated with pollution due to leaching and a mismatch between release rates and crop requirements for optimal development. Slow-release fertilizers could address both problems. Here, the synthesis and properties of a zinc fertilizer composed of cellulose microbeads loaded with aqueous ZnSO4 are reported for the first time. UV-vis spectrophotometry showed t

Electrostatic attractions are essential in any complex formation between the nanofibrils of the opposite charge for a specific application, such as microcapsule production. Here, we used cationized cellulose nanofibril (CCNF)-stabilized Pickering emulsions (PEs) as templates, and the electrostatic interactions were induced by adding oxidized cellulose nanofibrils (OCNFs) at the oil-water interface

Extraction of integral membrane proteins with poly(styrene-co-maleic acid) provides a promising alternative to detergent extraction. A major advantage of extraction using copolymers rather than detergent is the retention of the lipid bilayer around the proteins. Here we report the first functional investigation of the mammalian insulin receptor which was extracted from cell membranes using poly(st

Background: Small angle scattering techniques are beginning to be more widely utilised for structural analysis of biological systems. However, applying these techniques to study membrane proteins still remains problematic, due to sample preparation requirements and analysis of the resulting data. The development of styrene-maleic acid co-polymers (SMA) to extract membrane proteins into nanodiscs f

With the increasing global demand for precise and efficient pharmaceuticals and the biopharma industry moving towards Industry 4.0, the need for advanced process integration, automation, and modeling has increased as well. In this work, a method for automatic modeling and calibration of an integrated preparative chromatographic system for pharmaceutical development and production is presented. Bas

We investigate the collective dynamics of a population of X Y model-type oscillators, globally coupled via non-separable interactions that are randomly chosen from a positive or negative value and subject to thermal noise controlled by temperature T. We find that the system at T = 0 exhibits a discontinuous, first-order like phase transition from the incoherent to the fully coherent state; when th

Malaria is considered to be one of the most catastrophic health issues in the whole world. Vibrational spectroscopy is a rapid, robust, label-free, inexpensive, highly sensitive, nonperturbative, and nondestructive technique with high diagnostic potential for the early detection of disease agents. In particular, the fingerprinting capability of attenuated total reflection spectroscopy is promising

In recent years, the demand for non-surfactant based Pickering emulsions in many industrial applications has grown significantly because of the option to select biodegradable and sustainable materials with low toxicity as emulsion stabilisers. Usually, emulsions are a dispersion system, where synthetic surfactants or macromolecules stabilise two immiscible phases (typically water and oil phases) t

The continuous fabrication via membrane emulsification of stable microcapsules using renewable, biodegradable biopolymer wall materials keratin and chitosan is reported here for the first time. Microcapsule formation was based on opposite charge interactions between keratin and chitosan, which formed polyelectrolyte complexes when solutions were mixed at pH 5.5. Interfacial complexation was induce

Extraction of membrane proteins from biological membranes has traditionally involved detergents. In the past decade, a new technique has been developed, which uses styrene maleic acid (SMA) copolymers to extract membrane proteins into nanodiscs without the requirement of detergents. SMA nanodiscs are compatible with analytical techniques, such as small-angle scattering, NMR spectroscopy, and DLS,

When selecting a solvent for a given solute, the strongly held idiom “like dissolves like”, meaning that polar solvents are used for polar solutes, is often used. This idea has resulted from the concept that most molecular solvents are homogeneous. In a deep eutectic solvent (DES), however, both components can be ionic or non-ionic, polar or non-polar. By tuning the components, DESs can solubilize

Cyclic polymers have long been reported in the literature, but their development has often been stunted by synthetic difficulties such as the presence of linear contaminants. Research into the synthesis of these polymers has made great progress in the past decade, and this review covers the synthesis, properties, and applications of cyclic polymers, with an emphasis on bio-based aliphatic polyeste

Understanding and manipulating micelle morphology are key to exploiting surfactants in various applications. Recent studies have shown surfactant self-assembly in a variety of Deep Eutectic Solvents (DESs) where both the nature of surfactants and the interaction of the surfactant molecule with the solvent components influence the size, shape, and morphology of the micelles formed. So far, micelle

This study aimed to quantify the influence of clays and partially oxidised cellulose nanofibrils (OCNF) on gelation as well as characterise their physical and chemical interactions. Mixtures of Laponite and montmorillonite clays with OCNF form shear-thinning gels that are more viscous across the entire shear range than OCNF on its own. Viscosity and other rheological properties can be fine-tuned u

Oil-in-water emulsions have been stabilized by functionalized cellulose nanofibrils bearing either a negative (oxidized cellulose nanofibrils, OCNF) or a positive (cationic cellulose nanofibrils, CCNF) surface charge. The size of the droplets was measured by laser diffraction, while the structure of the shell of the Pickering emulsion droplets was probed using small-angle neutron scattering (SANS)

Hypothesis: Bottom-up synthesis of cubosomes is more energetically favourable than top-down approaches. However, bottom-up methods often rely on organic solvents such as ethanol as diluents, and lead to concurrent formation of liposomes. We propose using non-toxic diluents such as honey, glycerol and lactic acid for bottom-up cubosome synthesis. Experiments: Cubosomes were prepared using solutions

Ionogels offer huge potential for a number of applications including wearable electronics and soft sensors. However, their synthesis has been limited and often relies on non-renewable or non-biocompatible components. Here we present a novel two-component ionogel made using just deep eutectic solvents (DESs) and cellulose. DESs offer a non-volatile alternative to hydrogels with highly tuneable prop