Browsing by Author "Liu, Wei"

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
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    Autologously Generated Tissue-Engineered Bone Flaps for Reconstruction of Large Mandibular Defects in an Ovine Model
    (Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., 2015) Tatara, Alexander M.; Kretlow, James D.; Spicer, Patrick P.; Lu, Steven; Lam, Johnny; Liu, Wei; Cao, Yilin; Liu, Guangpeng; Jackson, John D.; Yoo, James J.; Atala, Anthony; van den Beucken, Jeroen J.J.P.; Jansen, John A.; Kasper, F. Kurtis; Ho, Tang; Demian, Nagi; Miller, Michael John; Wong, Mark E.; Mikos, Antonios G.; Bioengineering
    The reconstruction of large craniofacial defects remains a significant clinical challenge. The complex geometry of facial bone and the lack of suitable donor tissue often hinders successful repair. One strategy to address both of these difficulties is the development of an in vivo bioreactor, where a tissue flap of suitable geometry can be orthotopically grown within the same patient requiring reconstruction. Our group has previously designed such an approach using tissue chambers filled with morcellized bone autograft as a scaffold to autologously generate tissue with a predefined geometry. However, this approach still required donor tissue for filling the tissue chamber. With the recent advances in biodegradable synthetic bone graft materials, it may be possible to minimize this donor tissue by replacing it with synthetic ceramic particles. In addition, these flaps have not previously been transferred to a mandibular defect. In this study, we demonstrate the feasibility of transferring an autologously generated tissue-engineered vascularized bone flap to a mandibular defect in an ovine model, using either morcellized autograft or synthetic bone graft as scaffold material.
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    Critical Science Plan for the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST)
    (Springer Nature, 2021) Rast, Mark P.; Bello González, Nazaret; Bellot Rubio, Luis; Cao, Wenda; Cauzzi, Gianna; DeLuca, Edward; De Pontieu, Bart; Fletcher, Lyndsay; Gibson, Sarah E.; Judge, Philip G.; Katsukawa, Yukio; Kazachenko, Maria D.; Khomenko, Elena; Landi, Enrico; Martínez Pillet, Valentín; Petrie, Gordon J.D.; Qiu, Jiong; Rachmeler, Laurel A.; Rempel, Matthias; Schmidt, Wolfgang; Scullion, Eamon; Sun, Xudong; Welsch, Brian T.; Andretta, Vincenzo; Antolin, Patrick; Ayres, Thomas R.; Balasubramaniam, K.S.; Ballai, Istvan; Berger, Thomas E.; Bradshaw, Stephen J.; Campbell, Ryan J.; Carlsson, Mats; Casini, Roberto; Centeno, Rebecca; Cranmer, Steven R.; Criscuoli, Serena; DeForest, Craig; Deng, Yuanyong; Erdélyi, Robertus; Fedun, Viktor; Fischer, Catherine E.; González Manrique, Sergio J.; Hahn, Michael; Harra, Louise; Henriques, Vasco M.J.; Hurlburt, Neal E.; Jaeggli, Sarah; Jafarzadeh, Shahin; Jain, Rekha; Jefferies, Stuart M.; Keys, Peter H.; Kowalski, Adam F.; Kuckein, Christoph; Kuhn, Jeffrey R.; Kuridze, David; Liu, Jiajia; Liu, Wei; Longcope, Dana; Mathioudakis, Mihalis; McAteer, R.T. James; McIntosh, Scott W.; McKenzie, David E.; Miralles, Mari Paz; Morton, Richard J.; Muglach, Karin; Nelson, Chris J.; Panesar, Navdeep K.; Parenti, Susanna; Parnell, Clare E.; Poduval, Bala; Reardon, Kevin P.; Reep, Jeffrey W.; Schad, Thomas A.; Schmit, Donald; Sharma, Rahul; Socas-Navarro, Hector; Srivastava, Abhishek K.; Sterling, Alphonse C.; Suematsu, Yoshinori; Tarr, Lucas A.; Tiwari, Sanjiv; Tritschler, Alexandra; Verth, Gary; Vourlidas, Angelos; Wang, Haimin; Wang, Yi-Ming; NSO, DKIST project, and DKIST instrument scientists; the DKIST Science Working Group; the DKIST Critical Science Plan Community
    The National Science Foundation’s Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST) will revolutionize our ability to measure, understand, and model the basic physical processes that control the structure and dynamics of the Sun and its atmosphere. The first-light DKIST images, released publicly on 29 January 2020, only hint at the extraordinary capabilities that will accompany full commissioning of the five facility instruments. With this Critical Science Plan (CSP) we attempt to anticipate some of what those capabilities will enable, providing a snapshot of some of the scientific pursuits that the DKIST hopes to engage as start-of-operations nears. The work builds on the combined contributions of the DKIST Science Working Group (SWG) and CSP Community members, who generously shared their experiences, plans, knowledge, and dreams. Discussion is primarily focused on those issues to which DKIST will uniquely contribute.
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    Dynamic structural evolution of iron catalysts involving competitive oxidation and carburization during CO2 hydrogenation
    (AAAS, 2022) Zhu, Jie; Wang, Peng; Zhang, Xiaoben; Zhang, Guanghui; Li, Rongtan; Li, Wenhui; Senftle, Thomas P.; Liu, Wei; Wang, Jianyang; Wang, Yanli; Zhang, Anfeng; Fu, Qiang; Song, Chunshan; Guo, Xinwen
    Identifying the dynamic structure of heterogeneous catalysts is crucial for the rational design of new ones. In this contribution, the structural evolution of Fe(0) catalysts during CO2 hydrogenation to hydrocarbons has been investigated by using several (quasi) in situ techniques. Upon initial reduction, Fe species are carburized to Fe3C and then to Fe5C2. The by-product of CO2 hydrogenation, H2O, oxidizes the iron carbide to Fe3O4. The formation of Fe3O4@(Fe5C2+Fe3O4) core-shell structure was observed at steady state, and the surface composition depends on the balance of oxidation and carburization, where water plays a key role in the oxidation. The performance of CO2 hydrogenation was also correlated with the dynamic surface structure. Theoretical calculations and controll experiments reveal the interdependence between the phase transition and reactive environment. We also suggest a practical way to tune the competitive reactions to maintain an Fe5C2-rich surface for a desired C2+ productivity.
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    Genome-wide identification and functional analyses of calmodulin genes inﾠ Solanaceous ﾠspecies
    (BioMed Central, 2013) Zhao, Yuan; Liu, Wei; Xu, You-Ping; Cao, Jia-Yi; Braam, Janet; Cai, Xin-Zhong
    Background: Calmodulin (CaM) is a major calcium sensor in all eukaryotes. It binds calcium and modulates the activity of a wide range of downstream proteins in response to calcium signals. However, little is known about the CaM gene family in Solanaceous species, including the economically important species, tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), and the gene silencing model plant, Nicotiana benthamiana. Moreover, the potential function of CaM in plant disease resistance remains largely unclear. Results: We performed genome-wide identification of CaM gene families in Solanaceous species. Employing bioinformatics approaches, multiple full-length CaM genes were identified from tomato, N. benthamiana and potato (S. tuberosum) genomes, with tomato having 6 CaM genes, N. benthamiana having 7 CaM genes, and potato having 4 CaM genes. Sequence comparison analyses showed that three tomato genes, SlCaM3/4/5, two potato genes StCaM2/3, and two sets of N. benthamiana genes, NbCaM1/2/3/4 and NbCaM5/6, encode identical CaM proteins, yet the genes contain different intron/exon organization and are located on different chromosomes. Further sequence comparisons and gene structural and phylogenetic analyses reveal that Solanaceous species gained a new group of CaM genes during evolution. These new CaM genes are unusual in that they contain three introns in contrast to only a single intron typical of known CaM genes in plants. The tomato CaM (SlCaM) genes were found to be expressed in all organs. Prediction of cis-acting elements in 5' upstream sequences and expression analyses demonstrated that SlCaM genes have potential to be highly responsive to a variety of biotic and abiotic stimuli. Additionally, silencing of SlCaM2 and SlCaM6 altered expression of a set of signaling and defense-related genes and resulted in significantly lower resistance to Tobacco rattle virus and the oomycete pathogen, Pythium aphanidermatum. Conclusions: The CaM gene families in the Solanaceous species tomato, N. benthamiana and potato were identified through a genome-wide analysis. All three plant species harbor a small set of genes that encode identical CaM proteins, which may manifest a strategy of plants to retain redundancy or enhanced quantitative gene function. In addition, Solanaceous species have evolved one new group of CaM genes during evolution. CaM genes play important roles in plant disease resistance to a variety of pathogens.
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    Injectable OPF/graphene oxide hydrogels provide mechanical support and enhance cell electrical signaling after implantation into myocardial infarct
    (Ivyspring, 2018) Zhou, Jin; Yang, Xiaoning; Liu, Wei; Wang, Chunlan; Shen, Yuan; Zhang, Fengzhi; Zhu, Huimin; Sun, Hongji; Chen, Jiayun; Lam, Johnny; Mikos, Antonios G.; Wang, Changyong; Bioengineering
    After myocardial infarction (MI), the scar tissue contributes to ventricular dysfunction by electrically uncoupling viable cardiomyocytes in the infarct region. Injection of a conductive hydrogel could not only provide mechanical support to the infarcted region, but also synchronize contraction and restore ventricular function by electrically connecting isolated cardiomyocytes to intact tissue. Methods: We created a conductive hydrogel by introducing graphene oxide (GO) nanoparticles into oligo(poly(ethylene glycol) fumarate) (OPF) hydrogels. The hydrogels were characterized by AFM and electrochemistry workstation. A rat model of myocardial infarction was used to investigate the ability of OPF/GO to improve cardiac electrical propagation in the injured heart in vivo. Echocardiography (ECHO) was used to evaluate heart function 4 weeks after MI. Ca2+ imaging was used to visualize beating cardiomyocytes (CMs). Immunofluorescence staining was used to visualize the expression of cardiac-specific markers. Results: OPF/GO hydrogels had semiconductive properties that were lacking in pure OPF. In addition, the incorporation of GO into OPF hydrogels could improve cell attachment in vitro. Injection of OPF/GO 4 weeks after myocardial infarction in rats enhanced the Ca2+ signal conduction of cardiomyocytes in the infarcted region in comparison with PBS or OPF alone. Moreover, the injection of OPF/GO hydrogel into the infarct region enhanced the generation of cytoskeletal structure and intercalated disc assembly. Echocardiography analysis showed improvement in load-dependent ejection fraction/fractional shortening of heart function 4 weeks after injection. Conclusions: We prepared a conductive hydrogel (OPF/GO) that provide mechanical support and biological conduction in vitro and in vivo. We found that injected OPF/GO hydrogels can provide mechanical support and electric connection between healthy myocardium and the cardiomyocytes in the scar via activating the canonical Wnt signal pathway, thus upregulating the generation of Cx43 and gap junction associated proteins. Injection of OPF/GO hydrogel maintained better heart function after myocardial infarction than the injection of a nonconductive polymer.
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    Rhodium(II) Proximity-Labeling Identifies a Novel Target Site on STAT3 for Inhibitors with Potent Anti-Leukemia Activity
    (Wiley, 2015) Minus, Matthew B.; Liu, Wei; Vohidov, Farrukh; Kasembeli, Moses M.; Long, Xin; Krueger, Michael; Stevens, Alexandra; Kolosov, Mikhail I.; Tweardy, David J.; Sison, Edward Allen R.; Redell, Michele S.; Ball, Zachary T.
    Nearly 40 % of children with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) suffer relapse arising from chemoresistance, often involving upregulation of the oncoprotein STAT3 (signal transducer and activator of transcription 3). Herein, rhodium(II)-catalyzed, proximity-driven modification identifies the STAT3 coiled-coil domain (CCD) as a novel ligand-binding site, and we describe a new naphthalene sulfonamide inhibitor that targets the CCD, blocks STAT3 function, and halts its disease-promoting effects in vitro, in tumor growth models, and in a leukemia mouse model, validating this new therapeutic target for resistant AML.
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    Single atom catalysts in Van der Waals gaps
    (Springer Nature, 2022) Jiang, Huaning; Yang, Weiwei; Xu, Mingquan; Wang, Erqing; Wei, Yi; Liu, Wei; Gu, Xiaokang; Liu, Lixuan; Chen, Qian; Zhai, Pengbo; Zou, Xiaolong; Ajayan, Pulickel M.; Zhou, Wu; Gong, Yongji
    Single-atom catalysts provide efficiently utilized active sites to improve catalytic activities while improving the stability and enhancing the activities to the level of their bulk metallic counterparts are grand challenges. Herein, we demonstrate a family of single-atom catalysts with different interaction types by confining metal single atoms into the van der Waals gap of two-dimensional SnS2. The relatively weak bonding between the noble metal single atoms and the host endows the single atoms with more intrinsic catalytic activity compared to the ones with strong chemical bonding, while the protection offered by the layered material leads to ultrahigh stability compared to the physically adsorbed single-atom catalysts on the surface. Specifically, the trace Pt-intercalated SnS2 catalyst has superior long-term durability and comparable performance to that of commercial 10 wt% Pt/C catalyst in hydrogen evolution reaction. This work opens an avenue to explore high-performance intercalated single-atom electrocatalysts within various two-dimensional materials.