Efficient slow and fast light fiber devices based on narrow band optical parametric amplification require a strict polarization control of the waves involved in the interaction. The use of high birefringence and spun fibers is studied theoretically, possible impairments evaluated, and design parameters determined.

The production of recombinant spider silk proteins continues to be a key area of interest for a number of research groups. Several key obstacles exist in their production as well as in their formulation into useable products. The original reported method to solubilize recombinant spider silk proteins (rSSp) in an aqueous solution involved using microwaves to quickly generate heat and pressure i...

For biomedical applications such as soft tissue engineering, plant proteins are becoming increasingly attractive. Zein, a class of prolamine proteins found in corn, offers excellent properties for application in the human body, but has inferior mechanical properties and lacks aqueous stability. In this study, electrospun scaffolds from neat zein and zein blended with prepolymer and mildly cross...

1 Laboratory of Bio-inspired & Graphene Nanomechanics, Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, University of Trento, Via Mesiano 77, 38123 Trento, Italy. 2 Cambridge Graphene Centre, University of Cambridge, 9 JJ Thomson Avenue, CB3 0FA, Cambridge UK. 3 Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Graphene Labs, Via Morego 30, 16163 Genova, Italy. 4 Department of Physics and “Nanostr...

Silks are renowned for being lightweight materials with impressive mechanical properties. Though moth and spider silks have received the most study, silk production has evolved in many other arthropods. One insect group that has been little investigated is Embioptera (webspinners). Embiopterans produce silk from unique tarsal spinning structures during all life stages. We characterize the molec...

Red cell enzyme activity was m easured in packed red cells obtained from spun hematocrit tubes and compared with results obtained using standard methods (washed, filtered, red blood cells [WFRBC]) in order to evaluate the feasibility of using heel puncture as a means of obtaining accurate quantitative red cell enzym e data in the new born period. Glucose-6phosphate dehydrogenase (G-6-PD) and py...

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) play a significant role in cell-cell communication in numerous physiological processes and pathological conditions, and offer promise as novel biomarkers and therapeutic agents for genetic diseases. Many recent studies have described different molecular mechanisms that contribute to EV biogenesis and release from cells. However, little is known about how external st...

In spite of all the efforts on deciphering such spinning process of spiders, the underlying mechanism currently is yet to be fully revealed. In this research, we designed a novel approach to quantitatively estimate the overall concentration change of spider silk along the progression of liquid-to-solid silk transition from the gland silk. As a prior characterization, we first studied the influe...

PEDOT synthesized in the presence of SCNF with matching charge spacings was aligned along to reach 37.5 and 6150 S cm −1 conductivities for EG doped films fibers, impressive 15 500 fibers spun directly into sulfuric acid.