Integrins are cell adhesion receptors that communicate biochemical and mechanical signals in a bidirectional manner across the plasma membrane and thus influence most cellular functions. Intracellular signals switch integrins into a ligand-competent state as a result of elicited conformational changes in the integrin ectodomain. Binding of extracellular ligands induces, in turn, structural chan...

Articles you may be interested in Mapping near-field localization in plasmonic optical nanoantennas with 10nm spatial resolution Appl. Observation of the high-sensitivity plasmonic dipolar antibonding mode of gold nanoantennas in evanescent waves Appl. Ultra-sharp plasmonic resonances from monopole optical nanoantenna phased arrays Appl. Design of a vertically coupled liquid-crystal long-range ...

A potential-controlled two-step bidirectional communication protocol between the nanoswitches [Cu(1)](+), 2 and 3 is set up, in which ligand followed by metal-ion oxidation drives two subsequent metal ion translocations (self-sorting) changing the switching state at each switch. The communication is reset to its starting point by a two-electron reduction.

The design of a unique bidirectional 2×2 SOA-based optical switch is detailed and experimentally validated. Error-free operation and routing correctness is verified for 4×10Gb/s pseudorandom messages. ©2011 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: (060.4250) Networks; (200.4650) Optical interconnects

Fidelity during cofactor assembly is essential for the proper functioning of metalloenzymes and is ensured by specific chaperones. MeaB, a G-protein chaperone for the coenzyme B12-dependent radical enzyme methylmalonyl-CoA mutase (MCM), uses the energy of GTP binding, hydrolysis or both to regulate cofactor loading into MCM, protect MCM from inactivation and rescue MCM that is inactivated durin...

Non-volatile, bidirectional, all-optical switching in a phase-change metamaterial delivers high-contrast transmission and reflection modulation at near- to mid-infrared wavelengths in device structures down to ≈1/27 of a wavelength thick.