Eunjoo Kim

Fungi are major biological contaminants in indoor air, and their concentration is typically assessed using the culture-based CFU method, which is labor-intensive and time-consuming. Ergosterol, a major fungal cell membrane component, has emerged as a preferred target for alternative analytical approaches. However, ergosterol is highly hydrophobic, and specific affinity probes such as antibodies or aptamers have not yet been successfully developed. In this study, we fabricated ergosterol-specific probes using molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) immobilized on carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and integrated them into a screen-printed electrode (SPE) platform. Surface polymerization was initiated through a thiol-ene click reaction using pentaerythritol tetrakis(3-mercaptopropionate) (PETMP) and glyoxal bis(diallyl acetal) (GO), which were selected based on predicted stable conformations for MIP synthesis. The resulting MIP@CNT sensor achieved an imprinting factor (IF) of 19.26 and a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.22 pM for ergosterol. Ergosterol levels in indoor air samples collected on PVC filters were quantified using the MIP@CNT sensor and showed significant correlation with GC/MS measurement (R² = 0.5136, p < 0.0001), moderate but statistically significant correlation. This work provides a valuable reference for developing sensing platforms for highly hydrophobic molecules such as sterols and phytosterols, which represent important analytical targets in environmental and biological monitoring.

The rapid advancement of the smart manufacturing industry has increased the demand for self-powered, sustainable, and intelligent sensing systems. Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs), which convert mechanical energy into electrical energy using triboelectrification and electrostatic induction, can act as a transformative solution for smart industrial sensing applications. This review highlights recent progress in TENG-based systems applied across diverse industrial sectors, including machine fault detection, vibration monitoring, flow control, air filtration, environmental monitoring, and mining safety. Representative examples include vibration-based multimode TENG networks for machine health diagnosis, turbine and rotary wind-driven TENGs for energy harvesting and temperature sensing, and flow-regulated TENGs for real-time fluid control in smart factories. Recent innovations have also demonstrated self-powered air filtration systems, IoT-enabled vibration sensors, and adaptive TENG platforms for extreme industrial environments. Furthermore, current challenges such as low power density, durability under harsh environments, and standardisation barriers are critically addressed. The review concludes with emerging prospects, including hybridised energy systems and the use of multifunctional materials, which can advance the TENG technology toward scalable and sustainable industrial applications. Overall, this review provides a comprehensive perspective on the potential of TENGs for smart and self-powered industrial sensing applications.

Background: Metastasis is the primary cause of cancer mortality. It is responsible for 90% of all cancer‐related deaths. Intercellular communication is a crucial feature underlying cancer metastasis and progression. Cancerous tumors secrete membrane‐derived small extracellular vesicles (30–150 nm) into their extracellular milieu. These tiny organelles, known as exosomes, facilitate intercellular communication by transferring bioactive molecules. These exosomes harbor different cargos, such as proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids, that mediate multifaceted functions in various oncogenic processes. Of note, the amount of lipids in exosomes is multifold higher than that of other cargos. Most studies have investigated the role of exosomes' protein and nucleic acid content in various oncogenic processes, while the role of lipid cargo in cancer pathophysiology remains largely obscure.Materials and Methods: We conducted an extensive literature review on the role of exosomes and lipids in cancer progression, specifically addressing the topic of exosomal lipids and their involvement in cancer metastasis and progression.Conclusions: This review aims to shed light on the lipid contents of exosomes in cancer metastasis. In this context, the role of exosomal lipids in signaling pathways, immunomodulation, and energy production for cancer cell survival provides insights into overcoming cancer progression and metastasis.

To facilitate rapid determination of cellular viability caused by the inhibitory effect of drugs, numerical deep learning algorithms was used for unlabeled cell culture images captured by a light microscope as input. In this study, A549, HEK293, and NCI-H1975 cells were cultured, each of which have different molecular shapes and levels of drug responsiveness to doxorubicin (DOX). The microscopic images of these cells following exposure to various concentrations of DOX were trained with the measured value of cell viability using a colorimetric cell proliferation assay. Convolutional neural network (CNN) models for the study cells were constructed using augmented image data; the predicted cell viability using CNN models was compared to the cell viability measured by colorimetric assay. The linear relationship coefficient (r²) between measured and predicted cell viability was determined as 0.94–0.95 for the three cell types. In addition, the measured and predicted IC50 values were not statistically different. When drug responsiveness was estimated using allogenic models that were trained with a different cell type, the correlation coefficient decreased to 0.004085–0.8643. Our models could be applied to label-free cells to conduct rapid and large-scale tests while minimizing cost and labor, such as high-throughput screening for drug responsiveness.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS)-responsive nanocarriers have received considerable research attention as putative cancer treatments because their tumor cell targets have high ROS levels. Here, we synthesized a miktoarm amphiphile of dithioketal-linked ditocopheryl polyethylene glycol (DTTP) by introducing ROS-cleavable thioketal groups as linkers between the hydrophilic and hydrophobic moieties. We used the product as a carrier for the controlled release of doxorubicin (DOX). DTTP has a critical micelle concentration (CMC) as low as 1.55 μg/mL (4.18 × 10⁻⁴ mM), encapsulation efficiency as high as 43.6 ± 0.23% and 14.6 nm particle size. The DTTP micelles were very responsive to ROS and released their DOX loads in a controlled manner. The tocopheryl derivates linked to DTTP generated ROS and added to the intracellular ROS in MCF-7 cancer cells but not in HEK-293 normal cells. In vitro cytotoxicity assays demonstrated that DOX-encapsulated DTTP micelles displayed strong antitumor activity but only slightly increased apoptosis in normal cells. This ROS-triggered, self-accelerating drug release device has high therapeutic efficacy and could be a practical new strategy for the clinical application of ROS-responsive drug delivery systems.

Cancer screening and diagnosis can be achieved by analyzing specific molecules within serum-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs). This study sought to profile EV-derived proteins to identify potential lung cancer biomarkers. EVs were isolated from 80 serum samples from healthy individuals and cancer patients via polyethylene glycol (PEG)-based precipitation and immunoaffinity separation using antibodies against CD9, CD63, CD81, and EpCAM. Proteomic analysis was performed using 2-D gel electrophoresis and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization–time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI–TOF MS). The expression of proteins that were differentially upregulated in the EVs or tissue of lung cancer samples was validated by Western blotting. The area under the curve (AUC) was calculated to assess the predictability of each differentially expressed protein (DEP) for lung cancer. A total of 55 upregulated protein spots were selected, seven of which (CD5L, CLEC3B, ITIH4, SERFINF1, SAA4, SERFINC1, and C20ORF3) were found to be expressed at high levels in patient-derived EVs by Western blotting. Meanwhile, only the expression of EV CD5L correlated with that in cancer tissues. CD5L also demonstrated the highest AUC value (0.943) and was found to be the core regulator in a pathway related to cell dysfunction. Cumulatively, these results show that EV-derived CD5L may represent a potential biomarker—detected via a liquid biopsy—for the noninvasive diagnosis of lung cancer.

Guanine-rich quadruplex (G-QD) are formed by conversion of nucleotides with specific sequences by stabilization of positively charged K⁺ or Na⁺. These G-QD structures differentially absorb two-directional (right- and left-handed) circularly polarized light, which can discriminate the parallel or anti-parallel structures of G-QDs. In this study, G-QDs stabilized by Pb²⁺ were analyzed by a circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy to determine Pb²⁺ concentration in water samples. Thrombin aptamer (TBA), PS2.M, human telomeric DNA (HTG), AGRO 100, and telomeric related sequence (T2) were studied to verify their applicability as probes for platform- and label-free detection of Pb²⁺ in environmental as well as laboratory samples. Among these nucleotides, TBA and PS2.M exhibited higher binding constants for Pb²⁺, 1.20–2.04 × 10⁶/M at and 4.58 × 10⁴–1.09 × 10⁵/M at 100 micromolar and 100 mM K⁺ concentration, respectively. They also exhibited excellent selectivity for Pb²⁺ than for Al³⁺, Cu²⁺, Ni²⁺, Fe³⁺, Co²⁺, and Cr²⁺. When Pb²⁺ was spiked into an effluent sample from a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), its existence was detected by CD spectroscopy following a simple addition of TBA or PS2.M. By the addition of TBA and PS2.M, the Pb²⁺ signals were observed in effluent samples over 0.5 micromolar (100 ppb) concentration. Furthermore, PS2.M caused a Pb²⁺-specific absorption band in the effluent sample without spiking of Pb²⁺, and could be induced to G-QD structure by the background Pb²⁺ concentration in the effluent, 0.159 micromolar concentration (3.30 ppb). Taken together, we propose that TBA and PS2.M are applicable as platform- and label-free detection probes for monitoring Pb²⁺ in environmental samples such as discharged effluent from local WWTPs, using CD spectroscopy.