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There is a need for soft actuators in various biomedical applications to manipulate delicate objects such as cells and tissues. Soft actuators are able to adapt to any shape and limit the stress applied to delicate objects. Conjugated polymer (CP) actuators, especially in the so-called trilayer configuration, are interesting candidates for driving such micromanipulators. However, challenges involved in patterning the electrodes in a trilayer with individual contact have prevented further development of soft micromanipulators based on CP actuators. To allow such patterning, two printing-based patterning techniques have been developed. First, an oxidant layer is printed using either syringe-based printing or microcontact printing, followed by vapor-phase polymerization of the CP. Submillimeter patterns with electronic conductivities of 800 S·cm–1are obtained. Next, laser ablation is used to cleanly cut the final device structures including the printed patterns, resulting in fingers with individually controllable digits and miniaturized hands. The methods presented in this paper will enable integration of patterned electrically active CP layers in many types of complex three-dimensional structures.

We report flexible and metal-free light-emitting electrochemical cells (LECs) using exclusively solution-processed organic materials and illustrate interesting design opportunities offered by such conformable devices with transparent electrodes. Flexible LEC devices based on chemically derived graphene (CDG) as the cathode and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) mixed with poly(styrenesulfonate) as the anode exhibit a low turn-on voltage for yellow light emission (V= 2.8 V) and a good efficiency 2.4 (4.0) cd/A at a brightness of 100 (50) cd/m2. We also find that CDG is electrochemically inert over a wide potential range (+1.2 to −2.8 V vsferrocene/ferrocenium) and exploit this property to demonstrate planar LEC devices with CDG as both the anode and the cathode.

The emerging field of “organic” or “plastic” electronics has brought low-voltage, ultrathin, and energy-efficient lighting and displays to market as organic light-emitting diode (OLED) televisions and displays in cameras and mobile phones. Despite using carbon-based materials as the light-emitting layer, previous efficient organic electronic light-emitting devices have required at least one metal electrode. Here, we utilize chemically derived graphene for the transparent cathode in an all-plastic sandwich-structure device, similar to an OLED, called a light-emitting electrochemical cell (LEC). Using a screen-printable conducting polymer as a partially transparent anode and a micrometer-thick active layer solution-deposited from a blend of a light-emitting polymer and a polymer electrolyte, we demonstrate a light-emitting device based solely on solution-processable carbon-based materials. Our results demonstrate that low-voltage, inexpensive, and efficient light-emitting devices can be made without using metals. In other words, electronics can truly be “organic”.

Over-oxidative degradation of polythiophenes, which breaks the conjugation and destroys the electronic conductivity of the polymer, is well documented as a liability in these materials. We use this ‘weakness’, via controlled electrochemical over-oxidation, in a novel subtractive patterning technique compatible with high-speed reel-to-reel printing technology. We demonstrate the use of electrochemical over-oxidation to pattern PEDOT:PSS films via an x–y plotter, silk-screen and high-resolution photolithographic techniques, resulting in patterning down to a resolution of 2 µm and a conduction contrast between unpatterned and patterned areas of up to 10⁸.

Observations of capillary-driven collapse of a soap film bridge and consequent bubble pinch-off are reported. According to a recent mathematical surface model, in which the surface tension force is resisted only by the fluid inertia, a neck starts on the midplane between the solid supports and splits into two mirror-symmetric necks that straddle the midplane, and these necks “turn over” (the interface becomes multivalued), after which self-similarity develops as the pinch-off exhibits finite time blow-up of both principal curvatures. Singular curvatures imply an unbounded pressure and diverging axial and radial velocities. It is therefore anticipated that the model breaks down at a length scale near pinch-off where neglected physics becomes important in the experiment. This paper examines where and how the model breaks down. Observations on length scales from 200 mm down to 0.2 mm (time scales from 1.0 s down to 10−4s) show that the model quantitatively predicts behavior down to the millimeter scale below which deviations occur. These deviations are attributed to the finite thickness of the soap film whose inertia can be considerable in motions approaching 10 m/s.

Hughes: AstraZeneca: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Genzyme: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Acerta Pharna/HOPA: Research Funding. Dwivedy Nasta:47 (Forty Seven): Research Funding; Rafael: Research Funding; Millenium/Takeda: Research Funding; Debiopharm: Research Funding; Aileron: Research Funding; ATARA: Research Funding; Pharmacyclics: Research Funding; Merck: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Celgene: Honoraria; Roche: Research Funding. Landsburg:Celgene: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Celgene: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Curis, INC: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Curis, INC: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Seattle Genetics: Speakers Bureau; Seattle Genetics: Speakers Bureau; Takeda: Research Funding; Takeda: Research Funding; Triphase: Research Funding; Triphase: Research Funding. Barta:Takeda: Research Funding; Janssen: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Seattle Genetics: Honoraria, Research Funding; Bayer: Consultancy, Research Funding; Mundipharma: Honoraria; Merck: Research Funding; Celgene: Research Funding; Janssen: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Celgene: Research Funding; Mundipharma: Honoraria. Chong:Novartis: Consultancy; Merck: Research Funding; Tessa: Consultancy. Schuster:Novartis, Celgene, Genentech, Merck, Pharmacyclics, Acerta, and Gilead: Other: Grants, Research Funding; Novartis, Nordic Nanovector, and Pfizer: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Nordic Nanovector, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Loxo Oncology, Acerta, and Celgene: Honoraria; Novartis: Other: a patent (with royalties paid to Novartis) on combination therapies of CAR and PD-1 inhibitors.. Svoboda:AstraZeneca: Consultancy; Celgene: Research Funding; Incyte: Research Funding; Pharmacyclics: Consultancy, Research Funding; Kyowa: Consultancy; Merck: Research Funding; BMS: Consultancy, Research Funding; Seattle Genetics: Consultancy, Research Funding.This paper looked at the effectiveness of ibrutinib, a Bruton's tyrosine kinase inhibitor, in treating patients with marginal zone lymphoma (MZL). Ibrutinib is FDA approved for MZL patients who have received at least one anti-CD20 containing therapy and now require systemic treatment. Some patients in the study had not previously received an anti-CD20-based therapy and received ibrutinib off-label.

Background:

The oncometabolite 2-hydroxyglutarate renders IDH1/2 mutant cancer cells deficient in homologous recombination and confers vulnerability to synthetic lethal targeting with PARP inhibitors.

We demonstrate a simple low-voltage technique for gating the flow of aqueous liquids in microfluidic systems employing the electrochemically-controlled surface energy of the conjugated polymer poly(3-hexylthiophene).