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Biofunctionalized nanomaterials have been extensively studied as a tool for a wide range of applications in biomedical fields. Despite many existing strategies to conjugate proteins to colloidal pa...

Macroporous hydrogels possess a vast potential for various applications in the biomedical field. However, due to their large pore size allowing for unrestricted diffusion in the macropore network, macroporous hydrogels alone are not able to efficiently capture and release biomolecules in a controlled manner. There is thus a need for biofunctionalized, affinity-based gels that can efficiently load and release biomolecules in a sustained and controlled manner. For this purpose, we report here the use of a E/K coiled-coil affinity pair for the controlled capture and delivery of growth factors from highly interconnected, macroporous dextran hydrogels. By conjugating the Kcoil peptide to the dextran backbone, we achieved controlled loading and release of Ecoil-tagged Epidermal and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors. To finely tune the behavior of the gels, we propose four control parameters: (i) macropore size, (ii) Kcoil grafting density, (iii) Ecoil valency and (iv) E/K affinity. We demonstrate that Kcoil grafting can produce a 20-fold increase in passive growth factor capture by macroporous dextran gels. Furthermore, we demonstrate that our gels can release as little as 20% of the loaded growth factors over one week, while retaining bioactivity. Altogether, we propose a versatile, highly tunable platform for the controlled delivery of growth factors in biomedical applications. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: This work presents a highly tunable platform for growth factor capture and sustained delivery using affinity peptides in macroporous, fully interconnected dextran hydrogels. It addresses several ongoing challenges by presenting: (i) a versatile platform for the delivery of a wide range of stable, bioactive molecules, (ii) a passive, affinity-based loading of growth factors in the platform, paving the way for in situ (re)loading of the device and (iii) four different control parameters to finely tune growth factor capture and release. Altogether, our macroporous dextran hydrogels have a vast potential for applications in controlled delivery, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.

E2F transcription factors are central regulators of cell division and cell fate decisions. E2F4 often represents the predominant E2F activity in cells. E2F4 is a transcriptional repressor implicated in cell cycle arrest and whose repressive activity depends on its interaction with members of the RB family. Here we show that E2F4 is important for the proliferation and the survival of mouse embryonic stem cells. In these cells, E2F4 acts in part as a transcriptional activator that promotes the expression of cell cycle genes. This role for E2F4 is independent of the RB family. Furthermore, E2F4 functionally interacts with chromatin regulators associated with gene activation and we observed decreased histone acetylation at the promoters of cell cycle genes and E2F targets upon loss of E2F4 in RB family-mutant cells. Taken together, our findings uncover a non-canonical role for E2F4 that provide insights into the biology of rapidly dividing cells., E2F transcription factors are regulators of cell division and cell fate decisions. Here the authors show that E2F4 is important for proliferation and survival of mouse ESCs, independent of the RB family, and that E2F4 interacts with chromatin regulators associated with gene activation.

International audience; The Solar irradiance and Earth Radiation Budget (SERB) mission is an innovative proof-of-concept nano-satellite, with three ambitious scientific objectives. The nano-satellite aims at measuring on the same platform the absolute value of the total solar irradiance (TSI) and its variability, the ultraviolet (UV) solar spectral variability, and the different components of the Earth radiation budget. SERB is a joint project between CNES (Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales), Ecole polytechnique, and LATMOS (Laboratoire Atmospheres, Milieux, Observations Spatiales) scheduled for a launch in 2020–2021. It is a three-unit CubeSat (X-CubeSat II), developed by students from ´Ecole polytechnique. Critical components of instrumental payloads of future large missions (coatings, UV filters, etc.) can acquire the technical maturity by flying in a CubeSat. Nano-satellites also represent an excellent alternative for instrumentation testing, allowing for longer flights than rockets. More-over, specific scientific experiments can be performed by nano-satellites. This paper is intended to present the SERB mission and its scientific objectives. © (2016) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.