Search

The unique inwards interweaving morphology of polyamines and polyacids within agarose hydrogels that leads to the formation of striated shells with different porosities within the spherical scaffold is reported. Microcompartments with sophisticated structures are commonly used in drug delivery, tissue engineering, and other biomedical applications. However, a method capable of producing well-defined, multiporous shells within a single compartment is still lacking. By the alternating deposition of polyallylamine (PA) and polystyrenesulfonic acid (PSS) in 1-butanol, at equal mass ratios, multiple levels of porosity are generated within an agarose microsphere. Each level of porosity is represented by a well-defined, concentric shell of interweaving PA and PSS layers. The number, thickness, and porosity of the striated shells can be easily controlled by varying the number of PA/PSS bilayers and the polymer concentration, respectively. The feasibility of utilizing this morphology for the assembly of a multi-shell porous spherical scaffold is validated by trapping different molecular weight dextrans within different regions of porosity. The unique interaction of polyacids and polyamines in hydrogels represents a facile and inexpensive approach to the development of intricate scaffold architectures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unique inwards interweaving morphology of polyamines and polyacids within agarose hydrogels that leads to the formation of striated shells with different porosities within the spherical scaffold is reported. Microcompartments with sophisticated structures are commonly used in drug delivery, tissue engineering, and other biomedical applications. However, a method capable of producing well-defined, multiporous shells within a single compartment is still lacking. By the alternating deposition of polyallylamine (PA) and polystyrenesulfonic acid (PSS) in 1-butanol, at equal mass ratios, multiple levels of porosity are generated within an agarose microsphere. Each level of porosity is represented by a well-defined, concentric shell of interweaving PA and PSS layers. The number, thickness, and porosity of the striated shells can be easily controlled by varying the number of PA/PSS bilayers and the polymer concentration, respectively. The feasibility of utilizing this morphology for the assembly of a multi-shell porous spherical scaffold is validated by trapping different molecular weight dextrans within different regions of porosity. The unique interaction of polyacids and polyamines in hydrogels represents a facile and inexpensive approach to the development of intricate scaffold architectures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Infinium DNA Methylation BeadChips have significantly contributed to population-scale epigenetics research by enabling epigenome-wide trait association discoveries. Here, we design, describe, and experimentally verify a new iteration of this technology, the Methylation Screening Array (MSA), to focus on human trait screening and discovery. This array utilizes extensive data from previous Infinium platform-based epigenome-wide association studies (EWAS). It incorporates knowledge from the latest single-cell and cell type-resolution whole genome methylome profiles. The MSA is engineered to achieve scalable screening of epigenetics-trait association in an ultra-high sample throughput. Our design encompassed diverse human trait associations, including those with genetic, cellular, environmental, and demographical variables and human diseases such as genetic, neurodegenerative, cardiovascular, infectious, and immune diseases. We comprehensively evaluated this array's reproducibility, accuracy, and capacity for cell-type deconvolution and supporting 5-hydroxymethylation profiling in diverse human tissues. Our first atlas data using this platform uncovered the complex chromatin and tissue contexts of DNA modification variations and genetic variants linked to human phenotypes., Competing Interests: DECLARATION OF INTERESTS W.Z. received MSA BeadChips from Illumina Inc. for research. B.B., S.G., A.P., A.W., E.M., M.K., M.P., Q.Z., M.H., R.P., and N.R. are Illumina employees. United States Patent Application No. 63/596,091 has been submitted and covers the methods and findings discussed in this research.