Cell motions are driven by coordinated actions of the intracellular cytoskeleton – actin, microtubules (MTs) and substrate/focal adhesions (FAs). This coordination is altered in metastatic cancer cells resulting in deregulated and increased cellular motility. Microfabrication tools, including photolithography, micromolding, microcontact printing, wet stamping and microfluidic devices have emerged as a powerful set of experimental tools with which to probe and define the differences in cytoskeleton organization/dynamics and cell motility patterns in non-metastatic and metastatic cancer cells. In this review, we discuss four categories of microfabricated systems: (i) micropatterned substrates for studying of cell motility sub-processes (for example, MT targeting of FAs or cell polarization); (ii) systems for studying cell mechanical properties, (iii) systems for probing overall cell motility patterns within challenging geometric confines relevant to metastasis (for example, linear and ratchet geometries), and (iv) microfluidic devices that incorporate co-cultures of multiple cell types and chemical gradients to mimic in vivo intravasation/extravasation steps of metastasis. Together, these systems allow for creating controlled microenvironments that not only mimic complex soft tissues, but are also compatible with live cell high-resolution imaging and quantitative analysis of single cell behavior.

Self-replication is a remarkable phenomenon in nature that has fascinated scientists for decades. In a self-replicating system, the original units are attracted to a template, which induce their binding. In equilibrium, the energy required to disassemble the newly assembled copy from the mother template is supplied by thermal energy. The possibility of optimizing self-replication was explored by controlling the frequency at which energy is supplied to the system. A model system inspired by a class of light-switchable colloids was considered where light is used to control the interactions. Conditions under which self-replication can be significantly more effective under non-equilibrium, cyclic energy delivery than under equilibrium constant energy conditions were identified. Optimal self-replication does not require constant energy expenditure. Instead, the proper timing at which energy is delivered to the system is an essential controllable parameter to induce high replication rates.

Single crystals of a cyclodextrin-based metal–organic framework (MOF) infused with an ionic electrolyte and flanked by silver electrodes act as memristors. They can be electrically switched between low and high conductivity states that persist even in the absence of an applied voltage. In this way, these small blocks of nanoporous sugar function as a non-volatile RRAM memory elements that can be repeatedly read, erased, and re-written. These properties derive from ionic current within the MOF and the deposition of nanometer-thin passivating layers at the anode flanking the MOF crystal. The observed phenomena are crucially dependent on the sub-nanometer widths of the channels in the MOF, allowing the passage of only smaller ions. Conversely, with the electrolyte present but no MOF, there are no memristance or memory effects.

Mechanical treatment of polymers produces surface cations and anions which, as demonstrated here for the first time, can drive chemical reactions. In particular, it is shown that such a mechanical treatment transforms nonconductive polyaniline into its conductive form. These results provide a mechanical means of patterning conductive polymers and also coating small polymer objects with conductive polyaniline films preventing accumulation of static electricity.

Methods of computational linguistics are used to demonstrate that a natural language such as English and organic chemistry have the same structure in terms of the frequency of, respectively, text fragments and molecular fragments. This quantitative correspondence suggests that it is possible to extend the methods of computational corpus linguistics to the analysis of organic molecules. It is shown that within organic molecules bonds that have highest information content are the ones that 1) define repeat/symmetry subunits and 2) in asymmetric molecules, define the loci of potential retrosynthetic disconnections. Linguistics-based analysis appears well-suited to the analysis of complex structural and reactivity patterns within organic molecules.

Self-replication is a remarkable phenomenon in nature that has fascinated scientists for decades. In a self-replicating system, the original units are attracted to a template, which induce their binding. In equilibrium, the energy required to disassemble the newly assembled copy from the mother template is supplied by thermal energy. The possibility of optimizing self-replication was explored by controlling the frequency at which energy is supplied to the system. A model system inspired by a class of light-switchable colloids was considered where light is used to control the interactions. Conditions under which self-replication can be significantly more effective under non-equilibrium, cyclic energy delivery than under equilibrium constant energy conditions were identified. Optimal self-replication does not require constant energy expenditure. Instead, the proper timing at which energy is delivered to the system is an essential controllable parameter to induce high replication rates.

Single crystals of a cyclodextrin-based metal–organic framework (MOF) infused with an ionic electrolyte and flanked by silver electrodes act as memristors. They can be electrically switched between low and high conductivity states that persist even in the absence of an applied voltage. In this way, these small blocks of nanoporous sugar function as a non-volatile RRAM memory elements that can be repeatedly read, erased, and re-written. These properties derive from ionic current within the MOF and the deposition of nanometer-thin passivating layers at the anode flanking the MOF crystal. The observed phenomena are crucially dependent on the sub-nanometer widths of the channels in the MOF, allowing the passage of only smaller ions. Conversely, with the electrolyte present but no MOF, there are no memristance or memory effects.

Mechanical treatment of polymers produces surface cations and anions which, as demonstrated here for the first time, can drive chemical reactions. In particular, it is shown that such a mechanical treatment transforms nonconductive polyaniline into its conductive form. These results provide a mechanical means of patterning conductive polymers and also coating small polymer objects with conductive polyaniline films preventing accumulation of static electricity.

Methods of computational linguistics are used to demonstrate that a natural language such as English and organic chemistry have the same structure in terms of the frequency of, respectively, text fragments and molecular fragments. This quantitative correspondence suggests that it is possible to extend the methods of computational corpus linguistics to the analysis of organic molecules. It is shown that within organic molecules bonds that have highest information content are the ones that 1) define repeat/symmetry subunits and 2) in asymmetric molecules, define the loci of potential retrosynthetic disconnections. Linguistics-based analysis appears well-suited to the analysis of complex structural and reactivity patterns within organic molecules.

The interaction between tetrathiafulvalene and tetracation cyclobis(paraquat-p-phenylene) fragments—the key elements of many rotaxane systems—was investigated theoretically by using ab-initio second-order perturbation methods. In addition to the inclusion complex observed in the solid state, a thermodynamically stable “exterior” complex was identified. Calculation of the UV/Vis spectra for the inclusion and the exterior complexes indicated that the charge-transfer band that is often used to predict the formation of the inclusion complexes in solution is, in reality, due to the exterior mode of complexation. These results suggest that UV/Vis spectroscopy is not a reliable method for assigning the complexation modes in TTF:BB⁴⁺ rotaxanes and related systems.

Conductive electrodes held at kV potentials and patterned with non-conductive circular islands can drive templated self-assembly (TSA) of millimeter-sized polymeric particles. It is found, however, that the complementarity of the shapes of the “capturing” islands and the projected shapes of the “adsorbing” particles is insufficient to produce high quality assemblies. For instance, while spherical particles center onto circular islands and form highly regular arrays, disk-shaped particles remain off-centered on the same islands. These effects are due to frictional effects that compete with electrostatic forces during TSA. A finite-element model is used to quantify the forces acting in the system and suggests heuristic rules that guide the design of islands capturing particles of desired shapes and sizes.

Chemical reactions make cells work only if the participating chemicals are delivered to desired locations in a timely and precise fashion. Most research to date has focused on active-transport mechanisms, although passive diffusion is often equally rapid and energetically less costly. Capitalizing on these advantages, cells have developed sophisticated reaction-diffusion (RD) systems that control a wide range of cellular functions—from chemotaxis and cell division, through signaling cascades and oscillations, to cell motility. These apparently diverse systems share many common features and are “wired” according to “generic” motifs such as nonlinear kinetics, autocatalysis, and feedback loops. Understanding the operation of these complex (bio)chemical systems requires the analysis of pertinent transport-kinetic equations or, at least on a qualitative level, of the characteristic times of the constituent subprocesses. Therefore, in reviewing the manifestations of cellular RD, we also describe basic theory of reaction-diffusion phenomena.

Chemische Reaktionen können Zellen nur am Leben erhalten, wenn die beteiligten Verbindungen an den erforderlichen Stellen zeitlich präzise angeliefert werden. Die meisten Forschungen haben sich bislang auf aktive Transportmechanismen konzentriert, obwohl die passive Diffusion oft gleich schnell ist und weniger Energie erfordert. Um die Vorteile dieser Transportform zu nutzen, haben die Zellen ausgeklügelte Reaktions-Diffusions(RD)-Systeme entwickelt, die zahlreiche zelluläre Funktionen kontrollieren – von Chemotaxis und Zellteilung über Signalkaskaden und -oszillationen bis hin zur Zellbeweglichkeit. Diese nur scheinbar unterschiedlichen Systeme sind nach allgemeinen Prinzipien aufgebaut und haben viele Gemeinsamkeiten. Wiederkehrende Elemente sind nichtlineare Kinetik, Autokatalyse und Rückkopplungsschleifen. Um die Funktion dieser komplexen (bio)chemischen Systeme zu verstehen, muss man die Transportkinetik-Gleichungen analysieren oder die charakteristischen Zeiten der Teilprozesse zumindest qualitativ betrachten. Während wir Beispiele für zelluläre RD-Systeme vorstellen, versuchen wir daher auch, den Leser mit den theoretischen Grundlagen der RD-Phänomene vertraut zu machen.

Large and diverse databases of chemical reactions contain statistically significant information about the propensities of molecules to undergo specific chemical transformations. It is shown that this information can be quantified to reflect reaction thermodynamics/kinetics and can be used to construct primitive (yet accurate) reactivity indices from the counts of reported reactions involving molecules/molecular positions of interest. These indices correlate with frontier orbital (FO) populations or Hammett σ and ρ parameters for a range of reactions involving aromatic substrates. These findings suggest that large chemical databases are not only a historical repository of chemical knowledge but also tools with which one can make useful chemical predictions. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Supraspheres (SS) composed of hundreds to thousands of metal nanoparticles (NPs) and crosslinked by dithiol linkers are assembled into larger structures, which are subsequently converted into nanoporous metals (NMs). Conversion is achieved by heating which removes organic molecules stabilizing the NPs and allows for NP fusion. Heating of SS solutions leads to NMs of overall macroscopic dimensions; localized radiation using collimated electron beam is used to prepare metallized surface micropatterns. Depending on the composition of supraspherical precursors, nanoporous materials composed of up to three metals can be obtained. Strategies for controlling pore size and nanoscale surface roughness of these materials are discussed.