<p>Shiv Nadar University is a comprehensive, multidisciplinary, research-focused, and student-centric University offering a full range of academic programs at the undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral level. With state-of-the-art infrastructure, the University comprises of academic wings, sophisticated labs, international standard sports facilities, amphitheaters, auditorium, conference rooms and smart classrooms. The University&rsquo;s goal is to become internationally recognized for the quality of its research and creative endeavors and their applicability to improving quality of life, generating new insights and expanding the boundaries of human knowledge creativity. Committed to excellence in teaching, research and service, the University aims to serve the higher education needs of India and the world beyond.</p>

Shiv Nadar University

Biologically potent and synthetically significant 1,2-dihydronaphthalene derivatives have gained considerable attention due to their wide applications in industrial as well as in medicinal fields also. A mild and efficient metal-free protocol via the rearrangement of cyclopropylcarbinols has been reported to construct these 1,2-dihydronaphthalene skeletons utilizing cyclopropane ring as the scaffold. We obtained conjugated dienes and, in some cases, homoallylic chlorides as major products in good to excellent yields. They have no literature precedence till date. The fate of this rearrangement depends on the substituent patterns of the cyclopropane bearing aryl moiety. Besides the synthetic studies, to get deep insight into the electronic transitions, time dependent DFT studies have also been performed. © 2022 Wiley-VCH GmbH.

World University root node

Chemistry

(SoNS) School of Natural Sciences

ChemistrySelect

Metal Free Approach towards the Synthesis of Structurally Diverse 1, 2-Dihydronaphthalene Scaffolds and Theoretical Investigation

In the era of the diabetes pandemic, injectable hydrogels (HGs) capable of releasing the desired amount of insulin under hyperglycemic conditions will significantly advance smart insulin development. Several smart boronic acid-based polymer HGs release insulin under high-glucose conditions. However, the correlation of insulin release characteristics with rheological properties is not well understood yet. Herein, we report a generalized and facile fabrication strategy of a new class of glucose-responsive hydrogels by crosslinking a biocompatible polymer, poly(vinyl alcohol) with pinacol esters of bisboronic acids via transesterification reactions. We show the versatility of the method by fabricating four hydrogels with diverse rheological properties. The HGs embody more than 70% water amenable for hosting insulin in the matrix. HG with high storage modulus, derived from 1,4-benzenediboronic acid bis(pinacol) ester releases ∼3 fold less insulin compared to softer HGs derived from acetylene-1,2-diyl bis(boronic acid pinacol ester) and bis[(pinacolato)boryl]methane under hyperglycemic conditions. We find that HG derived from the bis[(pinacolato)boryl]methane crosslinker exhibits superior insulin release properties due to the softness of the hydrogel matrix. We further show that the newly formulated gel is injectable without any structural change in the released insulin molecules and does not cause cytotoxicity. We believe that glucose-responsive hydrogels with tunable viscoelastic properties will pave the way for developing a variety of hydrogels with programmable insulin release properties. © 2022 The Royal Society of Chemistry.

Journal of Materials Chemistry B

Repurposing pinacol esters of boronic acids for tuning viscoelastic properties of glucose-responsive polymer hydrogels: effects on insulin release kinetics

Colorectal cancer typically begins from a nonmalignant polyp formation in the large intestine that, over time, develops into colorectal cancer. The growth of benign polyps can be checked if detected in the early stages of the disease. Doctors usually recommend colonoscopy to average and high-risk individuals for colorectal cancer screening. Elevated carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) is a broadly used biomarker for colorectal cancer. The genetic and epigenetic alteration of genes such as p53, BRAF, APC, and PIK3CA is also correlated with colorectal cancer in various clinical studies. In general, tissue biopsy is most frequently used for colorectal cancer diagnosis, but the whole tumor heterogeneity cannot be accessed by this technique. Furthermore, such a highly invasive technique is not suitable for repeated testing. Recently, extracellular vesicles (EVs), lipid bilayer enclosed sacs secreted from colorectal cancer cells, are emerging as a diagnostic tool for colon cancer detection. The major advantages of using EVs for colon cancer diagnosis are (i) EVs can be isolated in a noninvasive manner from the body fluid and (ii) EV incorporated cargoes (mostly RNAs) reveal various aspects of colorectal cancer. EV-RNAs are also implicated in tumor invasion and influence the immune system for the further spread of tumors. However, due to the lack of standardized EV detection strategies, diagnostic applicability is limited. Herein, we review the recent literature on the pathobiological dependence of colorectal cancer on EV-RNAs. Further, we present the advantages of identification and characterization of EV-RNAs to explore the connection between differential expression of extracellular vesicle incorporated RNAs and colorectal cancer. How this approach may potentially translate into point of care colorectal cancer diagnostics is also discussed. © 2022 by the Author(s).

ACS Bio and Med Chem Au

Importance of Extracellular Vesicle Derived RNAs as Critical Colorectal Cancer Biomarkers

Targeted imaging and therapy for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) in the perioperative period are imperative for better disease management and improved life expectancy. Still, they are not available in clinical settings, and only a few nanoparticle-based theranostic agents potentially offer these capabilities. Herein, we develop an innovative class of biocompatible triple-modality nanoprobes (TMNPs) that offer optical imaging using optoacoustic, fluorescence, and surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), as well as photothermal therapy (PTT) with near-infrared (NIR) light. The TMNPs are fabricated by immobilizing positively charged NIR fluorophores on negatively charged DNA-coated gold nanorods (AuNRs), followed by silica encapsulation. The DNA-based design allows the screening of commercially available positively charged NIR fluorophores for the optimum fluorescence emission and SERS. After design optimization, we functionalize TMNPs with folate groups to target folate receptor1 (FOLR1)-overexpressing TNBC in vitro and in vivo. Our results reveal that TMNPs preferentially accumulate in FOLR1 positive tumors in TNBC patient-derived xenograft mouse models and show excellent imaging capabilities with all three imaging modalities. Selective exposure of the tumor to a NIR laser shows efficient thermal tissue ablation without causing systemic toxicity. Collectively, TMNPs hold great promise for real-time multiplexed imaging of cancer biomarkers and therapeutic capability. © 2022 American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.