Owing to the unique physical, chemical, mechanical and electrical properties, graphene and its derivatives have been extensively researched for diverse biomedical applications including in tissue engineering since the past decade. Tunable chemical functionalities of graphene oxide (GO), a graphene derivative, allow easy surface functionalization. Functionalization of GO with poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) (PEG-GO) has received significant attention as it offers superior solubility, stability, and biocompatibility. Besides being an attractive candidate for drug delivery, PEG-GO can aid in the attachment, proliferation, and differentiation of stem cells, thereby augmenting tissue engineering. PEG-GO has shown excellent antibacterial efficacy, which could be an added advantage to minimize implant-associated infections. This review describes the synthesis techniques, properties, and biological potential of PEG-GO towards mammalian and bacterial cells. Studies wherein these nanomaterials have been explored for engineering various tissues are reviewed along with future opportunities in this field.

Mass spectrometry (MS) is the most versatile and comprehensive method in \"OMICS\" sciences (i.e. in proteomics, genomics, metabolomics and lipidomics). The applications of MS and tandem MS (MS/MS or MS(n)) provide sequence information of the full complement of biological samples in order to understand the importance of the sequences on their precise and specific functions. Nowadays, the control of polymer sequences and their accurate characterization is one of the significant challenges of current polymer science. Therefore, a similar approach can be very beneficial for characterizing and understanding the complex structures of synthetic macromolecules. MS-based strategies allow a relatively precise examination of polymeric structures (e.g. their molar mass distributions, monomer units, side chain substituents, end-group functionalities, and copolymer compositions). Moreover, tandem MS offer accurate structural information from intricate macromolecular structures; however, it produces vast amount of data to interpret. In \"OMICS\" sciences, the software application to interpret the obtained data has developed satisfyingly (e.g. in proteomics), because it is not possible to handle the amount of data acquired via (tandem) MS studies on the biological samples manually. It can be expected that special software tools will improve the interpretation of (tandem) MS output from the investigations of synthetic polymers as well. Eventually, the MS/MS field will also open up for polymer scientists who are not MS-specialists. In this review, we dissect the overall framework of the MS and MS/MS analysis of synthetic polymers into its key components. We discuss the fundamentals of polymer analyses as well as recent advances in the areas of tandem mass spectrometry, software developments, and the overall future perspectives on the way to polymer sequencing, one of the last Holy Grail in polymer science.

Pumps of the ATP-binding cassette superfamily (ABCs) regulate the access of drugs to the intracellular space. In this context, the overexpression of ABCs is a well-known mechanism of multidrug resistance (MDR) in cancer and infectious diseases (e.g., viral hepatitis and the human immunodeficiency virus) and is associated with therapeutic failure. Since their discovery, ABCs have emerged as attractive therapeutic targets and the search of compounds that inhibit their genetic expression and/or their functional activity has gained growing interest. Different generations of pharmacological ABC inhibitors have been explored over the last four decades to address resistance in cancer, though clinical results have been somehow disappointing. \"Generally Recognized As Safe\" (GRAS) is a U.S. Food and Drug Administration designation for substances that are accepted as safe for addition in food. Far from being \"inert\", some amphiphilic excipients used in the production of pharmaceutical products have been shown to inhibit the activity of ABCs in MDR tumors, emerging as a clinically translatable approach to overcome resistance. The present article initially overviews the classification, structure and function of the different ABCs, with emphasis on those pumps related to drug resistance. Then, the different attempts to capitalize on the activity of GRAS nanopharmaceuticals as ABC inhibitors are discussed.

With the inception of the Edmonton Protocol, intraportal islet transplantation (IPIT) has re-emerged as a promising cell-based therapy for type 1 diabetes. However, current clinical islet transplantation remains limited, in part, by the need to transplant islets from 2-4 donor organs, often through several separate infusions, to reverse diabetes in a single patient. Results from clinical islet transplantation and experimental animal models now indicate that the majority of transplanted islets are destroyed in the immediate post-transplant period, a process largely facilitated by deleterious inflammatory responses triggered by islet-derived procoagulant and proinflammatory mediators. Herein, mechanisms that underlie the pathophysiology of thrombosis and inflammation in IPIT are reviewed, and emerging approaches to improve islet engraftment through attenuation of inflammatory responses are discussed.