Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) pose significant environmental and biological risks due to their stability and bioaccumulation in the food chain, often facilitated by contamination from sewage water. Monitoring POPs is crucial for assessing their detrimental environmental impacts and preventing related health issues. Conventional analytical techniques for detecting POPs typically require labeling, energy-intensive, and cost-effective equipment, can be time-consuming, and may alter the properties of analytes. In this study, we demonstrate a label-free biosensing approach utilizing spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SSPP) for the rapid and sensitive detection of commonly encountered POPs (including textile and paper dyes, worn-out antibiotics, and herbicides) in sewage water. Inspired by plasmonic, our results show that SSPP biosensors exhibit excellent sensitivity and selectivity for POPs in sewage water samples as small as 0.634 mL. Additionally, we validate the performance of our biosensors using real-time sewage water samples spiked with widely prevalent and harmful POPs, showcasing their practical utility in complex environmental matrices. This study underscores the potential of SSPP-based biosensing as a powerful tool for the label-free detection of POPs in sewage water, offering a rapid, sensitive, and cost-effective solution for monitoring environmental pollutants. Our findings contribute to water quality assessment efforts and the development of effective pollution mitigation strategies.

The field of drug delivery has undergone a transformative paradigm shift with the advent of nanoscience and nanotechnology. This chapter explores the fundamentals of nano-based drug delivery systems, shedding insights into the innovative approaches and key principles that underpin their design and application in the realm of biomedicine. Beginning with a comprehensive overview of nanotechnology, this chapter delves into the unique properties of nanomaterials that make them ideal for drug theragnostics. Various forms of nanocarriers, including plasmonic nanoparticles, polymeric liposomes, micelles, vesicles, and dendrimers, are discussed, emphasizing their structures, fabrication methods, and the inherent advantages they offer in optimizing imaging, diagnostics, and drug delivery. The chapter also addresses the critical role of surface modifications and targeting strategies employed to enhance the specificity and efficacy of nano-based drug carriers. Ultimately, this chapter serves as a comprehensive guide for researchers and clinicians, illustrating the clinically approved nano-based formulations for clinical purposes, fostering the realization of more effective and targeted therapeutic interventions

Nanomedicine has been emerging as a promising frontier for the treatment of inflammatory diseases, offering innovative approaches to enhance drug delivery and therapeutic outcomes. This chapter explores the pros and cons of nanomedicine strategies specifically tailored for targeting inflammatory conditions. On the positive side, nanocarriers enable targeted delivery of anti-inflammatory agents, minimizing off-target effects and enhancing drug bioavailability. Additionally, nanomedicine platforms provide opportunities for sustained release, prolonged circulation, and improved tissue penetration, addressing the challenges associated with conventional therapies. However, the use of nanomedicine in the context of inflammatory disorders is not without its challenges. Concerns such as biocompatibility, potential toxicity, and long-term safety implications necessitate careful consideration. This chapter critically evaluates recent advancements in nanomedicine for inflammatory diseases, shedding light on the potential benefits and drawbacks. It emphasizes the importance of a balanced perspective, taking into account the dual nature of nanomedicine, wherein its strengths can be harnessed for targeted therapy while actively mitigating associated risks. As the field continues to evolve, a nuanced understanding of the odds and evens of nanomedicine in inflammatory diseases is essential for guiding future research endeavours and ultimately advancing the translation of these innovative technologies into clinical practice

Nanomedicine is increasingly being utilized in addressing various eye ailments and holds immense potential in rectifying ocular diseases; however, the interactions between nanomedicines and their route of administration via tear fluid remain poorly understood. When nanoparticles are introduced into the tear fluid, a layer of protein corona is formed on their surface that not only influences the properties and biological fate of nanoparticles but also potentially interferes with the function of endogenous proteins. To investigate the interactions between gold nanoaprticles (AuNPs) and tear fluid, focusing on the physicochemical changes of the particles, and to quantitatively and qualitatively identify the key proteins involved in the corona formation, we employed label-free techniques for material and biophysical characterizations along with proteomic analyses and mass spectrometry. The AuNPs remained stable without forming aggregates, showing only an ?31 nm increase in hydrodynamic diameter after interacting with tear fluid. Notably, their overall zeta potential increased significantly from -12 to -23 eV due to the supplemented charge by the adsorbed proteins. Proteomic analysis and liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) identified 31 proteins that were bound with the nanoparticles from a total of 174 proteins that were detected in the tear fluid. Bioinformatic classification revealed an enrichment of specific proteins essential for ocular health; proteins such as clusterin, lactotransferrin, adenosine triphosphate (ATP) synthase, lysozyme, alpha enolase, keratin, apolipoprotein, and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) with pivotal roles in anti-inflammatory, immune response, cell adhesion, cellular organization, plasminogen activation, cell signaling, stress response, and corneal epithelial homeostasis. Overall, our study provides an unresolved comprehensive map of the tear protein corona landscape and its impact on nanoparticle behavior in the tear fluid. These insights must be considered and are valuable for designing safer and more effective nanomedicines for the treatment of various eye diseases

Natural materials with anomalous molecular machinery and hierarchies are gaining tremendous recognition in the pursuit of environmentally friendly, sustainable supports via noble metal anchoring for the analysis of organic pollutants.

Despite a decade of research and exploitation of fish scales for several applications, there is no report on fabricating supported catalysts for catalysis. Herein, simply by exploiting the metal binding and reductive potential of fish scales we autogenically bioengineered golden supported catalysts of ?1.5 ± 0.4 cm2, sustainably. Providentially, the catalyst acquired mechanical sturdiness (?65 ± 9 MPa), durability, flexibility, absorbency, and stability against diverse physicochemical barriers. Uniquely, these remarkable characteristics enabled the catalyst for reaction suitable fixative-batch or continuous flow catalysis, a rare compatibility. This was validated by performing large-volume (5 L) degradation of the textile sewage dye 4-nitrophenol (30 mg/L) at a (k) of 0.07 min–1, parallelly generating gram-scale quantities of 4-AP with a turnover frequency of 108 h–1. The continuous flow reactor was operable at a high flow rate of 1.5 mL/min, accommodating a high reduction of 4-NP of over 94%. Most importantly, the wide area of our catalyst made it feasible to hand-retrieve or exchange the catalyst for recycling and monitoring the reaction kinetics without the need for energy intensive processes. Finally, the collagenous biological nature of the support permitted ?74 ± 5% recovery of gold by etching in Aqua-Regia. Overall, our biowaste-valued, cost-efficient, hand-retrievable, mechanically sturdy, and resilient catalyst with a highly flexible and durable nature can be generalized for reactor specific practical implementation of large scale heterogeneous catalysis

Plastic is a cornerstone of modern industry and scientific research, serving as a crucial material in fields ranging from cutting-edge medical technologies to advanced engineering applications. In 2024, approximately 506.22 million t of plastic was produced, with approximately 408.56 million t ending up as waste. (1) Alarmingly, only 42.91 million t of this plastic is effectively recycled, while 202.38 million t is disposed of in landfills, 87.52 million t is mismanaged, and 75.75 million t is incinerated. (2) Research laboratories, despite their role in advancing sustainability efforts, generate an estimated 2–3% of global plastic waste. (3) Disposable plastic items such as pipette tips, centrifuge tubes, and Petri dishes dominate lab spaces, often replacing reusable alternatives due to sterility and convenience concerns. This shift has profound environmental consequences, demanding urgent action. Figure 1 provides a schematic illustration of the various kinds of plastics used in laboratories along with their trending recycling strategies. Reduce, reuse, and recycle is the transition needed: to reduce, maintain proper indent, take support of AI tools to sort them, and put a check on their procurement; to reuse, wash, and sterilize them using UV, autoclave, and chemical treatments; and to recycle them and transform them into valuable products such as pellets, bricks, and clothes

Glyphosate (Gly) is a massively utilized toxic herbicide exceeding its statutory restrictions, causing adverse environmental and health impacts. Engineered nanomaterials, even though are integral to remediate Gly, their practical use is limited due to time and energy driven purifications, and negative environmental impacts. Here, a 3D wide area (~1.6 ± 0.4 cm 2 ) Cu 2 O nanoparticle supported biotemplate is designed using fish-scale wastes as a sustainable approach for the ultra-efficient and selective hand-remediation of Gly from real-time samples from agro-farms. While the innate metal binding and reducing ability of collagenous scales aided self-synthesis cum grafting of Cu 2 O, the selective binding potential of Cu 2 O to Gly facilitated its hand-retrieval; as assessed using optical characterizations, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis and liquid chromatography mass spectrometry. Optimization studies revealed extractions of diverse pay-loads of Gly between 0.1 ?g/mL to 40 ?g/mL per 80 mg biotemplate grafted with ~6.354 ?g of sub-5 nm Cu 2 O and was exponential to the number of Cu 2 O@biotemplates. Even though pH and surfactant didn't have any impact on the adsorption of Gly to the Cu 2 O@biotemplates, increase in the ionic strength led to a drastic increase in the adsorption. Density function theory simulations unveiled the involvement of phosphonic and carboxylic groups of Gly for interaction with Cu 2 O with a bond length of 1.826 Å and 1.833 Å, respectively. Overall, our sustainably generated, cost-efficient, hand-retrievable Cu 2 O supported biotemplate can be generalized to extract diverse organophosphorus toxins from agro-farms and other sewage embodiments. Glyphosate is an excessively applied herbicide with potent health hazards and carcinogenicity. Thus, a hand removable Cu 2 O-supported biotemplate to selectively and efficiently remediate glyphosate from irrigation water is developed.

Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) is emerging as a potent analytical tool for the detection of various pollutants in complex environments due to its distinctive vibrational fingerprint ability and pronounced detection sensitivity. Precautious of adverse blue-green economies and ecological impacts, sustainable generation of SERS active substrates and analyte casting matrices are getting prioritized. Herein, gold nanoflowers (AuNFs) of ?75 ± 15 nm were initially biofabricated using an expended cell culture medium as a one-step synthesis cum stabilization strategy. Then the heavy architecture of multi-faceted AuNFs with deep pits and edges, that acted as hotspots for enhancing the localized electromagnetic fields, was utilized for the direct SERS detection of commonly used carcinogenic herbicides collected from agro-farms at nanomolar regimes with 0.44 ppm and 0.27 ppm for Glyphosate and amino methyl phosphonic acid, respectively. Such a low level detection is superior by 8.33% when compared to the reported values. Computational finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations affirmed the enhanced SERS effect from the multi-faceted nanostructure of AuNFs with structural heterogeneities that provide numerous hotspots to amplify the localized electromagnetic field. More eminently, fish scale derived biotemplate through AuNF-analyte drop casting contributed to the exceptional intensities, attributed to the naturally grooved hierarchically porous hydrophilic lamellar structures contact angle of 73°. Overall, the adapted bioengineering of SERS substrate is safe, robust, affordable and reproducible, fostered by bioderived durable biomatrix offering potent sustainable SERS detection of various biomedically and environmentally relevant molecules.

Biological materials with unique surface properties provide a new avenue for fabricating green and sensitive SERS-active substrates. Herein, we present a simple but efficient method to prepare surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates by depositing silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) on fish scale substrates using an evaporation-induced self-assembly method (EISA). Characterization of the formed flexible Ag-impregnated substrate proved outstanding SERS sensitivity, uniformity, and reproducibility properties, with a Raman enhancement factor of 1.3 × 106 and a relative standard deviation of 6.4 %. Using this powerful fish scale substrate, a toxic environmental pollutant perfluorooctane sulfonamide (PFOSA) was indirectly detected in lake water, soil, and human urine samples. Due to its chemical structure, it is difficult to detect low concentrations of PFOSA in real samples. Interestingly, malachite green (MG) was smartly used as the Raman label for PFOSA detection in real samples. One of the main appeals is that the concentration of PFOSA can be correlated with a decrease in the SERS signal of MG in real samples. In conclusion, the strategy employed and reproducible SERS substrates may have diverse applications in clinical and environmental analyses. © 2024 Elsevier B.V.

Automated classification of blood cells from microscopic images is an interesting research area owing to advancements of efficient neural network models. The existing deep learning methods rely on large data for network training and generating such large data could be time-consuming. Further, explainability is required via class activation mapping for better understanding of the model predictions. Therefore, we developed a Siamese twin network (STN) model based on contrastive learning that trains on relatively few images for the classification of healthy peripheral blood cells using EfficientNet-B3 as the base model. Hence, in this study, a total of 17,092 publicly accessible cell histology images were analyzed from which 6% were used for STN training, 6% for few-shot validation, and the rest 88% for few-shot testing. The proposed architecture demonstrates percent accuracies of 97.00, 98.78, 94.59, 95.70, 98.86, 97.09, 99.71, and 96.30 during 8-way 5-shot testing for the classification of basophils, eosinophils, immature granulocytes, erythroblasts, lymphocytes, monocytes, platelets, and neutrophils, respectively. Further, we propose a novel class activation mapping scheme that highlights the important regions in the test image for the STN model interpretability. Overall, the proposed framework could be used for a fully automated self-exploratory classification of healthy peripheral blood cells. Graphical abstract: The whole proposed framework demonstrates the Siamese twin network training and 8-way k-shot testing. The values indicate the amount of dissimilarity. [Figure : see fulltext.]

The stability and dispersity of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) against various biological, physicochemical, and physiological transformations while retaining biocompatibility are fundamental for their myriad utilization in various theragnostic applications. Besides, it would be highly imperative if the AuNPs could be generated using environmentally sustainable procedures. Remarkably stable, monodispersed AuNPs with robustness against centrifugation, freeze-thawing, lyophilization, acids, bases, electrolytes, and polar solvents are generated by utilizing fish scale wastes. The AuNPs inherited self-integrity and dispersity across various clinically significant biological fluids including phosphate buffer saline, growth mediums, human blood serum, saliva, and urine. Human blood serum interactions revealed negligible protein corona consortium and biocompatibility with no hemolysis or cytotoxicity toward peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Astonishingly, endurance to all these biological, physicochemical, and physiological discrepancies was comparable to that of universal stabilizer thiolated polyethylene glycol (PEG) sorbed AuNPs. Such high stability and wide dispersity are attributed to the firm shielding of AuNPs by the oligopeptide fragments excreted from the scales, which also endowed AuNP functionalization to diverse drugs. Notably, our results develop a biogenic production of monodispersed AuNPs with natural sturdiness against harsh laboratory and clinical environments to substitute the plunged biocompatibility of PEG-Au sulfur chemisorption and PEG-Au physisorption approaches for various imaging and drug delivery applications.

Antimicrobial resistance threatens the effective treatment of ever increasing infections caused by various microorganisms. Antimicrobial potential of silver nanoparticles opened up a new frontier for better therapeutic interventions over the emerging multidrug-resistant pathogens and short shelf life of various drugs. This chapter provides a robust strategy for targeting various multidrug-resistant microorganisms with least nonspecific reactivity. The mechanisms by which silver nanoparticles induce microbicidal activity in terms of DNA damage, membrane rupture, interference with the cellular biomolecules, generation of free radicals induced reactive oxygen species, and dissolution of ions are discussed. Finally, the defence responses of these microbes toward silver nanoparticles are illustrated.

Cancer therapy is a fast-emerging biomedical paradigm that elevates the diagnostic and therapeutic potential of a nanovector for identification, monitoring, targeting, and post-treatment response analysis. Nanovectors of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION) are of tremendous significance in cancer therapy because of their inherited high surface area, high reactivity, biocompatibility, superior contrast, and magnetic and photo-inducibility properties. In addition to a brief introduction, we summarize various progressive aspects of nanomagnets pertaining to their production with an emphasis on sustainable biomimetic approaches. Post-synthesis particulate and surface alterations in terms of pharmaco-affinity, liquid accessibility, and biocompatibility to facilitate cancer therapy are highlighted. SPION parameters including particle contrast, core-fusions, surface area, reactivity, photosensitivity, photodynamics, and photothermal properties, which facilitate diverse cancer diagnostics, are discussed. We also elaborate on the concept of magnetism to selectively focus chemotherapeutics on tumors, cell sorting, purification of bioentities, and elimination of toxins. Finally, while addressing the toxicity of nanomaterials, the advent of ultrasmall nanomagnets as a healthier alternative with superior properties and compatible cellular interactions is reviewed. In summary, these discussions spotlight the versatility and integration of multi-tasking nanomagnets and ultrasmall nanomagnets for diverse cancer theragnostics.

Blood group analysis has evolved from conventional “test-tube” to ingenious “lab-on-a-chip” micro/paper-fluidic devices for identifying blood phenotypes. Despite the rapid and economical fabrication of these devices, they require Whatman paper that is obtained by cutting down trees and plastic usage involving complex and sophisticated facilities, making scalable manufacturing laborious and expensive. Most importantly, deforestation and plastic incineration pose great threats to the biotic and abiotic environments. Here, we have developed a blood grouping strip utilizing fish-scale waste and household cardboard-waste generated origami as an affordable and sustainable strategy. The naturally inherited hydrophilicity of fish scale with a contact angle of 89° could succinctly auto-stabilize low-volume antisera without the aid of additives. Moreover, unlike paperfluidics, antisera absorption, as well as RBC-antisera agglutination upon blood introduction, happens on the spot with no capillary wicking. The merits of our technique are: it requires a low amount of blood (3 ?L), eliminates additional image processing and assays, is equipment-free, and aids accurate blood typing as a visual hemagglutination readout. Additionally, a high tensile strength of ?85 ± 5 MPa and the shelf-endurance of the bio-disc allowed us to use the simplest cardboard origami as a shield, obviating plastic and fiber generated fancy shields, making our device portable and simultaneously biodegradable. Our novel bio-disc blood analysis was tested with anonymous blood samples (n = 200), with an accuracy comparable to a standard blood group assay. This zero-cost paper, plastic-free eco-friendly blood group analyser derived from biodegradable food and cardboard waste as a resourceful technique has huge potential in various sensors and point-of-care diagnostics, especially in impoverished areas with limited or no lab facilities.

Metal nanoparticles grafted within inert and porous wide-area supports are emerging as recyclable, sustainable catalysts for modern industry applications. Here, we bioengineered gold nanoparticle-based supported catalysts by utilizing the innate metal binding and reductive potential of eggshell as a sustainable strategy. Variable hand-recyclable wide-area three-dimensional catalysts between ?80 ± 7 and 0.5 ± 0.1 cm2 are generated simply by controlling the size of the support. The catalyst possessed high-temperature stability (300 °C) and compatibility toward polar and nonpolar solvents, electrolytes, acids, and bases facilitating ultra-efficient catalysis of accordingly suspended substrates. Validation was done by large-volume (2.8 liters) dye detoxification, gram-scale hydrogenation of nitroarene, and the synthesis of propargylamine. Moreover, persistent recyclability, monitoring of reaction kinetics, and product intermediates are possible due to physical retrievability and interchangeability of the catalyst. Finally, the bionature of the support permits ?76.9 ± 8% recovery of noble gold simply by immersing in a royal solution. Our naturally created, low-cost, scalable, hand-recyclable, and resilient supported mega-catalyst dwarfs most challenges for large-scale metal-based heterogeneous catalysis.

UV-Vis spectroscopy is a versatile analytical tool used to examine the nature of various synthetic, biological and clinical molecules for pharmaceutical and environmental applications. The analysis is typically performed in a "cuvette or microplate"that is made of either high-priced quartz or eco-unfriendly plastic materials. Besides, cuvettes and microplates require a plethora of analyte volumes between 100 ?L-5 mL that is unfeasible for expensive, rare and high-risk analytes. Herein, we have developed a low-cost sustainable biotemplate derived from fish scales for analysing the absorbance of various sub-10 ?L analytes. Naturally acquired transparency enabled optical transmittance above ?80% in the broad visible and near IR spectrum of 350-900 nm permitted accurate measurements. Most importantly, droplet retention over 30 minutes against gravity with the vertically aligned biotemplate supported such ultra-low volume measurements as well as monitoring of chemical reactions in situ. Moreover, the non-impregnated analyte droplets could be retrieved post-analysis due to the marginally porous hierarchically layered hydrophilic biotemplate with a contact angle of 79°. A customized reusable low-cost 3D-printed adapter was fabricated to position the biotemplate inside the cuvette slot. The biotemplate exhibited excellent compatibility to detect diverse chromophores such as organic dyes, bacteria, nanoparticles, quantum dots, proteins and metallic suspensions by revealing their corresponding absorbances. As a proof-of-concept, we demonstrated the on-biotemplate catalytic dye degradation analysis with an R2 value of 0.98, and the BSA standard assay to quantify as low as 50 ?g mL-1 proteins with comparable sensitivities to that of microplate and quartz cuvettes. Finally, large-scale production has been demonstrated by generating ?3000 biotemplates at an economical price of only Rs. 106 ($1.44). This ultralow-cost, plastic-free, use-and-throw biodegradable transparent biotemplate prepared from food waste as a bioresource stratagem has huge potential in routine scientific and pharmaceutical UV-Vis analytics.

A generalized method for sorting nanoparticles based on their cores does not exist; it is an immediate necessity, and an approach incorporating cost-effectiveness and biocompatibility is in demand. Therefore, an efficient method for the separation of various mixed core-compositions or dissimilar metallic nanoparticles to their pure forms at the nano-bio interface was developed. Various simple core-combinations of monodispersed nanoparticles with dual cores, including silver plus gold, iron oxide plus gold and platinum plus gold, to the complex three-set core-combinations of platinum plus gold plus silver and platinum plus iron plus gold were sorted using step-gradient centrifugation in a sucrose suspension. Viscosity mediated differential terminal velocities of the nanoparticles permitted diversified dragging at different gradients allowing separation. Stability, purity and properties of the nanoparticles during separation were evaluated based on visual confirmation and by employing advanced instrumentations. Moreover, theoretical studies validated our experimental observations, revealing the roles of various parameters, such as the viscosity of sucrose, the density of the particles and the velocity and duration of centrifugation, involved during the separation process. This remarkably rapid, cost-efficient and sustainable strategy can be adapted to separate other cores of nanoparticles for various biomedical research purposes, primarily to understand nanoparticle induced toxicity and particle fate and transformations in natural biotic environments.

Silver nanoparticle-aided enhancement in the anti-corrosion potential and stability of plant extract as ecologically benign alternative for microbially induced corrosion treatment is demonstrated. Bioengineered silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) surface functionalized with plant extract material (proteinacious) was generated in vitro in a test tube by treating ionic AgNO with the leaf extract of Azadirachta indica that acted as dual reducing as well as stabilizing agent. Purity and crystallinity of the AgNPs, along with physical and surface characterizations, were evaluated by performing transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, energy dispersive x-ray spectra, single-area electron diffractions, zeta potential, and dynamic light scattering measurements. Anti-corrosion studies against mild steel (MS1010) by corrosion-inducive bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis EN2 isolated from cooling towers, were evaluated by performing electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), weight loss analysis, and surface analysis by infrared spectroscopy. Our studies revealed that AgNPs profoundly inhibited the biofilm on MS1010 surface and reduced the corrosion rates with the CR of 0.5 mm/y and an inhibition efficiency of 77% when compared to plant extract alone with a CR of 2.2 mm/y and an inhibition efficiency of 52%. Further surface analysis by infrared spectra revealed that AgNPs formed a protective layer of self-assembled film on the surface of MS1010. Additionally, EIS and surface analysis revealed that the AgNPs have inhibited the bacterial biofilm and reduced the pit on MS1010. This is the first report disclosing the application of bioengineered AgNP formulations as potent anti-corrosive inhibitor upon forming a protective layer over mild steel in cooling water towers.

The first intermolecular ring-expansion cascade of azirines with alkynes for the synthesis of pyridines, enabled by a copper/triethylamine catalytic system via simultaneous generation and utilization of yne-enamine and skipped-yne-imine intermediates, is reported. Experimental as well as computational mechanistic studies revealed that the role of triethylamine is crucial in deciding the reaction pathway toward the pyridine products. This process offers a novel, one-step, direct, and practical strategy for the rapid construction of highly substituted pyridines under exceedingly mild conditions, and an installed alkyne functionality.