Asia Research News 2018

B R I N G I N G D I S COV E R Y TO L I G H T

nano

sensing the

future

also inside A love potion for plants Black hole mysteries Hands-free fingerprints Overcoming male infertility

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Credit: Denys Bilytskyi | 123rf

when your research needs to be heard

Bringing discovery to light

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T H E DANGERS OF CHRONIC STRESS ON MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS

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E R A D I CAT I N G C H I L D M A R R I AG E

Treating Alzheimer's page 19

The imbalanced universe page 28

A semiconductor superhighway page 46

topic 04 People 24 Space 28 Technology34 Environment 54 Medicine

Shaping a plant page 63

Welcome to the 2018 edition of Scanning electron microscope image of gold nanostructure Credit: Petrica Ciprian Kis | 123rf

Cover Photo Credit: sciencerf | 123rf

Asia Research News Team Magdeline Pokar Laura Petersen Aya Kawanishi Nadia El-Awady Vivien Chiam Djuke Veldhuis James Tyrrell Stephen Dale

Design

Xray Creative

Editorial Consultants Daniel Raymer Pokar Vellaykuti

Research featured in Asia Research News 2018 is based on information provided by the research institutions listed. Readers are advised to contact the researchers for additional information.

All images used in whole or in part within this publication are credited to the respective image owners.

ResearchSEA Limited and the Asia Research News team does not accept responsibility for any loss, damage or expenses incurred resulting from the use of information in this publication.

ISSN 2042-0536 Copyright ResearchSEA Limited. We welcome you to reproduce articles in Asia Research News 2018, provided appropriate credit is given to Asia Research News and the research institutions featured.

Contacts

General: Magdeline Pokar m.pokar@researchsea.com Singapore: Vivien Chiam vivienchiam@researchsea.com Japan: Aya Kawanishi a.kawanishi@researchsea.com www.researchsea.com ResearchSEA @ResearchSEA company/ResearchSEA

Welcome to our 10th anniversary edition of Asia Research News magazine. We are very excited to reach this milestone. Our journey began much earlier, in 2004, with Asia’s first research news portal to connect journalists and research institutions. The print magazine joined our growing repertoire of services in 2009, keeping key research in the spotlight all year, rather than just a short news cycle.

In this issue, we feature fascinating research on how nanotechnology is changing our lives — from making biodegradable electronics and repairing bones, to detecting diseases in a single breath.

We also report on the troubling issues children face. In many countries, one in three girls are married before the age of 18, while millions of children get left behind by parents who migrate for work. Researchers surveyed 7,500 women and 5,000 children to understand how we can help them.

Meanwhile, far far away in the Whale Galaxy, researchers are finding out why stars have halos with help from a telescope that launched the world’s largest galaxy survey. Others are seeking

knowledge about the first 100 million years after the Big Bang and why there is more matter than antimatter in the universe.

From our earthy plants, we discover that orchids can protect our skin, and coconut peat stops flash floods.

After 10 years and 200,000 flowers, researchers finally have a love potion.

Promising medical research investigates potential treatments for Alzheimers and reversing male infertility. It explains the dangers of chronic stress, early aging in child cancer survivors, and the benefits of having worms in your gut.

Don’t miss our new “Moments in History” segments, which tell us more about the first artificial snowflake, lithium ion batteries and pearl farming.

Thank you for reading and for your continued support of research in Asia.

We are thrilled to work with our partners to share these important advances towards making the world a more informed place. We can’t wait to continue our mission — bringing discovery to light — over the next 10 years and beyond.

MEDICINE

M A N AG I N G E A R LY AG I N G IN CHILDHOOD CA N C E R S U R V I VO R S Credit: Kateryna Kon | 123rf

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Young adults who survived childhood cancer had significantly shorter telomeres than their healthy peers.

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Further information

Professor Hany Ariffin | E-mail: hany@um.edu.my Faculty of Medicine University of Malaya

MEDICINE

The quality of life of young adults who survived cancer as children could improve due to a new understanding about why they age earlier than their healthy peers.

Young adults who survived cancer when they were children develop age-related diseases earlier than others due to bacterial imbalances in the gut, perturbed immunity and damaged DNA, researchers have found.

An international team led by Hany Ariffin, a paediatric oncologist at the University of Malaya, revealed some of the molecular mechanisms involved in the susceptibility of childhood cancer survivors to age-related diseases as young adults, including diabetes and ischemic heart disease. Much of the research on this topic has focused on the relationship between the early onset of age-related diseases with the toxic effects of cancer treatments. But little has been known about what happens at the molecular level.

Over a series of studies involving Malaysian childhood cancer survivors, the team found that these young adults show chronic activation and accelerated age-related deterioration of the immune system. They also have higher markers of systemic inflammation than their healthy peers. Additionally, survivors showed evidence of specific immune responses to cytomegalovirus, a common virus that belongs to the herpes family and usually persists in the body in an inactive state following infection. These immune responses are similar to those found in the elderly.

Gut bacteria were less diverse in youngadult childhood cancer survivors compared to their healthy peers. Beneficial gut bacteria were also depleted. The researchers suggest that, while it is not clear why these changes occur, restoring ‘good’ gut bacteria to normal levels and increasing its diversity could mitigate the early onset of age-related diseases in this group.

One of the hallmarks of aging is the accumulation of damaged DNA and the shortening of caps, called telomeres, covering the ends of DNA strands. The researchers found that leukocyte telomere lengths in young adult survivors of childhood cancer were similar to individuals 20 to 30 years older.

As survival rates for most childhood cancers significantly improve, including in Malaysia, researchers and clinicians are aiming to “develop a more comprehensive treatment program with the goal of ensuring good quality of life for long-term survivors,” says Ariffin.

She and her team now plan to investigate how pharmacological and lifestyle interventions might reverse this aging process. They will continue investigating the molecular pathways that hasten aging in childhood cancer survivors in order to develop preventive and therapeutic strategies. They also hope to validate the use of specific blood tests in the clinic to identify survivors who demonstrate premature aging and may benefit from early medical intervention.

ASIA RESE ARCH NEWS 2018

Prof. Hany and her team plan to investigate interventions that may reverse the early aging process.

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MEDICINE

SUGAR W I T H D R AWA L : KILLING THE LEISHMANIA PA R A S I T E

Credit: Kateryna Kon | 123rf

Findings on how parasites cope with stress on a cellular level could aid the development of drugs that combat leishmaniasis, a tropical disease neglected by the pharmaceutical industry.

Drugs that inhibit the ability of the Leishmania parasite to utilize glucose could help treat infection caused by the parasite.

Leishmaniasis is a tropical disease that can cause debilitating ulcers of the skin, mouth and nose. Its most serious form, visceral leishmaniasis, causes fever, low red blood cell count, and enlargement of the liver and spleen. The parasite multiplies in the guts of sandflies, which subsequently transmit it to vertebrate hosts, where it further develops and spreads.

To find a potential treatment for Leishmania infections, researchers from Universiti Putra Malaysia and the University of Glasgow in Scotland analysed molecular changes in the proteins and metabolites of mutant Leishmania parasites placed in a variety of nutrient environments. By studying these relationships in mutants, the team hoped to identify a molecular pathway to target in normal parasites that reduces their virulence.

They found that mutant parasites incapable of processing glucose experienced reduced growth, sensitivity to oxidative stress, and dramatic reduction of virulence.

The mutants were able to use alternative energy sources, such as amino and fatty acids. Their ability to do so is likely an adaptation to the variable environment in the sandfly gut, where glucose may be abundant or sparse depending on the sandfly’s diet. However, these alternative sources were not enough to sustain the parasites.

The researchers hope these findings might be used by others to develop anti-parasitic drugs that inhibit glucose utilization to treat Leishmania infections.

There are about 50,000 to 90,000 new cases of visceral leishmaniasis globally every year, according to the World Health Organization. In 2015, 90% of reported leishmaniasis cases came from seven countries: Brazil, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan.

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Further information

Dr Dhilia Lamasudin | E-mail: dhilia@upm.edu.my Faculty of Biotechnology & Biomolecular Sciences Universiti Putra Malaysia

Did you know?

Proteomics studies the set of proteins produced in an organism. These proteins, called proteomes, are influenced by a variety of factors including genetic and environmental.

The proteome is not constant. It differs from cell to cell and changes over time. By studying the proteome, researchers can better understand the dynamic processes involved in disease. This field of study is paving the way toward personalized therapies and improving the identification and diagnosis of diseases and disorders, such as cancer and schizophrenia.

Metabolomics is the study of small molecules called metabolites within cells and tissues, such as amino acids, antioxidants and vitamins. Metabolomics is making an impact in areas such as toxicology, drug discovery, newborn screening and food safety.

The connection between proteomics, metabolomics and genomics is evident throughout biology. Genes give rise to mRNA, which carry the codes for proteins, which are in turn involved in many processes, including the metabolism of small molecules such as glucose.

Over the last two decades, these ‘omic’ industries have become cornerstones of biomedical and industrial research.

Dr Richard Burchmore | E-mail: richard.burchmore@glasgow.ac.uk Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation University of Glasgow

MEDICINE

N EG L EC T E D T R O P I CA L DISEASES Some tropical diseases are neglected because they generally afflict the world’s poor, and historically have not received as much attention or funding as other diseases.

Soil-transmitted helminth infections Helminth infections are caused by several species of parasitic worm, including hookworms, whipworms and roundworms.

Infected individuals suffer from anaemia, vitamin A deficiency, stunted growth, malnutrition and impaired development.

Infection is particularly common in disadvantaged communities in tropical and subtropical countries with poor sanitation. The worms are transmitted from contaminated soil and faecal matter to people via unwashed or raw food, or dirty hands. Mature worms attach themselves in the small or large intestine and can live there for many years, producing thousands of eggs that are passed out through defecation, initiating the cycle all over again. An estimated 1.5 billion people—nearly a quarter of the world’s population—suffer from helminth infections.

Lymphatic filariasis Microscopic, thread-like worms cause lymphatic filariasis. The disease leads to swollen tissues and elephantiasis, an abnormal enlargement of body parts causing pain, severe disability and social stigma. The adult worms occupy the lymphatic system and can live there for up to seven years. After mating, the worms release millions of microfilariae into the blood. When mosquitoes feed on an infected person, they can transfer the infection to others via bites. Lymphatic filariasis affects over 120 million people in 73 countries throughout the tropics and subtropics in Asia, Africa, the Western Pacific and South America.

Dengue With about half the world’s population living in areas at risk of infection, the dengue virus is one of the leading causes of illness and death in the tropics and subtropics. Spread by mosquitoes, this viral infection causes flu-like illnesses, which can develop into a potentially lethal complication called severe dengue. Before 1970, only nine countries had experienced severe dengue. Recent estimates indicate dengue infections have jumped significantly to 390 million per year, and severe dengue is a leading cause of death among children in some Asian and Latin American countries. The disease is now endemic in more than 100 countries, with the Americas, South-East Asia and Western Pacific regions most severely affected. There is no specific treatment for dengue fever. For severe dengue, maintaining the patient’s body fluid is critical to survival.

Leishmaniasis The Leishmania parasite causes leishmaniasis, also known as kala-azar. Leishmania parasites multiply in the gut of a sand fly, which transmits it to vertebrate hosts. In humans, symptoms of the disease include debilitating ulcers of the skin, mouth and nose. Visceral leishmaniasis is its most serious form and commonly leads to fever, low red blood cell count and liver and spleen enlargement. Left untreated, the fatality rate in developing countries can be as high as 100% within two years. About half of the cases of visceral leishmaniasis, as well as lymphatic filariasis and leprosy, occur in India and South Asia.

ASIA RESE ARCH NEWS

Treatment ‘Preventive chemotherapy’ is a promising intervention to combat lymphatic filariasis, schistosomiasis, soil-transmitted helminth infections and other neglected tropical diseases. In contrast to cancer chemotherapy, it is used to reduce the risk of infection or death in large public health campaigns. Six different medicines can be administered in seven different combinations, making it possible to target multiple diseases at once.

Schistosomiasis Schistosomiasis, also known as bilharzia, is caused by parasitic blood flukes that cause immune reactions and progressive damage to organs. Other symptoms include abdominal pain, diarrhoea, liver enlargement and hypertension of the abdominal blood vessels. Freshwater snails serve as intermediary hosts, releasing the larval parasite that can penetrate human skin. People can become infected during agricultural, domestic or recreational activities, which expose them to infested freshwater resources.

The worms live in human blood vessels where females release eggs. These are passed out of the body in faeces or urine, continuing their life cycle. Over 200 million people required treatment worldwide in 2016.

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Credit: Kateryna Kon | 123rf

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MEDICINE

IDENTIFYING THE DANGERS OF CHRONIC STRESS ON MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS

ASIA RESE ARCH NEWS

Artistic conceptual image of brain nerve cells

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Further information

Professor Masaaki Murakami | E-mail: murakami@igm.hokudai.ac.jp Institute for Genetic Medicine Hokkaido University

MEDICINE New research reveals how chronic stress and tiny brain inflammations cause fatal gut failure in a multiple sclerosis mouse model.

A newly discovered nerve pathway facilitates fatal gut failure in a multiple sclerosis (MS) mouse model placed under chronic stress, Hokkaido University researchers report in the journal eLife. The findings could provide a new therapeutic strategy for MS, an intractable, currently untreatable disease.

MS affects an estimated 2.5 million people worldwide and causes motor dysfunction, impaired vision and gut failure. It is an autoimmune condition of the central nervous system mediated by immune cells called autoreactive CD4+ T cells.

These pathogenic CD4+ T cells can be used to induce an MS-like disease in research mice. In previous studies using these mouse models, Masaaki Murakami of Hokkaido University and his colleagues found that autoreactive CD4+ T cells cross the blood-brain barrier at specific sites causing brain and spinal cord inflammation.

In the present study, the team and their collaborators in Japan and Germany investigated the possible relationships between micro-inflammation in the brain, chronic stress and stress-related organ failure.

They put healthy mice under stress by disturbing their sleep or by rearing them on wet bedding. Transferring pathogenic CD4+ T cells to the mice under stress caused severe symptoms such as gut failure and even sudden death. Cell

ASIA RESE ARCH NEWS

Credit: Arima Y. et al., eLife

Credit: ralwel | 123rf

transfer or stress alone did not cause these symptoms. Subsequent investigations revealed a complex nerve-related mechanism behind this process.

The injected pathogenic CD4+ T cells accumulated around blood vessels in two specific sites at the centre of the brains of stressed mice. Micro-inflammation developed around specific blood vessels, and the inflamed sites then released a small molecule, called ATP, that switched on a nerve pathway that is normally turned off. This switch led to gut dysfunctions, bleeding and failure. Also, the bleeding led to increased levels of potassium in the blood, which is a factor that can lead to heart failure.

The team was able to prevent gut failure by suppressing inflammation in the brain or blocking nerve pathways from the brain to the gut. The results suggest tiny areas of inflammation around some specific vessels in the brain are a risk factor for organ dysfunction, including severe gut and heart failure. Micro-inflammation in the brain is known to happen in various diseases, including multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.

“These results demonstrate a direct link between brain micro-inflammation and fatal gastrointestinal diseases via the establishment of a new neural pathway under stress,” says Murakami. “We plan to further investigate other possible connections between brain micro-inflammations and organ dysfunctions, including those within the brain itself.”

2018

Micro-inflammation developed at specific sites in the brain (top). Pathological analysis showed damage to stomach tissues (bottom right) compared to mice not placed under stressful conditions (bottom left).

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MEDICINE

AN EDIBLE ONE-TWO PUNCH TO R E D U C E C H O L E ST E R O L Novel micro-beads encapsulating probiotics could help to further lower cholesterol levels.

Studies have shown that a diet containing high levels of saturated fats and cholesterol is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Limiting cholesterol intake can lower cholesterol levels in the blood, but scientists are looking for additional means to reach this goal, including nutraceuticals: foodstuffs with health benefits beyond their nutritional value.

Probiotics are beneficial bacteria, such as those found in yogurt or fermented soybeans. The probiotic Lactobacillus plantarum LAB12 actively lowers cholesterol by binding to it and carrying it out of the body.

However, an effective delivery system to the gut has proved elusive because exposure to extreme temperatures during industrial manufacture, and to

Consumption of probiotics, like those found in fermented soybeans (pictured), could be boosted with the help of novel micro-beads.

gastric juices and bile during digestion, often harm the bacteria, leaving them biologically inactive.

Kalavathy Ramasamy and her team at the Universiti Teknologi MARA in Malaysia have developed a micro-bead encapsulation system, made of a unique blend of natural polysaccharides, which has proven effective in protecting LAB12. Beta-cyclodextrin (β-CD), which attracts cholesterol, was then incorporated into the beads, further preventing cholesterol absorption by the intestines.

The team compared the viability of unprotected LAB12, LAB12 encapsulated in micro-beads, and LAB12/β-CD beads under several conditions. They found that LAB12 in both types of beads remained highly viable (90%) after exposure to stomach-like juice, whereas only 41% of the unprotected cells were viable. They then

observed effective release (over 90%) of LAB12 from both types of beads in intestinal-like fluid containing bile. Likewise, LAB12 survival for the original and β-CD beads were comparable after extreme heat (over 90%) and four weeks of refrigerated storage (over 85%), which was much greater than the non-encapsulated bacteria.

After determining that β-CD did not reduce LAB12 viability or harm connective tissue cells called fibroblasts, the team compared how well the two types of beads reduced egg yolk cholesterol. They found that cholesterol was reduced by 85% using LAB12/β-CD beads, and by only 67% using LAB12 beads without β-CD. Based on bacteria viability, the generally non-toxic nature of the beads, and the effectiveness of cholesterol removal, Ramasamy envisions the safe incorporation of L. plantarum LAB12-loaded β-CD beads into foods and other nutraceuticals following safety tests in animals and clinical trials for humans.

ASIA RESE ARCH NEWS 2 01 8 Credit: yoshiyayo | 123rf

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Further information

Credit: Rajesh Rajendrannar | 123rf

Assoc Prof Dr Kalavathy Ramasamy | E-mail: kalav922@puncakalam.uitm.edu.my Dr Lim Siong Meng | E-mail: lim219@puncakalam.uitm.edu.my Collaborative Drug Discovery Research Group, Faculty of Pharmacy Collaborative Drug Discovery Research Group, Faculty of Pharmacy University Teknologi MARA University Teknologi MARA

seconds from folder

MEDICINE

T H E ECO N O M I C VA L U E O F M A L AY S I A ’ S MEDICINAL PLANTS Andrographis paniculata

Credit: Nednapa Chumjumpa | 123rf

consumed traditional remedies more than Christians, indicating that religion is another factor driving their use.

Household income did not influence the decision to buy or use medicinal plants. This is contrary to the view that poorer households prefer plants because they are cheaper than modern medicines.

The team hopes that establishing a baseline for the economic value of medicinal plants will help protect the nearby forest as a community heritage site with a management plan that balances extraction with conservation.

Malaysia’s native Bidayuh community uses medicinal plants from the surrounding forest for a variety of purposes. The most common are Alpinia galangal, Andrographis paniculata and Uncaria gambier, which are used for fever and skin diseases, hypertension and diabetes, and cuts and pain relief respectively.

Uncaria gambir

ASIA RESE ARCH NEWS

Alpinia galangal

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Understanding the economic value of medicinal plants in Malaysia’s Bidayuh community could help develop a better conservation strategy.

The value of traditional medicinal plants consumed by an ethnic community in Malaysia each year is substantial: about RM32,300 (US$7,600), according to a team of researchers from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak.

“This figure is quite significant and reflects the importance of the resources provided by the estimated 1,400 hectares of forested areas in the Jagoi community forest,” says Gabriel Tonga Noweg, a forest researcher who spearheaded the study.

Traditional medicine is an important part of the cultural heritage of Malaysia’s native Bidayuh community in the Jagoi Bau district.

To help preserve that heritage and the surrounding forest, Noweg and a colleague set out to determine the economic value of the area’s medicinal plants. They surveyed 1,104 households in the Bidayuh community about the plants’ purposes and frequency of use.

Of the 117 plant species documented, 60 species are medicinal, and nearly 30 species are edible. The three most common medicinal plants are Alpinia galangal, Andrographis paniculata and Uncaria gambier, which are used for fever and skin diseases, hypertension and diabetes, and cuts and pain relief respectively. Others are used for various purposes ranging from insect repellent to religious practice. Some plants have more than one application, such as treating skin disease as well as reducing flatulence after childbirth.

The team’s analysis revealed that elderly residents used and spent more on medicinal plants than young residents did. They also found that people following native religions

Credit: akulamatiau | 123rf

Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Professor Dr Gabriel Tonga Noweg | E-mail: gtnoweg@unimas.my Institute of Biodiversity and Environmental Conservation Universiti Malaysia Sarawak

Further information

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MEDICINE

KILLING TUMOURS BY TA R G E T I N G T H E I R V I R A L D NA EBV-positive tumours grafted into mice drastically reduced tumour size by 93%.

L2P4 works by disrupting the function of the viral protein EBNA1, interfering with the replication of EBV’s genome in tumour cells, as well as reducing tumour cell stability.

But further investigations are needed. The researchers injected L2P4 directly into tumours, but localized tumours are already treated effectively by surgical removal or radiation. Injecting the probe into the body’s general circulation could lead to an immune response with a subsequent rapid reduction in its levels, preventing effective delivery to tumour cells.

Still, the probe is a promising target as a future tumour therapy.

Its ability to fluoresce in EBV-positive tumour cells also means it could potentially be used in cancer imaging.

The team next plans to map intracellular zinc ions in EBV-infected cells. Zinc is involved in the regulation of EBNA1. The researchers would like to investigate adding a molecule that binds zinc to their probe to enhance its therapeutic effectiveness.

Selective Nucleus localization

L2P4 fluoresces in EBV-positive tumour cells, allowing them to be visualized (left). Injecting L2P4 into an EBV-positive tumour also leads to its drastic reduction in size (right).

L2P4

Invivo growth inhibition

2 01 8 EBV-positive C666-1 cells

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Further information

Associate Professor Gary Ka-leung Wong | E-mail: klwong@hkbu.edu.hk Department of Chemistry Hong Kong Baptist University

Mice carrying C666-1 xenografts

Credit: Hong Kong Baptist University

ASIA RESE ARCH NEWS

A nucleus-penetrating probe could lead to therapies for virus-related tumours.

Epstein-Barr virus infects more than 95% of people, usually without symptoms. But sometimes its persistence in cells can lead to tumour formation. Now, researchers from Hong Kong and the UK have developed a fluorescing, molecular-sized probe, called L2P4, which can inhibit Epstein-Barr-related tumour growth while allowing researchers to see the targeted tumour cells.

A team led by chemist Gary Ka-leung Wong from Hong Kong Baptist University developed the probe, which is formed of a nucleus-penetrating peptide linked to a fluorescent chemical compound. L2P4 targets a viral protein, called EBNA1, which is crucial for maintaining the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) genome inside tumours.

The team tested the probe in EBV-positive tumour cells cultured in petri dishes and in EBV-positive tumours grafted into mice. They found that the peptide was only minimally toxic to cells that did not contain the virus, but that it became more toxic to EBV-positive tumour cells the higher the dose. Also, injecting L2P4 into

MEDICINE

P R OT EC T I N G THE GUT WITH WORMS

Parasitologist Yvonne Lim of Malaysia’s University of Malaya and colleagues in the United States infected mice lacking the Nod2 gene with common parasitic worms called helminths. They then measured the amount and types of bacteria in their intestines and stools.

They found fewer Bacteroides bacteria in the mice, but higher levels of Clostridia bacteria, which regulate anti-inflammatory responses. Significantly, many inflammatory bowel disease symptoms subsided, such as bleeding and ulceration of the small intestine.

The team also found that members of a rural indigenous tribe in Malaysia, who have a high prevalence of worm infection and a low prevalence of inflammatory bowel disease, had fewer harmful Bacteroides bacteria in their small intestines than Malaysians living in the capital city

Kuala Lumpur. Treating the tribe members for the parasitic worm infection led to an increase in Bacteroides and a corresponding decrease in Clostridia. This suggests that the existence of parasitic worms triggers growth in Clostridia, which might either outcompete Bacteroides for resources they need for survival, or release toxins that kill them. Either way, it appears that worms help prevent inflammatory bowel disease.

“This study is unique in that it highlights the potential benefit of low levels of worm infections,” says Lim. The team next plans to investigate the mechanisms that allow Clostridia to outcompete Bacteroides, and explore the use of worm infections, along with probiotic bacteria, in the treatment of inflammatory diseases.

ASIA RESE ARCH NEWS

Improved hygiene in the developed world could have a surprising consequence: higher rates of inflammatory bowel disease.

People living in relatively hygienic environments are not regularly exposed to parasitic infections, such as worm infections. Research has found that this could lead to some people being more susceptible to inflammatory bowel disease.

The Nod2 gene codes for a protein involved in stimulating an immune response against harmful bacteria. Its mutation is associated with inflammatory bowel disease in some people. Researchers study the disease by designing mice lacking this gene. These mice have a compromised mucus layer in their small intestines, leading to colonization by a harmful bacterial called Bacteroides and symptoms similar to inflammatory bowel disease.

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Credit: Kateryna Kon | 123rf

Professor Yvonne Ai-Lian Lim | E-mail: limailian@um.edu.my Faculty of Medicine University of Malaya

Further information

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MEDICINE

STRIC TER REPORTING FOR CHINESE MEDICINE CLINICAL TRIALS

Credit: Valentina Gabdrakipova | 123rf

New recommendations could lead to more transparent reporting of Chinese herbal medicine clinical trial results.

The CONSORT (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials) Statement is an evidence-based set of recommendations for reporting the results of randomized controlled trials testing clinical interventions. First developed by the international medical community in 1996, it was extended in 2007 to include guidelines for reporting the results of acupuncture trials.

Now, new recommendations have been added to the CONSORT Statement 2010 for reporting the results of randomized controlled trials involving Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) formulas. Ten years in the making, the updates aim to improve transparency, consistency and full disclosure of CHM formula studies.

CHM formulas usually contain more than two Chinese medical substances.

They are prepared based on a patient’s ‘pattern’: the summation of the cause, nature and location of pathological changes at a certain stage of disease.

The CONSORT Statement updates stipulate that diagnostic criteria must be specified when tested therapies target a pattern. Practitioners must also describe the specific contents of CHM formulas, including the dosage of each herb, the quality control methods applied, and the formula’s safety profile.

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Further information

Professor Zhaoxiang Bian | E-mail: bzxiang@hkbu.edu.hk School of Chinese Medicine Hong Kong Baptist University

The updates include a recommendation for using critical keywords in study reports to facilitate indexing CHM-related studies and searching for them.

“We were interested in this topic because tens of thousands of clinical reports on traditional Chinese medicine have been published but with poor general quality,” says Zhaoxiang Bian of Hong Kong Baptist University’s School of Chinese Medicine.

“Inadequate reporting not only compromises the values of Chinese herbal medicine, but also may affect reviewers’ and readers’ judgments about the efficacy and safety of traditional Chinese medicine, inviting scepticism and criticism. As a result, clinical practice and patient care suffer,” he explains.

The updates have undergone comprehensive feedback and review from researchers and practitioners. English, traditional Chinese and simplified Chinese versions of the recommendations were published in the Annals of Internal Medicine; the first time since the journal’s launch in 1927 that three different language versions of a paper have been published.

The team next plans to introduce these updates to traditional Chinese medicine practitioners, researchers, peer reviewers and journal editors through a series of workshops and conferences. They will continue to gather feedback on the updates for future revisions.

MEDICINE

Credit: wmei5881 | 123rf

Credit: alisali | 123rf

An orchid-based skincare product could protect skin from the sun’s aging effects.

Researchers at Hong Kong Baptist University have patented a formula, based on compounds present in two types of orchids, that can protect skin from the aging and damaging effects of sun exposure.

They isolated stilbenoids, plant-based compounds with powerful antioxidant properties, from Dendrobium officinale and Dendrobium nobile, two orchids commonly used in Chinese medicine. The stilbenoids were formulated into a cosmetic blend that can reduce the formation of harmful reactive oxygen species and oxidative free radicals resulting from sun exposure. It can also reduce melanin generation from sun exposure, which can lead to abnormal skin pigmentations such as aging spots and freckles.

The formula’s active ingredients demonstrated higher antioxidant activity than vitamin C and beta hydroxy acid (BHA), which are commonly used in over-the-counter skincare products.

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Associate Professor Hongjie Zhang | E-mail: zhanghj@hkbu.edu.hk School of Chinese Medicine Hong Kong Baptist University

ASIA RESE ARCH NEWS

ORCHIDS P R OT EC T THE SKIN Further information

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MEDICINE

INFERTILITY MECHANISM IN MALES IDENTIFIED

Some infertile men lack properly functioning ‘spark of life’ PLCζ proteins. Researchers found they could kick-start fertilization in the lab by injecting eggs with a higher amount of the PLCζ protein from infertile men than found naturally in their sperm.

ASIA RESE ARCH NEWS

Credit: vcha | Shutterstock

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Further information

Assistant Professor Michail Nomikos | E-mail: mnomikos@qu.edu.qa College of Medicine Qatar University

MEDICINE

Credit: Qatar University

Michail Nomikos of Qatar University and colleagues are developing a diagnostic test for men with dysfunctional PLCζ proteins, as well as potential tools to overcome this type of infertility in the lab.

ASIA RESE ARCH NEWS

Large doses of a sperm protein that is ineffective in infertile males can be injected directly into eggs to kick-start fertilization, giving couples hope of conceiving.

A sperm protein, called phospholipase C zeta (PLCζ), has been found to be necessary for egg fertilization. The protein is ineffective in some infertile men, according to new research by collaborators from Qatar University and Cardiff University in the UK. The team was able to initiate the fertilization process in the lab by injecting eggs with a higher amount of the PLCζ protein than naturally found in the sperm of infertile men. The results suggest that this type of infertility could become reversible.

“This study discovered that PLCζ protein generated in the lab can successfully replace sperm and trigger the development of an egg up to the blastocyst embryo stage,” says Michail Nomikos of Qatar University’s College of Medicine. “We are currently developing a therapeutic agent to treat such cases of male infertility.”

Sperm PLCζ is an essential trigger of the first ‘egg activation’ stage of fertilization. The egg is in a dormant state until a sperm fuses with it, delivering the PLCζ protein and stimulating the critical egg activation events that lead to early embryo development. This PLCζ ‘spark of life’ protein was discovered in 2002 by Tony Lai and his team at Cardiff University.

Recent clinical studies have reported that the sperm of some males fail to initiate fertilization despite having normal morphology and motility. Even though the sperm can fuse with an egg, nothing follows. Nomikos, Lai and their collaborators discovered that sperm from these men lack a properly functioning version of PLCζ.

The team investigated the effects of a mutation in the gene that codes for PLCζ on infertility. They found that injecting the mutated PLCζ protein into mouse eggs, at levels comparable with those of infertile men, failed to spark the fertilization process. However, if they increased the amount of abnormal protein to higher levels than naturally present, the normal fertilization process began. The researchers suspect that the very high amount of protein somehow compensates for its impaired functioning.

“We hope that this work will lead to a PLCζ therapy to help couples suffering from infertility to have the chance of a family,” says Lai. The group also plans to see if they can develop a tool to diagnose men with absent or dysfunctional PLCζ protein.

2018

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MEDICINE

FINDING ALZHEIMER’S T R E AT M E N T F R O M WITHIN

reduced expression of its gene in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease.

They determined IL-33 acts by promoting the recruitment of brain immune cells, called microglia, which clear away amyloid plaques. The molecule also reduces an inflammatory response in the brain, which is a hallmark of the late stages of Alzheimer’s.

The team next plans to further elucidate how IL-33 recruits microglia and signals them to clear away plaques.

They are also in the process of conducting pre-clinical drug development studies on IL-33 with an industry partner.

This essential step in the process must be completed before the drug can be tested in humans.

Professor Nancy Ip | E-mail: boip@ust.hk State Key Laboratory of Molecular Neuroscience The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Further information

2 01 8

Within a week of administering IL-33 to the mice, the defects in neuronal communication and memory loss were reversed.

Inflammation and amyloid plaque deposits decreased after just two consecutive days of IL-33 injections.

The rapid signs of improvement were “remarkable,” says Nancy Ip, a neuroscientist at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, who led the study.

“These exciting findings showed that a protein already present in the human body has the potential to be used therapeutically to reduce Alzheimer’s disease pathology and reduce its related cognitive deficits,” she says.

The researchers were inspired to investigate IL-33 because studies showed

ASIA RESE ARCH NEWS

An immune molecule in the body shows promise for the treatment of Alzheimer’s.

Researchers have identified a molecule expressed by several types of cells that could treat Alzheimer’s disease by activating an immune response. The molecule, called interleukin (IL)-33, rapidly improved the health of mice designed to have signs and symptoms similar to Alzheimer’s, in a recent study conducted at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Alzheimer’s disease is characterized by progressive memory loss, and impaired movement, reasoning and judgment.

Amyloid plaques accumulate outside brain cells, while harmful protein aggregates form inside them.

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MEDICINE

ASIA R ESE ARCH N EWS 2 01 8

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Tropical South-East Asian countries where mosquitos thrive are at risk, and must take action to reduce the threat.

The Zika virus (ZIKV) poses a public health threat in South-East Asia, and domestic awareness campaigns are needed to help reduce infection potential.

“Zika infection poses a special challenge for South-East Asian countries because the mosquitos that spread the virus thrive in this region,” says Ahmad Ruzain Salehuddin, of Malaysia’s Universiti Teknologi MARA, who led a review of studies on the rising impact of ZIKV both globally and within the region. “We also believe the prevalence of these infections may rise as global warming leads to the expansion of the tropical belt.”

ZIKV infection is a vector-borne disease spread by mosquitos, such as Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus in tropical regions including South-East Asia, and by other mosquitos, such as Aedes africanus, in temperate regions. The Zika virus has two distinct lineages: an Asian strain, which has

confirmed cases on Yap Island in the western Pacific Ocean in 2007.

While symptoms have previously been mild, the appearance of more serious complications has led to heightened international concern. After the explosive outbreaks in Brazil and Central America in early 2015, women infected by the virus gave birth to newborns with abnormally small heads, known as congenital microcephaly. There were also reports of Guillain-Barré syndrome, in which nerves are attacked by the immune system.

Recent evidence suggests that ZIKV can be sexually transmitted. Studies indicate that an infected male can transmit the disease to male or female partners, and that virus replication may take place in the genitourinary tract, with the testes or prostate serving as reservoirs. Infection appears to be transmitted to partners a few days before or after the onset of symptoms. An analysis of an outbreak in French Polynesia suggests that ZIKV can also be spread through blood transfusions.

spread to the US and French Polynesia, and an African strain, which is found throughout the Western hemisphere.

Most cases of Zika infection produce generally mild symptoms including rash, low fever, stiffness and joint pain, conjunctivitis, gastrointestinal upset, and sometimes neurological symptoms.

The virus was first observed in Rhesus monkeys in 1947 in Uganda, with the first human infection reported in Nigeria in 1952. The number of confirmed infections remained low until an outbreak of 49

Zika cases in Singapore and Malaysia have been rising since 2016. In Singapore, for example, 446 cases were reported between May and November 2016. With no vaccine yet available, containment needs to be achieved “through education that leads to integrated efforts to reduce the vector mass, through diagnostic evaluation, and through precautionary measures,” Salehuddin says. For example, the team suggests that travellers coming into and out of the region should be screened and monitored to help reduce the spread of the virus.

Further information

Dr Ahmad Ruzain Salehuddin | E-mail: ruz_arbs@salam.uitm.edu.my Faculty of Medicine Universiti Teknologi MARA

MEDICINE

ASIA RESE ARCH NEWS 2018

T R AC I N G THE SUDDEN, DA N G E R O U S R I S E OF ZIKA Credit: Gordon Zammit | 123rf

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Life Photonics Using light-based technologies for a sustainable future.

At Hamamatsu, we believe that light holds the key to industrial creativity. Photonic technologies promise a wide variety of applications and will generate new industries in the fields of health, energy, environmental resources, and communications.

Photon Detection Components High-sensitivity detectors as below are typical examples of Hamamatsu photodetection products used in a wide spectrum of applications utilizing light.

Photonic life science technologies and Hamamutsu’s product lines can be applied by your research or manufacturing teams in:

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Microplate readers PCR High content screening DNA sequencing CTC Fluorescence analysis Fluorescence lifetime measurement Biological flow cytometry Confocal microscopes Biochemical sensors Bioluminescence analysis Single molecule detection PET Scintillation light detection Cerenkov light detection

Bonding microfluidics • MicroTAS biochip • Lab-on-a-chip devices Since bonding is carried out by surface activation using light, it does not damage materials, it helps downsize equipment, reduces its cost, simplifies processes, and allows bonding only at the desired position.

[This technique can be applied to various materials of microfluidic devices.]

Photomuliplier tubes (PMT), multi-pixel photon counter – si photomultipliers (MPPC), avalanche photodiodes (APD) and PIN PDs are capable of low-light-level detection.

They convert light into electrical signals adaptable to various kinds of applications, including extremely weak fluorescence or luminescence measurements. They offer diverse device characteristics and shapes, in addition to analog or digital outputs.

PMT Readout circuit Opera�ng voltage Gain Amplifier Temperature sensi�vity Response �me

The EX-mini L12530 is a compact excimer lamp light source designed for R&D work. It is small and light enough to carry anywhere for conducting simple yet accurate experiments, evaluations and tests.

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PIN PD Complex up to 10 VDC 1 Necessary Low Medium φ0.2 ~ φ11.3

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185 ~ 920

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APD Complex 100 to 200 VDC 2 10 Necessary High Medium

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MEDICINE

KAIST researchers designed nanofibres (grey) with protein-encapsulated catalysts (orange) to increase the sensitivity and selectivity of breath sensors for disease detection.

Credit: Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology

D E T EC T I N G DISEASE IN A S I N G L E B R E AT H

exhaled breath within ten to 50 seconds.

The researchers attribute this heightened sensitivity to the increased surface area available for reactions to take place between the target molecule and the sensor. The sensors were also highly selective. The nanofibres reacted primarily with the target biomarker thanks to the alloy catalysts containing two types of metals rather than just one type. These catalysts with unique metal combinations can help establish ‘sensing libraries’ for various biomarkers.

The team created a mobile sensor platform that can analyse exhaled breath molecules collected in a gas-sampling bag and then send the results to a smartphone.

A few issues remain before breath-based diagnosis platforms can be fully deployed, such as differentiating between two disorders that share a biomarker.

The results of this study were selected as the front cover feature article of the July 2017 issue of Accounts of Chemical Research and the September 2017 issue of Advanced Materials.

Professor Il-Doo Kim | E-mail: idkim@kaist.ac.kr Department of Materials Science and Engineering Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology

Further information

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biomarkers because there are thousands of gases in exhaled breath that can interfere with results. Furthermore, the same component can be linked to multiple conditions.

The researchers developed a new sensing platform to improve sensor sensitivity and selectivity. They used apoferritins, which are proteins with hollow nanocage structures, to encapsulate tiny nanocatalyst particles. The encapsulated catalysts were added to the primary sensing nanofibre, which is made of a semiconductor metal oxide.

The team used a method called ‘electrospinning’, in which a solution containing the catalyst nanoparticles, metal salts and matrix polymer is injected onto a surface under high-voltage electric fields to make one-dimensional nanofibres. Then, a high temperature process results in consistent nanofibres with large surface areas and pores, and catalysts evenly distributed along the semiconductor metal oxide nanofibres.

Sensors containing the catalyst-loaded metal oxide nanofibres were very sensitive, detecting biomarkers with a concentration of one part per million in an

ASIA RESE ARCH NEWS

Innovative nanosensors improve detection of disease biomarkers in exhaled breath.

Researchers from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) have developed nanosensors that rapidly analyse the components of exhaled breath to detect trace molecules associated with certain diseases. Their performance and accuracy was improved by designing protein-encapsulated nanocatalysts.

“This new breath gas analysis platform will be very helpful for reducing medical expenditures and the continuous monitoring of physical conditions,” says Il-Doo Kim of KAIST’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering.

Diverse components can be found in human breath, including water vapour, hydrogen, acetone, toluene, ammonia, hydrogen sulphide and carbon monoxide.

Some of these components are closely related to conditions such as asthma, lung cancer, type I diabetes and chronic bad breath.

It has been challenging to design breath sensors that react only to specific

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PEOPLE

E R A D I CAT I N G

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In addition to secondary education, girls need access to decent jobs and increased security in public to avoid child marriage and change perceptions of traditional gender norms.

To reduce the number of child marriages around the world, it is necessary to change perceptions of traditional gender norms, says M Niaz Asadullah of the University of Malaya in Malaysia.

Asadullah and Zaki Wahhaj at the University of Kent in the UK surveyed 7,500 married women in Bangladesh about the causes and consequences of child marriage. More than 80% of the women surveyed were involved in arranged marriages and 72% were married without consent.

Further analysis revealed that those who married as children had poorer social networks and were more likely to adopt traditional views of gender roles. These gender perceptions were reinforced by a lack of schooling. The effect of early marriage on gender perceptions was reduced if a girl had a female role model who made ‘progressive’ choices, such as completing secondary school, using contraception or earning an income.

Poverty has long been a key driver of child marriage, pushing more than 700 million girls around the world under the age of 18 to marry in formal or informal unions. These girls are twice as likely to come from poor, rural areas than from urban centres, according to UNICEF. However, economic growth in countries like India and Bangladesh has not led to a corresponding reduction in child marriage rates. National programmes have levelled secondary school attendance among girls with that of boys, subsequently reducing the number of marriages of children aged 12 to 14.

However, dropout rates are still high in both genders, and for girls it is mainly due to marriage-related reasons, say the researchers.

In Bangladesh, the legal minimum age for girls to marry is 18, but it is often ignored and rarely enforced, according to the study. Parents often want to marry off their daughters early due to concerns they will dishonour their families when they reach puberty, or be at greater risk of sexual assault if they continue their schooling or pursue a career.

Child marriage has devastating consequences: girls are more likely to drop out

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Further information

Professor M Niaz Asadullah | E-mail: m.niaz@um.edu.my Faculty of Economics and Administration University of Malaya

of school, have no job prospects, and suffer from adverse health effects due to early pregnancy and domestic abuse. The United Nations aims to end child marriage as part of its Sustainable Development Goals.

The researchers conclude that investing in formal education is just one part of the solution to end child marriage.

In his study, Asadullah writes that any changes in child marriage law should aim to improve the capacity of adolescent girls to exercise their own choice, as the lack of agency among adolescent girls themselves is the main source of their vulnerability.

As such, education schemes should be tied to other approaches including adolescent empowerment through non-formal education, provision of job training and increased security in public venues.

Asadullah and his team next plan to investigate the role of legal reforms to combat child marriage. They will also examine how external threats affect child marriage and dowry customs in South Asia, such as natural disasters and the Rohingya refugee crisis, which has involved a mass exodus of girls fleeing physical assaults and gang rape in Myanmar.

PEOPLE

Credit: University of Malaya

Researchers surveyed 7,500 married women in Bangladesh about the causes and consequences of child marriage.

C H I L D M A R R I AG E

Did you know?

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Child marriage is a global issue affecting various countries, religions and ethnicities spanning from Latin America, Africa, Middle East to South Asia. In developing countries, one in three girls are said to be married before they turn 18 and over 700 million women today were married as children, according to Girls Not Brides. The prevalence of child marriage can be seen in rates and numbers. While Niger has the highest rate with 78% followed by Central African Republic and Chad equally with 68%, India has by far the largest number with over 26 million followed by Bangladesh and Nigeria with 3.9 million and 3.3 million respectively.

2018 Credit: Shannon Varis | 123rf

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PEOPLE

T H E I M PAC T O F PA R E N TA L A B S E N C E I N R U R A L C H I NA Credit: Hong Kong Baptist University

A young girl walks in front of a wall that says in Chinese: “Educate and care for children left behind.” In rural China, over 28 million children under 17 are left behind by both parents, who have migrated to urban areas for work.

ASIA RESE ARCH NEWS 2 01 8

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Children without any parent at home score much lower on primary school exams than children with one or both parents, which can hinder future prospects.

One in every three children in rural China under 17 years old is left behind by one or both parents, who often migrate to urban areas for work, according to the All China Women’s Federations, the state’s organisation for women’s rights. While parents could earn more to invest in education by migrating, their absence can have negative effects on children’s performance at school, according to a study led by Hongliang Zhang from Hong Kong Baptist University’s Department of Economics.

Zhang and collaborators from the University of Pennsylvania in the US, Lingnan University in Hong Kong, and the Chinese University of Hong Kong surveyed 5,000 primary school children from a rural county in the Hunan Province of China. They found that the absence of both parents reduced children's test scores by 5.4 and 5.1 percentile points in math and Chinese respectively. The impact on children with only one parent absent Further information

was insignificant, indicating that single parenting does not adversely affect children’s cognitive performance at school.

This clear result helps bring clarity to a complex topic. Previous studies have only looked at children left behind by one parent, commonly their father, or educational inputs like enrolment and study time, which have shown mixed effects.

“Our results suggest that the absence of both parents, which is quite common in rural China, is a much more serious problem in shaping the educational outcomes of the next generation than the usually considered cases elsewhere of the absence of a single parent, and therefore deserves greater policy attention,” the researchers conclude.

Lower test scores in primary school can have long-lasting impacts on children’s future education and work prospects because admissions to secondary school and university are determined by exit exam scores. To give children the support they need to succeed, the researchers encourage policymakers to create tutoring programs or address the larger issue of dual parent migration.

Associate Professor Hongliang Zhang | E-mail: hongliang@hkbu.edu.hk School of Business The Hong Kong Baptist University

Did you know?

The Chinese government set up a household registration system called the Hukou system in the mid-1950s. The aim was to bar rural residents from coming to urban areas for work. Although it gradually relaxed its control, the Hukou system still leaves migrant workers without city welfares including free public education for their children, prompting them to leave their children behind in the countryside.

PEOPLE Islamic financial institutions should standardize investment screening methods to ensure future growth, a new report suggests.

All Islamic financial institutions, including Islamic branches of global financial giants such as Dow Jones, Morgan Stanley and Standard & Poor’s, screen investments for compliance with sharia principles, which are derived from religious scholars’ interpretations of the Koran and other texts. For example, Islamic banks and fund managers are prohibited from investing in activities that involve alcohol, tobacco, weapons, and certain types of entertainment, gambling, speculative trading, or interest charged for lending money.

However, a lack of standardization among investment screens could potentially hinder the future growth of Islamic financial institutions, according to a report

by Catherine Ho of Malaysia’s Universiti Teknologi MARA. “There is a general lack of consistency

become a driving force in the economies of Muslim-majority countries as well as emerging economies. Along with sharia principles, Islamic financial institutions are governed by the central ideal of mutual risk and profit sharing, and by a fundamental intent to enable investment that promotes social well-being.

To see how these principles are implemented, Ho compared the investment screening methods employed by 34 prominent global Islamic financial institutions. She found that some institutions strictly avoid prohibited activities, but the majority invest in mostly sharia-compliant companies

for a universal, acceptable compliance method, and this may pose confusion and hamper growth in global Islamic investments,” states the report published in the International Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Finance and Management.

Standardization would enable investors to more clearly understand how their money is being used while sidestepping potential “misunderstandings between scholars and investors”.

With an average annual growth rate of 20%, Islamic financial institutions have

that “may occasionally get involved in non-permissible transactions.” Firms normally use a dual screening process: a qualitative screen determines which activities are prohibited, while a quantitative screen determines how much of the enterprises’ non-core business is noncompliant.

The report concludes that standardization would not only reassure Muslim investors, it might also attract positive attention from the growing global movement for more ethical investment practices.

Credit: ymgerman | 123rf

ADDRESSING I N CO N S I ST E N C I E S W I T H I N ISLAMIC FINANCE Credit: tktktk | 123rf

ASIA RESE ARCH NEWS 2 01 8

Professor Dr Catherine S.F. Ho | E-mail: catherine@salam.uitm.edu.my Arshad Ayub Graduate Business School Universiti Teknologi MARA

Further information

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ASIA RESE ARCH NEWS

New data has provided further evidence that could explain an imbalance between the two main types of matter in the universe.

Scientists from the T2K Collaboration in Japan have even stronger indication that tiny, almost massless particles called neutrinos and their counterparts, called antineutrinos, do not always mirror each other. Their work provides hints that could help explain an imbalance in the universe between matter and antimatter.

Neutrinos and their antimatter partners, antineutrinos, are born from natural sources such as fusion at the centers of stars and exploding stars, or man-made sources such as nuclear power plants and high energy collisions produced at particle accelerators. They are some of the smallest and most abundant particles in the universe.

They have no electric charge, nearly zero mass, and rarely interact with anything else, making them extremely difficult to detect and study. Neutrinos, like other particles that cannot be broken down into smaller components, come in three ‘flavours’: electron, muon and tau.

The massive T2K Collaboration involves more than 500 researchers from 63 institutes in 12 countries. Together, they are studying neutrinos in hopes of understanding both the mysterious particles and a major unsolved issue in physics: the imbalance between matter and antimatter, which are the corresponding partner particles to matter but with opposite charges. For most physics processes, the laws governing matter and antimatter obey a symmetry that implies the universe should contain equal amounts of matter and antimatter.

However, the universe is full of objects made of matter, such as the planets and stars, and hardly any antimatter. While it is clear that this asymmetry developed very early in the history of the universe, scientists are still unsure what caused the imbalance.

Physicists are trying to understand why this is by looking at chargeparity (CP) violation in neutrinos and antineutrinos.

Particles and antiparticles are supposed

to mirror each other, behaving the same way with the exception of having opposite charges or another opposite feature such as spin direction. Since the 1960s, experiments have found that partner particles do not always mirror each other, which is called CP violation. If scientists can determine how often CP violation occurs and understand what causes it, they might be able to explain matter-antimatter asymmetry.

To probe these questions, T2K scientists use an accelerator facility on the east coast of Japan to create a powerful beam of muon neutrinos and antineutrinos. That beam travels 295 kilometres (185 miles) underground to a detector in the west of Japan. The Super-Kamiokande detector is located in a mine 1,000 meters under a mountain to minimize interference from cosmic muons streaming through the atmosphere from outer space.

The T2K team has evidence that some of the neutrinos and antineutrinos changed their flavours, or ‘oscillated’ en route, from muon to electron. The data hint that neutrinos undergo this oscillation at a higher rate than antineutrinos, indicating possible CP violation. The findings support previous studies, but the scientists have more confidence in the results because they doubled the amount of neutrino data collected and improved the event reconstruction algorithm for data analysis.

While there is strong indication of neutrinos oscillating, the amount of antineutrino data is still too small to draw definitive conclusions about CP violation.

However, with planned upgrades to the experiment facilities over the next ten years, the team hopes to make more observations that gets them closer to an answer.

“If the CP violation effect is large, we may expect to find evidence of CP violation at a confidence level greater than 99% during the lifetime of the T2K experiment,” says Mark Hartz, of the Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe, a member of the collaboration.

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Further information

Project Assistant Professor Mark Hartz | E-mail: mark.hartz@ipmu.jp Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe University of Tokyo

S PAC E

When an electron antineutrino interacts in the Super-Kamiokande detector, it produces a positron. Since the positron is traveling faster than the speed of light in water, it produces light called Cherenkov radiation in a cone as it propagates. The detector is a cylinder with photo-sensors (light detectors) on the walls, floor and ceiling. The Cherenkov light is detected at the photo-sensors and produces a "ring" where it intersects with the wall.

The figure shows the amount of light detected at each photosensor in the detector for this particular event.

ASIA RESE ARCH NEWS

TINY PARTICLES HINT AT UNIVERSE’S PUZZLING IMBALANCE

2018

Credit: T2K Collaboration/KEK

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U N COV E R I N G THE ORIGINS OF G A L A X I E S ’ H A LO S Eleven dwarf galaxies and two star-containing halos were identified in the outer region of the nearby Whale Galaxy.

ASIA RESE ARCH NEWS

Dwarf galaxies and star-containing halos found 25 million light years away from Earth hint at how these halos are formed.

Using a Japanese telescope on top of the sacred Hawaiian mountain of Mauna Kea, researchers have identified 11 dwarf galaxies and two star-containing halos in the outer region of a large spiral galaxy 25 million light years away from Earth. The findings, published in The Astrophysical Journal, provide new insight into how halos, also known as tidal stellar streams, form around galaxies.

Researchers from Tohoku University and colleagues used an ultra-wide fieldof-view camera on the Subaru Telescope to develop a better understanding of stellar halos. These ring-shaped collections of stars orbit large galaxies and can often originate from smaller dwarf galaxies nearby.

The team focused their attention on Galaxy NGC 4631, otherwise known as the Whale Galaxy because of its shape. They identified 11 dwarf galaxies in its outer region, some of which were already known.

Dwarf galaxies are not easily detected because of their small sizes, masses and low brightness. The team also found two tidal stellar streams orbiting the galaxy: one, called Stream SE, is located in front of it and the other, called Stream NW, is nestled behind it.

Based on calculations aiming to estimate the metallic content of the stellar streams, the team believes it’s possible that they originated as a result of a gravitational interaction between the Whale Galaxy and a dwarf galaxy orbiting it.

The team also found that both streams are relatively fainter than other stellar streams that have been studied around

2 01 8 Credit : Tohoku University / National Astronomical Observatory of Japan

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Further information

Assistant Professor Mikito Tanaka | E-mail: mikito@astr.tohoku.ac.jp Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences Tohoku University

galaxies close to the Milky Way. Stream NW is the brighter of the pair, and has a more concentrated core. The researchers hypothesize that this brightness is due to a dwarf galaxy, possibly embedded within it, and that this dwarf had a gravitational interaction with the Whale Galaxy to form Stream SE. It is thought that stellar halos are less common when a galaxy’s total stellar mass is smaller than the stellar mass of larger galaxies. As a result of their calculations, the researchers believe that the Whale Galaxy, although large, has a smaller mass than the Milky Way. Nonetheless, it is still in an active growth phase, and so are its surrounding halos. Future studies could help further clarify how stellar halos form around galaxies with relatively small masses, the researchers conclude.

S PAC E The stunningly clear images of galaxies captured by a huge camera aboard the Subaru telescope in Hawaii began with a breath-taking photo of our nearest neighbour.

One night in 2013, the 870 million-pixel Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) captured a spectacularly clear image of the Andromeda galaxy unlike anything astronomers had seen before. The picture launched a new era of cosmological observation, enabling researchers to image billions of galaxies with incredible clarity. It was a picture, in some ways, more than a millennia in the making.

Back in 964AD, Persian astronomer Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi recorded seeing a small cloud in the night sky. It was later identified as a galaxy and labelled M31.

Also called the Andromeda galaxy, it is 2.5 million light years from Earth, making it the closest galaxy to our Milky Way. Today, astronomers continue to study M31 because its similar shape to our own galaxy could provide answers to how the Milky Way was born. However, breakthroughs were limited because conventional telescopes took hundreds of hours to capture sharp images of only a tiny portion of the night sky.

In 2002, a group of researchers were discussing that to get bigger and better images of galaxies, they needed to design and build a powerful survey imaging camera that could be attached to the Subaru telescope, operated by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), sitting atop the 4,200-metre summit of a dormant volcano on Hawaii’s Big Island. The telescope is known for its wide field of view.

It took ten years to develop the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) through an international collaboration that has grown to several institutes in Japan, including the Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (Kavli IPMU) and the NAOJ, the Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics in Taiwan, and Princeton University in the US. Measuring three metres in height and weighing three tons, the HSC was mounted onto Subaru for testing in 2012.

A year later, it captured the image of the Andromeda galaxy, proving the powerful camera would allow researchers to carry out a large-scale imaging survey of millions of galaxies over a wide area of the night sky, and in sufficient depth to probe the distant universe.

“We could finally start the long-awaited, largest-ever galaxy survey for understanding the evolutionary history and fate of the expanding Universe,” says Principal Investigator Masahiro Takada of Kavli IPMU, who also serves as co-chair to the HSC-Subaru Strategic Program. “The data allow scientists to map the distribution of dark matter, constrain the nature of dark energy, and search for baby galaxies that were just born in the early Universe.”

After a few more adjustments, the HSC-Subaru Strategic Program officially launched in 2014 and continues today with a goal of surveying 300 nights a year over four to five years. The first public dataset containing almost 100 million galaxies and stars was released in February 2017.

The images are already providing insights, including into the origins of the halo-like streams of stars surrounding some galaxies.

By 2020, the currently under construction Prime Focus Spectrograph will join the HSC and Subaru Telescope, enabling astronomers to split the light from stars and galaxies into wavelengths, from which they can uncover information about the celestial object’s motion.

ASIA RESE ARCH NEWS

T H E P H OTO T H AT L AU N C H E D THE WORLD’S L A R G E ST G A L A X Y SURVEY

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Credit : National Astronomical Observatory of Japan

Motoko Kakubayashi | Email: press@ipmu.jp Press Office Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe

Further information

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UN R AV E L L I N G T H E M Y ST E RY O F B L AC K H O L E FO R M AT I O N

Credit: Shingo Hirano

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Projected density distributions of dark matter (background and top panel) and gas (bottom three panels) components when the massive star forms. The high-speed gas was initially moving from left to right in the figure, but was trapped by the strong gravity of a massive clump of dark matter. A massive black hole is formed at the centre of the turbulent gas cloud.

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Further information

Professor Naoki Yoshida | E-mail: naoki.yoshida@ipmu.jp Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe The University of Tokyo

S PAC E

ASIA RESE ARCH NEWS

Supersonic gas streams left over out. For the first 100 million years after from the Big Bang likely gave rise to the Big Bang, gas streams were moving faster than the speed of sound, preventearly massive black holes. ing gas condensation into smaller stars.

The mechanisms that drive black hole formation and growth are poorly under- This meant the gas could be available for stood. An international team of research- the much larger star growth required for ers has identified a promising explanation: black hole formation. Then, the streams were caught by dark matter, causing them supersonic gas streams left over from to morph into a dense, turbulent cloud. A the Big Bang. star formed and rapidly grew, gobbling Supercomputer simulations of the up the plentiful gas particles in the cloud. young universe show how fast-moving gas streams could have dynamically When it reached a mass 34,000 times larger than the sun, it collapsed, leaving interacted with dark matter to create the behind a massive black hole. right conditions for massive black holes These conditions enabled the star to to form. Those massive black holes likely seeded even larger supermassive black grow rapidly without releasing a lot of radiation, the key factor for success. A holes, according to a study published in build up and release of radiation would the journal Science.

“This is significant progress,” says astro- have repelled gas and thus slowed the physicist Naoki Yoshida of the Kavli Insti- star’s growth, preventing it from becoming tute for the Physics and Mathematics of a black hole. the Universe. “The origin of the monstrous It is expected that once the massive black holes has been a long-standing black holes formed, they grew and merged mystery and now we have a solution to it.” together into supermassive black holes, exTheoretical studies have suggested plains Yoshida. While there are other theearly black holes, located 13 billion light ories about black hole formation, the reyears away, formed from remnants of searchers are encouraged that they are on the first generation of stars, or from a the right track because the supercomputer direct gravitational collapse of a massive simulation results match real observations. primordial gas cloud. However, supermas- For example, the abundance of massive sive black holes can’t form fast enough, black holes produced by the simulation was or require very particular conditions, for “remarkably close to the observed number these theories to work. density of supermassive black holes,” says Yoshida and collaborators at The astrophysicist Shingo Hirano of The University of Texas at Austin and the University of Texas at Austin.

University of Tübingen in Germany The group looks forward to learning ran simulations of the early universe, more about these early black holes as beginning with the initial conditions that are new space-based observations are made, determined from observations of the early such as by NASA’s James Webb Space universe. Then they let the simulations play Telescope, slated to launch in 2018.

2018

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TECHNOLOGY

‘ E L EC T R O N I C S K I N ’ TA K E S W E A R A B L E H E A LT H M O N I TO R S TO N E X T L E V E L

The flexible electronic skin microsystem features tiny 3D wire coils that can stretch and bend in any direction, much like a curling vine.

The small, flexible, self-adhesive patch can be placed almost anywhere on the body, tracking health data and wirelessly transmitting it to a smartphone.

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The electronic skin can conform to the body, unlike other hard monitors.

Credit: sakkmesterke | 123rf

coils and sensor components are configured in a spider web pattern that ensures “uniform and extreme levels of stretchability and bendability in any direction.” It also enables tighter packing of components, minimizing size. The researchers liken the design to a winding, curling vine, connecting sensors, circuits and radios like individual leaves on the vine.

The key to creating this novel microsystem is stretching the elastic silicone base while the tiny wire arcs, made of gold, chromium and polyimide, are laid flat onto it. The arcs are firmly connected to the base only at one end of each arc. When the base is allowed to contract, the arcs pop up, forming three-dimensional coils.

The entire system is powered wirelessly rather than being charged by a battery. The researchers considered key electrical and mechanical issues to optimize the system’s physical layout, such as sensor placement or wire length, to minimize signal interference and noise.

The electronic skin could be used in a variety of applications, including continuous health monitoring and disease treatment.

“Combining big data and artificial intelligence technologies, the wireless biosensors can be developed into an entire medical system that allows portable collection, storage, and analysis of health signals and information,” Jang says. “We will continue to develop electronic skins which can support interactive telemedicine and treatment systems for patients in remote areas such as rural mountain villages.”

Inset Images Credit: DGIST

ASIA RESE ARCH NEWS

A soft, stick-on patch collects, analyses and wirelessly transmits a variety of health metrics from the body to a smartphone.

A new, electronic skin microsystem tracks heart rate, respiration, muscle movement and other health data, and wirelessly transmits it to a smartphone. The electronic skin offers several improvements over existing trackers, including greater flexibility, smaller size, and the ability to stick the self-adhesive patch—made of very soft silicone and about four centimetres (1.5 inches) in diameter— just about anywhere on the body.

The microsystem was developed by an international team led by Kyung-In Jang, a professor of robotics engineering at South Korea’s Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology, and John Rogers, the director of Northwestern University’s Center for Bio-Integrated Electronics. The team described the new device in the journal Nature Communications.

The electronic skin contains about 50 components connected by a network of 250 tiny wire coils embedded in protective silicone.

The soft material enables it to conform to the body, unlike other hard monitors. It wirelessly transmits data on movement and respiration, as well as electrical activity in the heart, muscles, eyes and brain, to a smartphone application.

Unlike flat sensors, the tiny wire coils in this device are three-dimensional, which maximizes flexibility. The coils can stretch and contract like a spring without breaking. The

Further information

Professor Kyung-In Jang | E-mail: kijang@dgist.ac.kr Department of Robotics Engineering Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology

TECHNOLOGY

CO N TAC T L E S S 3D FINGERPRINT I D E N T I F I CAT I O N

Credit: 1tjf | 123rf

A new contactless system scans fingerprints in 3D, doubling the amount of information that can be used for identification.

ASIA RESE ARCH NEWS 2 01 8

A new system improves the speed and accuracy of fingerprint scanning and matching by using 3D technology. No pressing required.

A new system for contactless, three-dimensional (3D) fingerprint identification has an advanced design that is not only an improvement over 2D scanners, it is also more compact and less costly than other 3D systems.

“We are pushing contactless biometric technology into a new realm of speed and accuracy at an affordable cost,” says Ajay Kumar of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). “This system could be used for many applications, including identification, crime investigation, immigration control, and security of access.”

Automated, contact-based 2D fingerprinting identification is commonly used by law enforcement agencies to identify people.

However, rolling or pressing fingers against a hard surface can result in partial or degraded images due to skin deformations, slippages or smearing. By avoiding direct contact between the imaging sensor and skin, 3D sensors can significantly improve image quality and accuracy. It is also far more hygienic.

Minutiae points are details from fingerprints such as ridge endings and bifurcations, and are universally considered the most reliable features that ensure each fingerprint is unique. About 40 to 45 minutiae points per fingerprint can be recovered on average.

Kumar and his team developed an innovative system that identifies minutiae height and orientation in 3D. These measurements are added to the basic details of location and orientation in 2D, doubling the amount of information usually captured by commercial fingerprint systems.

Unlike other contactless 3D fingerprint systems that require multiple cameras and bulky lighting setups, this system uses a single, low-cost digital camera coupled with a few LED light sources controlled by a computer. This is coupled with the team’s proprietary algorithms that identify the 3D minutiae features and match prints with an accuracy of about 97%. With less equipment needed, this system is more compact and much less expensive than existing technologies. It is also very efficient, with a fast processing time of approximately two seconds. The team has received several US patents for its new technologies and aims to commercialize the product.

Assistant Professor Ajay Kumar | E-mail: csajaykr@comp.polyu.edu.hk Department of Computing The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

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TECHNOLOGY

“TOUGHER-THAN-METAL” FIBRE-REINFORCED HYDROGELS

Further information

The newly developed fibre-reinforced hydrogel consists of polyampholyte (PA) gels and glass fibre fabric.

Credit: Hokkaido University

Hokkaido University scientists have developed ‘fibre-reinforced soft composites’, otherwise known as reinforced hydrogels, that are extremely flexible and five times stronger than carbon steel in terms of the energy required to destroy them. The team made the super tough hydrogel by immersing glass fibre fabric in hydrogel precursor solution. They theorize that toughness is increased by dynamic ionic bonds between the glass fibre and hydrogels, and within the hydrogel itself. The reinforced hydrogel could have a wide range of applications in areas where materials are subject to strong load-bearing tensions such as fashion, manufacturing, and artificial ligaments and tendons. The principles used here could be applied to strengthen other soft materials such as rubber.

Credit: Huang Y. et al., Advanced Functional Materials

Scanning electron microscopy images of the fibre-reinforced hydrogels show the polymer matrix (arrows) filling the interstitial space in the fibre bundles and connecting the neighbouring fibres.

Professor Jiang Ping Gong | E-mail: gong@sci.hokudai.ac.jp Faculty of Advanced Life Science, Global Station for Soft Matter, GI-CoRE Hokkaido University

MOMENTS IN HISTORY

T H E F I R ST A RT I F I C I A L S N OW F L A K E

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Credit: Hokkaido University

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Further information

Naoki Namba | Email: pr@oia.hokudai.ac.jp Global Relations Office Hokkaido University

Japanese physicist Ukichiro Nakaya (1900-1962) made the world’s first artificial snowflakes. He started his research on snow crystals in the early 1930s at Hokkaido University, where there is an unlimited supply of natural snow in winter. By taking over 3,000 photographs, he established a classification of natural snow crystals and described their relationship with weather conditions. His work still remains a primary reference on crystal shapes. In 1936, after several years of research, he successfully produced the first artificial snow crystal on the tip of a single rabbit hair in his laboratory. "Snowflakes are letters sent from heaven," he wrote in his book “Snow Crystals: Natural and Artificial”.

TECHNOLOGY

temperature is reduced slightly from 33°C (91.4°F) to 31.5°C (88.7°F), the defects change patterns, but maintain a “surprising connection” with the initial pattern.

To make the observation, the team, led

by Dong Ki Yoon of the Graduate School of Nanoscience and Technology at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), designed a platform that did not restrict the movement of the liquid crystal molecules; quite a different approach from previous studies. A droplet of liquid crystal material was placed on water and spread into a thin film, like oil floating on water. The team observed the defects as they shifted under an optical microscope.

Specifically, the molecules shift the direction they are facing, creating four distinct quadrants around the defect point. Then as the temperature drops slightly, more stripes appear within the four quadrants, indicating more molecules shifting directions. As the temperature drops just a bit more, the stripes are divided into smaller and smaller units of molecules shifting directions. However,

there is still a clear central point around which the units are oriented.

The topological defects might appear unrelated if looking only at the first and last pattern. Until now, it had been difficult to track the intermediate stages to show the defects in the last pattern evolved directly from the first pattern. The finding could help scientists control the defects using temperature, not only improving the performance of LCDs, but possibly expanding potential applications of the displays based on the position of the crystals.

Furthermore, the platform could help scientists study potential defects in the universe. For example, some theorize that in the aftermath of the Big Bang, cracks, called ‘cosmic strings’, formed in the fabric of the universe. The platform developed by the KAIST researchers enabled them to trace the sequential changes back to the original defect structure, a technique that could be used to identify defects that might have formed in the early universe.

The team next plans to experimentally verify their concept with proof-of-principle trials.

Phase transitions of topological defects in liquid crystals were observed as the material was cooled.

ASIA RESE ARCH NEWS

Understanding how liquid crystal molecules change positions, creating structural deformations known as topological defects, could unlock questions about similar defects in the fabric of the universe.

For the first time, researchers have observed how topological defects in liquid crystals, the material commonly found in liquid crystal displays (LCDs), change with temperature.

Liquid crystals flow like a liquid, but its molecules are oriented like solid crystals.

Topological defects in the liquid crystal structure are common; some molecules change position relative to the surrounding molecules, so they are no longer neatly ordered. Controlling these defects could improve LCD performance. Understanding them could also provide hints about similar defects in a very different system: the fabric of the universe.

Published in Nature Communications, researchers in Korea found that the defects in liquid crystals start spontaneously with a spot, called a ‘boojum’, which initially draws molecules towards it. As the material’s

Credit: Анна Павлова | 123rf

O B S E R V I N G D E F EC T S IN LIQUID C R Y STA L S

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COOLING Credit: Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology

Professor Dong Ki Yoon | E-mail: nandk@kaist.ac.kr Graduate School of Nanoscience and Technology Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology

Further information

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TECHNOLOGY MOMENTS IN HISTORY

JAPAN PIVOTAL TO ADVANCING SOLID-STATE IONICS The field of solid-state ionics originated in Europe, but Takehiko Takahashi of Nagoya University in Japan was the first to coin the term ‘solid ionics’ in 1967.

‘Solid-state ionics’ first appeared in 1971 in another of his papers, and was likely a play on ‘solid-state electronics’, another rapidly growing field at the time. Over the decades, Japanese researchers have expanded the understanding of ionic conduction in solid compounds involving lithium, sodium-sulphur and perovskite structures. These findings have led to the development of a variety of sensors and batteries, many of which are designed or manufactured in Japan, according to a review in Science and Technology of Advanced Materials. For example, Sony first commercialized lithium-ion batteries in 1990. NGK Insulators, Ltd. commercialized sodium-sulphur batteries to store renewable energy in 2002. Japan also supplies two-thirds of the world’s zirconia-based oxygen sensors, which help control combustion conditions in cars.

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Credit: Sony Energy Devices Corporation

Credit: Nagoya University

ASIA RESE ARCH NEWS

Takehiko Takahashi of Nagoya University was the first to coin the term ‘solid ionics’ in 1967.

Further information

Professor Osamu Yamamoto | E-mail: yamamoto@chem.mie-u.ac.jp Graduate School of Engineering Mie University

The largest commercial application of solid-state ionics is lithium-ion batteries, which Sony commercialized around 1990.

The lithium-ion batteries pictured were used in some of the early Kyocera cellular phones.

Mikiko Tanifuji | E-mail: Tanifuji.Mikiko@nims.go.jp Science and Technology of Advanced Materials National Institute for Materials Science

TECHNOLOGY A safe and sustainable chemical reagent could aid cost-efficient development of new materials and medicines.

A team of Russian researchers has developed an eco-friendly chemical reagent that makes materials processing more accessible and sustainable. The reagent, which allows chemical synthesis to take place, could inspire a wide range of products, including medicines and biocompatible materials.

Scientists from the Zelinsky Institute of Organic Chemistry and Saint Petersburg State University developed a solid acetylene reagent. Acetylene is one of the primary starting materials for chemical synthesis, but it is often used as a gas, which is highly flammable, potentially dangerous and difficult to use in a standard research laboratory. The new, solid alternative is easier to manage, sidestepping the need for expensive equipment, as well as high processing temperatures and pressures that must be carefully managed for safety.

The reagent is formed by combining two simple, readily available compounds: calcium carbide and potassium fluoride.

Calcium carbide is efficiently derived from a variety of renewable carbon products, such as plant materials or the output from waste processing.

“We have found that a combination of these two simple compounds creates a

new, very efficient reagent,” says Valentine Anaikov, who spearheaded the research. “I anticipate a renaissance in calcium carbide chemistry due to increasing demand for safe and low cost production of complex organic molecules in pharmaceutical and materials sciences.”

As part of the study published in the journal Green Chemistry, the team explored applications of the chemical. The reagent helped produce biologically active molecules, including new medicines modified from existing drugs. For example, the scientists changed the function of steroids by altering the surface chemistry. Using the solid rather than gaseous reagent meant the chemical transformation could be carried out in any modern chemistry laboratory, with lower reaction temperatures and shorter reaction times.

The team also used the solid reagent to produce carbohydrate vinyl ethers, which are compounds whose properties can benefit drug delivery, such as high surface areas and tiny microcompartments.

The vinylation reaction is an easy, ‘onepot’ procedure with synthesis taking place in a single vessel. The solid reagent is activated by simply adding water. Furthermore, and in keeping with the green philosophy behind the process, the calcium part of the solid reagent can be regenerated and reused.

DESIGNING A G R E E N E R R E AG E N T ASIA RESE ARCH NEWS

Researchers developed a solid acetylene reagent that makes it safer and easier to engineer new materials.

2 01 8 Credit: Zelinsky Institute of Organic Chemistry

Professor Valentine P. Ananikov | E-mail: val@ioc.ac.ru Zelinsky Institute of Organic Chemistry Russian Academy of Sciences

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TECHNOLOGY Networks of nanoparticles derived from cockle shells combine to form porous structures that could aid bone repair.

Credit: Universiti Putra Malaysia

SEA FOOD ON THE MENU FOR BONE REPAIR

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Further information

Dr Saffanah Khuder Mahmood | E-mail: saffanh.jeber@gmail.com Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Universiti Putra Malaysia

Professor Md Zuki Abu Bakar | E-mail: zuki@upm.edu.my Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Universiti Putra Malaysia

TECHNOLOGY

Cockle shells could be potential scaffolds for tissue engineering.

Cockles are a popular seafood, but it’s not just the edible interior of this marine-dwelling mollusc that could benefit our health. The shell, when transformed into nanosized particles, has the potential to support the growth of new bone tissue, according to scientists from University Putra Malaysia.

The team conducted multiple laboratory tests to determine the suitability of powdered cockle shell, in combination with other natural materials, including gelatin, dextran and dextrin, for generating porous scaffolds to aid tissue engineering.

A tissue scaffold provides an extracellular matrix that guides cells where bone has been lost or badly damaged, and helps the cells knit together into healthy tissue. If implanted into a patient, this temporary support should be able to degrade in harmony with the restoration process, vanishing only once the bone has been fully repaired.

Cockle shells consist of about 96% calcium carbonate, which is present in a number of crystalline forms, including aragonite. Previous studies suggest that this dense component can be incorporated and replaced by bone tissue.

Building on this, the group is keen to determine whether its nanostructured designs have the full range of morphological, physicochemical and mechanical properties required to be successful.

Scanning electron microscopy images of the researchers’ test scaffolds, which were formed by freeze-drying different blends of the ingredients, revealed pores with a high degree of interconnection. This result is good news for cell seeding and growth.

Compression testing highlighted a possible ionic enhancement of the assembly’s mechanical strength. The researchers believe that this structural boost could stem from the interaction of calcium present in the cockle shell with carboxyl groups found in the gelatin.

To further withstand the growth of cells and enable new tissue regeneration,

it is practical for the scaffold to be able to swell. The scientists found that the swelling rate significantly increased with greater proportions of gelatin, dextrin and dextran in the mixture. However, on first sight this finding presented the team with a problem, which they overcame using a coated framework.

Decomposition of these three ingredients can acidify the surrounding environment and result in bone building cells, called osteoblasts, becoming less active.

Fortunately, the alkaline quality of the cockle shell has a neutralising effect to combat such acidification.

Out of all of the combinations examined, the researchers concluded that the optimum blend contains a mix of 50% nano-powdered cockle shell, 25% gelatin, 10% dextran and 15% dextrin. The group is now conducting further analyses, examining properties such as cell attachment, in order to advance their concept toward the end goal of bone repair.

ASIA RESE ARCH NEWS

Cockle shells (Anadara granosa) consist of about 96% calcium carbonate, which is present in a number of crystalline forms, including aragonite. Researchers investigated how this dense component can aid bone regeneration.

2018

Credit: Nirun Leeyagart | 123rf

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TECHNOLOGY The team used their method to identify the best way to design silicon-germanium alloy structures, which have either a minimal or maximal ability to conduct heat. Materials with minimal ‘thermal conductance’ can recover waste heat from industrial processes for use as an energy source. Materials with maximum thermal conductance can draw heat away from computer processing units.

The alloy has a certain number of atomic spaces that can be filled with silicon or germanium. The MDTS algorithm goes through an iterative learning process that computes which of all possible positions is best for placing silicon or germanium to achieve the desired degree of thermal conductance.

The team compared their method with another commonly used algorithm for this purpose and found that MDTS was comparable or better in terms of total computational time. Their method also has a “substantial” ability to learn from data.

“MDTS is a practical tool that material scientists can easily deploy in their own problems and has the potential to become a standard choice,” the researchers conclude.

Credit: Science and Technology of Advanced Materials

A new algorithm could help scientists decide the best atomic structures for the materials they design.

Designing advanced materials is a complex process, with many potential combinations for precisely placing atoms within a structure. Now, scientists have developed a new tool that helps determine the ideal placements — thanks to an algorithm that identifies the best moves to win computer games, according to a study recently published in the journal Science and Technology of Advanced Materials.

Scientists who design advanced materials, which have applications in silicon microchips or optical fibres, for example, often struggle to determine how to position atoms within a crystal structure to achieve a targeted function. To improve this process, researchers in Japan developed a new method called Materials Design using Tree Search (MDTS). It identifies the best atomic positions using an algorithm called the Monte Carlo tree search, which has been successfully employed by computer games to determine moves that bring the best possible outcomes.

Materials Design using Tree Search (MDTS) helps identify the best position for molecules in a crystal structure, using an algorithm typically used for identifying the best moves in computer games.

THE GAME ALGORITHM THAT COULD IMPROVE MATERIALS DESIGN ASIA RESE ARCH NEWS 2 01 8 Credit: Nikolay Ostanin | 123rf

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Further information

Professor Koji Tsuda | E-mail: tsuda@k.u-tokyo.ac.jp Graduate School of Frontier Sciences The University of Tokyo

Mikiko Tanifuji | E-mail: Tanifuji.Mikiko@nims.go.jp Science and Technology of Advanced Materials National Institute for Materials Science

Science and Technology of Advanced Materials Open access journal, STAM publishes outstanding research articles across all aspects of materials science, including functional and structural materials, theoretical analyses, and properties of materials.

Science and Technology of Advanced Materials | National Institute for Materials Science STAM Editorial Office | E-mail: stam-info@ml.nims.go.jp | http://tandfonline.com/stam

TECHNOLOGY

A NEW S E M I CO N D U C TO R S U P E R H I G H WAY

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Further information

They embedded the nanocomposite into the TiO2 component of dye-sensitized and of perovskite-based solar cells, which are under investigation as alternatives to conventional silicon-based solar cells. The nanocomposite boosted the solar cells’ energy conversion rates 40% to 66%.

TiO2 nanoparticles are the most commonly used photocatalyst material in commercially available air-purifying or disinfection devices. However, TiO2 can only be activated by ultraviolet light, which renders it far less effective indoors. It is also ineffective at converting nitric oxide (NO) into nitrogen dioxide (NO2), at a rate of less than 10%.

When PolyU’s nanostructure was embedded into a photocatalyst, it provided a graphene superhighway for electrons to transport more quickly to generate super-anions to oxidize absorbed pollutants, bacteria and viruses. The graphene core also significantly increased the surface exposed for light absorption and trapping harmful molecules. It also harvested more light energy across all wavelengths.

The semiconductor nanofibre converted about 70% of NO to NO2, seven times more than plain TiO2 nanoparticles.

They also tested how well their nanostructure breaks down formaldehyde, a nasty volatile organic compound commonly found in new or renovated buildings and new cars. PolyU’s embedded graphene photocatalyst again was able to break down three times more formaldehyde than TiO2 nanoparticles without the added nanostructure.

The new nanocomposite has a wide range of other potential applications, such as hydrogen generation by water splitting, biological-chemical sensors with enhanced speed and sensitivity, and lithium batteries with lower impedance and increased storage.

Ir. Professor Wallace Leung | E-mail: wallace.leung@polyu.edu.hk Department of Mechanical Engineering The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

The highly conductive nanomaterial has a wide range of applications. When used in an air purifier, it provides a graphene superhighway for faster electron transport, enabling more efficient pollutant removal.

Creit: nobeastsofierce | 123rf

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A novel semiconductor nanofibre with superb charge conductivity has potential to greatly increase the effectiveness of solar cells, among other applications.

A team from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) developed a novel nanostructure embedded into a semiconductor nanofibre that results in superb conductivity. The nanocomposite addresses a key inhibitor to conductivity, with the potential to improve a wide range of applications, from batteries and solar cells, to air purification devices.

While semiconductors are widely used, their effectiveness has been limited by the natural process of photo-generated electrons in recombining with ‘holes’, or potential electron resting spots. This reduces the moving current of electrons generated by light or external power and, as a consequence, reduces the efficiency of the device. PolyU’s Department of Mechanical Engineering designed a composite nanofibre that essentially provides a dedicated superhighway for electron transport once they are generated, eliminating the problem of electron-hole recombination.

The innovation was awarded the Gold Medal with Congratulations of the Jury at the 45th International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva in 2017.

The team avoided recombination by inserting a highly conductive nanostructure made of carbon nanotubes and graphene into a titanium dioxide (TiO2) composite nanofibre. The electrons and charges can be transported efficiently in the graphene core as soon as they are generated, prior to recombining with the ‘holes’ in the nanofibre. Led by Wallace Leung, the team has tested the effectiveness of the nanocomposite in solar cells and air purification photocatalysts.

TECHNOLOGY

S P R AY - O N S E N S I N G FO R E N G I N E E R E D ST R U C T U R E S

Credit: Federico Rostagno | 123rf

Light, flexible naonsensors sprayed onto engineered structures, including airplanes, can detect tiny cracks or other damage in real time.

Su Zhongqing holds a sprayable nanosensor, which can be used to detect minute cracks in engineered structures.

2 01 8

Professor Su Zhongqing | E-mail: zhongqing.su@polyu.edu.hk Department of Mechanical Engineering The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

ASIA RESE ARCH NEWS

a trail for in-situ structural health monitoring by striking a balance between the sensor cost and the amount of data acquired," says Su Zhongqing, who spearheaded the project with Zhou Limin.

A number of sprayed nanocomposite sensors are combined with an ultrasound actuator, which emits guided ultrasonic waves, to create a flexible sensor network. If damage, such as a crack, is present in a structure being monitored, it will interfere with and scatter the ultrasonic waves. The sensors detect the wave scattering and translate those signals into 3D images, quickly and precisely characterizing the damage.

The sensor can detect cracks as small as one or two millimetres in most engineering materials. That response frequency is over 400 times more than the highest frequency of other nanocomposite sensors, as reported in international journals.

The secret to the sensor’s high sensitivity lies in its optimized nanostructure, which enables it to detect small changes in electrical resistivity under mechanical strain. Su and his team tested the weight ratio of nanofillers in order to optimize the sensor’s conductivity, and thus its sensitivity to electrical resistivity changes.

The team’s research has been published in top-tier journals in this field, including Ultrasonics, Carbon, and Smart Materials and Structures.

Credit: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

A sprayable sensing network for real-time monitoring of structure integrity is lighter, more flexible and less expensive than conventional sensors.

Novel, nano-engineered sensors can now be sprayed directly onto flat or curved engineered surfaces, such as train tracks and airplanes. They can also be networked to render rich, real-time information on the health status of structures and detect hidden flaws.

Conventional ultrasound sensors used to monitor structures in their normal environments are usually stiff, so they can’t adapt to curved surfaces.

They are also usually bulky and heavy, limiting widespread deployment on the target structure. Researchers at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) have now developed nanocomposite sensors that are light, flexible and inexpensive, so large quantities can be sprayed onto a structure. They can even be applied to moving trains and airplanes.

Made of a hybrid of carbon black, two-dimensional graphene, conductive nanoparticles, and polyvinylidene fluoride, the nanocomposite sensor can be easily tailored to different sizes to accommodate various needs. Compared to a conventional ultrasound sensor that costs over US$10 and weighs a few grams, PolyU’s nanocomposite sensors cost only US$0.5 each and weigh 0.04g.

"This nanocomposite sensor is blazing

Further information

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TECHNOLOGY

I M P R OV I N G D NA -

ASIA RESE ARCH NEWS

Credit: Oleksandr Omelchenko | 123rf

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Further information

Professor Nobutaka Hanagata | E-mail: HANAGATA.Nobutaka@nims.go.jp Professor Won-Ju Cho | E-mail: chowj@kw.ac.kr Nanotechnology Innovation Station Department of Electronic Materials Engineering National Institute for Materials Science Kwangwoon University

TECHNOLOGY

Two teams investigate how to improve fabrication methods of transistor-based biosensors.

Transistor-based biosensors are promising tools for detecting specific genes because they are cheaper, easier to operate and more sensitive than conventional sensors. Research groups are investigating how to improve fabrication methods to further bring down costs and boost output, while maintaining high sensitivity.

For example, researchers in India and Japan have developed an improved method

colleagues improved the sensors by attaching the probe DNA to the transistor through a simple drying process. They deposited the DNA probe in a saline solution onto a one-atom-thick layer of graphene and left it to dry. They found the probes were successfully immobilized on the GFET surface. This eliminated the need for a costly and time-consuming addition of ‘linker’ nucleotide sequences, which have been commonly used to attach probes to transistors.

In another STAM study, Korean

The size and position of silicon nanowires fabricated by means of chemical vapour deposition cannot always be perfectly controlled. Drawing nanorods onto a surface using an electron or ion beam allows better control of size and shape; but these methods are expensive and limited by low throughput.

Won-Ju Cho of Kwangwoon University and colleagues fabricated silicon nanowires using nanoimprint lithography. In this method, a thin layer of silicon was placed on top of a substrate. This layer was then

D E T EC T I N G T R A N S I STO R S researchers reported improving ‘dual-gate field-effect transistor’ (DG FET) biosensors by using silicon nanowires on their surface.

Similar to the graphene-based transistors, when molecules bind on a field-effect transistor, a change happens in the surface’s electric charge. DG FETs are particularly good candidates as biosensors because they amplify the signal several times.

Field-effect transistors using silicon nanowires have high sensitivity and selectivity, but are difficult to manufacture.

pressed using a nanoimprinter, which imprints nanosized wire-shaped lines into the surface. The areas between separate lines were then removed using a method called dry etching, which involves bombarding the material with chlorine ions.

The resultant silicon nanowires were then added to a DG FET. The team found that their device was more stable and sensitive than conventional DG FETs. Both groups plan to continue refining their respective biosensors to enhance detection of genetic diseases and other applications.

ASIA RESE ARCH NEWS

for making graphene-based transistors to detect disease-causing genes, according to a study published in the journal Science and Technology of Advanced Materials (STAM).

Graphene field-effect transistors (GFETs) can detect harmful genes through DNA hybridization, which occurs when a ‘probe DNA’ combines, or hybridizes, with its complementary ‘target DNA.’ Electrical conduction changes in the transistor when hybridization occurs.

Nobutaka Hanagata of Japan’s National Institute for Materials Science and

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Mikiko Tanifuji | E-mail: Tanifuji.Mikiko@nims.go.jp Science and Technology of Advanced Materials National Institute for Materials Science

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TECHNOLOGY

Credit: Eduard Bonnin Turina | 123rf

GRAPHENE E-SKIN H E L P S D E T EC T ST R A I N E D M AT E R I A L S

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Chinese researchers weave thin carbon layers into a colourful and highly responsive detector that can sense strain in a way similar to human skin.

Inspired by the ability of animals like the chameleon to change colour, scientists in China have developed a ‘user interactive electronic skin’ that changes colour when placed under strain.

The thin-film detector combines graphene fabric, a stretchable polymer substrate and an electrochromic layer to provide an instantaneous and colourful readout. For example, a sensor attached to a glove shifts from green to blue as the wearer flexes their hand, putting the device under strain. The sensor returns to green when the hand relaxes.

Beyond wearable devices and tactile displays, colour-changing devices could be used in camouflage, smart home fur-

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nishings and communicating emotions.

They could also help convey information about robotics and prosthetics.

The team, which includes scientists from Tsinghua University, Peking University and the China Academy of Engineering Physics, is working to identify the best combination of materials for such varied applications.

One of the toughest challenges is providing the capability to detect small mechanical deformations, in other words matching the colour change to strains of 10% and below. Today, a number of so-called mechanochromic compounds and composite materials change their optical appearance when stretched, but usually under relatively large strains of 100% to 500%.

To achieve greater sensitivity, the group has engineered a graphene fabric woven

Professor Hongwei Zhu | E-mail: hongweizhu@tsinghua.edu.cn School of Materials Science and Engineering Tsinghua University, China

from highly flexible, two-dimensional layers of carbon. Stretching the graphene fabric changes its electrical resistance, which in turn helps modulate the colour of the device’s electrochromic chemical layer. When a voltage is applied, the sensor exhibits colour switching in response to strains over a range of 0% to 10%.

The sensor is not only highly responsive, but also compact because the conductive graphene fabric serves as both the sensing element and the electrodes for the colour-changing circuit. A popular polymer material, PDMS, provides an elastic substrate to complete the sensor’s mechanical design.

The scientists refer to the package as a ‘smart functional biomimetic system’, noting that its ability to change colour in response to strain imitates the behaviour of certain animal skins.

Simon Davies | Email simon.davies@iop.org Senior Public Relations Officer Institute of Physics

TECHNOLOGY

D E T EC T I N G M E R C U R Y WITH GOLD

Credit: alexeysmirnov | 123rf

Sensors are being used to in­crease the safety of seniors living inde­pendently in their own homes.

Mercury, a highly toxic metal, currently requires heavy and expensive equipment to detect. Researchers at the Tyndall National Institute at University College Cork in Ireland have found a strong contender for a portable mercury sensor: individual gold nanorods. When observed with dark-field microscopy, gold nanorods normally produce a red wavelength. Exposing them to trace levels of mercury shifts their wavelength to orange. The higher the mercury content, the more the wavelength changes, according to a study published in the journal Science and Technology of Advanced Materials. Gold nanorod production must become more consistent before field sensors can be built because different sizes and shapes throw off measurements.

Dr Daniela Iacopino | E-mail: daniela.iacopino@tyndall.ie Tyndall National Institute University College Cork

Mikiko Tanifuji | E-mail: Tanifuji.Mikiko@nims.go.jp Science and Technology of Advanced Materials National Institute for Materials Science

Associate ProfessorTan Hwee Pink | E-mail: hptan@smu.edu.sg SMU-TCS iCity Lab Singapore Management University

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TECHNOLOGY

THE GREEN NANOTECHNOLOGY REVOLUTION

Credit: CC-BY Macmillan Publishers Ltd

Portable solar cells based on foldable, lightweight, transparent, conductive cellulose nanofibre paper.

Credit: CC-BY Macmillan Publishers Ltd

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An array of transistors on a cellulose nanofibre substrate placed on a tree leaf. The bottom image shows the red-boxed area from the top image.

0.5 mm

0.5 mm

A dried liquid without nano cellulose fibres (left) formed a ring, similar to dried, spilled coffee, while a liquid with fibres (right) dried more evenly.

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Nanocellulose offers renewable, biodegradable, strong and lightweight components for electronic products.

Imagine folding up a paper-thin computer tablet like a newspaper. Such flexible electronics are moving closer to reality, according to a review in the journal Science and Technology of Advanced Materials.

Paper that is transparent and conducts electricity could have diverse applications, including foldable computers, transparent touch screens and even digital camouflage clothing. “With widespread and intensive efforts, low-cost and lightweight ‘green’ electronics fabricated on transparent nanopaper substrate will provide new technologies impacting our daily life,” state the review paper authors from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

Cellulose, the building block of paper taken from plants, is an exciting alternative to the plastic, glass and silicon that currently make up most electronic devices, including computers and mobile phones. Cellulose is renewable, biodegradable, strong and lightweight. For the past 30 years, scientists have considered ways to combine the smallest plant fibres, called ‘nanocellulose’, with electronics.

For example, researchers at Nanyang Technological University have made nanopaper out of nanocellulose and silver nanowires. It still conducts electricity after being folded in half 500 times.

Some nanopapers have reached 90% transparency, while others are in the 80% range similar to plastic.

But, better than plastic, nanopapers degrade quickly. After metal electrodes are removed, nanopaper can be buried in soil and will fully degrade within a month. However, this benefit is also a challenge: researchers are working on ways to prevent premature degradation. If they can solve this as well as bring down production costs, electronics could soon be built from plants.

Professor Pooi See Lee | E-mail: pslee@ntu.edu.sg School of Materials Science and Engineering Nanyang Technological University

Preventing the ‘coffee ring’ effect Nanocellulose can also enhance ink and printed electronics, which are produced much like printed words, by helping particles disperse evenly rather than spread apart.

Drying is an important part of printing words and electronics. Particles suspended in liquid are applied to a surface and the liquid evaporates leaving the particles behind.

Often, the particles dry unevenly because of the so-called ‘coffee ring effect’. Particles tend to move to the outside of the liquid droplet, similar to the hollow rings left by dried, spilled coffee.

Uneven drying is a problem: it reduces conductivity of printed electronics, accelerates degradation of paint coatings, and makes printed characters on paper fuzzier. Cellulose nanofibres offer a sustainable and effective way to ensure even drying, according to another paper published in Science and Technology of Advanced Materials.

Research by Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology and Nagoya University found that liquids with nanofibres dried much more evenly than those without. Instead of a hollow ring, the particles condensed into a solid dot, slightly shrinking in size as the liquid evaporated. Particles in the mixtures with nanofibres also moved at a consistent pace. There was no final rush to the periphery as was observed in liquids without nanofibres.

Further investigation is required to determine how the nanofibres, which remain after drying, affect material performance. “The addition of cellulose nanofibres may alter the electrical resistivity of conductive wires in the printed electronics, but the fine-tuning of the concentration might be exploited for the control of electric resistivity itself,” the researchers conclude.

Associate Professor Itsuo Hanasaki | E-mail: hanasaki@cc.tuat.ac.jp Institute of Engineering Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology

TECHNOLOGY

MIMICKING B I O LO G Y TO SHAPE N A N O M AT E R I A L S

Credit: Kazuyasu Sakaguchi

ASIA RESE ARCH NEWS 2 01 8

Credit: Flikr Commons

Researchers utilize cellular proteins to shape silver nanoplates, suggesting an efficient strategy for controlling the nanostructure of inorganic materials Precise control of nanostructures is key for forming functional nanomaterials, which can enhance electronics, sensors and drug delivery, among many other applications. Researchers are investigating how to mimic biology to fabricate nanomaterials, because biomolecules are able to bind with specific targets, self-assemble, and build complex structures.

For example, functional inorganic structures could be fabricated by mimicking a phenomenon called ‘peptide-mediated biomineralization’. In this process, short chains of amino acids, called peptides, bind with an inorganic substance, such as silver, and enhance its crystal formation. However, it is extremely challenging to control the spatial orientation of the peptides, which determines the final structure.

A team of researchers, led by Hokkaido University biomolecular chemist Kazuyasu Sakaguchi, successfully controlled the assembly of silver biomineralization peptide molecules. They controlled this process with the help of a tumour-suppressing cellular protein called p53. The peptides fused to chains of p53 proteins formed tetramers, groups of four molecules. Tetramers are symmetrical, making them an attractive scaffold to guide an assembly process.

The tetramers were used to precisely guide silver nanoparticles to take a specific shape: in this case hexagonal nanoplates.

They found that these tetramers have a strong attraction to the specific surface structure of the silver molecules, apparently regulating the direction of crystal growth to form hexagonal nanoplates.

Furthermore, the tetrameric peptide controlled the silver’s crystal growth without degrading, enabling it to repeat the process many times.

This method of using biomineralization peptides and other proteins provides "an efficient and versatile strategy for controlling nanostructures of various inorganic materials,” says Sakaguchi. “The production of tailor-made nanomaterials is now more feasible.”

Professor Kazuyasu Sakaguchi | E-mail: kazuyasu@sci.hokudai.ac.jp Department of Chemistry Hokkaido University

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ENVIRONMENT

A LOV E P OT I O N FO R P L A N T S

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Researchers identify and synthesize a sugar chain critical for plant fertilization. They call it AMOR. Researchers from Nagoya University’s Institute of Transformative Bio-Molecules (ITbM) identified a sugar chain molecule that plays a key role in plant fertilization.

In addition to providing new insight into sugar signalling, the finding will help make plant fertilization more efficient.

Plant fertilization begins when pollen hits the pistil, the stalk that protrudes from the centre of the flower. A tube extends from the pollen grain down through the pistil to deliver sperm to the eggs stored at its base.

Scientists knew that ‘attractant molecules' help guide the pollen tube toward the eggs. However, they suspected another molecule primes the pollen tube to respond to these attractants.

The Japanese team determined that a sugar chain in the ovules is responsible for preparing the pollen tubes. They named it Activation Molecule for ResponseCapability, or AMOR for short in homage to the Latin word for love.

They were able to observe the molecule’s effects on pollen tube activation in real time. When a pollen tube was cultivated without AMOR, it did not grow

towards an egg, even though attractant molecules were present. When cultivated with the AMOR compound, it altered its path to grow toward the egg.

Biologists worked with synthetic chemists to conduct further detailed analyses of AMOR’s structure. They determined that a specific double sugar chain located at the tip of the AMOR molecule was the essential part that caused activation. Another section of the molecule is biologically inactive, making it a good spot to bind fluorescent markers, which will enable researchers to observe how the sugar chain interacts with unidentified receptors.

The research findings “not only enhance our understanding of the complex fertilization process in flowering plants, but also add to our understanding of plant sugar signalling,” the team notes in its study published in the journal Plant Physiology.

Working with sugar compounds is notoriously difficult. It took more than ten years and 200,000 torenia flowers to extract the pure AMOR compound and characterize it. Now, a Japanese company plans to synthesize the AMOR sugar chain, which will be used to study its function in many plant species.

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Professor Tetsuya Higashiyama | E-mail: higashi@bio.nagoya-u.ac.jp Institute of Transformative Bio-Molecules (ITbM) Nagoya University

ENVIRONMENT

Credit: Institute of Transformative Bio-Molecules

A pollen tube changes direction to grow towards an egg in a medium containing the AMOR compound. The numbers show the time in minutes:seconds.

2018

Credit: Piyaphat Detbun | 123rf

ASIA RESE ARCH NEWS

,

"We plan to explore the novel activities of AMOR in various tissues and plant species,� says Tetsuya Higashiyama, vice director of ITbM. “We will also try to identify the AMOR receptor, which will be a big breakthrough in plant sugar signalling studies."

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ENVIRONMENT

ENVIRONMENT BENEFITS FROM LARGE MIDDLE CLASS IN SOME A S I A N CO U N T R I E S on decisions that enable profits at the expense of the environment.

However, a larger middle class does not automatically translate to a cleaner environment everywhere. The analysis showed a negative correlation between income equality and environmental quality in Malaysia. Even though Malaysia’s middle class is growing, the country still relies heavily on fossil fuels, which leads to greater environmental degradation.

This surprised the researchers since Malaysia has committed to sustainable development goals in its national policy.

The accelerating rise of carbon dioxide emissions since the Industrial Revolution is linked to climate change. Historically, developed nations are responsible for the majority of emissions. But as other nations grow their economies and consume more energy, they too are poised to contribute more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere unless they pursue more sustainable development practices that limit emissions.

While many confounding factors influence environmental quality, income distribution can now be considered while making sustainable development policy, the researchers conclude in their study published in the Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities. The researchers plan to continue studying the relationship in other countries, particularly those known to produce high quantities of carbon emissions.

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A large middle class in Thailand and Indonesia is demanding more environmental protection; something not happening in other developing South-East Asian nations.

More equitable income distribution is resulting in better environmental quality in Thailand and Indonesia. In Malaysia, however, it is having the opposite effect, while the two factors are unrelated in the Philippines.

A team led by economist Abdul Rahim Ridzuan of Universiti Teknologi MARA analysed the effects of income inequality, economic growth, trade openness, domestic investment and energy consumption on carbon dioxide emissions in four South-East Asian countries from 1971 to 2013. They determined the statistical importance of each factor over the short- and long-term using an analysis tool called an autoregressive distributed lag estimation.

Their analysis showed a positive relationship between income inequality and carbon emissions in Indonesia and Thailand, meaning that more equitable income distribution results in better environmental quality. The finding supports the argument that greater income equality enables a larger middle class to hold those in power accountable and demand policies that protect the environment. In contrast, when there is a greater economic gap, the rich have more influence than the poor

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Credit: 1xpert | 123rf

Dr Nayan Kanwal | Email: nayan@upm.my Chief Executive Editor Pertanika Journals

Dr Abdul Rahim Ridzuan | E-mail: rahim670@staf.uitm.edu.my Faculty of Business and Management Universiti Teknologi MARA

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ENVIRONMENT

NEW EFFICIENCY R ECO R D FO R

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Perovskite-based solar cells reach a record 22.1% energy conversion rate, thanks to a new fabrication method.

Researchers from the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) in South Korea and collaborators minimized a defect that arises in the energy-harvesting layer of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) during fabrication. This improved the ability of small solar cells to convert sunlight to energy from an efficiency of 20.1%, the previous high for these cells, to an efficiency of 22.1%. Conversion efficiency in one-square-centimetre cells also improved to a record 19.7%. The results were certified by the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory and published in the journal Science.

“The key to manufacturing high-performance solar cells is to reduce defects in materials that generate energy loss when converting sunlight to electricity,” says Sang-Il Seok of UNIST’s Energy and Chemical Engineering Department.

“Our study presents a new method that suppresses the formation of deep-level defects, thereby setting a new record efficiency for PSCs.” Perovskite is a class of materials with a unique crystal structure. PSCs include a

perovskite-structured compound as the active light-harvesting layer. They are a promising alternative to conventional silicon-based solar cells. While silicon can achieve over 25% efficiency in the lab, it is an expensive material and requires costly processing methods. In contrast, PSCs use much cheaper organic and inorganic materials, and are more cost-efficient to manufacture.

While PSCs are showing high energy conversion rates, defects in the perovskite layer can reduce a cell’s performance by decreasing the open-circuit voltage and short-circuit current density. To address these defects, Seok teamed up with Jun Hong Noh of the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology and Eun Kyu Kim of Hanyang University. They found that carefully controlling growth conditions of the perovskite layer reduced defects known as ‘deficient halide anions’, which are negatively charged ions. To reduce the concentration of deficient anions, the group introduced additional iodide ions into the solution used to form the perovskite layer.

The researchers anticipate that these findings will help accelerate the commercialization of low-cost, high-performance perovskite solar cells.

2 01 8 Credit: Gleb TV | 123rf

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Professor Sang-Il Seok | E-mail: seoksi@unist.ac.kr Energy and Chemical Engineering Department Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology

ENVIRONMENT

P E R OV S K I T E SOLAR CELLS

Researchers increased the energy conversion rate of perovskite solar cells to 22.1% by carefully controlling the growth conditions of their energy-harvesting layer.

ASIA RESE ARCH NEWS 2018

Credit: vvoennyy | 123rf

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ENVIRONMENT

MOMENTS IN HISTORY

Cultured pearls (front) are formed by placing initial seeds (back) inside Akoya pearl oysters.

The techniques that make industrial pearl culturing possible were developed over a century ago at the Misaki Marine Biological Station in Japan. Founded in 1886, MMBS is one of the world’s oldest marine stations and is part of the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Science. The station’s first director, Professor Kakichi Mitsukuri, emphasized to Kokichi Mikimoto in 1890 that stimulating pearl sac formation was important for pearl growth, and they went on to successfully develop methods for culturing pearls. Their achievements are credited with laying the foundation for today’s pearl farming industry.

MOMENTS IN HISTORY

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The Misaki Marine Biological Station at Aburatsubo, where it moved in 1897.

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Professor Kakichi Mitsukuri

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Professor Yoshitaka Oka | Email: okay@bs.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp Misaki Marine Biological Station The University of Tokyo

Credit: Misaki Marine Biological Station

S PA R K I N G T H E C U LT U R E D P E A R L I N D U ST R Y

ENVIRONMENT

,

...detection sensitivity has been increased to 4,800 times compared to the conventional theoretical sensitivity...

IMPROVING REMOTE DETECTION OF HAZARDOUS RADIOACTIVE SUBSTANCES Cobalt-60 from 1.2 metres away, the maximum distance allowed by the laboratory setup. While a short distance, the amount of material was so small that the experiment indicates a high level of sensitivity.

“The detection sensitivity has been increased to 4,800 times compared to the conventional theoretical sensitivity, enabling the detection of very small amounts of radiation,” says Dongsung Kim, the first author of the study.

The detector could be adapted to different situations. For example, a portable version could be installed in a vehicle to cover shorter distances, while a larger, stationary version could cover much longer distances.

“Depending on the equipment used, this method could scale to detect radioactivity at distances of at least tens of kilometres and possibly as far as one hundred kilometres,” says Choi.

2 01 8

research team developed a new method for remote detection using a gyrotron that produces high-power pulsed electromagnetic waves. Unlike other detectors that must be located close to the radioactive source, electromagnetic waves can be sent to cover long distances by an antenna.

When the wave beam encounters radioactive material, it generates plasma in the material’s vicinity. Plasma is the fourth state of matter that resembles ionized gas, and requires high heat or a strong electromagnetic field to form. Once formed, plasma reduces the wave’s amplitude, which the team measures using a radio frequency detector. A photodiode, which senses light wavelengths, was also used to detect the light emitted by the plasma to help confirm the presence of radiation.

The team demonstrated that their method detected 0.5 microgram of

ASIA RESE ARCH NEWS

Radioactive materials could soon be detected from up to a few hundred metres away.

A new device can detect small amounts of radioactive materials from several hundred metres away, according to a study published in Nature Communications.

Researchers from Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) in South Korea increased the sensitivity of a radioactive detector by using high-power pulsed electromagnetic waves.

Detecting hazardous radioactive materials remotely has been virtually impossible due to limitations in currently available detectors. Typical radiation detectors can detect one millicurie (mCi) of Cobalt-60 (60Co) at a maximum distance of 3.5 metres, but have difficulty sensing lower levels of radioactivity or at longer distances.

UNIST physicist Eunmi Choi and her

Credit: Yauheni Chazlou / Bram Janssens | 123rf

Associate Professor Eunmi Choi | E-mail: emchoi@unist.ac.kr Department of Physics Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology

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ENVIRONMENT

GREEN WALLS COULD BUFFER FLASH FLOODING IN CITIES

Credit: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak

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Credit: pilens | 123rf

ASIA RESE ARCH NEWS

Simulations reveal that green walls filled with coconut peat could be a practical addition to city structures.

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Dr Darrien Yau Seng Mah | E-mail: ysmah@unimas.my Faculty of Engineering Universiti Malaysia Sarawak

Simulations reveal that green walls filled with coconut peat could absorb storm water running off buildings, mitigating flash floods.

Vertical plant-containing structures attached to the sides of buildings can boost the natural appeal of cities, but that’s not their only attraction. Using a storm water modelling tool, engineers in Malaysia are exploring whether these so-called green walls can also help buffer roof run-off to combat flash flooding.

The team, based at the University of Malaysia Sarawak and supported by the Department of Irrigation and Drainage Malaysia, is focusing on a modular system filled with coconut peat.

This artificial soil, which can be obtained by processing readily available coconut husks, has proven good for gardening.

However, its ability to control run-off is unknown. In the lab, the group measured key properties of the coconut-based soil including porosity and the speed of water infiltration, and inputted these values into the simulation.

The green wall is envisaged as a series of interlocking square panels with openings on the outer face of each block to support vertical planting. A lightweight metal frame links the panels to uprights attached to the building, which for this study is a modern flat-roofed three-story commercial lot. During operation, the run-off percolates through the structure to ground level, slowing the environmental impact of heavy rainfall.

Under very intense storm conditions (45 millimetres of rainfall in 15 minutes) a 0.4 metre bed of dry coconut peat is likely to retain around 30% of the water running off the roof, according to simulations. Retainment drops to 17% when the coconut peat is already saturated due to previous rainfall. Fully capturing 6.3 cubic metres of roof run-off could be achieved by a green wall design measuring 0.7 metres wide, 0.2 metres thick and 12 metres high, according to the model.

Encouraged by their results, presented at the International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research World Congress held in Kuala Lumpur, the next step for the team is to model the contribution of plants and their roots to the water behaviour of the green wall.

ENVIRONMENT

Researchers determined that genetic cues from both maternal and paternal genes are required for plants to develop properly.

SHAPING A PLANT

Credit: Institute of Transformative Bio-Molecules

Right: When these genetic cues are knocked out from both parents, the zygote does not develop normally.

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2011, we were able to show that the plant's mother and father actually cooperate in their offspring’s development."

Specifically, the team found that a protein from the male plant called short suspensor (SSP) activates a protein in the zygote called WRKY2, which can be derived from both paternal and maternal genes. This WRKY2 protein helps activate a gene called WOX8, which then produces proteins that regulate the zygote’s asymmetrical cell division.

Furthermore, the team discovered that proteins within the egg cell from the female, called HDG11 and HDG12, must also be present to help activate WOX8.

When the scientists knocked out both these maternal and paternal genetic cues, not enough WOX8 proteins were produced and the zygote failed to develop properly. Instead of dividing asymmetrically, it divided into two equal cells and quickly died.

This “could be either the consequence of the defective zygote or due to additional functions of these genes in specifying later events in embryo development,” the researchers say in their study, published in the journal Genes and Development.

Understanding the complex regulatory network within a tiny plant embryo could help scientists synthesize artificial WOX8 proteins to grow hybrids from plants that might not otherwise breed together due to lack of proper cooperation between maternal and paternal genes.

ASIA RESE ARCH NEWS

Left: When genetic cues from both parents are present, the zygote divides asymmetrically into the short, top cell (red) and long, bottom cell (blue).

Flowering plant parents cooperate to guide proper development of offspring; insight that could lead to new hybrid plants.

A team of researchers led by Nagoya University’s Institute of Transformative Bio-Molecules (ITbM) has uncovered a clear example of plant parents working together to ensure their offspring develop properly.

The researchers determined that proteins derived from maternal and paternal genes work together to ensure the fertilized egg, or zygote, divides asymmetrically. This first division into a short, top cell and long, bottom cell is critical for the plant to develop properly. The top cell goes on to become the flower and leaves, while the bottom cell becomes the roots.

This parental cooperation was surprising because parental genes are also in direct conflict with each other during seed development. Several different males can fertilize eggs within the same plant, prompting competition for nutrients.

Paternal genetic cues aim to maximize nutrients for individual eggs, whereas maternal genetic cues aim to spread nutrients evenly amongst all the eggs.

"Although parental conflict in nutritive tissues has been known before, it has remained a mystery whether the parental factors counteract or cooperate with each other in the zygote," says Minako Ueda, a lecturer at ITbM who led the study. "Since starting this investigation in

Credit: Somsak Sudthangtum | 123rf

Dr Minako Ueda | E-mail: m-ueda@itbm.nagoya-u.ac.jp Institute of Transformative Bio-Molecules (ITbM) Nagoya University

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