Results
- Showing results for:
- Reset all filters
Search results
-
Journal articleJiang Q, Normand C, Beauchamp F, et al., 2026,
Structural composite battery: Reinforced carbon fibre electrodes within a porous polyethersulfone matrix
, Composites Science and Technology, Vol: 278, Pages: 111555-111555, ISSN: 0266-3538 -
Journal articleYousefi N, Tao H, Anthony DB, et al., 2026,
Scale matters: a perspective on structural hierarchical carbon fibre composites incorporating carbon nanotubes
, Composites Science and Technology, Vol: 277, ISSN: 0266-3538Composites have long played a vital role in material science due to their lightweight, stiff, strong, and durable construction. Composites consist of at least two complementary materials, typically comprising reinforcing elements, prominently carbon or glass fibres, held in place by a surrounding polymer matrix. Conventional fibre composites already display a structural hierarchy from fibres within tows, to plies, to laminates forming large-scale structures. The term “hierarchical composites” specifically refers to materials that integrate reinforcements spanning additional length scales, down to the molecular range, most notably nanoscale reinforcements that complement microscale fibres. Natural structural materials rely extensively on hierarchical motifs to maximise performance, though using constituents limited by abundance and ambient aqueous processing. Technical hierarchical composites are broadly inspired by natural multiscale systems, sometimes implementing specific mechanisms from nature in new material classes. In hierarchical composites, the largest reinforcement, fibres, dominate in-plane mechanical properties. In contrast, nanoscale reinforcements may address matrix-dominated responses by, for example, improving shear properties that control stress transfer and kink band initiation, introducing additional toughening mechanisms to limit debonding or delamination, and providing direct reinforcement, particularly through-thickness. Nanomaterials can provide other benefits, such as improved fatigue life, acoustic damping, and solvent/fire resistance. The addition of nanomaterials may also imbue composites with multifunctionality, obviating other constituents or components and reducing system weight. We critically discuss the progress in developing hierarchical fibre reinforced carbon nanotube composites over the past decade and provide insight into manufacturing and their structural and functional performance.
-
Journal articleSilm M, Jiang Q, Kisand A, et al., 2026,
Transforming textile waste into materials using fungi
, Resources Conservation and Recycling, Vol: 228, ISSN: 0921-3449Textile waste from ‘fast fashion’ has considerable environmental impact and is an EU priority area. Colonising textiles with fungi provides a unique solution, with options to bond them together to create composite materials, fruit them to provide mushrooms (source of chitin-glucan complex), or both. We produced mycelium-textile composites in analogy to traditional prepreg-based composite manufacturing, consolidating multiple textile stacks colonised with Ganoderma lucidum into a single material of customisable thickness and free-form geometry. An oxygen gradient existed through the cross-section of textile stacks, resulting in more growth on surface than core plies. Consolidated composites comprising only surface layers achieved tensile strengths up to ∼14 MPa. Their flexural and shear strengths (7 MPa and 0.5 MPa, respectively) indicated suitability for semi-structural construction applications. Waste textile substrate could also be fruited (5.7% w/w yield). These advances expand the stalled application of mycelium composites and provide a nature-based solution to textile upcycling.
-
Journal articleRafieenia R, Fu J, Hapeta P, et al., 2026,
Advancing arabinose-based bioproduction in Yarrowia lipolytica by integrating metabolic engineering and adaptive laboratory evolution
, Metabolic Engineering, Vol: 94, Pages: 15-23, ISSN: 1096-7176The oleaginous yeast, Yarrowia lipolytica has gained interest as a biotechnological chassis to produce foods, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and biofuels. To reduce production costs and sustainability, inexpensive and abundant feedstocks such as lignocellulose must be used for bioproduction. Since lignocellulosic biomass contains components that cannot be utilised by Y. lipolytica, it is important to use engineering biology to enable their utilisation. L-arabinose is the second most abundant pentose in lignocellulose after xylose. However, it has received much less attention than xylose as a bioresource. In the present study, we first engineered Y. lipolytica to grow on L-arabinose as the sole carbon source. We used several wild-type and engineered strains to express the multigene arabinose cassette. Second, we used adaptive laboratory evolution to improve the utilisation of arabinose by the engineered strains. Third, we enabled the production of β-carotene from arabinose by expressing a β-carotene cassette in the evolved strain. Using minimal YNB medium supplemented with 20 g/l of arabinose as the sole carbon source resulted in the complete utilisation of L-arabinose within 120 h. In bioreactors, a β-carotene production of 418.89 mg/l was achieved with the complete utilisation of 60 g/l of L-arabinose. This study is the first to engineer L-arabinose utilisation in Y. lipolytica, opening new avenues for biomanufacturing using alternative carbon sources.
-
Journal articleSun T, Sun M-L, Lin L, et al., 2026,
Combining multiplex metabolic engineering with adaptive evolution strategies for high-level succinic acid production in Yarrowia lipolytica
, Synthetic and Systems Biotechnology, Vol: 11, Pages: 48-58, ISSN: 2405-805XSuccinic acid, an essential platform chemical with extensive utility in biodegradable materials, pharmaceuticals, and the food industry, faces challenges of high energy consumption and environmental pollution in traditional chemical synthesis. Here, we employed multiplex metabolic engineering and adaptive laboratory evolution to enhance succinic acid biosynthesis in Yarrowia lipolytica. By attenuating succinate dehydrogenase (Sdh) activity, mitigating by-product accumulation, and enhancing the succinate synthesis pathway, engineered strains showed efficient succinic acid production from glycerol. The titer reached 130.99 g/L under unregulated pH conditions, translating to a yield of 0.35 g/g and a productivity of 0.70 g/(L·h). Subsequently, transporter engineering and adaptive evolution strategies were applied to enhance glucose utilization for succinic acid synthesis, yielding an evolved strain that eliminated the growth lag phase and produced 106.68 g/L succinic acid from glucose, which translated to a yield of 0.32 g/g and a productivity of 0.64 g/(L·h). Additionally, transcriptomic analysis and inverse metabolic engineering revealed that 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (4-Hppd) in the tyrosine degradation pathway partially restored the growth of Sdh-deficient strains on glucose, offering new insights for subsequent succinic acid biomanufacturing using Y. lipolytica.
-
Journal articleWang Y, Jiang Q, Vorlaufer D, et al., 2026,
Application of vitrimer-based sizing agent onto carbon fibres through thiol-ene photo-polymerisation
, COMPOSITES PART A-APPLIED SCIENCE AND MANUFACTURING, Vol: 202, ISSN: 1359-835X -
Journal articlePollock J, Huang JTJ, Shuttleworth M, et al., 2026,
Clinical, molecular and microbial characterisation of the eosinophilic endotype of bronchiectasis: data from the EMBARC-BRIDGE study.
, ThoraxOBJECTIVES: Eosinophilic bronchiectasis is defined by a blood eosinophil count (BEC) ≥300 cells/µL, but blood eosinophils imperfectly reflect airway eosinophilic inflammation. Here, we investigated the relationship between eosinophilic airway inflammation, blood eosinophils and clinical severity in bronchiectasis and explored the phenotype associated with eosinophilic bronchiectasis. METHODS: Sputum from 180 patients with stable CT-confirmed bronchiectasis was utilised to investigate airway levels of eosinophil proteins (eosinophil peroxidase (EPX), eosinophil derived-neurotoxin (EDN), eosinophil cationic protein (ECP), major basic protein (MBP) and Galectin-10 (Gal-10)) using a novel stable isotope dilution liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) assay. To profile eosinophilic bronchiectasis, a nested analysis of patients with BEC <150 cells/µL (n=52) and ≥300 cells/µL (n=49) was conducted. RESULTS: Sputum concentrations of Gal-10, ECP and EDN were weakly but significantly associated with radiological severity, FEV1 and sputum culture positivity for Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Airway eosinophil protein concentrations did not associate with exacerbation frequency. Total eosinophil protein concentration moderately correlated with BECs (r=0.33 95% CI 0.14 to 0.49, p=0.0007). Nested analysis revealed increased sputum PCR-positivity for P. aeruginosa (26.7% vs 7.7%, p=0.033) and an increased frequency of patients showing signs of Aspergillus sensitisation (defined as Aspergillus-specific IgE titres >0.35 kUA/L, 24.5% vs 3.8%) in eosinophilic bronchiectasis. Sputum inflammatory biomarkers and clinical parameters did not differ between groups. CONCLUSIONS: LC-MS/MS can detect eosinophilic inflammation within bronchiectasis sputum. Weak associations between elevated airway eosinophil proteins, bronchiectasis severity and P. aeruginosa infection were observed. Direct measurement of eosinophilic airway i
-
Journal articleWilliams TJ, Kermani NZ, Gonzales-Huerta LE, et al., 2026,
A Role for Non-Canonical Caspases in Fungal Allergic Airway Disease.
, Clin Exp Allergy -
Journal articleWilliams TJ, Griffiths JS, Gonzales-Huerta LE, et al., 2026,
Selective Targeting of IL-1RAP-Dependent Eosinophilic Inflammation in Allergic Fungal Airway Disease.
, Allergy -
Journal articleWang D, Hadad N, Moss S, et al., 2026,
Assessment of mosaic loss of chromosome Y in pulmonary fibrosis reveals limited association with susceptibility or disease severity.
, BMJ Open Respir Res, Vol: 13BACKGROUND: Pulmonary fibrosis (PF) is a rare lung disease with diverse pathogenesis and biological mechanisms. Mosaic loss of chromosome Y (mLOY) has been reported to be associated with increased risk of fibrotic diseases. However, the exact role of mLOY in the development of PF remains to be elucidated. METHODS: Copy number on chromosome Y was used to estimate mLOY comparing patients in PROFILE and gnomAD cohorts and between cases and control patients from the GE100KGP cohort. Correlation of mLOY with demographic and clinical variables was tested using patients from the PROFILE cohort. Lung single-cell transcriptomic data were analysed to assess the cell types implicated in mLOY. Mendelian randomisation was performed to examine the causal relationship between mLOY, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and telomere length. RESULTS: The genetic analysis suggests that mLOY is found in PF from both case cohorts but when compared with an age matched population the effect is minimal (p=0.00316, median: 0.288 vs 0.291). mLOY is related to age (p=0.000214) and shorter telomere length (p=0.00815) rather than PF severity or progression. Single-cell analysis indicates that mLOY appears to be found primarily in immune cells. Mendelian randomisation demonstrates that mLOY is not on the causal pathway for IPF, but partial evidence supports that telomere shortening is on the causal pathway for mLOY. CONCLUSIONS: Our study confirms the existence of mLOY in PF patients, suggests that mLOY is not a major driver of IPF, and might support a triangulation model where telomere shortening leads to both IPF and mLOY.
This data is extracted from the Web of Science and reproduced under a licence from Thomson Reuters. You may not copy or re-distribute this data in whole or in part without the written consent of the Science business of Thomson Reuters.
General enquiries
For any enquiries about the Fungal Science Network at Imperial, please contact: