index.events
06
2025-11
[ 大师讲坛 ]
【大师讲坛】第270期:石墨烯与层状材料在光子学与光电子学中的应用
石墨烯与层状材料在光子学与光电子学领域展现出巨大潜力。在这些领域中,它们的光学与电学特性得以充分结合,并且石墨烯无带隙的特点亦可转化为优势。石墨烯中狄拉克电子的线性色散关系,使其能够实现超宽谱带的可调谐性,以及通过栅压调控、在超宽带宽内实现三次谐波增强,这为光通信与信号处理领域所需的电可调宽带频率转换器开辟了道路。由于泡利阻塞效应,石墨烯中可观察到可饱和吸收现象,该特性可被用于实现多种超快与宽带激光器的锁模运作。石墨烯集成光子学为下一代数据通信与电信中所需的调制器、探测器和开关的晶圆级制造提供了一个平台。这些功能可通过将石墨烯层置于作为无源光波导的光波导顶端来实现,从而简化现有技术。基于多种原子晶体的异质结构,其性质既不同于其单一组成成分,也不同于其三维体材料。将这些晶体以堆叠方式组合,可用于设计此类异质结构的功能,并应用于新型发光器件中,例如单光子发射器和可调谐发光二极管。 Graphene and layered materials have great potential in photonics and optoelectronics, where the combination of their optical and electronic properties can be fully exploited, and the absence of a bandgap in graphene can be beneficial. The linear dispersion of the Dirac electrons in graphene enables ultra-wide-band tunability as well as gate controllable third-harmonic enhancement over an ultra-broad bandwidth, paving the way for electrically tuneable broadband frequency converters for optical communications and signal processing. Saturable absorption is observed as a consequence of Pauli blocking and can be exploited for mode-locking of a variety of ultrafast and broadband lasers. Graphene integrated photonics is a platform for wafer scale manufacturing of modulators, detectors and switches for next generation datacom and telecom. These functions can be achieved with graphene layers placed on top of optical waveguides, acting as passive light-guides, thus simplifying the current technology. Heterostructures based on layers of atomic crystals have properties different from those of their individual constituents and of their three dimensional counterparts. The combinations of such crystals in stacks can be used to design the functionalities of such heterostructures, that can be exploited in novel light emitting devices, such as single photon emitters, and tuneable light emitting diodes.
Andrea Ferrari
英国皇家工程院院士
30
2025-10
[ 大师讲坛 ]
【大师讲坛】第269期:CryoSeek(酷寻)——以结构为先导的生物学发现新范式
糖质,又称为碳水化合物,是地球上含量最为丰富的生物大分子。尽管其生理功能至关重要,糖质的结构生物学研究却显著滞后于蛋白质与核酸。前期对于人源葡萄糖转运蛋白 GLUT3 与 D-葡萄糖的1.5 Å分辨率晶体结构清晰表明,该转运体能够识别α与β两种变旋异构体。这一发现凸显了高分辨率结构在阐明糖质分子的立体化学方面的重要作用。虽然冷冻电镜已能够解析膜蛋白胞外修饰的糖链结构,但通常仅限于修饰位点附近的少数糖残基,且难以获得高分辨率结构。近年来,我们一直致力于获得完整糖链的高分辨率结构,但进展有限。通过建立名为“CryoSeek”的新范式,我们最近成功解析了多种具有高阶结构组装特征的糖质分子的高分辨率结构。 Carbohydrates are the most abundant biomolecules on Earth. Despite their physiological importance, the structural biology of glycans has significantly lagged behind that of proteins and nucleic acids. The crystal structure of the human glucose transporter GLUT3 bound to D-glucose at 1.5 Å resolution clearly demonstrates that the transporter can recognize both α- and β-anomers. This finding underscores the power of high-resolution structures in elucidating the stereochemistry of sugars. While cryo-EM has enabled the structural resolution of glycan chains that modify the extracellular surface of membrane proteins, it has largely been limited to a small number of sugar residues near the modification site and at moderate resolutions. We have been striving to solve high-resolution structures of full glycan chains with little success until recently. By establishing a new paradigm called CryoSeek, we have successfully resolved the high-resolution structures of numerous glycans with higher-order structural assemblies.
颜宁
中国科学院院士,美国国家科学院外籍院士
24
2025-10
[ 大师讲坛 ]
【大师讲坛】第267期:从超分子聚合物到功能材料及手性系统
自聚合物发现以来,科学家对其结构始终存在争论。在Hermann Staudinger提出大分子概念前,学界普遍认为聚合物源于小颗粒或分子的胶体聚集。自1920年起,聚合物和大分子被认为是通过共价键将单体在二维或三维空间连接构成的材料。尽管大分子链间超分子相互作用的重要性不言而喻,但当时难以设想基于小分子相互作用可构建聚合物材料。超分子化学的突破性进展表明,通过强方向性次级相互作用可实现小分子构建聚合物材料——超分子聚合物领域由此诞生。通过控制分子片段间的超分子相互作用,设计具有响应性与动态功能的新型功能材料变得更为容易。其中,对分子时空位置的控制是获得目标功能的关键。本次讲座将探讨手性在时空维度中的典型案例及涌现机制,同时聚焦非共价合成中的分子相互作用,探讨其在自旋过滤、生物材料及OLED等领域的应用前景。 Since the discovery of the first polymers, scientists have debated their structures. Before Hermann Staudinger published the brilliant concept of macromolecules, it was generally assumed that the properties of polymers were based on the colloidal aggregation of small particles or molecules. Since 1920, polymers and macromolecules have been synonymous with each other; i.e. materials made by means of many covalent bonds that connect monomers in 2 or 3 dimensions. Although supramolecular interactions between macromolecular chains are clearly important, e.g. in nylons, it was unthinkable to imagine polymeric materials based on the interaction of small molecules. Breakthroughs in supramolecular chemistry have shown that polymer materials can be made by small molecules using strong directional secondary interactions; the field of supramolecular polymers was born. In a sense, we have come full circle [1]. By controlling the supramolecular interactions between molecular fragments, it became easier to design systems materials with unconventional responsive behavior and dynamic functionalities. In all cases, control over the position of the molecules in time and space is essential to achieve the required functionality. In our group we focus on the emergence of homochirality in time and space and some examples of this challenge will be discussed in the lecture. We use this to design supramolecular materials and chiral systems with highly ordered morphologies that change their properties on the action of light, pressure, temperature, or the addition of chemicals. On the other hand, applications in spin filtering, biomaterials and OLEDs will be discussed with a continues focus on the molecular interactions using non-covalent synthesis [2].
E.W. “Bert” Meijer
美国国家科学院外籍院士
24
2025-10
[ 大师讲坛 ]
【大师讲坛】第268期:基因打靶的诞生&ESCRT通路在HIV出芽及细胞生物学中的作用
基因打靶(gene targeting)的诞生,标志着分子遗传学从描述性研究进入可定向改造基因功能的时代。上世纪八十年代,马里奥·卡佩奇教授通过在哺乳动物胚胎干细胞中实现同源重组,首次建立了在基因组特定位点进行精准修饰的技术。这一突破使科学家能够“敲除”或“敲入”特定基因,从而系统地研究其在发育、生理与疾病中的功能。该方法孕育了“敲除小鼠”模型,为人类遗传病、肿瘤和神经系统疾病研究奠定了基础,并推动了现代基因治疗与精准医学的发展。本报告将回顾基因打靶技术从概念到实现的科学历程,探讨其对生命科学与医学的深远影响。 Gene targeting marked the transition of molecular genetics from largely descriptive studies to an era of targeted engineering of gene function. In the 1980s, Professor Mario R. Capecchi achieved homologous recombination in mammalian embryonic stem cells, thereby establishing the first technology for precise modification at defined genomic loci. This breakthrough enabled scientists to knock out or knock in specific genes and to systematically interrogate their roles in development, physiology, and disease. The method gave rise to knockout mouse models, laid the foundation for research on human genetic disorders, cancer, and neurological diseases, and propelled the development of modern gene therapy and precision medicine. This lecture will retrace the scientific journey from concept to realization and explore the profound impact of gene targeting on the life sciences and medicine. 为了传播感染,人类免疫缺陷病毒(HIV)需形成具有包膜的球形颗粒,并通过质膜出芽释放。我们研究发现,HIV-1及其他逆转录病毒通过劫持宿主的内体分选转运(ESCRT)通路的活性实现出芽。我们与合作团队进一步研究了ESCRT通路在HIV出芽、细胞分裂及其他关键细胞功能中的作用,并解析了十余种不同ESCRT因子及复合体的三维结构。这些研究揭示了ESCRT组分如何组装、相互作用并识别病毒及泛素化蛋白,ESCRT-III亚基如何通过构象变化形成能够重塑细胞膜的纤丝状结构,以及ATP水解所释放的能量如何驱动膜重塑。 To spread infections, the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) must form enveloped spherical particles that bud through the plasma membrane. We have demonstrated that HIV-1 and other retroviruses bud from cells by usurping the activity of the host Endosomal Sorting Pathway Required for Transport (ESCRT) pathway. We and our collaborators have also explored the functions of the ESCRT pathway in HIV budding, cell division and other cellular functions, and determined the three-dimensional structures of more than a dozen different ESCRT factors and complexes. This work has helped reveal how ESCRT components assemble, interact, and recognize viral and ubiquitylated proteins, how ESCRT-III subunits can change conformations and form filaments that remodel membranes, and how the energy of ATP hydrolysis is used to power membrane remodeling.
Mario R. Capecchi
美国国家科学院院士 2007年诺贝尔生理学或医学奖获得者