This month in pictures

Claudia Fischbach of Cornell University and co-workers create stunning images, such as the one here, using a new collagen-embedded multicellular spheroid platform. The study explores the connections between tissue microenvironment and obesity, which may have significant implications for breast cancer malignancy in obese patients.

Jesper Nygård and Thomas Sand Jespersen from the University of Copenhagen and their co-workers have created a crystal growth platform for in situ growth of semiconductor/superconductor hybrids. The technique eliminates the need for etching, enabling full freedom in the choice of hybrid constituents.

Vascular networks are central components of organ‐on‐a‐chip systems. Inspired by ubiquitous biological systems, such as leaf venation and circulatory systems, Jiankang He from Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xin Zhao from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and their co-workers devised a fabrication strategy to develop a biomimetic vascular system integrated with freely designed chambers, which function as niches for chamber‐specific vascularized organs.

Jonathan Hopkins of the University of California, Los Angeles and co-workers report a scalable approach to assembling 3D arrays of microgranular crystals using holographic optical tweezers.

This is not the new PS5 controller, although if it were, it would need some nanoscale hands to manipulate it. A new technique allows these beautiful shapes to be made using graphenes hydrogen atoms to confine electrons.

Xiaohu Gao from the University of Washington and co-workers combine two powerful technologies; quantum dots and a technique for amplifying the fluorescence given off by imaging molecules, called signal amplification by exchange reaction (SABER).

The planks in this “woodpile” design are a mere 30 nanometers apart from each other. Frederik Mayer and Martin Wegener of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, and their co-workers built this tiny object using a new material for 3D printing.

This SEM image comes courtesy of Roey Elnathan and Nicolas Voelcker at Monash University, and their co-workers, demonstrating the use of vertical silicon nanotubes (SiNTs) to manipulate cell growth and gene editing through intracellular delivery of small molecules. The large scale bar represents 10 µm, whilst the scale bar in the inset represents just 2 µm.