Micro/nanorobots with controllable deformation and navigation capability are highly promising candidates to perform complicated biomedical tasks in complex and unstructured biological environments. However, it is still a big challenge to accurately control the deformation and navigation of soft microrobots to better adapt to variable environments for task execution. A recent work published in PhotoniX, a photonic nanojet-regulated soft microalga robot (saBOT) based on Euglena gracilis was developed, which has highly controllable deformation and precision navigation capability working in complex and unstructured microenvironments. Such asBOT can precisely navigate in complex and unstructured microenvironments to perform different biomedical tasks, such as precision drug delivery toward a target cell within cell clusters (Figure 1). This saBOT holds great promise in executing different biomedical tasks in complex and unstructured microenvironments that cannot be reached by conventional tools and rigid microrobots.

Treatment options for patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) often result in poor prognosis and declining health-related quality of life. Screening FDA-approved drugs for cancer chemoprevention is a promising and cost-efficient strategy. Here, we found that dronedarone, an antiarrhythmic drug, could inhibit the proliferation of ESCC cells. Moreover, we conducted phosphorylomics analysis to investigate the mechanism of dronedarone-treated ESCC cells. Through computational docking models and pull-down assays, we demonstrated that dronedarone could directly bind to CDK4 and CDK6 kinases. We also proved that dronedarone effectively inhibited ESCC proliferation by targeting CDK4/CDK6 and blocking the G0/G1 phase through RB1 phosphorylation inhibition by in vitro kinase assays and cell cycle assays. Subsequently, we found that knocking out CDK4 and CDK6 decreased the susceptibility of ESCC cells to dronedarone. Furthermore, dronedarone suppressed the growth of ESCC in patient-derived tumor xenograft models in vivo. Thus, our study demonstrated that dronedarone could be repurposed as a CDK4/6 inhibitor for ESCC chemoprevention.

The study focuses on the synthesis of mesoporous biochar (MC) derived from biomass, using a dual-salt template method involving ZnCl₂ and KCl.