Heutzutage werden riesige Datenmengen zwischen Endgeräten und Cloud-Servern verschoben. Cloud-Computing war nach Bloomberg bereits für 1% des weltweiten Stromverbrauchs im Jahr 2021 verantwortlich. Darüber hinaus kann die monopolartige Speicherung personenbezogener Daten schwerwiegende Auswirkungen auf die Gesellschaften unserer Welt haben. Um persönlichen Datenschutz und einen nachhaltigen Energieverbrauch zu gewährleisten, bedarf es einer Datenverarbeitung direkt am Endgerät; bezeichnet als Edge Computing. In diesem Zuge wird die Nachfrage nach individuell gestalteten Edge-Geräten rapide ansteigen. Der neu entstehende Markt bietet der organischen elektrochemischen Elektronik eine große Chance, vor allem für bioelektronische Anwendungen; allerdings muss die Chipintegration verbessert werden. In dieser Arbeit habe ich elektrochemische organische Elektronik für die Integration in Computersysteme untersucht. Insbesondere habe ich einen festen, photostrukturierbaren Elektrolyten entwickelt, der die Integration von OECTs ohne Kreuzkommunikation zwischen Bauteilen ermöglicht. Die OECTs arbeiten bei Spannungen unter 1V und schalten mit einem großen An/Aus-Verhältnis von 5 Größenordnungen und einer Unterschwellenschwingung nahe des thermodynamischen Minimums von 60mV/Dekade. Darüber hinaus wurden bei der Untersuchung der Hysterese des Bauelements drei verschiedene Hystereseregime identifiziert. Anschließend untersuchte ich die Schaltdynamik des OECTs und demonstrierte ein Top-Gate-OECT mit einer maximalen Betriebsfrequenz von 1 kHz. Beim Versuch, die komplexe Wechselwirkung zwischen Ionen und Elektronen in integrierten OECTs zu verstehen, habe ich einen grundlegenden elektrochemischen Mechanismus identifiziert. Die Abhängigkeit dieses Mechanismus’ von der Gate-Größe und der Drain-Überlapplänge wurde aufgezeigt und dieses Wissen zur Optimierung elektrochemischer Inverter genutzt. Zur Darstellung von OECT-basierten Schaltungskomponenten habe ich verschiedene Halbleiter verwendet und entsprechende Inverter hergestellt. Schließlich wurde die Hysterese eines einzigen ambipolaren Inverters zur Demonstration eines dynamischen Klinkenschalters genutzt. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit habe ich die OECT-Technologie von den Anfängen bis hin zu integrierten Schaltkreiskomponenten entwickelt. Ich glaube, dass diese Arbeit ein Startschuss für Wissenschaftler und Ingenieure sein wird, um die OECT-Technologie in der realen Welt des Edge Computing einzusetzen. / Nowadays, vast amounts of data are shuttled between end-user devices and cloud servers. This cloud computing paradigm was, according to Bloomberg, already responsible for 1% of the world’s electricity usage in 2021. Moreover, the monopoly-like storage of personal data can have a severe impact on the world’s societies. To guarantee data privacy and sustainable energy consumption in future, data computation directly at the end-user site is mandatory. This computing paradigm is called edge computing. Owing to the vast amount of end-user-specific applications, the demand for individually designed edge devices will rapidly increase. In this newly approaching market, organic electrochemical electronics offer a great opportunity, especially for bioelectronic applications; however, the integration into low-power-consuming systems has to be improved. In this work, I investigated electrochemical organic electronics for their integration into computational systems. In particular, I developed a solid photopatternable electrolyte that allows integrating organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) without cross-talk between adjacent devices. The OECTs operate at voltages below 1 V, and exhibit a large on/off ratio of 5 orders of magnitude and a subthreshold-swing close to the thermodynamic minimum of 60mV/dec. Moreover, investigating the device’s hysteresis, three distinct hysteresis regimes were identified; the RC-time-dominated regime I, the retention time governed regime II, and the time-independent stable regime III. I then examined the OECT’s switching dynamics and, subsequently, demonstrated a top-gate device with a maximum operating frequency of 1 kHz. Trying to understand the complex interaction between ions and electrons in integrated OECTs, I disclosed a fundamental electrochemical mechanism and named it the electrochemical electrode coupling (EEC). The EEC’s dependence on gate size and drain overlap length was rigorously shown, and this knowledge was used to optimize electrochemical inverters. Yet, to exemplify OECT-based circuit components, I employed various semiconductors and fabricated five inverters, each with its unique advantage. Finally, the ambipolar inverter’s hysteresis was used to demonstrate a single-device dynamic latch, a basic in-memory computational element. In this thesis, I developed the OECT technology from an infancy stage to integrated circuit components. I believe that this work will be a starting signal for scientists and engineers to bring the OECT technology into real-world edge computing.

The analysis of empirical sorption equilibrium datasets is still vital to gain insights into material–property relationships as computational methods remain in development, especially for complex materials such as flexible MOFs. Therefore, the Dubinin-based universal adsorption theory (D-UAT) was revisited and evaluated as a simple visualization, analysis, and prediction tool for sorption equilibrium data. Within the theory, gas properties are normalized into corresponding states using the critical temperatures of the respective sorptives. The study shows theoretically and experimentally that the D-UAT is able to condense differences of sorption data visualized in reduced Dubinin plots to just three governing parameters: (a) the accessible pore volume, (b) the reduced enthalpy of sorption, and (c) the framework’s reduced free energy differences (in case of flexible behavior). This makes the theory a fast visualization and analysis tool, the use as a prediction tool depends on rough assumptions, and thus is not recommended.

Lipoxygenases convert polyunsaturated fatty acids into biologically active metabolites such as inflammatory mediators—prostaglandins and leukotrienes. The inhibition of lipoxygenases is increasingly employed in the treatment of cancer. We evaluated the anticancer potential of two novel 5-lipoxygenase inhibitors, named CarbZDNaph and CarbZDChin, which are analogues of the commercially available inhibitor Rev-5901. The in vitro segment of this study was conducted on a mouse colorectal carcinoma cell line—CT26CL25. For an in vivo model, we induced tumors in BALB/c mice by the implantation of CT26CL25 cells, and we treated the animals with potential inhibitors. A 48 h treatment resulted in diminished cell viability. Calculated IC50 values (halfmaximal inhibitory concentrations) were 25 µM, 15 µM and 30 µM for CarbZDNaph, CarbZDChin and Rev-5901, respectively. The detailed analysis of mechanism revealed an induction of caspasedependent apoptosis and autophagy. In the presence of chloroquine, an autophagy inhibitor, we observed an increased mortality of cells, implying a cytoprotective role of autophagy. Our in vivo experiment reports tumor growth attenuation in animals treated with CarbZDChin. Compounds CarbZDNaph and Rev-5901 lacked an in vivo efficacy. The results presented in this study display a strong effect of compound CarbZDChin on malignant cell growth. Having in mind the important role of inflammation in cancer development, these results have a significant impact and are worthy of further evaluation.

Bone-derived osteocalcin has been suggested to be a metabolic regulator. To scrutinize the relation between osteocalcin and peripheral insulin sensitivity, we analyzed changes in serum osteocalcin relative to changes in insulin sensitivity, low-grade inflammation, and bone mineral density following lifestyle-induced weight loss in individuals with metabolic syndrome (MetS). Participants with MetS were randomized to a weight loss program or to a control group. Before and after the 6-month intervention period, clinical and laboratory parameters and serum osteocalcin levels were determined. Changes in body composition were analyzed by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). In participants of the intervention group, weight loss resulted in improved insulin sensitivity and amelioration of inflammation. Increased serum levels of osteocalcin correlated inversely with BMI (r = −0.63; p < 0.001), total fat mass (r = −0.58, p < 0.001), total lean mass (r = −0.45, p < 0.001), C-reactive protein (CRP) (r = −0.37; p < 0.01), insulin (r = −0.4; p < 0.001), leptin (r = −0.53; p < 0.001), triglycerides (r = −0.42; p < 0.001), and alanine aminotransferase (ALAT) (r = −0.52; p < 0.001). Regression analysis revealed that osteocalcin was independently associated with changes in CRP but not with changes in insulin concentration, fat mass, or bone mineral density, suggesting that weight loss-induced higher serum osteocalcin is primarily associated with reduced inflammation.

Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) virus is an emerging pathogen that causes severe infections in humans. Infection risk areas are mostly defined based on the incidence of human cases, a method which does not work well in areas with sporadic TBE cases. Thus, sentinel animals may help to better estimate the existing risk. Serological tests should be thoroughly evaluated for this purpose. Here, we tested three test formats to assess the use of dogs as sentinel animals. A total of 208 dog sera from a known endemic area in Southern Germany were tested in an All-Species-ELISA and indirect immunofluorescence assays (IIFA), according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Sensitivity and specificity for both were determined in comparison to the micro-neutralization test (NT) results. Of all 208 samples, 22.1% tested positive in the micro-NT. A total of 18.3% of the samples showed characteristic fluorescence in the IIFA and were, thus, judged positive. In comparison to the micro-NT, a sensitivity of 78.3% and a specificity of 98.8% was obtained. In the ELISA, 19.2% of samples tested positive, with a sensitivity of 84.8% and a specificity of 99.4%. The ELISA is a highly specific test for TBE-antibody detection in dogs and should be well suited for acute diagnostics. However, due to deficits in sensitivity, it cannot replace the NT, at least for epidemiological studies. With even lower specificity and sensitivity, the same applies to IIFA.

Metabolomics is used to reduce the complexity of plants and to understand the underlying pathways of the plant phenotype. The metabolic profile of plants can be obtained by mass spectrometry or liquid-state NMR. The extraction of metabolites from the sample is necessary for both techniques to obtain the metabolic profile. This extraction step can be eliminated by making use of high-resolution magic angle spinning (HR-MAS) NMR. In this review, an HR-MAS NMR-based workflow is described in more detail, including used pulse sequences in metabolomics. The pre-processing steps of one-dimensional HR-MAS NMR spectra are presented, including spectral alignment, baseline correction, bucketing, normalisation and scaling procedures. We also highlight some of the models which can be used to perform multivariate analysis on the HR-MAS NMR spectra. Finally, applications of HR-MAS NMR in plant metabolomics are described and show that HR-MAS NMR is a powerful tool for plant metabolomics studies.

Gliomas and glioblastomas are very aggressive forms of brain tumors, prone to the development of a multitude of resistance mechanisms to therapeutic treatments, including cytoprotective autophagy. In this work, we investigated the role and mechanism of action of the combination of a ruthenacarborane derivative with 8-hydroxyquinoline (8-HQ), linked via an ester bond (complex 2), in rat astrocytoma C6 and human glioma U251 cells, in comparison with the two compounds alone, i.e., the free carboxylic acid (complex 1) and 8-HQ, and their non-covalent combination ([1 + 8-HQ], in 1:1 molar ratio). We found that only complex 2 was able to significantly affect cellular viability in glioma U251 cells (IC50 11.4 μM) via inhibition of the autophagic machinery, most likely acting at the early stages of the autophagic cascade. Contrary to 8-HQ alone, complex 2 was also able to impair cellular viability under conditions of glucose deprivation. We thus suggest different mechanisms of action of ruthenacarborane complex 2 than purely organic quinoline-based drugs, making complex 2 a very attractive candidate for evading the known resistances of brain tumors to chloroquine-based therapies.

A recent development for selective ammonia oxidation into nitrogen and water vapor (NH3-SCO) over noble metal-based catalysts is covered in the mini-review. As ammonia (NH3) can harm human health and the environment, it led to stringent regulations by environmental agencies around the world. With the enforcement of the Euro VI emission standards, in which a limitation for NH3 emissions is proposed, NH3 emissions are becoming more and more of a concern. Noble metal-based catalysts (i.e., in the metallic form, noble metals supported on metal oxides or ion-exchanged zeolites, etc.) were rapidly found to possess high catalytic activity for NH3 oxidation at low temperatures. Thus, a comprehensive discussion of property-activity correlations of the noble-based catalysts, including Pt-, Pd-, Ag- and Au-, Ru-based catalysts is given. Furthermore, due to the relatively narrow operating temperature window of full NH3 conversion, high selectivity to N2O and NOx as well as high costs of noble metal-based catalysts, recent developments are aimed at combining the advantages of noble metals and transition metals. Thus, also a brief overview is provided about the design of the bifunctional catalysts (i.e., as dual-layer catalysts, mixed form (mechanical mixture), hybrid catalysts having dual-layer and mixed catalysts, core-shell structure, etc.). Finally, the general conclusions together with a discussion of promising research directions are provided.

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) represent the largest membrane protein family and a significant target class for therapeutics. Receptors from GPCRs’ largest class, class A, influence virtually every aspect of human physiology. About 45% of the members of this family endogenously bind flexible peptides or peptides segments within larger protein ligands. While many of these peptides have been structurally characterized in their solution state, the few studies of peptides in their receptor-bound state suggest that these peptides interact with a shared set of residues and undergo significant conformational changes. For the purpose of understanding binding dynamics and the development of peptidomimetic drug compounds, further studies should investigate the peptide ligands that are complexed to their cognate receptor.

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are widely recognized as important regulators of gene expression. Their molecular functions range from miRNA sponging to chromatin-associated mechanisms, leading to effects in disease progression and establishing them as diagnostic and therapeutic targets. Still, only a few representatives of this diverse class of RNAs are well studied, while the vast majority is poorly described beyond the existence of their transcripts. In this review we survey common in silico approaches for lncRNA annotation. We focus on the well-established sets of features used for classification and discuss their specific advantages and weaknesses. While the available tools perform very well for the task of distinguishing coding sequence from other RNAs, we find that current methods are not well suited to distinguish lncRNAs or parts thereof from other non-protein-coding input sequences. We conclude that the distinction of lncRNAs from intronic sequences and untranslated regions of coding mRNAs remains a pressing research gap.