Contents: (Small 15/2013)

NanovesiclesThe spontaneous and reversible assembly of a new class of non-amphiphilic vesicle based on p-aminophenyl disulfi de in a water/ethanol mixture is reported by S. Singamaneni and co-workers.On page 2611, a real-time view of their hierarchical transition reveals the rapid growth of nanostructures into vesicles, and vesicle walk and fusion on the sides and tips of the branches, leading to the formation of centimeterlong microtubes.The process is initiated and maintained by the convergent effects of cooperative hydrogen bonding, self-complementary primary amine groups, and the molecular nature of the solutions. Lab-on-ChipOn page 2553, U. Demirci and co-workers address the need for clinical HIV-I detection at the acute stage, where antibodies are present in very low concentrations.Their fast and extremely affordable portable diagnostic tool allows on-chip virus detection without the need for any labeling steps.Through impedance analysis, the device can sense the unique electrical signature of the viral nano-lysates.This means that the tool is also highly selective, could be easily extended for use in detecting other infectious diseases, and could even be adapted to detect multiple diseases at the same time.