“Until now, no clinical trial had tested a treatment for shift work disorder in early-morning shift workers, even though this is the most common type of shift schedule,” said senior author Charles A. Czeisler, PhD, MD, chief and senior physician of the Division of Sleep and Circadian Medicine in the Mass General Brigham Department of Medicine. “This study addresses a major gap by focusing on the workers who start their day when most people are still asleep.”

Why Early Shifts Disrupt the Body’s Clock

Roughly one in four workers operates outside the standard 9 to 5 schedule, including those who begin work very early in the morning. Many people with these schedules do not consider themselves shift workers and instead see their routine as simply starting the day earlier than usual. However, they may still face a high risk of shift work disorder, which involves disrupted sleep patterns and persistent daytime sleepiness.

“People who start work between 3 a.m. and 7 a.m. are waking up at a time when the brain is biologically programmed to sleep. That makes staying alert extraordinarily difficult, even when they are highly motivated,” said first author Kirsi-Marja Zitting, PhD, an investigator with the Division of Sleep and Circadian Medicine in the Mass General Brigham Department of Medicine. “They are often dealing with a double burden — excessive sleepiness during work hours and difficulty sleeping enough when they have the chance to rest.”

Health and Safety Risks of Shift Work Disorder

Shift work disorder is linked to a range of serious concerns, including reduced mental sharpness, lower productivity, increased risk of car accidents, and more workplace injuries. Medications such as modafinil are sometimes used to promote wakefulness, but these drugs have mainly been studied in overnight workers and can interfere with sleep later in the day.

Solriamfetol, the drug evaluated in this study, is already approved for treating excessive sleepiness in people with obstructive sleep apnea and narcolepsy. Researchers considered it a promising option because it can promote alertness for extended periods without significantly disrupting later sleep.

Clinical Trial Shows Improved Alertness and Performance

The study included 78 early morning shift workers diagnosed with shift work disorder. Participants were randomly assigned to take either solriamfetol or a placebo on workdays over a four-week period. Researchers assessed their ability to stay awake in a controlled, low-stimulation setting during hours that matched their typical work schedule. Participants also reported on their daily functioning and met regularly with clinicians.

After four weeks, those who received solriamfetol showed clear improvements. They were less sleepy and could remain awake longer during simulated work hours. Both participants and their doctors noted better overall functioning, improved work performance, and greater ability to manage daily tasks.

“The improvement we saw is clinically meaningful. These workers were able to stay awake and alert throughout a full eight-hour shift, which has real implications for performance, safety, and quality of life,” Czeisler said. “Shift workers are essential to how our society functions, yet they often pay a hidden biological cost. This study shows we can do better for them.”

More Research Needed on Long-Term Effects

The researchers emphasized that early morning shift workers have not been widely studied, and the current trial lasted only four weeks and included otherwise healthy adults. More research will be needed to understand the long-term effects of the treatment. The team is now enrolling participants for a follow-up clinical trial to study solriamfetol in overnight shift workers, which could help support broader approval for treating shift work disorder.

In addition to Zitting and Czeisler, Mass General Brigham authors include Katherine R. Gilmore, Brandon J. Lockyer, Wei Wang, Nicolas C. Issa, Stuart F. Quan, Jonathan S. Williams, and Jeanne F. Duffy. Additional authors include Eileen B. Leary.

Funded by Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Axsome Therapeutics, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital Center for Clinical Investigation; NCT04788953(2021-03-09) https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT04788953

Bennu is known as a carbonaceous asteroid, meaning it is rich in carbon-based material, including organic compounds. These compounds are important because they are similar to the chemical ingredients needed for life. The asteroid itself is made up of fragments from a much larger parent body that broke apart long ago. Because Bennu orbits relatively close to Earth, it became a prime target for NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission.

Pristine Samples From the Early Solar System

One of the most valuable aspects of Bennu samples is that they have remained untouched by Earth’s atmosphere and environment. This makes them especially useful for scientists studying conditions in the early Solar System. By examining these samples, researchers can see how water, minerals, and organic matter originally formed and interacted billions of years ago.

In this study, Mehmet Yesiltas and his team focused on a specific sample labeled OREX-800066-3. This material was collected directly from Bennu by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft and returned to Earth in September 2023. Because the sample was carefully sealed and protected, it provides a rare and reliable record of Bennu’s original chemistry.

Studying Bennu at the Nanoscale

To investigate the sample, the researchers used advanced techniques called nanoscale infrared spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. These methods allow scientists to identify chemical compounds by measuring how they interact with light. Importantly, they can do this at extremely small scales, down to about 20 nanometers. For comparison, a nanometer is one billionth of a meter, far smaller than anything visible to the human eye.

This level of detail revealed that Bennu’s internal chemistry is not uniform. Instead, the material forms three repeating types of organic-mineral regions, each with its own distinct composition.

Three Distinct Chemical Domains

The study identified three main types of regions within the sample. One type contains high amounts of aliphatic organic compounds, which are simple carbon-based molecules made of chains of carbon and hydrogen. Another region is rich in carbonate minerals, which often form in the presence of water and can provide clues about past watery environments. The third region contains organic compounds that include nitrogen, an element that plays a key role in biological molecules such as amino acids.

These differences show that Bennu’s chemistry varies significantly from place to place, even at extremely small scales.

Water’s Uneven Impact on Bennu

The uneven distribution of these chemical regions suggests that water did not affect Bennu in a single, uniform way. Instead, liquid water likely interacted with different parts of the asteroid under varying conditions, creating a patchwork of chemical environments. This process is known as nanoscale heterogeneity, meaning that the composition changes depending on the exact location being studied.

Despite this history of water interaction, the researchers found that fragile organic molecules were still preserved. This is an important discovery because it shows that key chemical ingredients can survive even when exposed to water-related changes.

Insights Into the Origins of Life’s Ingredients

Overall, the findings provide new insight into how water, minerals, and organic matter interacted on primitive asteroids like Bennu. These interactions are thought to have played a major role in shaping the early Solar System and may have contributed to the delivery of life’s building blocks to Earth.

By studying Bennu at such a fine scale, scientists are gaining a clearer picture of how complex chemistry developed in space long before planets like ours fully formed.

The research, published in the journal Advanced Materials, introduces a scalable method for producing these nanoscrolls from MXene precursors while precisely controlling their shape and chemical composition.

“Two-dimensional morphology is very important in many applications. However, there are applications where 1D morphology is superior,” said Yury Gogotsi, PhD, Distinguished University and Bach professor in Drexel’s College of Engineering, who was a corresponding author of the paper. “It’s like comparing steel sheets to metal pipes or rebar. One needs sheets to make car bodies, but to pump water or reinforce concrete, long tubes or rods are needed.”

From Flat Sheets to Tubular Nanostructures

The team created the nanoscrolls by rolling flat MXene flakes into tiny tubular structures that are about ten thousand times thinner than a water pipe. These tube-like materials can strengthen polymers and metals or guide the movement of ions in batteries and desalination systems with far less resistance.

“With standard 2D MXenes, the flakes lay flat on top of each other, which creates a confined-space and a difficult path for ions or molecules to navigate and move between the layers,” said Teng Zhang, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher in the College of Engineering and co-author of the study. “By converting 2D nanosheets into 1D scrolls, we prevent this nano-confinement effect. The open, tubular geometry effectively creates ‘highways’ for rapid transport, allowing ions to move freely.”

While similar structures made from graphene, such as carbon nanotubes, are already well known, producing consistent, high-quality MXene nanoscrolls has been difficult. MXenes offer advantages over graphene, including richer chemistry, easier processing, and higher conductivity, but earlier attempts to form scrolls often led to uneven results.

Scalable Method for Producing MXene Nanoscrolls

To make the nanoscrolls, researchers start with multilayer MXene flakes. By carefully adjusting the chemical environment, they use water to change the surface chemistry of the material. This triggers a structural imbalance called a Janus reaction, which creates internal strain within the layers. As this strain is released, the layers peel apart and curl into tight scrolls.

The team successfully applied this method to six types of MXenes, including two forms of titanium carbide, as well as niobium carbide, vanadium carbide, tantalum carbide, and titanium carbonitride. They were able to consistently produce 10 grams of nanoscrolls with controlled chemical and physical properties.

Improved Conductivity and Sensing Capabilities

The scroll-like structure not only improves electrical conductivity and mechanical strength, but also changes how the material interacts with molecules. This makes it especially promising for sensing applications and advanced composite materials.

“In a standard stacked 2D structure, the active sites for molecular adsorption are often hidden between layers, making it difficult for molecules, especially large biomolecules to reach them,” Gogotsi said. “The open, hollow structure of the scroll solves this by allowing the analytes easy access to the MXene surface. Combining with the material’s high conductivity and mechanical stiffness, this ensures we get a strong, stable signal. Thus, we envision the use of scrolls in biosensing. The same accessible surface of conductive scrolls may be useful for gas sensors, electrochemical capacitors and other devices that require access of ions and molecules to the surfaces.”

Applications in Wearable Electronics and Smart Textiles

The researchers also see strong potential for MXene nanoscrolls in wearable electronics, also known as ionotronic devices. In these systems, the scrolls could both reinforce materials and improve conductivity. Their rigid structure allows them to anchor within soft polymers, adding strength while maintaining a reliable conductive network.

This combination could lead to stretchable materials that continue to function even under repeated bending and movement.

The team also discovered that the orientation of nanoscrolls in solution can be controlled using an electric field. This means they can be aligned with fibers in textiles, creating more durable and conductive coatings for smart fabrics.

“Imagine manipulating millions of tubules 100 times thinner than a human hair to make them build a wire or stand up vertically to make a brush,” Zhang said. “This is real nanotechnology, as we can manipulate matter at the nanoscale. It is also a critical development for functional textiles, as the scrolls could be incorporated as reinforcement materials in synthetic fibers.”

Superconductivity and Future Quantum Applications

Looking ahead, the researchers plan to further investigate how these nanoscrolls behave at the quantum level, particularly their potential for superconductivity.

“Until now, superconductivity in this class of MXenes was limited to pressed pellets of particles and powders, having never been realized in solution-processed films with mechanical flexibility,” Gogotsi said. “By using niobium carbide scrolls, we observed the change of the material enough to enable superconductivity in free-standing, macroscopic films for the first time. The scrolling process introduces specific lattice strain and curvature that are absent in flat sheets. While the exact physical mechanism is still being explored, we hypothesize that this strain, combined with the continuous 1D structure, stabilizes the superconducting state.”

As interest in quantum materials grows, nanomaterials like MXenes are gaining attention for their ability to improve computing power and data storage. This work marks an important step forward by turning MXene superconductivity into a more practical and usable property.

“Using the methods described in this paper, we can now process superconducting MXenes into flexible films, coatings or wires at room temperature for potential superconducting interconnectors or quantum sensors,” Zhang said. “We expect many other interesting phenomena caused by scrolling and are going to study them.”