As mass spectrometry technology continues to develop and increase in sensitivity and throughput, its sample preparation needs to develop as well. Automation can increase throughput, increase reproducibility, and decrease operator-induced variability. Developing technologies have allowed for online control of the individual processing steps for biological...

Infections caused by the Hepatitis C virus (HCV) are very common worldwide (afflicting up to 3% of the population), and chronic infection may develop into cirrhosis and liver cancer. For this reason a vaccine against HCV would have great utility, with the HCV envelope protein 2 (E2) a promising candidate because it can directly bind to a human cell...

Noninvasive imaging systems, such as PET, SPECT, MRI, and CT, have become an essential part of modern medicine. Though MRI provides good contrast between the different soft tissues, contrast agents may be used to enhance the appearance of blood vessels, tumors, inflammation, or joints. When a contrast agent is specified, it is important to use one...

Physical activity monitoring devices, such as accelerometers, are useful aids to athletes and those exercising to lose weight. However, such devices cannot monitor rest energy expenditures, which is over 75% of daily energy usage. For those seeking to lose weight and especially those who cannot exercise, there is a need for a device that can accurately...

Plant viral vectors have great potential for rapid production of important pharmaceutical proteins. High-yield production, however, of hetero-oligomeric proteins that require the expression and assembly of two or more protein subunits often is problematic due to the competing nature of viral vectors derived from the same virus. Researchers at the...

Dolastatin compounds, isolated from the sea hare (sea slug) Dolabella auricularia, have been shown to have remarkable anticancer properties. In particular, dolaststin 16 has been shown to be an extraordinarily potent cancer cell growth inhibitor. Its 3-dimensional structure, however, has heretofore remained unknown. Researchers at Arizona State...

Despite revolutionary advances in genomics and the study of gene expression, the majority of the encoded proteins have functions that are unknown. The next great challenge for biological research is to understand the function of all proteins; this is particularly important because most diseases are the result of protein dysfunction, and nearly all...

The remarkable anticancer properties of dolastatin 10, isolated from the sea hare (sea slug) Dolabella auricularia, have led to interest in closely related derivatives (auristatins) suitable for clinical trials. Most recently, such auristatins have been linked to antibodies for delivery. In many indications, however, it would be desirable to deliver...

Mitochondrial diseases are a group of disorders caused by dysfunctional mitochondria, often caused by genetics or mutations to the mitochondrial DNA. Mitochondrial defects are damaging, particularly to tissues with high energy demands, such as neural and muscle tissues. Energetic defects have been implicated in forms of movement disorders, cardiomyopathy,...

Single cell analysis devices are finding increasing use (for studying cellular metabolism, respiration rates, protein expression, etc.) because they overcome the difficulties in ensuring cell homogeneity in larger cell populations. However, current devices determine extracellular flux by measuring temporal changes in concentration, and thus require...