2,116 research outputs found
Particle and Cell Separation
Many processors are available for separating particles and/or cells, but few can match the capacity of flow cytometry – in particular the sorting component. Several aspects unique to cell sorting give it such power. First, particles can be separated based on size, complexity, fluorescence, or any combination of these parameters. Second, it is entirely possible to separate particles under sterile conditions, making this technology very advantageous for selecting cells for culture. Third, when this sterile environment is combined with a highly controlled safety system, it is possible to safely sort and separate highly pathogenic organisms or even cells containing such pathogens. The very latest instruments available add even more power by introducing the ability to sort cells based on spectral unmixing. This last option requires incredible computer power and very-high-speed processing, since the sort decision is based on computational algorithms derived from the spectral mixture being analyzed
Hidden Markov Models
Hidden Markov Models (HMMs), although known for decades, have made a big career nowadays and are still in state of development. This book presents theoretical issues and a variety of HMMs applications in speech recognition and synthesis, medicine, neurosciences, computational biology, bioinformatics, seismology, environment protection and engineering. I hope that the reader will find this book useful and helpful for their own research
Security and Privacy for Modern Wireless Communication Systems
The aim of this reprint focuses on the latest protocol research, software/hardware development and implementation, and system architecture design in addressing emerging security and privacy issues for modern wireless communication networks. Relevant topics include, but are not limited to, the following: deep-learning-based security and privacy design; covert communications; information-theoretical foundations for advanced security and privacy techniques; lightweight cryptography for power constrained networks; physical layer key generation; prototypes and testbeds for security and privacy solutions; encryption and decryption algorithm for low-latency constrained networks; security protocols for modern wireless communication networks; network intrusion detection; physical layer design with security consideration; anonymity in data transmission; vulnerabilities in security and privacy in modern wireless communication networks; challenges of security and privacy in node–edge–cloud computation; security and privacy design for low-power wide-area IoT networks; security and privacy design for vehicle networks; security and privacy design for underwater communications networks
The future of laboratory medicine - A 2014 perspective.
Predicting the future is a difficult task. Not surprisingly, there are many examples and assumptions that have proved to be wrong. This review surveys the many predictions, beginning in 1887, about the future of laboratory medicine and its sub-specialties such as clinical chemistry and molecular pathology. It provides a commentary on the accuracy of the predictions and offers opinions on emerging technologies, economic factors and social developments that may play a role in shaping the future of laboratory medicine
Role of cofilin in glioblastoma cell behaviour
The actin cytoskeleton is intimately involved in the mechanisms required for cell
motility, being able to reorganise into dynamic structures such as cellular protrusions
(lamellipodia) at the front edge of crawling cells. Several intracellular proteins
associate with the actin cytoskeleton to change its structure, and this is necessary for a
cell to respond to motility-inducing signals such as growth factors. Small actin-binding
proteins, which include cofilin, actin-depolymerizing factor (ADF) and profilin, are
known to synergise in accelerating actin turnover in moving cells.Dysregulation of cell motility plays a pivotal role in conferring invasive behaviour in
tumour cells. It is now evident that tumour progression is often associated with
abnormal expression of genes that regulate cytoskeletal assembly, as well as genes
involved in cytoskeletal turnover. My project focuses on exploring the role of cofilin
in glioblastoma tumours of the brain, which frequently infiltrate into adjacent normal
tissue. The hypothesis is that altered levels of cofilin expression in glioblastoma cells
affect their motility, which may have a significant impact on invasiveness. Cofilin is
ubiquitously expressed in eukaryotes and appears to be crucial to the formation of
lamellipodia in a variety of motile cells, including metastatic tumour cells. It is likely
that the motility observed in tumour cells might arise from disruptions in the activities
of cofilin and other proteins that modify actin dynamics.In vitro studies were performed on the human glioblastoma cell line U373 MG,
originally derived from a patient. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction
(RT-PCR) showed that the actin-binding proteins cofilin, ADF and profilin are
expressed by these cells. Using immunochemistry, the distribution of cofilin was
investigated in cells cultured under standard conditions and after serum stimulation.
To test whether altered levels of cofilin expression in glioblastoma cells affects cell
motility, cofilin was overexpressed in the glioblastoma cell line and changes in the
motility of transfected cells were analysed and compared to untransfected cells.
Overexpression was achieved by transient and stable transfections with a plasmid
vector, pCofilin-IRES2-EGFP, which was constructed by subcloning the coding
sequence of human cofilin into pIRES2-EGFP. Transfected cells were identified by
the expression of EGFP (enhanced green fluorescent protein) in timelapse experiments
using confocal microscopy. In order to quantify the relative levels of cofilin
overexpression in stable transfectants, cells were immunostained for cofilin using
fluorescent detection and analysed by flow cytometry. Western blots confirmed the
specificity of the anti-cofilin primary antibody used. The timelapse analyses indicated
that overexpression of cofilin increases the motility of glioblastoma cellsThe project was extended to investigate whether variable levels of cofilin
overexpression might affect cell motility to different extents. An inducible gene
expression system based on the Tet-Off system (Clontech laboratories Inc.) was
developed in order to control the level of cofilin overexpression. The coding sequence
for cofilin-IRES2-EGFP was subcloned into pTRE, so that cells with inducible
expression of cofilin could be identified by green fluorescence. Stable cell lines
potentially responsive to the effects of tetracycline or doxycycline antibiotics were
cultured and flow sorted to select green fluorescent cells. This system would enable
the correlation between cofilin expression and motility to be examined over a wide
range of overexpression
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