Preparation of [ 18 F]-NHC-BF 3 conjugates and their applications in PET imaging

[ 18 F]-NHC-BF 3 functionalized bioactive molecules can be successfully synthesized by 18 F– 19 F isotopic exchange in one labelling step affording highly stable PET probes which can visualize targeted tumours in mice

PET Imaging of Dll4 Expression in Glioblastoma and Colorectal Cancer Xenografts Using 64 Cu-Labeled Monoclonal Antibody 61B

Delta-like ligand 4 (Dll4) expressed in tumor cells plays a key role to promote tumor growth of numerous cancer types. Based on a novel anti-human Dll4 monoclonal antibody (61B), we developed a (64)Cu-labeled probe for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of tumor Dll4 expression. In this study, 61B was conjugated with the (64)Cu-chelator DOTA through lysine on the antibody. Human IgG (hIgG)-DOTA, which did not bind to Dll4, was also prepared as a control. The Dll4 binding activity of the probes was evaluated through the bead-based binding assay with Dll4-alkaline phosphatase. The resulting PET probes were evaluated in U87MG glioblastoma and HT29 colorectal cancer xenografts in athymic nude mice. Our results demonstrated that the 61B-DOTA retained (77.2 ± 3.7) % Dll4 binding activity of the unmodified 61B, which is significantly higher than that of hIgG-DOTA (0.06 ± 0.03) %. Confocal microscopy analysis confirmed that 61B-Cy5.5, but not IgG-Cy5.5, predominantly located within the U87MG and HT29 cells cytoplasm. U87MG cells showed higher 61B-Cy5.5 binding as compared to HT29 cells. In U87MG xenografts, 61B-DOTA-(64)Cu demonstrated remarkable tumor accumulation (10.5 ± 1.7 and 10.2 ± 1.2 %ID/g at 24 and 48 hour post injection, respectively). In HT29 xenografts, tumor accumulation of 61B-DOTA-(64)Cu was significantly lower than that of U87MG (7.3 ± 1.3 and 6.6 ± 1.3 %ID/g at 24 and 48 hour post injection, respectively). The tumor accumulation of 61B-DOTA-(64)Cu was significantly higher than that of hIgG-DOTA-(64)Cu in both xenografts models. Immunofluorescence staining of the tumor tissues further confirmed that tumor accumulation of 61B-Cy5.5 was correlated well with in vivo PET imaging data using 61B-DOTA-(64)Cu. In conclusion, 61B-DOTA-(64)Cu PET probe was successfully synthesized and demonstrated prominent tumor uptake by targeting Dll4. 61B-DOTA-(64)Cu has great potential to be used for noninvasive Dll4 imaging, which could be valuable for tumor detection, Dll4 expression level evaluation, and Dll4-based treatment monitoring

The Gene Ontology in 2010: extensions and refinements

The Gene Ontology (GO) Consortium (http://www.geneontology.org) (GOC) continues to develop, maintain and use a set of structured, controlled vocabularies for the annotation of genes, gene products and sequences. The GO ontologies are expanding both in content and in structure. Several new relationship types have been introduced and used, along with existing relationships, to create links between and within the GO domains. These improve the representation of biology, facilitate querying, and allow GO developers to systematically check for and correct inconsistencies within the GO. Gene product annotation using GO continues to increase both in the number of total annotations and in species coverage. GO tools, such as OBO-Edit, an ontology-editing tool, and AmiGO, the GOC ontology browser, have seen major improvements in functionality, speed and ease of use.This is the publisher’s final pdf. The published article is copyrighted by the author(s) and published by Oxford University Press. The published article can be found at: http://nar.oxfordjournals.org/

The ALICE experiment at the CERN LHC

ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) is a general-purpose, heavy-ion detector at the CERN LHC which focuses on QCD, the strong-interaction sector of the Standard Model. It is designed to address the physics of strongly interacting matter and the quark-gluon plasma at extreme values of energy density and temperature in nucleus-nucleus collisions. Besides running with Pb ions, the physics programme includes collisions with lighter ions, lower energy running and dedicated proton-nucleus runs. ALICE will also take data with proton beams at the top LHC energy to collect reference data for the heavy-ion programme and to address several QCD topics for which ALICE is complementary to the other LHC detectors. The ALICE detector has been built by a collaboration including currently over 1000 physicists and engineers from 105 Institutes in 30 countries. Its overall dimensions are 161626 m3 with a total weight of approximately 10 000 t. The experiment consists of 18 different detector systems each with its own specific technology choice and design constraints, driven both by the physics requirements and the experimental conditions expected at LHC. The most stringent design constraint is to cope with the extreme particle multiplicity anticipated in central Pb-Pb collisions. The different subsystems were optimized to provide high-momentum resolution as well as excellent Particle Identification (PID) over a broad range in momentum, up to the highest multiplicities predicted for LHC. This will allow for comprehensive studies of hadrons, electrons, muons, and photons produced in the collision of heavy nuclei. Most detector systems are scheduled to be installed and ready for data taking by mid-2008 when the LHC is scheduled to start operation, with the exception of parts of the Photon Spectrometer (PHOS), Transition Radiation Detector (TRD) and Electro Magnetic Calorimeter (EMCal). These detectors will be completed for the high-luminosity ion run expected in 2010. This paper describes in detail the detector components as installed for the first data taking in the summer of 2008

A multimodal cell census and atlas of the mammalian primary motor cortex

ABSTRACT We report the generation of a multimodal cell census and atlas of the mammalian primary motor cortex (MOp or M1) as the initial product of the BRAIN Initiative Cell Census Network (BICCN). This was achieved by coordinated large-scale analyses of single-cell transcriptomes, chromatin accessibility, DNA methylomes, spatially resolved single-cell transcriptomes, morphological and electrophysiological properties, and cellular resolution input-output mapping, integrated through cross-modal computational analysis. Together, our results advance the collective knowledge and understanding of brain cell type organization: First, our study reveals a unified molecular genetic landscape of cortical cell types that congruently integrates their transcriptome, open chromatin and DNA methylation maps. Second, cross-species analysis achieves a unified taxonomy of transcriptomic types and their hierarchical organization that are conserved from mouse to marmoset and human. Third, cross-modal analysis provides compelling evidence for the epigenomic, transcriptomic, and gene regulatory basis of neuronal phenotypes such as their physiological and anatomical properties, demonstrating the biological validity and genomic underpinning of neuron types and subtypes. Fourth, in situ single-cell transcriptomics provides a spatially-resolved cell type atlas of the motor cortex. Fifth, integrated transcriptomic, epigenomic and anatomical analyses reveal the correspondence between neural circuits and transcriptomic cell types. We further present an extensive genetic toolset for targeting and fate mapping glutamatergic projection neuron types toward linking their developmental trajectory to their circuit function. Together, our results establish a unified and mechanistic framework of neuronal cell type organization that integrates multi-layered molecular genetic and spatial information with multi-faceted phenotypic properties

Alkene Hydrofunctionalization Using Hydroxamic Acids: A Radical-Mediated Approach to Alkene Hydration

A radical-mediated approach to alkene hydration is described. The present strategy capitalizes on the unique radical reactivity of hydroxamic acids, which are capable of functioning as both synthetically useful oxygen-centered radical species and suitable hydrogen atom-based donors. This reaction manifold has been applied to both alkene hydrations and tandem alkene–alkene carbocyclization processes

Further Studies On Vinamidinium Salt Amine Exchange Reactions, Borohydride Reductions, And Subsequent Transformations

Studies directed at the amine exchange reaction of vinamidinium salts followed by sodium borohydride reduction to secondary and tertiary allylic amines are described. The tertiary allylic amines were alkylated and subjected to base mediated rearrangement to yield a variety of highly functionalized tertiary homoallylic amines. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved