The antibody loci of the domestic goat (Capra hircus)

The domestic goat (Capra hircus) is an important ruminant species both as a source of antibody-based reagents for research and biomedical applications and as an economically important animal for agriculture, particularly for developing nations that maintain most of the global goat population. Characterization of the loci encoding the goat immune repertoire would be highly beneficial for both vaccine and immune reagent development. However, in goat and other species whose reference genomes were generated using short-read sequencing technologies, the immune loci are poorly assembled as a result of their repetitive nature. Our recent construction of a long-read goat genome assembly (ARS1) has facilitated characterization of all three antibody loci with high confidence and comparative analysis to cattle. We observed broad similarity of goat and cattle antibody-encoding loci but with notable differences that likely influence formation of the functional antibody repertoire. The goat heavy-chain locus is restricted to only four functional and nearly identical IGHV genes, in contrast to the ten observed in cattle. Repertoire analysis indicates that light-chain usage is more balanced in goats, with greater representation of kappa light chains (~ 20-30%) compared to that in cattle (~ 5%). The present study represents the first characterization of the goat antibody loci and will help inform future investigations of their antibody responses to disease and vaccination

Production of functional proteins: balance of shear stress and gravity

A method for the production of functional proteins including hormones by renal cells in a three dimensional culturing process responsive to shear stress uses a rotating wall vessel. Natural mixture of renal cells expresses the enzyme 1-.alpha.-hydroxylase which can be used to generate the active form of vitamin D: 1,25-diOH vitamin D.sub.3. The fibroblast cultures and co-culture of renal cortical cells express the gene for erythropoietin and secrete erythropoietin into the culture supernatant. Other shear stress response genes are also modulated by shear stress, such as toxin receptors megalin and cubulin (gp280). Also provided is a method of treating an in-need individual with the functional proteins produced in a three dimensional co-culture process responsive to shear stress using a rotating wall vessel

Production of Functional Proteins: Balance of Shear Stress and Gravity

The present invention provides for a method of culturing cells and inducing the expression of at least one gene in the cell culture. The method provides for contacting the cell with a transcription factor decoy oligonucleotide sequence directed against a nucleotide sequence encoding a shear stress response element

Production of functional proteins: balance of shear stress and gravity

The present invention provides a method for production of functional proteins including hormones by renal cells in a three dimensional co-culture process responsive to shear stress using a rotating wall vessel. Natural mixture of renal cells expresses the enzyme 1-a-hydroxylase which can be used to generate the active form of vitamin D: 1,25-diOH vitamin D3. The fibroblast cultures and co-culture of renal cortical cells express the gene for erythropoietin and secrete erythropoietin into the culture supernatant. Other shear stress response genes are also modulated by shear stress, such as toxin receptors megalin and cubulin (gp280). Also provided is a method of treating in-need individual with the functional proteins produced in a three dimensional co-culture process responsive to shear stress using a rotating wall vessel

A Hybrid Multiscale Framework for Subsurface Flow and Transport Simulations

AbstractExtensive research is aimed at improving predictive ability of biogeochemical earth and environmental system simulators, with applications ranging from contaminant transport and remediation to impacts of carbon and nitrogen cycling on local ecosystems and climate. Most process-based numerical models are designed for a single characteristic length and time scale. For application-relevant scales, it is necessary to introduce approximations and empirical parameterizations to describe complex systems because of limitations on process understanding, system characterization and computation. Using emerging understanding of biological and environmental processes at fundamental scales to advance predictions of the larger system behavior requires the development of multiscale simulators, and there is strong interest in coupling microscale and macroscale models together in a hybrid multiscale simulation. A limited number of hybrid multiscale simulations have been developed for biogeochemical systems, mostly using application-specific approaches for model coupling. We are developing a generalized approach to hierarchical model coupling designed for high-performance computational systems, based on the Swift computing workflow framework. In this presentation we will describe the generalized approach and provide two use cases: 1) simulation of a mixing-controlled biogeochemical reaction coupling pore- and continuum-scale models, and 2) simulation of biogeochemical impacts of groundwater–river water interactions coupling fine- and coarse-grid model representations. This generalized framework can be customized for use with any pair of linked models (microscale and macroscale) with minimal intrusiveness to the at-scale simulators. It combines a set of python scripts with the Swift workflow environment to execute a complex multiscale simulation utilizing an approach similar to the well-known Heterogeneous Multiscale Method. User customization is facilitated through user-provided input and output file templates and processing function scripts, and execution within a high-performance computing environment is handled by Swift, such that minimal to no user modification of at-scale codes is required

Socio-technical transitions in UK electricity: part 2 - technologies and sustainability

A large interdisciplinary consortium of engineers, social scientists and policy analysts has developed three low-emissions, more-electric transition pathways for the UK. The approach is based on earlier work on understanding transitions, applying a multi-level perspective with landscape, regime and niche levels to the development of sociotechnical scenarios. The pathways to 2050 focus on the power sector, including the potential for increasing the use of low-emissions electricity for heating and transport. Part 1 described studies of historical energy and infrastructure transitions that help to understand the dynamics and timing of past transitions. The role of large-scale and small-scale actors in the electricity sector and methods used to develop the pathways were also described. In part 2, associated technologies are evaluated to determine the choices that need to be made by UK energy policymakers and stakeholders. All three pathways are appraised in terms of their environmental performance using complementary life-cycle assessment and footprinting methods. Lessons can clearly be drawn for other industrialised nations attempting to reduce the emissions of their electricity generation systems, although local circumstances will determine country- and region-specific options