Observation of huge thermal spin currents in magnetic multilayers

Thermal spin pumping constitutes a novel mechanism for generation of spin currents; however their weak intensity constitutes a major roadblock for its usefulness. We report a phenomenon that produces a huge spin current in the central region of a multilayer system, resulting in a giant spin Seebeck effect in a structure formed by repetition of ferromagnet/metal bilayers. The result is a consequence of the interconversion of magnon and electron spin currents at the multiple interfaces. This work opens the possibility to design thin film heterostructures that may boost the application of thermal spin currents in spintronics

Enhanced Hsp70 Expression Protects against Acute Lung Injury by Modulating Apoptotic Pathways

The Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a highly lethal inflammatory lung disorder. Apoptosis plays a key role in its pathogenesis. We showed that an adenovirus expressing the 70 kDa heat shock protein Hsp70 (AdHSP) protected against sepsis-induced lung injury. In this study we tested the hypothesis that AdHSP attenuates apoptosis in sepsis-induced lung injury

Heme regulates gene expression by triggering Crm1-dependent nuclear export of Bach1

Bach1 is a transcriptional repressor of heme oxygenase-1 and β-globin genes, both of which are known to be transcriptionally induced by heme. To test the hypothesis that heme regulates the activity of Bach1, we expressed wild type and mutated versions of Bach1 together with or without its heterodimer partner MafK in human 293T and GM02063 cells and examined their subcellular localization. Inhibition of heme synthesis enhanced the nuclear accumulation of Bach1, whereas treating cells with hemin resulted in nuclear exclusion of Bach1. While the cadmium-inducible nuclear export signal (NES) of Bach1 was dispensable for the heme response, a region containing two of the heme-binding motifs was found to be critical for the heme-induced nuclear exclusion. This region functioned as a heme-regulated NES dependent on the exporter Crm1. These results extend the regulatory roles for heme in protein sorting, and suggest that Bach1 transduces metabolic activity into gene expression