17 research outputs found
Design Investigation of Lunar Water Extraction
Water is an essential resource for space exploration, for both
robotic and human exploration. It is foreseen that in the future,
these resources can be used to produce rocket propellant by
electrolyzing water into its components Hydrogen and Oxygen or
by astronauts for drinking water and breathable oxygen. This
Space Resource Utilisation (SRU) would reduce the cost of
spacefaring significantly. Recent discoveries have confirmed the
presence of ice at the Lunar south pole. In this work, which is a
continuation of the work presented in [1], the design parameters
of 4 types of methods for thermal water extraction on the Moon
are investigated. These methods are the in-situ surface heating
method, the in-situ heated rods method, and the crucible method
in different variations, as can be seen in figure 1. The goal is to find
the most optimal way to extract water from the lunar surface.
Additionally, this poster will present some early results from the
EU LUWEX project
Review of Water Capturing Devices for Lunar ISRU
The use of resources present on celestial bodies, known as In-Situ
Resource Utilization (ISRU), is becoming more and more important
in space exploration due to the high cost of launching mass into
orbit. ISRU would enable long-term manned operations and
permanent (robotic) presence on extra-terrestrial bodies. Water is
considered to be one of the most important resources for further
space exploration and is currently investigated for extraction and
purification on the future manned Lunar base envisioned around
2025. Previous research focused on the extraction of water from
regolith but little work has been done to find ways on how to
capture and liquefy the water vapour after its extraction
TLR9-Dependent and Independent Pathways Drive Activation of the Immune System by Propionibacterium Acnes
Propionibacterium acnes is usually a relatively harmless commensal. However, under certain, poorly understood conditions it is implicated in the etiology of specific inflammatory diseases. In mice, P. acnes exhibits strong immunomodulatory activity leading to splenomegaly, intrahepatic granuloma formation, hypersensitivity to TLR ligands and endogenous cytokines, and enhanced resistance to infection. All these activities reach a maximum one week after P. acnes priming and require IFN-γ and TLR9. We report here the existence of a markedly delayed (1–2 weeks), but phenotypically similar TLR9-independent immunomodulatory response to P. acnes. This alternative immunomodulation is also IFN-γ dependent and requires functional MyD88. From our experiments, a role for MyD88 in the IFN-γ-mediated P. acnes effects seems unlikely and the participation of the known MyD88-dependent receptors, including TLR5, Unc93B-dependent TLRs, IL-1R and IL-18R in the development of the alternative response has been excluded. However, the crucial role of MyD88 can partly be attributed to TLR2 and TLR4 involvement. Either of these two TLRs, activated by bacteria and/or endogenously generated ligands, can fulfill the required function. Our findings hint at an innate immune sensitizing mechanism, which is potentially operative in both infectious and sterile inflammatory disorders
Reduction of matrix interferences by the combination of chaotropic salt and DMSO in a broadly applicable target-based ELISA for pharmacokinetic studies of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies
Use of a synergistic effect of DMSO together with a chaotropic salt (NaSCN or MgCl2)
allowed to drastically reduce matrix interferences in an ELISA for therapeutic monoclonal
antibodies. Optimum combinations were found to be 0.4 M NaSCN together with 10.0 %
DMSO, and 1.0 M MgCl2 with 15.0 % DMSO. At this optimum combination, quality controls
spiked with mAb at 50.0 ng/ml in eighteen individual human sera and plasmas were
quantified with an overall accuracy of 102.0 %. All of these QCs fulfilled the acceptance
criteria of 80.0 - 120.0 % accuracy and precision below 20.0 %. The assay was also
successfully applied to the quantification of two other mAbs in human serum. Furthermore,
the use of the assay was extended to preclinical species (cynomolgus monkey and rat serum).
Here, the performed validation experiments confirmed the utility of the assay and
demonstrated that the assay allowed quantification of mAb from 50.0 ng/ml to 100.0 μg/ml in
cynomolgus monkey serum. The method has then been applied to a pharmacokinetic study in
cynomolgus monkeys. In summary, this work demonstrates the efficacy of the combination of
a chaotropic salt with DMSO to minimize matrix interferences in an ELISA. The robustness
thus obtained allowed the successful establishment of a cost effective, target-based ELISA
format for use in pharmacokinetic studies, that is easily applicable for the quantification of
mAbs in various matrices such as human, cynomolgus monkey or rat serum and plasma
Differential Contribution of Toll-Like Receptors 4 and 2 to the Cytokine Response to Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium and Staphylococcus aureus in Mice
The contribution of murine Toll-like receptors 2 and 4 (TLR2 and -4, respectively) to cytokine induction by heat-killed bacteria was analyzed in vitro and in vivo. Gram-negative bacteria induced cytokines primarily via TLR4; the contribution of TLR2 was only minor. Neither TLR4 nor, surprisingly, TLR2 was required in the MyD88-dependent response to Staphylococcus aureus
A. Induction of LPS hypersensitivity in mice pretreated with murine recombinant IFN-γ.
<p><b>WT and MyD88<sup>−/−</sup> mice were treated with recombinant IFN-γ (5000 </b><b>U/0.2 </b><b>ml) i.v.</b> or remained untreated (only LPS). Eight hours after pretreatment the animals were challenged with LPS <i>S.a.e.</i> (1 µg/g b.w.) i.v. and plasma was collected two hours later for determination of IFN-αβ. One representative experiment of three, with four to five mice is shown. <b>B</b>. Enhanced expression of IL-12Rβ1 and IL-12Rβ2 in MyD88<sup>−/−</sup> and WT bone marrow derived macrophages and dendritic cells after stimulation with murine recombinant IFN<b>-</b>γ<b>.</b> 1.5×10<sup>6</sup> bone marrow derived macrophages (BMM) or dendritic cells (BMDC) were stimulated with murine recombinant IFN-γ (rIFN-γ, 3000 U). After 24 hours, the cells were lysed in guanidinium-thiocyanate solution and lysates were used for RNA preparation as described in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0039155#s4" target="_blank">materials and methods</a>. The mRNA levels were analyzed by quantitative real-time PCR. Each value is represented as a relative expression, which is evaluated after setting background expression in controls as arbitrary value  = 1. One representative experiment of two is shown.</p
Delayed development of <i>P. acnes</i> effects in primed TLR9<sup>−/−</sup> mice.
<p>Groups of WT and TLR9<sup>−/−</sup> mice (15–20 animals/group) were primed with heat-killed <i>P. acnes</i> (20 µg/g b.w.) i.v. or remained untreated (controls; day 0). <b>A. Hypersensitivity to LPS:</b> At indicated time points after priming the animals were challenged with LPS from <i>S.a.e.</i> (0.01 µg/g b.w.), i.v. One hour and 4 h later, plasma was collected for determination of TNF-α and IFN-γ, respectively. Before challenge with LPS no detectable TNF-α or IFN-γ was found in plasma of <i>P. acnes</i>-treated mice of either one of the groups (not shown). Cumulative data of 3 different experiments are shown. *:p-value<0.05 and ***:p-value<0.001 WT compared to TLR9<sup>−/−</sup> mice, and <i>P. acnes</i>-treated WT or <i>P. acnes</i>-treated TLR9<sup>−/−</sup> at the indicated time point compared to untreated controls. <b>B. Splenomegaly:</b> Spleens were removed and weighted at indicated time points after treatment. Cumulative data from 4–5 experiments are shown. *:p-value<0.05 and **:p-value<0.01. <b>C. Enhanced resistance to serovar Typhimurium infection is delayed in TLR9<sup>−/−</sup> mice:</b> 7 or 21 days after priming, the animals were infected with <i>Salmonella</i> serovar Typhimurium (200 CFU/0.2 ml PBS/i.v.). Bacterial counts in liver of unprimed and primed animals were determined 4 days after infection. One representative experiment of three is shown. *:p-value<0.05 and **:p-value<0.01.</p