Micro-drilling of polymer tubular ultramicroelectrode arrays for electrochemical sensors

sensor

Horseradish and soybean peroxidases: comparable tools for alternative niches?

Horseradish and soybean peroxidases (HRP and SBP, respectively) are useful biotechnological tools. HRP is often termed the classical plant heme peroxidase and although it has been studied for decades, our understanding has deepened since its cloning and subsequent expression, enabling numerous mutational and protein engineering studies. SBP, however, has been neglected until recently, despite offering a real alternative to HRP: SBP actually outperforms HRP in terms of stability and is now used in numerous biotechnological applications, including biosensors. Review of both is timely. This article summarizes and discusses the main insights into the structure and mechanism of HRP, with special emphasis on HRP mutagenesis, and outlines its use in a variety of applications. It also reviews the current knowledge and applications to date of SBP, particularly biosensors. The final paragraphs speculate on the future of plant heme-based peroxidases, with probable trends outlined and explored

Обработка длинных чтений транскриптомного секвенирования на облачной вычислительной платформе amazon web services

Studies of genomes and transcriptomes are performed using sequencers that read the sequence of nucleotide residues of genomic DNA, RNA, or complementary DNA (cDNA). The analysis consists of an experimental part (obtaining primary data) and bioinformatic processing of primary data. The bioinformatics part is performed with different sets of input parameters. The selection of the optimal values of the parameters, as a rule, requires significant computing power. The article describes a protocol for processing transcriptome data by virtual computers provided by the cloud platform Amazon Web Services (AWS) using the example of the recently emerging technology of long DNA and RNA sequences (Oxford Nanopore Technology). As a result, a virtual machine and instructions for its use have been developed, thus allowing a wide range of molecular biologists to independently process the results obtained using the "Oxford nanopore".Исследования геномов и транскриптомов проводят с помощью секвенаторов, позволяющих считывать последовательность нуклеотидных остатков геномной ДНК, РНК или комплементарной ДНК. Каждое секвенирование биополимеров состоит из экспериментальной части (получение первичных данных) и их обработки средствами биоинформатики с использованием различных наборов входных параметров и значительных вычислительных мощностей. В статье описан протокол обработки транскриптома человека с применением виртуальных вычислительных машин, предоставляемых облачной платформой Amazon Web Services (AWS). Свободно и комерчески доступные возможности AWS рассмотрены с учетом требований к вычислительным ресурсам недавно анонсированной технологии длинных прочтений последовательностей ДНК и РНК («Oxford Nanopore Technology», Великобритания). Как результат нами был развернута виртуальная вычислительная машина в рамках доступных на AWS систем облачных решений и разработана инструкция для работы с ней, позволяющая молекулярным биологам самостоятельно адаптировать представленные вычислительные возможности для обработки результатов, полученных с использованием нанопорового секвенатора

Electrochemistry of nanozeolite-immobilized cytochrome c in aqueous and nonaqueous solutions

peer-reviewedThe electrochemical properties of cytochrome c (cyt c) immobilized on multilayer nanozeolite-modified electrodes have been examined in aqueous and nonaqueous solutions. Layers of Linde type-L zeolites were assembled on indium tin oxide (ITO) glass electrodes followed by the adsorption of cyt c, primarily via electrostatic interactions, onto modified ITO electrodes. The heme protein displayed a quasi-reversible response in aqueous solution with a redox potential of +324 mV (vs NHE), and the surface coverage (Gamma*) increased linearly for the first four layers and then gave a nearly constant value of 200 pmol cm(-2). On immersion of the modified electrodes in 95% (v/v) nonaqueous solutions, the redox potential decreased significantly, a decrease that originated from changes in both the enthalpy and entropy of reduction. On reimmersion of the modified electrode in buffer, the faradic response immediately returned to its original value. These results demonstrate that nanozeolites are potential stable supports for redox proteins and enzymes.ACCEPTEDpeer-reviewe

The Effect of Photovoltaic Solar Plant Participation on Different Market Structures in a Deregulated Environment without Financial Incentives in the Saudi Electricity Grid

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2017-03In recent years, many nations have invested in renewable energy in an effort to improve sustainability and to reduce CO2 emissions. At present, most renewable resources are subsidized or paid a feed-in tariff. As renewable resource construction increases, subsidies will become unsustainable. Some European countries have already cut these subsidies. Hence renewables will eventually participate in energy markets the same way as conventional generators. Saudi Arabia is in the process of introducing an electricity market, as the single Saudi Electricity Company will be divided into several competitive companies. The Saudi government is also investing heavily in renewable energy, especially after the establishment of King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KACARE), as KACARE is strongly dedicated to studying and deploying new renewable energy projects in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi national oil company (Aramco) is leading this effort and has already built two solar power sites: a 2 MW-peak PV plant site at King Abdullah University, and a 10 MW-peak PV plant site in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Unlike conventional generators, renewable energy interacts differently with electricity markets because of its stochastic nature. This will be challenging, as renewables are likely to face some penalties for energy mismatch. Having a high level of renewable penetration will be a challenge for the System Operator (SO) to balance the electricity market compared with having only conventional generation. This interaction is not well understood. Therefore one of the major challenges is to understand how existing market structures will accommodate renewables when they can compete in the market, and how future market structures can be designed to incorporate renewables better. Based on KACARE’s vision, the estimated solar energy capacity in Saudi Arabia will reach 41 GW by 2032 while the estimated wind energy capacity will reach 9 GW by 2032 compared to a power capacity for the conventional power of 69 GW in 2013. The reason for the heavy investment in solar energy is that Saudi Arabia experiences a high value of solar irradiance throughout the year. Therefore, this research will focus principally on solar energy participation. Energy market structures differ in details but can generally fit in two major electricity market pricing schemes: the Marginal Pricing (MP) scheme and the Pay-as-Bid (PAB) scheme. The focus of the work in this dissertation is to compare the current practice of dealing with solar power in both market schemes. Then, the more attractive scheme for solar power will be investigated thoroughly to determine existing and suggested features that could be incorporated in the Saudi market to better motivate solar power plant construction in Saudi Arabia