55 research outputs found
Phage Display in the Quest for New Selective Recognition Elements for Biosensors
Phages are bacterial viruses that have gained a significant role in biotechnology owing to their widely studied biology and many advantageous characteristics. Perhaps the best-known application of phages is phage display that refers to the expression of foreign peptides or proteins outside the phage virion as a fusion with one of the phage coat proteins. In 2018, one half of the Nobel prize in chemistry was awarded jointly to George P. Smith and Sir Gregory P. Winter "for the phage display of peptides and antibodies." The outstanding technology has evolved and developed considerably since its first description in 1985, and today phage display is commonly used in a wide variety of disciplines, including drug discovery, enzyme optimization, biomolecular interaction studies, as well as biosensor development. A cornerstone of all biosensors, regardless of the sensor platform or transduction scheme used, is a sensitive and selective bioreceptor, or a recognition element, that can provide specific binding to the target analyte. Many environmentally or pharmacologically interesting target analytes might not have naturally appropriate binding partners for biosensor development, but phage display can facilitate the production of novel receptors beyond known biomolecular interactions, or against toxic or nonimmunogenic targets, making the technology a valuable tool in the quest of new recognition elements for biosensor development.This study was supported by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades RTI2018-096410-B-C21). R.P. acknowledges UCM for a predoctoral grant and R.B. the PI17CIII/00045 grant from the AES-ISCIII program.S
The spatial clustering of ROSAT all-sky survey Active Galactic Nuclei: V. The evolution of broad-line AGN clustering properties in the last 6 Gyr
This is the fifth paper in a series of investigations of the clustering
properties of luminous, broad-emission line active galactic nuclei (AGN)
identified in the ROSAT All-Sky Survey (RASS) and Sloan Digital Sky Survey
(SDSS). In this work we measure the cross-correlation function (CCF) between
RASS/SDSS DR14 AGN with the SDSS CMASS galaxy sample at . We apply
halo occupation distribution (HOD) modeling to the CCF along with the
auto-correlation function of the CMASS galaxies. We find that X-ray and
optically-selected AGN at reside in statistically identical halos
with a typical dark matter halo mass of . The acceptable HOD parameter space for these
two broad-line AGN samples have only statistically marginal differences caused
by small deviations of the CCFs in the 1-halo dominated regime on small scales.
In contrast to optically-selected AGN, the X-ray AGN sample may contain a
larger population of satellites at . We compare our measurements in this work with
our earlier studies at lower independent redshift ranges, spanning a look-back
time of 6 Gyr. The comparison over this wider redshift range of
reveals: (i) no significant difference between the typical DMH masses of X-ray
and optically-selected AGN, (ii) weak positive clustering dependencies of
with and , (iii) no significant
dependence of on Eddington ratio, and (iv) the same
DMH masses host more massive accreting black holes at high redshift than at low
redshifts.Comment: 23 pages, 16 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in Ap
Black hole accretion and host galaxies of obscured quasars in XMM-COSMOS
We explore the connection between black hole growth at the center of obscured
quasars selected from the XMM-COSMOS survey and the physical properties of
their host galaxies. We study a bolometric regime ( 8 x 10^45 erg/s)
where several theoretical models invoke major galaxy mergers as the main
fueling channel for black hole accretion. We confirm that obscured quasars
mainly reside in massive galaxies (Mstar>10^10 Msun) and that the fraction of
galaxies hosting such powerful quasars monotonically increases with the stellar
mass. We stress the limitation of the use of rest-frame color-magnitude
diagrams as a diagnostic tool for studying galaxy evolution and inferring the
influence that AGN activity can have on such a process. We instead use the
correlation between star-formation rate and stellar mass found for star-forming
galaxies to discuss the physical properties of the hosts. We find that at z ~1,
~62% of Type-2 QSOs hosts are actively forming stars and that their rates are
comparable to those measured for normal star-forming galaxies. The fraction of
star-forming hosts increases with redshift: ~71% at z ~2, and 100% at z ~3. We
also find that the the evolution from z ~1 to z ~3 of the specific
star-formation rate of the Type-2 QSO hosts is in excellent agreement with that
measured for star-forming galaxies. From the morphological analysis, we
conclude that most of the objects are bulge-dominated galaxies, and that only a
few of them exhibit signs of recent mergers or disks. Finally, bulge-dominated
galaxies tend to host Type-2 QSOs with low Eddington ratios (lambda<0.1), while
disk-dominated or merging galaxies have at their centers BHs accreting at high
Eddington ratios (lambda > 0.1).Comment: Accepted by A&A. 20 pages, 16 figures, 2 tables. A version with
higher resolution figures and SED fits of Appendix A is available at
http://www.eso.org/~vmainier/QSO2/qso2.pd
The Use of Phage-Displayed Peptide Libraries to Develop Tumor-Targeting Drugs
Monoclonal antibodies have been successfully utilized as cancer-targeting therapeutics and diagnostics, but the efficacies of these treatments are limited in part by the size of the molecules and non-specific uptake by the reticuloendothelial system. Peptides are much smaller molecules that can specifically target cancer cells and as such may alleviate complications with antibody therapy. Although many endogenous and exogenous peptides have been developed into clinical therapeutics, only a subset of these consists of cancer-targeting peptides. Combinatorial biological libraries such as bacteriophage-displayed peptide libraries are a resource of potential ligands for various cancer-related molecular targets. Target-binding peptides can be affinity selected from complex mixtures of billions of displayed peptides on phage and further enriched through the biopanning process. Various cancer-specific ligands have been isolated by in vitro, in vivo, and ex vivo screening methods. As several peptides derived from phage-displayed peptide library screenings have been developed into therapeutics in current clinical trials, which validates peptide-targeting potential, the use of phage display to identify cancer-targeting therapeutics should be further exploited
4MOST Scientific Operations
The 4MOST instrument is a multi-object spectrograph that will address
Galactic and extragalactic science cases simultaneously by observing targets
from a large number of different surveys within each science exposure. This
parallel mode of operation and the survey nature of 4MOST require some distinct
4MOST-specific operational features within the overall operations model of ESO.
The main feature is that the 4MOST Consortium will deliver, not only the
instrument, but also contractual services to the user community, which is why
4MOST is also described as a facility. This white paper concentrates on
information particularly useful to answering the forthcoming Call for Letters
of Intent.Comment: Part of the 4MOST issue of The Messenger, published in preparation of
4MOST Community Workshop, see http://www.eso.org/sci/meetings/2019/4MOST.htm
The XMM-Newton Serendipitous Survey. V. The Second XMM-Newton Serendipitous Source Catalogue
Aims: Pointed observations with XMM-Newton provide the basis for creating
catalogues of X-ray sources detected serendipitously in each field. This paper
describes the creation and characteristics of the 2XMM catalogue. Methods: The
2XMM catalogue has been compiled from a new processing of the XMM-Newton EPIC
camera data. The main features of the processing pipeline are described in
detail. Results: The catalogue, the largest ever made at X-ray wavelengths,
contains 246,897 detections drawn from 3491 public XMM-Newton observations over
a 7-year interval, which relate to 191,870 unique sources. The catalogue fields
cover a sky area of more than 500 sq.deg. The non-overlapping sky area is ~360
sq.deg. (~1% of the sky) as many regions of the sky are observed more than once
by XMM-Newton. The catalogue probes a large sky area at the flux limit where
the bulk of the objects that contribute to the X-ray background lie and
provides a major resource for generating large, well-defined X-ray selected
source samples, studying the X-ray source population and identifying rare
object types. The main characteristics of the catalogue are presented,
including its photometric and astrometric properties .Comment: 27 pages (plus 8 pages appendices), 15 figures. Minor changes
following referee's comments; now accepted for publication in A & A. Note
that this paper "V", not paper "VI" in the series. Previous posting was
incorrect in this regar
The Eighteenth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Surveys: Targeting and First Spectra from SDSS-V
The eighteenth data release of the Sloan Digital Sky Surveys (SDSS) is the
first one for SDSS-V, the fifth generation of the survey. SDSS-V comprises
three primary scientific programs, or "Mappers": Milky Way Mapper (MWM), Black
Hole Mapper (BHM), and Local Volume Mapper (LVM). This data release contains
extensive targeting information for the two multi-object spectroscopy programs
(MWM and BHM), including input catalogs and selection functions for their
numerous scientific objectives. We describe the production of the targeting
databases and their calibration- and scientifically-focused components. DR18
also includes ~25,000 new SDSS spectra and supplemental information for X-ray
sources identified by eROSITA in its eFEDS field. We present updates to some of
the SDSS software pipelines and preview changes anticipated for DR19. We also
describe three value-added catalogs (VACs) based on SDSS-IV data that have been
published since DR17, and one VAC based on the SDSS-V data in the eFEDS field.Comment: Accepted to ApJ
The eighteenth data release of the Sloan Digital Sky Surveys : targeting and first spectra from SDSS-V
The eighteenth data release of the Sloan Digital Sky Surveys (SDSS) is the first one for SDSS-V, the fifth generation of the survey. SDSS-V comprises three primary scientific programs, or "Mappers": Milky Way Mapper (MWM), Black Hole Mapper (BHM), and Local Volume Mapper (LVM). This data release contains extensive targeting information for the two multi-object spectroscopy programs (MWM and BHM), including input catalogs and selection functions for their numerous scientific objectives. We describe the production of the targeting databases and their calibration- and scientifically-focused components. DR18 also includes ~25,000 new SDSS spectra and supplemental information for X-ray sources identified by eROSITA in its eFEDS field. We present updates to some of the SDSS software pipelines and preview changes anticipated for DR19. We also describe three value-added catalogs (VACs) based on SDSS-IV data that have been published since DR17, and one VAC based on the SDSS-V data in the eFEDS field.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe
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