2,395 research outputs found

    Development and optimization of animal origin-free, serum-free media for human treg manufacturing

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    Regulatory T cells (Treg) constitute a small subset of immunosuppressive CD4+ T cells. Studies have shown that imbalanced or aberrant Treg function can result in autoimmune disorders. The importance of Tregs in dampening immune responses has been described in multiple studies and Treg immunotherapies are being explored to develop personalized therapies for various autoimmune diseases. Scalable commercial development of Treg therapies suffers similar challenges as other T cell immunotherapies: biosafety and supply chain concerns of human serum and limitations regarding bioprocess development due to serum variability. Additionally, there a challenges regarding Treg isolation for both magnetically isolated (blockade of CD25+ epitope may affect function and low purity) and flow cytometry sorted Tregs (low numbers and viability). In addition, the starting population and purity (measured by FOXP3 expression) can be low, resulting in small cell numbers post expansion which can impact dose escalation studies. To address these challenges, we are developing a serum-free, animal origin component – free, defined medium and Treg optimized Dynabeads™. Our strategy was to exploit metabolic differences between Tregs and conventional Tcells as well as optimizing the level of activation ligands to develop a defined Treg manufacturing system. Using design of experiment (DOE) approaches we explored factors described in the literature to be associated with Treg development. DOE studies were followed by testing in combination with Treg Dynabeads™ in development. Feasibility was evaluated with positively selected Tregs (CD4+CD25+CD127lo, n=5). Tregs cultured in our system achieve higher FOXP3+ frequencies (\u3e60% FOXP3+) outperforming control containing 10% human serum (~30% FOXP3+). In summary, our results suggest that serum can be eliminated from Treg workflows to generate highly suppressive enriched FOXP3+ Treg immunotherapy product. We believe that our defined serum-free medium and Dynabeads™ Treg system will enable the development of better immunotherapies for autoimmunity

    DisoluciĂłn de hierro de un concentrado complejo de esfalerita por Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans

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    En el presente trabajo se empleó una cepa de Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans (Af) para biolixiviar el hierro pirítico presente en un concentrado de sulfuro de zinc con un contenido de 1,41% en peso de hierro. El proceso de biolixiviación se llevó a cabo en una suspensión conteniendo de 5 a 8% de sólidos p/v a un pH de alrededor de 2,7 (ajustado con ácido sulfúrico) y a una temperatura de 30 °C. Los resultados muestran que en un periodo de 15 días, el contenido metalúrgico del hierro disminuyó en un 17%, lo cual se traduce en un incremento en el grado metalúrgico del concentrado de zinc de 64,6 a 66,9%, lo que permitió incrementar  substancialmente el valor comercial de éste, evitando penalizaciones por el contenido de hierro presente

    COmplexome Profiling ALignment (COPAL) reveals remodeling of mitochondrial protein complexes in Barth syndrome

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    Item does not contain fulltextMOTIVATION: Complexome profiling combines native gel electrophoresis with mass spectrometry to obtain the inventory, composition and abundance of multiprotein assemblies in an organelle. Applying complexome profiling to determine the effect of a mutation on protein complexes requires separating technical and biological variations from the variations caused by that mutation. RESULTS: We have developed the COmplexome Profiling ALignment (COPAL) tool that aligns multiple complexome profiles with each other. It includes the abundance profiles of all proteins on two gels, using a multi-dimensional implementation of the dynamic time warping algorithm to align the gels. Subsequent progressive alignment allows us to align multiple profiles with each other. We tested COPAL on complexome profiles from control mitochondria and from Barth syndrome (BTHS) mitochondria, which have a mutation in tafazzin gene that is involved in remodeling the inner mitochondrial membrane phospholipid cardiolipin. By comparing the variation between BTHS mitochondria and controls with the variation among either, we assessed the effects of BTHS on the abundance profiles of individual proteins. Combining those profiles with gene set enrichment analysis allows detecting significantly affected protein complexes. Most of the significantly affected protein complexes are located in the inner mitochondrial membrane (mitochondrial contact site and cristae organizing system, prohibitins), or are attached to it (the large ribosomal subunit). AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: COPAL is written in python and is available from http://github.com/cmbi/copal. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online

    Let’s practice: Shaping crisis management of preservice counseling professionals

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    Counselors frequently encounter crises in practice with various factors shaping crisis management. However, limited preparation and training combined with personal and situational characteristics affect a counselors’ ability to properly handle a crisis. The purpose of the present study was to identify factors that could potentially affect the ability to handle a crisis in session among counselors-in-training and add to the understanding of self-efficacy in crisis counseling. The study consisted of participants enrolled in a practicum pre-service course in a CACREP accredited program. Results were analyzed through a narrative research approach, specifically a categorical-content narrative analysis, theory-driven thematic analysis and cross-case analysis was used to compare and contrast each point to identify common themes. Four predefined source of self-efficacy themes identified were performance experience, vicarious performances, verbal persuasion, and imaginal performance as well as three themes derived from narrative analysis: crisis management, practice self-care, and personal characteristics. Findings indicated participants’ exposure to a crisis in a counseling session demonstrated increases in perceived ability to effectively manage and work with a client experiencing a crisis. Participants, who attended to a real or fictional crisis, expressed a positive impact on their crisis counseling self-efficacy. Implications for counselor education and practitioners are discussed
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