Profiling Glioblastoma Cases with an Expression of DCX, OLIG2 and NES

Glioblastoma (GBM) remains the leading cause of cancer-related deaths with the lowest five-year survival rates among all of the human cancers. Multiple factors contribute to its poor outcome, including intratumor heterogeneity, along with migratory and invasive capacities of tumour cells. Over the last several years Doublecortin (DCX) has been one of the debatable factors influencing GBM cells’ migration. To resolve DCX’s ambiguous role in GBM cells’ migration, we set to analyse the expression patterns of DCX along with Nestin (NES) and Oligodendrocyte lineage transcription factor 2 (OLIG2) in 17 cases of GBM, using immunohistochemistry, followed by an analysis of single-cell RNA-seq data. Our results showed that only a small subset of DCX positive (DCX+) cells was present in the tumour. Moreover, no particular pattern emerged when analysing DCX+ cells relative position to the tumour margin. By looking into single-cell RNA-seq data, the majority of DCX+ cells were classified as non-cancerous, with a small subset of cells that could be regarded as glioma stem cells. In conclusion, our findings support the notion that glioma cells express DCX; however, there is no clear evidence to prove that DCX participates in GBM cell migration

Multi-technique characterisation of InAs-on-GaAs wafers with circular defect pattern

The article presents the results of diameter mapping for circular-symmetric disturbance of homogeneity of epitaxially grown InAs (100) layers on GaAs substrates. The set of acceptors (beryllium) doped InAs epilayers was studied in order to evaluate the impact of Be doping on the 2-inch InAs-on-GaAs wafers quality. During the initial identification of size and shape of the circular pattern, non-destructive optical techniques were used, showing a 100% difference in average roughness between the wafer centre and its outer part. On the other hand, no volumetric (bulk) differences are detectable using Raman spectroscopy and highresolution X-ray diffraction. The correlation between Be doping level and circular defect pattern surface area has been found