Quantitative and multiplexed microRNA sensing in living cells based on peptide nucleic acid and nano graphene oxide (PANGO)

MicroRNA (miRNA) is an important small RNA which regulates diverse gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. miRNAs are considered as important biomarkers since abnormal expression of specific miRNAs is associated with many diseases including cancer and diabetes. Therefore, it is important to develop biosensors to quantitatively detect miRNA expression levels. Here, we develop a nanosized graphene oxide (NGO) based miRNA sensor, which allows quantitative monitoring of target miRNA expression levels in living cells. The strategy is based on tight binding of NGO with peptide nucleic acid (PNA) probes, resulting in fluorescence quenching of the dye that is conjugated to the PNA, and subsequent recovery of the fluorescence upon addition of target miRNA. PNA as a probe for miRNA sensing offers many advantages including high sequence specificity, high loading capacity on the NGO surface compared to DNA and resistance against nuclease-mediated degradation. The present miRNA sensor allowed the detection of specific target miRNAs with the detection limit as low as ∼1 pM and the simultaneous monitoring of three different miRNAs in a living cell. © 2013 American Chemical Society.11431431sciescopu

Study of Thin Double-Gap RPCs for the CMS Muon System

International audienceHigh-sensitivity double-gap phenolic resistive plate chambers (RPCs) are studied for the Phase-2 upgrade of the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) muon system at high pseudorapidity η. Whereas the present CMS RPCs have a gas gap thickness of 2 mm, we propose to use thinner gas gaps, which will improve the performance of these RPCs. To validate this proposal, we constructed double-gap RPCs with two different gap thicknesses of 1.2 and 1.4 mm by using high-pressure laminated plates having a mean resistivity of about 5 × 10$^{10}$ Ω-cm. This paper presents test results using cosmic muons and$^{137}$Cs gamma rays. The rate capabilities of these thin-gap RPCs measured with the gamma source exceed the maximum rate expected in the new high-η endcap RPCs planned for future Phase-2 runs of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC)