Grated waveguide cavity for label-free protein and mechano-optical gas sensing

We demonstrate the versatility of a silicon nitride grated waveguide optical cavity as compact integrated optical sensors for (bulk) concentration detection, label-free protein sensing, and – with an integrated cantilever suspended above it – gas sensing

Pion-Photon Transition Form Factor and Pion Distribution Amplitude in QCD: Facing the Enigmatic Behavior of the BaBar Data

We present an extended analysis of the data for the pion-photon transition form factor from different experiments, CELLO, CLEO, and BaBar, and discuss various theoretical approaches which try to reason from them. We focus on the divergent behavior of the BaBar data for the pion and those for the $\eta(\eta')$ pseudoscalar mesons and comment on recently proposed explanations for this discrepancy. We argue that it is not possible at present to accommodate these data within the standard QCD framework self-consistently.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, talk presented by the second author at the International Workshop on e^+e^- collisions from phi to psi (PHIPSI11), Novosibirsk (Russia), Sept. 19--22, 201

A systems biology approach reveals major metabolic changes in the thermoacidophilic archaeon Sulfolobus solfataricus in response to the carbon source L-fucose versus D-glucose

Archaea are characterised by a complex metabolism with many unique enzymes that differ from their bacterial and eukaryotic counterparts. The thermoacidophilic archaeon Sulfolobus solfataricus is known for its metabolic versatility and is able to utilize a great variety of different carbon sources. However, the underlying degradation pathways and their regulation are often unknown. In this work, we analyse growth on different carbon sources using an integrated systems biology approach. The comparison of growth on L-fucose and D-glucose allows first insights into the genome-wide changes in response to the two carbon sources and revealed a new pathway for L-fucose degradation in S. solfataricus. During growth on L-fucose we observed major changes in the central carbon metabolic network, as well as an increased activity of the glyoxylate bypass and the 3-hydroxypropionate/4-hydroxybutyrate cycle. Within the newly discovered pathway for L-fucose degradation the following key reactions were identified: (i) L-fucose oxidation to L-fuconate via a dehydrogenase, (ii) dehydration to 2-keto-3-deoxy-L-fuconate via dehydratase, (iii) 2-keto-3-deoxy-L-fuconate cleavage to pyruvate and L-lactaldehyde via aldolase and (iv) L-lactaldehyde conversion to L-lactate via aldehyde dehydrogenase. This pathway as well as L-fucose transport shows interesting overlaps to the D-arabinose pathway, representing another example for pathway promiscuity in Sulfolobus species