Highland Minstrel Boy

I hae wander\u27d mony a night in June,Along the banks of Clyde,Beneath a bright and bonnie moon,Wi\u27 Mary at my side: As summer was she to mine ee,And to my heart a joy,And weel she loo\u27d to raom wi\u27 me,Her Highland Minstrel boy,I hae wander\u27d mony a night in June,Along the banks of Clyde,Beneath a bright and bonnie moon,Wi\u27 Mary at my sid

Variation of the magnetic ordering in GdT2_2Zn20_{20} (T= Fe, Ru, Os, Co, Rh and Ir) and its correlation with the electronic structure of isostructural YT2_2Zn20_{20}

Magnetization, resistivity and specific heat measurements were performed on the solution-grown, single crystals of six GdT$_2$Zn$_{20}$ (T = Fe, Ru, Os, Co, Rh and Ir) compounds, as well as their Y analogues. For the Gd compounds, the Fe column members manifest a ferromagnetic (FM) ground state (with an enhanced Curie temperature, $T_{\mathrm{C}}$, for T = Fe and Ru), whereas the Co column members manifest an antiferromagnetic (AFM) ground state. Thermodynamic measurements on the YT$_2$Zn$_{20}$ revealed that the enhanced $T_{\mathrm{C}}$ for GdFe$_2$Zn$_{20}$ and GdRu$_2$Zn$_{20}$ can be understood within the framework of Heisenberg moments embedded in a nearly ferromagnetic Fermi liquid. Furthermore, electronic structure calculations indicate that this significant enhancement is due to large, close to the Stoner FM criterion, transition metal partial density of states at Fermi level, whereas the change of FM to AFM ordering is associated with filling of electronic states with two additional electrons per formula unit. The degree of this sensitivity is addressed by the studies of the pseudo-ternary compounds Gd(Fe$_x$Co$_{1-x}$)$_2$Zn$_{20}$ and Y(Fe$_x$Co$_{1-x}$)$_2$Zn$_{20}$ which clearly reveal the effect of 3d band filling on their magnetic properties.Comment: 32 pages, 28 figure

Single particle reconstruction of the T=1 capsid of CtenDNAV-II

The study of viral capsid proteins, such as VP2 of CtenDNAV-II, is essential for understanding viral capsid assembly, infection mechanisms, and host manipulation. Capsid proteins, the protein shells encapsulating viral genetic material, play critical roles in protecting the virus and aiding in its attachment to host cells. By capturing high-resolution images of individual virus particles embedded in vitrified ice, cryo-EM facilitates the reconstruction of three-dimensional (3D) structures of viral capsids. The study of viral capsid structures using cryo-EM provides insights into viral life cycles, host-virus interactions, and evolutionary events. The aim of this research was to gain deeper insights into viral capsid architecture and dynamics by reconstructing the small capsid particle (T=1) and investigating its role in the capsid assembly of CtenDNAV-II. The capsid protein was expressed using Sf9 insect cells that were inoculated with a baculovirus containing the VP2 gene. The capsid protein expression in E. coli was performed by transforming the cells with a ubiquitin-expressing plasmid. An already existing cryo-EM dataset, which has been used to reconstruct the large capsid particle (T=3) was used to reconstruct the small capsid particle and determine whether or not it was hollow inside. The single particle reconstruction of the T=1 capsid particles, realized using cryoSPARC, achieved a fairly high resolution and indicated that the particles are most likely empty inside, containing no genome. It was noticed that many of the small particles were broken, which indicates they were most likely intermediate or incomplete VLP assembly states

Evaluating the gene expression levels of NFkB2 and RELA after LPS priming

The regulatory process of inflammation is very important for the well-being of an organism. Disruption of this process can lead to very dire consequences. The innate immune system is responsible in activating the inflammatory response. As a result of an inflammatory response, inflammasome complexes such as NLRP3 can activate. The activation of such a complex can lead to cytokine upregulation and even cellular death via pyrapoptosis. The NLRP3 inflammasome can be primed by LPS stimulation. The NFkB protein family functions as transcription factors that can increase the expression levels of genes involved in inflammation, immunology and cell survival, including NLRP3. The aim of this thesis project was to evaluate the expression levels of the NFkB family members RELA and NFkB2 after LPS priming. In order to accomplish this, stable reference genes are necessary in order to perform data normalization. In order to find stable reference genes, a panel of commonly used reference genes were amplified using RT-qPCR. Once stable reference genes have been identified and selected, the expression levels of the genes of interest were analysed using the statistical software SPSS. This was performed in order to determine whether or not LPS priming upregulates the expression of the genes of interest. The analysis of NFkB2 and RELA expression levels after LPS priming indicates that there is a significant difference between the unprimed and the primed samples, but the conclusions that can be drawn are limited as protein interactions were not observed and the scope of the research was relatively narrow, encompassing only two out of the family of five NFkB proteins