“Kids These Days”… May Know More About Copyright Than You

from "Copyright Conversations: Rights Literacy in a Digital World"; Sara R. Benson, Ed.This chapter explores some of the different moral and ethical considerations people bring to issues of copyright, other intellectual property, authorship, ownership, citation, and attribution - and uses that exploration to suggest strategies for sharing information about copyright law that recognize the various interests of different creator and user communities

It’s all the same to me!: Copyright, contracts, and publisher self-archiving policies

This article explores how publisher polices that distinguish between differently-formatted versions of an article do not correlate with what copyright law considers to be separate "works". Under copyright law, only substantial differences in -creative expression- will create a separate work; a manuscript has the same copyright as the identical text formatted for printing. Regardless of publisher policies, If authors retain copyright ownership, they can archive any version of an article that they wish

Rights, ethics, accuracy, and open licenses in online collections: What’s “ours” isn’t really ours

This article explores common practices of cultural organizations sharing collection items online, in which rights are claimed as belonging to the organization that do not, or in which the organization creates confusion for users around who owns or can authorize use of an item

"Protecting" our works - from what?

Academic library workers can be even stronger partners with academic creators by developing fluency in the many different ways copyright, intellectual property, and credit are discussed both within and outside the academy. This chapter explores one focus of that rhetoric: protection

Lies, Damned Lies, and Copyright (Mis)Information: Empowering Faculty by Addressing Key Points of Confusion

The University of Minnesota Libraries’ Copyright Program surveyed and interviewed faculty, instructors, researchers, librarians, and library employees to document their knowledge of key areas of copyright law that intersect with common academic practices. All respondents were found to have considerable weaknesses and gaps in knowledge around many key issues. The findings show that all campus populations are in need of further education about the complicated issue of fair use. Some of the findings also suggest avenues for improving copyright education efforts, such as targeting misconceptions about the relation of citation to copyright law, and tying instruction on fundamental principles to faculty authors’ ownership interests in their works

Identification and isolation of antigen-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes with an automated microraft sorting system

The simultaneous measurement of T cell function with recovery of individual T cells would greatly facilitate characterizing antigen-specific responses both in vivo and in model systems

Automated microraft platform to identify and collect non-adherent cells successfully gene-edited with CRISPR-Cas9

Microraft arrays have been used to screen and then isolate adherent and non-adherent cells with very high efficiency and excellent viability; however, manual screening and isolation limits the throughput and utility of the technology. In this work, novel hardware and software were developed to automate the microraft array platform. The developed analysis software identified microrafts on the array with greater than 99% sensitivity and cells on the microrafts with 100% sensitivity. The software enabled time-lapse imaging and the use of temporally varying characteristics as sort criteria. The automated hardware released microrafts with 98% efficiency and collected released microrafts with 100% efficiency. The automated system was used to examine the temporal variation in EGFP expression in cells transfected with CRISPR-Cas9 components for gene editing. Of 11,499 microrafts possessing a single cell, 220 microrafts were identified as possessing temporally varying EGFP-expression. Candidate cells (n=172) were released and collected from the microraft array and screened for the targeted gene mutation. Two cell colonies were successfully gene edited demonstrating the desired mutation

Optimization of 3-D organotypic primary colonic cultures for organ-on-chip applications

Abstract Background New advances enable long-term organotypic culture of colonic epithelial stem cells that develop into structures known as colonoids. Colonoids represent a primary tissue source acting as a potential starting material for development of an in vitro model of the colon. Key features of colonic crypt isolation and subsequent colonoid culture have not been systematically optimized compromising efficiency and reproducibility. Here murine crypt isolation yield and quality are optimized, and colonoid culture efficiency measured in microfabricated culture devices. Results An optimal incubation time of 60 min in a chelating buffer released 280,000 ± 28,000 crypts from the stroma of a single colon with 79.3% remaining intact. Mechanical agitation using an average acceleration of 1.5 × g liberated the highest quality crypts with 86% possessing well-defined lumens. Culture in 50% Matrigel resulted in the highest colonoid formation efficiency of 33 ± 5%. Immunostaining demonstrated that colonoids isolated under these conditions possessed stem/progenitor cells and differentiated cell lineages. Microfabrication substrates (glass, polystyrene, PDMS, and epoxy photoresists: SU-8 and 1002-F) were tested for compatibility with colonoid culture. PDMS promoted formation of 3-D colonoids containing stem/progenitor cells, while other substrates promoted outgrowth of a 2-D epithelial monolayer composed of differentiated cells. Conclusion Improved crypt isolation and 3-D colonoid culture, along with an understanding of colonic epithelial cell behavior in the presence of microfabrication substrates will support development of ‘organ-on-a-chip’ approaches for studies using primary colonic epithelium

In vitro generation of colonic epithelium from primary cells guided by microstructures

The proliferative compartment of the colonic epithelium in vivo is located in the basal crypt where colonic stem cells and transit-amplifying cells reside and fuel the rapid renewal of non-proliferative epithelial cells as they migrate toward the gut lumen. To mimic this tissue polarity, microstructures composed of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microwells and Matrigel micropockets were used to guide a combined 2-dimensional (2D) and 3-dimensional (3D) hybrid culture of primary crypts isolated from the murine colon. The 2D and 3D culture of crypts on a planar PDMS surface was first investigated in terms of cell proliferation and stem cell activity. 3D culture of crypts with overlaid Matrigel generated enclosed, but highly proliferative spheroids (termed colonoids). 2D culture of crypts produced a spreading monolayer of cells, which were non-proliferative. A combined 2D/3D hybrid culture was generated in a PDMS microwell platform on which crypts were loaded by centrifugation into microwells (diameter = 150 μm, depth = 150 μm) followed by addition of Matrigel that formed micropockets locking the crypts within the microwells. Embedded crypts first underwent 3D expansion inside the wells. After the cells filled the microwells, they migrated onto the surrounding surface forming a 2D monolayer in the array regions without Matrigel. This unique 2D/3D hybrid culture generated a continuous, millimeter-scale colonic epithelial tissue in vitro, which resembled the polarized architecture (i.e. distinct proliferative and non-proliferative zones) and geometry of the colonic epithelium in vivo. This work initiates the construction of a “colon-on-a-chip” using primary cells/tissues with the ultimate goal of producing the physiologic structure and organ-level function of the colon

Polystyrene-coated micropallets for culture and separation of primary muscle cells

Despite identification of a large number of adult stem cell types, current primary cell isolation and identification techniques yield heterogeneous samples, making detailed biological studies challenging. To identify subsets of isolated cells, technologies capable of simultaneous cell culture and cloning are necessary. Micropallet arrays, a new cloning platform for adherent cell types, hold great potential. However, the microstructures composing these arrays are fabricated from an epoxy photoresist 1002F, a growth surface unsuitable for many cell types. Optimization of the microstructures’ surface properties was conducted for the culture of satellite cells, primary muscle cells for which improved cell isolation techniques are desired. A variety of surface materials were screened for satellite cell adhesion and proliferation and compared to their optimal substrate, gelatin-coated Petri dishes. A 1-μm thick, polystyrene copolymer was applied to the microstructures by contact-printing. A negatively charged copolymer of 5% acrylic acid in 95% styrene was found to be equivalent to the control Petri dishes for cell adhesion and proliferation. Cells cultured on control dishes and optimal copolymer-coated surfaces maintained an undifferentiated state and showed similar mRNA expression for two genes indicative of cell differentiation during a standard differentiation protocol. Experiments using additional contact-printed layers of extracellular matrix proteins collagen and gelatin showed no further improvements. This micropallet coating strategy is readily adaptable to optimize the array surface for other types of primary cells