Capillary Electrophoresis in Nanotechnologies versus Nanotechnologies in Capillary Electrophoresis

Nanomaterials are attracting an interest of many researches. All this attention is due the unique physical and chemical properties of nanomaterials differing significantly from the bulk materials mainly due to their size in range of nanometers. Capillary electrophoresis (CE) is a powerful, well-established analytical technique that provides numerous valuable benefits over other separation methods including high-performance liquid chromatography. The connection between CE and nanotechnology can be approached by two strategies: (i) CE analysis of nanomaterials and (ii) nanomaterials for CE improvement. The first perspective focuses on uses of CE as a method for characterization employed during nanomaterial production and modification as well as for monitoring their properties and interactions with other molecules. The second viewpoint deals with applications of nanomaterials for improving CE performance, mainly by enhancing efficiency of separation using nanomaterials as a stationary or pseudo-stationary phase and by enhancing detection sensitivity and/or selectivity in both optical and electrochemical detection. Moreover, applications of nanomaterials for sample preparation before CE analysis will be mentioned. This chapter aims at highlighting the symbiosis of CE and nanotechnology as a combination of modern, progressive field with well-known and reliable analytical method

Preparation and Properties of Various Magnetic Nanoparticles

The fabrications of iron oxides nanoparticles using co-precipitation and gadolinium nanoparticles using water in oil microemulsion method are reported in this paper. Results of detailed phase analysis by XRD and Mössbauer spectroscopy are discussed. XRD analysis revealed that the crystallite size (mean coherence length) of iron oxides (mainly γ-Fe2O3) in the Fe2O3 sample was 30 nm, while in Fe2O3/SiO2 where the ε-Fe2O3 phase dominated it was only 14 nm. Gd/SiO2 nanoparticles were found to be completely amorphous, according to XRD. The samples showed various shapes of hysteresis loops and different coercivities. Differences in the saturation magnetization (MS) correspond to the chemical and phase composition of the sample materials. However, we observed that MS was not reached in the case of Fe2O3/SiO2, while for Gd/SiO2 sample the MS value was extremely low. Therefore we conclude that only unmodified Fe2O3 nanoparticles are suitable for intended biosensing application in vitro (e.g. detection of viral nucleic acids) and the phase purification of this sample for this purpose is not necessary

Elektrokemijsko određivanje metalotioneina kod domaće peradi

Metallothionein (MT) belongs to group of intracellular, low-molecular and cysteine-rich proteins with a molecular weight from 6 to 10 kDa. Owing to their high affinity to heavy metals (Zn, Cd, As, etc.) their main role is homeostatic control and detoxification of metal ions in an organism. In the present work we aimed at suggesting and utilizing electroanalytical techniques to determine content of MT in the blood serum of domestic fowls. Electrochemical measurements were performed with an AUTOLAB Analyser connected to VA-Stand 663, using a standard cell with three electrodes. Particularly, MT was detected by adsorptive transfer stripping technique in connection with differential pulse voltammetry. The detection limit of MT was estimated down to 100 fM (standards only) or down to 100 pM measured in the presence of blood serum. The average content of MT was 21.3 µM. The MT level in hens was about 25 % higher than in cocks. This phenomenon can be related to higher demands on the content of this protein in hens due the requirement for ion transport to form eggshell.Metalotionein (MT) pripada grupi intracelularnih proteina male molekularne mase bogatih cisteinom, s molekularnom masom od 6 do 10 kDa. Zbog njihovog afiniteta prema teškim metalima (Zn, Cd, As, itd.) njihova glavna uloga je homeostatska kontrola i detoksifikacija iona metala u organizmu. U ovom radu predlažu se elektroanalitičke tehnike za određivanje sadržaja MT u krvnom serumu domaće peradi. Elektrokemijska mjerenja izvršena su uređajem AUTOLAB Analyser povezanim s VA-Stand 663, koristeći standardnu ćeliju s tri elektrode. Osim toga MT je određivan tehnikom adsorptivnog transfera, povezanoj s voltmetrijom diferencijalnog pulsa. Granica detekcije MT je procjenjivana do 100 fM (samo standardi) ili do 100 pM, mjereno u prisutnosti krvnog seruma. Prosječni sadržaj MT bio je 21.3 µM. Razina MT kod kokoši bila je otprilike 25% viša nego kod pijetlova. Ta pojava može se objasniti većom potrebom za ovim proteinom kod kokoši zbog transporta iona prilikom stvaranja ljuske jajeta

Using CdTe/ZnSe core/shell quantum dots to detect DNA and damage to DNA

CdTe/ZnSe core/shell quantum dot (QD), one of the strongest and most highly luminescent nanoparticles, was directly synthesized in an aqueous medium to study its individual interactions with important nucleobases (adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine) in detail. The results obtained from the optical analyses indicated that the interactions of the QDs with different nucleobases were different, which reflected in different fluorescent emission maxima and intensities. The difference in the interaction was found due to the different chemical behavior and different sizes of the formed nanoconjugates. An electrochemical study also confirmed that the purines and pyrimidines show different interactions with the core/shell QDs. Based on these phenomena, a novel QD-based method is developed to detect the presence of the DNA, damage to DNA, and mutation. The QDs were successfully applied very easily to detect any change in the sequence (mutation) of DNA. The QDs also showed their ability to detect DNAs directly from the extracts of human cancer (PC3) and normal (PNT1A) cells (detection limit of 500 pM of DNA), which indicates the possibilities to use this easy assay technique to confirm the presence of living organisms in extreme environments

Visual Analysis of Ligand Trajectories in Molecular Dynamics

In many cases, protein reactions with other small molecules (ligands) occur in a deeply buried active site. When studying these types of reactions, it is crucial for biochemists to examine trajectories of ligand motion. These trajectories are predicted with in-silico methods that produce large ensembles of possible trajectories. In this paper, we propose a novel approach to the interactive visual exploration and analysis of large sets of ligand trajectories, enabling the domain experts to understand protein function based on the trajectory properties. The proposed solution is composed of multiple linked 2D and 3D views, enabling the interactive exploration and filtering of trajectories in an informed way. In the workflow, we focus on the practical aspects of the interactive visual analysis specific to ligand trajectories. We adapt the small multiples principle to resolve an overly large number of trajectories into smaller chunks that are easier to analyze. We describe how drill-down techniques can be used to create and store selections of the trajectories with desired properties, enabling the comparison of multiple datasets. In appropriately designed 2D and 3D views, biochemists can either observe individual trajectories or choose to aggregate the information into a functional boxplot or density visualization. Our solution is based on a tight collaboration with the domain experts, aiming to address their needs as much as possible. The usefulness of our novel approach is demonstrated by two case studies, conducted by the collaborating protein engineers.acceptedVersio