Towards purification of antibodies with light

One of the most common method to purify a particular antibody is done by affinity chromatography. Antibody binding proteins such as Protein A are used to purify antibody from the mixture of proteins and antibodies. The main objective of my project is to design a new method that utilizes light-responsive (LR) affinity-capture ligands for antibody purification. This would vastly improve the quality of purification of the antibodies. Using the LR affinity-capture ligands to purify the antibody can be widely applied to many fields related to biotechnology, life science industry, and pharmaceutical industry. To achieve this, we designed the LR cyclic peptide as affinity ligand that recognizes the constant region (Fc) of the antibody we want to purify. We began with octapeptide sequences that was known to have an affinity to the Fc region of IGg antibody. The octapeptide was attempted to react with the LR azobenzene linker 3,3’-bis(sulfonato)- 4,4’-bis(chloroacetamido)-azobenzene (BSBCA) to create a macrocyclic product, LR-macrocycle peptide. We hypothesized that the LR-macrocycle peptide will have two  geometric isomers: one isomer with higher affinity and one isomer with lower affinity towards the Fc region. The peptides were immobilized on paper for observing the affinity difference of  two isomers towards the Fc region of the antibody. The data obtained from preliminary study suggested that the LR-macrocycle peptides had different affinities between the two isomers. To further understanding the system, we will be validating the affinity differences of those ligands and will be optimizing the peptide sequences to increase the efficiency of the technique. *Indicates faculty mentor

Effect of Ordering on Spinodal Decomposition of Liquid-Crystal/Polymer Mixtures

Partially phase-separated liquid-crystal/polymer dispersions display highly fibrillar domain morphologies that are dramatically different from the typical structures found in isotropic mixtures. To explain this, we numerically explore the coupling between phase ordering and phase separation kinetics in model two-dimensional fluid mixtures phase separating into a nematic phase, rich in liquid crystal, coexisting with an isotropic phase, rich in polymer. We find that phase ordering can lead to fibrillar networks of the minority polymer-rich phase

Spin-Hall effect with quantum group symmetry

We construct a model of spin-Hall effect on a noncommutative 4 sphere with isospin degrees of freedom (coming from a noncommutative instanton) and invariance under a quantum orthogonal group. The corresponding representation theory allows to explicitly diagonalize the Hamiltonian and construct the ground state; there are both integer and fractional excitations. Similar models exist on higher dimensional noncommutative spheres and noncommutative projective spaces.Comment: v2: 14 pages, latex. Several changes and additional material; two extra sections added. To appear in LMP. Dedicated to Rafael Sorkin with friendship and respec

Thermal Stabilization of the HCP Phase in Titanium

We have used a tight-binding model that is fit to first-principles electronic-structure calculations for titanium to calculate quasi-harmonic phonons and the Gibbs free energy of the hexagonal close-packed (hcp) and omega crystal structures. We show that the true zero-temperature ground-state is the omega structure, although this has never been observed experimentally at normal pressure, and that it is the entropy from the thermal population of phonon states which stabilizes the hcp structure at room temperature. We present the first completely theoretical prediction of the temperature- and pressure-dependence of the hcp-omega phase transformation and show that it is in good agreement with experiment. The quasi-harmonic approximation fails to adequately treat the bcc phase because the zero-temperature phonons of this structure are not all stable

Preventive effects of Spirulina platensis on skeletal muscle damage under exercise-induced oxidative stress

The effects of spirulina supplementation on preventing skeletal muscle damage on untrained human beings were examined. Sixteen students volunteered to take Spirulina platensis in addition to their normal diet for 3-weeks. Blood samples were taken after finishing the Bruce incremental treadmill exercise before and after treatment. The results showed that plasma concentrations of malondialdehyde (MDA) were significantly decreased after supplementation with spirulina (P < 0.05). The activity of blood superoxide dismutase (SOD) was significantly raised after supplementation with spirulina or soy protein (P < 0.05). Both of the blood glutathione peroxidaes (GP (x) ) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) levels were significantly different between spirulina and soy protein supplementation by an ANCOVA analysis (P < 0.05). In addition, the lactate (LA) concentration was higher and the time to exhaustion (TE) was significantly extended in the spirulina trail (P < 0.05). These results suggest that ingestion of S. platensis showed preventive effect of the skeletal muscle damage and that probably led to postponement of the time of exhaustion during the all-out exercise

The X-Ray Halo Scaling Relations of Supermassive Black Holes

We carry out a comprehensive Bayesian correlation analysis between hot halos and direct masses of supermassive black holes (SMBHs), by retrieving the X-ray plasma properties (temperature, luminosity, density, pressure, and masses) over galactic to cluster scales for 85 diverse systems. We find new key scalings, with the tightest relation being M-Tx, followed by M-Lx. The tighter scatter (down to 0.2 dex) and stronger correlation coefficient of all the X-ray halo scalings compared with the optical counterparts (as the M-se) suggest that plasma halos play a more central role than stars in tracing and growing SMBHs (especially those that are ultramassive). Moreover, M correlates better with the gas mass than dark matter mass. We show the important role of the environment, morphology, and relic galaxies/coronae, as well as the main departures from virialization/self-similarity via the optical/X-ray fundamental planes. We test the three major channels for SMBH growth: hot/Bondi-like models have inconsistent anticorrelation with X-ray halos and too low feeding; cosmological simulations find SMBH mergers as subdominant over most of cosmic time and too rare to induce a central-limit-theorem effect; the scalings are consistent with chaotic cold accretion, the rain of matter condensing out of the turbulent X-ray halos that sustains a long-term self-regulated feedback loop. The new correlations are major observational constraints for models of SMBH feeding/feedback in galaxies, groups, and clusters (e.g., to test cosmological hydrodynamical simulations), and enable the study of SMBHs not only through X-rays, but also via the Sunyaev-Zel dovich effect (Compton parameter), lensing (total masses), and cosmology (gas fractions)

Graft immaturity and safety concerns in transplanted human kidney organoids

For chronic kidney disease, regeneration of lost nephrons with human kidney organoids derived from induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells is proposed to be an attractive potential therapeutic option. It remains unclear, however, whether organoids transplanted into kidneys in vivo would be safe or functional. Here, we purified kidney organoids and transplanted them beneath the kidney capsules of immunodeficient mice to test their safety and maturity. Kidney organoid grafts survived for months after transplantation and became vascularized from host mouse endothelial cells. Nephron-like structures in grafts appeared more mature than kidney organoids in vitro, but remained immature compared with the neighboring mouse kidney tissue. Ultrastructural analysis revealed filtration barrier-like structures, capillary lumens, and tubules with brush border in the transplanted kidney organoids, which were more mature than those of the kidney organoids in vitro but not as organized as adult mammalian kidneys. Immaturity was a common feature of three separate differentiation protocols by immunofluorescence analysis and single cell RNA sequencing. Stroma of transplanted kidney organoid grafts were filled with vimentin-positive mesenchymal cells, and chondrogenesis, cystogenesis, and stromal expansion were observed in the long term. Transcription profiles showed that long-term maintenance after kidney organoid transplantation induced transcriptomic reprogramming with prominent suppression of cell-cycle-related genes and upregulation of extracellular matrix organization. Our data suggest that kidney organoids derived from iPS cells may be transplantable but strategies to improve nephron differentiation and purity are required before they can be applied in humans as a therapeutic option.11Ysciescopuskc