Evolución de la innovación educativa en la Universidad Complutense: proyecto UNICOMEX

La evolución de la educación universitaria en España ha experimentado una enorme evolución en los últimos veinte años. Desde la enseñanza centrada en la clase magistral, con el consiguiente protagonismo del profesor, a lo que sucede actualmente, con el estudiante como eje principal, media todo un cambio en el planteamiento de nuestro sistema educativo universitario. La implantación del Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior (EEES) ha sido uno de los objetivos perseguidos por la Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) en la última década. Con este fin existieron, hasta hace poco, las conocidas como Asignaturas Piloto (AP) e igualmente se convocan periódicamente, desde hace años, los Proyectos de Innovación Educativa (P.I.E.). Ambas herramientas han procurado facilitar dicha adaptación, así como promover un concepto transversal en la transmisión del conocimiento. Nuestro grupo de trabajo puede ser un ejemplo de lo que la UCM ha querido conseguir con ambas cosas. La asignatura ha participado en todas las convocatorias de AP, pasando por una evolución clara desde la clase magistral a los pequeños grupos de trabajo. Ha sido, además, el instrumento útil para ir desarrollando distintos P.I.E., hasta un total de nueve, tras formar un equipo interdisciplinar constituido por profesores universitarios y profesionales de diversos ámbitos. El último de estos PIE, concedido en el curso académico 2011-2012, consiste en la creación de un espacio virtual de referencia para el estudio de los animales exóticos, partiendo de los resultados obtenidos en proyectos anteriores. UNICOMEX (Universidad-Complutense-Exóticos) nace con el objetivo de poner al alcance de cualquiera una serie de recursos virtuales ordenados que faciliten el conocimiento biológico, anatómico y clínico de los animales exóticos, entendiendo como tales aquellos que, siendo de interés veterinario, no se consideran domésticos. La totalidad de su contenido está en español e inglés, con el fin de hacer de ella una herramienta virtual útil y abierta a la comunidad científica y didáctica internacional

An ecological future for weed science to sustain crop production and the environment. A review

Sustainable strategies for managing weeds are critical to meeting agriculture's potential to feed the world's population while conserving the ecosystems and biodiversity on which we depend. The dominant paradigm of weed management in developed countries is currently founded on the two principal tools of herbicides and tillage to remove weeds. However, evidence of negative environmental impacts from both tools is growing, and herbicide resistance is increasingly prevalent. These challenges emerge from a lack of attention to how weeds interact with and are regulated by the agroecosystem as a whole. Novel technological tools proposed for weed control, such as new herbicides, gene editing, and seed destructors, do not address these systemic challenges and thus are unlikely to provide truly sustainable solutions. Combining multiple tools and techniques in an Integrated Weed Management strategy is a step forward, but many integrated strategies still remain overly reliant on too few tools. In contrast, advances in weed ecology are revealing a wealth of options to manage weedsat the agroecosystem levelthat, rather than aiming to eradicate weeds, act to regulate populations to limit their negative impacts while conserving diversity. Here, we review the current state of knowledge in weed ecology and identify how this can be translated into practical weed management. The major points are the following: (1) the diversity and type of crops, management actions and limiting resources can be manipulated to limit weed competitiveness while promoting weed diversity; (2) in contrast to technological tools, ecological approaches to weed management tend to be synergistic with other agroecosystem functions; and (3) there are many existing practices compatible with this approach that could be integrated into current systems, alongside new options to explore. Overall, this review demonstrates that integrating systems-level ecological thinking into agronomic decision-making offers the best route to achieving sustainable weed management

Antibody binding on LiNbO3Zn waveguides for biosensor applications

In order to develop biochemical optosensors in LiNbO3, one first issue is to study the antibody binding process on the waveguides. Planar waveguides on LiNbO3 were fabricated by using Zn diffusion from the vapour phase following a two-step process, which produce low loss optical waveguides supporting both TE and TM propagation modes. The cleaned LiNbO 3Zn diffused waveguide surface was incubated with an aqueous solution containing 90 μg/ml anti-c-myc monoclonal antibody with an attached chromophore group and thoroughly washed several times in phosphate buffer solution. This simple functionalising procedure showed a remarkable stability over time (at least 2.5 months kept at 4 °C). Backscattered secondary electrons at 0.9 Torr water vapour atmosphere revealed that the antibody was immobilised on the surface in small spots covering roughly a 50% of the surface. After injection of light in the waveguide using an Ar+ laser at 488 nm, it was proved that the evanescent field of the waveguide mode interacted with the antibody, giving rise to the characteristic luminescence of the chromophore. These results provide evidence of the feasibility of using LiNbO3Zn, a material with potential advantages derived from its electrooptical properties, in protein detection technologies. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Crystal structure of the open conformation of the mammalian chaperonin CCT in complex with tubulin.

Protein folding is assisted by molecular chaperones. CCT (chaperonin containing TCP-1, or TRiC) is a 1-MDa oligomer that is built by two rings comprising eight different 60-kDa subunits. This chaperonin regulates the folding of important proteins including actin, α-tubulin and β-tubulin. We used an electron density map at 5.5 Å resolution to reconstruct CCT, which showed a substrate in the inner cavities of both rings. Here we present the crystal structure of the open conformation of this nanomachine in complex with tubulin, providing information about the mechanism by which it aids tubulin folding. The structure showed that the substrate interacts with loops in the apical and equatorial domains of CCT. The organization of the ATP-binding pockets suggests that the substrate is stretched inside the cavity. Our data provide the basis for understanding the function of this chaperonin

Crystal structure of the open conformation of the mammalian chaperonin CCT in complex with tubulin.

Protein folding is assisted by molecular chaperones. CCT (chaperonin containing TCP-1, or TRiC) is a 1-MDa oligomer that is built by two rings comprising eight different 60-kDa subunits. This chaperonin regulates the folding of important proteins including actin, α-tubulin and β-tubulin. We used an electron density map at 5.5 Å resolution to reconstruct CCT, which showed a substrate in the inner cavities of both rings. Here we present the crystal structure of the open conformation of this nanomachine in complex with tubulin, providing information about the mechanism by which it aids tubulin folding. The structure showed that the substrate interacts with loops in the apical and equatorial domains of CCT. The organization of the ATP-binding pockets suggests that the substrate is stretched inside the cavity. Our data provide the basis for understanding the function of this chaperonin

Application of numerical ecology methods to microarray data reveals obscured patterns in the muosa-associated microbial community of the human colorectum

The mucosa-associated microbial community of the human colorectum has been implicated in the pathogenesis of several diseases. Previous studies have largely employed methodologies that failed to reveal patterns generally obscured by inter-subject variability. To overcome this problem we describe the use of numerical ecology methods to analyse data produced using a gut microbe-specific phylogenetic microarray. DNA samples were prepared from biopsy tissue collected from the caecum, transverse, sigmoid and rectum of 10 patients following normal colonoscopy (5 males and 5 females, mean age 56 years). Fluorescently labeled cRNA was prepared for each sample and hybridized to a DNA microarray consisting of 766 unique probes for gut bacteria. We then used analysis with respect to instrumental variables applied to correspondence analysis, which is a method often employed in numerical ecology; but only recently applied to microarray data. This type of analysis allows for the “subtraction” of effects (e.g. subject), which then allows the remaining effects to be effectively compared in a statistically valid fashion. Consistent with previous studies, the diversity profiles generated possessed a marked inter-subject variability. However, we were also able to identify significant differences in the profiles on the basis of sex. Streptococcus and Ruminococcus genera were more abundant in females; and males possessed a greater abundance of Bacteroides and Faecalibacterium. Furthermore, when the subject effect was subtracted, we observed for the first time evidence of a longitudinal gradient for specific microbes with respect to biopsy site. The application of numerical ecology methods to the analysis of data generated with a phylogenetic microarray has proven to be a powerful new methodology in the study of the mucosa-associated microbial community of the human colorectum.N