Solution-processed organic devices developed by a novel cost-effective patterning technique based on electrical erosion

Application of arc erosion to the patterning of metallic contacts in organic devices is presented. A home-made systems and details of the working principles are described. Advantages and drawbacks of this novel technology are discussed

Stem cell banking system

The creation of specialized embryonic stem cell lines is a valuable tool for research and discovery. However, the large cost of production and ethical concerns over ESC lines limits their future development. We propose the creation of specialized cell types from somatic cells

Recipient of the 2023 Alumni Titan Award

Dr. Angel Alvarez ‘98 Dr. Angel Alvarez is the Director of the Stem Cell Core and a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurology at Northwestern University. He has extensive experience in stem cell biology, imaging, gene delivery, and biotechnology. As the Director of the Northwestern Stem Cell Core, he establishes disease models to accelerate therapeutic development using organoid technology and patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells. Many of the most rewarding aspects of his current position are derived from the Core’s exciting collaborations in reproductive biology, neuroscience, and pathology. Beyond his lab research, Dr. Alvarez has a passion for employing his analytical skills to address inequity in education. During his doctoral research, Dr. Alvarez investigated the development of stem cell technologies and the biology of cancer. He demonstrated the critical role of nanog in facilitating induced pluripotency and established patient-derived cell lines to characterize gene expression, cell pathway activation, and protein markers in brain tumors. During his post-doctoral research, he developed tumor stem cell lines to study oncogenic signaling and factors that mediate tumor growth, invasion, and radiation resistance, notably through Wnt signaling and exosome secretion. Dr. Alvarez has earned several competitive awards, including separate pre- and post-doctoral T32 fellowships, in addition to funding from universities, private foundations, and the NIH. His research has led to the development of exciting intellectual property in both stem cell technology and cancer, yielding 11 issued US patents as well as multiple pending and international patents. He has served as a mentor to numerous emerging scholars, including several IMSA SIR students, and is most proud of being a father to his amazing daughter

Mesenchymal stem cells with increased developmental potency by expressing Nanog

CON filing for non-elected claims 7 and 1

Methods for increasing potency of adult mesenchymal stem cells

Disclosed herein are methods and materials for producing a more developmentally potent cell from a less developmentally potent cell. Specifically exemplified herein are methods that comprise introducing an expressible dedifferentiating polynucleotide sequence into a less developmentally potent cell, wherein the transfected less developmentally potent cell becomes a more developmentally potent cell capable of differentiating to a less developmentally potent cell of its lineage of origin or a different lineage

Methods and materials for increasing potency of cells (CON 1)

Disclosed herein are methods and materials for producing a more developmentally potent cell from a less developmentally potent cell. Specifically exemplified herein are methods that comprise introducing an expressible dedifferentiating polynucleotide sequence into a less developmentally potent cell, wherein the transfected less developmentally potent cell becomes a more developmentally potent cell capable of differentiating to a less developmentally potent cell of its lineage of origin or a different lineage

Methods for modifying stem cell characteristics

We propose a method of expanding stem cells and dedifferentiating cells by cultruing cells with cell cultrue extracts of embryonic stem cellas and or extracts from a regenerating limb. We demonstrated that co cultureing human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells with sections of a lizard tail or mouse embryonic stem cells increases the stemness of the Msc. This allows for the creation of a cell cultruing system containing expgenous factors that facilitate increased expression of stem cells genes and dedifferentiation

Partially observed bipartite network analysis to identify predictive connections in transcriptional regulatory networks

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Messenger RNA expression is regulated by a complex interplay of different regulatory proteins. Unfortunately, directly measuring the individual activity of these regulatory proteins is difficult, leaving us with only the resulting gene expression pattern as a marker for the underlying regulatory network or regulator-gene associations. Furthermore, traditional methods to predict these regulator-gene associations do not define the relative importance of each association, leading to a large number of connections in the global regulatory network that, although true, are not useful.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Here we present a Bayesian method that identifies which known transcriptional relationships in a regulatory network are consistent with a given body of static gene expression data by eliminating the non-relevant ones. The Partially Observed Bipartite Network (POBN) approach developed here is tested using <it>E. coli </it>expression data and a transcriptional regulatory network derived from RegulonDB. When the regulatory network for <it>E. coli </it>was integrated with 266 <it>E. coli </it>gene chip observations, POBN identified 93 out of 570 connections that were either inconsistent or not adequately supported by the expression data.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>POBN provides a systematic way to integrate known transcriptional networks with observed gene expression data to better identify which transcriptional pathways are likely responsible for the observed gene expression pattern.</p