Interleukin 33 (IL-33) is a member of the IL-1 family of cytokines with a growing number of target cells and a plethora of biological functions. Although it has commonalities with other IL-1 ...cytokines, IL-33 exhibits some unique features. Here we review the biology of IL-33 and its receptor and develop a working model that describes two 'lives' for IL-33-one intracellular and one extracellular. Under healthy conditions, constitutively produced, intracellular IL-33 participates in maintaining barrier function by regulating gene expression as a nuclear protein. In parallel, nuclear IL-33 functions as a stored alarmin that is released when barriers are breached. Extracellular IL-33 coordinates immune defense and repair mechanisms while also initiating differentiation of helper T cells as the adaptive immune response is triggered.
The family of the interleukin‐1 receptors Boraschi, Diana; Italiani, Paola; Weil, Sabrina ...
Immunological reviews,
January 2018, Volume:
281, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Summary
The extracellular forms of the IL‐1 cytokines are active through binding to specific receptors on the surface of target cells. IL‐1 ligands bind to the extracellular portion of their ...ligand‐binding receptor chain. For signaling to take place, a non‐binding accessory chain is recruited into a heterotrimeric complex. The intracellular approximation of the Toll‐IL‐1‐receptor (TIR) domains of the 2 receptor chains is the event that initiates signaling. The family of IL‐1 receptors (IL‐1R) includes 10 structurally related members, and the distantly related soluble protein IL‐18BP that acts as inhibitor of the cytokine IL‐18. Over the years the receptors of the IL‐1 family have been known with many different names, with significant confusion. Thus, we will use here a recently proposed unifying nomenclature. The family includes several ligand‐binding chains (IL‐1R1, IL‐1R2, IL‐1R4, IL‐1R5, and IL‐1R6), 2 types of accessory chains (IL‐1R3, IL‐1R7), molecules that act as inhibitors of signaling (IL‐1R2, IL‐1R8, IL‐18BP), and 2 orphan receptors (IL‐1R9, IL‐1R10). In this review, we will examine how the receptors of the IL‐1 family regulate the inflammatory and anti‐inflammatory functions of the IL‐1 cytokines and are, more at large, involved in modulating defensive and pathological innate immunity and inflammation. Regulation of the IL‐1/IL‐1R system in the brain will be also described, as an example of the peculiarities of organ‐specific modulation of inflammation.
The changing epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 Koelle, Katia; Martin, Michael A; Antia, Rustom ...
Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),
03/2022, Volume:
375, Issue:
6585
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
We have come a long way since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic-from hoarding toilet paper and wiping down groceries to sending our children back to school and vaccinating billions. Over this ...period, the global community of epidemiologists and evolutionary biologists has also come a long way in understanding the complex and changing dynamics of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes COVID-19. In this Review, we retrace our steps through the questions that this community faced as the pandemic unfolded. We focus on the key roles that mathematical modeling and quantitative analyses of empirical data have played in allowing us to address these questions and ultimately to better understand and control the pandemic.
Catalytic glycosylation has been a central reaction in carbohydrate chemistry since its introduction by Fischer 125 years ago, but it is only in the past three to four decades that catalytic methods ...for synthesizing oligosaccharides have appeared. Despite the development of numerous elegant and ingenious catalytic glycosylation methods, only a few are in general use. This review covers all methods of catalytic glycosylation with the focus on the development and application in oligosaccharide synthesis and provide an overview of the scope and limitations of these. The review also includes relevant mechanistic studies of catalytic glycosylations. The future of catalytic glycosylation chemistry is discussed, including specific, upcoming methods and possible directions for the field of research in general.
There is an immediate need to drastically reduce the emissions associated with global fossil fuel consumption in order to limit climate change. However, carbon-based materials, chemicals, and ...transportation fuels are predominantly made from fossil sources and currently there is no alternative source available to adequately displace them. Gas-fermenting microorganisms that fix carbon dioxide (CO2) and carbon monoxide (CO) can break this dependence as they are capable of converting gaseous carbon to fuels and chemicals. As such, the technology can utilize a wide range of feedstocks including gasified organic matter of any sort (e.g., municipal solid waste, industrial waste, biomass, and agricultural waste residues) or industrial off-gases (e.g., from steel mills or processing plants). Gas fermentation has matured to the point that large-scale production of ethanol from gas has been demonstrated by two companies. This review gives an overview of the gas fermentation process, focusing specifically on anaerobic acetogens. Applications of synthetic biology and coupling gas fermentation to additional processes are discussed in detail. Both of these strategies, demonstrated at bench-scale, have abundant potential to rapidly expand the commercial product spectrum of gas fermentation and further improve efficiencies and yields.
Insights from SARS-CoV-2 sequences Martin, Michael A; VanInsberghe, David; Koelle, Katia
Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),
01/2021, Volume:
371, Issue:
6528
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Analysis of viral sequences can tell us how SARS-CoV-2 spreads and adapts
As severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has spread across the globe, so have efforts to sequence its ...RNA genome. More than 260,000 sequences are now available in public databases, about a year after the viral genome was first sequenced (
1
). These sequences and their associated metadata have allowed researchers to estimate the timing of SARS-CoV-2 spillover into humans, characterize the spread of the virus, and gauge virus adaptation to its new host. Such analyses rely on interpreting patterns of nucleotide changes that have occurred in the virus population over time and are brought into focus through the reconstruction of genealogical relationships between sampled viruses that are depicted in phylogenetic trees.
A reanalysis of SARS-CoV-2 deep sequencing data from donor-recipient pairs indicates that transmission bottlenecks are very narrow (one to three virions).
With an expanding population and changing dynamics in global food markets, it is important to find solutions for more resilient food production methods closer to urban environments. Recently, ...vertical farming systems have emerged as a potential solution for urban farming. However, although there is an increasing body of literature reviewing the potential of urban and vertical farming systems, only a limited number of studies have reviewed the sustainability of these systems. The aim of this article was to understand the environmental impacts of vertical hydroponic farming in urban environments applied to a case study vertical hydroponic farm in Stockholm, Sweden. This was carried out by evaluating environmental performance using a life cycle perspective to assess the environmental impacts and comparing to potential scenarios for improvement options. The results suggest that important aspects for the vertical hydroponic system include the growing medium, pots, electricity demand, the transportation of raw materials and product deliveries. By replacing plastic pots with paper pots, large reductions in GHG emissions, acidification impacts, and abiotic resource depletion are possible. Replacing conventional gardening soil as the growing medium with coir also leads to large environmental impact reductions. However, in order to further reduce the impacts from the system, more resource-efficient steps will be needed to improve impacts from electricity demand, and there is potential to develop more symbiotic exchanges to employ urban wastes and by-products.
The Circular Economy (CE) concept is receiving increasing global attention and has captivated many disciplines, from sustainability through to business and economics. There is currently a strong ...drive by companies, academics and governments alike to implement the CE. Numerous “circularity indicators” have emerged that measure material flow or recirculated value of a system (e.g. product or nation). However, if its implementation is to improve environmental performance of society, the action must be based on scientific evidence and quantification or it may risk driving “circularity for circularity's sake”. This paper, therefore, aims to review the recent circular economy literature that focuses on assessing the environmental implications of circularity of products and services. To do this we divide the system levels into micro (product level), meso (industrial estate/symbiosis) and macro (national or city level). A scoping literature review explores the assessment methods and indicators at each level.
The results suggest that few studies compare circularity indicators with environmental performance or link the circularity indicators between society levels (e.g. the micro and macro-levels). However, adequate tools exist at each level (e.g. life cycle assessment (LCA) at the micro-level and multi-regional input-output (MRIO) analysis at the macro-level) to provide the ability to adequately assess and track the CE performance if placed within a suitable framework. The challenge to connect the micro and macro-levels remains. This would help understand the link between changes at the micro-level at the macro-level, and the environmental consequences. At the meso-level, industrial symbiosis continues to grow in potential, but there is a need for further research on the assessment of its contribution to environmental improvement. In addition, there is limited understanding of the use phase. For example, national monitoring programmes do not have indicators on stocks of materials or the extent of the circular economy processes (such as the reuse economy, maintenance and spare parts) which already contribute to the CE. The societal needs/functions framework offers a promising meso-level link to bridge the micro and macro-levels for assessment, monitoring and setting thresholds.
The individual approaches of regenerative medicine efforts alone and rehabilitation efforts alone have not yet fully restored function after severe spinal cord injury (SCI). Regenerative ...rehabilitation may be leveraged to promote regeneration of the spinal cord tissue, and promote reorganization of the regenerated neural pathways and intact spinal circuits for better functional recovery for SCI. Conductive biomaterials may be a linchpin that empowers the synergy between regenerative medicine and rehabilitation approaches, as electrical stimulation applied to the spinal cord could facilitate neural reorganization. In this review, we discuss current regenerative medicine approaches in clinical trials and the rehabilitation, or neuromodulation, approaches for SCI, along with their respective translational limitations. Furthermore, we review the translational potential, in a surgical context, of conductive biomaterials (e.g., conductive polymers, carbon-based materials, metallic nanoparticle-based materials) as they pertain to SCI. While pre-formed scaffolds may be difficult to translate to human contusion SCIs, injectable composites that contain blended conductive components and can form within the injury may be more translational. However, given that there are currently no in vivo SCI studies that evaluated conductive materials combined with rehabilitation approaches, we discuss several limitations of conductive biomaterials, including demonstrating safety and efficacy, that will need to be addressed in the future for conductive biomaterials to become SCI therapeutics. Even so, the use of conductive biomaterials creates a synergistic opportunity to merge the fields of regenerative medicine and rehabilitation and redefine what regenerative rehabilitation means for the spinal cord.
For spinal cord injury (SCI), the individual approaches of regenerative medicine and rehabilitation are insufficient to fully restore functional recovery; however, the goal of regenerative rehabilitation is to combine these two disparate fields to maximize the functional outcomes. Concepts similar to regenerative rehabilitation for SCI have been discussed in several reviews, but for the first time, this review considers how conductive biomaterials may synergize the two approaches. We cover current regenerative medicine and rehabilitation approaches for SCI, and the translational advantages and disadvantages, in a surgical context, of conductive biomaterials used in biomedical applications that may be additionally applied to SCI. Furthermore, we identify the current limitations and translational challenges for conductive biomaterials before they may become therapeutics for SCI.
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