The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Flow Chemistry Plutschack, Matthew B; Pieber, Bartholomäus; Gilmore, Kerry ...
Chemical reviews,
09/2017, Letnik:
117, Številka:
18
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Flow chemistry involves the use of channels or tubing to conduct a reaction in a continuous stream rather than in a flask. Flow equipment provides chemists with unique control over reaction ...parameters enhancing reactivity or in some cases enabling new reactions. This relatively young technology has received a remarkable amount of attention in the past decade with many reports on what can be done in flow. Until recently, however, the question, “Should we do this in flow?” has merely been an afterthought. This review introduces readers to the basic principles and fundamentals of flow chemistry and critically discusses recent flow chemistry accounts.
Notebook: The Laplace distribution Geraci, Marco; Borja, Mario Cortina
Significance (Oxford, England),
October 2018, 2018-10-01, 20181001, Letnik:
15, Številka:
5
Journal Article
When studying the same object, different scientists and scientific instruments can produce widely divergent measurements. Marco Geraci and Mario Cortina Borja describe a probability distribution to ...model observations when heterogeneity and large errors are present
When studying the same object, different scientists and scientific instruments can produce widely divergent measurements. Marco Geraci and Mario Cortina Borja describe a probability distribution to model observations when heterogeneity and large errors are present.
Expansion microscopy Chen, Fei; Tillberg, Paul W.; Boyden, Edward S.
Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),
01/2015, Letnik:
347, Številka:
6221
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
In optical microscopy, fine structural details are resolved by using refraction to magnify images of a specimen. We discovered that by synthesizing a swellable polymer network within a specimen, it ...can be physically expanded, resulting in physical magnification. By covalently anchoring specific labels located within the specimen directly to the polymer network, labels spaced closer than the optical diffraction limit can be isotropically separated and optically resolved, a process we call expansion microscopy (ExM). Thus, this process can be used to perform scalable superresolution microscopy with diffraction-limited microscopes. We demonstrate ExM with apparent ∼70-nanometer lateral resolution in both cultured cells and brain tissue, performing three-color superresolution imaging of ∼107 cubic micrometers of the mouse hippocampus with a conventional confocal microscope.
Typical experiments in psychological and neurophysiological settings often require the accurate control of multiple input and output signals. These signals are often generated or recorded via ...computer software and/or external dedicated hardware. Dedicated hardware is usually very expensive and requires additional software to control its behavior. In the present article, I present some accuracy tests on a low-cost and open-source I/O board (Arduino family) that may be useful in many lab environments. One of the strengths of Arduinos is the possibility they afford to load the experimental script on the board’s memory and let it run without interfacing with computers or external software, thus granting complete independence, portability, and accuracy. Furthermore, a large community has arisen around the Arduino idea and offers many hardware add-ons and hundreds of free scripts for different projects. Accuracy tests show that Arduino boards may be an inexpensive tool for many psychological and neurophysiological labs.
Enzymes are versatile catalysts and their synthetic potential has been recognized for a long time. In order to exploit their full potential, enzymes often need to be re-engineered or optimized for a ...given application. (Semi-) rational design has emerged as a powerful means to engineer proteins, but requires detailed knowledge about structure function relationships. In turn, directed evolution methodologies, which consist of iterative rounds of diversity generation and screening, can improve an enzyme's properties with virtually no structural knowledge. Current diversity generation methods grant us access to a vast sequence space (libraries of >1012 enzyme variants) that may hide yet unexplored catalytic activities and selectivity. However, the time investment for conventional agar plate or microtiter plate-based screening assays represents a major bottleneck in directed evolution and limits the improvements that are obtainable in reasonable time. Ultrahigh-throughput screening (uHTS) methods dramatically increase the number of screening events per time, which is crucial to speed up biocatalyst design, and to widen our knowledge about sequence function relationships. In this review, we summarize recent advances in uHTS for directed enzyme evolution. We shed light on the importance of compartmentalization to preserve the essential link between genotype and phenotype and discuss how cells and biomimetic compartments can be applied to serve this function. Finally, we discuss how uHTS can inspire novel functional metagenomics approaches to identify natural biocatalysts for novel chemical transformations.
Rapid and reliable diagnostic methods for plant-parasitic nematodes are critical for facilitating the selection of effective control measures. A diagnostic recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) ...assay for Aphelenchoides fragariae using a TwistAmpsup.® Basic Kit (TwistDx, Cambridge, UK) and AmplifyRPsup.® Acceler8sup.® Discovery Kit (Agdia, Elkhart, IN, USA) combined with lateral flow dipsticks (LF) has been developed. In this study, a LF-RPA assay was designed that targets the ITS rRNA gene of A. fragariae. This assay enables the specific detection of A. fragariae from crude nematode extracts without a DNA extraction step, and from DNA extracts of plant tissues infected with this nematode species. The LF-RPA assay showed reliable detection within 18–25 min with a sensitivity of 0.03 nematode per reaction tube for crude nematode extracts or 0.3 nematode per reaction tube using plant DNA extracts from 0.1 g of fresh leaves. The LF-RPA assay was developed and validated with a wide range of nematode and plant samples. Aphelenchoides fragariae was identified from seed samples in California. The LF-RPA assay has great potential for nematode diagnostics in the laboratory with minimal available equipment.
Transmission electron microscopy offers structural and compositional information with atomic resolution, but its use is restricted to thin, solid samples. Liquid samples, particularly those involving ...water, have been challenging because of the need to form a thin liquid layer that is stable within the microscope vacuum. Liquid cell electron microscopy is a developing technique that allows us to apply the powerful capabilities of the electron microscope to imaging and analysis of liquid specimens. We describe its impact in materials science and biology. We discuss how its applications have expanded via improvements in equipment and experimental techniques, enabling new capabilities and stimuli for samples in liquids, and offering the potential to solve grand challenge problems.
Wearable biosensors for healthcare monitoring Kim, Jayoung; Campbell, Alan S; de Ávila, Berta Esteban-Fernández ...
Nature biotechnology,
04/2019, Letnik:
37, Številka:
4
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Wearable biosensors are garnering substantial interest due to their potential to provide continuous, real-time physiological information via dynamic, noninvasive measurements of biochemical markers ...in biofluids, such as sweat, tears, saliva and interstitial fluid. Recent developments have focused on electrochemical and optical biosensors, together with advances in the noninvasive monitoring of biomarkers including metabolites, bacteria and hormones. A combination of multiplexed biosensing, microfluidic sampling and transport systems have been integrated, miniaturized and combined with flexible materials for improved wearability and ease of operation. Although wearable biosensors hold promise, a better understanding of the correlations between analyte concentrations in the blood and noninvasive biofluids is needed to improve reliability. An expanded set of on-body bioaffinity assays and more sensing strategies are needed to make more biomarkers accessible to monitoring. Large-cohort validation studies of wearable biosensor performance will be needed to underpin clinical acceptance. Accurate and reliable real-time sensing of physiological information using wearable biosensor technologies would have a broad impact on our daily lives.
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