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Ralitsa R. Madsen – University of Cambridge Metabolic Research Laboratories Each one of us is the result of an extraordinary developmental process during which a single fertilised egg turns into more than a trillion cells. This is critically dependent on exquisite coordination of fundamental cell behaviours including growth, migration and “decisions” to differentiate into cell types with specialised functions. When co-ordination is lost, either during development or in adulthood, disease results. Cancer is one severe consequence of dysregulation, but in some people, loosening of growth controls may arise during development an …

By Charlotte O'Donnell PhD Similar to IL-33, IL-36R ligands are involved in maintaining intestinal homeostasis. Analogous to IL-33, d is localised to the nuclei of intestinal epithelial cells [1]. The presence of IL-36γ in the nucleus may be due to its role as an “alarmin”. In murine models of intestinal damage such as the DSS colitis model and also in mechanical mucosal injury model, IL-36γ was released by the intestinal epithelial cells and shown to enhance mucosal healing. The effects of IL-36γ on colonic fibroblasts have been examined in a recent study. It was demonstrated that IL-36γ induced pr …

BDNF Overview Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a central mediator of neuroplasticity, a term used to describe the ability of neurons to adapt in response to challenges, resulting in structural and functional changes to neurons (Huang et al, 2001). BDNF is the second member of the neurotrophin family to be identified, with nerve growth factor (NGF) discovered 3 decades prior (Barde et al, 1982; Levi-Montalcini and Hamburger, 1951). Several other neurotrophic factors have since been discovered, all possessing distinct functions in specified areas of the central nervous system (CNS) (Shen et al, 1997). BDNF is expressed through …

In 2006, upon completion of the Human Genome Project, it was discovered that nearly 8% of the human genome is made up of viral DNA. These viral remnants are composed of ancient germline infections known as human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) which are passed on to future generations in a Mendelian fashion1–4. Although these viral elements were previously thought to be ‘junk DNA’ or DNA with no functions in the body, research has slowly been emerging over the years that show that these viral sequences play a key role in many cancers including breast cancer. Structure of the Human Endogenous Retrovirus (HERV) …

PCR Detection of COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) Contents Background Assay Information Sample Types       Upper Respiratory       Lower Respiratory Notes Background COVID-19 (causative agent: SARS-CoV-2), the novel coronavirus which has brought the capital of China’s Hubei province to a standstill, has been deemed a Public Health Emergency of International Concern by the World Health Organisation as of January 2020. (1) Wuhan is the epicentre of the epidemic, but cases have been reported across the world. A large po …

What is the Coronavirus Spike Protein? COVID-19, the newest coronavirus to gain international attention, is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The most common abbreviation for this virus is SARS-CoV-2.   Coronaviruses are a family of viruses named for their crown-like appearance when imaged (corona being the Latin for crown). The large, type I transmembrane spike glycoprotein accounts for this notable feature. It is a heavily-glycosylated, cell-surface protein which is thought to mediate viral entry into susceptible cells. This spike glycoprotein, called ‘S’, is trimeric in structure. In addi …

Ahmad Gazali PhD candidate, University of Eastern Finland Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is an autoimmune disease where the pancreatic β cells that produce insulin, a key hormone involved in the regulation of carbohydrate metabolism, are destroyed through dysregulated immune responses. Clinical manifestations of T1D In humans, the clinical manifestation of T1D is typically preceded by a preclinical phase in which diabetes-associated autoantibodies (DAAs) can be detected in the circulation (1), also known as early pre-diabetic stage. Shortly before the manifestation of clinical diabetes, children with circulating DAA exhibit impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) in oral glucose test …

Immune Regulation in COVID-19: Immunomodulatory Mechanisms against SARS-CoV-2 Infection What is COVID-19? COVID-19 the disease caused by the coronavirus named SARS-CoV-2 has caused the current COVID-19 global pandemic. This virus is spread via aerosolised droplets that can be produced via coughing or sneezing. In most cases, it causes mild to moderate symptoms including a cough, a fever, shortness of breath or breathing difficulties. However, in more severe cases, it has a greater impact causing pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome and possible multi-organ failure. …

Key Points Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) is a method of gene editing that uses the Cas9 protein and specific guide RNAs to either delete host genes or insert specific gene sequences into the host genome. CRISPR screening is used to find a small number of important genes or genetic sequences within a massive number of genetic sequences such as the entire genome. There are three main types of CRISPR screening assays which include viability-based negative selection screens, viability-based positive selection screens and marker-based selection screens …

Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic, irreversible and ultimately fatal disease characterized by progressive scaring (fibrosis) of the lungs. Affecting older adults, it targets the tissue between the lungs alveoli and the bloodstream, severely compromising gas exchange leading to worsening dyspnoea (difficulty breathing). It is associated with a poor prognosis, with several retrospective longitudinal studies suggesting a median survival of 2-3 years from the time of diagnosis (1). There is no known cause of IPF (thus the term “idiopathic” – a disease/condition which arises spo …

주요 포인트: COVID-19,SARS-COV-2에의한 유행성 코로나 바이러스 질환은 예비 데이터에 따르면, 전형적인 혈청 전환 및 면역 글로불린 클래스 (이소형) 전환 시간 과정을 따르는 것으로 나타났다. 증상 발병 2 주 후 임상 중증도와 항체가의 강한 긍정적 상관 관계가 보고되었습니다. COVID-19 research tools ACE2 Activity Assay Kit Anti-Spike Antibody Recombinant Spike Protein Anti-Nucleocapsid Antibody Recombinant Nucleocapsid Protein SARS-CoV-2 RT qPCR assay SARS-CoV-2 ELISA Kits SARS-CoV-2 Recombinant Proteins Tocilizumab ELISA Kit COVID-19 ELISA Kits, Antibodies & Assays …

Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) via Droplets and Aerosols What is COVID-19? COVID-19, the disease by the coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, is currently causing a global pandemic. There is an overwhelming amount of research being done to provide a greater understanding of the disease and the virus that causes it. It is known that the virus is transmitted through person-to-person contact via aerosolised droplets that can be produced through talking, coughing or sneezing. In order for the possibility of infection to occur, a person must be within 15 metres of an infected person for viral particles t …

اختبار COVID-19 POC السريع الوصف إن مجموعة الفحص الجيني تستخدم فقط COVID-19 Rapid POC (Point-of-Care) Kit هو اختبار سريع يكتشف نوعيًا فيروس التاجي 2 لمتلازمة الجهاز التنفسي الحادة الوخيمة (SARS-CoV-2). يوفر استخدام اختبار COVID-19 السريع فرصة لتحديد المزيد من الأشخاص الذين لا يعرفون أنهم مصابون. تفسير النتائج: إيجابية IgG: يظهر خطان ملونان. يجب أن يظهر خط ملون واحد دائمًا في منطقة خط التحكم (C) ويجب أن يكون خط آخر في منطقة خط IgG. إيجابية IgM: يظهر خطان ملونان. يجب أن يظهر خط ملون دائمًا في منطقة خط التحكم (C) ويجب أن يكون خط آخر في منطقة خط IgM. إيجابية I …

COVID-19 15分のRAPID POCテスト 詳細については、hello @ assaygenie.comにお問い合わせください。 概観 Acro Biotech COVID-19 Rapid POC CE-IVDテストは、新規コロナウイルス疾患COVID-19の原因物質であるSARS-CoV-2に対する患者生成IgGおよびIgM抗体の存在を定性的に評価するラテラルフローイムノアッセイです。試験カセットは、全血、血清または血漿検体中のこれらの抗体を検出できます。 パックサイズ テスト 1パック …

What is Wnt Signalling? The Wnt signalling pathway is an evolutionarily conserved pathway that plays critical roles in the regulation of determining cell fate, polarity, migration, neural patterning and organogenesis during embryonic development. Components of this signalling pathway were discovered in the 1980’s by a number of researchers working in both mouse and Drosophila models. An overview of Wnt Signalling The name ‘Wnt’ originated from a combination of the Drosophila segment polarity gene wingless (wg) (Sharma, 1973) and the vertebrate homolog, integrated-1 (int-1) (Nusse et al.,1990).Wg was shown …

Key Points Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) refers to the accumulation of fat in the liver that is not caused by excessive alcohol consumption. It can progress to more severe diseases including nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), fibrosis, cirrhosis, liver cancer and end-stage liver disease Metabolic syndromes such as obesity and insulin resistance and genetic mutations can increase the likelihood of developing NAFLD. NAFLD reversal can be achieved by losing weight and implementing a healthier lifestyle. …

RIPA (Radio Immuno Precipitation Assay) buffer is mostly used when carrying out a western blot or immunoprecipatation assay. A RIPA buffer is used in order to lyse cells and extract protein from cultured cells. RIPA buffer cell lysis enables determination of protein concentration. RIPA buffer is an ideal cell lysis reagent since it contains three non-ionic and ionic detergents. Preserving protein:protein interactions When you need to preserve protein-protein interactions or to reduce denaturation its recommended to use a RIPA buffer recipe without SDS (ionic detergent) or Triton X-100 (non-ionic detergent). RIPA buffer recipes …

By Ciara Coleman PhD General Introduction Coeliac Disease (CD) is defined as a common, chronic inflammatory disease of the small intestine that occurs in genetically predisposed individuals and is triggered by exposure to the storage protein of wheat – gluten – and similar proteins in related grains (Schuppan et al., 2009). The word coeliac, meaning “hollow” in Greek, was first described by the Greek physician Aretaeus in the first century AD (Thomas, 1945). Although the first real description of Coeliac Disease came in 1888 by Samuel Gee (Gee, 1888), the link between Coeliac Disease and diet wasn’t esta …

RIG-I: Antiviral Properties in COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) Infection Key Points RIG-I is a cytosolic RNA helicase which functions as a pattern recognition receptor (PRR) to detect double stranded RNA and other viral PAMPs. RIG-I and RIG-I-like receptors are crucial for viral immunity and can activate a series of pro-inflammatory genes, creating a locally antiviral environment. Contents     Structure     Function         Innate Immune Response         Conferring Viral Immunity   …

By Dr. Niclas Thomas “Data science” is a recent addition to the vocabulary of analytics, and can mean many different things to different people. As far as I am concerned, it is a fashionable term used to define the intersection of advanced analytical techniques from statistics, mathematics, machine learning and programming. The complexity of each of these fields can make them seem inaccessible to most biomedical researchers, who themselves have broad, complex fields of research to understand and may therefore have little time left to dedicate to emerging fields like data science. I started my career as a mathematician and took the bold step o …

Background I am a 3rd year PhD student in Trinity College Dublin and my project is very much an interdisciplinary one. I’m very lucky to get to work between two great labs, Dr. Aisling Dunne’s Molecular Immunology lab and Professor Danny Kelly’s Musculoskeletal engineering lab. My research focuses on osteoarthritis which involves damage to both the upper protective layer of cartilage and underlying bone. Unfortunately, the only real function restoring treatment option for patients is to undergo a total joint replacement surgery. However, the materials currently used in these orthopaedic implants are highly potent drivers of inflammation and often these implants loosen and fail due …

You are only part human. In some ways, you are as much bacteria as you are mammal, and in some ways bacteria make up far more of you than your own familiar cells and genes! It is becoming increasingly apparent that the microbes that live inside you, in your gut and on your skin, have a large bearing on how likely you are to become ill, how much weight you carry and even your day-to-day mood. These effects are a result of communication between these microbes and the cells that live in close contact with them, a series of interactive processes we are just beginning to understand. A huge proportion of your microbial passengers live in your gut, and it is here that a vital interactio …

Incidence rate of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) is one of the most common malignant diseases diagnosed in children. It represents nearly one third of all paediatric cancers and 74% of leukaemic disease in children from age 0-19 years. In 2010 the American Society of Cancer (ACS) predicted that 5,330 new cases of ALL would be detected and that 1,420 of these cases would result in death [Society, 2010]. Causes of ALL The cause of ALL remains largely unknown, although potential risk factors include environmental factors, inherited genetic mutations and viral exposure, howev …

By Juan Quintana, PhD student, University of Edinbrugh What are Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs)? The World Health Organization (WHO) defines NTDs as a group of communicable, poverty-promoting diseases, which affect more than one billion people worldwide (Herricks et al., 2017). These diseases are primarily concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as in regions of South America and Asia (Herricks et al., 2017). The stigma surrounding these diseases, and their impact on children and women’s health, and worker productivity, are all factors that negatively contribute to the economic burden in these countries (Tur …