Single step surface modification of highly stable magnetic nanoparticles for purification of His-tag proteins

The aim of this study was to develop a simple, cheap, and rapid method for purification of His-tag recombinant proteins with high yields. The new immobilized metal ion affinity adsorbent containing superparamagnetic nanoparticles and hydrophilic resins are proposed here to improve the purification of His-tagged recombinant proteins. In this report, we have described the preparation of nanosized superparamagnetic nanoparticles (Fe₃O₄) which were prepared by chemical precipitation method followed by surface modification using phosphonomethyl iminodiacetic acid. The stable surface functionalized nanoparticles were further linked with Ni²⁺ for purification of 6× His-tagged proteins. The phosphonate group of the N-phosphonomethyl iminodiacetic acid ligand acts as a surface anchoring agent on magnetite nanoparticles and the remaining free –COOH groups outside for binding with Ni²⁺ ions. The nanoparticles were approximately 6–8 nm in size and were stable and had negligible non-specific binding for protein. The proteins were purified within 1 h and observed on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide electrophoresis gel.     

Preparation and medical application of magnetic beads conjugated with bioactive molecules

Ferrite nanobeads were synthesized from an aqueous solution utilizing Fe²⁺ to Fe³⁺ oxidation for use as magnetic carriers in bioscreening, bio-molecular recognition and anti-cancer diagnosis and therapy. The beads had a crystal structure that was intermediate between Fe₃O₄ and γ-Fe₂O₃. Functional biomolecules were strongly conjugated onto the surfaces of the ferrite beads via COOH and SH groups. The addition of ferrite seed crystals (3-8 nm in size) together with a disaccharide enabled the synthesis of monodisperse, spherical ferrite beads with average diameters (d¯) between 50 and 150 nm and relative deviation Δd/d¯=9-16%. Hollow ferrite nano-spheres (d¯=150-450 nm, Δd/d¯≈10%) were prepared using silica spheres as templates, which were dissolved in NaOH solution. Ferrite beads 40 nm in size were encapsulated in polymer spheres of styrene and polymerized glycidyl methacrylate (poly-GMA), 184±9 nm in diameter. They were used for high throughput bioscreening system for affinity purification of target proteins which make specific bindings to anti-cancer drugs, porphyrins, environment hormones, etc.     

Spatial charge distribution and conductivities of the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interfaces: A theoretical study

The electronic properties of the charge carriers at the LaAlO₃/SrTiO₃ interfaces are investigated by first principles studies. For the n-type interface, the carriers are located only on the SrTiO₃ side. For the p-type interface, the carriers are highly localized at the interface. A critical thickness of the LaAlO₃ overlayer exists, below which, the interface is insulating. Moreover, we show that the effective masses and mobilities of the carriers are spatially anisotropic and have a strong disparity for the two types of carriers. These results are consistent with experimental observations and are explained by the band structures and alignments of the consisting oxides and their interaction at the interfaces.     

Electro-transmission spectra of Li doped NiO and MnO in the visible and near infrared — A new optical effect in 3d semiconductors

Electro-modulation transmission (ET) spectra have been observed in Li doped crystals of NiO and MnO at phonon energies ∼ 0.4–2.5 eV and T < 230 °K. In each case we observe a broad temperature- sensitive peak, centred at 0.9 and 2.1 eV respectively, which we associate with charge carriers bound to Li centres. Modulation probably occurs through a small-polaron mechanism in NiO, and field- enhanced emission in MnO, but the exact mechanism is uncertain. Similar ET spectra have been observed in a doped ferrite.     

Kinetic coefficients of semiconductors and resonance scattering of current carriers

We calculate the kinetic characteristics of a semiconductor in which the current carriers are resonantly scattered by quasilocalized impurity states. We show that, at low temperatures, the majority of these quantities have a highly nonmonotonic dependence on the energy difference between the Fermi level and the resonance energy. The maximum values of these coefficients are much higher than in the non-resonance case.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 1, pp. 74–78, January, 1989.     

抗艾滋病药物司他夫定与血液蛋白相互作用的研究

研究药物和血液中载体蛋白的相互作用对阐明药物在体内的转运、分布、代谢和药效等具有重要意义。运用稳态荧光、紫外-可见吸收光谱、动力学瞬态发射光谱和循环伏安法研究了抗艾滋病(HIV)药物司他夫定(stavudine,D4T)对人血清白蛋白(HSA)、牛血清白蛋白(BSA)和血红蛋白(Hb)三种血液蛋白的荧光猝灭机制,均为静态猝灭;得出不同温度(300 K,310 K,320 K)下D4T和载体的结合常数K_a(K_a的大小顺序为Hb＞HSA＞BSA)和结合位点数n(n均为1);分析二者结合过程的热力参数ΔH,ΔS和ΔG,三种血液蛋白均为ΔG＞0,ΔH＞0,说明D4T和载体的结合是一种自发的放热过程,同时由ΔH＜0,ΔS＜0,推测出D4T与HSA,BSA和Hb之间的结合力都为氢键和范德华力;根据Frster非辐射能量转移理论(FRET)分析了供体(蛋白)和受体(D4T)之间发生能量转移的可能性并计算了结合距离R₀和r,其中r＜7 nm且0.5R₀＜r＜1.5R₀,表明从HSA,BSA和Hb到D4T之间发生能量转移的可能性很大。同时利用同步荧光,三维荧光和圆二色谱法得出,D4T与载体结合时对载体(HSA,BSA和Hb)的二级结构无影响,且三级构象变化不大。通过本文实验可知,HSA,BSA和Hb三种血液蛋白均可作为运输D4T到靶位置的良好载体蛋白,这些结果为更深入研究D4T药物分子设计和抗HIV作用的应用提供有利的实验依据。     

Towards dynamic control of magnetic fields to focus magnetic carriers to targets deep inside the body

Magnetic drug delivery has the potential to target therapy to specific regions in the body, improving efficacy and reducing side effects for treatment of cancer, stroke, infection, and other diseases. Using stationary external magnets, which attract the magnetic drug carriers, this treatment is limited to shallow targets (<5 cm below skin depth using the strongest possible, still safe, practical magnetic fields). We consider dynamic magnetic actuation and present initial results that show it is possible to vary magnets one against the other to focus carriers between them on average. The many remaining tasks for deep targeting in-vivo are then briefly noted.     

The Investigation of Plasmon-Longitudinal Optical Phonon Coupling and Surface Polariton Modes in Donor Doped GaAs-Al0.33Ga0.67As Multi Quantum Wells

Infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy has been used to investigate phonon, plasmon, surface polariton and plasma-longitudinal optical phonon coupling in highly donor doped multi quantum wells (GaAs/Al_0.33Ga_0.67As) and direct band gap n- type Al_XGa_1-XAs thin layer on GaAs substrate. Using different samples with different concentration of free carriers. The dispersion equation of coupling modes have been calculated by using the condition which the dielectric functions of samples are zero for longitudinal coupled modes and experimental papameters which have been obtained from the best fit p-polarized oblique incidence far infrared reflection spectra. In MQW samples, the free carriers confined to the well and carriers are quasi two dimensional. So, plasmon- LO phonon coupling occur in the well (GaAs). In n- type Al_XGa_1-XAs thin layer, the coupled modes consist of three branches of the high, intermediate and low frequency modes. Their frequencies depend on both concentration and alloy composition. To analyses the surface polariton modes we carry out attenuated total reflection (ATR) measurements. In order to support our assignment the magnetic field profiles and surface polariton dispersion curves have been calculated.     

Thermal relaxation times and heat conduction in β-cristobalite and α-quartz silica structures

Several studies have shown the key role of the rigid unit modes, i.e. rotational motions between neighbouring SiO₄ tetrahedra, in glass and in β-cristobalite due to the disorder generated by the large atomic amplitudes. They do not however reach a conclusion concerning heat conduction. To determine the nature of the heat carriers in the amorphous phase, we carry out an ultrashort timescale analysis of heat transfer in β-cristobalite; the behaviour is comparable to that of amorphous silica, as shown by our density of states and heat flux autocorrelation function calculations. We prove that rigid unit modes can be identified as the heat carriers by showing that the thermal relaxation time is in very good agreement with the rigid unit mode relaxation time predicted in the literature. Finally, we provide thermal conductivity data for β-cristobalite which are not available in the literature.     

On the origin of light emission from porous anodic alumina formed in sulfuric acid

We have investigated the photoluminescence (PL) property of porous anodic alumina membranes (PAAMs) formed on bulk Al foils in 0.3 M sulfuric acid. Different from that from the PAAMs formed in oxalic acid, the obtained PL spectra show two emission bands which have different origins. One centered at ∼465 nm (α-band) weakens its intensity in the PAAM annealed in O₂ and is thus attributed to optical transition in oxygen vacancies. The other in the blue (β-band) redshifts with increasing excitation wavelength. On the basis of spectral examinations and analyses, we ascribe the β-band to radiative recombination of carriers in the isolated hydroxyl groups at the surface of the pore wall, whereas the photogeneration of carriers takes place in oxygen vacancies in the pore wall. This work improves the understanding of the light-emitting property of the PAAMs formed in sulfuric and oxalic acid.     

Approaches for introducing high molecular diversity in scaffolds: Fast parallel synthesis of highly substituted 1H-quinolin-4-one libraries

We have developed a two steps strategy for the parallel synthesis of highly diversified quinolin-ones. In the first step we have combined and improved different synthetic methods for generating quinolin-4-ones bearing four different substitutions at specific positions using round bottomed flasks. The synthesis was assessed for a large number of substituted quinolin-4-ones. In the second step, the improved method was adapted to a parallel array synthesis using a 12 positions carrousel as demonstrated for the synthesis of 42-variable quinolin-4-ones. The first combinatorial library set 14(a-x) was obtained with a chemical purity of more than 95% without purification, the second library set 15(a-r), which included two synthetic steps, needed combinatorial purification using an innovative parallel purifier. The proposed approach contributes to a more extensive diversification of molecular scaffolds in general and provides access to highly substituted quinolinones in particular.     

Enhanced Fluorescence Anisotropy Assay for Human Cardiac Troponin I and T Detection

Human cardiac troponin I (hcTnI) and troponin T (hcTnT) are the biomarkers of choice for the diagnosis of cardiac diseases. In an effort to improve assay sensitivity, in this study we developed a novel approach to simultaneously detect hcTnI and hcTnT in homogenous solutions by monitoring enhanced-fluorescence-anisotropy changes. Specifically, our design was based on a competition assay by measuring anisotropy change of fluorophore-labeled peptides bound to primary monoclonal antibodies in the presence of nano-gold-modified secondary antibody in response to the presence of target proteins. Enhanced-fluorescence-anisotropy resulted from interaction between the primary antibody and the nano-gold-labeled secondary antibody, which significantly increased the size and decreased tumbling motion of the complex of peptide-antibodies. The measurements were performed to detect hcTnI and hcTnT either individually or simultaneously in a homogenous buffer solution and in the solutions containing human plasma. Our results showed that when fluorescence emission was monitored at a single wavelength selected by a monochromator the assay at all experimental conditions had excellent linear response to the target proteins within the concentration range of 0.5–40 nM. The detection limit is 0.5 nM for both hcTnI and hcTnT in the presence of human plasma. However, when fluorescence emission was monitored using a cutoff filter, the linear response of the assay to the target proteins is within 15–500 pM. The detection limit is 15 pM which is close to the recommended 99th percentile cutoff point for concentrations of hcTnI and hcTnT tests to discriminate healthy and diseased conditions. Homogenous nature, rapid response time, and easy implementation of our assay design make it a useful tool for disease biomarker and protein sensing.     

Effect of back electrode on photovoltaic properties of crystal-violet-dye-doped solid-state thin film

Recently, organic/polymeric materials are being widely used to develop photovoltaic devices. In our earlier work, we have studied the photovoltaic property of crystal violet in solid-state photoelectrochemical cell (PEC), but the power conversion efficiency is quite low. In this work, we have used aluminium-coated mylar as a back electrode to enhance the power conversion efficiency. Because of the insertion of a reflecting back electrode, the charge carriers are confined in the active layer which enhances the efficiency from 0.144% to 0.670%. Thin film polymer PEC has been prepared by using optically active crystal violet dye. The dye was dispersed in polyvinyl alcohol used as an inert polymer binder and polyethylene oxide complexed with lithium perchlorate (LiClO₄) ion salt as a solid electrolyte with ethylene carbonate and propylene carbonate as plasticisers. With this blend, two cells have been prepared. In one cell, this blend is sandwiched between indium-tin-oxide-coated glass plate and aluminium plate whereas the modification of the cell is done using highly polished aluminium-coated mylar sheet in place of Al electrode. Dark I–V characteristics are measured and compared for these cells. Improvement of photovoltaic parameters has been observed in the case of polished mylar electrode.     

Spin polarization of the injected carriers in C-doped BN nanotubes

We investigated BN nanotubes with two carbon substitutions for one boron atom and one nitrogen atom based on density functional theory (DFT) with local spin density approximation (LSDA). When the two carbon dopants are separated without C-C bond formation, we found that the injected carriers are spin polarized, although there is no net spin in the neutral systems. Here we call the material as ‘spin polarizer’ which can polarize the carriers passing through.     

Nonlocal analysis to study of the impact ionization and avalanche characteristics of deep submicron Si devices

In this paper, we have presented electric field dependence of the electron and hole impact ionization coefficients and threshold energies in submicron Si diodes with intrinsic region thicknesses down to 31 nm. To do so, we have used a nonlocal analysis, in order to take the effects of arbitrary distribution of ionization events in both space and time domains and the effects of enhancement in the average speed of those carriers which ionize early in their trajectories as well as nonuniform electric fields in the multiplication region and its surrounding ambient, carrier’s dead space history and its spatial ionization rate, into consideration all in one comprehensive analytic model.     

Enhanced nigrostriatal neuron-specific,long-term expression by using neural-specific promoters in combination with targeted gene transfer by modified helper virus-free HSV-1 vector particles

Background  

Direct gene transfer into neurons has potential for developing gene therapy treatments for specific neurological conditions, and for elucidating neuronal physiology. Due to the complex cellular composition of specific brain areas, neuronal type-specific recombinant gene expression is required for many potential applications of neuronal gene transfer. One approach is to target gene transfer to a specific type of neuron. We developed modified Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV-1) particles that contain chimeric glycoprotein C (gC) – glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) or brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) proteins. HSV-1 vector particles containing either gC – GDNF or gC – BDNF target gene transfer to nigrostriatal neurons, which contain specific receptors for GDNF or BDNF. A second approach to achieve neuronal type-specific expression is to use a cell type-specific promoter, and we have used the tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) promoter to restrict expression to catecholaminergic neurons or a modified neurofilament heavy gene promoter to restrict expression to neurons, and both of these promoters support long-term expression from HSV-1 vectors. To both improve nigrostriatal-neuron specific expression, and to establish that targeted gene transfer can be followed by long-term expression, we performed targeted gene transfer with vectors that support long-term, neuronal-specific expression.     

Photoexcitation of electron-hole pairs during SIMS

During analysis with SIMS (secondary ion mass spectroscopy) a HeNe laser beam was focussed on the sample surface. While sputtering Si with oxygen ions, the laser irradiation produced a strong increase of the target current and the SIMS intensities as well. This was found for lightly p-doped Si only, whereas no effect was observed for highly p-doped or n-doped Si. To explain this we assume that a depletion layer exists under the surface oxide layer and free charged carriers are created therein by laser excitation. The laser induced effects observed in the SIMS intensity or the target current can be used for measuring the profile of an ion beam or for measuring the alignment of an ion beam at a laser marked target. In addition, laser irradiation combined with SIMS allows one to measure qualitatively both the profile of the doping impurity and its electrically active part.     

Nanoanalysis of the arthropod neuro-toxins

Many kinds of venomous principles modulate physiological responses of mammalian signal transduction systems, on which they act selectively as enhancers, inhibitors or some other kind of effectors. These toxins become useful tools for physiological research. We have employed and characterized paralyzing toxins from the venom of spiders, insects and scorpions with a limited supply. We have developed rapid and sensitive mass spectrometric technology and applied for the identification of these toxins. Venom profiles are screened by MALDI-TOF fingerprinting analysis prior to purification of venomous components, then marked target toxins of small molecular mass (1000–5000) are characterized directly by means of mass spectrometric techniques such as Frit-FAB MS/MS, CID/PSD-TOF MS, Capil.-HPLC/Q-TOF MS/MS etc.     

双成分模型及YBCO/Pb结沿c轴的Josephson效应

根据巡游载流子与具有负U关联的近局域载流子相杂化的双成分模型研究了YBCO/Pb结沿c轴的Josephson效应．在此模型中巡游载流子具有s波对称性，能隙较小．近局域载流子具有d波超导电性，其临界温度决定体系的转变温度，沿c轴的Josephson电流I_c主要由s波贡献．由计算得到的s波能隙大小及其相应的临界温度较好地解释了实验观测到的零温隧穿电流与结电阻之积I_c（O）R_N以及I_c随温度的变化．此外，该模型还能解释在施加 关键词：     

Holey Graphitic Carbon Derived from Covalent Organic Polymers Impregnated with Nonprecious Metals for CO2 Capture from Natural Gas

Natural gas (NG), as a renewable and clean energy gas, is considered to be one of the most attractive energy carriers owing to its high calorific value, low price, and less pollution. Efficiently capturing CO₂ from NG is a very important issue since CO₂ reduces energy density of natural gas and corrodes equipment in the presence of water. In this study, the authors use holey graphene‐like carbon derived from covalent organic polymers (COP) impregnated with nonprecious metals, i.e., COP graphene, as highly efficient separation materials. The dual‐site Langmuir–Freundlich adsorption model based ideal absorbed solution theory is applied to explore the adsorption selectivity. The experimental results along with first principles calculations show Mn‐impregnated COP graphene exhibits greater CO₂/CH₄ selectivity than Fe and Co impregnated materials. Particularly, the selectivity of C–COP–P–Mn reaches 11.4 at 298 K and 12 bars, which are much higher than those in many reported conventional porous materials and can be compared to the highest separation performance under similar condition. Importantly, all the three COP graphene show remarkably high regenerability (R > 77%), which are much better than many reported promising zeolites, active carbon, and metal organic frameworks. Accordingly, COP graphene are promising cyclic adsorbents with high selectivity for separation and purification of CO₂ from natural gas.