Active 3-D microscaffold system with fluid perfusion for culturing in vitro neuronal networks

This work demonstrated the design, fabrication, packaging, and characterization of an active microscaffold system with fluid perfusion/nutrient delivery functionalities for culturing in vitro neuronal networks from dissociated hippocampal rat pup neurons. The active microscaffold consisted of an 8 x 8 array of hollow, microfabricated, SU-8 towers (1.0 mm or 1.5 mm in height), with integrated, horizontal, SU-8 cross-members that connect adjacent towers, thus forming a 3-D grid that is conducive to branching, growth, and increased network formation of dissociated hippocampal neurons. Each microtower in the microscaffold system contained a hollow channel and multiple fluid ports for media delivery and perfusion of nutrients to the in vitro neuronal network growing within the microscaffold system. Additionally, there were two exposed Au electrodes on the outer wall of each microtower at varying heights (with insulated leads running within the microtower walls), which will later allow for integration of electrical stimulation/recording functionalities into the active microscaffold system. However, characterization of the stimulation/recording electrodes was not included in the scope of this paper. Design, fabrication, fluid packaging, and characterization of the active microscaffold system were performed. Furthermore, use of the active microscaffold system was demonstrated by culturing primary hippocampal embryonic rat pup neurons, and characterizing cell viability within the microscaffold system.     

Second-harmonic generation in derivatives and analogs of benzophenone and chalcone

The second harmonic generation efficiencies of some derivatives and analogs of benzophenone and chalcone are presented. Several of these compounds have potential as diode laser doublers. In particular, (4-bromobenzal)-3-acetylpyridine has an SHG efficiency 10 times that of urea and a cutoff wavelength of 398 nm.     

A Series of Collaborations between Various Pharmaceutical Companies and Regulatory Authorities Concerning the Analysis of Biomolecules Using Capillary Electrophoresis: Additional Instruments/Buffer

An international project team (including members from US, Canada and UK) was formed from a number of interested biopharmaceutical companies and regulatory authorities to conduct a cross-organisation collaboration exercise. The results of the first comparison with eight different organisations that used instruments of the same equipment model, the same reagents, and the same methodology has been reported previously [1]. This report represents the addition of other instruments using a different run buffer. The relative migration times were different, as expected, prohibiting a direct comparison between companies. The within-organisation variability was low for both relative migration time (<0.34% RSD% for all companies save one) and the peak area (<5% RSD% for all companies save one) when measuring the purity of a representative IgG sample. The apparent molecular weight of bovine serum albumin was measured with good precision (less than 10% RSD% across all companies) to the theoretical value when all data is utilized (67.5 kDa compared to 66.4 kDa). For a representative IgG sample, the three main components, IgG Light Chain, IgG Non-glycosylated Heavy Chain, and IgG Heavy Chain, could not be separated, specifically the IgG Non-glycosylated Heavy Chain and IgG Heavy Chain. When the IgG Non-glycosylated Heavy Chain and IgG Heavy Chain were combined for all organisations, the fractional peak area for the IgG Light Chain and IgG Non-glycosylated Heavy Chain + IgG Heavy Chain peak also showed excellent agreement, with less than 7.5 and 3.5% RSD%, respectively. The value of this exercise is in demonstrating the reliability of CE for the determination of apparent size of biopharmaceutical proteins. This underpins the appropriate use of such CE data in support of regulatory submissions.

     

Copper-catalyzed aerobic oxidation of hydroxamic acids leads to a mild and versatile acylnitroso ene reaction

A mild formation of transient acylnitroso intermediates using a copper chloride catalyst and 1 atm of air as the terminal oxidant is described. The mild reaction conditions enable the inter- and intramolecular acylnitroso ene reaction with a wide range of functionalized alkene partners, as well as the first asymmetric variant. Notably, this transformation provides a practical and operationally simple method for effecting allylic amidation using an environmentally benign oxidant and a readily abundant transition metal.     

On the causes of altered photophysics of luminescent metal complexes embedded in polymer hosts

A suite of luminescent Re(I) complexes has been prepared whose emissive properties are responsive to the probe's local environment. These complexes were embedded in a series of chemically similar polymers whose room temperature rigidity varied over a significant range. It is shown that the degree of local rigidity experienced by the embedded complexes significantly alters the observed emission in terms of both spectra and lifetime. Time resolved emission measurements show that the spectral shifts and lifetime complexity are correlated and track well the polymers' T(g) within the series. Fluorescence confocal microscopy did not show the presence of discrete domains, and thus, the environmental features responsible for the altered photophysics must be submicrometer in size.     

Paramagnetic capture mode magnetophoretic microseparator for high efficiency blood cell separations

This paper presents the characterization of continuous single-stage and three-stage cascade paramagnetic capture (PMC) mode magnetophoretic microseparators for high efficiency separation of red and white blood cells from diluted whole blood based on their native magnetic properties. The separation mechanism for both PMC microseparators is based on a high gradient magnetic separation (HGMS) method. This approach enables separation of blood cells without the use of additives such as magnetic beads. Experimental results for the single-stage PMC microseparator show that 91.1% of red blood cells were continuously separated from the sample at a volumetric flow rate of 5 microl h-1. In addition, the three-stage cascade PMC microseparator continuously separated 93.5% of red blood cells and 97.4% of white blood cells from whole blood at a volumetric flow rate of 5 microl h-1.