Controlled self-assembly of re-engineered insulin by Fe(II)

Self-assembly of proteins mediated by metal ions is crucial in biological systems and a better understanding and novel strategies for its control are important. An abiotic metal ion ligand in a protein offers the prospect of control of the oligomeric state, if a selectivity over binding to the native side chains can be achieved. Insulin binds Zn(II) to form a hexamer, which is important for its storage in vivo and in drug formulations. We have re-engineered an insulin variant to control its self-assembly by covalent attachment of 2,2'-bipyridine. The use of Fe(II) provided chemoselective binding over the native site, forming a homotrimer in a reversible manner, which was easily followed by the characteristic color of the Fe(II) complex. This provided the first well-defined insulin trimer and the first insulin variant for which self-assembly can be followed visually.     

Combination of fluid and solid mechanical stresses contribute to cell death and detachment in a microfluidic alveolar model

Studies using this micro-system demonstrated significant morphological differences between alveolar epithelial cells (transformed human alveolar epithelial cell line, A549 and primary murine alveolar epithelial cells, AECs) exposed to combination of solid mechanical and surface-tension stresses (cyclic propagation of air-liquid interface and wall stretch) compared to cell populations exposed solely to cyclic stretch. We have also measured significant differences in both cell death and cell detachment rates in cell monolayers experiencing combination of stresses. This research describes new tools for studying the combined effects of fluid mechanical and solid mechanical stress on alveolar cells. It also highlights the role that surface tension forces may play in the development of clinical pathology, especially under conditions of surfactant dysfunction. The results support the need for further research and improved understanding on techniques to reduce and eliminate fluid stresses in clinical settings.     

Multiplexed inkjet functionalization of silicon photonic biosensors

The transformative potential of silicon photonics for chip-scale biosensing is limited primarily by the inability to selectively functionalize and exploit the extraordinary density of integrated optical devices on this platform. Silicon biosensors, such as the microring resonator, can be routinely fabricated to occupy a footprint of less than 50 × 50 μm; however, chemically addressing individual devices has proven to be a significant challenge due to their small size and alignment requirements. Herein, we describe a non-contact piezoelectric (inkjet) method for the rapid and efficient printing of bioactive proteins, glycoproteins and neoglycoconjugates onto a high-density silicon microring resonator biosensor array. This approach demonstrates the scalable fabrication of multiplexed silicon photonic biosensors for lab-on-a-chip applications, and is further applicable to the functionalization of any semiconductor-based biosensor chip.     

The 5v 3 bands of 18O enriched ozone: line positions of 16O16O18O, 16O18O16O, 16O18O18O and 18O16O18O

The four 5v ₃ bands of ¹⁸O enriched ozone have been observed and analysed for the first time. Two species (¹⁶O¹⁸O¹⁶O and ¹⁸O¹⁶O¹⁸O) belong to the C_2v symmetry group and two other (¹⁸O¹⁸O¹⁶O and ¹⁶O¹⁶O¹⁸O) to the C_s symmetry group. They have been recorded at a resolution of 0.008 cm^?1 with a pathlength of 32.16 m. Despite the very weak absorptions observed, almost 250 energy levels have been derived for each of the 4 species, with J ? 35 and K _a ? 13, and suitable sets of Hamiltonian parameters have been determined. For 3 species it has been necessary to account for the resonance between the (005) and (311) states to correctly reproduce the spectra observed. These resonances, anharmonic for C_2v, and hybrid (both anhar-monic and Coriolis) for C_s symmetry confirm the accidentally extremely strong coupling between the (005) and (311) states for ¹⁶O₃, due in that case to the very close distance between unperturbed energy levels. This work also confirms the excellent prediction of band centres of these four species derived from the recently determined isotopically invariant molecular potential function.     

The vertical spectrum of H2CO revisited: (SC)2-CI and CC calculations

The vertical electronic spectrum of formaldehyde has been studied by means of (SC)²-MR-SDCI and CCLR methods. Two basis sets of atomic natural orbitals (ANOs) complemented with a one-centre series of Rydberg orbitals were used. The first was taken from the CASPT2 study by Merchán, M., and Roos, B. O., 1995, Theoret. Chim. Acta, 92, 221, and may be described as C,O[4s3pld]/H[2slp] with a lslpld Rydberg series centred in the charge centroid of the ²B₂ state of the cation. The second was a larger basis set that may be described as C,O[6s5p3d2f]/H[4s3p2d] + 3s3p3d in the same centre. The (SC)² dressing may be applied efficiently to an MR-SDCI method and comparison with the dressed CAS-SDCI is satisfactory, in spite of the remarkable reduction in the CI space dimension. The consistency of the (SC)²-MR-SDCI results was tested also against the CCLR and CASPT2 results using the same basis sets and against the CCLR results using Dunning's aug- and daug-cc-pVQZ basis sets. The ³A₁(π → π *) state is correctly placed as the second excited triplet while the highly multi-configurational nature of the ¹A₁(π → π *) state is confirmed as well as its greatly mixed valence-Rydberg nature. This state is predicted as lying under the 10 eV level, on top of the (n_y → 3d) Rydberg states that are predicted in the 8.9–9.5eV region. The 5 ¹B₂(n^y → 4s) Rydberg state and the ¹B₂(σ_y → π*) also are predicted in this region. The triplet states also were calculated with the (SC)²-MR-SDCI method. The vertical ordering of the 2 ¹A₁(n_y → 3p_y) and 2 ¹B₂(n_y → 3p_z) states is discussed, as well as that of the ¹B₁(σ → π*) and the Rydberg ¹B₁(n_y → 3d_xy) states. This work shows the highly reliable values that may be reached applying the dressing method along with a large basis set. Such a procedure is made possible using an MR-SDCI selection of spaces instead of the CAS-SDCI that was used up to now in most (SC)² dressing applications.     

Virial coefficients and equations of state for mixtures of hard discs,hard spheres and hard hyperspheres

The composition-independent virial coefficients of a d-dimensional binary mixture of (additive) hard hyperspheres following from a recent proposal for the equation of state of the mixture (Santos, A., Yuste, S. B., and López de Haro, M., 1999, Molec. Phys., 96, 1) are examined. Good agreement between theoretical estimates and available exact or numerical results is found for d = 2, 3, 4 and 5, except for mixtures whose components are very disparate in size. A slight modification that remedies this deficiency is introduced and the resummation of the associated virial series is carried out, leading to a new proposal for the equation of state. The case of binary hard sphere mixtures (d = 3) is analysed in some detail.     

Ferrimagnetic coupling in oxamido-bridged Mn(II)Cu(II) compounds: a combined CASPT2 and DDCI study

Multiconfigurational perturbation theory (CASPT2) and difference dedicated configuration interaction (DDCI) are applied to study the ferrimagnetic coupling in an oxamido-bridged Mn(II)Cu(II) molecular species. CASPT2 reproduces the experimental coupling very well. From the partition of the CASPT2 energy, the most important contributions to the coupling are established. Spin populations are calculated with DDCI. The successive improvement of the N-electron wave function allows us to analyse the contributions to the spin delocalization.