A few notes on science in Ukraine.

As a person who has had a long scientific career in Ukraine, both before and after its re-acquisition of independence thirty years ago, I would like to share my observations with the readership of this Special Issue. By no means are these observations meant to provide a systematic presentation, which requires a different format. Rather, they are highly personal notes, providing snippets of the past and present and a discussion of the future of Ukrainian science.

The eEF1 family of mammalian translation elongation factors.

The eEF1 family of mammalian translation elongation factors is comprised of the two variants of eEF1A (eEF1A1 and eEF1A2), and the eEF1B complex. The latter consists of eEF1Bα, eEF1Bβ, and eEF1Bγ subunits. The two eEF1A variants have similar translation activity but may differ with respect to their secondary, "moonlighting" functions.

Quaternary organization of the human eEF1B complex reveals unique multi-GEF domain assembly.

Protein synthesis in eukaryotic cell is spatially and structurally compartmentalized that ensures high efficiency of this process. One of the distinctive features of higher eukaryotes is the existence of stable multi-protein complexes of aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases and translation elongation factors. Here, we report a quaternary organization of the human guanine-nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) complex, eEF1B, comprising α, β and γ subunits that specifically associate into a heterotrimeric form eEF1B(αβγ)3.

Sensor Based on Molecularly Imprinted Polymer Membranes and Smartphone for Detection of Contamination in Cereals.

The combination of the generic mobile technology and inherent stability, versatility and cost-effectiveness of the synthetic receptors allows producing optical sensors for potentially any analyte of interest, and, therefore, to qualify as a platform technology for a fast routine analysis of a large number of contaminated samples. To support this statement, we present here a novel miniature sensor based on a combination of molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) membranes and a smartphone, which could be used for the point-of-care detection of an important food contaminant, oestrogen-like toxin zearalenone associated with contamination of cereals. The detection is based on registration of natural fluorescence of zearalenone using a digital smartphone camera after it binds to the sensor recognition element.

Development of a smartphone-based biomimetic sensor for aflatoxin B1 detection using molecularly imprinted polymer membranes.

A novel smartphone-based optical biomimetic sensor based on free-standing molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) membranes was developed for rapid and sensitive point-of-care detection of aflatoxin B1. The developed MIP membranes were capable of selective recognition of the target analyte and, at the same time, of generation of a fluorimetric sensor response, which could be registered using the camera of a smartphone and analysed using image analysis. The developed system provides a possibility of synchronous detection of aflatoxin B1 in 96 channels.