Soft Robotics Commercialization: Jamming Grippers from Research to Product.

Recent work in the growing field of soft robotics has demonstrated a number of very promising technologies. However, to make a significant impact in real-world applications, these new technologies must first transition out of the laboratory through successful commercialization. Commercialization is perhaps the most critical future milestone facing the field of soft robotics today, and this process will reveal whether the apparent impact we now perceive has been appropriately estimated.

Laminin-5 promotes neurite outgrowth from central and peripheral chick embryonic neurons.

Laminin-5 (Ln-5) is an essential component of epithelial basal laminae that is also expressed in the developing nervous system. Here we use a convenient, simple and reproducible in vitro fluorescent assay to assess the neurite outgrowth promoting activity of purified Ln-5. Embryonic chick neurons from dorsal root ganglia, ciliary ganglia, and (to a lesser extent) retina extended neurites on Ln-5, but the neurite outgrowth promoting activity was not as great as that of Ln-1 or Ln-2.

Safety and immunogenicity of adjuvanted and unadjuvanted subunit influenza vaccines administered intranasally to healthy adults.

Antigen-specific mucosal immunity is thought to be important for protection against influenza virus infection. Currently licensed parenteral influenza vaccines stimulate the production of serum antibodies, but are poor inducers of mucosal immunity. The adjuvant MF59 has been shown to enhance the humoral immune response to parenteral influenza vaccine in humans and the mucosal immune response to intranasally-administered influenza vaccine in mice.

sck1, a high copy number suppressor of defects in the cAMP-dependent protein kinase pathway in fission yeast, encodes a protein homologous to the Saccharomyces cerevisiae SCH9 kinase.

Schizosaccharomyces pombe regulates intracellular cAMP levels, and thus cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) activity, in response to changes in nutrient conditions. Mutations in any of eight git genes inhibit glucose repression of fbp1 transcription, alter the cell morphology, and cause a reduction in the growth rate. The eight git genes encode components of an adenylate cyclase activation pathway, adenylate cyclase itself, and the catalytic subunit of PKA.

Regulation of integrin affinity states through an NPXY motif in the beta subunit cytoplasmic domain.

The ligand binding affinities of the integrins are regulated through their cytoplasmic domains. To identify specific residues that are involved in this process, we have generated mutants in the beta 1 and beta 3 tails and coexpressed them in Chinese hamster ovary cells with constitutively active alpha subunits. These alpha subunits are chimera of extra-cellular and transmembrane alpha IIb joined to the cytoplasmic domains of alpha 5, alpha 6A, or alpha 6B and confer an energy-dependent high affinity state when expressed in Chinese hamster ovary cells.