Chemistry, Crystal Structure, and Receptor Binding of Δ10-THC Isomers.

The psychoactive properties of Δ10-THC isomers ( and Δ10-THC) are poorly understood. To shed more light on the biological effects of these compounds, we studied receptor binding of Δ10-THC isomers at cannabinoid CB1 and CB2 receptors. We first optimized and simplified catalytic synthesis of and Δ10-THC to allow their safe and cheap large-scale synthesis.

Single-Laboratory Validation of an Immunoaffinity Column Cleanup LC Method for the Analysis of Aflatoxins and Ochratoxin A in Cannabis Plant Material, Resins, Vapes, Isolates, and Edible Products.

Background: Potential fungal infection of cannabis plants during drying has raised concerns of resulting mycotoxin contamination in leaves and flowers and subsequent contamination of derived products including cannabis-containing edible products. Validated routine methods are essential to monitor cannabis and cannabis products to ensure consumer safety consistent with long-standing controls for mycotoxins such as aflatoxins and ochratoxin A in foodstuffs.

Objective: To provide single-laboratory validation data to demonstrate the suitability of a method for determining aflatoxins and ochratoxin A in cannabis plant material, resins, vapes, isolates, and edible products such as chocolate.

Construction of Modular Lentiviral Vectors for Effective Gene Expression and Knockdown.

Elucidating gene function is heavily reliant on the ability to modulate gene expression in biological model systems. Although transient expression systems can provide useful information about the biological outcome resulting from short-term gene overexpression or silencing, methods providing stable integration of desired expression constructs (cDNA or RNA interference) are often preferred for functional studies. To this end, lentiviral vectors offer the ability to deliver long-term and regulated gene expression to mammalian cells, including the expression of gene targeting small hairpin RNAs (shRNAmirs).