Revealing chemistry-structure-function relationships in shark vertebrae across length scales.

Shark cartilage presents a complex material composed of collagen, proteoglycans, and bioapatite. In the present study, we explored the link between microstructure, chemical composition, and biomechanical function of shark vertebral cartilage using Polarized Light Microscopy (PLM), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Confocal Raman Microspectroscopy, and Nanoindentation. Our investigation focused on vertebrae from Blacktip and Shortfin Mako sharks.

Synchrotron-based X-ray fluorescence microscopy mapping the ionome of a toxic freshwater cyanobacterium.

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) pose a major environmental concern across the globe. In abundance, cyanobacteria, or so-called green-blue algae can produce extremely dangerous cyanotoxins that harm humans and animals. This study focused on the mapping and distribution of intracellular macro-and micronutrients of the wide-spread freshwater cyanobacteria Microcystis aeruginosa (M.

On stars and spikes: Resolving the skeletal morphology of planktonic Acantharia using synchrotron X-ray nanotomography and deep learning image segmentation.

Acantharia (Acantharea) are wide-spread marine protozoa, presenting one of the rare examples of strontium sulfate mineralization in the biosphere. Their endoskeletons consist of 20 spicules arranged according to a unique geometric pattern named Müller's principle. Given the diverse mineral architecture of the Acantharia class, we set out to examine the complex three-dimensional skeletal morphology at the nanometer scale using synchrotron X-ray nanotomography, followed by image segmentation based on deep learning methods.

Effects of zinc and carnosine on aggregation kinetics of Amyloid-β40 peptide.

The accumulation and amyloid formation of amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides is closely associated with the pathology of Alzheimer's disease. The physiological environment wherein Aβ aggregation happens is crowded with a large variety of metal ions including Zn. In this study, we investigated the role of Zn in regulating the aggregation kinetics of Aβ40 peptide.

A Flexible Strategy for Modular Synthesis of Curcuminoid-BF /Curcuminoid Pairs and Their Comparative Antiproliferative Activity in Human Cancer Cell Lines.

A facile protocol that enables synthetic interconversion of CUR-BF and CUR compounds is described that significantly widens the preparative scope of curcuminoids, providing access to larger libraries of compounds, thus enabling comparative antiproliferative and apoptotic study of a larger library of synthetic analogs in cancer cell lines.