The GARDpotency Assay for Potency-Associated Subclassification of Chemical Skin Sensitizers-Rationale, Method Development, and Ring Trial Results of Predictive Performance and Reproducibility.

Proactive identification and characterization of hazards attributable to chemicals are central aspects of risk assessments. Current legislations and trends in predictive toxicology advocate a transition from in vivo methods to nonanimal alternatives. For skin sensitization assessment, several OECD validated alternatives exist for hazard identification, but nonanimal methods capable of accurately characterizing the risks associated with sensitizing potency are still lacking.

Novel nano-sized MR contrast agent mediates strong tumor contrast enhancement in an oncogene-driven breast cancer model.

The current study was carried out to test the potential of a new nanomaterial (Spago Pix) as a macromolecular magnetic MR contrast agent for tumor detection and to verify the presence of nanomaterial in tumor tissue. Spago Pix, synthesized by Spago Nanomedical AB, is a nanomaterial with a globular shape, an average hydrodynamic diameter of 5 nm, and a relaxivity (r1) of approximately 30 (mM Mn)-1 s-1 (60 MHz). The material consists of an organophosphosilane hydrogel with strongly chelated manganese (II) ions and a covalently attached PEG surface layer.

Transmembrane topology of the Acr3 family arsenite transporter from Bacillus subtilis.

The transmembrane topology of the Acr3 family arsenite transporter Acr3 from Bacillus subtilis was analysed experimentally using translational fusions with alkaline phosphatase and green fluorescent protein and in silico by topology modelling. Initial topology prediction resulted in two models with 9 and 10 TM helices respectively. 32 fusion constructs were made between truncated forms of acr3 and the reporter genes at 17 different sites throughout the acr3 sequence to discriminate between these models.