The Effect of Electrostatic Interactions on the Folding Kinetics of a 3-α-Helical Bundle Protein Family.

The trio of protein segment repeats called spectrins diverges by more than 2 orders of magnitude in their folding and unfolding rates, despite having very similar stabilities and almost coincidental topologies. Experimental studies revealed that the mutation of five particular residues dramatically alters the kinetic rates in the slow folders, making them similar to the rates of the fast folder. This is considered to be an exceptional behavior which seems in principle to challenge the current understanding of the protein folding process.

The uniqueness of the message in a retinal ganglion cell spike train and its implication for retinal prostheses.

We sought to determine whether the messages conveyed in the spike trains of individual retinal ganglion cells are unique or whether, as has been reported for other neurons, they depend in some way on a neuron's state. Our data show convincingly that the messages are unique.

Fabrication and characterization of iron oxide ceramic membranes for arsenic removal.

Nanoscale iron oxide particles were synthesized and deposited on porous alumina tubes to develop tubular ceramic adsorbers for the removal of arsenic, which is an extremely toxic contaminant even in very low concentrations. Its natural presence affects rural and low-income populations in developing countries in Latin America and around the world, which makes it essential to develop a user-friendly, low energy demanding and low cost treatment technology. The fabricated ceramic membranes can be operated with minimal trans-membrane pressure difference and do not require pumping.