CellWalker: a user-friendly and modular computational pipeline for morphological analysis of microscopy images.

Summary: The implementation of computational tools for analysis of microscopy images has been one of the most important technological innovations in biology, providing researchers unmatched capabilities to comprehend cell shape and connectivity. While numerous tools exist for image annotation and segmentation, there is a noticeable gap when it comes to morphometric analysis of microscopy images. Most existing tools often measure features solely on 2D serial images, which can be difficult to extrapolate to 3D.

3D reconstruction of the cerebellar germinal layer reveals tunneling connections between developing granule cells.

The difficulty of retrieving high-resolution, in vivo evidence of the proliferative and migratory processes occurring in neural germinal zones has limited our understanding of neurodevelopmental mechanisms. Here, we used a connectomic approach using a high-resolution, serial-sectioning scanning electron microscopy volume to investigate the laminar cytoarchitecture of the transient external granular layer (EGL) of the developing cerebellum, where granule cells coordinate a series of mitotic and migratory events. By integrating image segmentation, three-dimensional reconstruction, and deep-learning approaches, we found and characterized anatomically complex intercellular connections bridging pairs of cerebellar granule cells throughout the EGL.

l-Dopa and dopamine conjugated naphthalenediimides modulate amyloid β toxicity.

The process of protein misfolding and aggregation to form neurotoxic species is strongly implicated in most of the neurodegenerative disorders. In particular, amyloid beta (Aβ) misfolding and aggregation is central to pathophysiological processes of Alzheimer's disease. The development of aggregation modulators has enormous implications in the discovery of effective therapeutic agents for Alzheimer's disease.

Conformational heterogeneity in tails of DNA-binding proteins is augmented by proline containing repeats.

A cationic terminal extension or tail is a common feature of many DNA-binding proteins. We show that a particular type of tail rich in proline, alanine and lysine belongs to the class of 'flexible disorder' and consists of characteristic pentapeptide repeats. Our designed peptides, (AAKKA) and (PAKKA), represent the tails of several bacterial DNA-binding proteins.

Crystallographic insight-guided nanoarchitectonics and conductivity modulation of an n-type organic semiconductor through peptide conjugation.

Crystallographic insight-guided nanoarchitectonics of peptide-conjugated naphthalene diimide (NDI) is described. In a bio-inspired approach, non-proteinogenic α-amino isobutyric acid (Aib)- and alanine (Ala)-derived peptides orchestrated the 1D achiral and 2D chiral molecular ordering of NDI, respectively, which resulted in modulation of nanoscale morphology, chiroptical and conductivity properties.