Spatiotemporal functional assembly of split protein pairs through a light-activated SpyLigation.

Proteins provide essential functional regulation of many bioprocesses across all scales of life; however, new techniques to specifically modulate protein activity within living systems and in engineered biomaterials are needed to better interrogate fundamental cell signalling and guide advanced decisions of biological fate. Here we establish a generalizable strategy to rapidly and irreversibly activate protein function with full spatiotemporal control. Through the development of a genetically encoded and light-activated SpyLigation (LASL), bioactive proteins can be stably reassembled from non-functional split fragment pairs following brief exposure (typically minutes) to cytocompatible light.

Organotypic whole hemisphere brain slice models to study the effects of donor age and oxygen-glucose-deprivation on the extracellular properties of cortical and striatal tissue.

Background: The brain extracellular environment is involved in many critical processes associated with neurodevelopment, neural function, and repair following injury. Organization of the extracellular matrix and properties of the extracellular space vary throughout development and across different brain regions, motivating the need for platforms that provide access to multiple brain regions at different stages of development. We demonstrate the utility of organotypic whole hemisphere brain slices as a platform to probe regional and developmental changes in the brain extracellular environment.

Effect of Azide Preservative on Thermomechanical Aggregation of Purified Reference Protein Materials.

Protein aggregation can affect the quality of protein-based therapeutics. Attempting to unravel factors influencing protein aggregation involves systematic studies. These studies often include sodium azide or similar preservatives in the aggregation buffer.

Nanoparticle-microglial interaction in the ischemic brain is modulated by injury duration and treatment.

Cerebral ischemia is a major cause of death in both neonates and adults, and currently has no cure. Nanotechnology represents one promising area of therapeutic development for cerebral ischemia due to the ability of nanoparticles to overcome biological barriers in the brain. ex vivo injury models have emerged as a high-throughput alternative that can recapitulate disease processes and enable nanoscale probing of the brain microenvironment.