Partitioning of amino acids and proteins into decanol using phase transfer agents towards understanding life in non-polar liquids.

Water has many roles in the context of life on Earth, however throughout the universe, other liquids may be able to support the emergence of life. We looked at the ability of amino acids, peptides, a depsipeptide, and proteins to partition into a non-polar decanol phase, with and without the addition of a phase transfer agent. Partitioning evaluated using UV detection, or with HPLC coupled to either charged aerosol detection or ESI-MS.

Comparison of AS03 and Alum on immune responses elicited by A/H3N2 split influenza vaccine in young, mature and aged BALB/c mice.

Introduction: There is great interest in developing more effective influenza vaccines for the elderly. Oil-in-water adjuvants can boost humoral responses to seasonal vaccines in elderly subjects but relatively little is known about their mechanism of action.

Methods: We compared humoral and cellular immune profiles in young adult (2 months), mature (11-12 months) or aged (16-17 month) female BALB/c mice following two doses of Alum or AS03-adjuvanted A/H3N2 split-virus antigen (A/Uruguay/716/2007) at 0.