Publications by authors named "Lalitha Muthusubramaniam"

Keloids are locally exuberant dermal scars characterized by excessive fibroblast proliferation and matrix accumulation. Although treatment strategies include surgical removal and intralesional steroid injections, an effective regimen is yet to be established due to a high rate of recurrence. The regressing center and growing margin of the keloid have different collagen architecture and also differ in the rate of proliferation.

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In this study, we investigated how matrix nanotopography affects corneal fibroblast phenotype and matrix synthesis. To this end, corneal fibroblasts isolated from bovine corneas were grown on collagen nanofiber scaffolds of different diameters and alignment--30 nm aligned fibrils (30A), 300 nm or larger aligned fibrils (300A), and 30 nm nonaligned fibrils (30NA) in comparison with collagen coated flat glass substrates (FC). Cell morphology was visualized using confocal microscopy.

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Silicon membranes with highly uniform nanopore sizes fabricated using microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology allow for the development of miniaturized implants such as those needed for renal replacement therapies. However, the blood compatibility of silicon has thus far been an unresolved issue in the use of these substrates in implantable biomedical devices. We report the results of hemocompatibility studies using bare silicon, polysilicon, and modified silicon substrates.

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3',5'-Cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) is a common intracellular second messenger that enables cells to respond to external stimuli. Measurement of intracellular cAMP concentrations is thus widely used for studying guanosine triphosphate binding protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), which make up a large class of pharmaceutical drug targets. Although several assay technologies exist to measure cAMP, most are not suitable for ultra-high-throughput screening (uHTS), as is often required for screening large (greater than 1 million) chemical libraries for the identification of suitable leads for drug development.

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A high-throughput robotic system has been developed for crystallizing membrane proteins using lipidic mesophases. It incorporates commercially available components and is relatively inexpensive. The crystallization robot uses standard automated liquid-handlers and a specially built device for accurately and reproducibly delivering nanolitre volumes of highly viscous protein/lipid mesophases.

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