Quantitative analysis of autophagic flux by confocal pH-imaging of autophagic intermediates.

Although numerous techniques have been developed to monitor autophagy and to probe its cellular functions, these methods cannot evaluate in sufficient detail the autophagy process, and suffer limitations from complex experimental setups and/or systematic errors. Here we developed a method to image, contextually, the number and pH of autophagic intermediates by using the probe mRFP-GFP-LC3B as a ratiometric pH sensor. This information is expressed functionally by AIPD, the pH distribution of the number of autophagic intermediates per cell.

Mapping viscoelastic properties of healthy and pathological red blood cells at the nanoscale level.

In order to pass through the microcirculation, red blood cells (RBCs) need to undergo extensive deformations and to recover the original shape. This extreme deformability is altered by various pathological conditions. On the other hand, an altered RBC deformability can have major effects on blood flow and can lead to pathological implications.

Controlling DNA Bundle Size and Spatial Arrangement in Self-assembled Arrays on Superhydrophobic Surface.

The use of superhydrophobic surfaces (SHSs) is now emerging as an attractive platform for the realization of one-dimensional (1D) nanostructures with potential applications in many nanotechnological and biotechnological fields. To this purpose, a strict control of the nanostructures size and their spatial arrangement is highly required. However, these parameters may be strongly dependent on the complex evaporation dynamics of the sessile droplet on the SHS.

Self-assembling of large ordered DNA arrays using superhydrophobic patterned surfaces.

In this paper we present a simple and robust method to realize highly ordered arrays of stretched and suspended DNA molecules over the millimeter length scale. To this end we used an ad hoc designed superhydrophobic surface made of high aspect-ratio silicon pillars, where we deposited a droplet containing genomic DNA. A precise positioning of DNA strands was achieved by shaping the silicon pillars so that sharpened features resembling tips were included.

Possible relationship between Al/ferritin complex and Alzheimer's disease.

Objectives: Ferritin is the main iron-storage protein capable of containing thousands of iron atoms. However, ferritin can bind in vitro other atoms such as aluminum and it has been shown that also in vivo atoms other than iron, as aluminum and zinc, are present in large amounts in ferritin. Since aluminum appears to be involved in the development of Alzheimer's disease, in the present study the specific content of aluminum in ferritin of Alzheimer's patients was analyzed and compared with other control groups.