Semi-Automatic Tool for Vitiligo Detection and Analysis.

Vitiligo vulgaris is an autoimmune disease which causes a strong reduction of the cells producing melanin, which is the main skin pigment. This results in the growth of white patches on patients' skin, which are more or less visible, depending on the skin phototype. Precise, objective and fast detection of vitiligo patches would be crucial to produce statistically relevant data on huge populations, thus giving an insight on the disease.

Development of Small Molecular Proteasome Inhibitors Using a Caenorhabditis elegans Screen.

We have developed a screening protocol to identify compounds with characteristics of small molecule proteasome inhibitors using the real-time analysis of the Caenorhabditis elegans germ line. This screen is able to identify compounds that induce germ line phenotypes characteristic of a reduction in proteasome function such as changes in polarity, aberrant nuclear morphology, and stimulation of apoptosis. This basic protocol is amenable to a high throughput (96-well) format and has been used successfully to identify multiple compounds for further analysis based on structural elements from the naturally occurring compounds lactacystin and the β-lactone homologs omuralide and salinosporamide A.