Tunneling Nanotubes and Gap Junctions-Their Role in Long-Range Intercellular Communication during Development, Health, and Disease Conditions.

Cell-to-cell communication is essential for the organization, coordination, and development of cellular networks and multi-cellular systems. Intercellular communication is mediated by soluble factors (including growth factors, neurotransmitters, and cytokines/chemokines), gap junctions, exosomes and recently described tunneling nanotubes (TNTs). It is unknown whether a combination of these communication mechanisms such as TNTs and gap junctions may be important, but further research is required.

Centrifugal partition chromatography in a biorefinery context: Optimisation and scale-up of monosaccharide fractionation from hydrolysed sugar beet pulp.

The isolation of component sugars from biomass represents an important step in the bioprocessing of sustainable feedstocks such as sugar beet pulp. Centrifugal partition chromatography (CPC) is used here, as an alternative to multiple resin chromatography steps, to fractionate component monosaccharides from crude hydrolysed sugar beet pulp pectin. CPC separation of samples, prepared in the stationary phase, was carried out using an ethanol: ammonium sulphate (300gL) phase system (0.

Scalable technology for the extraction of pharmaceutics: outcomes from a 3 year collaborative industry/academia research programme.

This paper reports on some of the key outcomes of a 3 year £1.5m Technology Strategy Board (TSB) funded research programme to develop a small footprint, versatile, counter-current chromatography purification technology and methodology which can be operated at a range of scales in both batch and continuous modes and that can be inserted into existing process plant and systems. Our consortium, integrates technology providers (Dynamic Extractions) and the scientific development team (Brunel) with end user needs (GSK & Pfizer), addressing major production challenges aimed at providing flexible, low capital platform technology driving substantial cost efficiency in both drug development and drug manufacturing processes.

Scalable Technology for the Extraction of Pharmaceutics (STEP): the transition from academic knowhow to industrial reality.

This paper addresses the technological readiness of counter-current chromatography (CCC) instruments to become platform technology for the pharmaceutical industry. It charts the development of the prototype technology since its inception in 1966, through conceptual improvements in the 1980s that led to higher speed separations in hours as opposed to days. It then describes the engineering improvements that have led to the development of high performance counter-current chromatography with the potential for scale-up to process scale for manufacturing products in industry with separation times in minutes rather than hours.