Inhibiting the inhibitors: Targeting anti-apoptotic proteins in cancer and therapy resistance.

The cytotoxic effect of anti-cancer drugs relies on their ability to induce programmed cell death known as apoptosis. Evading apoptosis is a common characteristic of cancer cells and it is linked to both carcinogenesis and anticancer drug resistance. To escape apoptosis, cancer cells often express high levels of anti-apoptotic proteins and become "addicted "to them for their survival.

10 Gbit/s optical wavelength converter with a Brillouin scattering-based spectral filter.

For the first time, to our knowledge, a highly robust, high-bit-rate (10 Gbit/s) wavelength converter that is based on a narrow Brillouin filter is reported. The conversion takes place in a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) in a cross-gain-phase process. The SOA operates in a weak-modulation mode, and the exiting signal undergoes a dc reduction with a narrow spectral filter.