High-Throughput Screening Assay for Detecting Drug-Induced Changes in Synchronized Neuronal Oscillations and Potential Seizure Risk Based on Ca Fluorescence Measurements in Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell (hiPSC)-Derived Neuronal 2D and 3D Cultures.

Drug-induced seizure liability is a significant safety issue and the basis for attrition in drug development. Occurrence in late development results in increased costs, human risk, and delayed market availability of novel therapeutics. Therefore, there is an urgent need for biologically relevant, in vitro high-throughput screening assays (HTS) to predict potential risks for drug-induced seizure early in drug discovery.

Determination of Lycopene Concentration in Fresh Tomatoes by Spectrophotometry: A Collaborative Study.

Background: Lycopene has been the object of considerable research attention recently, and the effects of the intake of lycopene, or of tomato products, have been studied in various ways. In Japan, interest in the health-promoting function of food components has increased.

Objective: Developing a method to determine lycopene contents in tomato that meets the Japanese Agricultural Standard (JAS).

[Development and performance evaluation of a GC-FPD method for quantification of ethephon in feeds].

An analytical method of ethephon in feeds by GC-FPD was developed. Ethephon was extracted with ethyl acetate-hydrochloric acid (100 : 1) from feed samples. The extract was treated with added trimethylsilyldiazomethane in acetone-acetic acid (99 : 1) and this methylation procedure was repeated three times.

Engineering of ligand specificity of periplasmic binding protein for glucose sensing.

A novel glucose-sensing molecule was created based on galactose/glucose-binding protein (GGBP). GGBP mutants at Asp14, a residue interacting with the 4th hydroxyl group of the sugar molecule, were constructed by mutagenesis to improve the ligand specificity of GGBP. The autofluorescence-based analysis of the binding abilities of these engineered GGBPs showed that the GGBP mutants Asp14Asn and Asp14Glu bound only to glucose in a concentration-dependent manner, without being affected by the presence of galactose.