Predictive Modelling in Clinical Bioinformatics: Key Concepts for Startups.

Clinical bioinformatics is a newly emerging field that applies bioinformatics techniques for facilitating the identification of diseases, discovery of biomarkers, and therapy decision. Mathematical modelling is part of bioinformatics analysis pipelines and a fundamental step to extract clinical insights from genomes, transcriptomes and proteomes of patients. Often, the chosen modelling techniques relies on either statistical, machine learning or deterministic approaches.

MALDI-ToF Mass Spectra Phenomic Analysis for Human Disease Diagnosis Enabled by Cutting-Edge Data Processing Pipelines and Bioinformatics Tools.

Current methods for diagnosing human disease are still incapable of rapidly and accurately screening for multiple diseases simultaneously on a large scale, and at an affordable price. MALDI-ToF mass spectrometry is an ultra-sensitive, ultra-fast, lowcost, high-throughput technology that has the potential to achieve this goal, allowing human phenotype characterization and thus phenomic screening for multiple disease states. In this review, we will discuss the main advances achieved so far, putting forward targeted applications of MALDI-ToF mass spectrometry in the service of human disease detection.

Simulation of multiple microenvironments shows a pivot role of RPTPs on the control of Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition.

Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) is a natural and reversible process involved in embryogenesis, wound healing and thought to participate in the process of metastasis. Multiple signals from the microenvironment have been reported to drive EMT. However, the tight control of this process on physiological scenarios and how it is disrupted during cancer progression is not fully understood.

Predicting the evolution and control of the COVID-19 pandemic in Portugal.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a worldwide pandemic that has been affecting Portugal since 2 March 2020. The Portuguese government has been making efforts to contradict the exponential growth through lockdown, social distancing and the usage of masks. However, these measures have been implemented without controlling the compliance degree and how much is necessary to achieve an effective control.

Bioinformatic identification of euploid and aneuploid embryo secretome signatures in IVF culture media based on MALDI-ToF mass spectrometry.

Purpose: Embryo genotyping in IVF clinics aims to identify aneuploid embryos, and current methodologies rely on costly, invasive and time-consuming approaches such as PGT-A screening. MALDI-ToF-based mass spectral analysis of embryo culture has been demonstrated to be a non-invasive, affordable and accurate technique that is able to capture secretome profiles from embryo culture media extremely quick. Thus, aneuploid embryo genotypes can be distinguished from euploids from these profiles towards the development of novel embryo selection tools.

Copper-substituted forms of the wild type and C42A variant of rubredoxin.

In order to gain insights into the interplay between Cu(I) and Cu(II) in sulfur-rich protein environments, the first preparation and characterization of copper-substituted forms of the wild-type rubredoxin (Rd) from Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough are reported, as well as those of its variant C42A-Rd. The initial products appear to be tetrahedral Cu(I)(S-Cys)n species for the wild type (n=4) and the variant C42A (n=3, with an additional unidentified ligand). These species are unstable to aerial oxidation to products, whose properties are consistent with square planar Cu(II)(S-Cys)n species.