High content organelle trafficking enables disease state profiling as powerful tool for disease modelling.

Neurodegenerative diseases pose a complex field with various neuronal subtypes and distinct differentially affected intra-neuronal compartments. Modelling of neurodegeneration requires faithful in vitro separation of axons and dendrites, their distal and proximal compartments as well as organelle tracking with defined retrograde versus anterograde directionality. We use microfluidic chambers to achieve compartmentalization and established high throughput live organelle imaging at standardized distal and proximal axonal readout sites in iPSC-derived spinal motor neuron cultures from human amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients to study trafficking phenotypes of potential disease relevance.

Regulation of endothelial migration and proliferation by ephrin-A1.

Endothelial migration and proliferation are fundamental processes in angiogenesis and wound healing of injured or inflamed vessels. The present study aimed to investigate the regulation of the Eph/ephrin-system during endothelial proliferation and the impact of the ligand ephrin-A1 on proliferation and migration of human umbilical venous (HUVEC) and arterial endothelial cells (HUAEC). Endothelial cells that underwent contact inhibition showed a massive induction of ephrin-A1.

Convective instability in a liquid-liquid system due to complexation with a crown ether.

Periodic convective instability has been observed in a biphasic system during the complexation reaction of alkali picrate and dicyclohexano-18-crown-6 which undergoes mass transfer from the hexane phase into the aqueous phase. The convection was visualized by means of precipitated crystals that are formed in both phases by the complexation reaction. The fluid motion was observed with an optical microscope and further analyzed with the particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique.

Molecularly smooth cellulose surfaces for adhesion studies.

Cellulose is deposited on silicon wafer surfaces via spin coating from a solution of cellulose in dimethylacetamide (+7% lithium chloride). The resulting cellulose layers were analyzed by ellipsometry, AFM, FTIR, ICP-MS, X-ray reflectivity, and contact angle measurements. For cellulose concentrations below 0.

Interaction forces between cellulose microspheres and ultrathin cellulose films monitored by colloidal probe microscopy-effect of wet strength agents.

Colloidal probe microscopy was employed to study forces between cellulose surfaces upon addition of a series of cationic copolymers in aqueous solution, as model compounds for wet strength agents. The content of quaternary ammonium groups and primary amines was systematically varied in the cationic polymers, to distinguish between the importance of electrostatical and H-bonding effects. Cellulose microspheres were glued at the apex of tipless microfabricated cantilevers and used as colloidal probes.

Carotenoids and their metabolites are naturally occurring activators of gene expression via the pregnane X receptor.

Carotenoids are important micronutrients in the human diet and are present in human serum at micromolar concentrations. In addition to their antioxidant potential, carotenoids obtain physiologically relevant properties such as influencing cellular signal pathways, gene expression or induction of detoxifying enzymes. In this study, we determined the transactivation of PXR by cotransfection with the full-length receptor and a PXR-responsive reporter gene.