A Highly Automated Mobile Laboratory for On-site Molecular Diagnostics in the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Background: Infectious disease outbreaks such as the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic call for rapid response and complete screening of the suspected community population to identify potential carriers of pathogens. Central laboratories rely on time-consuming sample collection methods that are rarely available in resource-limited settings.

Methods: We present a highly automated and fully integrated mobile laboratory for fast deployment in response to infectious disease outbreaks.

OncoPDSS: an evidence-based clinical decision support system for oncology pharmacotherapy at the individual level.

Background: Precision oncology pharmacotherapy relies on precise patient-specific alterations that impact drug responses. Due to rapid advances in clinical tumor sequencing, an urgent need exists for a clinical support tool that automatically interprets sequencing results based on a structured knowledge base of alteration events associated with clinical implications.

Results: Here, we introduced the Oncology Pharmacotherapy Decision Support System (OncoPDSS), a web server that systematically annotates the effects of alterations on drug responses.

Inhibition of immune pathway-initiating hemolymph protease-14 by Manduca sexta serpin-12, a conserved mechanism for the regulation of melanization and Toll activation in insects.

A network of serine proteases (SPs) and their non-catalytic homologs (SPHs) activates prophenoloxidase (proPO), Toll pathway, and other insect immune responses. However, integration and conservation of the network and its control mechanisms have not yet been fully understood. Here we present evidence that these responses are initiated through a conserved serine protease and negatively regulated by serpins in two species, Manduca sexta and Anopheles gambiae.

Nickel-Catalyzed Arylation of Heteroaryl-containing Diarylmethanes: Exceptional Reactivity of the Ni(NIXANTPHOS)-based Catalyst.

Nickel(0)-catalyzed cross-coupling of heteroaryl-containing diarylmethanes with both aryl bromides and chlorides has been achieved. The success of this reaction relies on the introduction of a unique nickel/NIXANTPHOS-based catalyst system, which provides a direct route to triarylmethanes from heteroaryl-containing diarylmethanes. Reactivity studies indicate the Ni(NIXANTPHOS)-based catalyst exhibits enhanced reactivity over XANTPHOS derivatives and other Ni(phosphine)-based catalysts in the reactions examined.

An α-Keggin polyoxometalate completely constructed from the late transition metal Co(II) as poly atom.

We report a catalytic eight-cobalt-capped α-Keggin polyoxoazocobaltite with a highly symmetric structure completely constructed from the late transition-metal Co(II) as a poly atom, [Co(20)(OH)(24)(MMT)(12)(SO(4))](NO(3))(2)·6H(2)O (1) (MMT: 2-mercapto-5-methyl-1,3,4-thiadiazole). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first homometallic Co(II) magnetic cluster bearing Keggin structure. It can serve as a potential catalyst in the styrene polymerization.

A remarkable member of the polyoxometalates: the eight-nickel-capped alpha-keggin polyoxoazonickelate.

The eight-nickel-capped polyoxoazonickelate, [Ni(20)(OH)(24)(MMT)(12)(SO(4))](NO(3))(2).6H(2)O (1; MMT = 2-mercapto-5-methyl-1,3,4-thiadiazole), has been synthesized, which has an alpha-Keggin structure with eight nickel caps. In this structure, the polyatom is the late transition metal Ni(II); the central heteroatom is S, and the organic terminal ligand becomes the primary part of the Keggin structure.

Solution structure, antibacterial activity, and expression profile of Manduca sexta moricin.

In response to wounding or infection, insects produce a battery of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) and other defense molecules to kill the invading pathogens. To study their structures, functions, and transcriptional regulation, we synthesized Manduca sexta moricin, a 42-residue peptide (GKIPVKAIKQAGKVIGKGLRAINIAGTTHDVVSFFRPKKKKH, 4539 Da). The compound exhibited potent antimicrobial activities against a broad spectrum of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria with a minimum inhibitory concentration of 1.

The solution structure of clip domains from Manduca sexta prophenoloxidase activating proteinase-2.

Clip domains are structural modules found in arthropod serine proteinases and some proteolytically inactive homologues, which mediate extracellular signaling pathways of development and immunity. While little is known about their structures or functions, clip domains are proposed to be sites for interactions of proteinases with their activators, cofactors, and substrates. Here we report the solution structure of dual clip domains from Manduca sexta prophenoloxidase activating proteinase-2.

Exceptional chemical and thermal stability of zeolitic imidazolate frameworks.

Twelve zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs; termed ZIF-1 to -12) have been synthesized as crystals by copolymerization of either Zn(II) (ZIF-1 to -4, -6 to -8, and -10 to -11) or Co(II) (ZIF-9 and -12) with imidazolate-type links. The ZIF crystal structures are based on the nets of seven distinct aluminosilicate zeolites: tetrahedral Si(Al) and the bridging O are replaced with transition metal ion and imidazolate link, respectively. In addition, one example of mixed-coordination imidazolate of Zn(II) and In(III) (ZIF-5) based on the garnet net is reported.