Seed Train Optimization in Microcarrier-Based Cell Culture Post In Situ Cell Detachment through Scale-Down Hybrid Modeling.

Microcarrier-based cell culture is a commonly used method to facilitate the growth of anchorage-dependent cells like MA 104 for antigen manufacturing. However, conventionally, static cell culture is employed for cell propagation before seeding the production bioreactor with microcarriers (MCs). This study demonstrates the effective replacement of the conventional method by serial subculturing on MCs with in situ cell detachment under optimal conditions in closed culture units.

Multivariate Analysis of Light-Activated SMOX Gas Sensors.

Chemoresistive gas sensors made from SnO, ZnO, WO, and InO have been prepared by flame spray pyrolysis. The sensors' response to CO and NO in darkness and under illumination at different wavelengths, using commercially available LEDs, was investigated. Operation at room temperature turned out to be impractical due to the condensation of water inside the porous sensing layers and the irreversible changes it caused.

Extending the coherence of spin defects in hBN enables advanced qubit control and quantum sensing.

Negatively-charged boron vacancy centers ([Formula: see text]) in hexagonal Boron Nitride (hBN) are attracting increasing interest since they represent optically-addressable qubits in a van der Waals material. In particular, these spin defects have shown promise as sensors for temperature, pressure, and static magnetic fields. However, their short spin coherence time limits their scope for quantum technology.

The interdisciplinary implementation of poly-universe to promote computational thinking: Teaching examples from biological, physical, and digital education in Austrian secondary schools.

Today's teaching and didactical methods are progressively aiming to integrate digital technologies, computational thinking (CT), and basic computer science concepts into other subjects. An innovative and creative way of combining and integrating CT and teaching cross-curricular skills without digital devices is to include the game Poly-Universe (PolyUni). According to previous research, the game is expected to have a positive effect on visual perceptual progress, including isolation, and the development of shape-background skills.

Exoworkathlon: A prospective study approach for the evaluation of industrial exoskeletons.

Industrial exoskeletons have recently gained importance as ergonomic interventions for physically demanding work activities. The growing demand for exoskeletons is leading to a need for new knowledge on the effectiveness of these systems. The Exoworkathlon, as a prospective study approach, aims to assess exoskeletons in realistic use cases and to evaluate them neutrally in their entirety.

Influence of exoskeleton use on welding quality during a simulated welding task.

Purpose: The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of wearing exoskeletons during welding on the quality of the weld seam.

Material And Methods: A total of  = 15 young healthy subjects with welding experience took part in the study. The study design defines a 1-hr workflow that abstracts welding and grinding tasks.

Unveiling the Zero-Phonon Line of the Boron Vacancy Center by Cavity-Enhanced Emission.

Negatively charged boron vacancies () in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) exhibit a broad emission spectrum due to strong electron-phonon coupling and Jahn-Teller mixing of electronic states. As such, the direct measurement of the zero-phonon line (ZPL) of has remained elusive. Here, we measure the room-temperature ZPL wavelength to be 773 ± 2 nm by coupling the hBN layer to the high- nanobeam cavity.

Control of Porous Layer Thickness in Thermophoretic Deposition of Nanoparticles.

The film thickness plays an important role in the performance of materials applicable to different technologies including chemical sensors, catalysis and/or energy materials. The relationship between the surface and volume of the functional layers is key to high performance evaluations. Here we demonstrate the thermophoretic deposition of different thicknesses of the functional layers designed using flame combustion of tin 2-ethylhexanoate dissolved in xylene, and measurement of thickness by scanning electron microscopy and focused ion beam.

Predictors of Surrogate Decision Makers Selecting Life-Sustaining Therapy for Severe Acute Brain Injury Patients: An Analysis of US Population Survey Data.

Background: Patients with a severe acute brain injury admitted to the intensive care unit often have a poor neurological prognosis. In these situations, a clinician is responsible for conducting a goals-of-care conversation with the patient's surrogate decision makers. The diversity in thought and background of surrogate decision makers can present challenges during these conversations.

Direct cryopreservation of winter-acclimated buds of (Lamiaceae) from field material.

This study develops protocols for the micropropagation and cryopreservation of (Lamiaceae). It is a perennial herbaceous plant that overwinters with ground-level sprouts and is classified as critically endangered in Europe. In vitro cultures were initiated from seeds on growth-regulator-free Murashige & Skoog (MS) medium after nicking the seed coat.

Concerns of surrogate decision makers for patients with acute brain injury: A US population survey.

Objective: To determine whether groups of surrogates for patients with severe acute brain injury (SABI) with poor prognosis can be identified based on their prioritization of goals-of-care (GOC) decisional concerns, an online survey of 1,588 adults recruited via a probability-based panel representative of the US population was conducted.

Methods: Participants acted as a surrogate for a GOC decision for a hypothetical patient with SABI and were randomized to 1 of 2 prognostic scenarios: the patient likely being left with a range of severe functional disability (SD) or remaining in a vegetative state (VS). Participants prioritized a list of 12 decisional concerns via best-worst scaling.

Insights into Livestock-Related Microbial Concentrations in Air at Residential Level in a Livestock Dense Area.

Microbial air pollution from livestock farms has raised concerns regarding public health. Little is known about airborne livestock-related microbial levels in residential areas. We aimed to increase insights into this issue.

Unveiling the bosonic nature of an ultrashort few-electron pulse.

Quantum dynamics is very sensitive to dimensionality. While two-dimensional electronic systems form Fermi liquids, one-dimensional systems-Tomonaga-Luttinger liquids-are described by purely bosonic excitations, even though they are initially made of fermions. With the advent of coherent single-electron sources, the quantum dynamics of such a liquid is now accessible at the single-electron level.

Monolithically integrated single quantum dots coupled to bowtie nanoantennas.

Deterministically integrating semiconductor quantum emitters with plasmonic nano-devices paves the way towards chip-scale integrable, true nanoscale quantum photonic technologies. For this purpose, stable and bright semiconductor emitters are needed, which moreover allow for CMOS-compatibility and optical activity in the telecommunication band. Here, we demonstrate strongly enhanced light-matter coupling of single near-surface (< 10 nm) InAs quantum dots monolithically integrated into electromagnetic hot-spots of sub-wavelength sized metal nanoantennas.

The prediction of disability by self-reported physical frailty components of the Tilburg Frailty Indicator (TFI).

Disability is an important health outcome for older persons; it is associated with impaired quality of life, future hospitalization, and mortality. Disability also places a high burden on health care professionals and health care systems. Disability is regarded as an adverse outcome of physical frailty.

Reconstruction and evaluation of the synthetic bacterial MEP pathway in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Isoprenoids, which are a large group of natural and chemical compounds with a variety of applications as e.g. fragrances, pharmaceuticals and potential biofuels, are produced via two different metabolic pathways, the mevalonate (MVA) pathway and the 2-C-methyl-D-erythritol 4-phosphate (MEP) pathway.

Establishing a platform cell factory through engineering of yeast acetyl-CoA metabolism.

Production of fuels and chemicals by industrial biotechnology requires efficient, safe and flexible cell factory platforms that can be used for production of a wide range of compounds. Here we developed a platform yeast cell factory for efficient provision of acetyl-CoA that serves as precursor metabolite for a wide range of industrially interesting products. We demonstrate that the platform cell factory can be used to improve the production of α-santalene, a plant sesquiterpene that can be used as a perfume by four-fold.

Toward a biosynthetic route to sclareol and amber odorants.

Ambergris, a waxy substance excreted by the intestinal tract of the sperm whale, has been a highly prized fragrance ingredient for millenia. Because of supply shortage and price inflation, a number of ambergris substitutes have been developed by the fragrance industry. One of the key olfactory components and most appreciated substitutes of ambergris, Ambrox is produced industrially by semisynthesis from sclareol, a diterpene-diol isolated from Clary sage.

Combined metabolic engineering of precursor and co-factor supply to increase α-santalene production by Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Background: Sesquiterpenes are a class of natural products with a diverse range of attractive industrial proprieties. Due to economic difficulties of sesquiterpene production via extraction from plants or chemical synthesis there is interest in developing alternative and cost efficient bioprocesses. The hydrocarbon α-santalene is a precursor of sesquiterpenes with relevant commercial applications.

Dynamic control of gene expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae engineered for the production of plant sesquitepene α-santalene in a fed-batch mode.

Microbial cells engineered for efficient production of plant sesquiterpenes may allow for sustainable and scalable production of these compounds that can be used as e.g. perfumes and pharmaceuticals.

Whole genome sequencing of Saccharomyces cerevisiae: from genotype to phenotype for improved metabolic engineering applications.

Background: The need for rapid and efficient microbial cell factory design and construction are possible through the enabling technology, metabolic engineering, which is now being facilitated by systems biology approaches. Metabolic engineering is often complimented by directed evolution, where selective pressure is applied to a partially genetically engineered strain to confer a desirable phenotype. The exact genetic modification or resulting genotype that leads to the improved phenotype is often not identified or understood to enable further metabolic engineering.

Functional annotation, genome organization and phylogeny of the grapevine (Vitis vinifera) terpene synthase gene family based on genome assembly, FLcDNA cloning, and enzyme assays.

Background: Terpenoids are among the most important constituents of grape flavour and wine bouquet, and serve as useful metabolite markers in viticulture and enology. Based on the initial 8-fold sequencing of a nearly homozygous Pinot noir inbred line, 89 putative terpenoid synthase genes (VvTPS) were predicted by in silico analysis of the grapevine (Vitis vinifera) genome assembly 1. The finding of this very large VvTPS family, combined with the importance of terpenoid metabolism for the organoleptic properties of grapevine berries and finished wines, prompted a detailed examination of this gene family at the genomic level as well as an investigation into VvTPS biochemical functions.

Enhancement of farnesyl diphosphate pool as direct precursor of sesquiterpenes through metabolic engineering of the mevalonate pathway in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The mevalonate pathway in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae was deregulated in order to enhance the intracellular pool of farnesyl diphosphate (FPP), the direct precursor for the biosynthesis of sesquiterpenes. Over-expression of the catalytic domain of HMG1, both from the genome and plasmid, resulted in higher production of cubebol, a plant originating sesquiterpene, and increased squalene accumulation. Down-regulation of ERG9 by replacing its native promoter with the regulatable MET3 promoter, enhanced cubebol titers but simultaneous over-expression of tHMG1 and repression of ERG9 did not further improve cubebol production.

Enhancing sesquiterpene production in Saccharomyces cerevisiae through in silico driven metabolic engineering.

A genome-scale metabolic model was used to identify new target genes for enhanced biosynthesis of sesquiterpenes in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The effect of gene deletions on the flux distributions in the metabolic model of S. cerevisiae was assessed using OptGene as the modeling framework and minimization of metabolic adjustments (MOMA) as objective function.

Reconstruction of a bacterial isoprenoid biosynthetic pathway in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

A eukaryotic mevalonate pathway transferred and expressed in Escherichia coli, and a mammalian hydrocortisone biosynthetic pathway rebuilt in Saccharomyces cerevisiae are examples showing that transferring metabolic pathways from one organism to another can have a powerful impact on cell properties. In this study, we reconstructed the E. coli isoprenoid biosynthetic pathway in S.