Publications by authors named "Stan G"

Over the past two decades, the CICECO-hub scientists have devoted substantial efforts to advancing bioactive inorganic materials based on calcium phosphates and alkali-free bioactive glasses. A key focus has been the deliberate incorporation of therapeutic ions like Mg, Sr, Zn, Mn, or Ga to enhance osteointegration and vascularization, confer antioxidant properties, and impart antimicrobial effects, marking significant contributions to the field of biomaterials and bone tissue engineering. Such an approach is expected to circumvent the uncertainties posed by methods relying on growth factors, such as bone morphogenetic proteins, parathyroid hormone, and platelet-rich plasma, along with their associated high costs and potential adverse side effects.

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  • Synthetic and native genes in cells compete for expression machinery, affecting how cellular processes work together due to shared resources.
  • A coarse-grained E. coli cell model is proposed to balance the complexity of metabolic regulation with the need for simplicity in biocircuit design, helping to understand the connection between resource availability and bacterial growth rates.
  • The model allows for effective prototyping of biocircuits and provides analytical insights that help in designing robust systems for managing ribosome availability in cells.
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AAA+ proteins (ATPases associated with various cellular activities) comprise a family of powerful ring-shaped ATP-dependent translocases that carry out numerous vital substrate-remodeling functions. ClpB is a AAA+ protein disaggregation machine that forms a two-tiered hexameric ring, with flexible pore loops protruding into its center and binding to substrate proteins. It remains unknown whether these pore loops contribute only passively to substrate-protein threading or have a more active role.

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To reduce the incidence of total hip revisions, there have been continuous efforts to enhance prosthetic materials and designs to optimize implant survival. A primary implant with a constrained acetabular component is often used to minimize the risk of dislocations even though this approach has some drawbacks as reported in the literature. To address these concerns, this study aimed to assess the survivorship and dislocation rate of a semi-retentive cemented acetabular cup when used as a primary implant.

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Summary: As demand for the automation of biological assays has increased over recent years, the range of measurement types implemented by multiwell plate readers has broadened and the list of published software packages that caters to their analysis has grown. However, most plate readers export data in esoteric formats with little or no metadata, while most analytical software packages are built to work with tidy data accompanied by associated metadata. 'Parser' functions are therefore required to prepare raw data for analysis.

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  • Predicting how engineered cell populations evolve is crucial in biotechnology, but applying existing evolutionary models to synthetic systems is challenging due to complex genetic combinations.
  • The authors present a new framework that links the design of genetic devices to how mutations spread in growing cell populations, enabling users to customize and analyze different genetic setups.
  • This framework can help generate useful hypotheses, such as optimizing protein production or creating better gene regulatory networks for improved performance.
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Novel biomaterials with promising bone regeneration potential, derived from rich, renewable, and cheap sources, are reported. Thus, thin films were synthesized from marine-derived (i.e.

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The current pandemic has shown that we need sensitive and deployable diagnostic technologies. Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) sensors can be an ideal solution for developing such advanced point-of-need (PON) diagnostic tests. Homogeneous (reagentless) SERS sensors work by directly responding to the target without any processing step, making them capable for simple one-pot assays, but their limitation is the achievable sensitivity, insufficient compared to what is needed for sensing of viral biomarkers.

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Proteolysis is essential for the control of metabolic pathways and the cell cycle. Bacterial caseinolytic proteases (Clp) use peptidase components, such as ClpP, to degrade defective substrate proteins and to regulate cellular levels of stress-response proteins. To ensure selective degradation, access to the proteolytic chamber of the double-ring ClpP tetradecamer is controlled by a critical gating mechanism of the two axial pores.

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  • Competition for cellular resources can impact the interaction of co-expressed genes, making gene circuits less predictable in mammalian cells.
  • Researchers found that downregulation of certain genes by microRNAs can lead to the upregulation of other co-expressed genes, suggesting a change in how resources are allocated within the cell.
  • By creating a synthetic genetic system and a mathematical model called MIRELLA, the study reveals that this gene interplay is influenced by ribosome movement and RNA degradation processes, providing new insights for designing genetic circuits that can adapt based on resource availability.
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This work was devoted to the first multi-parametric unitary comparative analysis of a selection of sintered piezoceramic materials synthesised by solid-state reactions, aiming to delineate the most promising biocompatible piezoelectric material, to be further implemented into macro-porous ceramic scaffolds fabricated by 3D printing technologies. The piezoceramics under scrutiny were: KNbO, LiNbO, LiTaO, BaTiO, Zr-doped BaTiO, and the (BaCa)(TiZr)O solid solution (BCTZ). The XRD analysis revealed the high crystallinity of all sintered ceramics, while the best densification was achieved for the BaTiO-based materials via conventional sintering.

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Chaperonins are biological nanomachines that help newly translated proteins to fold by rescuing them from kinetically trapped misfolded states. Protein folding assistance by the chaperonin machinery is obligatory for a subset of proteins in the bacterial proteome. Chaperonins are large oligomeric complexes, with unusual seven fold symmetry (group I) or eight/nine fold symmetry (group II), that form double-ring constructs, enclosing a central cavity that serves as the folding chamber.

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Since its discovery, atomic force microscopy (AFM) has become widely used for surface characterization, evolving from a tool for probing surface topography to a versatile method for characterizing mechanical, electrical, chemical, magnetic, and electro-optical properties of surfaces at the nanoscale. Developments of several AFM-based techniques have enabled even subsurface imaging, which is routinely being carried out at the qualitative level of feature detection for localized subsurface inhomogeneities. We surmise, however, that a quantitative three-dimensional (3D) subsurface characterization can emerge from the AFM mechanical response of flat buried interfaces, and present here a methodology for determining the depth of a film and its mechanical properties.

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The surface physico-chemistry of metallic implants governs their successful long-term functionality for orthopedic and dentistry applications. Here, we investigated the feasibility of harmoniously combining two of the star materials currently employed in bone treatment/restoration, namely, calcium-phosphate-based bioceramics (in the form of coatings that have the capacity to enhance osseointegration) and titanium alloys (used as bulk implant materials due to their mechanical performance and lack of systemic toxicity). For the first time, bovine-bone-derived hydroxyapatite (BHA) was layered on top of Ti6Al4V substrates using powder injection laser cladding technology, and then subjected, in this first stage of the research, to an array of physical-chemical analyses.

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  • - The paper introduces FPCountR, a method for calibrating fluorescence readings from microplate readers to convert arbitrary fluorescence units into absolute units, using custom fluorescent protein (FP) calibrants and a specific analytical workflow.
  • - It details an 'ECmax' assay that enhances calibration accuracy without the need for purifying FPs and evaluates the methods for converting optical density into cellular protein concentrations while addressing fluorescence quenching interference.
  • - FPCountR is made available as open access tools (protocol and R package) to help the scientific community carry out precise quantitative analysis of synthetic microbial circuits across different instruments and setups.
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Higher-energy collisional dissociation (HCD) of modified ribonucleosides generates characteristic and highly reproducible nucleoside-specific tandem mass spectra (MS/MS). Here, we demonstrate the capability of HCD spectra in combination with spectral matching for the semi-automated characterization of ribonucleosides. This process involved the generation of an HCD spectral library and the establishment of a mass spectral network for rapid detection with high sensitivity and specificity in a retention time-independent fashion.

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  • Bi-phasic calcium phosphates (BCPs) are being researched as materials for bone graft substitutes, and cation-doping might enhance their effectiveness.
  • This study fabricated pure and magnesium (Mg) and strontium (Sr) doped BCP scaffolds using advanced techniques, and the results showed that all scaffold types performed similarly in promoting osteoblast cell growth, especially the ones doped with both Mg and Sr.
  • The findings revealed that the double doping of Mg and Sr increased the tricalcium phosphate/hydroxyapatite ratio, which may lead to a more effective release of therapeutic ions and better performance for future medical devices.
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Accumulation of tau is observed in dementia, with human tau displaying 6 isoforms grouped by whether they display either 3 or 4 C-terminal repeat domains (3R or 4R) and exhibit no (0N), one (1N) or two (2N) N terminal repeats. Overexpression of 4R0N-tau in rat hippocampal slices enhanced the L-type calcium (Ca) current-dependent components of the medium and slow afterhyperpolarizations (AHPs). Overexpression of both 4R0N-tau and 4R2N-tau augmented Ca1.

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  • Synthetic biology and deep learning complement each other; synthetic biology can create large datasets to train deep learning models, while deep learning can assist in designing biological parts and optimizing experiments.
  • Recent research has showcased successful applications combining these fields, including the creation of new biological components, predicting protein structures, automating microscopy data analysis, and designing efficient experiments.
  • The review discusses different types of data relevant to synthetic biology, explores advanced deep learning architectures, and addresses the challenges and future opportunities in leveraging deep learning for innovative biological design.
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  • Advances in bacterial genome engineering face challenges with delivering large synthetic constructs, prompting the need for improved methods.
  • This study introduces a robust method for markerless integration of DNA fragments that encode entire metabolic pathways using λRed recombineering and a CI repressor-based counterselection strategy.
  • The technique enhances integration efficiency (50-100%) by utilizing the Ocr antirestriction function of T7 phage, making it applicable to multiple enterobacterial species and facilitating straightforward assembly of mutations in strains like Escherichia coli.
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Background: in this protocol we outline a method of working alongside Aboriginal communities to learn about and facilitate improvement in the oral health habits in Aboriginal adolescents. By facilitating positive oral health in Aboriginal adolescents, we hope to achieve lifelong improvement in oral health and general wellbeing.

Methods: this paper outlines a co-design methodology through which researchers and Aboriginal communities will work together to create a custom oral healthcare program aimed at Aboriginal adolescents.

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Bin-Amphiphysin-Rvs (BAR) domain proteins are critical regulators of membrane geometry. They induce and stabilize membrane curvature for processes, such as clathrin-coated pit formation and endosomal membrane tubulation. BAR domains form their characteristic crescent-shaped structure in the dimeric form, indicating that the formation of the dimer is critical to their function of inducing membrane curvature and suggesting that a dynamic monomer-dimer equilibrium regulated by cellular signaling would be a powerful mechanism for controlling BAR domain protein function.

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  • Low-cost sustainable feedstocks from plant or food waste are vital for biotechnologies but require multiple enzymes for breakdown, often leading to limitations in standard monoculture systems.
  • A two-strain consortium model was tested, where each strain specializes in different stages of substrate degradation, showing improved performance compared to traditional single-cell cultures once a certain expression threshold is exceeded.
  • Resource-aware whole-cell models can predict when using division of labor (DOL) is advantageous, helping inform design choices for efficient degradation of complex substrates like starch.
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