Recent advances in development of glucose nanosensors for cellular analysis and other applications.

Diabetes mellitus is a disease that affects a large number of people around the world. There are no effective methods to completely cure diabetes, and patients have to constantly monitor their blood sugar levels, so there is still a need for improved sensors. In addition to diabetes, quantitative values of glucose levels affect the development of some endocrine diseases and problems with nervous tissue.

Non-Invasive Nanometer Resolution Assessment of Cell-Soft Hydrogel System Mechanical Properties by Scanning Ion Conductance Microscopy.

Biomimetic hydrogels have garnered increased interest due to their considerable potential for use in various fields, such as tissue engineering, 3D cell cultivation, and drug delivery. The primary challenge for applying hydrogels in tissue engineering is accurately evaluating their mechanical characteristics. In this context, we propose a method using scanning ion conductance microscopy (SICM) to determine the rigidity of living human breast cancer cells MCF-7 cells grown on a soft, self-assembled Fmoc-FF peptide hydrogel.

Mechanical properties of soft hydrogels: assessment by scanning ion-conductance microscopy and atomic force microscopy.

The growing interest in biomimetic hydrogels is due to their successful applications in tissue engineering, 3D cell culturing and drug delivery. The major characteristics of hydrogels include swelling, porosity, degradation rate, biocompatibility, and mechanical properties. Poor mechanical properties can be regarded as the main limitation for the use of hydrogels in tissue engineering, and advanced techniques for its precise evaluation are of interest.

Molecular mechanism of thiocyanate dehydrogenase at atomic resolution.

Some sulfur-oxidizing bacteria playing an important role in global geochemical cycles utilize thiocyanate as the sole source of energy and nitrogen. In these bacteria the process of thiocyanate into cyanate conversion is mediated by thiocyanate dehydrogenases - a recently discovered family of copper-containing enzymes with the three‑copper active site unique among the other copper proteins. To get a deeper insight into the structure and molecular mechanism of action of thiocyanate dehydrogenases we isolated, purified, and comprehensively characterized an enzyme from the bacterium Pelomicrobium methylotrophicum.

Diverse biophysical mechanisms in voltage-gated sodium channel Na1.4 variants associated with myotonia.

Mutations in SCN4A gene encoding Na1.4 channel α-subunit, are known to cause neuromuscular disorders such as myotonia or paralysis. Here, we study the effect of two amino acid replacements, K1302Q and G1306E, in the DIII-IV loop of the channel, corresponding to mutations found in patients with myotonia.