Assessment of Near-Infrared and Raman Spectroscopy as Analytical Tools to Predict Viscosity of Ice Cream Mixes.

Ice cream is a complex product containing four different phases that affect its microstructure. Viscosity is a critical ice cream quality parameter that is typically measured using off-line methodologies, such as rheometry. In-line viscosity measurements allow continuous and instant analysis compared to off-line methodologies, yet they still constitute a challenge.

Development of a β-Lactoglobulin Sensor Based on SPR for Milk Allergens Detection.

A sensitive and label-free surface plasmon resonance (SPR) based sensor was developed in this work for the detection of milk allergens. β-lactoglobulin (BLG) protein was used as the biomarker for cow milk detection. This is to be used directly in final rinse samples of cleaning in-place (CIP) systems of food manufacturers.

Synthesis of Molecularly Imprinted Polymer Nanoparticles for α-Casein Detection Using Surface Plasmon Resonance as a Milk Allergen Sensor.

Food recalls due to undeclared allergens or contamination are costly to the food manufacturing industry worldwide. As the industry strives for better manufacturing efficiencies over a diverse range of food products, there is a need for the development of new analytical techniques to improve monitoring of the presence of unintended food allergens during the food manufacturing process. In particular, the monitoring of wash samples from cleaning in place systems (CIP), used in the cleaning of food processing equipment, would allow for the effective removal of allergen containing ingredients in between food batches.

Dynamic Transmission of Protein Allostery without Structural Change: Spatial Pathways or Global Modes?

We examine the contrast between mechanisms for allosteric signaling that involve structural change, and those that do not, from the perspective of allosteric pathways. In particular we treat in detail the case of fluctuation-allostery by which amplitude modulation of the thermal fluctuations of the elastic normal modes conveys the allosteric signal, and address the question of what an allosteric pathway means in this case. We find that a perturbation theory of thermal elastic solids and nonperturbative approach (by super-coarse-graining elasticity into internal bending modes) have opposite signatures in their structure of correlated pathways.

The Role of Protein-Ligand Contacts in Allosteric Regulation of the Escherichia coli Catabolite Activator Protein.

Allostery is a fundamental process by which ligand binding to a protein alters its activity at a distant site. Both experimental and theoretical evidence demonstrate that allostery can be communicated through altered slow relaxation protein dynamics without conformational change. The catabolite activator protein (CAP) of Escherichia coli is an exemplar for the analysis of such entropically driven allostery.

Global low-frequency motions in protein allostery: CAP as a model system.

Allostery is a fundamental process by which ligand binding to a protein alters its activity at a distant site. There is considerable evidence that allosteric cooperativity can be communicated by the modulation of protein dynamics without conformational change. The Catabolite Activator Protein (CAP) of is an important experimental exemplar for entropically driven allostery.

CO₂directly modulates connexin 26 by formation of carbamate bridges between subunits.

Homeostatic regulation of the partial pressure of CO2 (PCO2) is vital for life. Sensing of pH has been proposed as a sufficient proxy for determination of PCO2 and direct CO2-sensing largely discounted. Here we show that connexin 26 (Cx26) hemichannels, causally linked to respiratory chemosensitivity, are directly modulated by CO2.

Modulation of global low-frequency motions underlies allosteric regulation: demonstration in CRP/FNR family transcription factors.

Allostery is a fundamental process by which ligand binding to a protein alters its activity at a distinct site. There is growing evidence that allosteric cooperativity can be communicated by modulation of protein dynamics without conformational change. The mechanisms, however, for communicating dynamic fluctuations between sites are debated.

ΔΔPT: a comprehensive toolbox for the analysis of protein motion.

Background: Normal Mode Analysis is one of the most successful techniques for studying motions in proteins and macromolecules. It can provide information on the mechanism of protein functions, used to aid crystallography and NMR data reconstruction, and calculate protein free energies.

Results: ΔΔPT is a toolbox allowing calculation of elastic network models and principle component analysis.

Dissolution of lamellar phases.

Dissolution of surfactant liquid crystals is an important process both at the manufacturing stage of surfactant based formulated products and during their use. Dissipative particle dynamics simulations were employed to study the production of surfactant-oil-water systems under both temperature and water quenches. Upon the dissolution of a high concentration lamellar phase surfactant, wormlike micelles are formed, which differ from the spherical micelles produced at the same concentration with a temperature quench.