Enabled/VASP is required to mediate proper sealing of opposing cardioblasts during Drosophila dorsal vessel formation.

Introduction: The Drosophila dorsal vessel (DV) is comprised of two opposing rows of cardioblasts (CBs) that migrate toward the dorsal midline during development. While approaching the midline, CBs change shape, enabling dorsal and ventral attachments with their contralateral partners to create a linear tube with a central lumen. We previously demonstrated DV closure occurs via a "buttoning" mechanism where specific CBs advance ahead of their lateral neighbors, and attach creating transient holes, which eventually seal.

Combination Therapy for Solid Tumors: Taking a Classic CAR on New Adventures.

CD19-specific CAR-T cell therapies are the gold standard of adoptive cellular immunotherapy for hematopoietic malignancies. In Science Translational Medicine, Park et al. develop an oncolytic vaccinia virus that introduces truncated CD19 expression in solid tumors, which are then eradicated by CD19-specific CAR-T cells in immunodeficient and immunocompetent mouse models.

Approaches of T Cell Activation and Differentiation for CAR-T Cell Therapies.

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapies are ex vivo manufactured cellular products that have been useful in the treatment of blood cancers and solid tumors. The quality of the final cellular product is influenced by several amenable factors during the manufacturing process. This review discusses several of the influences on cell product phenotype, including the raw starting material, methods of activation and transduction, and culture supplementation.

Glycan-directed CAR-T cells.

Cancer immunotherapy is rapidly advancing in the treatment of a variety of hematopoietic cancers, including pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia and diffuse large B cell lymphoma, with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cells. CARs are genetically encoded artificial T cell receptors that combine the antigen specificity of an antibody with the machinery of T cell activation. However, implementation of CAR technology in the treatment of solid tumors has been progressing much slower.

Cdc42 is required in a genetically distinct subset of cardiac cells during Drosophila dorsal vessel closure.

The embryonic heart tube is formed by the migration and subsequent midline convergence of two bilateral heart fields. In Drosophila the heart fields are organized into two rows of cardioblasts (CBs). While morphogenesis of the dorsal ectoderm, which lies directly above the Drosophila dorsal vessel (DV), has been extensively characterized, the migration and concomitant fundamental factors facilitating DV formation remain poorly understood.

Effect of physicochemical anomalies of soda-lime silicate slides on biomolecule immobilization.

Glass microscope slides are considered by many as the substrate of choice for microarray manufacturing due to their amenability to various surface chemistry modifications. The use of silanes to attach various functional groups onto glass slides has provided a versatile tool for the covalent immobilization of many diverse biomolecules of interest. We recently noted a dramatic reduction in biomolecule immobilization efficiency on standard microscope slides prepared using a well-characterized silanization method.