As part of the UK response to the 2013-2016 Ebola virus disease (EVD) epidemic in West Africa, Public Health England (PHE) were tasked with establishing three field Ebola virus (EBOV) diagnostic laboratories in Sierra Leone by the UK Department for International Development (DFID). These provided diagnostic support to the Ebola Treatment Centre (ETC) facilities located in Kerry Town, Makeni and Port Loko. The Novel and Dangerous Pathogens (NADP) Training group at PHE, Porton Down, designed and implemented a pre-deployment Ebola diagnostic laboratory training programme for UK volunteer scientists being deployed to the PHE EVD laboratories. Here, we describe the training, workflow and capabilities of these field laboratories for use in response to disease epidemics and in epidemiological surveillance. We discuss the training outcomes, the laboratory outputs, lessons learned and the legacy value of the support provided. We hope this information will assist in the recruitment and training of staff for future responses and in the design and implementation of rapid deployment diagnostic field laboratories for future outbreaks of high consequence pathogens.This article is part of the themed issue 'The 2013-2016 West African Ebola epidemic: data, decision-making and disease control'.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2016.0299 | DOI Listing |
Biomol NMR Assign
January 2025
High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Key Laboratory of High Magnetic Field and Ion Beam Physical Biology, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, Anhui, China.
PhoCl is a photocleavable protein engineered from a green-to-red photoconvertible fluorescent protein by circular permutation, and has been used in various optogenetic applications including precise control of protein localization and activity in cells. Upon violet light illumination, PhoCl undergoes a β-elimination reaction to be cleaved at the chromophore, resulting in spontaneous dissociation into a large empty barrel and a small C-terminal peptide. However, the structural determinants and the mechanism of the PhoCl photocleavage remain elusive, hindering the further development of more robust photocleavable optogenetic tools.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLangmuir
January 2025
School of Minerals Processing and Bioengineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, P. R. China.
Understanding the interfacial interaction mechanisms between oil and minerals is of vital importance in the applications of petroleum production and environmental protection. In this work, the interactions of dodecane with mica and calcite in aqueous media were investigated by using the drop probe technique based on atomic force microscopy. For the dodecane-mica interactions, the electrical double layer (EDL) repulsion dominated in 10 mM NaCl solution, and a higher pH facilitated the detachment of dodecane.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNano Lett
January 2025
CAS Key Laboratory of Standardization and Measurement for Nanotechnology, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing 100190, People's Republic of China.
Exciton emitters in two-dimensional monolayer transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) provide a boulevard for the emerging optoelectronic field, ranging from miniaturized light-emitting diodes to quantum emitters and optical communications. However, the low quantum efficiency from limited light-matter interactions and harmful substrate effects seriously hinders their applications. In this work, we achieve a ∼438-fold exciton photoluminescence enhancement by constructing a Fabry-Pérot cavity consisting of monolayer WS and a micron-scale hole on the SiO/Si substrate.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLangmuir
January 2025
School of Textile Science and Engineering, Tiangong University, Tianjin 300387, China.
Aerogels hold great potential in thermal insulation, catalytic supports, adsorption, and separation, due to their low density, high porosity, and low thermal conductivity. However, their inherent mechanical fragility and limited control functionality pose substantial challenges that hinder their practical use. In this study, a strategy is developed for the fabrication of cross-linked aramid nanofiber aerogels (cANFAs) by combining internanofiber surface cross-linking with ice-templating techniques.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFACS Appl Mater Interfaces
January 2025
School of Precision Instrument and Optoelectronics Engineering, Tianjin University, 92 Weijin Road, Tianjin 300072, China.
Traditional tactile sensors are single-function, and it is difficult to meet the needs of applications in complex environments. This paper describes the development and applications of flexible tactile sensors with cilia based on magnetoelectric composites made of neodymium iron boron (NdFeB) microparticles with a silver (Ag) nanoshell in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). These sensors adopt the inherent magnetism of NdFeB microparticles and the excellent conductivity of the Ag coating.
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