Last month (10 September 2009) in this blog, we talked about telomeres and their significance in cell biology. Telomeres are chromosome portion positioned at the extremity of chromosome self; they protect DNA from fusion or other genetic abnormalities that may occur during DNA replication. Telomeres are progressively consumed for the lack of activity of telomerase, provoking aging and cellular death in regulated way.

In 2001 Protein misfolding cyclical amplification (PMCA) technique was described: ultrasound waves catalysed a process in which misfolded prions leaded normal prions to misfolding in tube test. In this way it has been demonstrated that misfolded prions replicate without the presence of DNA and translation machinery. Researchers from the University of Texas Medical School in Houston, continue this work in order to simulate in vitro and in few hours what happens in human brain during prions generation lasting several decades.

In previous posts we have already discussed about kinases and phosphorylation detection. Today, we would like to focus our attention on one new method to profile kinase activity during cell cycle, pharmacological inhibition, cancer, signalling pathway activation. In June 2009, PNAS journal reported this approach: researchers of the Department of Cell Biology in the Harvard Medical School monitored the activation state of kinases in cell lysate by analysing the phosphorylation of 90 synthetic peptides, known as substrates, through mass spectrometry.

In scientific laboratories cryopreservation is usually used to store biological materials, such as cells and tissue. These kind of samples are frozen till -196°C in liquid nitrogen and maintained in special racks in nitrogen tanks. What does happen during freezing process? At so low temperature all biochemical cellular processes are blocked and also cell death is avoided, thus cells can be conserved and stored. Several protocols are reported in literature about cryopreservation; indeed, this process presents also some potential risks.

Cell imaging is one important tool to verify protein expression, localization and interaction in living cells. Several probes are now available to specifically colour cells, but intracellular retention is a problem for an high number of them. It’s great challenge to improve intracellular retention and also a great deal because improving intracellular retention means also improve the sensitivity of fluorescent detection.

Mitochondria are important organelle that produce ATP in cells. Even if a lot of information are available about the function and evolutionary biology related to this cellular district, few is understood about the communication between mitochondria and the rest of cells in terms of molecular transport. In particular, some proteins have been recognized to form junctions between mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) that is the compartment responsible of lipids synthesis and export into vesicles, but still be mysterious the nature of the connection.

Nature journal proposes a complete and useful gateway for stem cell researcher. In this website you can find the most recent and popular papers about this topic, some suggestions for protocols and methods and an interesting blog in which exchange your opinion with other scientists in the same field of interest. Rather than scientific documentation, it’s possible to retrieve interviews of featured experts that work in biotech or pharmaceutical companies or big institutions.

LIMS is an acronym for Laboratory Information Management Software, is a common software used in environmental, pharmaceutical and research institutions. It’s a software to manage laboratory life, indeed with this tool it’s possible not only to manage samples and standards, users and instruments, but also to send invoices, control the automation of the workflow, manage projects. The current goal is to retain result achievement, elaboration, further decision and final review directly at the workplace, and not in the office.

Stem cells have implications in numerous diseases or congenital defects; studying this kind of cells will allow us to understand important biological mechanism and care for instance cancer, neurological problems and so on. Several ethical issues are related to stem cells research, in particular to embryonic stem cells, and public debate has often limited the advance of science in this field.

Computational analysis is an important tool in biology and medicine. Recently, a group of the National Research Council of Milan (Italy) proposed one new approach to study vessel distribution based on the quantification of functional microvessels. By using in vivo staining with sulfosuccinimidyl-6-(biotinamido) hexanoate, they determined the number of microvessels.