5,190 Matching Annotations
  1. Feb 2023
    1. soft lithography

      A molding technique that involves casting materials like PDMS into channels or chambers. This technique is used in microdevice fabrication because it is cost-effective and relatively simple to perform.

    2. endothelium

      Your endothelium consists of a single layer of cells, called endothelial cells, which line all your blood vessels and lymphatic vessels. These include your: Arteries, Veins, Capillaries, and Lymph capillaries. Your endothelium provides a space for your blood and tissues to interact.

    3. epithelium

      The epithelium is a type of body tissue that forms the covering on all internal and external surfaces of your body, lines body cavities and hollow organs and is the major tissue in glands. Epithelial tissue has a variety of functions depending on where it's located in your body, including protection, secretion and absorption.

    4. alveoli

      Tiny sacs where the lungs and the blood exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide during the process of breathing in and out. Each sac is lined with cells that allow gases to diffuse in and out of the lung.

    5. confluence

      Having enough cells grown on a surface to cover the entire area. Here, air is introduced to the lung microchip once there is enough cells to cover the entire membrane surface area.

    6. poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS)

      Polydimethylsiloxane, called PDMS or dimethicone, is a polymer widely used for the fabrication and prototyping of microfluidic chips. PDMS is the most widely used silicon-based organic polymer, as its versatility and properties lead to many applications.

  2. Jan 2023
  3. Dec 2022
    1. There are two major types of autophagy pathways, bulk and selective

      Bulk autophagy also called non-selective macroautophagy. During bulk autophagy, autophagosomes fuse with lysosomes or vacuoles resulting in the degradation of the cargo.

      While during selective autophagy, the cargo is distinguished (mitochondria, ER, ribosomes, peroxisomes and etc.) and recognized by specific cargo receptors, or selective autophagy receptors, to connect with the autophagosome for degradation.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc9gx33GvF0&t=2s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ws0mOmfC9EU

    1. fluorogenic

      Something that generates fluorescence.

      Example: The green fluorescent protein (GFP) is a protein that emits bright green fluorescence upon exposure to light in the blue to ultraviolet range. Hence GFP can be said to be fluorogenic.

    2. cytosolic proteins

      Large complexes of enzymes in the cytosol of the cell that are involved in various cellular pathways including metabolism, biosynthesis and cell signalling.

      The cytosol is the aqueous part of the cytoplasm of a cell where cellular components (e.g., organelles) are suspended.

    3. kymograph

      Distance-time plots that are used in biology to monitor and track the movement of fluorescent or fluorescently-labeled particles (e.g., molecules, organelles etc.) along a predicted path.

    4. bistable biochemical reactions

      Describes a system with two stable equilibrium states and therefore capable of resting in (or reaching) either of the two states. It arises from feedback loops that exhibit mutual activation or mutual repression.

    5. chimeric protein

      A protein made by combining two or more genes that code for the synthesis of their individual proteins joined together. Synthesis results in the formation of one protein with specific functional properties.

    6. glutathione S-transferase

      A protein that is popularly used as a tag for the purification of recombinant proteins. It can be fused to either ends of the desired protein, usually the end that does not affect the function of the target protein.

      A recombinant protein is produced by cloning a gene into a system that allows the expression of that gene and the translation of its gene product.

  4. Nov 2022
    1. green fluorescent protein

      A protein that emits bright green fluorescence upon exposure to light in the blue to ultraviolet range.

      Fluorescence occurs when light of a shorter/high-energy wavelength (such as UV light) is directed on a surface allowing a specific component (e.g. green fluorescent protein) on the targeted surface to emit light of a specific wavelength.

    2. time-lapse fluorescence microscopy

      A form of microscopy where microscopic images are first recorded sequentially and then viewed at a higher speed to provide an accelerated view of the process being visualized.

    3. nuclear localization sequence

      A short protein sequence that serves as a signal for target proteins to be transported from the cytoplasm to the nucleus. In this chimeric (fusion) protein, the sequence the GST-GFP component to be transported into the nucleus.

    1. unfolded protein response (UPR)

      When newly synthesized protein is not properly folded into their correct orientation in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), the ER now is under the stress to degrade the misfolded protein. To degrade the misfolded proteins and maintain the ER homeostasis, the cellular signaling will turn on the unfolded protein response to help the cell deals with problematic proteins for recycle and degradation.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vy4m-fUOn9o

    2. mammalian homolog, SEC24C,

      Lst1 and SEC24C, are homologous gene in yeast and mammalian respectively. The protein or DNA sequence of these genes, Lst1 and SEC24C, are highly similar and evolutionary share the common ancestor, termed as homolog.

    1. Xenopus laevis oocytes

      Cells of a type of frogs (Xenopus laevis) native to sub-Saharan Africa. These are used as model organisms for studying cell function such as ion channel which is reported in this paper

    2. propidium iodide (PI)

      A red fluorescent dye that is used to stain DNA and RNA in dead cells. Only cells with a compromised membrane (dead cells) can allow it to enter. So, PI can be used as an indicator of the proportion of cells that are alive or dead.

    3. embryonic fibroblast (MEF)

      Fibroblast cells (cells that make connective tissue) from mouse embryos. These cells are immortalized (they grow indefinitely when maintained on specific media) and are used for research purposes.

    4. The di-aspartyl sensor is conserved in all six TMBIM proteins, while the arginine latch is only present in the LFG subfamily (LFG1 to LFG4) but not in BI-1, where it has been replaced by His78 (Fig. 7A) (11).

      Two conserved Aspartic acid residues in all proteins in this group. These two residues are involved in sensing lysosomal pH changes.

  5. Oct 2022
    1. BH3 protein

      Proteins that possess a characteristic short protein (or peptide) sequence termed the "BH3 domain" (also called the death domain).

      Members of this family of proteins are known to trigger key mitochondrial events that kill the cell and hence are associated with apoptosis.

    2. chromogenic caspase assay

      An experiment which uses colored of fluorescent substrates (e.g., Z-DEVD-R110) to quantify the activity of an enzyme (e.g., caspase).

      As a result, the higher the fluorescence detected, the higher the enzyme activity.

    3. mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization (MOMP)

      Process where pores are created in the outer membrane of the mitochondria to facilitate the release of cytochrome c which in turn activates caspases necessary for apoptosis to occur.

    4. cytochrome c

      Small protein which is loosely associated with the inner membrane of the mitochondria [powerhouse of the cell]. Perturbations to the inner mitochondrial membrane causes the release of cytochrome c which then activates apoptosis.

  6. Sep 2022
    1. Consumers expect ever easier and faster services. The SEPA Instant Credit Transfer scheme delivers these by enabling pan-European credit transfers with the funds made available on the account in less than ten seconds.
  7. May 2022
    1. What is difference between mission and vision?The mission sets the direction for the company's goals and the vision should light a path for how the organization can get there. These statements establish part of the framework for expected behavior and give employees and volunteers a sense of cohesiveness.Jul 21, 2021
  8. Apr 2022
    1. aqueous buffer

      Aqueous buffer is a solution of weak acid and its conjugate base which provides a degree of stability to prevent the rapid fluctuation in pH when a small amount of strong acid or base is added.

    2. DOI 10.1126/science.1066238

      Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is a standardized method for uniquely referencing digital documents with the aim of easily leading to the documents location. Almost all published academic journal articles as well as research reports and data sets have an assigned DOI.

  9. Mar 2022
    1. a differing payment basically means an agreement between the lender and borrower where the borrower requests the lender to give them loan and that loan will be repaid at a later date when situation would be comparatively better

      What is deferring payment ?

    2. sri lankan government has approached the international monetary fund for a bailout bailout basically means asking 00:00:37 financial assistance in order to save any business or in this case you can say save the country's economy from collapsing and you also need to ponder upon the fact that the sri lankan government is asking this kind of financial assistance on deferring loan

      IMF bailout for SriLanka

    1. unimorph piezoelectric structure

      Piezoelectric materials undergo a shape change when voltage is applied across them. A piezoelectric unimorph is a thin and long microstructure that flexes when voltage is applied to it. In this paper, the properties of the piezoelectric material are used to create forward movement of the robot.

    2. Paratarsotomus macropalpis

      Mite species native to Southern California. Discovered to be worlds fastest terrestrial animal and passed the Australian Tiger Beetle as the previous record holder.

    3. oscillatory center of mass (COM) trajectory

      The point within an object at which the whole mass may be considered as concentrated. Here, the authors tracked the center of mass (COM) motion to represent the motion of the entire robot.

  10. Feb 2022
    1. resonant frequencies

      At resonant frequency, the circuit exhibits a maximum oscillatory, or regularly varying, response at a specific frequency (the number of times the AC switches between positive and negative in 1 second).

    2. two-segment mass-spring model

      This idealized model allows for the characterization of motion animals use, like bouncing. Specifically, it is assumed that the movement behaves like a mass bouncing on a spring.

    3. piezoelectric effect

      The ability of the PVDF to generate an electric charge in response to the applied voltage, resulting in expansion (or stretching) and contraction (or shrinking).