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Glycan Array
Glycan arrays, like that offered by the Consortium for Functional Glycomics (CFG), National Center for Functional Glycomics (NCFG) anZ Biotech, LLC contain carbohydrate compounds that can be screened with lectins, antibodies or cell receptors to define carbohydrate specificity and identify ligands. Glycan array screening works in much the same way as other microarray that is used for instance to study gene expression DNA microarrays or protein interaction Protein microarrays. Glycan arrays are composed of various oligosaccharides and/or polysaccharides immobilised on a solid support in a spatially-defined arrangement. This technology provides the means of studying glycan-protein interactions in a high-throughput environment. These natural or synthetic (see carbohydrate synthesis) glycans are then incubated with any glycan-binding protein such as lectins, cell surface receptors or possibly a whole organism such as a virus. Binding is quantified using fluorescence-based detection met ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Consortium For Functional Glycomics
The Consortium for Functional Glycomics (CFG) is a large research initiative funded in 2001 by a glue grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) to “define paradigms by which protein-carbohydrate interactions mediate cell communication”. To achieve this goal, the CFG studies the functions of: * the three major classes of mammalian glycan-binding proteins (GBPs): C-type lectin, galectin, and SIGLEC * immune receptors that bind carbohydrates: CD1, T cell receptor, and anti-carbohydrate antibodies * GBPs of microorganisms that bind to host cell glycans as receptors. The CFG comprises eight core facilities and 500+ participating investigators that work together to develop resources and services and make them available to the scientific community free of charge. The data generated by these resources are captured in databases accessible through the Functional Glycomics Gateway, a web resource maintained through a partnership between the CFG and Nature ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Influenza A Virus
''Influenza A virus'' (''IAV'') causes influenza in birds and some mammals, and is the only species of the genus ''Alphainfluenzavirus'' of the virus family ''Orthomyxoviridae''. Strain (biology)#Microbiology or virology, Strains of all subtypes of influenza A virus have been isolated from wild birds, although disease is uncommon. Some primary isolate, isolates of influenza A virus cause severe disease both in domestic poultry and, rarely, in humans. Occasionally, viruses are transmitted from wild aquatic birds to domestic poultry, and this may cause an outbreak or give rise to human influenza pandemics. Influenza A viruses are Sense (molecular biology), negative-sense, single-stranded, segmented RNA viruses. The several subtypes are labeled according to an H number (for the type of Hemagglutinin (influenza), hemagglutinin) and an N number (for the type of viral neuraminidase, neuraminidase). There are 18 different known H antigens (H1 to H18) and 11 different known N antigens (N ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glycobiology
Defined in the narrowest sense, glycobiology is the study of the structure, biosynthesis, and biology of saccharides (sugar chains or glycans) that are widely distributed in nature. Sugars or saccharides are essential components of all living things and aspects of the various roles they play in biology are researched in various medical, biochemical and biotechnological fields. History According to ''Oxford English Dictionary'' the specific term ''glycobiology'' was coined in 1988 by Prof. Raymond Dwek to recognize the coming together of the traditional disciplines of carbohydrate chemistry and biochemistry. This coming together was as a result of a much greater understanding of the cellular and molecular biology of glycans. However, as early as the late nineteenth century pioneering efforts were being made by Emil Fisher to establish the structure of some basic sugar molecules. Each year the Society of Glycobiology awards the Rosalind Kornfeld award for lifetime achievement in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Microarrays
A microarray is a multiplex lab-on-a-chip. Its purpose is to simultaneously detect the expression of thousands of genes from a sample (e.g. from a tissue). It is a two-dimensional array on a solid substrate—usually a glass slide or silicon thin-film cell—that assays (tests) large amounts of biological material using high-throughput screening miniaturized, multiplexed and parallel processing and detection methods. The concept and methodology of microarrays was first introduced and illustrated in antibody microarrays (also referred to as antibody matrix) by Tse Wen Chang in 1983 in a scientific publication and a series of patents. The "gene chip" industry started to grow significantly after the 1995 ''Science Magazine'' article by the Ron Davis and Pat Brown labs at Stanford University. With the establishment of companies, such as Affymetrix, Agilent, Applied Microarrays, Arrayjet, Illumina, and others, the technology of DNA microarrays has become the most sophisticated and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Membrane Trafficking
Membrane vesicle trafficking in eukaryotic animal cells involves movement of biochemical signal molecules from synthesis-and-packaging locations in the Golgi body to specific release locations on the inside of the plasma membrane of the secretory cell. It takes place in the form of Golgi membrane-bound micro-sized vesicles, termed membrane vesicles (MVs). In this process, the packed cellular products are released or secreted outside the cell, across its plasma membrane. On the other hand, the vesicular membrane is retained and recycled by the secretory cells. This phenomenon has a major role in synaptic neurotransmission, endocrine secretion, mucous secretion, granular-product secretion by neutrophils, and other phenomena. The scientists behind this discovery were awarded Nobel prize for the year 2013. In prokaryotic, gram-negative bacterial cells, membrane vesicle trafficking is mediated through bacterial outer membrane bounded nano-sized vesicles, called bacterial outer membrane ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apoptosis
Apoptosis (from grc, ἀπόπτωσις, apóptōsis, 'falling off') is a form of programmed cell death that occurs in multicellular organisms. Biochemical events lead to characteristic cell changes (morphology) and death. These changes include blebbing, cell shrinkage, nuclear fragmentation, chromatin condensation, DNA fragmentation, and mRNA decay. The average adult human loses between 50 and 70 billion cells each day due to apoptosis. For an average human child between eight and fourteen years old, approximately twenty to thirty billion cells die per day. In contrast to necrosis, which is a form of traumatic cell death that results from acute cellular injury, apoptosis is a highly regulated and controlled process that confers advantages during an organism's life cycle. For example, the separation of fingers and toes in a developing human embryo occurs because cells between the digits undergo apoptosis. Unlike necrosis, apoptosis produces cell fragments called apoptotic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inflammation
Inflammation (from la, wikt:en:inflammatio#Latin, inflammatio) is part of the complex biological response of body tissues to harmful stimuli, such as pathogens, damaged cells, or Irritation, irritants, and is a protective response involving immune cells, blood vessels, and molecular mediators. The function of inflammation is to eliminate the initial cause of cell injury, clear out necrotic cells and tissues damaged from the original insult and the inflammatory process, and initiate tissue repair. The five cardinal signs are heat, pain, redness, swelling, and Functio laesa, loss of function (Latin ''calor'', ''dolor'', ''rubor'', ''tumor'', and ''functio laesa''). Inflammation is a generic response, and therefore it is considered as a mechanism of innate immune system, innate immunity, as compared to adaptive immune system, adaptive immunity, which is specific for each pathogen. Too little inflammation could lead to progressive tissue destruction by the harmful stimulus (e.g. b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Annexin A1
Annexin A1, also known as lipocortin I, is a protein that is encoded by the ''ANXA1'' gene in humans. Function Annexin A1 belongs to the annexin family of Ca2+-dependent phospholipid-binding proteins that have a molecular weight of approximately 35,000 to 40,000 Dalton and are preferentially located on the cytosolic face of the plasma membrane. Annexin A1 protein has an apparent relative molecular mass of 40 kDa with phospholipase A2 inhibitory activity. Clinical significance Effect on innate and adaptive immunity Glucocorticoids (such as budesonide, cortisol, and beclomethasone) are a class of endogenous or synthetic anti- inflammatory steroid hormones that bind to the glucocorticoid receptor (GR), which is present in almost every vertebrate animal cell. They are used in medicine to treat diseases caused by an overactive immune system, including allergies, asthma, autoimmune diseases, and sepsis. Because they suppress inflammatory pathways, long-term use of glucocorticoi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glycan-protein Interactions
Glycan-Protein interactions represent a class of biomolecular interactions that occur between free or protein-bound glycans and their cognate binding partners. Intramolecular glycan-protein (protein-glycan) interactions occur between glycans and proteins that they are covalently attached to. Together with protein-protein interactions, they form a mechanistic basis for many essential cell processes, especially for cell-cell interactions and host-cell interactions. For instance, SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19, employs its extensively glycosylated spike (S) protein to bind to the ACE2 receptor, allowing it to enter host cells. The spike protein is a trimeric structure, with each subunit containing 22 N-glycosylation sites, making it an attractive target for vaccine search. Glycosilation, i.e., the addition of glycans (a generic name for monosaccharides and oligosaccharides) to a protein, is one of the major post-translational modification of proteins contributing to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Surface Plasmon Resonance
Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) is the resonant oscillation of conduction electrons at the interface between negative and positive permittivity material in a particle stimulated by incident light. SPR is the basis of many standard tools for measuring adsorption of material onto planar metal (typically gold or silver) surfaces or onto the surface of metal nanoparticles. It is the fundamental principle behind many color-based biosensor applications and lab-on-a-chip sensors. It should be stressed that SPR is not a resonance on the planar surface and it is a polariton or surface-wave like phenomenon. Explanation The surface plasmon polariton is a non-radiative electromagnetic surface wave that propagates in a direction parallel to the negative permittivity/dielectric material interface. Since the wave is on the boundary of the conductor and the external medium (air, water or vacuum for example), these oscillations are very sensitive to any change of this boundary, such as the adso ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hemagglutinin (influenza)
Influenza hemagglutinin (HA) or haemagglutinin .html" ;"title="/sup>">/sup> (British English) is a homotrimeric glycoprotein found on the surface of influenza viruses and is integral to its infectivity. Hemagglutinin is a Class I Fusion Protein, having multifunctional activity as both an attachment factor and membrane fusion protein. Therefore, HA is responsible for binding Influenza virus to sialic acid on the surface of target cells, such as cells in the upper respiratory tract or erythrocytes, causing as a result the internalization of the virus. Secondarily, HA is responsible for the fusion of the viral envelope with the late endosomal membrane once exposed to low pH (5.0-5.5). The name "hemagglutinin" comes from the protein's ability to cause red blood cells (erythrocytes) to clump together (" agglutinate") ''in vitro''. Subtypes Hemagglutinin (HA) in influenza A has at least 18 different subtypes. These subtypes are named H1 through H18. H16 was discovered in 2004 on in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Center For Functional Glycomics
The National Center for Functional Glycomics is an organization that is focused on the development of technology development in glycosciences. They are specifically focused on glycan analysis and molecular mechanisms of glycan recognition by proteins important in human biology and disease. The center was established at Emory University in 2013 with $5.5 million funding by National Institutes of Health under the leadership of Richard D. Cummings. The center moved to Harvard University in September 2015 and is currently located at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston Massachusetts. The center is affiliated with the Consortium for Functional Glycomics The Consortium for Functional Glycomics (CFG) is a large research initiative funded in 2001 by a glue grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) to “define paradigms by which protein-carbohydrate interactions mediate .... The National Center for Functional Glycomics is one of four glycomics-re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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