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Microbead (research)
Microbeads, also called Ugelstad particles after the Norwegian chemist, professor John Ugelstad, who invented them in 1977 and patented the method in 1978,Rangnes 1997:4–5 are Nanoparticles, uniform polymer particles, typically 0.5 to 500 microns in diameter. Bio-reactive molecules can be absorbed or coupled to their surface, and used to separate biological materials such as cell (biology), cells, proteins, or nucleic acids. Microbeads have been used for isolation and handling of specific material or molecules, as well as for analyzing sensitive molecules, or those that are in low abundance, e.g. in miniaturized and automated settings. Background Microbeads were created when John Ugelstad managed to form polystyrene beads of the same spherical sizes at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in 1977. A few years later, he created superparamagnetic microbeads (Dynabeads), which exhibit magnetic properties when ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dynabeads Are A Magnetic Type Of Microbeads
Dynabeads are superparamagnetic spherical polymer particles with a uniform size and a consistent, defined surface for the adsorption or coupling of various bioreactive molecules or cells. Development and description Dynabeads were developed after John Ugelstad managed to create uniform polystyrene spherical beads (defined as microbeads) of exactly the same size, at the University of Trondheim, Norway in 1976, something otherwise only achieved by NASA in the weightlessness, weightless conditions of SkyLab. Dynabeads are typically 1 to 5 micrometers in diameter. This is in contrast to Magnetic-activated cell sorting beads, which are approximately 50 nm. The technology behind the beads, called Dynabeads, was licensed to Dynal in 1980. Following a series of mergers and acquisitions, Dynal and Dynabeads are currently owned and produced by Invitrogen, part of Thermo Fisher Scientific. Applications This discovery of Dynabeads revolutionised the liquid-phase kinetic separation o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Precipitation (chemistry)
In an aqueous solution, precipitation is the "sedimentation of a solid material (a precipitate) from a liquid solution". The solid formed is called the precipitate. In case of an inorganic chemical reaction leading to precipitation, the chemical reagent causing the solid to form is called the precipitant. The clear liquid remaining above the precipitated or the centrifuged solid phase is also called the supernate or supernatant. The notion of precipitation can also be extended to other domains of chemistry (organic chemistry and biochemistry) and even be applied to the solid phases (e.g. metallurgy and alloys) when solid impurities segregation (materials science), segregate from a solid phase. Supersaturation The precipitation of a compound may occur when its concentration exceeds its solubility. This can be due to temperature changes, solvent evaporation, or by mixing solvents. Precipitation occurs more rapidly from a strongly supersaturated solution. The formation of a pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Affinity (pharmacology)
In biochemistry and pharmacology, a ligand is a substance that forms a complex with a biomolecule to serve a biological purpose. The etymology stems from Latin ''ligare'', which means 'to bind'. In protein-ligand binding, the ligand is usually a molecule which produces a signal by binding to a site on a target protein. The binding typically results in a change of conformational isomerism (conformation) of the target protein. In DNA-ligand binding studies, the ligand can be a small molecule, ion, or protein which binds to the DNA double helix. The relationship between ligand and binding partner is a function of charge, hydrophobicity, and molecular structure. Binding occurs by intermolecular forces, such as ionic bonds, hydrogen bonds and Van der Waals forces. The association or docking is actually reversible through dissociation. Measurably irreversible covalent bonding between a ligand and target molecule is atypical in biological systems. In contrast to the definition o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antigen
In immunology, an antigen (Ag) is a molecule, moiety, foreign particulate matter, or an allergen, such as pollen, that can bind to a specific antibody or T-cell receptor. The presence of antigens in the body may trigger an immune response. Antigens can be proteins, peptides (amino acid chains), polysaccharides (chains of simple sugars), lipids, or nucleic acids. Antigens exist on normal cells, cancer cells, parasites, viruses, fungus, fungi, and bacteria. Antigens are recognized by antigen receptors, including antibodies and T-cell receptors. Diverse antigen receptors are made by cells of the immune system so that each cell has a specificity for a single antigen. Upon exposure to an antigen, only the lymphocytes that recognize that antigen are activated and expanded, a process known as clonal selection. In most cases, antibodies are ''antigen-specific'', meaning that an antibody can only react to and bind one specific antigen; in some instances, however, antibodies may cr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Streptavidin
Streptavidin is a 52 Atomic mass unit, kDa protein (tetramer) purified from the bacterium ''Streptomyces avidinii''. Streptavidin Homotetramer, homo-tetramers have an extraordinarily high affinity for biotin (also known as vitamin B7 or vitamin H). With a dissociation constant (Kd) on the order of ≈10−14 mol/L, the binding of biotin to streptavidin is one of the strongest non-covalent interactions known in nature. Streptavidin is used extensively in molecular biology and bionanotechnology due to the streptavidin-biotin complex's resistance to organic solvents, denaturants (e.g. guanidinium chloride), detergents (e.g. Sodium dodecyl sulfate, SDS, Triton X-100), proteolytic enzymes, and extremes of temperature and pH. Structure The crystal structure of streptavidin with biotin bound was reported by two groups in 1989. The structure was solved using multi wavelength anomalous diffraction by Hendrickson et al. at Columbia University and using multiple isomorphous replacemen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antibody
An antibody (Ab) or immunoglobulin (Ig) is a large, Y-shaped protein belonging to the immunoglobulin superfamily which is used by the immune system to identify and neutralize antigens such as pathogenic bacteria, bacteria and viruses, including those that cause disease. Each individual antibody recognizes one or more specific antigens, and antigens of virtually any size and chemical composition can be recognized. Antigen literally means "antibody generator", as it is the presence of an antigen that drives the formation of an antigen-specific antibody. Each of the branching chains comprising the "Y" of an antibody contains a paratope that specifically binds to one particular epitope on an antigen, allowing the two molecules to bind together with precision. Using this mechanism, antibodies can effectively "tag" the antigen (or a microbe or an infected cell bearing such an antigen) for attack by cells of the immune system, or can neutralize it directly (for example, by blocking a p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biomolecule
A biomolecule or biological molecule is loosely defined as a molecule produced by a living organism and essential to one or more typically biological processes. Biomolecules include large macromolecules such as proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, and nucleic acids, as well as small molecules such as vitamins and hormones. A general name for this class of material is ''biological materials''. Biomolecules are an important element of living organisms. They are often endogeny (biology), endogenous, i.e. produced within the organism, but organisms usually also need exogeny, exogenous biomolecules, for example certain nutrients, to survive. Biomolecules and their organic reaction, reactions are studied in biology and its subfields of biochemistry and molecular biology. Most biomolecules are organic compounds, and just four chemical element, elements—oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen—make up 96% of the human body's mass. But many other elements, such as the various biometal (b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ligand (biochemistry)
In biochemistry and pharmacology, a ligand is a substance that forms a complex with a biomolecule to serve a biological purpose. The etymology stems from Latin ''ligare'', which means 'to bind'. In protein-ligand binding, the ligand is usually a molecule which produces a signal by binding to a site on a target protein. The binding typically results in a change of conformational isomerism (conformation) of the target protein. In DNA-ligand binding studies, the ligand can be a small molecule, ion, or protein which binds to the DNA double helix. The relationship between ligand and binding partner is a function of charge, hydrophobicity, and molecular structure. Binding occurs by intermolecular forces, such as ionic bonds, hydrogen bonds and Van der Waals forces. The association or docking is actually reversible through dissociation. Measurably irreversible covalent bonding between a ligand and target molecule is atypical in biological systems. In contrast to the definition o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flow Visualization
Flow visualization or flow visualisation in fluid dynamics is used to make the flow patterns visible, in order to get qualitative or quantitative information on them. Overview Flow visualization is the art of making flow patterns visible. Most fluids (air, water, etc.) are transparent, thus their flow patterns are invisible to the naked eye without methods to make them this visible. Historically, such methods included experimental methods. With the development of computer models and CFD simulating flow processes (e.g. the distribution of air-conditioned air in a new car), purely computational methods have been developed. Methods of visualization In experimental fluid dynamics, flows are visualized by three methods: * Surface flow visualization: This reveals the flow streamlines in the limit as a solid surface is approached. Colored oil applied to the surface of a wind tunnel model provides one example (the oil responds to the surface shear stress and forms a patt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
UV Light
Ultraviolet radiation, also known as simply UV, is electromagnetic radiation of wavelengths of 10–400 nanometers, shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays. UV radiation is present in sunlight and constitutes about 10% of the total electromagnetic radiation output from the Sun. It is also produced by electric arcs, Cherenkov radiation, and specialized lights, such as mercury-vapor lamps, tanning lamps, and black lights. The photons of ultraviolet have greater energy than those of visible light, from about 3.1 to 12 electron volts, around the minimum energy required to ionize atoms. Although long-wavelength ultraviolet is not considered an ionizing radiation because its photons lack sufficient energy, it can induce chemical reactions and cause many substances to glow or fluoresce. Many practical applications, including chemical and biological effects, are derived from the way that UV radiation can interact with organic molecules. These i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fluorescent
Fluorescence is one of two kinds of photoluminescence, the emission of light by a substance that has absorbed light or other electromagnetic radiation. When exposed to ultraviolet radiation, many substances will glow (fluoresce) with colored visible light. The color of the light emitted depends on the chemical composition of the substance. Fluorescent materials generally cease to glow nearly immediately when the radiation source stops. This distinguishes them from the other type of light emission, phosphorescence. Phosphorescent materials continue to emit light for some time after the radiation stops. This difference in duration is a result of quantum spin effects. Fluorescence occurs when a photon from incoming radiation is absorbed by a molecule, exciting it to a higher energy level, followed by the emission of light as the molecule returns to a lower energy state. The emitted light may have a longer wavelength and, therefore, a lower photon energy than the absorbed rad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cross-contamination
Contamination is the presence of a constituent, impurity, or some other undesirable element that renders something unsuitable, unfit or harmful for the physical body, natural environment, workplace, etc. Types of contamination Within the sciences, the word "contamination" can take on a variety of subtle differences in meaning, whether the contaminant is a solid or a liquid, as well as the variance of environment the contaminant is found to be in. A contaminant may even be more abstract, as in the case of an unwanted energy source that may interfere with a process. The following represent examples of different types of contamination based on these and other variances. Chemical contamination In chemistry, the term "contamination" usually describes a single constituent, but in specialized fields the term can also mean chemical mixtures, even up to the level of cellular materials. All chemicals contain some level of impurity. Contamination may be recognized or not and may become an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
