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Reflectin Structures Produced By Mammalian Cells
Reflectins are a family of intrinsically disordered proteins evolved by a certain number of cephalopods including ''Euprymna scolopes'' and ''Doryteuthis opalescens'' to produce Iridescence, iridescent camouflage and signaling. The recently identified protein family is enriched in Aromaticity, aromatic and sulfur-containing amino acids, and is utilized by certain cephalopods to refract incident light in their environment. The reflectin protein is responsible for dynamic pigmentation and iridescence in organisms. This process is “dynamic” due to its reversible properties, allowing reflectin to change an organism’s appearance in response to external factors such as needing to camouflage or send warning signals. Reflectin proteins are likely distributed in the outer layer of cells called "sheath cells" that surround an organism’s pigment cells also known as chromatocyte. Specific sequences of reflectin ables cephalopods to communicate and camouflage by adjusting color and refl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leucophore Layer Composition
Chromatophores are cells that produce color, of which many types are pigment-containing cells, or groups of cells, found in a wide range of animals including amphibians, fish, reptiles, crustaceans and cephalopods. Mammals and birds, in contrast, have a class of cells called melanocytes for coloration. Chromatophores are largely responsible for generating skin and eye colour in ectothermic animals and are generated in the neural crest during embryonic development. Mature chromatophores are grouped into subclasses based on their colour (more properly "hue") under white light: xanthophores (yellow), erythrophores (red), iridophores (reflective / iridescent), leucophores (white), melanophores (black/brown), and cyanophores (blue). While most chromatophores contain pigments that absorb specific wavelengths of light, the color of leucophores and iridophores is produced by their respective scattering and optical interference properties. Some species can rapidly change colour ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bioluminescence
Bioluminescence is the production and emission of light by living organisms. It is a form of chemiluminescence. Bioluminescence occurs widely in marine vertebrates and invertebrates, as well as in some fungi, microorganisms including some bioluminescent bacteria, and terrestrial arthropods such as fireflies. In some animals, the light is bacteriogenic, produced by symbiotic bacteria such as those from the genus ''Vibrio''; in others, it is autogenic, produced by the animals themselves. In a general sense, the principal chemical reaction in bioluminescence involves a light-emitting molecule and an enzyme, generally called luciferin and luciferase, respectively. Because these are generic names, luciferins and luciferases are often distinguished by the species or group, e.g. firefly luciferin. In all characterized cases, the enzyme catalyzes the oxidation of the luciferin. In some species, the luciferase requires other cofactors, such as calcium or magnesium ions, and somet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Refractive Index
In optics, the refractive index (or refraction index) of an optical medium is a dimensionless number that gives the indication of the light bending ability of that medium. The refractive index determines how much the path of light is bent, or refracted, when entering a material. This is described by Snell's law of refraction, , where ''θ''1 and ''θ''2 are the angle of incidence and angle of refraction, respectively, of a ray crossing the interface between two media with refractive indices ''n''1 and ''n''2. The refractive indices also determine the amount of light that is reflected when reaching the interface, as well as the critical angle for total internal reflection, their intensity ( Fresnel's equations) and Brewster's angle. The refractive index can be seen as the factor by which the speed and the wavelength of the radiation are reduced with respect to their vacuum values: the speed of light in a medium is , and similarly the wavelength in that medium is , where '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heterologous Expression
Heterologous expression refers to the expression of a gene or part of a gene in a host organism that does not naturally have the gene or gene fragment in question. Insertion of the gene in the heterologous host is performed by recombinant DNA technology. The purpose of heterologous expression is often to determine the effects of mutations and differential interactions on protein function. It provides an easy path to efficiently express and experiment with combinations of genes and mutants that do not naturally occur. Depending on the duration of recombination in the host genome, two types of heterologous expression are available, long-term (stable) and short-term (transient). Long-term is a potentially permanent integration into the gene and short-term is a temporary modification that lasts for 1 to 3 days. After being inserted in the host, the gene may be integrated into the host DNA, causing permanent expression, or not integrated, causing transient expression. Heterologous expre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reflectin Structures Produced By Mammalian Cells
Reflectins are a family of intrinsically disordered proteins evolved by a certain number of cephalopods including ''Euprymna scolopes'' and ''Doryteuthis opalescens'' to produce Iridescence, iridescent camouflage and signaling. The recently identified protein family is enriched in Aromaticity, aromatic and sulfur-containing amino acids, and is utilized by certain cephalopods to refract incident light in their environment. The reflectin protein is responsible for dynamic pigmentation and iridescence in organisms. This process is “dynamic” due to its reversible properties, allowing reflectin to change an organism’s appearance in response to external factors such as needing to camouflage or send warning signals. Reflectin proteins are likely distributed in the outer layer of cells called "sheath cells" that surround an organism’s pigment cells also known as chromatocyte. Specific sequences of reflectin ables cephalopods to communicate and camouflage by adjusting color and refl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Engineered Human Cells With Tunable Optical Properties
Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more specialized fields of engineering, each with a more specific emphasis on particular areas of applied mathematics, applied science, and types of application. See glossary of engineering. The term ''engineering'' is derived from the Latin ''ingenium'', meaning "cleverness" and ''ingeniare'', meaning "to contrive, devise". Definition The American Engineers' Council for Professional Development (ECPD, the predecessor of ABET) has defined "engineering" as: The creative application of scientific principles to design or develop structures, machines, apparatus, or manufacturing processes, or works utilizing them singly or in combination; or to construct or operate the same with full cognizance of their design; or to forecast their behavior under specific ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
University Of California, Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the University of California 10-university system. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an independent teachers' college, UCSB joined the University of California system in 1944, and is the third-oldest undergraduate campus in the system, after University of California, Berkeley, UC Berkeley and University of California, Los Angeles, UCLA. Located on a WWII-era Marine air station, UC Santa Barbara is organized into three undergraduate colleges (UCSB College of Letters and Science, College of Letters and Science, UCSB College of Engineering, College of Engineering, College of Creative Studies) and two graduate schools (Gevirtz Graduate School of Education and Bren School of E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Institute For Collaborative Biotechnologies
The Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies (ICB) is a University Affiliated Research Center (UARC) primarily funded by the United States Army. Headquartered at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) and in collaboration with MIT, Caltech and industry partners, ICB's interdisciplinary approach to research aims to enhance military technology by transforming biological systems into technological applications. Founding UARC proposed the ICB's development in January 2003 and the institute came to fruition by August 22, 2003 with the US Army's announcement to grant $50 million for military research. Since that time, the ICB has remained intact and expanded to include 60 faculty members and 150 researchers that have completed over 135 research projects. Research The ICB's research aim is to model biological mechanisms for use in military materials and tools. Quoting Army Research Office program manager Robert Campbell, "The inspiration for the ICB comes from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Photonics
Photonics is a branch of optics that involves the application of generation, detection, and manipulation of light in form of photons through emission, transmission, modulation, signal processing, switching, amplification, and sensing. Though covering all light's technical applications over the whole spectrum, most photonic applications are in the range of visible and near-infrared light. The term photonics developed as an outgrowth of the first practical semiconductor light emitters invented in the early 1960s and optical fibers developed in the 1970s. History The word 'Photonics' is derived from the Greek word "phos" meaning light (which has genitive case "photos" and in compound words the root "photo-" is used); it appeared in the late 1960s to describe a research field whose goal was to use light to perform functions that traditionally fell within the typical domain of electronics, such as telecommunications, information processing, etc. Photonics as a field began with th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Osmotic Pressure
Osmotic pressure is the minimum pressure which needs to be applied to a solution to prevent the inward flow of its pure solvent across a semipermeable membrane. It is also defined as the measure of the tendency of a solution to take in a pure solvent by osmosis. Potential osmotic pressure is the maximum osmotic pressure that could develop in a solution if it were separated from its pure solvent by a semipermeable membrane. Osmosis occurs when two solutions containing different concentrations of solute are separated by a selectively permeable membrane. Solvent molecules pass preferentially through the membrane from the low-concentration solution to the solution with higher solute concentration. The transfer of solvent molecules will continue until equilibrium is attained. Theory and measurement Jacobus van 't Hoff found a quantitative relationship between osmotic pressure and solute concentration, expressed in the following equation: :\Pi = icRT where \Pi is osmotic p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Refractive Index Profile
A refractive index profile is the distribution of refractive indices of materials within an optical fiber. Some optical fiber has a step-index profile, in which the core has one uniformly-distributed index and the cladding has a lower uniformly-distributed index. Other optical fiber has a graded-index profile, in which the refractive index varies gradually as a function of radial distance from the fiber center. Graded-index profiles include power-law index profile For optical fibers, a power-law index profile is an index of refraction profile characterized by : n(r) = \begin n_1 \sqrt & r \le \alpha\\ n_1 \sqrt & r \ge \alpha \end where \Delta = , and n(r) is the nominal refractive index a ...s and parabolic index profiles. Optical fiber Refraction {{telecom-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lamella (cell Biology)
A lamella (plural: "lamellae") in biology refers to a thin layer, membrane or plate of tissue. This is a very broad definition, and can refer to many different structures. Any thin layer of organic tissue can be called a lamella and there is a wide array of functions an individual layer can serve. For example, an intercellular lipid lamella is formed when lamellar disks fuse to form a lamellar sheet. It is believed that these disks are formed from vesicles, giving the lamellar sheet a lipid bilayer that plays a role in water diffusion. Another instance of cellular lamellae can be seen in chloroplasts. Thylakoid membranes are actually a system of lamellar membranes working together, and are differentiated into different lamellar domains. This lamellar system allows plants to convert light energy into chemical energy. Chloroplasts are characterized by a system of membranes embedded in a hydrophobic proteinaceous matrix, or stroma. The basic unit of the membrane system is a flatt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
