Skeletal muscle contractions stimulate glucose uptake into the working muscles during exercise. Because this signaling pathway is independent of insulin, exercise constitutes an important alternative pathway to increase glucose uptake, also in insulin-resistant muscle. Therefore, much effort is being put into understanding the molecular regulation of exercise-stimulated glucose uptake by skeletal muscle. To delineate the causal molecular mechanisms whereby muscle contraction or exercise regulate glucose uptake, the investigation of genetically manipulated rodents is necessary. Presented here i ..read more

Cuttlefish are active carnivores that possess a wide repertoire of body patterns that can be changed within milliseconds for many types of camouflage and communication. The forms and functions of many body patterns are well known from ethological studies in the field and laboratory. Yet one aspect has not been reported in detail: the category of rapid, brief and high-contrast changes in body coloration (“Tentacle Shot Patterns” or TSPs) that always occur with the ejection of two ballistic tentacles to strike live moving prey (“Tentacles Go Ballistic” or TGB moment). We designed and tested a me ..read more

The regulation of cellular energetics is a complex process that requires the coordinated function of multiple organelles. Historically, studies focused on understanding cellular energy utilization and production have been overwhelmingly concentrated on the mitochondria. While mitochondria account for the majority of intracellular energy production, they alone are incapable of maintaining the variable energetic demands of the cell. The peroxisome has recently emerged as a secondary metabolic organelle that complements and improves mitochondrial performance. Although mitochondria and peroxisomes ..read more

Camelid single-domain antibody fragments, also called nanobodies, constitute a class of binders that are small in size (~15 kDa) and possess antigen-binding properties similar to their antibody counterparts. Facile production of recombinant nanobodies in several microorganisms has made this class of binders attractive within the field of molecular imaging. Particularly, their use in super-resolution microscopy has improved the spatial resolution of molecular targets due to a smaller linkage error. In single-molecule localization microscopy techniques, the effective spatial resolution can be fu ..read more

Severe burns are traumatic and physically debilitating injuries with a high rate of mortality. Bacterial infections often complicate burn injuries, which presents unique challenges for wound management and improved patient outcomes. Currently, pigs are used as the gold standard of pre-clinical models to study infected skin wounds due to the similarity between porcine and human skin in terms of structure and immunological response. However, utilizing this large animal model for wound infection studies can be technically challenging and create issues with data reproducibility. We present a detai ..read more

This special issue of Journal of Biological Methods presents methods related to SARS- CoV-2 research in responding to the current global COVID-19 pandemic ..read more

Several murine models of corneal transplantation have been developed over the years to study the immunopathological processes that lead to the failure of grafted corneas. In all of them, the classic eight interrupted sutures technique is utilized for transplanting the donor cornea on the host bed. However, in clinical practice, a single continuous suture with a single knot is generally performed for corneal transplantation. Here, we describe the adaptation of the single continuous suture technique in a mouse model of corneal transplantation ..read more

In late 2019, a novel coronavirus began spreading in Wuhan, China, causing a potentially lethal respiratory viral infection. By early 2020, the novel coronavirus, called SARS-CoV-2, had spread globally, causing the COVID-19 pandemic. The infection and mutation rates of SARS-CoV-2 make it amenable to tracking introduction, spread and evolution by viral genome sequencing. Efforts to develop effective public health policies, therapeutics, or vaccines to treat or prevent COVID-19 are also expected to benefit from tracking mutations of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Here we describe a set of comprehensive w ..read more

There is momentum towards implementing patient-derived xenograft models (PDX) in cancer research to reflect the histopathology, tumor behavior, and metastatic properties observed in the original tumor. These models are more predictive of clinical outcomes and are superior to cell lines for preclinical drug evaluation and therapeutic strategies. To study PDX cells preclinically, we used both bioluminescence imaging (BLI) to evaluate cell viability and magnetic particle imaging (MPI), an emerging imaging technology to allow for detection and quantification of iron nanoparticles. The goal of this ..read more

Classical histological stained sections have the disadvantage that fine structures, like individual neurites, or specific macromolecules, like neurotransmitters cannot be visualized. Due to its highly specific staining of only one target molecule within the cell, the visualization of delicate structures, which would be superimposed by other tissue layers in classical Azan staining, is possible with immunohistochemistry. However, using immunohistological methods not all tissues of a specimen can be visualized at once. In contrast, density specific stains like Azan allow for a whole staining of ..read more