Discussions

With the development of science and technology, a lot of studies are being performed to bioengineer next-generation albumins to enhance the curative effects of albumin. The key point of the new technology is the manipulation of the FcRn and albumin complex, which required albumin variants that have longer and shorter half-lives than natural albumin. To this end, scientists have used a structure-based approach, supported by the analysis of site-specific mutants, to identify residues involved in the binding of albumin to FcRn. Results show that both FcRn and albumin domain III in this complex allow specific molecular interactions. The development of the FcRn-albumin complex may speed up the process of novel albumin variants with altered serum half-life as carriers of drugs.

The quantification of ribosomal proteins in biological samples has been routinely used for the diagnosis of diseases and monitoring the treatment. However, large-scale protein quantification in complex samples is still a challenging task, while ribosomal proteomics attracts more attention. In addition to their canonical ribosomal functions, multiple ribosomal proteins have extra-ribosomal functions resulting in cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. Defects in ribosome biogenesis, translation, and the functions of individual ribosomal proteins, including mutations in ribosomal proteins, have been linked to a diverse range of human congenital disorders termed ribosomopathies.

6-azauridine is a uridine analogue with a histidine-like N-3 pKa. It is used as an antineoplastic antimetabolite as it interferes with pyrimidine biosynthesis, thereby preventing the formation of cellular nucleic acids. The antiviral effect of 6-azauridine has previously been documented for several virus types, including coronaviruses, flaviviruses and West Nile virus. This compound may thus act as a broad antiviral agent. 6-azauridine for SARS-CoV-2 has already been used in patients in the treatment of other diseases. It should be further considered for use, either alone or in combination, for the treatment of 2019-nCoA infection. Therefore, its potential usefulness in the treatment of 2019-nCoA infections should be further evaluated.

The benefits of the microfluidic system are inherently scale reduction compared to the analytical method, simplicity in function and fabrication, rapid turnaround time, and decreased reagent consumption per test for DNA extraction and amplification. The reduced size of microfluidic chips not only enhances amplification speed but also provides dozens of reductions in PCR volume. Consuming less Taq polymerase has the potential to decrease the cost per test dramatically. Concordantly, the decrease in the number of reagents reduces the hazardous waste that must be disposed of and eliminates possible contamination and error during the extra experimental steps. Furthermore, the system could also display the integration of many microfluidic reactions, from DNA extraction to multiple downstream processes (PCR and electrophoretic analysis), on the same microdevice.

Tumor-infiltrating immune cells have been regarded as attractive markers for revealing immune responses and tumor control in various cancer immunotherapies. Single cell omics for immunity technologies have been widely used for analyzing the heterogeneity of cells and molecules in the tumor microenvironment (TME). Meanwhile, scOmics analysis of tumor-infiltrating immune cells is also critical to determining cell interactions in cancer research. Single Cell now offers a collection of single-cell omics services for quantifying different cell types, such as T cells, B cells, dendritic cells (DCs), natural killer cells (NKs), macrophages, myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), and neutrophils.

Due to the ability to bind certain molecules with high affinity and specificity, antibodies have become potent tools in life sciences research, as well as in diagnostic and therapeutic applications. Generally, it is arduous and sometimes difficult to produce antibodies to target specific epitopes within a protein, especially when these epitopes are not effective antigens. As a leading custom service provider in antibody field, Creative Biolabs now offers a range of epitope-specific antibody design services. With our well established epitope-specific antibody design platform, we are confident in providing unique epitope-specific antibodies with high specificity and affinity.

The safety testing of cosmetics mainly relies on animal testing, which has been strongly opposed by animal protection organizations. The efficacy testing of cosmetics is generally achieved through in vitro cell tests, but given the complexity of human skin tissue, it is difficult to reflect the real situation. In recent decades, the development of alternative approaches for skin irritation and genotoxicity testing has been a worldwide trend. To better reproduce human biology, our developed ex vivo human skin models are derived from real human skin tissue to obtain the closest test results.

RNA services for cancer are important for interpreting the functional elements of the genome as well as for understanding the underlying mechanisms of diverse diseases, especially cancers. Microarray-based gene expression approaches have been used for high-throughput, large-scale RNA-level studies, such as to identify differentially expressed genes. However, the application of microarray technologies has been limited by their hybridization-based nature. Advances in massively parallel DNA sequencing technologies have enabled RNA-seq by sequencing cDNA.