© Bob CrimiComplex carbohydrates play crucial roles in biological processes as diverse as development, infection, and immunity. So naturally, the field has gone 'omic, at least in theory.1 In practice, good tools have been hard to come by.Stanford University biologist Denong Wang, formerly of the Columbia University Genome Center, set out to give glycomicists the chip capacity and manufacturing prowess that have transformed genomics. Like proteins, carbohydrates must maintain a specific thr

TRIPLE DELIGHT:Courtesy of Ethan BierVentral (top) and ventro-lateral (bottom) views of Drosophila embryos triple-labeled to visualize expression patterns. The top image (early blastoderm) shows snail (blue), single minded (red), and rhomboid (green); the bottom image (early gastrulation) shows short gastrulation (blue), ventral nervous system defective (green), and intermediate nervous system defective (red). (Reprinted from http://superfly.ucsd.edu/~davek/gallery.htm)Scientists at the Universi

THE DEAMINATOR:© 2004 Cell PressTwo proposed models of activation-induced cytidine deaminase activity. At left AID edits RNA allowing translation of a functional DNA endonuclease that works on both variable (V) and switch (S) region DNA. This results in somatic hypermutation (SHM) through nicks and error prone repair and class switch recombination (CSR) through staggered nicks and nonhomologous DNA end-joining (NHEJ). An alternative model proposes that AID modifies DNA directly and that CSR

© 2004 Society for NeuroscienceScientists at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh have created a transgenic mouse that will allow researchers to visualize patterns of activity directly in individual neurons in vivo.1 To create the animals, Alison Barth and colleagues coupled the c-fos promoter, which is typically activated during neural activity, to a green fluorescent protein (GFP) marker. "By coupling c-fos activation to the expression of GFP, I could now see cells that were specifica

Though recognized as prime drug targets, membrane proteins largely remain terra incognito for structural biologists because they are so difficult to express in eukaryotic-cells. Michael Mendez of Gryffin Consulting, a genetic engineering firm, explains that the main difficulty in expressing membrane proteins is cell toxicity: Overexpressed proteins that cannot be processed in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) initiate apoptosis, killing the cell. Altering the processing mechanism would prevent cell

© 2004 Elsevier ScienceUsing electrical circuitry blueprints for inspiration, researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel, have developed and tested a mathematical model describing the regulatory network behind flagellar biosynthesis in Escherichia coli.1"Electrical engineers, when they want to repair a device, have a blueprint. And they immediately see which components might be malfunctioning," says lead author Uri Alon. Biologists, however, lack such a tool. "One of

WATERS' ACQUITY UPLC SYSTEMCourtesy of WatersLong the method of choice for fast, accurate protein purification, HPLC has been revamped in recent months. Two companies, Agilent Technologies in Palo Alto, Calif., and Waters in Milford, Mass., released new high-performance liquid chromatography systems designed specifically for the microscale sample requirements of mass spectrometry-based proteomics. Though they adopt different approaches, both systems have been hailed by developers and users alike

THE 4-1-1 ON PWG:Courtesy of ZeptosensPlanar waveguide (PWG) technology (right) has the advantage over conventional epifluorescence excitation (left) for surface-confined assays in that only surface-bound fluorphores respond to the excitation source. Labels that are located more than about 400-nm from the surface do not fluoresce. Zeptosens uses PWG technology to enhance sensitivity of its protein arrays.While not as ubiquitous as their DNA counterparts, pro tein arrays are starting to hold thei

© 2004, National Academy of SciencesBiological patterns often develop in a mathematically predictable way. Fifty years ago Alan Turing invoked differential equations describing the interaction of an activator molecule and its inhibitor, a so-called reaction diffusion mechanism, to describe biological pattern formation. "People have suggested the model but without having any strong experimental evidence to back it up," says mathematical biologist Kevin Painter at Heriot-Watt University, Edin

Courtesy of RobmarCommon sense says that biotechnology is not child's play, but to former surgeon Bruce Bryan, it is. Bryan founded Pinetop, Ariz.-based Prolume to develop a line of glow-in-the-dark toys based on the luciferin/luciferase reaction, the same process behind firefly light and chemiluminescent assays.The idea dates back to Bryan's childhood, when he observed sea creatures lighting up the water during a scuba diving excursion. As an adult he tinkered with bioluminescence and eventuall

DELETION BY DESIGN:Courtesy of Guci GiaeverThe deletion cassette module used to delete each yeast gene contains two 74-basepair tags upstream and downstream (UPTAG and DNTAG) of the KanMX gene, which confers resistance to the drug geneticin. UPTAG and DNTAG contain 18 basepairs of genomic sequence to flank the yeast's open reading frame, and U1 and U2, or D1 and D2 PCR primers for amplifying a unique 20-basepair TAG region-the so-called molecular barcode. A second round of PCR adds 45 base-pairs

Courtesy of VistaLab TechnologiesMt. Kisco, NY-based VistaLab http://www.vistalab.com is bringing ergonomics to the high-throughput laboratory. Like its single-channel predecessor, the new, fully motorized Ovation BioNatural 12-channel pipettes are designed to place the user's hand, arm, and elbow in the proper ergonomic position.Company president Richard Scordato points out that standard multichannel pipettes, both manual and electronic, require a great deal of force for tip acquisition and eje