A dynamic bronchial airway gene expression signature of COPD and lung function impairment.
Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2013 Mar 7. [Epub ahead of print]
Steiling K, van den Berge M, Hijazi K, et al.
The authors sought to determine whether chronic obstructive pulmonary disease-associated processes are reflected in gene-expression profiles of bronchial airway epithelial cells obtained via bronchoscopy. Gene expression profiling of bronchial brushings obtained from 238 current and former smokers with and without COPD was performed using Affymetrix Human Gene 1.0 ST Arrays. They determined that the bronchial airway epithelium could serve as a "relatively accessible tissue in which to measure biomarkers of disease activity for guiding clinical management of COPD."
Construction of tissue microarrays using pre-existing slides as source of tissue when paraffin blocks are unavailable.
J Clin Pathol. 2013 Mar 9. [Epub ahead of print]
Deng F, Zhao Y, Kong X, et al.
The authors developed and validated a technique for constructing intermediate density tissue microarray slides by transferring tissue from pre-existing routine slides provided for pathology diagnosis. The authors compared the preservation of morphology and antigenicity of the so-called Patch TMA with a traditional TMA, and concluded that Patch TMAs are a "viable alternative for tissue-based immunohistochemistry studies when paraffin blocks are unavailable."
Prism-based spectral imaging of four species of single-molecule fluorophores by using one excitation laser.
J Fluoresc. 2013 Mar 8. [Epub ahead of print]
Haga T, Sonehara T, Fujita T, et al.
The authors describe the development of a prism-based imaging system for simultaneously detecting four species of single-molecule fluorophores. They claim that the developed system can thus detect 1.5 times more SM fluorophores per field of view than conventional systems, and that their approach could increase the throughput of microarray analysis and real-time DNA sequencing.
The SuperChip for microbial community structure, and function from all environments.
Microb Biotechnol. 2013 Mar 6. [Epub ahead of print]
Hazen T
The author describes the need for an "all-in-one microarray" that can provide "complete information on a microbial community, including algae, protozoa, bacteria, archaea, fungi, viruses, antimicrobial resistance, biotoxins and functional activity." Such a "cheap and portable assay" could impact "clean water technologies, emerging diseases, bioenergy, infectious disease diagnosis, climate change, food safety, environmental clean-up and bioterrorism," according to the author.