Surfaces with controllable topography and chemistry were prepared to act as substrates for protein crystallization, in order to investigate the influence of these surface properties on the protein crystallization outcome. Three different methods were investigated to deposit 1,3,5-tris(10-carboxydecyloxy)benzene (TCDB) on a muscovite mica substrate to find the best route for controlled topograph...

Contamination of an in-house diagnostic real-time PCR for Q fever was traced back to a commercially obtained PCR Master Mix. It was established that this Master Mix contained DNA from Coxiella burnetii, probably as a result of the use of compounds of animal origin such as bovine serum albumin.

We present the first time-resolved investigation of motions of proteins in densely grafted layers of spherical polyelectrolyte brushes. Using small-angle x-ray scattering combined with rapid stopped-flow mixing, we followed the uptake of bovine serum albumin by poly(acrylic acid) layer with high spatial and temporal resolution. We find that the total amount of adsorbed protein scales with time ...

We demonstrate label-free molecule detection by using an integrated biosensor based on a Si(3)N(4)/SiO(2) slot-waveguide microring resonator. Bovine serum albumin (BSA) and anti-BSA molecular binding events on the sensor surface are monitored through the measurement of resonant wavelength shifts with varying biomolecule concentrations. The biosensor exhibited sensitivities of 1.8 and 3.2 nm/(ng...

In this paper, the transformation process from Au8 to Au25 nanoclusters (NCs) is investigated with steady state fluorescence spectroscopy and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy at various reaction temperatures and solvent diffusivities. Results demonstrate that Au8 NCs, protected by bovine serum albumin, transform into Au25 NCs under controlled pH values through an endothermic reaction wit...

We theoretically and experimentally demonstrate an ultrasensitive two-dimensional photonic crystal microcavity biosensor. The device is fabricated on a silicon-on-insulator wafer and operates near its resonance at 1.58 microm. Coating the sensor internal surface with proteins of different sizes produces a different amount of resonance redshift. The present device can detect a molecule monolayer...

Spectroscopy-based techniques for assessing structural transitions of proteins follow either an intramolecular chromophore, as in absorption-based circular dichroism (CD) or fluorescence-based tryptophan emission, or an intermolecular chromophore such as fluorescent probes. Here a new fluorescent probe method to probe the structural transition of proteins by photoacids is presented, which has a...

Colicin E2 was partially purified from Escherichia coli W3110. This preparation was remarkably stabilized by bovine serum albumin in a solution at neutral pH, as shown by dilution experiments and tests on heat stability of colicin. One killing unit of colicin E2 was estimated to correspond to one molecule of colicin E2, on the assumption of a molecular weight of 60,000.

The characteristics of the interaction between reserpine and bovine serum albumin (BSA) were studied by fluorescence, UV-vis absorption and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. Spectroscopic analysis revealed that fluorescence quenching of BSA by reserpine was through a static quenching procedure. The binding constant K(A) of reserpine with BSA at 293, 301 and 309 K was 1.63, 1.78 a...

BACKGROUND In highly endemic countries, transmission and sub-clinical infection of leprosy are likely and the disease manifests itself in individuals without any known close contact with a leprosy patient. Health workers are social contacts belonging to the same network (the Health System) and some of them share the same social environment (nursing assistants) as patients with known patients an...