Hardware security and trust have become a pressing issue during the last two decades due to globalization of semiconductor supply chain ubiquitous network connection computing devices. Computing hardware is now an attractive attack surface for launching powerful cross-layer attacks, allowing attackers infer secret information, hijack control flow, compromise system root-of-trust, steal intellec...

Remote attestation (RA) is a security mechanism that verifies the trustworthiness of remote IoT devices. Traditional RA protocols aim to detect presence malicious code in static memory device. In domain, research currently following two main directions: Dynamic and Swarm RA. schemes intend runtime attacks hijack control-flow execution running program without injecting new into memory. On other ...

We previously found that shorter mRNAs are preferably translated in various eukaryotic cells. However, the theoretical basis of this phenomenon is unclear. We hypothesize that shorter mRNA length correlates to the decreased translational error rate to reduce the energy consumption on defective protein degradation. In this study, we established a computational model to explain the length-depende...

Phone features, e.g., 911 call, voicemail, and Do Not Disturb, are critical and necessary for all deployed VoIP systems. In this paper, we empirically investigate the security of these phone features. We have implemented a number of attacks and experimented with VoIP services by leading VoIP service providers Vonage, AT&T and Gizmo. Our experimental results demonstrate that a man-in-the-middle ...

Meningoencephalitis caused by Cryptococcus neoformans (Cn) has become one of the leading causes of mortality in AIDS patients. Understanding the interactions between Cn and phagocytes is fundamental in exploring the pathogenicity of cryptococcal meningoencephalitis. Cn may be extracellular or contained in the monocytes, macrophages, neutrophils, dendritic cells and even endothelial cells. The i...

Genetic transformation of plants by Agrobacterium, which in nature causes neoplastic growths, represents the only known case of trans-kingdom DNA transfer. Furthermore, under laboratory conditions, Agrobacterium can also transform a wide range of other eukaryotic species, from fungi to sea urchins to human cells. How can the Agrobacterium virulence machinery function in such a variety of evolut...

Common mycorrhizal networks (CMNs) link multiple plants together. We hypothesized that CMNs can serve as an underground conduit for transferring herbivore-induced defence signals. We established CMN between two tomato plants in pots with mycorrhizal fungus Funneliformis mosseae, challenged a 'donor' plant with caterpillar Spodoptera litura, and investigated defence responses and insect resistan...

Cytokine and chemokine gradients are central to the directed movement of cells in both homeostatic and pathological processes. Most cancers have a complex chemokine network which can influence immune responses to the tumor, direct the extent and cellular composition of the leukocyte infiltrate and also play a role in angiogenesis. Tumor cells can also hijack the chemokine system and gain expres...