This study was carried out at the Department of Cell Biology at the Institute of Cancer Research at the Oslo University Hospital as a part of my Master’s degree in molecular biosciences at the University of Oslo. Our group ...

Summary Antibodies act as adapter molecules that link recognition of foreign substances, such as bacteria and viruses, to elimination mechanisms mediated by cells and molecules of the innate immune system. Cells that express ...

Background There is a huge effort in developing ligand-mediated targeting of nanoparticles to diseased cells and tissue. The plant toxin ricin has been shown to enter cells by utilizing both dynamin-dependent ...

Background Previous studies have noted that drug targets appear to be associated with higher-degree or higher-centrality proteins in interaction networks. These studies explicitly or tacitly make choices ...

The enzyme ribonucleotide reductase (RNR) catalyzes the conversion of ribonucleotides to deoxyribonucleotides, the precursors for DNA. RNR requires a thiyl radical to activate the substrate. In RNR of eukaryotes (class Ia ...

Serum half-life of IgG is controlled by the neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) that interacts with the IgG Fc region and may be increased or decreased as a function of altered FcRn binding. Preclinical evaluations of modified ...

Albumin is the most abundant protein in blood where it has a pivotal role as a transporter of fatty acids and drugs. Like IgG, albumin has long serum half-life, protected from degradation by pH-dependent recycling mediated ...

Most vertebrates die within minutes when exposed to anoxia (no oxygen). However, a few exceptions exist, and a champion among these is the crucian carp, which at low temperatures can survive several months in an active ...

I anledning universitetets 200 års jubileum og Mat Nat Fakultetets 150 års jubileum i 2011 fikk vi i oppdrag å fylle en dag med cellebiologi/strukturbiologi og lage en kortfilm med moderne mikroskopi som tema. Den 12. ...

Phage display has been instrumental in discovery of novel binding peptides and folded domains for the past two decades. We recently reported a novel pIX phagemid display system that is characterized by a strong preference ...

Background Pockmarks (depressions in the seabed) have been discovered throughout the world’s oceans and are often related to hydrocarbon seepage. Although high concentrations of pockmarks are present in ...

The Fe(II)- and 2-oxoglutarate (2OG)-dependent dioxygenase AlkB from E. coli is a demethylase which repairs alkyl lesions in DNA, as well as RNA, through a direct reversal mechanism. Humans possess nine AlkB homologs ...

The brain-pituitary-gonad axis regulates puberty and reproduction in all vertebrates. The two gonadotropins, FSH and LH are released from the pituitary and initiates maturing and growth of the gonads. To understand more ...

The BEACH domain is common for a protein family that has expanded through eukaryotic evolution and contains eight human proteins. These proteins are generally very large and at their C-terminal ends contain a conserved set ...

Background: Phage display is a leading technology for selection of binders with affinity for specific target molecules. Polypeptides are normally displayed as fusions to the major coat protein VIII (pVIII) or the minor ...

The cell cycle of the fission yeast, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, does not easily lend itself to analysis by flow cytometry, mainly because cells in G1 and G2 phase contain the same amount of DNA. This occurs because fission ...

Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) is a large, cold-adapted teleost that sustains long-standing commercial fisheries and incipient aquaculture. Here we present the genome sequence of Atlantic cod, showing evidence for complex ...

Förster Resonance Energy Transfer , abbreviated FRET , is a fluorescence phenomenon, which can be used to study and map co-localizations and dynamics of co-localizations at nanometer precision on a light microscope. FRET ...

Background The iRefIndex consolidates protein interaction data from ten databases in a rigorous manner using sequence-based hash keys. Working with consolidated interaction data comes with distinct challenges: ...

Background: Phage display is a platform for selection of specific binding molecules and this is a clear-cut motivation for increasing its performance. Polypeptides are normally displayed as fusions to the major coat protein ...

The success of Fc-fusion bio-therapeutics has spurred the development of other Fc-fusion products for treating and/or vaccinating against a range of diseases. We describe a method to modulate their function by converting ...

Sorting of newly synthesized proteins in the secretory pathway of polarized cells is governed by signals of proteinacous nature or post-translationally added structures such as glycans. Among all polarized cell types, ...

Although cloning and expression of T-cell Receptors (TcRs) has been performed for almost two decades, these procedures are still challenging. For example, the use of T-cell clones that have undergone limited expansion as ...

Små vannløselige c cytokrommer finnes i elektrontransportkjeder i alle livets domener, og har essensielle roller i metabolismen. De inneholder jernatomer bundet i den plane kofaktoren hem. Disse jernatomene er koordinert ...

Human IgG3 displays the strongest effector functions of all IgG subclasses but has a short half-life for unresolved reasons. Here we show that IgG3 binds to IgG-salvage receptor (FcRn), but that FcRn-mediated transport and ...

Background Frequent failure and severe side effects of current sarcoma therapy warrants new therapeutic approaches. The small-molecule MDM2 antagonist Nutlin-3a activates the p53 pathway and efficiently ...

Background Surface proteins are a key to a deeper understanding of the behaviour of Gram-positive bacteria interacting with the human gastro-intestinal tract. Such proteins contribute to cell wall synthesis ...

Background Methane oxidizing prokaryotes in marine sediments are believed to function as a methane filter reducing the oceanic contribution to the global methane emission. In the anoxic parts of the sediments, ...

Aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) has recently been shown to be a marker of cancer stem-like cells (CSCs) across tumour types. The primary goals of this study were to investigate whether ALDH is expressed in liposarcomas, and ...

Background FLASH is a huge nuclear protein involved in various cellular functions such as apoptosis signalling, NF-κB activation, S-phase regulation, processing of histone pre-mRNAs, and co-regulation of ...

Background Triage and interhospital transfer are central to trauma systems. Few studies have addressed transferred trauma patients. This study investigated transfers of variable distances to OUH (Oslo ...

Background The iRefIndex addresses the need to consolidate protein interaction data into a single uniform data resource. iRefR provides the user with access to this data source from an R environment. ...

Background Conventional high-grade osteosarcoma is a primary malignant bone tumor, which is most prevalent in adolescence. Survival rates of osteosarcoma patients have not improved significantly in the last ...

Background Whereas T cell receptors (TCRs) detect peptide/major histocompatibility complexes (pMHCs) with exquisite specificity, there are challenges regarding their expression and use as soluble detection ...

The neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) regulates the serum half-life of both IgG and albumin through a pH-dependent mechanism that involves salvage from intracellular degradation. Therapeutics and diagnostics built on IgG, Fc, ...

Background Several high-density oligonucleotide microarray platforms are available for genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) detection and microarray-based comparative genomic hybridisation (array ...

Background The HMGA2 gene, coding for an architectural transcription factor involved in mesenchymal embryogenesis, is frequently deranged by translocation and/or amplification in mesenchymal tumours, generally ...

Background The incidence of false positives is a potential problem in single-cell PCR experiments. This paper describes an optimized protocol for single-cell qPCR measurements in primary pituitary cell ...

Background Chlorophyll-binding proteins (CBPs) constitute a large family of proteins with diverse functions in both light-harvesting and photoprotection. The evolution of CBPs has been debated, especially ...

Background Efficient expression systems exist for antibody (Ab) molecules, which allow for characterization of large numbers of individual Ab variants. In contrast, such expression systems have been lacking ...

Adipogenesis is the developmental process that upon appropriate stimuli differentiates progenitor cells into specialized fat storing adipocytes. We studied this process and the potential involvement of two different protein ...

Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease driven by an immune response to gluten peptides. The disease is strongly associated with the MHC class II molecule HLA-DQ2.5. The similar molecule HLA-DQ2.2 is not associated with ...

The human HMGA2 gene is located at chromosomal band 12q14-15. In normal cells it encodes for the HMGA2 protein (109 amino acids). HMGA2 is a transcription factor that binds to the AT rich sequences on DNA and thereby ...

This work, we believe, is a significant contribution to the development of molecular methods for the rapid detection of microorganism interacting with humans. Prevention, through the implementation of effective water ...

The plant toxin ricin and the bacterial toxin Shiga toxin are not only a threat to human health but may also be used in cancer treatment and to gain new insight into the mechanisms of intracellular transport. Ricin and ...

FcγRIIA is a key activating receptor linking immune complex formation with cellular effector functions. FcγRIIA has 93% identity with an inhibitory receptor, FcγRIIB, which negatively regulates FcγRIIA. FcγRIIA is important ...

Background In many cell types, including the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, a set of checkpoints are induced by perturbations of the cell cycle or by DNA damage. Many of the checkpoint responses ...

Background Cyanobacteria often produce several different oligopeptides, with unknown biological functions, by nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPS). Although some cyanobacterial NRPS gene cluster types ...

Background When generating a genetically modified organism (GMO), the primary goal is to give a target organism one or several novel traits by using biotechnology techniques. A GMO will differ from its ...

Background The urokinase plasminogen activator receptor associated protein (uPARAP)/Endo180 is a novel endocytic receptor that mediates collagen uptake and is implicated to play a role in physiological and ...

Molecular evolution is a key strategy in the development of novel diagnostics and therapeutics. Libraries of mutant variants are generated and those with desired properties selected after screening. However, large scale ...

In the endocytic pathway, many components are degraded. This is essential for cells in many ways, like uptake of nutrients, defense against pathogens, receptor downregulation, and antigen processing. In interphase, the ...

Hvordan fiskene lukter sex og fare Fisker har en meget god luktesans og bruker den blant annet til å oppfatte farer, for eksempel når andre individer blir skadet eller spist av rovfisk. Noen av substansene fra fiskenes ...

Doktorand Anders Øverbye har jobbet ved Institutt for kreftforskning ved Radiumhospitalet med sin avhandling innenfor de raskt voksende fagfeltene proteomikk og autofagi. Proteomikk innebærer utforskning av komplekse ...

Exposure to particulate matter (PM) has been associated with increased cardiopulmonary morbidity and mortality, and inflammation has been suggested as a mechanistic link between PM exposure and adverse health effects. ...

Crucian carp, Carassius carassius, survives days to months without oxygen (anoxia). Still, during anoxia, it needs to keep the energy expenditure low, particularly in the brain, which has a high rate of ATP use mainly ...

Cancer cells are growing without control and it is therefore important to understand the mechanisms limiting the growth of normal cells. Before a cell can divide it must make a new set of chromosomes, so that both ...

Background Multiple epigenetic and genetic changes have been reported in colorectal tumors, but few of these have clinical impact. This study aims to pinpoint epigenetic markers that can discriminate between ...

Background Lepeophtheirus salmonis is an ectoparasitic copepod feeding on skin, mucus and blood from salmonid hosts. Initial analysis of EST sequences from pre adult and adult stages of L. salmonis revealed ...

Absolute tumor DNA copy numbers can currently be achieved only on a single gene basis by using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). We present GeneCount, a method for genome-wide calculation of absolute copy numbers ...

Background Cyanopeptolins are nonribosomally produced heptapetides showing a highly variable composition. The cyanopeptolin synthetase operon has previously been investigated in three strains from the genera ...

Background Interaction data for a given protein may be spread across multiple databases. We set out to create a unifying index that would facilitate searching for these data and that would group together ...

Background Cyanobacteria produce a wealth of secondary metabolites, including the group of small cyclic heptapeptide hepatotoxins that constitutes the microcystin family. The enzyme complex that directs the ...

Background Tumor-derived aberrantly methylated DNA might serve as diagnostic biomarkers for cancer, but so far, few such markers have been identified. The aim of the present study was to investigate the ...

Ricin and Shiga toxin are protein toxins able to enter target cells by endocytosis. They can be transported via early endosomes to the Golgi apparatus and the endoplasmic reticulum. From this compartment, they are translocated ...

The Clamydomonas chloroplast rbcL gene encodes the large subunit of ribulose-bisphosphate carboxylase (RUBISCO). The 5`untranslated region (5`UTR) of the rbcL gene is crucial for its transcripts stability. Previous studies ...

Androgens are important for the normal development of the male sexual characteristics, but are also involved in pathological conditions such as prostate cancer. The biological effects of androgens are mediated by the ...

The goal of the present work was to develop a microchip for amplification and detection of mRNA by employing nucleic acid sequence-based amplification (NASBA) technology. The technology platform should in principle be ...

Cyanobacteria from genera Anabaena, Microcystis and Planktothrix produce a wide selection of nonribosomal peptides, e.g. microcystins and cyanopeptolins. Nonribosomal peptides are produced by peptide synthetases or polyketide ...

Background Despite the fact that metastases are the leading cause of colorectal cancer deaths, little is known about the underlying molecular changes in these advanced disease stages. Few have studied the ...

Background Novel, uncharacterised proteins represent a challenge in biochemistry and molecular biology. In this report we present an initial functional characterization of human kidney predominant protein, ...

Background Due to the increased use of genetic modifications in crop improvement, there is a need to develop effective methods for the detection of both known and unknown transgene constructs in plants. We ...

Background Soft tissue sarcoma (STS) diagnosis is challenging because of a multitude of histopathological subtypes, different genetic characteristics, and frequent intratumoral pleomorphism. One-third of ...

Background Photodynamic therapy (PDT) involves systemic or topical administration of a lesion-localizing photosensitizer or its precursor, followed by irradiation of visible light to cause singlet ...

Background Increasing rates of psychosocial disturbances give rise to increased risks and vulnerability for a wide variety of stress-related chronic pain and other illnesses. Relaxation exercises aim at ...

Background Scavenger receptor type B class I (SR-BI), ABC transporter A1 (ABCA1) -and G1 (ABCG1) all play important roles in the reverse cholesterol transport. Reverse cholesterol transport is a mechanism ...

Background Trace or chromatogram files (raw data) are produced by automatic nucleic acid sequencing equipment or sequencers. Each file contains information which can be interpreted by specialised software ...

Background In order to gain new insights into the molecular mechanisms involved in prostate cancer, we performed array-based comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) on a series of 46 primary prostate ...

Det er vist at gallesubstanser er potente luktestimuli og induserer ulike typer adferdsmønstre hos fisk. Det er også flere egenskaper ved gallesaltene som gjør dem spesielt interessante i det akvatiske miljø som eksempel ...

Abstract Vascular endothelial cells contain typical, elongated vesicles called Weibel-Palade bodies (WPBs), which serve as a storage compartment for biologically active factors involved in hemostasis and inflammation. ...

The protein toxin ricin is found in the plant Ricinus communis, and is a useful tool in studies of intracellular traffic. It consists of an enzymatically active A chain and a B chain with lectin properties, joined together ...

Chaperoninene GroEL og GroES er en gruppe molekylære chaperoner som hittil er funnet i alle bakterier. Genene som koder for chaperoniner er vanligvis organisert i operoner på genomet. Den moderat termofile grønne glidende ...

Det humane genet WWOX har blitt identifisert av flere uavhengige forskningsgrupper i forbindelse med studier av strukturelle abnormaliteter av kromosom 16q i ulike krefttyper. Dette genet er lokalisert innenfor kromosom ...

Despite continuous improvement in gene delivery vector technology, development of methods for efficient and specific delivery of therapeutic genes to target cells still remains an important issue in the development of ...

In this study we have investigated by means of electron microscopy the uptake of the fragment crystallisable gamma receptor (FcãR) and its ligands (aggregated immunoglobulin G (AgIgG)) in J774 cells, a mouse macrophage ...

When housed together, juvenile rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) form social hierarchies in which subordinate animals show stress-related changes in behaviour, endocrine function and neurochemistry. Similar changes are ...

Abstract Skeletal muscle fibre types are determined by the activity of motor neurons, hormones, stretch and probably cell lineage. The electrical activity of the motor neurons might, through an unknown pathway, influence ...

The eukaryotic supergroup chromalveolates, as defined in the chromalveolate hypothesis, comprise the chromists (haptophytes, heterokonts and cryptophytes) and the alveolates (dinoflagellates, ciliates and apicomplexa). The ...

De to formene av den polymorfe ciliaten Tetrahymena vorax er svært ulike med hensyn på morfologi, atferd og næringspreferanser. Den mikrostome formen lever av blant annet bakterier og råtnende biologisk materiale som taes ...

Abstract Increased pain response following injury is an important step in the process of protecting the injured site from further damage. However, pain can often be a more serious problem than the injury or disease process ...

A reporter gene was constructed of the Chlamydomonas reinhardtii rbcL 5 f region from position -70 to +47, relative to the transcription start point (+1), followed by the E. coli uidA (GUS) gene and the Chlamydomonas psaB ...