Understanding the behavior of stimuli-response ionogels for microfluidic applications

Part of special issue: Proceedings of the 30th anniversary Eurosensors Conference – Eurosensors 2016, 4-7. Sepember 2016, Budapest, HungaryElectrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) studies of two different ionogels (IOs) are performed using gold interdigitated electrodes (Au-IDEs). Poly(N isopropylacrylamide) (pNIPAAM) is polymerized in the presence of two ionic liquids (ILs), ethyl- 3-methylimidazolium ethyl sulfate [C2mIm][EtSO2] (1) or trihexyltetradecyl-phosphonium dicyanamide [P6,6,6,14][DCA] (2). The Nyquist diagrams of the IOs reflect significant differences due to their polarity and porosity dissimilarities. This fact is supported with the study of the diffusion of water through the polymer matrix, which is faster for IO-1, the most porous IO. Moreover, the ability of IO-1 and IO-2 to conduct current is measured and the sheet resistance of IO-2 is two orders of magnitude higher than IO-1. Finally, the swelling/drying properties of the IOs are monitored exposing them to several vacuum and rehydration cycles. The Nyquist plot of IO-1 shows faster diffusion and recovery of the original properties. Both hydrophilicity and porosity are in the basis of these results.This work was supported by the Basque Government under the Etortek Program (Grant No. IE14–391). N.G-G. was supported by a PhD fellowship from the University of Navarra

Creating community of microbiology-related professionals through the MIRRI Collaborative Working Environment (CWE)

MIRRI-ERIC supports the biosciences scientific community and bioindustries by providing a single point of access to microbial related services, the MIRRI Collaborative Working Environment (CWE, www.mirri.org). The CWE facilitates the access to the broadest range of high-quality microorganisms, their derivatives, associated data and services, and it is complemented with a forum of experts created to share and generate knowledge within the MIRRI stakeholder community (culture collections, policy makers, scientists, bioindustry, etc.). The clusters covered by the platform will be: Legal/Regulatory Issues & Standards (e.g. ABS, Biosafety, Budapest Treaty) Applications in Biotechnology & Bioindustries (topics aligned with the MIRRI Research & Innovation Agenda) Taxonomy (microbial groups in the scope of MIRRI expertise) Bioprospection, Cultivation & Preservation (microbial groups and samples in the scope of MIRRI expertise) High-end Technologies & Platforms (e.g. MALDI-TOF, Genome analysis, Culturomics, Digital Technologies & FAIR data) The forum is being implemented in the frame of the project IS_MIRRI21 (H2020 GA nº 871129). As a pilot, the cluster on Legal/Regulatory Issues & Standards is available to be used for the community. Consultation of the forum is open to everybody through the public site of the CWE. However, use of the forum (add new topics or reply to posts) requires registration into the platform. With this tool, MIRRI aims to foster innovation within science, research and development, bringing together students and professionals working in cross disciplinary aspects in the microbial-related value chain.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Comparative transcriptomic analysis reveals similarities and dissimilarities in saccharomyces cerevisiae wine strains response to nitrogen availability

Nitrogen levels in grape-juices are of major importance in winemaking ensuring adequate yeast growth and fermentation performance. Here we used a comparative transcriptome analysis to uncover wine yeasts responses to nitrogen availability during fermentation. Gene expression was assessed in three genetically and phenotypically divergent commercial wine strains (CEG, VL1 and QA23), under low (67 mg/L) and high nitrogen (670 mg/L) regimes, at three time points during fermentation (12h, 24h and 96h). Two-way ANOVA analysis of each fermentation condition led to the identification of genes whose expression was dependent on strain, fermentation stage and on the interaction of both factors. The high fermenter yeast strain QA23 was more clearly distinct from the other two strains, by differential expression of genes involved in flocculation, mitochondrial functions, energy generation and protein folding and stabilization. For all strains, higher transcriptional variability due to fermentation stage was seen in the high nitrogen fermentations. A positive correlation between maximum fermentation rate and the expression of genes involved in stress response was observed. The finding of common genes correlated with both fermentation activity and nitrogen up-take underlies the role of nitrogen on yeast fermentative fitness. The comparative analysis of genes differentially expressed between both fermentation conditions at 12h, where the main difference was the level of nitrogen available, showed the highest variability amongst strains revealing strain-specific responses. Nevertheless, we were able to identify a small set of genes whose expression profiles can quantitatively assess the common response of the yeast strains to varying nitrogen conditions. The use of three contrasting yeast strains in gene expression analysis prompts the identification of more reliable, accurate and reproducible biomarkers that will facilitate the diagnosis of deficiency of this nutrient in the grape-musts and the development of strategies to optimize yeast performance in industrial fermentations

Application guide for omics approaches to cell signaling

Research in signal transduction aims to identify the functions of different signaling pathways in physiological and pathological states. Traditional techniques using biochemical, genetic or cell biological approaches have made important contributions to our understanding of cellular signaling. However, the single-gene approach does not take into account the full complexity of cell signaling. With the availability of omics techniques, great progress has been made in understanding signaling networks. Omics approaches can be classified into two categories: 'molecular profiling', including genomic, proteomic, post-translational modification and interactome profiling; and 'molecular perturbation', including genetic and functional perturbations

MIRRI - Microbial Resources Research Infrastructure. The future European portal to access a broad scope of high quality microbes and related services

<p>Microorganisms hold a high inherent value proved by the large number of applications in which they have been used. Public Culture Collections have the mandate to conserve microbial diversity and associated data and to make it available to the scientific community. Nevertheless, resources  and  information  are  currently  fragmented  and  miss  harmonized  levels  of  quality rendering suboptimal exploitation of the available microbial diversity.<br> MIRRI (www.mirri.org), Microbial Resources Research Infrastructure, is a pan-European distributed research infrastructure in its preparatory phase, which aims to support research and development in all fields of biotechnology (blue, green, red and white). Currently, more than 30 public  culture  collections  and  research  institutes  from  19  European  countries  collaborate  to establish this infrastructure. MIRRI will coordinate offer and expertise and will provide a single<br> entry point to resources, databases, training and expertise in the field of  microbiology. MIRRI will also  support  users  dealing  with  microbial  resources  in  issues  such  as  Biosecurity,  Intellectual Property Rights, Access and Benefit Sharing, etc., facilitating legal compliance. Moreover, MIRRI aims to apply a holistic approach to data management, improving interoperability of data sets to<br> facilitate generation of knowledge from data. Tailor-made solutions for biotech  companies and participation in projects to sustain the bioeconomy will also be part of the MIRRI action plan.</p