Cultivating Scholarship

Nurturing faculty research and scholarship is a top priority for the law school. Several new initiatives are helping faculty break new ground

Health Care and the Law: A Strong Prescription for the Future

With health care issues at the forefront of today\u27s news, the dynamic Law & Health Care Program is contributing to the debate - with real world answers

An efficient one-step site-directed deletion, insertion, single and multiple-site plasmid mutagenesis protocol

Background: Mutagenesis plays an essential role in molecular biology and biochemistry. It has also been used in enzymology and protein science to generate proteins which are more tractable for biophysical techniques. The ability to quickly and specifically mutate a residue(s) in protein is important for mechanistic and functional studies. Although many site-directed mutagenesis methods have been developed, a simple, quick and multi-applicable method is still desirable. Results: We have developed a site-directed plasmid mutagenesis protocol that preserved the simple one step procedure of the QuikChange (TM) site-directed mutagenesis but enhanced its efficiency and extended its capability for multi-site mutagenesis. This modified protocol used a new primer design that promoted primer-template annealing by eliminating primer dimerization and also permitted the newly synthesized DNA to be used as the template in subsequent amplification cycles. These two factors we believe are the main reasons for the enhanced amplification efficiency and for its applications in multi-site mutagenesis. Conclusion: Our modified protocol significantly increased the efficiency of single mutation and also allowed facile large single insertions, deletions/truncations and multiple mutations in a single experiment, an option incompatible with the standard QuikChange (TM). Furthermore the new protocol required significantly less parental DNA which facilitated the DpnI digestion after the PCR amplification and enhanced the overall efficiency and reliability. Using our protocol, we generated single site, multiple single-site mutations and a combined insertion/deletion mutations. The results demonstrated that this new protocol imposed no additional reagent costs (beyond basic QuikChange T) but increased the overall success rates.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Investigation of taste tainting in salmon flesh in the Ribble catchment

This report presents the findings of the first phase of an investigation into the cause(s) of taints in salmonid fish in the River Ribble, commissioned by the North West Region of the Environment Agency. There have been reports of tainting in fish taken from both the estuary and the freshwater river for many years, but the contaminants involved and their source and transport pathway are unknown. Tainting by phenols has been of specific concern in the past. The work programme comprised: examination of tainting reports; collection of salmonids; their submission for taste testing; literature review; analysis of fish flesh using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS) and analysis of river bed sediments. From enquiries, three common descriptors of the 'taint' were identified: disinfectanty; diesely; and muddy. The incidence of taints appears transient/irregular and may therefore relate to the incidence of discharges and specific threshold concentrations of pollutants. The literature review showed that a wide range of organic compounds including many industrial chemicals, and others which are naturally occurring, can taint fish flesh. Taste testing confirmed the presence of tainted salmon and trout in the Ribbie Catchment. It identified a low incidence of 'untainted' fish but demonstrated the 'taint' to be not specific to one tainting substance. Differences were found both between the species and fish from different parts of the catchment. Overall, most fish exhibited an unpleasant flavour, though this may have been influenced to some extent by the fact that most were sexually mature. The worst tainting was found in trout from the river Calder: a soapy/chemical aftertaste. An unpleasant earthy/musty flavour distinguished the salmon from the trout. Phenol was shown to have been a minor issue during the present study, whilst no hydrocarbon taints were identified. Examination of tissue from the eight salmon exhibiting the worst taints revealed the presence of aromatic hydrocarbons, but no phenolic compounds. Other notable substances present in the fish were siioxanes and benzophenone. Data from sediment analysis is presented which shows the main compounds present to be aromatic and polyaromatic hydrocarbons, that concentrations at two locations R. Darwen and R. Calder were significantly higher than at other sites, and that some phenolic compounds were detected at low levels. A paucity of fish flesh taste descriptors linked to specific compounds prevented an obvious correlation to be made between the tastes observed and the organic compounds detected. Descriptors frequently used by the taste testing panel (e.g. earthy, musty, astringency, chemical) cannot be linked to any of the compounds identified in the tissue analyses. No taste information was available from the literature on siioxanes. Aromatic hydrocarbons though present in tissue and sediments were not identified as tainting

Extensions of Signed Graphs

Given a signed graph (G, Σ) with an embedding on a surface S, we are interested in "extending" (G, Σ) by adding edges and splitting vertices, such that the resulting graph has no embedding on S. We show (assuming 3-connectivity for (G, Σ)) that there are a small number of minimal extensions of (G, Σ) with no such embedding, and describe them explicitly. We also give conditions, for several surfaces S, for an embedding of a signed graph on S to extend uniquely. These results find application in characterizing the signed graphs with no odd-K_5 minor

Using mobile technologies for multimedia tours in a traditional museum setting

Mobile technology was used to deliver learner-centred experiences to visitors at a geology museum without compromising the museum’s aesthetic appeal. Two Flash-based multimedia tours were developed for the Hypertag Magus Guide system and trialled with 25 visitors in November 2005. Trial participants found the system fun and easy to use, though they requested headphones in order to hear the audio clearly. Several suggestions were provided to improve the tours including creating stronger links between the tour and the museum’s objects and incorporating more interactive and competitive elements. A structured multimedia tour approach is appropriate for visitors who can connect with the museum’s narratives, though more flexibility is required to meet the needs of other visitor types.University of Birmingha