Project description:Chromosome level genome assembly and comparative genomics between three falcon species reveals a pattern of genome organization not typical for birds
Project description:Frequent inspections are essential for false ceilings to maintain the service infrastructures, such as mechanical, electrical, and plumbing, and the structure of false ceilings. Human-labor-based conventional inspection procedures for false ceilings suffer many shortcomings, including safety concerns. Thus, robot-aided solutions are demanded for false ceiling inspections similar to other building maintenance services. However, less work has been conducted on developing robot-aided solutions for false ceiling inspections. This paper proposes a novel design for a robot intended for false ceiling inspections named Falcon. The compact size and the tracked wheel design of the robot allow it to traverse obstacles such as runners and lighting fixtures. The robot's ability to autonomously follow the perimeter of a false ceiling can improve the productivity of the inspection process since the heading of the robot often changes due to the nature of the terrain, and continuous heading correction is an overhead for a teleoperator. Therefore, a Perimeter-Following Controller (PFC) based on fuzzy logic was integrated into the robot. Experimental results obtained by deploying a prototype of the robot design to a false ceiling testbed confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed PFC in perimeter following and the robot's features, such as the ability to traverse on runners and fixtures in a false ceiling.
Project description:Neurodegenerative diseases are characterized by the presence of misfolded and aggregated proteins which are thought to contribute to the development of the disease. In one form of inherited blinding disease, retinitis pigmentosa, a P23H mutation in the light-sensing receptor, rhodopsin causes rhodopsin misfolding resulting in complete vision loss. We investigated whether a xenogeneic protein-unfolding ATPase (unfoldase) from thermophilic Archaea, termed PANet, could counteract the proteotoxicity of P23H rhodopsin. We found that PANet increased the number of surviving photoreceptors in P23H rhodopsin mice and recognized rhodopsin as a substate in vitro. This data supports the feasibility and efficacy of using a xenogeneic unfoldase as a therapeutic approach in mouse models of human neurodegenerative diseases. We also showed that an archaeal proteasome, called the T20S can degrade rhodopsin in vitro and demonstrated that it is feasible and safe to express gateless T20S proteasomes in vivo in mouse rod photoreceptors. Expression of archaeal proteasomes may be an effective therapeutic approach to stimulate protein degradation in retinopathies and neurodegenerative diseases with protein-misfolding etiology.
Project description:Microcrystal electron diffraction (MicroED) combines crystallography and electron cryo-microscopy (cryo-EM) into a method that is applicable to high-resolution structure determination. In MicroED, nanosized crystals, which are often intractable using other techniques, are probed by high-energy electrons in a transmission electron microscope. Diffraction data are recorded by a camera in movie mode: the nanocrystal is continuously rotated in the beam, thus creating a sequence of frames that constitute a movie with respect to the rotation angle. Until now, diffraction-optimized cameras have mostly been used for MicroED. Here, the use of a direct electron detector that was designed for imaging is reported. It is demonstrated that data can be collected more rapidly using the Falcon III for MicroED and with markedly lower exposure than has previously been reported. The Falcon III was operated at 40 frames per second and complete data sets reaching atomic resolution were recorded in minutes. The resulting density maps to 2.1 Å resolution of the serine protease proteinase K showed no visible signs of radiation damage. It is thus demonstrated that dedicated diffraction-optimized detectors are not required for MicroED, as shown by the fact that the very same cameras that are used for imaging applications in electron microscopy, such as single-particle cryo-EM, can also be used effectively for diffraction measurements.
Project description:MotivationMathematical modelling of regulatory networks allows for the discovery of knowledge at the system level. However, existing modelling tools are often computation-heavy and do not offer intuitive ways to explore the model, to test hypotheses or to interpret the results biologically.ResultsWe have developed a computational approach to contextualize logical models of regulatory networks with biological measurements based on a probabilistic description of rule-based interactions between the different molecules. Here, we propose a Matlab toolbox, FALCON, to automatically and efficiently build and contextualize networks, which includes a pipeline for conducting parameter analysis, knockouts and easy and fast model investigation. The contextualized models could then provide qualitative and quantitative information about the network and suggest hypotheses about biological processes.Availability and implementationFALCON is freely available for non-commercial users on GitHub under the GPLv3 licence. The toolbox, installation instructions, full documentation and test datasets are available at https://github.com/sysbiolux/FALCON. FALCON runs under Matlab (MathWorks) and requires the Optimization Toolbox.Contactthomas.sauter@uni.lu.Supplementary informationSupplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Project description:The peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) and the gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus) are top avian predators of Arctic ecosystems. Although existing monitoring efforts are well established for both species, collaboration of activities among Arctic scientists actively involved in research of large falcons in the Nearctic and Palearctic has been poorly coordinated. Here we provide the first overview of Arctic falcon monitoring sites, present trends for long-term occupancy and productivity, and summarize information describing abundance, distribution, phenology, and health of the two species. We summarize data for 24 falcon monitoring sites across the Arctic, and identify gaps in coverage for eastern Russia, the Arctic Archipelago of Canada, and East Greenland. Our results indicate that peregrine falcon and gyrfalcon populations are generally stable, and assuming that these patterns hold beyond the temporal and spatial extents of the monitoring sites, it is reasonable to suggest that breeding populations at broader scales are similarly stable. We have highlighted several challenges that preclude direct comparisons of Focal Ecosystem Components (FEC) attributes among monitoring sites, and we acknowledge that methodological problems cannot be corrected retrospectively, but could be accounted for in future monitoring. Despite these drawbacks, ample opportunity exists to establish a coordinated monitoring program for Arctic-nesting raptor species that supports CBMP goals.