Nucleic Acid-, Protein and Cell-related Technologies

Fibrosis is the excessive accumulation of extracellular matrix that leads to destruction of the tissue architecture and consequently organ failure. In the developed world, an estimated 45 % of all deaths resulted from severe fibrotic diseases. A wide range of chronic diseases are able to induce fibrosis such as hepatitis, pulmonary disease, scleroderma and cancer. Current therapies for fibrosis are limited and of low efficacy. Further research on fibrosis is required to understand disease progression ...

The cellular identity of mature cells that are confined in a specialized genetic expression profile can be overcome by introducing just a few genes that encode for so-called reprogramming factors [1]. By means of this intervention, also known as reprogramming, the cells then become pluripotent and represent induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) [1]. Nowadays, numerous new cell culture models have been established based on reprogramming protocols that yield iPS cells. Such cell culture models ...

Precise genome editing demands for homology-directed repair (HDR) by aiming to introduce a new double stranded DNA substituting for a homologous sequence but partially defect one. This substrate dependent reaction does compete with direct non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) of the double strand breaks. NHEJ is error-prone and is therefor mainly used for gene inactivation.
The rate of NHEJ is directly limiting the rate of HDR. For this reason HDR in vitro does occur on a very low level only and ...

An innovative high throughput screening method for measurement of RNA- and DNA-polymerase activity at room temperature, based on time-resolved FRET.

MARS is a powerful program for robust automatic backbone assignment of proteins. MARS is applicable to proteins with extreme chemical shift degeneracy such as high molecular weight proteins and partially disordered or fully intrinsically disordered proteins. MARS is successfully used in many labs world-wide as evidenced by a huge number of citations.

We present an extremely sensitive, reliable and fast novel Lysine deacetylase (KDAC) assay, which can be performed in a continuous format. This novel KDAC assay is based on Firefly luciferase harboring an acetylation on an essential active site lysine, incorporated by genetic code expansion.

We furthermore offer a bacterial selection system that can help engineer KDACs. The selection system uses a reporter enzyme inactivated by lysine modifications at an essential active site residue, thereby ...

Biomarkers of ageing have long been sought after to help assess the biological age and general health status of individuals. Considerable efforts have been invested to identify such biomarkers, including physiologic readouts, metabolic parameters, glycomic profiles and others. Nevertheless, markers with strong predictive power have remained elusive.

Work in model organisms has identified several conserved signaling pathways that extend life span, such as reduced insulin/IGF signaling and ...

This invention relates to means and methods for conjugating/attaching target molecules such as proteins to a label and/or carrier.

Proteins are the main functional units within cells. Their regulated synthesis and degradation are crucial for controlling biological processes. In all cells, protein synthesis is used to respond to extra- and/or intracellular cues to remodel cellular function. Previous studies probing the role of protein synthesis have used chemical inhibitors, often common antibiotics, which are effective but lack functional and cell-type specificity when applied to a mixture of cells.