Piccini, Matthew | Search NASA

NASA NTRS2013

Environmental Monitoring of Microbe Metabolic Transformation

Mobile system and method for monitoring environmental parameters involved in growth or metabolic transformation of algae in a liquid. Each of one or more mobile apparati, suspended or partly or wholly submerged in the liquid, includes at least first and second environmental sensors that sense and transmit distinct first and second environmental, growth or transformation parameter values, such as liquid temperature, temperature of gas adjacent to and above the exposed surface, liquid pH, liquid salinity, liquid turbidity, O.sub.2 dissolved in the liquid, CO.sub.2 contained in the liquid, oxidization and reduction potential of the liquid, nutrient concentrations in the liquid, nitrate concentration in the liquid, ammonium concentration in the liquid, bicarbonate concentration in the liquid, phosphate concentration in the liquid, light intensity at the liquid surface, electrical conductivity of the liquid, and a parameter.alpha.(alga) associated with growth stage of the alga, using PAM fluorometry or other suitable parameter measurements.

Bebout, Brad↗

DOE OSTI2013

Single Cell MicroRNA Analysis Using Microfluidic Flow Cytometry

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are non-coding small RNAs that have cell type and cell context-dependent expression and function. To study miRNAs at single-cell resolution, we have developed a novel microfluidic approach, where flow fluorescent in situ hybridization (flow-FISH) using locked-nucleic acid probes is combined with rolling circle amplification to detect the presence and localization of miRNA. Furthermore, our flow cytometry approach allows analysis of gene-products potentially targeted by miRNA together with the miRNA in the same cells. We demonstrate simultaneous measurement of miR155 and CD69 in 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate (PMA) and Ionomycin stimulated Jurkat cells. The flow-FISH method can be completed in ,10 h, utilizes only 170 nL of reagent per experimental condition, and is the first to directly detect miRNA in single cells using flow cytometry.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗