November 2014: This Month in JoVE: Flow Cytometry in Space, Venom Extraction from Spiders, Decision Making in Bumblebees, and Oceanic Microbial Communities

Summary

Here's a look at what's coming up in the November 2014 issue of JoVE.

Protocol

Reduced-gravity Environment Hardware Demonstrations of a Prototype Miniaturized Flow Cytometer and Companion Microfluidic Mixing Technology

William S. Phipps*¹, Zhizhong Yin*¹, Candice Bae¹, Julia Z. Sharpe¹, Andrew M. Bishara², Emily S. Nelson³, Aaron S. Weaver³, Daniel Brown⁴, Terri L. McKay³, DeVon Griffin³, Eugene Y. Chan¹

¹DNA Medicine Institute, ²Harvard Medical School, ³NASA Glenn Research Center, ⁴ZIN Technologies

Spaceflight blood diagnostics need innovation. Few demonstrations have been published illustrating in-flight, reduced-gravity health diagnostic technology. Here we present a method for construction and operation of a parabolic flight test rig for a prototype point-of-care flow-cytometry design, with components and preparation strategies adaptable to other setups.

Radio Frequency Identification and Motion-sensitive Video Efficiently Automate Recording of Unrewarded Choice Behavior by Bumblebees

Levente L. Orbán, Catherine M.S. Plowright

School of Psychology, University of Ottawa

This video describes Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) and motion-sensitive video recording methods to monitor choice behavior by bumblebees.

Extraction of Venom and Venom Gland Microdissections from Spiders for Proteomic and Transcriptomic Analyses

Jessica E. Garb

Department of Biological Sciences, University of Massachusetts Lowell

This article provides a protocol for the extraction of venom from spiders using electrical stimulation in order to 1) conduct proteomic characterization, 2) stimulate venom gland gene expression, and 3) perform functional studies of venoms. This is followed by a description of venom gland microdissections for gene expression studies.

Unraveling the Unseen Players in the Ocean - A Field Guide to Water Chemistry and Marine Microbiology

Andreas Florian Haas¹, Ben Knowles¹, Yan Wei Lim¹, Tracey McDole Somera², Linda Wegley Kelly¹, Mark Hatay¹, Forest Rohwer¹

¹Department of Biology, San Diego State University, ²Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego

Here, we present a comprehensive protocol to assess the organic and inorganic nutrient availability and the abundance and structure of microbial and viral communities in remote marine environments.