National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)

8 articles published in JoVE

• Genetics

  
  Introducing a Gene Knockout Directly Into the Amastigote Stage of Trypanosoma cruzi Using the CRISPR/Cas9 System Yukie Akutsu¹, Motomichi Doi¹, Koji Furukawa¹, Yuko Takagi^{1 1}Biomedical Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) Here, we describe a protocol to introduce a gene knockout into the extracellular amastigote of Trypanosoma cruzi, using the CRISPR/Cas9 system. The growth phenotype can be followed up either by cell counting of axenic amastigote culture or by proliferation of intracellular amastigotes after host cell invasion.

• Immunology and Infection

  
  Bacterial Cell Culture at the Single-cell Level Inside Giant Vesicles Masamune Morita¹, Yuri Ota^1,2, Kaoru Katoh¹, Naohiro Noda^{1,2 1}Biomedical Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), ²Department of Life Science and Medical Bioscience, Waseda University We demonstrate single-cell culture of bacteria inside giant vesicles (GVs). GVs containing bacterial cells were prepared by the droplet transfer method and were immobilized on a supported membrane on a glass substrate for direct observation of bacterial growth. This approach may also be adaptable to other cells.

• Chemistry

  
  Accumulation and Analysis of Cuprous Ions in a Copper Sulfate Plating Solution Toshiaki Koga¹, Yoshitaro Sakata¹, Nao Terasaki^{1 1}Advanced Manufacturing Research Institute, Department of Electronics and Manufacturing, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) Here, accumulation of cuprous ions in a copper sulfate plating solution in a model experiment and an analysis based on quantitative measurements are described. This experiment reproduces the accumulation process of cuprous ions in the plating bath.

• Biochemistry

  
  Detection of Phospholipase C Activity in the Brain Homogenate from the Honeybee Shota Suenami^1,2, Ryo Miyazaki¹, Takeo Kubo^{2 1}Bioproduction Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, ²Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo To test the inhibitory effects of pharmacologic agents on phospholipase C (PLC) in different regions of the honeybee brain, we present a biochemical assay to measure PLC activity in those regions. This assay could be useful for comparing PLC activity among tissues, as well as among bees exhibiting different behaviors.

• Engineering

  
  Micro/Nano-scale Strain Distribution Measurement from Sampling Moiré Fringes Qinghua Wang¹, Shien Ri¹, Hiroshi Tsuda^{1 1}Research Institute for Measurement and Analytical Instrumentation, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) A sampling moiré technique featuring 2-pixel and multi-pixel sampling methods for high-accuracy strain distribution measurements at the micro/nano-scale is presented here.

• Environment

  
  Protocol for Measuring the Thermal Properties of a Supercooled Synthetic Sand-water-gas-methane Hydrate Sample Michihiro Muraoka¹, Naoko Susuki¹, Hiroko Yamaguchi², Tomoya Tsuji³, Yoshitaka Yamamoto^{1 1}Research Institute of Energy Frontier, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), ²College of Industrial Technology, Nihon University, ³SHIZEN ikohza, Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia We present a protocol for measuring the thermal properties of synthetic hydrate-bearing sediment samples comprising sand, water, methane, and methane hydrate.

• Engineering

  
  Integration of Light Trapping Silver Nanostructures in Hydrogenated Microcrystalline Silicon Solar Cells by Transfer Printing Hidenori Mizuno¹, Hitoshi Sai², Koji Matsubara², Hidetaka Takato¹, Michio Kondo^{1 1}Renewable Energy Research Center, Fukushima Renewable Energy Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Koriyama, Fukushima, Japan, ²Research Center for Photovoltaic Technologies, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan A viable transfer printing-based methodology to introduce plasmonic metal nanostructures in solar cells is described. Using nanopillar poly(dimethylsiloxane) stamps, an Ag-based ordered nanodisk array was integrated with standard hydrogenated microcrystalline Si solar cells, which led to improved device performances due to plasmonic light trapping.

• Chemistry

  
  Determining the Ice-binding Planes of Antifreeze Proteins by Fluorescence-based Ice Plane Affinity Koli Basu¹, Christopher P. Garnham², Yoshiyuki Nishimiya³, Sakae Tsuda³, Ido Braslavsky⁴, Peter Davies^{1 1} Antifreeze proteins (AFPs) bind to specific planes of ice to prevent or slow ice growth. Fluorescence-based ice plane affinity (FIPA) analysis is a modification of the original ice-etching method for determination of AFP-bound ice planes. AFPs are fluorescently labeled, incorporated into macroscopic single ice crystals, and visualized under UV light.