University of Western Australia

13 articles published in JoVE

• Behavior

  
  Controlled Rotation of Human Observers in a Virtual Reality Environment Michael Falconbridge¹, Phillip Falconbridge², David R. Badcock^{1 1}School of Psychology, University of Western Australia, ²Falco Enterprise The controlled physical rotation of a human observer is desirable for certain experimental, recreational, and educational applications. This paper outlines a method for converting an office swivel chair into a medium for controlled physical rotation in a virtual reality environment.

• Medicine

  
  Applying a Three-dimensional Uniaxial Mechanical Stimulation Bioreactor System to Induce Tenogenic Differentiation of Tendon-Derived Stem Cells Ziming Chen*¹, Peilin Chen*¹, Rui Ruan*¹, Lianzhi Chen¹, Jun Yuan¹, David Wood¹, Tao Wang¹, Ming Hao Zheng^{1 1}Centre of Orthopaedic Translational Research, Medical School, University of Western Australia A three-dimensional uniaxial mechanical stimulation bioreactor system is an ideal bioreactor for tenogenic-specific differentiation of tendon-derived stem cells and neo-tendon formation.

• Medicine

  
  A Mouse Model of Incompletely Resected Soft Tissue Sarcoma for Testing (Neo)adjuvant Therapies Francois X. Rwandamuriye^1,2, Breana J. Weston^2,3, Terrance G. Johns², W. Joost Lesterhuis^1,2, Rachael M. Zemek^{2 1}School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Western Australia, ²Telethon Kids Institute, University of Western Australia, ³College of Science, Health, Engineering and Education, Murdoch University In this protocol, we describe a mouse model of incomplete surgical resection of soft tissue sarcoma for testing (neo)adjuvant therapies.

• Medicine

  
  Murine Precision-Cut Liver Slices as an Ex Vivo Model of Liver Biology Michael A. Pearen*¹, Hong Kiat Lim*¹, Francis D. Gratte^2,3, Manuel A. Fernandez-Rojo^1,4,5, Sujeevi K. Nawaratna⁶, Geoffrey N. Gobert⁷, John K. Olynyk^8,9, Janina E. E. Tirnitz-Parker^2,10, Grant A. Ramm^{1,4 1}Hepatic Fibrosis Group, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, ²School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute, Curtin University, ³School of Veterinary and Life Sciences, Murdoch University, ⁴School of Medicine, The University of Queensland, ⁵Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies (IMDEA) in Food, CEI UAM+CSIC, ⁶School of Medicine, Griffith University, ⁷ This protocol provides a simple and reliable method for the production of viable precision-cut liver slices from mice. The ex vivo tissue samples can be maintained under laboratory tissue culture conditions for multiple days, providing a flexible model to examine liver pathobiology.

• Bioengineering

  
  Growth of Human and Sheep Corneal Endothelial Cell Layers on Biomaterial Membranes Jennifer Walshe¹, Najla Al Khaled Abdulsalam², Shuko Suzuki¹, Traian V. Chirila^{1,3,4,5,6,7,8}, Damien G. Harkin^{1,3,4 1}Queensland Eye Institute, ²King Faisal University, ³School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health, Queensland University of Technology, ⁴Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, ⁵Science and Engineering Faculty, Queensland University of Technology, ⁶Faculty of Medicine, University of Queensland, ⁷Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, University of Queensland, ⁸Faculty of Science, University of Western Australia This protocol describes the critical steps required to establish and grow corneal endothelial cell cultures from explants of human or sheep tissue. A method for subculturing corneal endothelial cells on membranous biomaterials is also presented.

• Genetics

  
  Candidate Gene Testing in Clinical Cohort Studies with Multiplexed Genotyping and Mass Spectrometry Sarah E. Ashley^1,2, Braydon A. Meyer^2,3, Justine A. Ellis^2,3,4, David J. Martino^{2,3,5 1}Molecular Genetics of Chronic Inflammation and Allergic Disease, Max-Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, ² Identification of genetic variants contributing to complex human disease allows us to identify novel mechanisms. Here, we demonstrate a multiplex genotyping approach to candidate genes or gene pathway analysis that maximizes the coverage at low cost and is amenable to cohort-based studies.

• Genetics

  
  A Fast Silver Staining Protocol Enabling Simple and Efficient Detection of SSR Markers using a Non-denaturing Polyacrylamide Gel Ling Huang*¹, Xiaohui Deng*¹, Ronghua Li¹, Yanshi Xia¹, Guihua Bai², Kadambot H.M. Siddique³, Peiguo Guo^{1 1}College of Life Sciences, Guangzhou University, ²Hard Winter Wheat Genetics Research Unit, United States Department of Agriculture - Agricultural Research Service, ³The UWA Institute of Agriculture, University of Western Australia Here, we report a simple and low-cost silver staining protocol which requires only three reagents and 7 min of processing, and is suitable for fast generation of high-quality SSR data in the genetic analysis.

• Biochemistry

  
  Isolation and Respiratory Measurements of Mitochondria from Arabidopsis thaliana Wenhui Lyu¹, Jennifer Selinski¹, Lu Li¹, David A. Day², Monika W. Murcha³, James Whelan¹, Yan Wang^{1 1}ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology, Department of Animal, Plant and Soil Science, School of Life Science, La Trobe University, ²School of Biological Sciences, Flinders University, ³ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology, University of Western Australia As mitochondria are only a small percentage of the plant cell, they need to be purified for a range of studies. Mitochondria can be isolated from a variety of plant organs by homogenization, followed by differential and density gradient centrifugation to obtain a highly purified mitochondrial fraction.

• Biology

  
  The Murine Choline-Deficient, Ethionine-Supplemented (CDE) Diet Model of Chronic Liver Injury Jully Gogoi-Tiwari¹, Julia Köhn-Gaone¹, Corey Giles², Dirk Schmidt-Arras³, Francis D. Gratte^1,4, Caryn L. Elsegood¹, Geoffrey W. McCaughan^5,6,7, Grant A. Ramm^8,9, John K. Olynyk^10,11, Janina E.E. Tirnitz-Parker^{1,12 1}School of Biomedical Sciences & Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute, Curtin University, ²School of Public Health & Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute, Curtin University, ³Institute of Biochemistry, Christian-Albrechts-University, ⁴School of Veterinary and Life Sciences, Murdoch University, ⁵Centenary Institute of Cancer Medicine and Cell Biology, The University of Sydney, ⁶Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, ⁷A.W. Morrow Gastroenterology and Liver Centre, ⁸QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, ⁹Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, The University of Queensland, ¹⁰Fiona Stanley and Fremantle Hospitals, ¹¹School of Medical and Health Sciences, Edith Cowan University, ¹²School of Medicine and Pharmacology, University of Western Australia Here we describe a common method to induce chronic liver injury in mice by feeding of a choline-deficient and ethionine-supplemented (CDE) diet. We demonstrate health monitoring, liver perfusion, isolation, and preservation. A time course of six weeks can inform about liver injury, pathohistology, fibrosis, inflammatory, and liver progenitor cell responses.

• Biology

  
  Mucin Agarose Gel Electrophoresis: Western Blotting for High-molecular-weight Glycoproteins Kathryn A. Ramsey^1,2, Zachary L. Rushton¹, Camille Ehre^{1,3 1}Marsico Lung Institute/CF Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, ²Telethon Kids Institute, University of Western Australia, ³Department of Pediatrics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Mucins are high-molecular-weight glycoconjugates, with size ranging from 0.2 to 200 megadalton (MDa). As a result of their size, mucins do not penetrate conventional polyacrylamide gels and require larger pores for separation. We provide a detailed protocol for mucin agarose gel electrophoresis to assess relative quantification and study polymer assembly.

• Biology

  
  Method for the Assessment of Effects of a Range of Wavelengths and Intensities of Red/near-infrared Light Therapy on Oxidative Stress In Vitro Marcus K. Giacci¹, Nathan S. Hart², Richard V. Hartz¹, Alan R. Harvey³, Stuart I. Hodgetts³, Melinda Fitzgerald^{1 1}Experimental and Regenerative Neurosciences, School of Animal Biology, The University of Western Australia, ²School of Animal Biology and The Oceans Institute, The University of Western Australia, ³Experimental and Regenerative Neurosciences, School of Anatomy, Physiology and Human Biology, The University of Western Australia Non-coherent Xenon light was passed through narrow-band interference and neutral density filters to deliver light of varying wavelength and intensity to cultured cells. This protocol was used to assess the effects of red/near-infrared light therapy on production of reactive species in vitro: no effects were observed using the tested parameters.

• Behavior

  
  Measuring Sensitivity to Viewpoint Change with and without Stereoscopic Cues Jason Bell^1,2, Edwin Dickinson², David R. Badcock², Frederick A. A. Kingdom^{3 1}Research School of Psychology, Australian National University, ²School of Psychology, University of Western Australia, ³McGill Vision Research, Department of Ophthalmology, McGill University We discuss a novel method forviewpoint-rotation of visual stimuli, and demonstrate using a mirror stereoscopethe three-dimensional percept of rotation-in-depth. The technique can be used to investigate the role of stereoscopic cues in encoding viewpoint-rotated figures.

• Biology

  
  Regular Care and Maintenance of a Zebrafish (Danio rerio) Laboratory: An Introduction Avdesh Avdesh*^1,2, Mengqi Chen*^1,3, Mathew T. Martin-Iverson^1,2,4, Alinda Mondal^1,3, Daniel Ong¹, Stephanie Rainey-Smith^1,3, Kevin Taddei^1,3, Michael Lardelli⁵, David M. Groth⁶, Giuseppe Verdile^1,3, Ralph N. Martins^{1,2,3,7 1}Centre of Excellence for Alzheimer's Disease Research and Care, School of Medical sciences, Edith Cowan University, ²Centre for Clinical Research in Neuropsychiatry, Graylands Hospital, University of Western Australia, ³McCusker Alzheimer's Research foundation, ⁴School of Medicine and Pharmacology, University of Western Australia, ⁵Department of Molecular and Biomedical Sciences, University of Adelaide, ⁶School of Biomedical Sciences, Curtin University of Technology, ⁷School of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, University of Western Australia This protocol outlines regular maintenance and care to maintain optimal conditions for zebrafish husbandry. The video illustrates the protocol for system maintenance, regular housing, feeding, breeding, and raising of zebrafish larvae.