University of London

8 articles published in JoVE

• Medicine

  
  Cooling or Warming the Esophagus to Reduce Esophageal Injury During Left Atrial Ablation in the Treatment of Atrial Fibrillation Jason Zagrodzky¹, Mark M. Gallagher², Lisa W. M. Leung², Tiffany Sharkoski³, Pasquale Santangeli⁴, Cory Tschabrunn⁴, Jose M. Guerra⁵, Bieito Campos⁵, John MacGregor⁶, Jamal Hayat², Brad Clark⁷, Alex Mazur⁸, Marcel Feher⁹, Martin Arnold⁹, Mark Metzl¹⁰, Jose Nazari¹⁰, Erik Kulstad^{11 1} The goal of this protocol is to describe the use of esophageal temperature modulation to counteract esophageal thermal injury from left atrial ablation for the treatment of atrial fibrillation.

• Biology

  
  Measuring Lactase Enzymatic Activity in the Teaching Lab Cattleya S. Leksmono¹, Claudia Manzoni^1,2, James E. Tomkins¹, Walter Lucchesi^1,3, Graeme Cottrell¹, Patrick A. Lewis^{1 1}School of Pharmacy, University of Reading, ²Department of Molecular Neuroscience, UCL Institute of Neurology, ³School of Biological Sciences, Royal Hollway, University of London The enzymatic activity of lactase is essential for the catabolic processing of the disaccharide lactose. Here, the activity of lactase found in dietary supplements is assayed using a colorimetric assay. This provides students with an experimental platform for understanding the activity of lactase and enzyme kinetics.

• Developmental Biology

  
  Ex Vivo Culture of Chick Cerebellar Slices and Spatially Targeted Electroporation of Granule Cell Precursors Michalina Hanzel¹, Richard J.T. Wingate¹, Thomas Butts^{2 1} The cerebellar external granule layer is the site of the largest transit amplification in the developing brain. Here, we present a protocol to target genetic modification to this layer at the peak of proliferation using ex vivo electroporation and culture of cerebellar slices from embryonic Day 14 chick embryos.

• Environment

  
  Transcript and Metabolite Profiling for the Evaluation of Tobacco Tree and Poplar as Feedstock for the Bio-based Industry Colin Ruprecht¹, Takayuki Tohge¹, Alisdair Fernie¹, Cara L. Mortimer², Amanda Kozlo², Paul D. Fraser², Norma Funke¹, Igor Cesarino^3,4, Ruben Vanholme^3,4, Wout Boerjan^3,4, Kris Morreel^3,4, Ingo Burgert^5,6, Notburga Gierlinger^5,6, Vincent Bulone⁷, Vera Schneider⁸, Andrea Stockero⁸, Juan Navarro-Aviñó⁹, Frank Pudel¹⁰, Bart Tambuyser¹¹, James Hygate¹², Jon Bumstead¹³, Louis Notley¹³, Staffan Persson^{1,14 1}Max Planck Institute for Molecular Plant Physiology, ²School of Biological Sciences, Plant Molecular Science, Centre for Systems and Synthetic Biology, Royal Holloway, University of London, ³Department of Plant Systems Biology, VIB, ⁴Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, UGhent, ⁵Institute for Building Materials, ETH Zurich, ⁶Applied Wood Materials, EMPA, ⁷Division of Glycoscience, School of Biotechnology, AlbaNova University Center, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), ⁸European Research and Project Office GmbH, ⁹ABBA Gaia S.L., ¹⁰Pflanzenöltechnologie, ¹¹Capax Environmental Services, ¹²Green Fuels, ¹³Neutral Consulting Ltd, ¹⁴Plant Cell Biology Research Centre, School of Botany, University of Melbourne Plant biomass offers a renewable resource for multiple products, including fuel, feed, food, and a variety of materials. In this paper we investigate the properties of tobacco tree (Nicotiana glauca) and poplar as suitable sources for a biorefinery pipeline.

• Immunology and Infection

  
  A Functional Whole Blood Assay to Measure Viability of Mycobacteria, using Reporter-Gene Tagged BCG or M.Tb (BCG lux/M.Tb lux) Sandra Newton¹, Adrian Martineau², Beate Kampmann^{1 1}Department of Paediatrics, Imperial College London, ²Centre for Health Sciences, Barts & The London School of Medicine and Dentistry We describe an alternative approach to the enumeration of mycobacteria in vitro, which uses reporter-gene tagged mycobacteria instead of colony-forming units (CFU). “Survival” of organisms as well as host response-markers are measured simultaneously, providing a low-cost, versatile and functional system for studies of host/pathogen interactions in the context of tuberculosis.

• Neuroscience

  
  Combining Behavioral Endocrinology and Experimental Economics: Testosterone and Social Decision Making Christoph Eisenegger*¹, Michael Naef*^{2 1}Institute for Empirical Research in Economics, Laboratory for Social and Neural Systems Research, University of Zurich, ²Department of Economics, Royal Holloway, University of London The procedure described in this protocol shows that testosterone administration and folk beliefs about testosterone may be associated with directly opposed social behaviors.

• Biology

  
  Studying Membrane Biogenesis with a Luciferase-Based Reporter Gene Assay Shaochong Zhang¹, Axel Nohturfft^{1,2 1}Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Harvard, ²Molecular and Metabolic Signalling Centre, Division of Basic Medical Sciences, St. George's University of London Here, we describe procedures for studying changes in phagocytosis-induced gene expression with a luciferase-based reporter gene approach using the Dual-GloTM Luciferase Assay System from Promega.

• Biology

  
  Electroporation of Mycobacteria Renan Goude¹, Tanya Parish^{1,2 1}Center for Infectious Disease, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, ²Institute for Cell and Molecular Science, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry Mycobacterial pathogenic strategies remain poorly understood. The slow growth rate of most species, the impenetrable nature of the cell-wall, and the hazards of working with pathogens make mycobacteria difficult to study and are largely responsible for our poor understanding of these organisms. In this video we will demonstrate the technique of electroporation, which involves subjecting cells to a brief high electrical impulse to allow the entry of DNA. It is the most widely used method for introducing DNA into mycobacterial cells.