September 2014: This Month in JoVE - Visualizing Coral, Injecting Hydra, Engineering Corneal Implants, and Assessing Traumatic Brain injury in Children

Summary

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

Protocol

Generation of Transgenic Hydra by Embryo Microinjection

Celina E. Juliano¹, Haifan Lin¹, Robert E. Steele²

¹Yale Stem Cell Center and Department of Cell Biology, Yale University School of Medicine, ²Department of Biological Chemistry and the Developmental Biology Center, University of California, Irvine

Stably transgenic Hydra are made by microinjection of plasmid DNA into embryos followed by random genomic integration and asexual propagation to establish a uniform line. Transgenic Hydra are used to track cell movements, overexpress genes, study promoter function, or knock down gene expression using RNAi.

A Multi-Modal Approach to Assessing Recovery in Youth Athletes Following Concussion

Nick Reed^1,2,3, James Murphy¹, Talia Dick¹, Katie Mah³, Melissa Paniccia³, Lee Verweel³, Danielle Dobney³, Michelle Keightley^1,2,3

¹Bloorview Research Institute, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, ²Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University of Toronto, ³Graduate Department of Rehabilitation Science, University of Toronto

This article provides an overview of a multi-modal approach to assessing recovery following concussion in youth athletes. The described protocol uses pre- and post-concussion assessment of performance across a wide variety of domains and can inform the development of improved concussion rehabilitation protocols specific to the youth sport community.

Combination of Microstereolithography and Electrospinning to Produce Membranes Equipped with Niches for Corneal Regeneration

Ílida Ortega¹, Farshid Sefat¹, Pallavi Deshpande¹, Thomas Paterson¹, Charanya Ramachandran³, Anthony J. Ryan², Sheila MacNeil¹, Frederik Claeyssens¹

¹Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Sheffield, ²Department of Chemistry, University of Sheffield, ³L. V. Prasad Eye Institute

We report a technique for the fabrication of micropockets within electrospun membranes in which to study cell behavior. Specifically, we describe a combination of microstereolithography and electrospinning for the production of PLGA (Poly(lactide-co-glycolide)) corneal biomaterial devices equipped with microfeatures.

Multimodal Optical Microscopy Methods Reveal Polyp Tissue Morphology and Structure in Caribbean Reef Building Corals

Mayandi Sivaguru¹, Glenn A. Fried¹, Carly A. H. Miller^1,2, Bruce W. Fouke^1,2,3

¹Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, ²Department of Geology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, ³Department of Microbiology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

An integrated suite of imaging techniques has been applied to determine polyp morphology and tissue structure in the Caribbean corals Montastraeaannularis and M. faveolata. Fluorescence, serial block face, and two-photon confocal laser scanning microscopy have identified lobate structure, polyp walls, and estimated chromatophore and zooxanthellae densities and distributions.