The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST)

6 articles published in JoVE

• Biology

  
  High-Throughput Behavioral Aging and Lifespan Assays Using the Lifespan Machine Andrea Del Carmen-Fabregat^1,2, Lucia Sedlackova¹, Natasha Oswal^1,2, Nicholas Stroustrup^{1,2 1}Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), ²Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) The imaging platform "The Lifespan Machine" automates the lifelong observation of large populations. We show the steps required to perform lifespan, stress resistance, pathogenesis, and behavioral aging assays. The quality and scope of the data allow researchers to study interventions in aging despite the presence of biological and environmental variation.

• Neuroscience

  
  Calcium Imaging In Electrically Stimulated Flat-Mounted Retinas Marina Cunquero¹, Maria Marsal¹, Gustavo Castro-Olvera¹, Steven T. Walston², F. Taygun Duvan², José Gabriel Macias-Montero³, Carles Puigdengoles³, Mokhtar Chmeissani³, Jose A. Garrido^2,4, Pablo Loza-Alvarez^{1 1}Institut de Ciències Fotòniques (ICFO), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, ²Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2), CSIC and BIST, Campus UAB, ³Institut de Física d'Altes Energies (IFAE), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Campus UAB, ⁴Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA) Retinal prostheses have the ability to generate visual perceptions. To advance the development of new prostheses, ex vivo methods are needed to test devices before implantation. This article provides a comprehensive protocol for studying calcium activity in the retinal ganglion cell layer when subjected to electrical stimulation.

• Neuroscience

  
  Hippocampal Neuronal Cultures to Detect and Study New Pathogenic Antibodies Involved in Autoimmune Encephalitis Marina Cunquero¹, Esther Aguilar², Pablo Loza-Alvarez¹, Jesús Planagumà^{1,2 1}ICFO-Institut de Ciències Fotòniques, The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, ²Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Hospital Clínic, Universitat de Barcelona Autoimmune encephalitis is a new category of antibody-mediated diseases of the central nervous system. Hippocampal neurons can be used to discover and characterize these antibodies. This article provides a protocol for primary cell culture and immunostaining to determine autoantibodies in the serum and cerebrospinal fluid of patients.

• Developmental Biology

  
  Direct Force Measurements of Subcellular Mechanics in Confinement using Optical Tweezers Frederic Català-Castro¹, Valeria Venturini^2,3, Santiago Ortiz-Vásquez¹, Verena Ruprecht^2,4, Michael Krieg^{1 1}Neurophotonics and Mechanical Systems Biology, Institut de Ciències Fotòniques, ICFO, ²Center for Genomic Regulation (CRG), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, ³Institut de Ciències Fotòniques, ICFO, ⁴Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) Here, we present a protocol to investigate the intracellular mechanical properties of isolated embryonic zebrafish cells in three-dimensional confinement with direct force measurement by an optical trap.

• Genetics

  
  Identification of Enhancer-Promoter Contacts in Embryoid Bodies by Quantitative Chromosome Conformation Capture (4C) Tian V. Tian^1,2,3, Enrique Vidal^1,2, Thomas Graf^1,2, Grégoire Stik^{1,2 1}Center for Genomic Regulation (CRG), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, ²Universitat Pompeu Fabra, ³ We report the application of quantitative chromosome conformation capture followed by high-throughput sequencing in embryoid bodies generated from embryonic stem cells. This technique allows to identify and quantitate the contacts between putative enhancers and promoter regions of a given gene during embryonic stem cell differentiation.

• Bioengineering

  
  Dendrimer-based Uneven Nanopatterns to Locally Control Surface Adhesiveness: A Method to Direct Chondrogenic Differentiation Ignasi Casanellas^1,2, Anna Lagunas^3,1, Iro Tsintzou¹, Yolanda Vida^4,5, Daniel Collado^4,5, Ezequiel Pérez-Inestrosa^4,5, Cristina Rodríguez-Pereira⁶, Joana Magalhaes^3,6, Pau Gorostiza^1,3,7, José A. Andrades^8,3, José Becerra^8,3,5, Josep Samitier^{1,3,2 1}Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), ²Department of Engineering Electronics, University of Barcelona (UB), ³Networking Biomedical Research Center (CIBER), ⁴Instituto de Investigacin Biomédica de Málaga (IBIMA), Department of Organic Chemistry, Universidad de Málaga (UMA), ⁵Andalusian Centre for Nanomedicine and Biotechnology-BIONAND, ⁶Unidad de Bioingeniería Tisular y Terapia Celular (GBTTC-CHUAC), Grupo de Reumatolog ía, Instituto de Investigación Biomèdica de A Coruña (INIBIC), Complexo Hospitalario Universitario de A Coruña (CHUAC), Sergas, Universidade da Coruña (UDC), ⁷Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), ⁸Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga (IBIMA), Department of Cell Biology, Genetics and Physiology, Universidad de Málaga (UMA) A method to obtain dendrimer-based uneven nanopatterns that permit the nanoscale control of local arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD) surface density is described and applied for the study of cell adhesion and chondrogenic differentiation.