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   The ECIS Connection - September 2009           
Links to Articles In This Issue:
New Products & Company News
New Distributor
ECIS Mini Grant
ECIS Webinar Schedule
New Publications
Tradeshows 2009
Tip of the Month - Adding Compounds
ECIS Cartoons
New Products and Company News

1st ECIS Users Meeting - Regensburg, Germany
 
The first ECIS Research meeting was held in Regensburg, Germany this past July. The meeting attracted 55 researchers from around the world to discuss a broad range of ECIS applications including cell adhesion monitoring, the ECIS-based wounding healing assay and ECIS as a screening tool in drug and cytotoxicity testing.

In addition to highlighting the background of ECIS and its applications, the program included presentations by current ECIS users from a variety of laboratories.  A theme common to all the presentations was the ability of different AC frequencies to probe distinct aspects of cell behavior.  The talks concluded with an in-depth look at ECIS modeling and a survey of new and future developments in ECIS instrumentation, arrays and software.

The meeting was sponsored by ibidi GmbH and Applied BioPhysics, Inc. The first evening included a banquet in the Heuport Restaurant, directly across from the Regensburg Cathedral. Attendees left the two-day meeting with new insight into the ECIS method, warm memories of Regensburg (the center of which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site) and many new scientific colleagues and friends.

Professor Joachim Wegener of the University of Regensburg and his staff, assisted by Ulf Radler of ibidi, did a splendid job hosting the event. We are indebted to them for making this meeting an great success.  Joachim and Ulf are already planning the 2nd European ECIS Research meeting for the summer of 2011, so please stay tuned for details!




ECIS Mtg Regensburg
 
Applied Biophysics is considering having an ECIS users meeting in the United States in August of 2010. We hope to have the meeting in Saratoga Springs, NY so that in addition to attending the scientific presentations, attendees and their guests can visit the world famous Saratoga Race Track and spend an evening enjoying the Philadelphia Orchestra at their summer venue.
 
If you would be interested in presenting your research involving ECIS measurements or attending the U.S. ECIS meeting in 2010, please let us know, as it will assist in our planning. Please call 518-880-6860 or send us an email at: info@biophysics.com

Improved 96 Well Array Station


The 96 well array station has been mechanically redesigned to allow easier insertion and removal of the 96 well arrays. The array is placed on a moving sled with pins that grip the array. A lever on the front of the array station slides the 96 well array into and out of the array electrical-interface connector. This prevents the user from applying pressure on the upper chamber of the array while inserting and removing the array.  Some of the older style 96 well array stations can be upgraded. Please contact Applied BioPhysics for details.

96 well array station
 
New Distributors

ITALY
Applied Biophysics is pleased to welcome our new Italian distributor, Sislab S.a.s.
Starting October 15th Sislab S.a.s will be carrying our full line of instruments and arrays.
Sislab can be reached through their sales team:

Mr. Riccardo Sacco sacco@sislab.it
Mr. Carlo Farachi farachi@sislab.it
Mrs. Donatella Grossi grossi@sislab.it
Mr. Gianfranco Ventre ventre@sislab.it

FRANCE
Applied Biophysics is pleased to welcome our new French distributor, Biovalley.
Biovalley will be serving customers in France, Belgium, and Luxemburg. They can be reached through Gilbert Sallet at:

BIOVALLEY
18 route de Tournan
CONCHES
77601 MARNE LA VALLEE CEDEX 3
FRANCE
Tel: 33(0)1 60 07 20 20
Fax: 33(0)1 60 07 50 51
gsallet@biovalley.fr
www.biovalley.fr

Applied BioPhysics Early Career Mini Grant

Applied BioPhysics would like to help young scientists obtain funding. The ECIS mini-grant is aimed at early career scientists who are applying for their first RO1 grant. For a researcher wanting to use ECIS technology to achieve their research goals, Applied BioPhysics will provide an ECIS instrument, ECIS arrays, and consultation in order to generate preliminary data to support the applicants RO1 proposal. Interested scientists should submit their research plan with a cover letter explaining how ECIS technology can be used to achieve their specific objectives. Applied BioPhysics will evaluate proposals based on scientific merit, suitability with ECIS technology and novelty.  To apply please send a resume, RO1 research plan and cover letter to Christian Renken at renken@biophysics.com.

ECIS Webinar Schedule 2009

ECIS Application Webinars review the topics listed below in 20 minute, web-based, interactive seminars presented by Dr. Charles Keese. All webinars will be held at 11:00am ESDT. To register for a webinar, please email info@biophysicis.com.

-Cell Migration - Tuesday, September 22
-Signal Transduction - Tuesday, October 6
-Toxicology with ECIS - Tuesday, October 20
-ECIS Theory - Tuesday, November 3,
-Cell Invasion - Tuesday, November 17
-Cell Migration - Tuesday, December 1, 2009
-Barrier Function - Tuesday, December 15, 2009


For more information, please visit: http://www.appliedbiophysics.com/contactUs/webinar.html
 
New Publications

J.J. Goncalves, R. Govind. Rapid evaluation of biofilm attachment promoters and biofilm growth orientation using a mini-impedimetric device. Sens. Actuators B: Chem. (2009), doi:10.1016/j.snb.2009.07.036

Annarita Di Lorenzo, Carlos Ferna´ndez-Hernando, Giuseppe Cirino, and William C. Sessa, "Akt1 is critical for acute inflammationand histamine-mediated vascular leakage." www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.0904073106.
 
Dennis J. Grab, Jose C. Garcia-Garcia, Olga V. Nikolskaia, Yuri V. Kim, Amanda Brown, Carlos A. Pardo, Yongqing Zhang, Kevin G. Becker, Brenda A. Wilson, Ana Paula C. de A. Lima, Julio Scharfstein, J. Stephen Dumler, "Protease Activated Receptor Signaling Is Required for African Trypanosome Traversal of Human Brain Microvascular Endothelial Cells." PLOS, July 2009, Volume 3, Issue 7, e479.
 
Keith B. Male, Yew-Min Tzeng, Johnny Montes, Bing-Lan Liu, Wan-Chun Liao, Amine Kamena and John H. T. Luong, "Probing inhibitory effects of destruxins from Metarhizium anisopliae using insect cell based impedance spectroscopy: inhibition vs chemical structure." The Royal Society of Chemistry, Analyst, 2009, 134, 1447-1452.

Shantanu Bhatt, Adrianne Nehrling Edwards, Hang Thi Thu Nguyen, Didier Merlin, Tony Romeo, and Daniel Kalman. The RNA Binding Protein CsrA Is a Pleiotropic Regulator of the Locus of Enterocyte Effacement Pathogenicity Island of Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli.Infect. Immun. 2009; 77:3552-3568. 
 
Jingyan Han, Guoquan Liu, Jasmina Profirovic, Jiaxin Niu, and Tatyana Voyno-Yasenetskaya
FASEB J. Zyxin is involved in thrombin signaling via interaction with PAR-1 receptor. Published 18 August 2009, 10.1096/fj.09-131862 
 
Donghong He, Yanlin Su, Peter V. Usatyuk, Ernst Wm. Spannhake, Paul Kogut, Julian Solway, Viswanathan Natarajan, and Yutong Zhao. Lysophosphatidic Acid Enhances Pulmonary Epithelial Barrier Integrity and Protects Endotoxin-induced Epithelial Barrier Disruption and Lung Injury. J. Biol. Chem. 2009; 284:24123-24132. 
 
O Gliko, P Saggau, and WE Brownell. Compartmentalization of the outer hair cell demonstrated by slow diffusion in the extracisternal space. Biophys J. 2009; 97: 1215. 
 
CM Chan, JY Fang, HH Lin, CY Yang, and CF Hung. Lycopene inhibits PDGF-BB-induced retinal pigment epithelial cell migration by suppression of PI3K/Akt and MAPK pathways. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2009; 388: 172. 
 
Christian Betzen, Robin White, Christoph M Zehendner, Eweline Pietrowski, Bianca Bender, Heiko J Luhmann, and Christoph R W Kuhlmann. Oxidative stress upregulates the NMDA receptor on cerebrovascular endothelium. Free Radic Biol Med. 2009. 
 
Menno J Oudhoff, Kim L Kroeze, Kamran Nazmi, Petra A M van den Keijbus, Wim van 't Hof, Mar Fernandez-Borja, Peter L Hordijk, Susan Gibbs, Jan G M Bolscher, and Enno C I Veerman. Structure-activity analysis of histatin, a potent wound healing peptide from human saliva: cyclization of histatin potentiates molar activity 1000-fold.
FASEB J. 2009. 
 
Kei Sarai, Kenichi Shikata, Yasushi Shikata, Kazuyoshi Omori, Naomi Watanabe, Motofumi Sasaki, Shingo Nishishita, Jun Wada, Noriko Goda, Noriyuki Kataoka, and Hirofumi Makino. Endothelial barrier protection of FTY720 under hyperglycemic condition: Involvement of focal adhesion kinase, small GTPases and adherens junction proteins. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol. 2009. 
 
Matvey Gorovoy, Jingyan Han, Haiyun Pan, Emily Welch, Radu Neamu, Zhengping Jia, Dan Predescu, Stephen Vogel, Richard Minshall, Richard D Ye, Asrar B Malik, and Tatyana Voyno-Yasenetskaya. LIM Kinase 1 Promotes Endothelial Barrier Disruption and Neutrophil Infiltration in Mouse Lungs. Circ Res. 2009.
 
Désirée Spiering, Mirco Schmolke, Nils Ohnesorge, Marc Schmidt, Matthias Goebeler, Joachim Wegener, Viktor Wixler, and Stephan Ludwig. MEK5/ERK5 Signaling Modulates Endothelial Cell Migration and Focal Contact Turnover. J. Biol. Chem. 2009; 284:24972-24980. 

I.H. Heijink, S.M. Brandenburg, J.A. Noordhoek, D.S. Postma, D-J. Slebos, and A.J.M. van Oosterhout. Characterization of cell adhesion in airway epithelial cell types using ECIS. Eur. Respir. J. published 9 September 2009, 10.1183/09031936.00065809
 
Akua K Fordjour and Elizabeth O Harrington. PKCdelta Influences p190 Phosphorylation and Activity: Events Independent of PKCdelta-Mediated Regulation of Endothelial Cell Stress Fiber and Focal Adhesion Formation and Barrier Function. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2009.

Have you recently published an article that includes the use of ECIS? If so, submit your publications to Applied BioPhysics via email to Nancy Vlahos at vlahos@biophysics.com. We will announce your article in our newletter, post it on our website and send you 2 FREE 8 well arrays!
 
Visit Us at Upcoming Events!

Applied BioPhysics will have ECIS demonstrations and informational literature at the following events: 

Genetics and Genomics of Vascular Disease
Cape Codder Resort
Hyannis, Cape Cod, MA
September 13-16, 2009

SBS: Advances & Technologies in Label-Free Technologies for Drug Discovery
San Diego Marriott Mission Valley
San Diego, CA
November 2 - 3, 2009

American Society for Cell Biology - 49th Annual Meeting
San Diego Convention Center
San Diego, CA
December 5-9, 2009

Photo from the Drug Discovery and Development Week in Boston:

drug discovery 2009
 
Tip of the Month:
Adding compounds to study their effect on ECIS measurements

The ECIS instrument is extremely sensitive; even small responses of the cells to temperature, shear stress, etc. are detectable.  Care must be taken when adding compounds to cells to minimize unrelated responses and ensure that only the biological effects of the compounds being added are observed. 
 
The following is a suggested protocol:
 
An hour before the compound is added, change the medium over the cells using the medium that will be present when the compound is added (400 microliters final volume).  This gives the cells time to adjust and equilibrate to experimental conditions.  The equilibration process can be followed via ECIS to be certain enough time has elapsed to give a steady impedance signal.
 
The compound to be tested should be prepared at twice the final concentration in the same solution as that in the wells and equilibrated to incubator temperature. In the doses to be tested, include a control without the compound.
 
With 400 microliters in the well, withdraw 200 microliters and then slowly add 200 microliters of the 2X solution to achieve the final 1X concentration.  The addition should be done slowly, so the cells on the active electrodes are not exposed to shear stress from the fluid flow. 
 
If the array is removed from the incubator for this addition, be sure to pause the measurement and work quickly to minimize temperature drops.  Once the array is returned to the incubator, perform an electrode check to ensure contact has been reestablished and resume data collection.
 
If the compound addition is carried out without removing the array from its holder, pausing the measurement during this addition is recommended to avoid any unwanted impedance spikes. Once the compound is added to the wells, resume data collection.

ECIS Humor

Need a good laugh? Visit the ECIS Cartoons page of our website to view cartoons by Catherine, our in-house cartoonist to start your day with a smile.

Are you the creative type? Submit one of your own cartoons; if we post it on our website we will send you a free array!
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