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Second ECIS Users Meeting - 2010 Albany, NY
Applied
BioPhysics will be hosting an ECIS users meeting in the United States in August
of 2010.
The meeting will bring together ECIS users to discuss a broad range of ECIS applications including, but not limited to,
cell adhesion monitoring, the ECIS-based wounding healing assay and ECIS as a
screening tool in drug and cytotoxicity testing.
If you are interested in attending or presenting your research involving ECIS
measurements 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.
A portion of the
conference will take place at the Rensselaer Technology Park in the recently renovated 18th-century Dutch
barn that now serves as a multipurpose meeting space. Upon entering the barn, visitors are surrounded by the 50-foot timber beams, cut from
trees that were growing in the area before the Revolutionary War.
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Software Update
Last year Applied BioPhysics began a project to develop a
software platform that consolidates all instrument control and data analysis
into a single package. The new software is based on the Matlab engine which
provides an advanced user interface, graphing capabilities and data analysis.
Some
of the new features in the latest ECIS Software (v1.2.19) include:
- An improved modeling interface including selection of Cell-Free reference
- Exportation of
data directly to Excel (.xls) format
- A recent
file list for quickly reloading the most recently used files
- A
File Database to organize experiment files
- An experiment summary that provides a short description, which is also included in the
File Database
- The ability
to link two data sets if an experiment is spread over multiple files
- The ability to copy/paste
well info data
- A new simple flow interface for easy pump control
- The ability
to specify exact X and Y graph limits
- The ability to run multiple independent experiments with one holder
Please contact us if you are having any software issues or have suggestions for new features: 1-866-301-ECIS or info@biophysics.com.
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ECIS Webinar Schedule 2010
ECIS application webinars review the topics listed below in 20 minute, web-based, interactive seminars presented by Applied BioPhysics president and co-founder, Dr. Charles Keese.
All webinars are held at 11:00am EST. To register for a webinar, please go to: https://appliedbiophysics.webex.com
Barrier Function Assays - January 5 Real-time Electroporation and Monitoring - January 19 Cell Attachment and Spreading Measurements - Feb 2 Signal Transduction Assays - Feb 16 Toxicology with ECIS - March 2 ECIS Theory - March 16
For a more detailed description of each webinar, please visit: http://www.appliedbiophysics.com/contactUs/webinar.html.
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New Publications
Endothelial barrier protection by FTY720 under hyperglycemic condition: involvement of focal adhesion kinase, small GTPases, and adherens junction proteins. Kei Sarai, Kenichi Shikata, Yasushi Shikata, Kazuyoshi Omori, Naomi Watanabe,
Motofumi Sasaki, Shingo Nishishita, Jun Wada, Noriko Goda, Noriyuki Kataoka,
and Hirofumi Makino Am J Physiol Cell Physiol.
2009; 297:C945-C954.
Crosstalk
between Protease-activated Receptor 1 and Platelet-activating Factor Receptor
Regulates Melanoma Cell Adhesion Molecule (MCAM/MUC18) Expression and Melanoma
Metastasis. Vladislava O. Melnikova, Krishnakumar Balasubramanian, Gabriel J. Villares,
Andrey S. Dobroff, Maya Zigler, Hua Wang, Frederik Petersson, Janet E. Price,
Alan Schroit, Victor G. Prieto, Mien-Chie Hung, and Menashe Bar-Eli J. Biol. Chem.
2009; 284:28845-28855.
Effect
of PPAR{gamma} Inhibition on Pulmonary Endothelial Cell Gene Expression: Gene
Profiling In Pulmonary Hypertension. Jing Tian, Anita Smith, John Nechtman, Robert Podolsky, Saurabh Aggarwal,
Connie Snead, Sanjiv Kumar, Manal Elgaish, Peter E Oishi, Agnes Goerlach,
Sohrab Fratz, John Hess, John D Catravas, Alexander D Verin, Jeffrey R Fineman,
Jin-Xiong She, and Stephen M Black Physiol Genomics.
2009.
Cellular mechanisms of IL-17-induced blood-brain barrier disruption.Jula Huppert, Dorothea Closhen, Andrew Croxford, Robin White, Paulina Kulig,
Eweline Pietrowski, Ingo Bechmann, Burkhard Becher, Heiko J. Luhmann, Ari
Waisman, and Christoph R. W. Kuhlmann FASEB J.
published 25 November 2009, 10.1096/fj.09-141978.
Zyxin is involved in thrombin signaling via
interaction with PAR-1 receptor. Jingyan Han, Guoquan Liu, Jasmina Profirovic, Jiaxin Niu, and Tatyana
Voyno-Yasenetskaya. FASEB J. 2009;
23:4193-4206.
_______________________________________________________________________
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!
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Visit Us at Upcoming Events!
Applied BioPhysics will have ECIS demonstrations and informational
literature at the following tradeshows and events:
Biophysical Society 54th Annual Meeting
February
20 - 24, 2010
Moscone
Center
San Francisco, California
Society of Toxicology 49th Annual Meeting and ToxExpo
March
7 - 11, 2010
Salt
Palace Convention Center
Salt Lake City, Utah
AACR 101st Annual Meeting
April
17 - 21, 2010
Walter E. Washington
Convention Center
Washington,
DC
Experimental Biology 2010
April 24
- 28, 2010
Anaheim, California
December 6 - 9 2009 ASCB Meeting in San Diego:
 From left to right: Catherine Toniatti, Christian Dehnert, Nancy Vlahos
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Tip of the Month:
Inoculation of Arrays
Careful inoculation is the key to good reproducibility from well
to well. This is especially important if you are measuring the cells on a
single 250 micrometer diameter electrode (1E arrays) or performing cell
proliferation experiments, where wells are being inoculated with sparse cell
populations.
It is most important to obtain a uniform inoculation of the well bottom. To
accomplish this, wells should receive an even "snowfall" of cells so
that each electrode has approximately the same number of cells falling on its
surface - this can be facilitated by following three important guidelines:
1. Make up a monodisperse cell suspension.
For some cell lines this is easily achieved, but for others, particularly if
cells have been attached and spread for long periods of time, clumping takes
place and longer trypsinization may be needed. The goal is to achieve is a
clearly monodisperse cell suspension. It is also important to keep the cell
suspension well mixed and uniform so each well receives approximately the same
number of cells.
2. Pre-warm cell suspensions.
Temperature considerations can also aid in obtaining an even cell distribution.
If the temperature of the cell suspension is lower than the temperature of the
incubator, when placed in the incubator, the wells will be heated from the
bottom. This will cause a convection cell to form, where medium rises in the
center and falls back down the walls of wells. Because of this flow, as cells
attempt to land in the central region of the well, they are swept upward. The
overall effect is that the cell density becomes reduced in the central regions
of the well. This is very undesirable, especially with the 1E arrays with
their centrally located measuring electrode.
This problem can be avoided by making sure the array and the cell suspension
are at incubator temperature. We have had success using cell suspensions warmed
a degree or two higher than incubator temperatures (for example 38 C for a 37 C
incubator) to eliminate the convection cell entirely.
3. Avoid mixing the cell suspension with liquid already in the
well.
If possible, it is best to remove all media from wells before adding the cell
suspension so no mixing within the wells is required. If a cell
suspension must be added to liquid already in the well, thorough mixing of the
two solutions is essential.
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| 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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