A compatible support system for cell culture in biomedical research

The lack of a suitable system to culture epithelial cells for a long period under a luminal-antiluminal medium gradient, was the reason to develop a new system. It consists of an interchangeable sheet of permeable support material, which is set in place by two tight fitting holding rings. For special demands the supports can be coated with extracellular matrix proteins improving cellular attachment and terminal differentiation. The handling of the sheets by forceps proceeds easily and quickly, thus fastening the transfer of cultured cells without additional manipulations. The sheets can be transferred to a newly developed microperfusion chamber on which an apical and a basal perfusion over a long culture period parallel to a transepithelial electrophysiological registration becomes possible. The chamber has an extremely low amount of fluid dead space. The separate perfusion of cultured cells under isotonic, hypotonic or hypertonic conditions opens new possibilities. Thus, culture can be performed under most natural conditions e.g., that found within the kidney.     

Advances in the development of improved animal-free models for use in breast cancer biomedical research

Through translational research, the outcomes for women (and men) diagnosed with breast cancer have improved significantly, with now over 80% of women surviving for at least 5 years post-diagnosis. Much of this success has been translated from the bench to the bedside using laboratory models. Here, we outline the types of laboratory models that have helped achieve this and discuss new approaches as we move towards animal-free disease modelling.     

Laboratory management of the ferret for biomedical research

Ferrets have become an increasingly important animal in biological research. This paper discusses unique aspects of the ferret's anatomy, reproductive behavior, husbandry, and diseases as they relate to the research use of this animal.     

Quality management for biomedical research in Germany

Summary Biomedical research is characterized by a tremendous expansion of knowledge in recent years. Alongside, biomedical research is in the focus of public inerest. Hence, highest quality standards are required to meet the expectations of the scientific community and of the public. A panel of instruments of quality management helps to strenghthen productivity of biomedical research, i.e. 1. improved institutionalization of research; 2. productivity-oriented distribution of ressources; 3. evaluations and 4. quality standards for the performance of research. Quality management is a matter of a vivid discussion in Germany and professors and junior faculty members alike are generally open-minded towards quality management activities to improve output-oriented research. Contents of this paper have been given as lecture at the symposium “Quality management in phoniatries and pedaudiology” on the occasion of the 75^th birthday of Prof. G. Kittel at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany (organization: Prof. U. Eysholdt and Asst. Prof. F. Rosanowski).     

Biomimicry in biomedical research

Biomimicry (literally defined as the imitation of life or nature) has sparked a variety of human innovations and inspired countless cutting-edge designs. From spider silk-made artificial skin to lotus leaf-inspired self-cleaning materials, biomimicry endeavors to solve human problems. Biomimetic approaches have contributed significantly to advances biomedical research during recent years. Using polyacrylamide gels to mimic the elastic modulus of different biological tissues, Disher’s lab has directed meschymal stem cell differentiation into specific lineages.¹ They have shown that soft substrates mimicking the elastic modulus of brain tissues (0.1~1 kPa) were neurogenic, substrates of intermediate elastic modulus mimicking muscle (8 ~17 kPa) were myogenic, and substrates with bone-like elastic modulus (25~40 kPa) were osteogenic. This work represents a novel way to regulate the fate of stem cells and exerts profound influence on stem cell research. Biomimcry also drives improvements in tissue engineering. Novel scaffolds have been designed to capture extracellular matrix-like structures, binding of ligands, sustained release of cytokines, and mechanical properties intrinsic to specific tissues for tissue engineering applications.^2,3 For example, tissue engineering skin grafts have been designed to mimic the cell composition and layered structure of native skin.⁴ Similarly, in the field of regenerative medicine, researchers aim to create biomimetic scaffolds to mimic the properties of a native stem cell environment (niche) to dynamically interact with the entrapped stem cells and direct their response.⁵     

Advances in swine biomedical model genomics

This review is a short update on the diversity of swine biomedical models and the importance of genomics in their continued development. The swine has been used as a major mammalian model for human studies because of the similarity in size and physiology, and in organ development and disease progression. The pig model allows for deliberately timed studies, imaging of internal vessels and organs using standard human technologies, and collection of repeated peripheral samples and, at kill, detailed mucosal tissues. The ability to use pigs from the same litter, or cloned or transgenic pigs, facilitates comparative analyses and genetic mapping. The availability of numerous well defined cell lines, representing a broad range of tissues, further facilitates testing of gene expression, drug susceptibility, etc. Thus the pig is an excellent biomedical model for humans. For genomic applications it is an asset that the pig genome has high sequence and chromosome structure homology with humans. With the swine genome sequence now well advanced there are improving genetic and proteomic tools for these comparative analyses. The review will discuss some of the genomic approaches used to probe these models. The review will highlight genomic studies of melanoma and of infectious disease resistance, discussing issues to consider in designing such studies. It will end with a short discussion of the potential for genomic approaches to develop new alternatives for control of the most economically important disease of pigs, porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS), and the potential for applying knowledge gained with this virus for human viral infectious disease studies.     

哺乳动物腔前卵泡体外培养研究进展

哺乳动物卵巢中含有数以万计的腔前卵泡（preantral follicles）,仅不足1％能够发育至预排卵卵泡。建立哺乳动物腔前卵泡有效分离及体外培养技术体系,能够大量利用腔前卵泡,增加体外成熟卵母细胞数量,对哺乳动物胚胎体外生产、克隆及转基因动物生产等胚胎工程技术的研究与应用,以及在体外条件下揭示哺乳动物卵泡发育机理,都具有重要的理论意义和实用价值。鉴于卵巢质地与卵泡划、发生周期的固有差异,不同物种腔前卵泡分离方法与培养方式亦有所不同。同时,培养基类型、卵泡问相互作用、促性腺激素与细胞因子等因素均会对卵泡的体外发育产生影响。系统阐述了腔前卵泡的分离方法、培养方式以及相关因素对卵泡发育的影响,期望为从事相关研究的学者提供参考。     

Advances in biomedical applications of pectin gels

Pectin, due to its simple and cytocompatible gelling mechanism, has been recently exploited for different biomedical applications including drug delivery, gene delivery, wound healing and tissue engineering. Recent studies involving pectin for the biomedical field are reviewed, with the aim to capture the state of art on current research about pectin gels for biomedical applications, moving outside the traditional fields of application such as the food industry or pharmaceutics. Pectin structure, sources and extraction procedures have been discussed focussing on the properties of the polysaccharide that can be tuned to optimize the gels for a desired application and possess a fundamental role in application of pectin in the biomedical field.     

Revised h index for biomedical research

Proposed by Hirsch as a quantitative measure of the total output of a researcher, the h index does not work well in the field of life sciences, where an author’s position on a paper typically depends on the author’s contribution. We revise the h index by weighing first and last authorship papers four times heavier than middle authorship papers. The revised index (r) signifies a shift in how we evaluate the research output in biology and medicine: it places more value on conducting and directing original, independent investigations as compared with contributing to projects conducted and directed by others.     

Revised h index for biomedical research

Proposed by Hirsch as a quantitative measure of the total output of a researcher, the h index does not work well in the field of life sciences, where an author’s position on a paper typically depends on the author’s contribution. We revise the h index by weighing first and last authorship papers four times heavier than middle authorship papers. The revised index (r) signifies a shift in how we evaluate the research output in biology and medicine: it places more value on conducting and directing original, independent investigations as compared with contributing to projects conducted and directed by others.     

Advances in polymeric systems for tissue engineering and biomedical applications

The characteristics of tissue engineered scaffolds are major concerns in the quest to fabricate ideal scaffolds for tissue engineering applications. The polymer scaffolds employed for tissue engineering applications should possess multifunctional properties such as biocompatibility, biodegradability and favorable mechanical properties as it comes in direct contact with the body fluids in vivo. Additionally, the polymer system should also possess biomimetic architecture and should support stem cell adhesion, proliferation and differentiation. As the progress in polymer technology continues, polymeric biomaterials have taken characteristics more closely related to that desired for tissue engineering and clinical needs. Stimuli responsive polymers also termed as smart biomaterials respond to stimuli such as pH, temperature, enzyme, antigen, glucose and electrical stimuli that are inherently present in living systems. This review highlights the exciting advancements in these polymeric systems that relate to biological and tissue engineering applications. Additionally, several aspects of technology namely scaffold fabrication methods and surface modifications to confer biological functionality to the polymers have also been discussed. The ultimate objective is to emphasize on these underutilized adaptive behaviors of the polymers so that novel applications and new generations of smart polymeric materials can be realized for biomedical and tissue engineering applications.     

^19FNMR在生物医学研究中的应用

核磁共振（ＮＭＲ）是一种无创伤的物理测试方法,它可以直接用于体内和体外的生物样品测定,提供分子水平的信息。正常体内含氟成分很少,测定进无本底信号干扰,因此在体内研究中引进氟代指示剂进行＾１９ＦＮＭＲ研究是目前普遍采用的方法。＾１９ＦＮＭＲ可可以用来测定药物在体内代谢过程、胸内游离的离子如Ｃａ＾２＋和Ｍｇ＾２＋、胞内ｐＨ、氧浓度或氧压力（ｐＯ２）、膜电位、组织温度、血液容积和细胞容积等多项生理生化指