University of Padova

4 ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN JoVE

Immunology and Infection

Nucleocapsid Annealing-Mediated Electrophoresis (NAME) Assay Allows the Rapid Identification of HIV-1 Nucleocapsid Inhibitors

Alice Sosic¹, Marta Cappellini¹, Matteo Scalabrin², Barbara Gatto¹

¹Department of Pharmaceutical and Pharmacological Sciences, University of Padova, ²The RNA Institute, SUNY Albany

This protocol describes NAME, an assay that allows the rapid identification of molecules able to inhibit in vitro the chaperone activities of HIV-1 nucleocapsid protein.

Environment

Measuring Stolons and Rhizomes of Turfgrasses Using a Digital Image Analysis System

Cristina Pornaro¹, Stefano Macolino¹, Michael D. Richardson¹

¹Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural Resources, Animals, and Environment, University of Padova, ²Department of Horticulture, University of Arkansas

A software-based image analysis system provides an alternative method to study the morphology of stoloniferous and rhizomatous species. This protocol permits measurement of the length and diameter of stolons and rhizomes and can be applied to samples with a large amount of biomass and to a wide variety of species.

Medicine

Synovial Fluid Analysis to Identify Osteoarthritis

Francesca Oliviero¹, Anna Scanu¹, Paola Galozzi¹, Roberta Ramonda¹

¹Rheumatology Unit, Department of Medicine-DIMED, University of Padova

Synovial fluid analysis under transmitted, polarized, and compensated light microscopy is used to evaluate the inflammatory or non-inflammatory nature of a sample through simple steps. It is particularly useful in osteoarthritis to detect calcium crystals and identify a more severe subset of osteoarthritis.

Biochemistry

In Vitro Chemical Mapping of G-Quadruplex DNA Structures by Bis-3-Chloropiperidines

Alice Sosic¹, Cristina Dal Lago¹, Richard Göttlich², Barbara Gatto¹

¹Department of Pharmaceutical and Pharmacological Sciences, University of Padova, ²Institute of Organic Chemistry, Justus Liebig University Giessen

Bis-3-chloropiperidines (B-CePs) are useful chemical probes to identify and characterize G-quadruplex structures in DNA templates in vitro. This protocol details the procedure to perform probing reactions with B-CePs and to resolve reaction products by high-resolution polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis.