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52 ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN JoVE

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Biology

Passaging HuES Human Embryonic Stem Cell-lines with Trypsin.
Erin Trish 1, John Dimos 1, Kevin Eggan 1
1Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Harvard

In this video we demonstrate how our lab routinely passages HuES human embryonic stem cell lines with trypsin. Brought to you by JoVE.

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Biology

Freezing Human ES Cells
Erin Trish 1, John Dimos 1, Kevin Eggan 1
1Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Harvard

Here we demonstrate how our lab freezes HuES human embryonic stem cell lines.

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Biology

Human ES cells: Starting Culture from Frozen Cells
Erin Trish 1, John Dimos 1, Kevin Eggan 1
1Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Harvard

Here we demonstrate how our lab begins a HuES human embryonic stem cell line culture from a frozen stock.

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Biology

Nuclear Transfer into Mouse Oocytes
Dieter Egli 1, Kevin Eggan 1
1Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Harvard

This movie and the protocol are intended to help learning nuclear transfer.

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Biology

The Production of C. elegans Transgenes via Recombineering with the galK Selectable Marker
Yue Zhang *1, Luv Kashyap *2, Annabel A. Ferguson 2, Alfred L. Fisher 2
1Department of Radiation Oncology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, 2Department of Medicine, Division of Geriatric Medicine and Pittsburgh Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of Pittsburgh

The ability to produce transgenes for Caenorhabditis elegans using genomic DNA carried by fosmids is particularly attractive as all of the native regulatory elements are retained. Described is a simple and robust procedure for the production of transgenes via recombineering with the galK selectable marker.

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Bioengineering

Studying Cell Rolling Trajectories on Asymmetric Receptor Patterns
Chia-Hua Lee 1, Suman Bose 2, Krystyn J. Van Vliet 1, Jeffrey M. Karp 3, Rohit Karnik 2
1Department of Materials Science and Engineering, MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 3HST Center for Biomedical Engineering and Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School

We describe a protocol to observe and analyze cell rolling trajectories on asymmetric receptor-patterned substrates. The resulting data are useful for engineering of receptor-patterned substrates for label-free cell separation and analysis.

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Education

A Toolkit to Enable Hydrocarbon Conversion in Aqueous Environments
Eva K. Brinkman 1, Kira Schipper 1, Nadine Bongaerts 1, Mathias J. Voges 1, Alessandro Abate 2, S. Aljoscha Wahl 1
1Department of Biotechnology, Delft University of Technology, 2Delft Center for Systems and Control, Delft University of Technology

A sustainable auto regulating bacterial system for the remediation of oil pollutions was designed using standard interchangeable DNA parts (BioBricks). An engineered E. coli strain was used to degrade alkanes via β-oxidation in toxic aqueous environments. The respective enzymes from different species showed alkane degradation activity. Additionally, an increased tolerance to n-hexane was achieved by introducing genes from alkane-tolerant bacteria.

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Biology

Digital Inline Holographic Microscopy (DIHM) of Weakly-scattering Subjects
Camila B. Giuliano 1,2, Rongjing Zhang 1, Laurence G. Wilson 1
1The Rowland Institute, Harvard University, 2Faculdade de Ciências e Letras de Assis, Universidade Estadual Paulista

The three-dimensional locations of weakly-scattering objects can be uniquely identified using digital inline holographic microscopy (DIHM), which involves a minor modification to a standard microscope. Our software uses a simple imaging heuristic coupled with Rayleigh-Sommerfeld back-propagation to yield the three-dimensional position and geometry of a microscopic phase object.

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Biology

Intraductal Injection for Localized Drug Delivery to the Mouse Mammary Gland
Silva Krause 1, Amy Brock 2, Donald E. Ingber 1,2,3
1Vascular Biology Program, Department of Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, 2Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, 3Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

A protocol for the non-invasive intraductal delivery of aqueous reagents to the mouse mammary gland is described. The method takes advantage of localized injection into the nipples of mammary glands targeting mammary ducts specifically. This technique is adaptable for a variety of compounds including siRNA, chemotherapeutic agents and small molecules.

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Biology

Facial Transplants in Xenopus laevis Embryos
Laura A. Jacox *1,3, Amanda J. Dickinson *4, Hazel Sive 2,3
1Biological Sciences in Dental Medicine, Harvard University, 2Biology Department, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 3Whitehead Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 4Biology Department, Virginia Commonwealth University

A technique for transplanting "Extreme Anterior Domain" facial tissue between Xenopus laevis embryos has been developed. Tissue can be moved from one gene expression background into another, allowing the study of local requirements for craniofacial development and for signaling interactions between facial regions.

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Bioengineering

Systematic Analysis of In Vitro Cell Rolling Using a Multi-well Plate Microfluidic System
Oren Levy 1,2,3,4,5, Priya Anandakumaran 1,2,3,4,5, Jessica Ngai 1,2,3,4,5, Rohit Karnik 6, Jeffrey M. Karp 1,2,3,4,5
1Division of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, 2Center for Regenerative Therapeutics, Brigham and Women's Hospital, 3Harvard Medical School, Harvard University, 4Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Harvard University, 5Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, 6Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

This study used a multi-well plate microfluidic system, significantly increasing throughput of cell rolling studies under physiologically relevant shear flow. Given the importance of cell rolling in the multi-step cell homing cascade and the importance of cell homing following systemic delivery of exogenous populations of cells in patients, this system offers potential as a screening platform to improve cell-based therapy.

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Biology

Ablation of a Single Cell From Eight-cell Embryos of the Amphipod Crustacean Parhyale hawaiensis
Anastasia R. Nast 1, Cassandra G. Extavour 1
1Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University

The amphipod Parhyale hawaiensis is a promising model organism for studies of crustacean embryology and comparative arthropod development and evolution. This protocol describes a method for manual removal of single blastomeres from early cleavage stage embryos of Parhyale.

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Environment

Transient Gene Expression in Tobacco using Gibson Assembly and the Gene Gun
Matthew D. Mattozzi 1,2, Mathias J. Voges 1,2,3, Pamela A. Silver 1,2, Jeffrey C. Way 1,2
1Synthetic Biology Platform, Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, 2Department of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School, 3Department of Biotechnology, Delft University of Technology

This work describes a novel method for selectively targeting subcellular organelles in plants, assayed using the BioRad Gene Gun.

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Medicine

Ultrasound-guided Transthoracic Intramyocardial Injection in Mice
Terence W. Prendiville 1, Qing Ma 1, Zhiqiang Lin 1, Pingzhu Zhou 1, Aibin He 1, William T. Pu 1,2
1Department of Cardiology, Boston Children's Hospital, 2Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Harvard University

Echocardiography-guided percutaneous intramyocardial injection represents an efficient, reliable, and targetable modality for the delivery of gene transfer agents or cells into the murine heart. Following the steps outlined in this protocol, the operator can quickly become competent in this versatile, minimally invasive technique.

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Bioengineering

Microscale Vortex-assisted Electroporator for Sequential Molecular Delivery
Dwayne A. L. Vickers 1, Soojung Claire Hur 1
1The Rowland Institute, Harvard University

A microfluidic vortex assisted electroporation platform was developed for sequential delivery of multiple molecules into identical cell populations with precise and independent dosage control. The system’s size based target cell purification step preceding electroporation aided to enhance molecular delivery efficiency and processed cell viability.

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Developmental Biology

Measuring Protein Stability in Living Zebrafish Embryos Using Fluorescence Decay After Photoconversion (FDAP)
Katherine W. Rogers 1, Alexander Bläßle 2, Alexander F. Schier 1, Patrick Müller 2
1Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, 2Systems Biology of Development Group, Friedrich Miescher Laboratory of the Max Planck Society

Protein levels in cells and tissues are often tightly regulated by the balance of protein production and clearance. Using Fluorescence Decay After Photoconversion (FDAP), the clearance kinetics of proteins can be experimentally measured in vivo.

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Chemistry

Self-assembly of Complex Two-dimensional Shapes from Single-stranded DNA Tiles
Bryan Wei 1, Michelle K. Vhudzijena 2, Joanna Robaszewski 2, Peng Yin 2,3
1Tsinghua-Peking Center for Life Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, 2Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, 3Department of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School

DNA tiling is an effective approach to make programmable nanostructures. We describe the protocols to construct complex two-dimensional shapes by the self-assembly of single-stranded DNA tiles.

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Engineering

Making Record-efficiency SnS Solar Cells by Thermal Evaporation and Atomic Layer Deposition
Rafael Jaramillo 2,4, Vera Steinmann 1,2, Chuanxi Yang 3, Katy Hartman 2,4, Rupak Chakraborty 1,2, Jeremy R. Poindexter 2,4, Mariela Lizet Castillo 2, Roy Gordon 5, Tonio Buonassisi 1,2
1Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2Laboratory for Manufacturing and Productivity, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 3School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, 4Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 5Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology, Harvard University

Tin sulfide (SnS) is a candidate material for Earth-abundant, non-toxic solar cells. Here, we demonstrate the fabrication procedure of the SnS solar cells employing atomic layer deposition, which yields 4.36% certified power conversion efficiency, and thermal evaporation which yields 3.88%.

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Immunology and Infection

Methods to Increase the Sensitivity of High Resolution Melting Single Nucleotide Polymorphism Genotyping in Malaria
Rachel Daniels 1,2, Elizabeth J. Hamilton 2, Katelyn Durfee 2, Daouda Ndiaye 3, Dyann F. Wirth 2,5, Daniel L. Hartl 1, Sarah K. Volkman 2,4
1Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, 2Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 3Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cheikh Anta Diop University, 4School of Nursing and Health Sciences, Simmons College, 5Institute of Infectious Diseases, Broad Institute

While high resolution melting analysis offers the ability to differentiate between single nucleotide polymorphisms in a heterogeneous population, mutant allele amplification bias can increase its ability to detect alleles present at relatively low percentages within a sample. This protocol describes improvements that improve the sensitivity of high resolution melting analysis.

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Medicine

Unbiased Deep Sequencing of RNA Viruses from Clinical Samples
Christian B. Matranga 1, Adrianne Gladden-Young 1, James Qu 1, Sarah Winnicki 1, Dolo Nosamiefan 1, Joshua Z. Levin 1, Pardis C. Sabeti 1,2
1Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, 2Harvard University

This protocol describes a rapid and broadly applicable method for unbiased RNA-sequencing of viral samples from human clinical isolates.

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Bioengineering

Co-culture of Living Microbiome with Microengineered Human Intestinal Villi in a Gut-on-a-Chip Microfluidic Device
Hyun Jung Kim 1, Jaewon Lee 1, Jin-Ha Choi 1, Anthony Bahinski 2, Donald E. Ingber 2,3,4
1Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 2Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, 3Vascular Biology Program, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 4John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University

We describe an in vitro protocol to co-culture gut microbiome and intestinal villi for an extended period using a human gut-on-a-chip microphysiological system.

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Education

External Excitation of Neurons Using Electric and Magnetic Fields in One- and Two-dimensional Cultures
Shani Stern 1, Assaf Rotem 2, Yuri Burnishev 3, Eyal Weinreb 3, Elisha Moses 3
1Laboratory of Genetics, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, 2Department of Physics and SEAS, Harvard University, 3Department of Physics of Complex Systems, Weizmann Institute of Science

Neuronal cultures are a good model for studying emerging brain stimulation techniques via their effect on single neurons or a population of neurons. Presented here are different methods for stimulation of patterned neuronal cultures by an electric field produced directly by bath electrodes or induced by a time-varying magnetic field.

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Genetics

Preparation of rAAV9 to Overexpress or Knockdown Genes in Mouse Hearts
Jian Ding 1,2, Zhi-Qiang Lin 1,2, Jian-Ming Jiang 3,4, Christine E. Seidman 3,4, Jonathan G. Seidman 3,4, William T. Pu 1,2, Da-Zhi Wang 1,2
1Department of Cardiology, Boston Children's Hospital, 2Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, 3Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, 4Howard Hughes Medical Institute

In this manuscript, a method to prepare recombinant adeno-associated virus 9 (rAAV9) vectors to manipulate gene expression in the mouse heart is described.

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Bioengineering

Intraductal Delivery to the Rabbit Mammary Gland
Amelia Clark 1, Nora K. Bird 2, Amy Brock 1
1Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 2Department of Anesthesiology, UTMB Health at Galveston

Here, we describe a technique for the localized delivery of reagents to the rabbit mammary gland via an intraductal injection. In addition, we describe a protocol for visualization and the confirmation of delivery by high-resolution ultrasound imaging of contrast agents.

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Environment

Production and Measurement of Organic Particulate Matter in a Flow Tube Reactor
Yue Zhang 1,2, Pengfei Liu 1, Zhaoheng Gong 1, Franz M. Geiger 3, Scot T. Martin 1,4
1School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, 2Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 3Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, 4Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University

This paper describes the operation procedure for the flow tube reactor and related data collection. It shows the protocols for setting the experiments, recording data and generating the number-diameter distribution as well as the particle mass information, which gives useful information about chemical and physical properties of the organic aerosols.

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Environment

Production and Measurement of Organic Particulate Matter in the Harvard Environmental Chamber
Yue Zhang 1,2, Zhaoheng Gong 1, Suzane de Sa 1, Adam P. Bateman 1, Yingjun Liu 1, Yongjie Li 1, Franz M. Geiger 3, Scot T. Martin 1,4
1School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, 2Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, 3Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, 4Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University

This paper describes operation procedures for the Harvard Environmental Chamber (HEC) and related instrumentation for measuring gaseous and particle species. The environmental chamber is used to produce and study secondary organic species produced from the organic precursors, especially related to atmospheric organic particulate matter.

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Neuroscience

Modelling Zika Virus Infection of the Developing Human Brain In Vitro Using Stem Cell Derived Cerebral Organoids
Max R Salick *1, Michael F Wells *2,3, Kevin Eggan 2,3, Ajamete Kaykas 1
1Department of Neuroscience, Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, 2Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, 3Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology and Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Harvard University

This protocol describes a technique used to model Zika virus infection of the developing human brain. Using wildtype or engineered stem cell lines, researchers may use this technique to uncover the various mechanisms or treatments that may affect early brain infection and resulting microcephaly in Zika virus-infected embryos.

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Biology

Single-cell Microfluidic Analysis of Bacillus subtilis
Matthew T. Cabeen 1, Richard Losick 2
1Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Oklahoma State University, 2Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University

We present a method for the microfluidic analysis of individual bacterial cell lineages using Bacillus subtilis as an example. The method overcomes shortcomings of traditional analytical methods in microbiology by allowing observation of hundreds of cell generations under tightly controllable and uniform growth conditions.

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Immunology and Infection

Generation of Monoclonal Antibodies Against Natural Products
Yue Zhang 1, Peng Cao 2, Fang Lu 3, Xin Yan 4, Bingqian Jiang 3, Jinjun Cheng 3, Huihua Qu 5
1School of Life Science, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, 2Third Affiliated Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, 3School of Basic Medical Sciences, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, 4School of Chinese Materia Medica, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, 5Center of Scientific Experiment, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine

This article provides a detailed protocol for the preparation and evaluation of monoclonal antibodies against natural products for use in various immunoassays. This procedure includes immunization, cell fusion, indirect competitive ELISA for positive clone screening, and monoclonal hybridoma preparation. The specifications for antibody characterization using MALDI-TOF-MS and ELISA analyses are also provided.

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Bioengineering

A Microfluidic Platform for Longitudinal Imaging in Caenorhabditis elegans
Kyung Suk Lee 1,2, Erel Levine 2,3
1Department of Physics Education, Kongju National University, 2Department of Physics, Harvard University, 3FAS Center for Systems Biology, Harvard University

In this article, we demonstrate live imaging of individual worms employing a custom microfluidic device. In the device, multiple worms are individually confined to separate chambers, allowing multiplexed longitudinal surveillance of various biological processes.

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Chemistry

Synthesis and Performance Characterizations of Transition Metal Single Atom Catalyst for Electrochemical CO2 Reduction
Kun Jiang 1, Guangxu Chen 2, Haotian Wang 1
1Rowland Institute, Harvard University, 2Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University

Here, we present a protocol for the synthesis and electrochemical testing of transition metal single atoms coordinated in graphene vacancies as active centers for selective carbon dioxide reduction to carbon monoxide in aqueous solutions.

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JoVE Journal

CRISPR Guide RNA Cloning for Mammalian Systems
Sathiji Nageshwaran *1,2, Alejandro Chavez *1,2,3, Nan Cher Yeo 1,2, Xiaoge Guo 1,2, Alissa Lance-Byrne 1, Angela Tung 1, James J. Collins 1,4,5,6,7, George M. Church 1,2
1Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, 2Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, 3Department of Pathology, Massachusetts General Hospital, 4Institute for Medical Engineering & Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 5Synthetic Biology Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 6Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 7Broad Institute

Here, a simple, efficient, and cost-effective method of sgRNA cloning is outlined.

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Bioengineering

Syringe-injectable Mesh Electronics for Stable Chronic Rodent Electrophysiology
Thomas G. Schuhmann Jr. 1, Tao Zhou 2, Guosong Hong 2, Jung Min Lee 2,3, Tian-Ming Fu 2, Hong-Gyu Park 3, Charles M. Lieber 1,2
1John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, 2Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, 3Department of Physics, Korea University

Mesh electronics probes seamlessly integrate and provide stable, long-term, single-neuron level recording within the brain. This protocol uses mesh electronics for in vivo experiments, involving the fabrication of mesh electronics, loading into needles, stereotaxic injection, input/output interfacing, recording experiments, and histology of tissue containing mesh probes.

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Bioengineering

Scalable Fabrication of Stretchable, Dual Channel, Microfluidic Organ Chips
Richard Novak *1, Meredyth Didier *1,2, Elizabeth Calamari 1, Carlos F Ng 1, Youngjae Choe 1, Susan L Clauson 1, Bret A Nestor 1, Jefferson Puerta 1, Rachel Fleming 1, Sasan J Firoozinezhad 1, Donald E Ingber 1,3,4
1Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, 2Apple, Inc, 3Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, 4Vascular Biology Program and Department of Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School

Here, we present a protocol that describes the fabrication of stretchable, dual channel, organ chip microfluidic cell culture devices for recapitulating organ-level functionality in vitro.

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Neuroscience

A Micro-CT-based Method for Characterizing Lesions and Locating Electrodes in Small Animal Brains
Javier Masis 1,2, David Mankus 2, Steffen B.E. Wolff 2,3, Grigori Guitchounts 1,2, Maximilian Joesch 4, David D. Cox 1,2
1Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, 2Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, 3Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, 4Institute of Science and Technology Austria

This article describes a straightforward method to prepare small animal brains for micro-CT imaging, in which lesions can be quantified and electrodes located with high precision in the context of the whole brain.

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Behavior

A Conflict Model of Reward-seeking Behavior in Male Rats
Shaofei Jiang 1,2, Yue Zhang 1,2, Xigeng Zheng 1,2, Haoshuang Luo 1,2, Zhengkui Liu 1,2, Yunjing Bai 1,2
1CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences

This conflict model is used to measure the impairment of inhibitory control after exposure to addictive drugs, or other factors that may influence inhibitory control. A sexual stimulus and an aversive obstacle are concurrently presented, thus male rats have to conquer the obstacle to approach the sexual reward.

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JoVE Journal

Implementation of Interference Reflection Microscopy for Label-free, High-speed Imaging of Microtubules
Mohammed Mahamdeh 1,2, Jonathon Howard 1
1Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, 2Harvard Medical School, Harvard University

This protocol is a guide for implementing interference reflection microscopy on a standard fluorescence microscope for label-free, high-contrast, high-speed imaging of microtubules using in vitro surfaces assays.

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Genetics

Designing Automated, High-throughput, Continuous Cell Growth Experiments Using eVOLVER
Zachary J. Heins 1,2, Christopher P. Mancuso 1,2, Szilvia Kiriakov 1,3, Brandon G. Wong 1,2, Caleb J. Bashor 4, Ahmad S. Khalil 1,2,5
1Biological Design Center, Boston University, 2Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, 3Program in Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry, Boston University, 4Department of Bioengineering, Rice University, 5Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University

The eVOLVER framework enables high-throughput continuous microbial culture with high resolution and dynamic control over experimental parameters. This protocol demonstrates how to apply the system to conduct a complex fitness experiment, guiding users on programming automated control over many individual cultures, measuring, collecting, and interacting with experimental data in real-time.

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Developmental Biology

Injecting Gryllus bimaculatus Eggs
Samantha K. Barry 1, Taro Nakamura 2, Yuji Matsuoka 3, Christoph Straub 4, Hadley W. Horch 4, Cassandra G. Extavour 5
1Colby College, 2Division of Evolutionary Developmental Biology, National Institute for Basic Biology, 3Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, 4Department Biology and Department of Neuroscience, Bowdoin College, 5Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University

Here we present a protocol to inject cricket eggs, a technique which serves as a foundational method in many experiments in the cricket, including, but not limited to, RNA interference and genomic manipulation.

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Behavior

A Methodology for Capturing Joint Visual Attention Using Mobile Eye-Trackers
Bertrand Schneider 1
1Learning, Innovation, and Technology Lab, Graduate School of Education, Harvard University

Using multimodal sensors is a promising way to understand the role of social interactions in educational settings. This paper describes a methodology for capturing joint visual attention from colocated dyads using mobile eye-trackers.

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Developmental Biology

Fluorescent Calcium Imaging and Subsequent In Situ Hybridization for Neuronal Precursor Characterization in Xenopus laevis
Eileen F. Ablondi 1, Sudip Paudel 2, Morgan Sehdev 3, John P. Marken 4, Andrew D. Halleran 4, Atiqur Rahman 5, Peter Kemper 5, Margaret S. Saha 2
1Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Harvard University, 2Department of Biology, College of William and Mary, 3Harvard Medical School, Harvard University, 4Department of Bioengineering, California Institute of Technology, 5Department of Computer Science, College of William and Mary

We present a two-part protocol that combines fluorescent calcium imaging with in situ hybridization, allowing the experimenter to correlate patterns of calcium activity with gene expression profiles on a single-cell level.

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Biology

Inhibition of Wound Epidermis Formation via Full Skin Flap Surgery During Axolotl Limb Regeneration
Stephanie Tsai 1,2
1Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, Harvard University, 2Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University

This article describes how to perform a surgical method to inhibit wound epidermis formation during axolotl limb regeneration by immediately suturing full thickness skin over the amputation plane. This method allows researchers to investigate the functional roles of the wound epidermis during the early stages of limb regeneration.

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Neuroscience

Derivation, Expansion, Cryopreservation and Characterization of Brain Microvascular Endothelial Cells from Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells
Sovannarath Pong 1,2,3, Paulo Lizano 1,2,3,4, Rakesh Karmacharya 1,3,4,5
1Center for Genomic Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, 2Department of Psychiatry, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, 3Chemical Biology and Therapeutic Science Program, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, 4Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, 5Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder Program, McLean Hospital

This protocol details an adapted method to derive, expand, and cryopreserve brain microvascular endothelial cells obtained by differentiating human induced pluripotent stem cells, and to study blood brain barrier properties in an ex vivo model.

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Neuroscience

Co-Culturing Microglia and Cortical Neurons Differentiated from Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells
Kara Lopez-Lengowski 1,2, Annie Kathuria 1,2,3, Kaia Gerlovin 1,2, Rakesh Karmacharya 1,2,3,4,5,6,7
1Center for Genomic Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, 2Chemical Biology Program, Broad Institute of MIT & Harvard, 3Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, 4Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder Program, McLean Hospital, 5Program in Neuroscience, Harvard University, 6Program in Chemical Biology, Harvard University, 7Harvard Stem Cell Institute

This protocol describes a methodology to differentiate microglia from human iPSCs and maintain them in co-culture with iPSC-derived cortical neurons in order to study mechanistic underpinnings of neuroimmune interactions using human neurons and microglia.

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Biochemistry

Development of a Lateral Flow Immunochromatographic Strip for Rapid and Quantitative Detection of Small Molecule Compounds
Yue Zhang *1, Peng Cao *2, Fang Lu 1, Jinjun Cheng 3, Huihua Qu 4
1School of Life Science, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, 2Third Affiliated Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, 3National Institute of TCM Constitution and Preventive Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, 4Center of Scientific Experiment, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine

Development of a Lateral Flow Immunochromatographic Strip for Rapid and Quantitative Detection of Small Molecule Compounds

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Bioengineering

Rapid Encapsulation of Reconstituted Cytoskeleton Inside Giant Unilamellar Vesicles
Yashar Bashirzadeh *1, Nadab Wubshet *1, Thomas Litschel 2, Petra Schwille 3, Allen P. Liu 1,4,5,6
1Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 2John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, 3Department of Cellular and Molecular Biophysics, Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, 4Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 5Department of Biophysics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 6Cellular and Molecular Biology Program, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

This article introduces a simple method for expeditious production of giant unilamellar vesicles with encapsulated cytoskeletal proteins. The method proves to be useful for bottom-up reconstitution of cytoskeletal structures in confinement and cytoskeleton-membrane interactions.

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Engineering

Triplet Fusion Upconversion Nanocapsule Synthesis
Tracy H. Schloemer 1,2, Samuel N. Sanders 1, Qi Zhou 2, Pournima Narayanan 3, Manchen Hu 2, Mahesh K. Gangishetty 1, Daniel Anderson 1, Michael Seitz 1,2, Arynn O. Gallegos 2, R. Christopher Stokes 1, Daniel N. Congreve 1,2
1Rowland Institute, Harvard University, 2Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, 3Department of Chemistry, Stanford University

This protocol details the synthesis of upconversion nanocapsules for subsequent use in photopolymerizable resins for triplet fusion upconversion-facilitated volumetric 3D printing.

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Neuroscience

Use of a Foot-Induced Digitally Controlled Resistance Device for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Evaluation in Patients with Foot Paresis
Mark P. Ottensmeyer 1,2, Sabrina Elbach 3,4, Loukas Astrakas 3,5, Shasha Li 2,3,4, A. Aria Tzika 2,3,4
1Medical Device & Simulation Laboratory, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, 2Harvard Medical School, Harvard University, 3NMR Surgical Laboratory, Department of Surgery, Shriners Children’s Boston, Massachusetts General Hospital, 4Athinoula A. Martinos Center of Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, 5Medical Physics Laboratory, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ioannina

Chronic stroke patients' insured rehabilitation is generally time limited. Imaging-based study of brain activity from walking-related motor tasks can lead to establishing biomarkers to measure improved outcomes and justify extending tailored therapy. A novel, magnetic resonance-compatible, variable-resistance foot motion device and a protocol for use during functional magnetic resonance imaging are presented.

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Environment

Coral Reef Arks: An In Situ Mesocosm and Toolkit for Assembling Reef Communities
Jason L. Baer 1, Jessica Carilli 2, Bart Chadwick 3, Mark Hatay 1, Anneke van der Geer 1, Yun Scholten 4, William Barnes 4, Jenna Aquino 1, Ashton Ballard 1, Mark Little 1, Jared Brzenski 5, Xiaofeng Liu 6, Gunther Rosen 2, Pei-Fang Wang 2, Jose Castillo 5, Andreas F. Haas 4, Aaron C. Hartmann 7, Forest Rohwer 1
1Department of Biology, San Diego State University, 2Energy and Environmental Sciences Branch, Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC) Pacific, 3Coastal Monitoring Associates, 4Department of Marine Microbiology and Biogeochemistry, NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, 5Computational Science Research Center, San Diego State University, 6Department of Aerospace Engineering, San Diego State University, 7Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University

Moored midwater geodesic structures called Coral Arks provide a modular, scalable, and vertically adjustable research platform that can be used to build, monitor, and perturb coral reef communities in previously inoperative areas, including offshore.

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Immunology and Infection

Stromal Cell Isolation From Hematopoietic Organs
Trine Kristiansen *1,2,3, Christina Mayerhofer *1,2,3, Karin Gustafsson 1,2,3, David T. Scadden 1,2,3
1Center for Regenerative Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, 2Harvard Stem Cell Institute, 3Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, Harvard University

Here we present protocols that enable isolation of stromal cells from murine bone, bone marrow, thymus and human thymic tissue compatible with single-cell multiomics.

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Bioengineering

Modeling Healthy and Dysbiotic Vaginal Microenvironments in a Human Vagina-on-a-Chip
Aakanksha Gulati 1, Alicia Jorgenson 1, Abidemi Junaid 1, Donald E. Ingber 1,2,3
1Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, 2Vascular Biology Program and Department of Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, 3Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

This article describes a protocol for creating a microfluidic vagina-on-a-chip (Vagina Chip) culture device that enables the study of human host interactions with a living vaginal microbiome under microaerophilic conditions. This chip can be used as a tool to investigate vaginal diseases as well as to develop and test potential therapeutic countermeasures.

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Bioengineering

In Vitro Model Integrating Substrate Stiffness and Flow to Study Endothelial Cell Responses
Mohammad Hamrangsekachaee 1, Yu Chen 1, Emily R. Tressler 2, Sidi A. Bencherif 1,2,3,4, Eno E. Ebong 1,2,5
1Chemical Engineering Department, Northeastern University, 2Bioengineering Department, Northeastern University, 3Laboratoire de BioMécanique et BioIngénierie (BMBI), UMR CNRS, Sorbonne Universités, Université de Technologie of Compiègne (UTC), 4Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, 5Neuroscience Department, Albert Einstein College of Medicine

We synthesized and characterized a tunable gelatin-based substrate for culturing vascular endothelial cells (ECs) under relevant vascular flow conditions. This biomimetic surface replicates both physiological and pathological conditions, enabling the study of mechanical forces on EC behavior and advancing our understanding of vascular health and disease mechanisms.

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