University of Surrey

5 ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN JoVE

Medicine

Voluntary Breath-hold Technique for Reducing Heart Dose in Left Breast Radiotherapy

Frederick R. Bartlett¹, Ruth M. Colgan¹, Ellen M. Donovan¹, Karen Carr¹, Steven Landeg¹, Nicola Clements¹, Helen A. McNair¹, Imogen Locke¹, Philip M. Evans², Joanne S. Haviland³, John R. Yarnold⁴, Anna M. Kirby¹

¹Department of Radiotherapy, Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, ²Centre for Vision, Speech and Signal Processing, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Surrey, ³Clinical Trials and Statistics Unit (ICR-CTSU), Institute of Cancer Research, Sutton, UK, ⁴Division of Radiotherapy and Imaging, Institute of Cancer Research, Sutton, UK

The current priority in breast cancer radiotherapy is to reduce cardiac doses without compromising target tissue coverage. The voluntary breath-hold technique described here is a simple, inexpensive solution to this problem and capable of being instituted widely without the need for specialized equipment.

Engineering

Flow-assisted Dielectrophoresis: A Low Cost Method for the Fabrication of High Performance Solution-processable Nanowire Devices

Kaspar Snashall¹, Marios Constantinou¹, Maxim Shkunov¹

¹Advanced Technology Institute, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Surrey

In this paper, flow assisted dielectrophoresis is demonstrated for the self-assembly of nanowire devices. The fabrication of a silicon nanowire field effect transistor is shown as an example.

Biochemistry

An Oligonucleotide-based Tandem RNA Isolation Procedure to Recover Eukaryotic mRNA-Protein Complexes

Valentina Iadevaia^*1, Ana M. Matia-González^*1, André P. Gerber¹

¹Dept. of Microbial Sciences, School of Biosciences and Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Surrey

A tandem RNA isolation procedure (TRIP) for recovery of endogenously formed mRNA-protein complexes is described. Specifically, RNA-protein complexes are crosslinked in vivo, polyadenylated RNAs are isolated from extracts with oligo(dT) beads, and particular mRNAs are captured with modified RNA antisense oligonucleotides. Proteins bound to mRNAs are detected by immunoblot analysis.

Behavior

Human Circadian Phenotyping and Diurnal Performance Testing in the Real World

Elise R. Facer-Childs^1,2,3, Benita Middleton¹, Andrew P. Bagshaw², Debra J. Skene¹

¹Chronobiology, Faculty of Health & Medical Sciences, University of Surrey, ²Centre for Human Brain Health, University of Birmingham, ³Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University

Here, we present a method to investigate diurnal rhythms in performance following accurate categorization of participants into circadian phenotype groups based on the Munich ChronoType Questionnaire, gold standard circadian phase biomarkers and actigraphic measures.

Bioengineering

Ex Vivo Perfusion Culture of Large Blood Vessels in a 3D Printed Bioreactor

Rolando S. Matos^*1, Akram Jassim Jawad^*1, Davide Maselli¹, John H. McVey¹, Christian Heiss^1,2, Paola Campagnolo¹

¹Department of Biochemical Sciences, School of Biosciences, University of Surrey, ²Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, School of Biosciences, University of Surrey

This protocol presents the setup and operation of a newly developed, 3D printed bioreactor for the ex vivo culture of blood vessels in perfusion. The system is designed to be easily adopted by other users, practical, affordable, and adaptable to different experimental applications, such as basic biology and pharmacological studies.