Westlake University

6 ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN JoVE

Chemistry

Exfoliation and Analysis of Large-area, Air-Sensitive Two-Dimensional Materials

Josh P. Thompson¹, M. Hasan Doha¹, Peter Murphy^1,2, Jin Hu^1,3, Hugh O.H. Churchill^1,3

¹Department of Physics, University of Arkansas, ²Department of Physics, SUNY Geneseo, ³Institute for Nanoscale Science and Engineering, University of Arkansas

A method for exfoliating large thin flakes of air sensitive two-dimensional materials and safely transporting them for analysis outside of a glovebox is presented.

Biochemistry

Nitropeptide Profiling and Identification Illustrated by Angiotensin II

Shan Feng^1,2, Xiaofei Wen³, Xin Lu^2,4,5,6

¹Mass Spectrometry Core Facility, School of Life Sciences, Westlake University, ²Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, ³Department of Urology, Shanghai East Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, ⁴Boler-Parseghian Center for Rare and Neglected Diseases, University of Notre Dame, ⁵Harper Cancer Research Institute, University of Notre Dame, ⁶Tumor Microenvironment and Metastasis Program, Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center

Proteomic profiling of tyrosine-nitrated proteins has been a challenging technique due to the low abundance of the 3-nitrotyrosine modification. Here we describe a novel approach for nitropeptide enrichment and profiling by using Angiotensin II as the model. This method can be extended for other in vitro or in vivo systems.

Immunology and Infection

Targeted Antibody Blocking by a Dual-Functional Conjugate of Antigenic Peptide and Fc-III Mimetics (DCAF)

Xue Bai^*1,2, Lin Zhang^*3, Jin Hu², Xiuxiu Zhao², Jinheng Pan², Haiteng Deng³, Shan Feng^1,2

¹Key Laboratory of Structural Biology of Zhejiang Province, School of Life Sciences, Westlake University, ²Mass Spectrometry Core Facility, School of Life Sciences, Westlake University, ³MOE Key Laboratory of Bioinformatics, Center for Synthetic and Systems Biology, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University

Development of a dual-functional conjugate of antigenic peptide and Fc-III mimetics (DCAF) is novel for the elimination of harmful antibodies. Here, we describe a detailed protocol for the synthesis of DCAF1 molecule, which can selectively block 4G2 antibody to eliminate antibody dependent enhancement effect during Dengue virus infection.

Biology

Detecting Establishment of Shared Blood Supply in Parabiotic Mice by Caudal Vein Glucose Injection

Xin Liu¹, Xue Bai¹, Mingqi Li¹, Huimin Li¹, Yong Zhang^1,2, Baofeng Yang^1,3

¹Department of Pharmacology, The State-Province Key Laboratories of Biomedicine-Pharmaceutics of China, Key Laboratory of Cardiovascular Research, Ministry of Education, College of Pharmacy, Harbin Medical University, ²Institute of Metabolic Disease, Heilongjiang Academy of Medical Science, ³Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Melbourne School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences University of Melbourne

Here we describe a new method of detecting successful establishment of shared blood circulation of two parabionts through a caudal vein injection of glucose, which causes minimal damage and is not fatal to the parabionts.

Neuroscience

Craniotomy Procedure for Visualizing Neuronal Activities in Hippocampus of Behaving Mice

YangDong Wang^1,2,3,4, DanYang Zhu⁵, BaoYue Liu^1,2,3,6, Kiryl D. Piatkevich^1,2,3

¹School of Life Sciences, Westlake University, ²Westlake Laboratory of Life Sciences and Biomedicine, ³Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Westlake Institute for Advanced Study, ⁴School of Basic Medical Sciences, Xi'an JiaoTong University, ⁵Office of Public Affairs, Westlake University, ⁶School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Jilin University

This article demonstrates the preparation of a custom-made imaging window supplemented with infusion cannula and its implantation onto the CA1 region of the hippocampus in mice.

Developmental Biology

Optogenetic Inhibition of Rho1-Mediated Actomyosin Contractility Coupled with Measurement of Epithelial Tension in Drosophila Embryos

Hanqing Guo^1,2, Michael Swan³, Bing He¹

¹Department of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College, ²School of Life Sciences, Westlake University, ³Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University

Actomyosin contractility plays an important role in cell and tissue morphogenesis. However, it is challenging to manipulate actomyosin contractility in vivo acutely. This protocol describes an optogenetic system that rapidly inhibits Rho1-mediated actomyosin contractility in Drosophila embryos, revealing the immediate loss of epithelial tension after the inactivation of actomyosin in vivo.