University of St Andrews

5 ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN JoVE

Biology

Long-term Culture of Human Breast Cancer Specimens and Their Analysis Using Optical Projection Tomography

Alexander D. Leeper¹, Joanne Farrell², J. Michael Dixon¹, Sarah E. Wedden², David J. Harrison¹, Elad Katz¹

¹Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Unit, Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine, University of Edinburgh, ²MRC Technology

We have developed a collagen-based in vitro assay which promotes proliferation and invasion from samples of all breast cancer subtypes. Optical Projection Tomography, a three dimensional microscopy technique was utilised to visualise and quantify tumour expansion. This assay may be used to quantify drug response of individual tumour samples.

Medicine

Heterogeneity Mapping of Protein Expression in Tumors using Quantitative Immunofluorescence

Dana Faratian¹, Jason Christiansen², Mark Gustavson², Christine Jones², Christopher Scott², InHwa Um¹, David J. Harrison¹

¹Division of Pathology, University of Edinburgh, ²HistoRx Inc.

Here we describe a method to quantify molecular heterogeneity in histological sections of tumor material using quantitative immunofluorescence, image analysis, and a statistical measure of heterogeneity. The method is intended for use in clinical biomarker development and analysis.

Engineering

Fabrication And Characterization Of Photonic Crystal Slow Light Waveguides And Cavities

Christopher Paul Reardon¹, Isabella H. Rey¹, Karl Welna¹, Liam O'Faolain¹, Thomas F. Krauss¹

¹School of Physics & Astronomy, University of St Andrews

Use of photonic crystal slow light waveguides and cavities has been widely adopted by the photonics community in many differing applications. Therefore fabrication and characterization of these devices are of great interest. This paper outlines our fabrication technique and two optical characterization methods, namely: interferometric (waveguides) and resonant scattering (cavities).

Medicine

The Use of Reverse Phase Protein Arrays (RPPA) to Explore Protein Expression Variation within Individual Renal Cell Cancers

Fiach C. O'Mahony¹, Jyoti Nanda¹, Alexander Laird¹, Peter Mullen², Helen Caldwell³, Ian M. Overton⁴, Lel Eory⁴, Marie O'Donnell^1,5, Dana Faratian⁶, Thomas Powles⁷, David J. Harrison^1,2, Grant D. Stewart¹

¹Edinburgh Urological Cancer Group, University of Edinburgh, ²School of Medicine, University of St Andrews, ³Division of Pathology, University of Edinburgh, ⁴MRC Human Genetics Unit, MRC IGMM, University of Edinburgh, ⁵Department of Pathology, Western General Hospital, ⁶Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Unit, University of Edinburgh, ⁷St Bartholomew's Cancer Institute, Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre, Queen Mary University of London

RPPA enables the protein expression of hundreds of samples, printed on nitrocellulose slides to be interrogated simultaneously, using fluorescently labelled antibodies. This technique has been applied to study the effect of drug treatment heterogeneity within clear cell renal carcinoma.

Immunology and Infection

A Tuberculosis Molecular Bacterial Load Assay (TB-MBLA)

Wilber Sabiiti¹, Bariki Mtafya^1,2, Daniela Alferes De Lima¹, Evelin Dombay¹, Vincent O. Baron¹, Khalide Azam³, Katarina Oravcova⁴, Derek J. Sloan¹, Stephen H. Gillespie¹

¹Division of Infection and Global Health, School of Medicine, University of St Andrews, ²National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR)-Mbeya Medical Research Centre, ³Instituto Nacional de Saúde (INS), Ministério da Saúde, ⁴Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health & Comparative Medicine, College of Medical, Veterinary & Life Sciences, University of Glasgow

We describe a tuberculosis molecular bacterial load assay test performed after heat inactivation of sputum. Heat inactivation renders sputum samples noninfectious and obviates the need for containment level 3 laboratories for tuberculosis molecular tests.