Vanderbilt University School of Medicine

Identification of microbial targets of adaptive immunity in idiopathic diseases can be accomplished by the use of the enzyme-linked immunospot assay.

Zebrafish has emerged as a powerful in vivo platform for phenotype-based drug screens and chemical genetic analysis. Here, we demonstrate a simple, practical method for large-scale screening of small molecules using zebrafish embryos.

We describe the use of a mouse ES cell based assay to identify critical time windows for Wnt/β-catenin and BMP signal activation during cardiogenic induction. The method provides a standardized platform that reliably quantifies cardiogenic efficiency, and it is applicable to the study of other cell lineages.

The hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp, or insulin clamp, is the gold standard for assessing insulin action in vivo. A method for performing insulin clamps in mice is described. This includes a method for arterial catheterization that permits experiments to be performed in conscious, unrestrained mice with minimal stress.

This is a method to visualise leukocyte adhesion to the endothelium in harvested pressurised vessels. The technique enables studying vascular adhesion under shear flow with differing intraluminal pressures up to 200 mmHg thus mimic-ing the pathophysiological conditions of high blood pressure.

Uncoating is an essential step in the early phase of the HIV-1 life cycle and is defined as the disassembly of the capsid shell and the release of the viral ribonucleoprotein complex (vRNP). Here, we demonstrate techniques for isolating intact cores from HIV-1 virions and for quantifying their uncoating in vitro.

A useful tool to analyze the effects of drugs, growth factors, and/or manipulated cells in an animal model of wound repair is described. This technique utilizes the properties of a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) sponge to deliver and contain the desired treatment and also provide a platform to be excised and analyzed.

NADPH oxidase is the major source of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in phagocytes. Because of the ephemeral nature of ROS, it is difficult to measure and monitor ROS levels in living animals. A minimally invasive method for serial quantification of ROS in living mice is described.

Described here is a technique in which lipopolysaccharide is injected into the lactating mouse mammary gland via the nipple to simulate mastitis, a condition commonly caused by bacterial infection. Lipopolysaccharide injection results in increased nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) signaling, visualized through bioluminescent imaging of an NF-κB luciferase reporter mouse.

An optimized procedure to purify neural crest-derived neuronal progenitors from fetal mouse tissues is described. This method takes advantage of expression from fluorescent reporter alleles to isolate discrete populations by fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS). The technique can be applied to isolate neuronal subpopulations throughout development or from adult tissues.

Methods for developing and validating a quantitative fluorescence assay for measuring the activity of inward rectifier potassium (Kir) channels for high-throughput compound screening is presented.

Blood-brain barrier disruption aids the delivery of certain drugs to the brain. Mannitol delivered intra-arterially shrinks cells surrounding blood vessels in order to physically disrupt the barrier.

Adipose tissue (AT) is a site of intense immune cell activation and interaction. Almost all cells of the immune system are present in AT and their ratios are altered by obesity. Proper isolation, quantification, and characterization of AT immune cell populations are critical for understanding their role in immunometabolic disease.

A method is described for analyzing protein degradation using radiolabeled and luciferase-fusion proteins in Xenopus egg extract and its adaptation for high-throughput screening for small molecule modulators of protein degradation.

Establishing primary endometrial stromal cell culture systems from hysterectomy specimens is a valuable biological technique and a crucial step prior to pursuing a vast array of research aims. Here, we describe two methods used to establish stromal cultures from surgically resected endometrial tissues of human patients. 

Here we describe a method to visualize the oncogenic bacterial organelle known as the Cag Type IV Secretion System (Cag-T4SS). We find that the Cag-T4SS is differentially produced on the surface of H. pylori in response to varying conditions of iron availability.

Neuromuscular diseases often exhibit a temporally varying, spatially heterogeneous, and multi-faceted pathology. The goal of this protocol is to characterize this pathology using non-invasive magnetic resonance imaging methods.

The method presented here uses ¹⁸F-Fluorodeoxyglucose (¹⁸F-FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET-CT) and fat-water separated magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), each scanned following 2 hr exposure to thermoneutral (24 °C) and cold conditions (17 °C) in order to map brown adipose tissue (BAT) in adult human subjects.

Generating cardiomyocytes from pluripotent stem cells in vitro allows access to large amounts of cardiac tissue in vitro for basic science and clinical applications. This protocol uses the atrializing factor Grem2 to both increase the numbers of cardiomyocytes obtained and to generate cardiomyocytes with an atrial phenotype.

This protocol describes the isolation and quantification of high-density lipoprotein small RNAs.

This protocol describes an approach for manufacturing aligned steel fiber reinforced cementitious composite by applying a uniform electromagnetic field. Aligned steel fiber reinforced cementitious composite exhibits superior mechanical properties to ordinary fiber reinforced concrete.

The purpose of this work is to describe a protocol for creating a practical fat-water phantom that can be customized to produce phantoms with varying fat percentages and volumes.

The goal of this protocol is to obtain high-integrity RNA samples from enteric ganglia isolated from unfixed, freshly-resected human intestinal tissue using laser capture microdissection (LCM). This protocol involves preparing flash-frozen samples of human intestinal tissue, cryosectioning, ethanolic staining and dehydration, LCM, and RNA extraction.

The purpose of this method is to present a simple and efficient method for the perfusion, inflation, and fixation of mouse lungs for the examination of lung tumor pathology and evaluation of metastases to the lung.

This protocol describes use of a walking simulator that serves as a safe and ecologically valid method to study pedestrian behavior in the presence of moving traffic.

We describe a technique of endotracheal intubation in newborn rabbits after esophageal catheterization with a gastric tube.

The present protocol describes the optimization of experimental parameters when using transesophageal atrial pacing to assess atrial fibrillation susceptibility in mice.

This protocol describes a method for the synchronous acquisition and co-registration of intracellular signaling events and the secretion of insulin and glucagon by primary human pseudoislets using the adenoviral delivery of a cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) biosensor, a cAMP difference detector in situ (cADDis), and a microperifusion system.