Latest Posters

This study aims to identify protein profiles in breast cancer cells as predictors of chemoresistance by using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and MALDI-TOF peptide mass fingerprinting. Our findings provide further insights into the complex mechanisms of chemoresistance, as well as representing an attractive starting point for the identification of potential protein biomarkers to predict response to chemotherapy in breast cancer in vivo.

Marker substrates for certain CYPs have changed for several reasons, including the need for improved selectivity and sensitivity, reliable substrates for LC/MS/MS analysis, and substrates that provide greater repeatability. The objectives of this study were to compare sample-to-sample variation in cytochrome P450 enzymatic rates between two or more CYP-specific substrates and to determine Michaelis-Menten kinetic constants for these same reactions using a pool of human liver microsomes.

We demonstrate that DNA methylation patterns can serve as characteristic markers to distinguish different cell types. We have identified panels of methylation markers that are specific to mesenchymal stem cells or various differentiated cell types in the mesenchymal lineage. This method of cell type identification has a number of advantages over conventional markers in that it is robust, is both qualitative and quantitative.

The reported incidence of Type II Diabetes Mellitus (TIIDM) in Oji-Cree Natives is the highest in the world. This poster presents the impact of the PCK1 gene on TIIDM incidence in Oji-Cree Natives with particular attention to the role of SNP 232C→G on the transcription rate of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinease (PPCK1).

Recently, TaqMan® assays have been developed for detection of genetic variation at gene level using primers and probes designed for genomic DNA sequences. The R package TaqGCN contains classes and methods that can be used for data reading and plotting, and for predicting gene copy number.

The EasyBeacons™ presented here are based on the novel technology Intercalating Nucleic Acid, INA®, linked to a fluorophore and a quencher. INA® is composed of normal DNA nucleotides and Intercalating Pseudo Nucleotides (IPNs). The fact that the EasyBeacons™ are mostly composed of normal DNA nucleotides means that in many respects EasyBeacons™ behave like DNA based probes, allowing use of standard buffers, primers and enzymes and hence reduces the optimisation efforts.

Correct interpretation of real-time PCR data requires appropriate experimental design, accurate data pre-processing and analysis of the data using proper statistical and multivariate methods. For this process we have developed the GenEx software.

The phenomenon of acquired high quality MS/MS spectra that can not be explained within typical sequence database searches is well known. Although protein identification was successful it is manually very laborious and in most cases even impossible to match these spectra with any suggested protein sequence. The procedure of second pass searches has been developed to overcome this problem. Here we report from our in house developed tool PTM-Explorer.

MicroRNAs are endogenous, 21–22 nt, noncoding RNAs that mediate post transcriptional gene regulation. miRNAs are involved in regulation of gene expression during development, differentiation, cell proliferation, and apoptosis. Misregulation of miRNA expression is associated with several cancers and other diseases. We have developed the miScript System for real-time PCR analysis of hundreds of miRNAs, sno RNAs, piRNAs, other small noncoding RNAs.

Sensitive and specific method real-time PCR was developed for diagnostics of certain plant viruses. Real-time PCR can be used for determination of different viruses as well as for differentiation between related strains of viruses. The method can also be used for detection of low concentrations of plant viruses in various samples such as environmental waters, growth substrates and seeds.