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The Cluster-Chip provides highly efficient and gentle capture of circulating tumor cell clusters from milliliters of unprocessed whole blood, making it possible to study how these clusters contribute to metastasis.
A computational approach—including a cross-validation metric—for automated model building and refinement using X-ray fiber diffraction data is described and applied to solve structures of protein fibers.
Extraction conditions can have a substantial effect on protein complexes isolated from within cells. A platform for rapid, systematic screening of these conditions is described, which should enable the identification of biologically relevant complexes.
'Spaghetti monster' fluorescent proteins combine the power of conventional fluorescent proteins with the benefits of commonly used epitopes. These probes are demonstrated to be extremely versatile in diverse imaging applications.
The topography of axonal projections can be deciphered by retrograde labeling with multiple overlapping dye injections, as the dye composition in retrogradely transported vesicles is indicative of axonal projection sites.
Metabolically labeling proteins with glycans that enable attachment of an isotopically encoded tag allows for the identification of N- and O- glycopeptides and their glycan structures.
An improved method for preparing mouse brains for electron microscopy allows reliable tracing of neurites and identification of synapses and appears suitable for whole-brain connectomic reconstruction.
The biophotonic laser-assisted surgery tool (BLAST) enables the delivery of nearly any cargo type, including micrometer-sized live bacteria, into a wide variety of cell types with high efficiency, throughput and cell viability.
Using data from global run-on and sequencing (GRO-seq) or related methods, the dREG software identifies a new class of transcriptional regulatory elements with strong evidence for directing active transcription.
The combination of deep chromatin immunoprecipitation–sequencing with a statistical test that scores the correlation of peak height and allelic imbalance allows de novo discovery of histone acetylation quantitative trait loci without prior genotyping or genome sequencing.
This study extends the natural code by which transcription activation–like effector nucleases (TALENs) recognize DNA and uses the resulting expanded repertoire of repeat divariable residues (RVDs) to improve TALEN performance.
HISAT (hierarchical indexing for spliced alignment of transcripts) uses global and local indices for fast, sensitive alignment with small memory requirements.
ImmunoPET/CT imaging using a labeled SIV-specific antibody can identify sites of viralinfection in SIV-infected macaques without the need for tissue biopsies, even if viral load in the blood is below the detection limit.
New detector technology has improved the resolution of cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), but tools for structure determination from high-resolution maps have lagged behind. DiMaio et al. report structure determination from high-resolution cryo-EM maps using a homologous structure as a starting model. Also in this issue, Wang et al. describe a de novo approach for structure determination that does not require a starting model.
An approach to fuse images from imaging mass spectrometry and microscopy provides biological insights into molecular tissue distributions beyond what can be obtained from either modality individually.
Improved error assessment and read alignment on the MinION nanopore sequencing platform allow for calling of single-nucleotide variants and resolving the repeat structure of an assembly gap in the human X chromosome.