With bacteria increasingly becoming resistant to common antibiotics, we are currently heading for a post-antibiotic world, where treatable common aliments are suddenly untreatable. This means that there is now considerable research effort in understanding how antibiotic resistance arises, and in creating a new generation antibiotics. The outer membrane is the first line of defence against...
Necroptosis is a form of programmed cell death characterized by lack of caspase activity and a loss of plasma membrane integrity. Morphologically similar to necrosis, during necroptosis, the plasma membrane is disrupted, causing release of cellular components to the extracellular fluid and an ensuing inflammatory response. Necroptosis proceeds via a regulated kinase cascade involving Receptor...
The interaction between membranes and small molecules is a key factor in determining survival of organisms or cells during dehydration and/or freezing. Cryoprotective molecules fall into two categories: those important in desiccation and freezing tolerance in nature (such as sugars), which cannot pass through membranes; and penetrating molecules, such as DMSO, which are used in laboratory...
Ionic liquids (ILs) are a novel class of solvents with ultra-low vapour pressure and tunable liquid properties. Among them, protic ionic liquids (PILs) are particularly effective solvents for self-assembly of surfactants and lipids into micelles, vesicles, liquid crystals and microemulsions.[1-4] This is exemplified by alkylammonium PILs, which are also cheap, easily-prepared and can be...
Natural Killer cells are immune effectors that clear viruses and malignancies through the gain of recognition of “altered self (stress)” molecules or through the loss of recognition of “healthy self” molecules on the target. The heterodimeric CD94-NKG2A receptor is an inhibitory receptor that monitors global MHC class I expression levels through binding to MHC class Ia-derived leader sequence...