Genome-in-a-box: Building a Chromosome from the Bottom Up

Machine learning in microseismic monitoring

The confluence of our ability to handle big data, significant increases in instrumentation density and quality, and rapid advances in machine learning (ML) algorithms have placed Earth Sciences at the threshold of dramatic progress. ML techniques have been attracting increased attention within the seismic community, and, in particular, in...

The Impact of Demand Reduction on CO2 Emissions and Congestion

One of the options to reduce CO2 emissions as a result of transport, is to decrease the number of vehicle kilometres driven. Carpooling and teleworking are possibilities to obtain that goal. The paper will analyse their potential contribution.

Extracting and characterizing protein-free megabase-pair DNA for in vitro experiments

Chromosome structure and function is studied using various cell-based methods as well as with a range of in vitro single-molecule techniques on short DNA substrates. Here, we present a method to obtain megabase-pair-length deproteinated DNA for in vitro studies. We isolated chromosomes from bacterial cells and enzymatically digested the...

Genome-in-a-Box: Building a Chromosome from the Bottom up

Chromosome structure and dynamics are essential for life, as the way that our genomes are spatially organized within cells is crucial for gene expression, differentiation, and genome transfer to daughter cells. There is a wide variety of methods available to study chromosomes, ranging from live-cell studies to single-molecule biophysics,...

‘Cleanroom’ in SEM

To allow researchers to fabricate micro- and nano-devices on a small scale, without having to use complex cleanroom facilities, a single tool is proposed in which a variety of typical cleanroom techniques and processes is combined. This ‘cleanroom’ in SEM tool, based on a scanning electron microscope (SEM), integrates several add-on tools,...

Shape and Size Control of Artificial Cells for Bottom-Up Biology

Bottom-up biology is an expanding research field that aims to understand the mechanisms underlying biological processes via in vitro assembly of their essential components in synthetic cells. As encapsulation and controlled manipulation of these elements is a crucial step in the recreation of such cell-like objects, microfluidics is...

Stedelijk verkeersmanagement: wat weten we van effecten?

De steden in Nederland groeien, zowel qua aantallen inwoners als wat betreft economische activiteiten. Dat levert veel mobiliteit op en de daarmee gepaard gaande problemen op het gebied van bereikbaarheid, leefbaarheid en verkeersveiligheid. Om deze stedelijke problemen aan te pakken worden allerlei verkeersmanagementmaatregelen genomen. Maar...

Detection of CRISPR-dCas9 on DNA with Solid-State Nanopores

Solid-state nanopores have emerged as promising platforms for biosensing including diagnostics for disease detection. Here we show nanopore experiments that detect CRISPR-dCas9, a sequence-specific RNA-guided protein system that specifically binds to a target DNA sequence. While CRISPR-Cas9 is acclaimed for its gene editing potential, the...

On-chip density-based purification of liposomes

Due to their cell membrane-mimicking properties, liposomes have served as a versatile research tool in science, from membrane biophysics and drug delivery systems to bottom-up synthetic cells. We recently reported a novel microfluidic method, Octanol-assisted Liposome Assembly (OLA), to form cell-sized, monodisperse, unilamellar liposomes...