This work demonstrates that a full laboratory-quality immunoassay can be run on a smartphone accessory. This low-cost dongle replicates all mechanical, optical, and electronic functions of a laboratory-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) without requiring any stored energy; all necessary power is drawn from a smartphone. Rwandan health care workers used the dongle to test whole blood obtained via fingerprick from 96 patients enrolling into care at prevention of mother-to-child transmission clinics or voluntary counseling and testing centers. The dongle performed a triplexed immunoassay not currently available in a single test format: HIV antibody, treponemal-specific antibody for syphilis, and nontreponemal antibody for active syphilis infection. In a blinded experiment, health care workers obtained diagnostic results in 15 min from our triplex test that rivaled the gold standard of laboratory-based HIV ELISA and rapid plasma reagin (a screening test for syphilis), with sensitivity of 92 to 100% and specificity of 79 to 100%, consistent with needs of current clinical algorithms. Patient preference for the dongle was 97% compared to laboratory-based tests, with most pointing to the convenience of obtaining quick results with a single fingerprick. This work suggests that coupling microfluidics with recent advances in consumer electronics can make certain laboratory-based diagnostics accessible to almost any population with access to smartphones.

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Most secretory proteins travel through a well-documented conventional secretion pathway involving the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and the Golgi complex. However, recently, it has been shown that a significant number of proteins reach the plasma membrane or extracellular space via unconventional routes. Unconventional protein secretion (UPS) can be divided into two types: (i) the extracellular secretion of cytosolic proteins that do not bear a signal peptide (i.e. leaderless proteins) and (ii) the cell-surface trafficking of signal-peptide-containing transmembrane proteins via a route that bypasses the Golgi. Understanding the UPS pathways is not only important for elucidating the mechanisms of intracellular trafficking pathways but also has important ramifications for human health, because many of the proteins that are unconventionally secreted by mammalian cells and microorganisms are associated with human diseases, ranging from common inflammatory diseases to the lethal genetic disease of cystic fibrosis. Therefore, it is timely and appropriate to summarize and analyze the mechanisms of UPS involvement in disease pathogenesis, as they may be of use for the development of new therapeutic approaches. In this Review, we discuss the intracellular trafficking pathways of UPS cargos, particularly those related to human diseases. We also outline the disease mechanisms and the therapeutic potentials of new strategies for treating UPS-associated diseases.

We demonstrate a simple strategy to enhance the CO reduction reaction (CO RR) selectivity by applying a pulsed electrochemical potential to a polycrystalline copper electrode. By controlling the pulse duration, we show that the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is highly suppressed to a fraction of the original value (<5 % faradaic efficiency) and selectivity for the CO RR dramatically improves (>75 % CH and >50 % CO faradaic efficiency). We attribute the improved CO RR selectivity to a dynamically rearranging surface coverage of hydrogen and intermediate species during the pulsing. Our finding provides new insights into the interplay of transport and reaction processes as well as timescales of competing pathways to enable new opportunities to tune CO RR selectivity by adjusting the pulse profile. Additionally, the pulsed potential method we describe can be easily applied to other catalysts materials to improve their CO RR selectivity.

Pulsing the potential during the electrochemical CO2 reduction (CO2R) reaction using copper has been shown to influence product selectivity (i.e., to suppress the undesired hydrogen evolution reaction (HER)) and to improve electrocatalyst stability compared to the constant applied potential. However, the underlying mechanism and contribution of interfacial/surface phenomena behind the pulsed potential application remain largely unknown. We investigated the state of the copper surface during the pulsed potential electrochemical CO2R using in situ X-ray adsorption near-edge spectroscopy (XANES). We probed the surface valence of the metallic electrode and found that the Cu electrode remains metallic over a broad pulsed potential range and only oxidizes to form Cu­(OH)2 in the bulk when the pulsed potential reaches the highly oxidative limit (greater than 0.6 V vs reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE)). Our results suggest that the pulsed anodic potential influences the interfacial species on the electrode surface, i.e., the dynamic competition between protons and hydroxide adsorbates instead of bulk copper oxidation. We attribute the suppressed HER to the electroadsorption of hydroxides, which outcompetes protons for surface sites. As shown in a recent in situ infrared study [IijimaG. Iijima, G. ACS Catalysis201996305, adsorbed hydroxides promote CO adsorption, a crucial CO2 reduction intermediate, by preventing CO from becoming inert through a near-neighbor effect. We corroborate this interpretation by demonstrating that the pulsed potential application can suppress the HER during the CO reduction just as the CO2R. Our results suggest that the pulsed potential mechanism favors CO2R over the HER due to two effects: (1) proton desorption/displacement during the anodic potential and (2) the accumulation of OHads creating a higher pH–surface environment, promoting CO adsorption. We can describe this pulsed potential dynamic interfacial mechanism in a competing quaternary Langmuir isotherm model. The insights from this investigation have wide-ranging implications for applying pulsed potential profiles to improve other electrochemical reactions.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) such as exosomes and microvesicles released from cells are potential biomarkers for blood-based diagnostic applications. To exploit EVs as diagnostic biomarkers, an effective pre-analytical process is necessary. However, recent studies performed with blood-borne EVs have been hindered by the lack of effective purification strategies. In this study, an efficient EV isolation method was developed by using polyethylene glycol/dextran aqueous two phase system (ATPS). This method provides high EV recovery efficiency (~70%) in a short time (~15 min). Consequently, it can significantly increase the diagnostic applicability of EVs.

Class switch recombination (CSR), similar to V(D)J recombination, is thought to involve DNA double strand breaks and repair by the nonhomologous end–joining pathway. A key component of this pathway is DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK), consisting of a catalytic subunit (DNA-PKcs) and a DNA-binding heterodimer (Ku70/80). To test whether DNA-PKcs activity is essential for CSR, we examined whether IgM+ B cells from scid mice with site-directed H and L chain transgenes were able to undergo CSR. Although B cells from these mice were shown to lack DNA-PKcs activity, they were able to switch from IgM to IgG or IgA with close to the same efficiency as B cells from control transgenic and nontransgenic scid/+ mice, heterozygous for the scid mutation. We conclude that CSR, unlike V(D)J recombination, can readily occur in the absence of DNA-PKcs activity. We suggest nonhomologous end joining may not be the (primary or only) mechanism used to repair DNA breaks during CSR.

Sp1, a transcription factor that regulates expression of a wide array of essential genes, contains two SQ/TQ cluster domains, which are characteristic of ATM kinase substrates. ATM substrates are transducers and effectors of the DNA damage response, which involves sensing damage, checkpoint activation, DNA repair, and/or apoptosis. A role for Sp1 in the DNA damage response is supported by our findings: Activation of ATM induces Sp1 phosphorylation with kinetics similar to H2AX; inhibition of ATM activity blocks Sp1 phosphorylation; depletion of Sp1 sensitizes cells to DNA damage and increases the frequency of double strand breaks. We have identified serine 101 as a critical site phosphorylated by ATM; Sp1 with serine 101 mutated to alanine (S101A) is not significantly phosphorylated in response to damage and cannot restore increased sensitivity to DNA damage of cells depleted of Sp1. Together, these data show that Sp1 is a novel ATM substrate that plays a role in the cellular response to DNA damage. (Mol Cancer Res 2007;5(12):1319 -30)