0000000000149673
AUTHOR
Martin Schreiber
The transcription factor ZEB1 (deltaEF1) promotes tumour cell dedifferentiation by repressing master regulators of epithelial polarity.
Epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) is implicated in the progression of primary tumours towards metastasis and is likely caused by a pathological activation of transcription factors regulating EMT in embryonic development. To analyse EMT-causing pathways in tumouri-genesis, we identified transcriptional targets of the E-cadherin repressor ZEB1 in invasive human cancer cells. We show that ZEB1 repressed multiple key determinants of epithelial differentiation and cell–cell adhesion, including the cell polarity genes Crumbs3, HUGL2 and Pals1-associated tight junction protein. ZEB1 associated with their endogenous promoters in vivo, and strongly repressed promotor activities in reporter …
Photothermal excitation setup for a modified commercial atomic force microscope
High-resolution imaging in liquids using frequency modulation atomic force microscopy is known to suffer from additional peaks in the resonance spectrum that are unrelated to the cantilever resonance. These unwanted peaks are caused by acoustic modes of the liquid and the setup arising from the indirect oscillation excitation by a piezoelectric transducer. Photothermal excitation has been identified as a suitable method for exciting the cantilever in a direct manner. Here, we present a simple design for implementing photothermal excitation in a modified Multimode scan head from Bruker. Our approach is based on adding a few components only to keep the modifications as simple as possible and …
Frequency-modulated atomic force microscopy operation by imaging at the frequency shift minimum: the dip-df mode.
In frequency modulated non-contact atomic force microscopy, the change of the cantilever frequency (Delta f) is used as the input signal for the topography feedback loop. Around the Delta f(z) minimum, however, stable feedback operation is challenging using a standard proportional-integral-derivative (PID) feedback design due to the change of sign in the slope. When operated under liquid conditions, it is furthermore difficult to address the attractive interaction regime due to its often moderate peakedness. Additionally, the Delta f signal level changes severely with time in this environment due to drift of the cantilever frequency f(0) and, thus, requires constant adjustment. Here, we pre…
PAA-PAMPS Copolymers as an Efficient Tool to Control CaCO3 Scale Formation
Scale formation, the deposition of certain minerals such as CaCO3, MgCO3, and CaSO4 center dot 2H(2)O in industrial facilities and household devices, leads to reduced efficiency or severe damage. Therefore, incrustation is a major problem in everyday life. In recent years, double hydrophilic block copolymers (DHBCs) have been the focus of interest in academia with regard to their antiscaling potential. In this work, we synthesized well-defined blocklike PAA-PAMPS copolymers consisting of acrylic acid (AA) and 2-acrylamido-2-methyl-propane sulfonate (AMPS) units in a one-step reaction by RAFT polymerization. The derived copolymers had dispersities of 1.3 and below. The copolymers have then b…
How deprotonation changes molecular self-assembly – an AFM study in liquid environment
We study the influence of Alizarin Red S deprotonation on molecular self-assembly at the solid-liquid interface of the natural cleavage plane of calcite immersed in aqueous solution. To elucidate the adsorption details, we perform pH dependent high-resolution atomic force microscopy measurements. When Alizarin Red S is deposited onto calcite(10.4) in a liquid environment at an acidic pH of 5, weakly bound, ordered islands with a (3 x 3) superstructure are observed. A sharp structural transition is revealed when increasing the pH above 8. Above this pH, stable needle-like structures oriented along the [01.0] direction form on the surface. Comparing these results with potentiometric titration…