Bioorthogonal red and far-red fluorogenic probes for wash-free live-cell and super-resolution microscopy

AbstractSmall-molecule fluorophores enable the observation of biomolecules in their native context with fluorescence microscopy. Specific labelling via bioorthogonal tetrazine chemistry confers minimal label size and rapid labelling kinetics. At the same time, fluorogenic tetrazine-dye conjugates exhibit efficient quenching of dyes prior to target binding. However, live-cell compatible long-wavelength fluorophores with strong fluorogenicity have been difficult to realize. Here, we report close proximity tetrazine-dye conjugates with minimal distance between tetrazine and fluorophore. Two synthetic routes give access to a series of cell permeable and impermeable dyes including highly fluorog…

Miura‐ori Metastructures: Miura‐ori Metastructure Enhanced Conductive Elastomers (Adv. Mater. Technol. 8/2020)

Calibration strategy of the JUNO experiment

We present the calibration strategy for the 20 kton liquid scintillator central detector of the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO). By utilizing a comprehensive multiple-source and multiple-positional calibration program, in combination with a novel dual calorimetry technique exploiting two independent photosensors and readout systems, we demonstrate that the JUNO central detector can achieve a better than 1% energy linearity and a 3% effective energy resolution, required by the neutrino mass ordering determination. [Figure not available: see fulltext.]

Multifunctionality of F-rich nucleoporins

Nucleoporins (Nups) represent a range of proteins most known for composing the macromolecular assembly of the nuclear pore complex (NPC). Among them, the family of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) phenylalanine-glycine (FG) rich Nups, form the permeability barrier and coordinate the high-speed nucleocytoplasmic transport in a selective way. Those FG-Nups have been demonstrated to participate in various biological processes besides nucleocytoplasmic transport. The high number of accessible hydrophobic motifs of FG-Nups potentially gives rise to this multifunctionality, enabling them to form unique microenvironments. In this review, we discuss the multifunctionality of disordered and …

The Design and Sensitivity of JUNO's scintillator radiopurity pre-detector OSIRIS

The European physical journal / C 81(11), 973 (2021). doi:10.1140/epjc/s10052-021-09544-4

Radioactivity control strategy for the JUNO detector

JUNO is a massive liquid scintillator detector with a primary scientific goal of determining the neutrino mass ordering by studying the oscillated anti-neutrino flux coming from two nuclear power plants at 53 km distance. The expected signal anti-neutrino interaction rate is only 60 counts per day, therefore a careful control of the background sources due to radioactivity is critical. In particular, natural radioactivity present in all materials and in the environment represents a serious issue that could impair the sensitivity of the experiment if appropriate countermeasures were not foreseen. In this paper we discuss the background reduction strategies undertaken by the JUNO collaboration…

There is plenty of room in protein-RNA condensates

Phase Separation Comes of Age: From Phenomenology to Single Molecules

Cellular RNAs often colocalize with cytoplasmic, membrane-less ribonucleoprotein (RNP) granules enriched for RNA processing enzymes, termed processing bodies (PBs). Here, we track the dynamic localization of individual miRNAs, mRNAs and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) to PBs using intracellular single-molecule fluorescence microscopy. We find that unused miRNAs stably bind to PBs, whereas functional miRNAs, repressed mRNAs and lncRNAs both transiently and stably localize within either the core or periphery of PBs, albeit to different extents. Consequently, translation potential and 3` versus 5` placement of miRNA target sites significantly impact PB-localization dynamics of mRNAs. Using comp…

Miura‐ori Metastructure Enhanced Conductive Elastomers

JUNO sensitivity to low energy atmospheric neutrino spectra

Atmospheric neutrinos are one of the most relevant natural neutrino sources that can be exploited to infer properties about cosmic rays and neutrino oscillations. The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) experiment, a 20 kton liquid scintillator detector with excellent energy resolution is currently under construction in China. JUNO will be able to detect several atmospheric neutrinos per day given the large volume. A study on the JUNO detection and reconstruction capabilities of atmospheric $\nu_e$ and $\nu_\mu$ fluxes is presented in this paper. In this study, a sample of atmospheric neutrino Monte Carlo events has been generated, starting from theoretical models, and then pro…

Bio-orthogonal Red and Far-Red Fluorogenic Probes for Wash-Free Live-Cell and Super-resolution Microscopy

Small-molecule fluorophores enable the observation of biomolecules in their native context with fluorescence microscopy. Specific labeling via bio-orthogonal tetrazine chemistry combines minimal label size with rapid labeling kinetics. At the same time, fluorogenic tetrazine–dye conjugates exhibit efficient quenching of dyes prior to target binding. However, live-cell compatible long-wavelength fluorophores with strong fluorogenicity have been difficult to realize. Here, we report close proximity tetrazine–dye conjugates with minimal distance between tetrazine and the fluorophore. Two synthetic routes give access to a series of cell-permeable and -impermeable dyes including highly fluorogen…