Aug
12
Mon
2013
Invited Talk: Discovery, engineering and applications of Blue Fish Protein with Red Flourescence @ Sathyam Hall
Aug 12 @ 10:00 am – 10:15 am

RamaswamyS. Ramaswamy, Ph.D.
CEO of c-CAMP, Dean, inStem, NCBS, Bangalore, India


Discovery, engineering and applications of Blue Fish Protein with Red Fluorescence

Swagatha Ghosh, Chi-Li Yu, Daniel Ferraro,  Sai Sudha, Wayne Schaefer, David T Gibson and S. Ramaswamy

Fluorescent proteins and their applications have revolutionized our understanding of biology significantly.  In spite of several years since the discovery of the classic GFP, proteins of this class are used as the standard flag bearers.  We have recently discovered a protein from the fish Sanders vitrius that shows interesting fluorescent properties – including a 280 nm stoke shift and infrared emission.  The crystal structure of the wild type protein shows that it is a tetramer.  We have engineered mutations to make a monomer with very similar fluorescent properties. We have used this protein for tissue imaging as well as for in cell-fluorescence successfully

Ramaswamy (1) Ramaswamy (2) Ramaswamy (3) Ramaswamy (4)

Delegate Talk: BrainSurfer- A Novel Neurofeedback Tool for ADHD Training @ Amriteshwari Hall
Aug 12 @ 3:25 pm – 3:35 pm
Delegate Talk: BrainSurfer- A Novel Neurofeedback Tool for ADHD Training @ Amriteshwari Hall | Vallikavu | Kerala | India

David Ibanez, Laura Dubreuil and Alejandro Rier


Neurofeedback (NF) is a type of biofeedback that uses real time display of electroencephalography to illustrate brain activity. EEG features are extracted and displayed allowing the user to, with practice, modulate their temporal evolution. Neurofeedback training has many therapeutic applications such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), migraine, depression or conduct disorders. This document presents NeuroSurfer, a novel general-purpose tool for neurofeedback training with a use case of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) treatment.

Aug
13
Tue
2013
Delegate Talk: Inflammation Induced Epigenetic Changes in Endothelial Cells: Role in Vascular Insulin Resistance @ Acharya Hall
Aug 13 @ 6:39 pm – 6:49 pm
Delegate Talk: Inflammation Induced Epigenetic Changes in Endothelial Cells: Role in Vascular Insulin Resistance @ Acharya Hall | Vallikavu | Kerala | India

Aswath Balakrishnan, Kapaettu Satyamoorthy and Manjunath B Joshi


Introduction
Insulin resistance is a hall mark of metabolic disorders such as diabetes. Reduced insulin response in vasculature leads to disruption of IR/Akt/eNOS signaling pathway resulting in vasoconstriction and subsequently to cardiovascular diseases. Recent studies have demonstrated that inflammatory regulator interleukin-6 (IL-6), as one of the potential mediators that can link chronic inflammation with insulin resistance. Accumulating evidences suggest a significant role of epigenetic mechanisms such as DNA methylation in progression of metabolic disorders. Hence the present study aimed to understand the role of epigenetic mechanisms involved during IL-6 induced vascular insulin resistance and its consequences in cardiovascular diseases.

Materials and Methods
Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) and Human dermal microvascular endothelial cells (HDMEC) were used for this study. Endothelial cells were treated in presence or absence of IL-6 (20ng/ml) for 36 hours and followed by insulin (100nM) stimulation for 15 minutes. Using immunoblotting, cell lysates were stained for phosphor- and total Akt levels to measure insulin resistance. To investigate changes in DNA methylation, cells were treated with or without neutrophil conditioned medium (NCM) as a physiological source of inflammation or IL-6 (at various concentrations) for 36 hours. Genomic DNA was processed for HPLC analysis for methyl cytosine content and cell lysates were analyzed for DNMT1 (DNA (cytosine-5)-methyltransferase 1) and DNMT3A (DNA (cytosine-5)-methyltransferase 3A) levels using immunoblotting.

Results
Endothelial cells stimulated with insulin exhibited an increase in phosphorylation of Aktser 473 in serum free conditions but such insulin response was not observed in cells treated with IL-6, suggesting chronic exposure of endothelial cells to IL-6 leads to insulin resistance. HPLC analysis for global DNA methylation resulted in decreased levels of 5-methyl cytosine in cells treated with pro-inflammatory molecules (both by NCM and IL-6) as compared to untreated controls. Subsequently, analysis in cells treated with IL-6 showed a significant decrease in DNMT1 levels but not in DNMT3A. Other pro-inflammatory marker such as TNF-α did not exhibit such changes.

Conclusion
Our study suggests: a) Chronic treatment of endothelial cells with IL-6 results in insulin resistance b) Neutrophil conditioned medium and IL-6 decreases methyl cytosine levels c) DNMT1 but not DNMT3a levels are reduced in cells treated with IL-6.