What does recognition mean for people whose sexuality has for a long time been criminalised? Over the last years, the recognition of India’s queers has been the focus of numerous contestations as a result of the complex developments around Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which criminalises ‘carnal acts against the order of nature’. The Section had been partially repealed in 2009 by the Delhi

The purpose of this work is the investigation of some constitutive and configurational aspects of phenomenological model formulations for a class of materials with history-dependent gradient microstructure. The assumption that the behavior of a material point is affected by history-dependent processes in a finite neighbor of this point yields an extended continuum characterized by non-simple mater

With a high share of motor vehicles yielding to crossing cyclists, cyclists’ waiting time decreases and their level of service increases. The main aim of this paper is to study how this propensity to yield is connected to the traffic safety situation for cyclists at cycle crossings in a Swedish context. In a previous study, motor vehicle drivers’ yielding behaviour was studied at 65 cycle crossing

Proteomic experiments can be difficult to handle because of the large amount of data in different formats that is generated. Samples need to be managed and generated, data needs to be integrated with samples and annotation information. A laboratory information management system (LIMS) can be used to overcome some of the data handling problems. In this chapter, we discuss the role of a LIMS in the

We constructed a single-chain Fv antibody library that permits human complementarity-determining region (CDR) gene fragments of any germline to be incorporated combinatorially into the appropriate positions of the variable-region frameworks VH-DP47 and VL-DPL3. A library of 2 x 109 independent transformants was screened against haptens, peptides, carbohydrates, and proteins, and the selected antib

Glycoprotein B (gB, gpUL55) is the major antigen for the induction of neutralizing antibodies against human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), making it an attractive molecule for active and passive immunoprophylaxis. The region between aa 552 and 635 of HCMV gB (termed AD-1) has been identified as the immunodominant target for the humoral immune response following natural infection. AD-1 represents a comple

A novel technology in the area of antibody engineering has been developed which allows for the creation of new types of antibody molecules. It is called complementarity-determining region (CDR) implantation and permits the random combination of CDR sequences formed in vivo into a single master framework. Thus, totally new gene combinations can be produced and used in selection processes. The resul

Experiments were carried out to analyze the function of cysteine residues at amino acid positions 506 (cI), 550 (cII), 573 (cIII), and 610 (cIV), in dimerization and/or disulfide linkage of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) glycoprotein B (gB). Single c-codons or pairs were substituted in the gB sequence of constructs which were used for transfection and selection of stable transfectants. Analysis of g

Working with phage display, there are a number of ways for characterizing the phage and the molecules that they display. BIAcore(TM) biosensor and Origen Analyzer provide novel detection systems permitting sensitive and flexible analyses. Such analytical approaches are of critical importance to allow early selection of appropriate clones for further evaluation. In this review we describe the appli

IgM antibodies are often of low affinity (dissociation constant (K(d)) > 10-5 M) and therefore they are usually neglected as tools in, e.g., immunoassays. Previous studies have shown that low affinity biological interactions can be studied and exploited in affinity chromatography, biosensor technology and capillary electrophoresis. In this study we have demonstrated that IgM can be a useful ligand

Background: The wide range of antibody specificity and affinity results from the differing shapes and chemical compositions of their binding sites. These shapes range from discrete grooves in antibodies elicited by linear oligomers of nucleotides and carbohydrates to shallow depressions or flat surfaces for accommodation of proteins: peptides and large organic compounds. Objectives: To determine t

A novel approach in molecular design is presented, where in vivo formed complementarity determining regions (CDR) from antibody genes were shuffled into a specific framework region. A synthetic gene library of soluble VH-fragments was created and the complexity of the library was determined by sequencing. The synthetic genes were diverse and contained random combinations of CDR from different germ

Antibody diversity, a molecular feature which allows these proteins to specifically interact with a diverse set of targets, is created at the genetic level by a variety of means. These include germline gene segment recombination, junctional diversity and single basepair (bp) substitution. We here demonstrate that a human high affinity antibody specific for an exogenous protein antigen carry three

Background. Neisseria meningitidis (Nm) is a Gram negative diplococcus causing bacterial meningitis and fulminant septicemia. In order to allow efficient characterization of infecting strains, antibody reagents for use as analytical tools have proven to be invaluable tools. Similarly, antibodies against relevant bacterial antigens may guide in the selection of components to be included in developi

The major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC-I) has recently been shown not only to present antigens to the immune system but also to mediate transmembrane signaling, resulting in activation, inactivation, or apoptosis. Such signaling has been observed in both normal and malignant cells of the B and T cell lineage. Cross-linking of MHC-I on the pre-B- acute-lymphocytic cell line KM-3 induces

An electrochemiluminescence technique was used to develop versatile and sensitive assay strategies for determination of seroreactivities against biologically important cytomegalovirus neutralization epitopes expressed on glycoprotein B. Indirect binding assays showed wide linear assay ranges and revealed that serum samples diluted in parallel with a monoclonal antibody-based standard, simplifying

A novel mammalian eukaryotic expression vector for the production of immunoglobulin heavy chain (IgH) genes has been designed. This expression vector contains the variable heavy chain (VH) promoter, the IgH intron enhancer (μE) and the IgH 3' enhancer (3'E). This construct, designated pTIF-1, was stably transfected into the myeloma cell line J558L. A fivefold increase in the expression level of a