Wrocław University of Technology

About: Wrocław University of Technology is a education organization based out in Wrocław, Poland. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Laser & Computer science. The organization has 13115 authors who have published 31279 publications receiving 338694 citations.

Multiphoton absorption in amyloid protein fibres

Abstract: Fibrillization of peptides leads to the formation of amyloid fibres, which, when in large aggregates, are responsible for diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. Here, we show that amyloids have strong nonlinear optical absorption, which is not present in native non-fibrillized protein. Z-scan and pump-probe experiments indicate that insulin and lysozyme β-amyloids, as well as α-synuclein fibres, exhibit either two-photon, three-photon or higher multiphoton absorption processes, depending on the wavelength of light. We propose that the enhanced multiphoton absorption is due to a cooperative mechanism involving through-space dipolar coupling between excited states of aromatic amino acids densely packed in the fibrous structures. This finding will provide the opportunity to develop nonlinear optical techniques to detect and study amyloid structures and also suggests that new protein-based materials with sizable multiphoton absorption could be designed for specific applications in nanotechnology, photonics and optoelectronics.

Simultaneous quantification of carbon monoxide and methane in humid air using a sensor array and an artificial neural network

Abstract: The simultaneous quantification of carbon monoxide and methane in humid air is presented. The response of a three-sensor array, including an undoped and a platinum doped tin dioxide sensor showing non-ideal selectivity and a humidity sensor is fed into an optimised feed forward back propagation artificial neural network in order to obtain the carbon monoxide and methane concentration as network output. The gaseous environments under study were ternary mixtures in the concentration ranges of 0–0.5% methane, 0–1000 ppm carbon monoxide and 0–60% relative humidity at 20°C. The network structure, network output with respect to a priori known test concentrations and the influence of the size of the training data set is discussed.

TERT—Regulation and Roles in Cancer Formation

Abstract: Telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) is a catalytic subunit of telomerase. Telomerase complex plays a key role in cancer formation by telomere dependent or independent mechanisms. Telomere maintenance mechanisms include complex TERT changes such as gene amplifications, TERT structural variants, TERT promoter germline and somatic mutations, TERT epigenetic changes, and alternative lengthening of telomere. All of them are cancer specific at tissue histotype and at single cell level. TERT expression is regulated in tumors via multiple genetic and epigenetic alterations which affect telomerase activity. Telomerase activity via TERT expression has an impact on telomere length and can be a useful marker in diagnosis and prognosis of various cancers and a new therapy approach. In this review we want to highlight the main roles of TERT in different mechanisms of cancer development and regulation.