NASA Spacecraft Measuring the Origins of Space Weather

{NIST’s unique 'sliding spark source' (inside the glass tubing) feeds ultraviolet (UV) light into NASA’s Solar Ultraviolet Magnetograph Investigation instrument, designed to measure magnetic fields on the sun. Credit: Reader/NIST
View hi-resolution image}
Gaithersburg MD, USA -- With a brilliant, finely tuned spark of ultraviolet (UV) light, a physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) helped NASA scientists successfully position a crucial UV sensor inside a space-borne instrument to observe a “hidden” layer of the Sun where violent space weather can originate.

Dark spots on the Sun release particles and electromagnetic fields into space. As these particles and fields pass through the Sun’s “transition region,” 5,000 kilometers above the surface, they can gather considerable steam, resulting in violent episodes of “space weather” that can damage Earth-orbiting satellites and disrupt electronic communications.

The powerful magnetic fields in the transition region can be studied indirectly, by observing the UV light emanating from that region. The fields slightly shift the colors (wavelengths) of UV light released by charged atoms (ions) in their vicinity.

Measuring how much these wavelengths shift can yield information on the magnetic field’s strength.


Read full article: 'NIST’s Unique Sliding Spark Source Helps NASA'

Enable real-time monitoring of protein expression

Abingdon, UK -- AMSBIO has announced a new range of expression ready lentiviral particles that allow easy gene delivery into hard to transfect cells including primary cells, non-dividing cells and cells in suspension.

AMSBIO lentiviral particles are supplied ready-to-use eliminating the need for any lipids or transfection reagents.

The range of pre-made lentiviral particles are proven to deliver genes in a highly reproducible and controllable manner for the expression of greater than 250 human proteins, mouse proteins, enzymes and fluorescent markers.

Using proprietary protocols based upon co-expressed red fluorescent protein by a 2A peptide processing (SureTiter™) or RSV promoter (Inducible system) - AMSBIO lentiviral particles enable real-time monitoring of protein expression.

Applications that will benefit from lentiviral particles include gene delivery for expression or knock-down in hard-to-transfect cell types such as primary cells, stem cells, drug-arrested cells and cells in suspension.


Read full article: 'Ready-to-Use Gene Delivery Tools…'

{STORRM retro-reflector installed during space shuttle mission STS-131 in May 2010. Credit: NASA/JSC}

Boulder CO, USA -- It was a perfect STORRM. NASA and its industry partners successfully demonstrated a new sensor technology that will make it easier and safer for spacecraft to rendezvous and dock to the International Space Station.

On Tuesday, July 20, NASA and its industry partners Lockheed Martin Space Systems and Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., successfully demonstrated a new sensor technology that will make it easier and safer for spacecraft to rendezvous and dock to the International Space Station.

STS-134 crew members were briefed on the Sensor Test for Orion Relative Navigation Risk Mitigation (STORRM) Development Test Objective by the lead project engineers at the Ball Aerospace Facility in Boulder, Colorado.


Read full article: 'A Perfect STORRM!'

Infrared/visible comparison of the VISTA Tarantula Nebula image

{The left-hand panel shows the region around the Tarantula Nebula in visible light. Most of the light from the spectacular clouds comes from hydrogen gas glowing under the fierce ultraviolet glare from the central hot young stars. This visible light image was obtained with Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile..Credit:ESO/M.-R. Cioni/VISTA Magellanic Cloud Survey. Acknowledgment: Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit}

Paranal Observatory, Chile -- On the right VISTA’s new infrared view is shown. By observing in infrared light a subtly different view of the nebula is revealed. As the infrared wavelengths can pass through the obscuring clouds of interstellar dust more easily than visible light (on the left), the VISTA image reveals the stars at the centres of the nebulae more clearly

Astronomers scanning the skies as part of ESO’s VISTA Magellanic Cloud survey have now obtained a spectacular picture of the Tarantula Nebula in our neighbouring galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud.

This panoramic near-infrared view captures the nebula itself in great detail as well as the rich surrounding area of sky. The image was obtained at the start of a very ambitious survey of our neighbouring galaxies, the Magellanic Clouds, and their environment.

The leader of the survey team, Maria-Rosa Cioni (University of Hertfordshire, UK) explains: "This view is of one of the most important regions of star formation in the local Universe — the spectacular 30 Doradus star-forming region, also called the Tarantula Nebula. At its core is a large cluster of stars called RMC 136, in which some of the most massive stars known are located."


Read full article: 'Ambitious Survey Spots Stellar Nurseries'

Villebon sur Yvette, France & South San Franscisco CA, USA -- Utilizing Fluidigm Corporation's Dynamic Array™ and Digital Array™ integrated fluidic circuits (IFCs), Stanford University researchers to have discovered a much larger spectrum of differences between individual cells than has previously been demonstrated.

Among these differences are the communication capabilities that emerge from the interactions of genetic circuitry that mediates cell-to-cell communication.

The university also used Fluidigm support instrumentation for its cell culture chip as part of this groundbreaking analysis and modeling on how biological systems operate at the cellular level.

In a Stanford University School of Medicine press release, the institution researchers found that, "Cells don't all act in a uniform fashion, as was previously thought."


Read full article: 'Modelling The Genetic Circuitry Of Cell-To-Cell Communication...'

ASU researchers will work on projects aimed at boosting the power of high-performance lasers and infrared photodetectors.

Tempe AZ, USA -- A team of Arizona State University (ASU) researchers will get support from the U.S. Department of Defense to aid development of the next generations of lasers and infrared photodetectors. The technology is widely employed in sensing and imaging for an array of defense and commercial applications.

The work will be funded by an Army Research Office grant through the defense department’s Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) program, which supports science and engineering endeavors involving research and technology development considered vital to national interests.

ASU’s Yong-Hang Zhang, David J. Smith and Shane Johnson will combine expertise in electrical engineering, materials science and physics to contribute to a project in which they will collaborate with colleagues at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of North Carolina.

The entire project has been approved for a grant of $6.25 million over five years. ASU’s team has been awarded $2.34 million for its part of the effort.

Read full article: 'Looking to leap forward on laser & photodetector technologies'

Villebon sur Yvette, France & South San Francisco CA, USA -- Fluidigm Corporation has announced that the Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées Genomic Platform - Genotoul INRA core facility is now providing a wide range of services on a BioMark™ System for Genetic Analysis to a diverse range of French researchers.

These services include SNP genotyping, gene expression analysis and digital PCR quantification of DNA libraries for next-generation sequencing. The INRA has been validating the performance of the system on several projects over the past year.

"We have used the BioMark system for many different applications and have found the results to be very robust and comparable to those obtained using classical techniques. However, this platform allows us to provide researchers with a lot more high-quality data, in a fraction of the time, at a very affordable cost. In addition, we were the first facility to offer Fluidigm technology in France and are delighted that we are seeing the demand for this technology increasing nicely," said Denis Milan, group leader of the Department of Animal Genetics at INRA.


Read full article: 'Leading Agricultural Institute Reports On Robust Genetic Analysis Results...'

Tring, UK -- Specialised Imaging Ltd. has published a new white paper 'Ultra high-speed imaging: taking the hype out of hypervelocity' that describes how ultra-high speed framing cameras have evolved into simple plug-and-play systems that are enabling the previously challenging study of hypervelocity micro-particle impact events.

Traditionally, ultra high-speed framing cameras have been deployed in the science of very fast phenomena, such as high voltage discharge, crack propagation, detonics, and hypervelocity particle-impact studies.

These traditional sciences have now been joined by biomedical and botanical studies, nanotechnology, and space research, where the speed of image capture is not always the most important factor-and in some cases, speeds of 500,000 frames per second (fps) or less are acceptable
.

Read full article: 'Developments in Ultra High-Speed Imaging Camera Technology…'

AMSBIO releases 4 new homogeneous 384-well format AlphaScreen assay kits - JMJD2A, JMJD2B, JMJD2C, PRMT5 and G9a (a histone methyltransferase)

Abingdon, UK -- In the desire to make the search for new drugs more economically viable, pharmaceutical companies are seeking rapid, sensitive assays where all the reaction reagents are added in a single automated step.

Homogeneous assays are popular with researchers involved in high-throughput drug screening because they save time, save reagents, and are easy to automate.

Homogeneous assays allow a simple "mix and read" process, without requiring lengthy, time consuming wash steps to remove unbound constituents.

AlphaScreen kits are bead-based ALPHA** technology assays, using microparticles coated with either DNA or protein in a format suitable for use with automated reagent handling systems.


Read full article: 'Homogeneous Assay Kits Minimize Assay Complexity…'

CHICAGO IL, USA -- /PRNewswire/ -- ICAP Ocean Tomo has been engaged to sell a patent portfolio of near-infrared spectroscopy technology owned by NIResults Inc.

The portfolio includes over 90 issued US and foreign patents and patent applications. The assets have been cited by over 20 companies including Abbott Laboratories, Baxter International, Bayer Healthcare, Beckman Coulter Inc., Xerox, and Hewlett Packard.

The patents of this portfolio cover the use of near-infrared spectroscopy in clinical chemistry analysis systems, pulse oximeters and CO-oximeters, non-invasive glucose monitors, and hemoglobin monitors. The patents describe a method for the monitoring of key blood analytes without the need for costly, environmentally challenging, chemical reagents.


Read full article: 'ICAP Ocean Tomo Offers IP Portfolio of Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Technology'