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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2014

SU-E-J-31: Biodynamic Imaging of Cancer Tissue and Response to Chemotherapy

Purpose: To measure intracellular motions inside three-dimensional living cancer tissue samples to establish a novel set of biodynamic biomarkers that assess tissue proliferative activity and sensitivity or resistance to chemotherapy. Methods: Biodynamic imaging (BDI) uses digital holography with low-coherence low-intensity light illumination to construct 3D holograms from depths up to a millimeter deep inside cancer tissue models that include multicellular tumor spheroids and ex vivo cancer biopsies from canine non-Hodgkins lymphoma and epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) mouse explants. Intracellular motions modulate the holographic intensity with frequencies related to the Doppler effect caused by the motions of a wide variety of intracellular components. These motions are affected by applied therapeutic agents, and BDI produces unique fingerprints of the action of specific drugs on the motions in specific cell types. In this study, chemotherapeutic agents (doxorubicin for canine lymphoma and oxoplatin for ovarian) are applied to the living tissue models and monitored over 10 hours by BDI. Results: Multicellular spheroids and patient biopsies are categorized as either sensitive or insensitive to applied therapeutics depending on the intracellular Doppler signatures of chemotherapy response. For both lymphoma and EOC there is strong specificity to the two types of sensitivities, with sensitive cell lines and biopsies exhibiting a global cessation of proliferation and strong suppression of metabolic activity, while insensitive cell lines and biopsies show moderate activation of Doppler frequencies associated with membrane processes and possible membrane trafficking. Conclusion: This work supports the hypothesis that biodynamic biomarkers from three-dimensional living tumor tissue, that includes tissue heterogeneity and measured within 24 hours of surgery, is predictive of near-term patient response to therapy. Future work will correlate biodynamic biomarkers with progression free survival times. This work is supported by NIH 1R01EB016582 and NSF 1263753-CBET. Nolte, Turek and An have a financial interest in Animated Dynamics, Inc. that will be licensing technology from Purdue University.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2019

Scaling mercury biodynamics from individuals to populations: Implications of an herbivorous fish on mercury cycles in streams

Mercury (Hg) is a widespread environmental pollutant anthropogenically released into aquatic ecosystems where it is tightly retained and cycled through a combination of abiotic and biotic processes. The organic form of Hg, Methylmercury (MeHg), binds to organic carbon chains and efficiently bioaccumulates through aquatic food webs to toxic levels in consumers. For these reasons, understanding the transport and fate of mercury, including the role of organisms in these cycles, is important. The premise of the Somatic Growth Dilution (SGD) concept is that bioaccumulation of contaminants will become more dilute within an organism as it displays higher growth efficiency. While multiple studies have substantiated the effects of SGD on reduced MeHg concentrations at the individual level, the implications of SGD to populations and overall food web dynamics is uncertain. Herein, we examined the influence of SGD on total MeHg standing stock and flux in stoneroller ( Campostoma oligolepis ) populations at five sites in East Fork Poplar Creek (EFPC), a stream contaminated by Hg on the Oak Ridge Reservation. We assessed patterns in periphyton and stoneroller MeHg concentrations in relation to relative growth and population density to determine evidence of SGD and density-dependent growth, respectively. We then calibrated a biodynamic model relating MeHg concentration in stonerollers to growth rate, assimilation efficiency, uptake, and elimination of MeHg. Using over 30 years of population data, individual biodynamic models were scaled to the population level to analyze the effects of population density and growth on MeHg standing stock (ug m -2 ) in stoneroller populations and flux (ug m -2 d -1 ) from periphyton communities to stonerollers. We found evidence of both density-dependent and “boom-and-bust” growth patterns for stonerollers in EFPC. In congruence with the SGD concept, sites with higher average relative growth had lower MeHg concentrations. However, total MeHg standing stock and flux was strongly related to population density, irrespective of changing growth patterns. Additionally, higher relative growth was positively related to a higher total MeHg flux. However, the implications of growth on the transfer of MeHg in food webs is complicated and dependent upon population size, age structure, and growth-at-age. Our results also suggest that stonerollers may play significant roles in contaminant cycles in EFPC by mobilizing considerable quantities of Hg, storing significant reservoirs of hg and MeHg, and transferring MeHg to higher trophic levels.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2015

Sequence-based analysis of the Vitis vinifera L. cv Cabernet Sauvignon grape must mycobiome in three South African vineyards employing distinct agronomic systems

Recent microbiomic research of agricultural habitats has highlighted tremendous microbial biodiversity associated with such ecosystems. In addition, data generated in vineyards have furthermore highlighted significant regional differences in vineyard biodiversity, hinting at the possibility that such differences might be responsible for regional differences in wine style and character, a hypothesis referred to as "microbial terroir." The current study further contributes to this body of work by comparing the mycobiome associated with South African (SA) Cabernet Sauvignon grapes in three neighboring vineyards that employ different agronomic approaches, and comparing the outcome with similar data sets from Californian vineyards. The aim of this study was to fully characterize the mycobiomes associated with the grapes from these vineyards. The data revealed approximately 10 times more fungal diversity than what is typically retrieved from culture-based studies. The Biodynamic vineyard was found to harbor a more diverse fungal community (H = 2.6) than the conventional (H = 2.1) and integrated (H = 1.8) vineyards. The data show that ascomycota are the most abundant phylum in the three vineyards, with Aureobasidium pullulans and its close relative Kabatiella microsticta being the most dominant fungi. This is the first report to reveal a high incidence of K. microsticta in the grape/wine ecosystem. Different common wine yeast species, such as Metschnikowia pulcherrima and Starmerella bacillaris dominated the mycobiome in the three vineyards. The data show that the filamentous fungi are the most abundant community in grape must although they are not regarded as relevant during wine fermentation. Comparison of metagenomic datasets from the three SA vineyards and previously published data from Californian vineyards revealed only 25% of the fungi in the SA dataset was also present in the Californian dataset, with greater variation evident amongst ubiquitous epiphytic fungi.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗