Fun Holiday Correlation: FLICA-Staining and Brining a Turkey

Greetings to you in this festive holiday week!  As I imagine to be true for labs and offices around the country, holiday traditions have been a lively point of conversation among ICT scientists, colleagues, and customers this month.  In particular, the great tradition of preparing a holiday feast - with a turkey - has garnered a lot of attention:

• The logistics of arranging dinner for 25 humans and 6+ four-legged friends.
• "Yams" vs. "sweet potatoes."
• To bag or not to bag.
• How not to use a turkey fryer. [Have you seen William Shatner's video?] 
• And brining a turkey - "... wait, isn't brining for pickles?"

That last topic led me to a fun realization...

Measuring Caspase-1 Activity

Caspase-1 (ICE)

• Originally identified as Interleukin -1β Converting Enzyme or ICE
• Cleaves IL-1 beta and IL-18 into active forms
• Creation of the inflammasome during host responses to pathogens leads to the activation of caspase-1
• Active caspase-1 plays an antimicrobial role during infection, leading to pyroptosis
• Inflammation-related disease models have illustrated a role for caspase-1 in asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and other disorders

Activated THP-1 cells show caspase-1 (ICE) activity with the green fluorescent FAM-FLICA Caspase-1 Detection Assay

Nature Lab Offers 2011

Each fall, the Nature Publishing Group assembles a group of exclusive research product offers from worldwide laboratory suppliers and distributes them as Nature Lab Offers.  Look for your copy of 2011 Nature Lab Offers with the September and October U.S. editions of Nature and Nature Methods, or view Lab Offers online!

See your copy of Nature Lab Offers to learn about ICT's 2011 Lab Offer on ELISA Solutions™ for immunoassay development and in vitro diagnostic test manufacturing.

Build a Better Assay with ELISA Solutions™

Tools for Fluorescence-based Apoptosis and Caspase Detection

Apoptosis is an evolutionarily conserved form of cell suicide responsible for various biological processes including the normal turnover of cells and the proper functioning of the immune system.  This process of shutting down old, diseased, or otherwise disfunctional cells is mediated by a cascade of proteolytic enzymes known as cysteine proteases, or caspases. Pro-apoptotic signals activate the enzymatic cascade resulting in the cleavage of protein substrates, leading to the disassembly of the cell (1-4). Caspases have been identified in organisms ranging from C. elegans to humans. Members of the

Featured Summer Citations for Apoptosis, Caspase, and Cathepsin Detection

Our fluorescent protease detection probes continue to be routinely referenced in customers' publications. Here are a few of the latest:

Neuronal toxicity assessed by SR-FLIVO™: Nuclear translocation of AMPK-α1 potentiates striatal neurodegeneration in Huntington’s disease

Image Apoptosis In Vivo! NIR-FLIVO Tracers Now Available

ImmunoChemistry Technologies, LLC is pleased to announce the launch of two new tracers for non-invasive in vivo optical imaging of apoptosis. NIR-FLIVO™ 690 and NIR-FLIVO™ 747 in vivo apoptosis tracers and free dye control reagents are now available from ImmunoChemistry Technologies at introductory pricing.

New FLICA Caspase Assay Citations from Korean Research Institutes

Congratulations to our FLICA caspase assay customers at several research institutes in the Republic of Korea for publishing recent studies!

From Gyeongsang National University:

Aged Red Garlic Extract Reduces Cigarette Smoke Extract-induced Cell Death in Human Bronchial Smooth Muscle Cells by Increasing Intracellular Glutathione Levels

Yi-Yeong Jeong, Hye-Jin Park, Young-Woo Cho, Eun-Jin Kim, Gyu-Tae Kim, Yun-Ja Mun, Jong Deog Lee, Jung-Hye Shin, Nak-Ju Sung, Dawon Kang, Jaehee Han