Regulatory networks orchestrated by key transcription factors (TFs) have been proposed to play a central role in the determination of stem cell states. However, the master transcriptional regulators of adult stem cells are poorly understood. We have identified two TFs, Slug and Sox9, that act cooperatively to determine the mammary stem cell (MaSC) state. Inhibition of either Slug or Sox9 blocks...

Slug (Snai2) has been demonstrated to act as an oncogene or tumor suppressor in different human cancers, but the function of Slug in cervical cancer remains poorly understood. In this study, we demonstrated that Slug could suppress the proliferation of cervical cancer cells in vitro and tumor formation in vivo. Further experiments found that Slug could trans-suppress the expression of Akt1/p-Ak...

In response to DNA damage, the p53 tumor suppressor can elicit either apoptosis or cell-cycle arrest and repair, but how this critical decision is made in specific cell types remains largely undefined. We investigated the mechanism by which the transcriptional repressor Slug specifically rescues hematopoietic progenitor cells from lethal doses of gamma radiation. We show that Slug is transcript...

An ideal preamplifier for qubit measurement must not only provide high gain and near quantumlimited noise performance, but also isolate the delicate quantum circuit from noisy downstream measurement stages while producing negligible backaction. Here we use a Superconducting Lowinductance Undulatory Galvanometer (SLUG) microwave amplifier to read out a superconducting transmon qubit, and we char...

Abstract A novel method for measuring the interfacial liquid film thickness between immiscible liquids of a slug/droplet in a micropipe is proposed. This method is capable of measuring an oil slug/droplet in water with the relative refractive index (m) between the immiscible liquids very close to one in a capillary tube. Unlike the measurement configuration for an air slug in water, an optical ...

Perturbations in stem cell activity and differentiation can lead to developmental defects and cancer. We use an approach involving a quantitative model of cell-state transitions in vitro to gain insights into how SLUG/SNAI2, a key developmental transcription factor, modulates mammary epithelial stem cell activity and differentiation in vivo. In the absence of SLUG, stem cells fail to transition...

BACKGROUND Norwegian meadows, including those for silage production, are recently found heavily invaded by the slug Arion vulgaris in exposed areas. As a consequence, large numbers of slugs might contaminate grass silage and cause a possible threat to animal feed quality and safety. It is well known that silage contaminated by mammalian or avian carcasses can lead to severe outbreaks of botulis...

BACKGROUND Expression of transcription-factors as Slug and Sox9 was recently described to determine mammary stem-cell state. Sox10 was previously shown to be present also in breast cancer. Protein overexpression of Slug, Sox9 and Sox10 were associated with poor overall survival and with triple-negative phenotype in breast cancer. In this study we tested the stability of Slug, Sox9 and Sox10 exp...

BACKGROUND Morphogenesis results from the coordination of distinct cell signaling pathways controlling migration, differentiation, apoptosis, and proliferation, along stem/progenitor cell dynamics. To decipher this puzzle, we focused on epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) "master genes". EMT has emerged as a unifying concept, involving cell-cell adhesion, migration and apoptotic pathways. E...

Elaborated models such as those used for simulation purposes (e.g. OLGA simulator) cannot be used for model-based control design. The focus of this paper is on deriving simple dynamical models with few state variables that capture the essential behaviour for control. We propose a new simplified dynamic model for severe slugging flow in pipeline-riser systems. The proposed model, together with f...