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Chemistry and Biochemstry Department Seminar |
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| Category: | College Of Arts And Sciences |
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| Date & Time: |
Wednesday, 10/17/2012 from 04:00 PM to 05:30 PM |
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| Location: | Dion -115 | |
| Admission: | Free! | |
| Sponsored by: | Chemistry & Biochemistry Deptartment | |
| Contact: |
Maolin Guo mguo@umassd.edu 508-999-8871 |
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| Description: |
Visiting Seminar Speaker, Dr. Edwin Jahngen, of UMass Lowell
Title: "The Future of Endotoxin and 1,3-β-D-Glucan Testing: Sayonara Horseshoe Crab!" Abstract: The Royalty of the spider family, the Horseshoe Crab, [Limulus polyphemus], has been donating it’s blue blood to man, in order to insure the health of the species, homo sapien. It turns out these insects, yes they are insects not crabs!, do not have an immune system like that found in humans, rather they rely on their blood to clot invading organisms, such as gram negative bacteria and fungi, which express toxic lipopolysaccharides, or endotoxins and 1,3-β-D-glucans [β-glucans] on their cell surfaces respectively. In humans, these cells or fragments of cells are elicitor’s of innate immunity, and may result in symptoms called Toxic Shock Syndrome, [TSS], rejection of organ transplants and prosthetics and in some cases cause death. The USP, FDA, Japanese Pharmacopeia and the European Union have mandated that all drugs, prodrugs, prosthetics and any transdermal implant be tested for endotoxin and β-glucan. Currently, two tests are available, one is the rabbit pyrogen test, and the other is based on the clotting factors of the horseshoe crab. Both of these tests come with major drawbacks and there is a need to examine new technologies to give faster and more reliable detection of these elicitors of innate immunity. |
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