Ph.D. afhandling, Roskilde universitetscenter 1998. / Øverst på titelsiden: A proposed Darwinian model for bio-cultural co-evolution.

Diss. Linköping : Univ., 1998.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Umeå : Univ., 2004. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

Diss. Linköping : Linköpings universitet, 2006.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

The use of ultrasonic standing waves for contactless manipulation of microparticles in microfluidic systems is a field with potential to become a new standard tool in lab-on-chip systems. Compared to other contactless manipulation methods ultrasonic standing wave manipulation shows promises of gentle cell handling, low cost, and precise temperature control. The technology can be used both for batch handling, such as sorting and aggregation, and handling of single particles. This doctoral Thesis presents multi-dimensional ultrasonic manipulation, i.e., manipulation in both two and three spatial dimensions as well as time-dependent manipulation of living cells and microbeads in microfluidic systems. The lab-on-chip structures used allow for high-quality optical microscopy, which is central to many bio-applications. It is demonstrated how the ultrasonic force fields can be spatially confined to predefined regions in the system, enabling sequential manipulation functions. Furthermore, it is shown how frequency-modulated signals can be used both for spatial stabilization of the force fields as well as for flow-free transport of particles in a microchannel. Design parameters of the chip-transducer systems employed are investigated experimentally as well as by numerical simulations. It is shown that three-dimensional resonances in the solid structure of the chip strongly influences the resonance shaping in the channel. / QC 20100730

Cellular homeostasis is the effort of all living cells to maintain their intracellular content when facing physiological change(s) in the extracellular environment. To date, cellular homeostasis is known to be regulated mainly by time-consuming active mechanisms and via multiple signaling pathways within the cells. The aim of this thesis is to show that time-efficient passive (physical) mechanisms also, under the control and regulation of bio-physical factors such as cell morphology and distribution and co-localization of transport proteins in the cell membrane, can regulate cellular homeostasis. This thesis has been developed in an interface between physics and biology and focuses on critical cases in which cells face physiologically unstable environments at their steady state and therefore may need a constituent effort to maintain their homeostasis. The main hypothesis here is that the cell geometry is oriented in such a way that cellular homeostasis is preserved in a given environment. For exploring these cases, comparative spatial models have been developed that combine transporting function of membrane proteins with simple versus complex geometries of cells. Models confirm the hypothesis and show that cell morphology, size of extracellular space and intercellular distances are important for a dynamic regulation of water and ion homeostasis at steady state. The main clue is the existence of diffusion limited space (DLS) in the bulk extracellular space (ECS). DLS can, despite being ECS, maintain its ionic content and water balance due a controlled function of transport proteins in the membrane facing part of DLS. This can significantly regulate cellular water and ion homeostasis and play an important role in cell physiology. In paper I, the role of DLS is explored in the kidney whereas paper II addresses the brain. The response of cells to change in osmolarity is of critical importance for water homeostasis. Cells primarily respond to osmotic challenge by transport of water via their membranes. As water moves into or out of cells, the volumes of intra- and extracellular compartments consequently change. Water transport across the cell membrane is enhanced by a family of water channel proteins (aquaporins) which play important roles in regulation of both cell and the extracellular space dimensions. Paper III explores a role for aquaporins in renal K+ transport. Experimentally this role is suggested to be different from bulk water transport. In a geometrical model of a kidney principal cell with several DLS in the basolateral membrane, a biophysical role for DLS-aquaporins is suggested that also provides physiological relevance for this study. The biophysical function of water channels is then extensively explored in paper IV where the main focus has been the dynamics of the brain extracellular space following water transport. Both modeling and experimental data in this paper confirmed the importance of aquaporin-4 expressed in astrocytes for potassium kinetics in the brain extracellular space. Finally, geometrically controlled transport mechanisms are studied on a molecular level, using silicon particles as a simplified model system for cell studies (paper V and VI). In paper V the role of electrostatic forces (around the nano-pores and in between the loaded material and the silicon surface) is studied with regard to transport processes.  In paper VI the roles of pore size and molecular weight of loaded material are studied. All together this thesis presents various modeling approaches that employ biophysical aspects of transport mechanisms combined with cell geometry to explain cell homeostasis and address cell physiology-based questions. / QC20100727

<p>The recent decades of research in molecular biology have resulted in break-throughs concerning our knowledge of the genetic code, protein structures and functions of the different cellular components. With this new information follows an increased interest in constructing computational models of the biological systems. A computational model can range from a description of one specific protein to a complete cell or organism. The aim of a computational model is often to complement the experimental studies and help identify essential mechanisms of a system.</p><p>All processes taking place in our cells, from general metabolic processes to cell specific actions, originates from information encoded in our DNA. The first step in transferring the genetic information to a functional protein or RNA, is through the transcription of a gene. The transcription process is controlled by cellular proteins binding to DNA regions called promoters. The term "genetic switch", used in the title of this thesis, refers to a specific change in transcription activity, where one or several promoters get activated or silenced.</p><p>In this thesis, I present studies of the regulation mechanisms in two different genetic switches. The first is a switch between two central promoters in the Epstein- Barr virus. This human virus is mostly known for causing the ’kissing disease’, but is also coupled to several cancer types. Infected cells can change between a resting and a proliferating phenotype, depending on which viral promoter is active. In order to understand what causes uncontrolled proliferation in tumors, it is important to understand the regulation of these viral promoters. The other switch is present in the phage λ, a bacterial virus. This virus has one specific promoter region, controlling expression of two proteins that determine if the phage will remain silent (lysogenic) in the host cell, or start producing new viral particles (go lytic). For the Epstein- Barr virus we tested, and confirmed, the hypothesis that the regulation of the two central promoters can be obtained by only one viral and one human protein. Further, we studied the cooperative effects on one of the promoters, showing that steric hindrance at the promoter region results in a more effective switching than with only cooperative binding present. For the bacteriophage λ we studied the genetically altered λ- Lac mutants, presented by Little & Atsumi in 2006. We demonstrate that the experimental results cannot, in terms of its equilibria, be explained by the mechanisms generally believed to be in control of the lysogenic/ lytic switch.</p>