The use of natural compounds has been significant for human health since centuries. However, only... more The use of natural compounds has been significant for human health since centuries. However, only with molecular techniques and cell biology experiments, the function of these interactions can be shown and their therapeutic use in medicine be proven. In this review, we show the pathology of osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, a disease condition affecting millions of people worldwide and we describe herbal materials that are used for arthritis treatment. In detail, we describe how different plant substances, that is, curcumin and several ingredients of rosehip, can interact with cartilage compounds and reduce the inflammatory reaction by specifically interacting with cellular pathways. Arthritis forms a vicious cycle, where upon overuse of a joint or an autoimmune reaction inflammation and pain occur. These are marked by specific molecular patterns and immunological pathways that lead to chondrolysis and destruction of cartilage. Natural plant substances can influence these pathways and help to break out of the vicious cycle and to find a way for stopping the disease or even to regenerate and heal injured cartilage. In conclusion, rosehip, curcumin and other natural remedies are effective treatments and combinations are possible. Bioavailability of the substances is important and can be increased with specific enhancers. We also discuss that targeting pain only without treating cartilage degeneration can lead to unnoticed further irreparable decay and advice to treat pain and joint health at once. Additionally, regular movement of the joints is necessary for natural compounds to act in the human body and provide wellness.
The conformational change of the recombinant, murine prion protein (PrP) from an alpha-helical to... more The conformational change of the recombinant, murine prion protein (PrP) from an alpha-helical to a beta-sheet enriched state was monitored by time-resolved Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. The alpha-to-beta transition is induced by reduction of the single disulfide bond in PrP. This transition is believed to generate the scrapie form PrP(Sc), the supposed infectious agent of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. We followed the kinetics of this conformational change using a novel method for amide I band analysis of the infrared (IR) spectra. The amide I analysis provides the secondary structure. The amide I decomposition was calibrated with the three dimensional structure of cellular PrP solved by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The novel secondary structure analysis provides a root mean squared deviation (RMSD) of only 3% as compared to the NMR structure. Reduction of alpha-helical PrP caused the transient accumulation of a partially unfolded intermediate, f...
Conference proceedings : ... Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. Annual Conference, 2005
In this paper, a novel graft copolymer, poly-(L-lysine)-graft-poly(ethylene glycol) (PLL-g-PEG) w... more In this paper, a novel graft copolymer, poly-(L-lysine)-graft-poly(ethylene glycol) (PLL-g-PEG) with part of the PEG chains carrying a terminal nitrilotriacetic acid group (NTA) was synthesized. Through electrostatic interactions, these polycationic graft co-polymers assemble spontaneously from aqueous solution onto negatively charged surfaces, forming polymeric monolayers that present NTA groups at controlled surface densities on a highly PEGylated background. The NTA-functionalized PLL-g-PEG surfaces proved to be highly resistant to nonspecific adsorption in contact with human serum while allowing the specific and reversible surface binding of GFPuv-6His and β-lactamase-6His in native conformation. Micropatterns consisting of NTA-functionalized PLL-g-PEG in a background of PLL-g-PEG were produced using the "molecular assembly patterning by lift-off" technique. Exposure to Ni<sup>2+</sup>and GFPuv-6His resulted in a protein pattern of excellent contrast a...
... Dies wurde in bahnbrechenden Experi-menten 1993 durch die Gruppe von C. Weissmann ge~eigt:~&#... more ... Dies wurde in bahnbrechenden Experi-menten 1993 durch die Gruppe von C. Weissmann ge~eigt:~' Mause, de-nen das Gen fur das Prionprotein in beiden Chromosomensatzen fehlt (PrP-knockout-Mause) und die da-her kein PrPC haben konnen, bleiben im Gegensatz zu ...
Surface Plasmon Resonance Spectroscopy (SPR) and miniature Fiber Optic Absorbance Spectroscopy (F... more Surface Plasmon Resonance Spectroscopy (SPR) and miniature Fiber Optic Absorbance Spectroscopy (FOAS) were combined to monitor in situ and quantitatively an enzymatic model reaction catalyzed by beta-lactamase. The enzyme was covalently immobilized to the gold surface of a SPR chip, which was functionalized with NeutrAvidin through a biotinylated alkanethiol self-assembled monolayer, thus serving as a highly sensitive affinity biosensor. SPR was used to control the density of the surface-bound enzyme. Nitrocefin as the enzymatic substrate was allowed to react with the immobilized enzyme in the SPR flow cell, and its turnover was detected with the FOAS system acting as the catalytic biosensor. The coupling of the two techniques has a substantial potential for highly controlled on-line monitoring of surface-bound enzyme activity. The FOAS technique may also be easily employed as an add-on device to other types of affinity sensing instruments.
The capsid protein of Semliki Forest virus constitutes the N-terminal part of a large viral polyp... more The capsid protein of Semliki Forest virus constitutes the N-terminal part of a large viral polyprotein. It consists of an unstructured basic segment (residues 1-118) and a 149 residue serine protease module (SFVP, residues 119-267) comprised of two beta-barrel domains. Previous in vivo and in vitro translation experiments have demonstrated that SFVP folds co-translationally during synthesis of the viral polyprotein and rapidly cleaves itself off the nascent chain. To test whether fast co-translation folding of SFVP is an intrinsic property of the polypeptide chain or whether folding is accelerated by cellular components, we investigated spontaneous folding of recombinant SFVP in vitro. The results show that the majority of unfolded SFVP molecules fold faster than any previously studied two-domain protein (tau=50 ms), and that folding of the N-terminal domain precedes structure formation of the C-terminal domain. This shows that co-translational folding of SFVP does not require additional cellular components and suggests that rapid folding is the result of molecular evolution towards efficient virus biogenesis.
The use of natural compounds has been significant for human health since centuries. However, only... more The use of natural compounds has been significant for human health since centuries. However, only with molecular techniques and cell biology experiments, the function of these interactions can be shown and their therapeutic use in medicine be proven. In this review, we show the pathology of osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, a disease condition affecting millions of people worldwide and we describe herbal materials that are used for arthritis treatment. In detail, we describe how different plant substances, that is, curcumin and several ingredients of rosehip, can interact with cartilage compounds and reduce the inflammatory reaction by specifically interacting with cellular pathways. Arthritis forms a vicious cycle, where upon overuse of a joint or an autoimmune reaction inflammation and pain occur. These are marked by specific molecular patterns and immunological pathways that lead to chondrolysis and destruction of cartilage. Natural plant substances can influence these pathways and help to break out of the vicious cycle and to find a way for stopping the disease or even to regenerate and heal injured cartilage. In conclusion, rosehip, curcumin and other natural remedies are effective treatments and combinations are possible. Bioavailability of the substances is important and can be increased with specific enhancers. We also discuss that targeting pain only without treating cartilage degeneration can lead to unnoticed further irreparable decay and advice to treat pain and joint health at once. Additionally, regular movement of the joints is necessary for natural compounds to act in the human body and provide wellness.
The conformational change of the recombinant, murine prion protein (PrP) from an alpha-helical to... more The conformational change of the recombinant, murine prion protein (PrP) from an alpha-helical to a beta-sheet enriched state was monitored by time-resolved Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. The alpha-to-beta transition is induced by reduction of the single disulfide bond in PrP. This transition is believed to generate the scrapie form PrP(Sc), the supposed infectious agent of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. We followed the kinetics of this conformational change using a novel method for amide I band analysis of the infrared (IR) spectra. The amide I analysis provides the secondary structure. The amide I decomposition was calibrated with the three dimensional structure of cellular PrP solved by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The novel secondary structure analysis provides a root mean squared deviation (RMSD) of only 3% as compared to the NMR structure. Reduction of alpha-helical PrP caused the transient accumulation of a partially unfolded intermediate, f...
Conference proceedings : ... Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. Annual Conference, 2005
In this paper, a novel graft copolymer, poly-(L-lysine)-graft-poly(ethylene glycol) (PLL-g-PEG) w... more In this paper, a novel graft copolymer, poly-(L-lysine)-graft-poly(ethylene glycol) (PLL-g-PEG) with part of the PEG chains carrying a terminal nitrilotriacetic acid group (NTA) was synthesized. Through electrostatic interactions, these polycationic graft co-polymers assemble spontaneously from aqueous solution onto negatively charged surfaces, forming polymeric monolayers that present NTA groups at controlled surface densities on a highly PEGylated background. The NTA-functionalized PLL-g-PEG surfaces proved to be highly resistant to nonspecific adsorption in contact with human serum while allowing the specific and reversible surface binding of GFPuv-6His and β-lactamase-6His in native conformation. Micropatterns consisting of NTA-functionalized PLL-g-PEG in a background of PLL-g-PEG were produced using the "molecular assembly patterning by lift-off" technique. Exposure to Ni<sup>2+</sup>and GFPuv-6His resulted in a protein pattern of excellent contrast a...
... Dies wurde in bahnbrechenden Experi-menten 1993 durch die Gruppe von C. Weissmann ge~eigt:~&#... more ... Dies wurde in bahnbrechenden Experi-menten 1993 durch die Gruppe von C. Weissmann ge~eigt:~' Mause, de-nen das Gen fur das Prionprotein in beiden Chromosomensatzen fehlt (PrP-knockout-Mause) und die da-her kein PrPC haben konnen, bleiben im Gegensatz zu ...
Surface Plasmon Resonance Spectroscopy (SPR) and miniature Fiber Optic Absorbance Spectroscopy (F... more Surface Plasmon Resonance Spectroscopy (SPR) and miniature Fiber Optic Absorbance Spectroscopy (FOAS) were combined to monitor in situ and quantitatively an enzymatic model reaction catalyzed by beta-lactamase. The enzyme was covalently immobilized to the gold surface of a SPR chip, which was functionalized with NeutrAvidin through a biotinylated alkanethiol self-assembled monolayer, thus serving as a highly sensitive affinity biosensor. SPR was used to control the density of the surface-bound enzyme. Nitrocefin as the enzymatic substrate was allowed to react with the immobilized enzyme in the SPR flow cell, and its turnover was detected with the FOAS system acting as the catalytic biosensor. The coupling of the two techniques has a substantial potential for highly controlled on-line monitoring of surface-bound enzyme activity. The FOAS technique may also be easily employed as an add-on device to other types of affinity sensing instruments.
The capsid protein of Semliki Forest virus constitutes the N-terminal part of a large viral polyp... more The capsid protein of Semliki Forest virus constitutes the N-terminal part of a large viral polyprotein. It consists of an unstructured basic segment (residues 1-118) and a 149 residue serine protease module (SFVP, residues 119-267) comprised of two beta-barrel domains. Previous in vivo and in vitro translation experiments have demonstrated that SFVP folds co-translationally during synthesis of the viral polyprotein and rapidly cleaves itself off the nascent chain. To test whether fast co-translation folding of SFVP is an intrinsic property of the polypeptide chain or whether folding is accelerated by cellular components, we investigated spontaneous folding of recombinant SFVP in vitro. The results show that the majority of unfolded SFVP molecules fold faster than any previously studied two-domain protein (tau=50 ms), and that folding of the N-terminal domain precedes structure formation of the C-terminal domain. This shows that co-translational folding of SFVP does not require additional cellular components and suggests that rapid folding is the result of molecular evolution towards efficient virus biogenesis.
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Papers by Eva Künnemann