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Transglutaminase 2 (TGase 2) catalyzes a crosslink between protein bound-glutamine and -lysine. We proposed the mechanism of TGase 2 activation depends on conformation change from unfolded monomer to unfolded dimer. We found that TGase 2 has temperature-sensitive conformation change system at 30 °C. Small-angle X-ray scattering analysis showed that the enzyme was maintained as an unfolded monomer at temperatures below 30 °C, but changed to an unfolded dimer at over 30 °C. Mass analysis revealed that the C-terminus of TGase 2 was the critical region for dimerization. Furthermore, this conformational switch creates new biochemical reactivity that catalyzed inter-molecular crosslink at above 30 °C as an unfolded dimer of TGase 2 while catalyzed intra-molecular crosslink at below 30 °C as an unfolded monomer of TGase 2. The mechanism of TGase 2 activation depends on temperature-sensitive conformation change from unfolded monomer to unfolded dimer at over 30 °C. Furthermore, inter-molecular crosslinking activity is generated by the dimeric form of TGase 2. TGase 2 switches its conformation from a monomer to a dimer following a change in temperature, which engendered unique catalytic function of enzyme as inter-molecular crosslinking activity with calcium.

An experimental method is developed for the robust frequency stabilization using a high-finesse cavity when the laser exhibits large intermittent frequency jumps. This is accomplished by applying an additional slow feedback signal from Doppler-free fluorescence spectroscopy in an atomic beam with increased frequency locking range. As a result, a stable and narrow-linewidth 556 nm laser maintains the frequency lock status for more than a week, and contributes to more accurate evaluation of the Yb optical lattice clock. In addition, the reference optical cavity is supported at vibration-insensitive points without any vibration isolation table, making the laser setup more simple and compact., Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures

In this study, perovskite thin films (PFs) were conformally deposited on 100 cm2 textured silicon substrates using a two-step vacuum process. The PFs were fabricated by converting thin films of a sputtered-PbO precursor using the chemical vapor deposition process. The conversion of PbO thin films into PFs was confirmed by X-ray diffractometry. The uniformity of reflectance and thickness was higher than 86% and 92%, respectively, on 100 cm2 textured substrate. We appliedmethylammoniumvapor treatment for complete conversion without residual layer and the power conversion efficiency was 10.2% on a glass/FTO/TiO2/MAPbI3/Spiro-MeOTAD/Au structure.

Three-dimensional (3D) hierarchical wrinkles can be generated on prestrained thermoplastic substrates by sequential cycles of skin layer growth followed by the release of prestrain. However, no mechanics models have explained the formation of multigenerational nanostructures using this nanofabrication process. This article describes an analytical model that can represent multiscale wrinkles with arbitrary numbers of generations. Structural features including wrinkle wavelengths and amplitudes on the nanoscale that are predicted by minimizing the total deformation energy of the system. The calculated wavelengths in each generation are in good agreement with experiment. Our mathematical approach provides design principles for achieving multigenerational hierarchical structures.

In general, expression of transglutaminase 2 (TGase 2) is upregulated in renal cell carcinoma (RCC), resulting in p53 instability. Previous studies show that TGase 2 binds to p53 and transports it to the autophagosome. Knockdown or inhibition of TGase 2 in RCC induces p53-mediated apoptosis. Here, we screened a chemical library for TGase 2 inhibitors and identified streptonigrin as a potential therapeutic compound for RCC. Surface plasmon resonance and mass spectroscopy were used to measure streptonigrin binding to TGase 2. Mass spectrometry analysis revealed that streptonigrin binds to the N-terminus of TGase 2 (amino acids 95&ndash, 116), which is associated with inhibition of TGase 2 activity in vitro and with p53 stabilization in RCC. The anti-cancer effects of streptonigrin on RCC cell lines were demonstrated in cell proliferation and cell death assays. In addition, a single dose of streptonigrin (0.2 mg/kg) showed marked anti-tumor effects in a preclinical RCC model by stabilizing p53. Inhibition of TGase 2 using streptonigrin increased p53 stability, which resulted in p53-mediated apoptosis of RCC. Thus, targeting TGase 2 may be a new therapeutic approach to RCC.

We are stabilizing the frequency of a mid-infrared quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) to an optical frequency comb itself stabilized to an ultra-stable near-infrared reference signal at $\pmb{1.5\mu} \mathbf{m}$ transferred from SYRTE to LPL using an optical link. The reference stability is copied to the QCL and we benefit from the traceability to the primary standards of SYRTE. The stabilized QCL can be scanned by scanning the near-IR reference with an electro-optic modulator. We use this ultrastable spectrometer to carry out saturated absorption spectroscopy of methanol. A detailed analysis of the frequency measurement uncertainty will be presented.

The systematic uncertainty of the Yb optical lattice clock has been improved to 8.3×10−17at KRISS, and the absolute frequency has been measured with uncertainty of 9.6×10−16referenced to the SI second (TT). We also describe future prospects to further reduce the systematic uncertainty and the absolute frequency measurement uncertainty. A new clock laser system has been developed to evaluate the uncertainties in reasonably short time.

This paper reports a robust and stretchable nanolaser platform that can preserve its high mode quality by exploiting hybrid quadrupole plasmons as an optical feedback mechanism. Increasing the size of metal nanoparticles in an array can introduce ultrasharp lattice plasmon resonances with out-of-plane charge oscillations that are tolerant to lateral strain. By patterning these nanoparticles onto an elastomeric slab surrounded by liquid gain, we realized reversible, tunable nanolasing with high strain sensitivity and no hysteresis. Our semiquantum modeling demonstrates that lasing build-up occurs at the hybrid quadrupole electromagnetic hot spots, which provides a route toward mechanical modulation of light-matter interactions on the nanoscale.

Advanced satellite-based frequency transfers by two-way carrier-phase (TWCP) and integer precise point positioning have been performed between the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology and Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science. We confirm that the disagreement between them is less than at an averaging time of several days. In addition, an overseas frequency ratio measurement of Sr and Yb optical lattice clocks was directly performed by TWCP. We achieved an uncertainty at the mid-10

Previously we have demonstrated transglutaminase 2 (TGase 2) inhibition abrogated renal cell carcinoma (RCC) using GK921 (3-(phenylethynyl)-2-(2-(pyridin-2-yl)ethoxy)pyrido[3,2-b]pyrazine), although the mechanism of TGase 2 inhibition remains unsolved. Recently, we found that the increase of TGase 2 expression is required for p53 depletion in RCC by transporting the TGase 2 (1-139 a.a)-p53 complex to the autophagosome, through TGase 2 (472-687 a.a) binding p62. In this study, mass analysis revealed that GK921 bound to the N terminus of TGase 2 (81-116 a.a), which stabilized p53 by blocking TGase 2 binding. This suggests that RCC survival can be stopped by p53-induced cell death through blocking the p53-TGase 2 complex formation using GK921. Although GK921 does not bind to the active site of TGase 2, GK921 binding to the N terminus of TGase 2 also inactivated TGase 2 activity through acceleration of non-covalent self-polymerization of TGase 2 via conformational change. This suggests that TGase 2 has an allosteric binding site (81-116 a.a) which changes the conformation of TGase 2 enough to accelerate inactivation through self-polymer formation.

We present a hybrid fiber link combining effective optical frequency transfer and evaluation of performances with a self-synchronized two-way comparison. It enables us to detect the round-trip fiber noise and each of the forward and backward one-way fiber noises simultaneously. The various signals acquired with this setup allow us to study quantitatively several properties of optical fiber links. We check the reciprocity of the accumulated noise forth and back over a bi-directional fiber to the level of 3.1(±3.9) × 10

International audience; We present an hybrid fiber link combining effective optical frequency transfer and evaluation of performances with a self-synchronized two-way comparison. It enables us to detect the round-trip fiber noise and each of the forward and backward one-way fiber noises simultaneously. The various signals acquired with this setup allow us to study quantitatively several properties of optical fiber links. We check the reciprocity of the accumulated noise forth and back over a bi-directional fiber to the level of 3.1(±3.9) × 10 −20. We also analyze the noise correlation between two adjacent fibers and show the first experimental evidence of interferometric noise at very low Fourier frequency. We estimate redundantly and consistently the stability and accuracy of the transferred optical frequency over 43 km at 4 × 10 −21 level after 16 days of integration and demonstrate that frequency comparison with resolution as low as 8 × 10 −18 would be achievable with uni-directional fibers in urban area.

Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) represent approximately 30% of the human genome and play key roles in cell proliferation and cellular signaling by modulating the function of target proteins via protein-protein interactions. In addition, IDPs are involved in various human disorders, such as cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, and amyloidosis. To understand the underlying molecular mechanism of IDPs, it is important to study their structural features during their interactions with target proteins. However, conventional biochemical and biophysical methods for analyzing proteins, such as X-ray crystallography, have difficulty in characterizing the features of IDPs because they lack an ordered three-dimensional structure. Here, we present biochemical and biophysical studies on nucleolar phosphoprotein 140 (Nopp140), which mostly consists of disordered regions, during its interaction with casein kinase 2 (CK2), which plays a central role in cell growth. Surface plasmon resonance and electron paramagnetic resonance studies were performed to characterize the interaction between Nopp140 and CK2. A single-molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer study revealed conformational change in Nopp140 during its interaction with CK2. These studies on Nopp140 can provide a good model system for understanding the molecular function of IDPs.

We proposed blink based online speller for the locked-in syndrome (LIS) patients, paralyzed in nearly allvoluntary muscles expect for the eyes, with a simple and easy-to-use eye blink detection glasses. Electrooculogram(EOG) is the golden standard method of eye movement or blink measurement with Ag/AgCl electrodes. However,this method has several drawbacks such as skin irritation and dehydration of conductive gel. To resolve the short-comings, we used a blink detection system based on a transparent capacitively coupled electrode, which is conductiveindium tin oxide (ITO) films. The films make it possible to measure eye blink without direct skin contact and obstruc-tion of field of view. We finally developed user-friendly blink based online speller with the blink detection system.To classify voluntary and non-voluntary blink, we used the double blink for command of the speller. The online spellerexperiment result with six healthy subjects shows that mean accuracy is 98.96% and letter per minute (LPM) is 4.73,which are better result by comparison with conventional P300 or auditory brain-computer interface (BCI) paradigm.The result of the experiment demonstrates the possibility of applying the proposed system as a communicationmethod for the LIS patients.Key words: Wearable device, ITO film, Blink, Human-Computer Interface, speller

A high-speed reduction transfer case is usually employed by an excavator, wheel loader, or bulldozer. When powerful torque is required in the case of climbing steep roads or towing heavy equipment, the high-speed reduction mode of the gearbox is used. Generally, a transfer case using a spur gear type with a speed reduction system has a speed reduction ratio of 1 to 1 or 2 to 1. However, the structure of a transfer case achieved at a high speed of 1 to 1 and a low speed of 4.5 or under 5.5 to 1 with the speed reduction by use of a planetary gear type with a speed reduction system was proposed in this study. By employing a planetary gear type with a speed reduction system, the compact structure of the transfer case was achieved, and the impact or the partial defect of gear teeth was eliminated.

In this paper, as a previous step of software development, through an analysis step in the basic design process of the FPSO crane, ERD, which could help develop common understanding between its developer and the user, was introduced. From the flowchart of the design process, the overall work flow in its development was understood. Then, after the design process of the crane was divided into many entities, the attributes of each entity were defined and the relationships between the entities were established, followed by ERD creation through the use of IDEF1X notation. The results of the analysis can be readily understood even by users who lack of software knowledge, and then their change requirements can be immediately reflected in the developed system that requires modification.

This paper describes how a memory-based, sequential wrinkling process can transform flat polystyrene sheets into multiscale, three-dimensional hierarchical textures. Multiple cycles of plasma-mediated skin growth followed by directional strain relief of the substrate resulted in hierarchical architectures with characteristic generational (G) features. Independent control over wrinkle wavelength and wrinkle orientation for each G was achieved by tuning plasma treatment time and strain-relief direction for each cycle. Lotus-type superhydrophobicity was demonstrated on three-dimensional G1-G2-G3 hierarchical wrinkles as well as tunable superhydrophilicity on these same substrates after oxygen plasma. This materials system provides a general approach for nanomanufacturing based on bottom-up sequential wrinkling that will benefit a diverse range of applications and especially those that require large area (cm(2)), multiscale, three-dimensional patterns.

We present a hybrid fiber link to realize the local two-way optical frequency comparison with self-synchronization. It enables us to detect round-trip fiber noise and one-way fiber noise, and estimate the residuals. Moreover, we can check, to the best of our knowledge for the first time, the reciprocity of the accumulated noise forth and back over a bi-directional fiber, and also evaluate the noise correlation between two adjacent fibers with the hybrid setup.

We design and develop a new clock laser system for the second Yb optical lattice clock (OLC) at KRISS with the targeted uncertainty of 10−18 level. With a longer ULE cavity, the fused silica substrates, and the crystalline mirror coatings, the overall thermal limit is expected to be 4.3×10−17. The rapid evaluation of the systematic uncertainties of the second OLC will be possible with this new clock laser system.

We present a frequency comb-assisted experimental setup which enables us to both coherently transfer the stability and accuracy of a remote near-infrared (NIR) ultrastable laser to a mid-infrared (MIR) quantum cascade laser (QCL), and widely tune the QCL frequency for spectroscopic applications. The QCL is stabilized at the level of 2×10−15 from 1 to 100 s, with an accuracy of 10−14 after 100 s. The achievable frequency tuning paves the way for high-resolution saturated absorption spectroscopy of molecular transitions, in particular in spectral regions that were previously inaccessible with standard stabilized MIR lasers. Preliminary results show a sensitivity at the kHz level on transition center frequencies.

Quasi-random nanostructured material systems (NMSs) are emerging engineered material systems via cost-effective, scalable bottom-up processes, such as the phase separation of polymer mixtures or the mechanical self-assembly based on thin-film wrinkling. Current development of functional quasi-random NMSs mainly follows a sequential strategy without considering the fabrication conditions in nanostructure optimization, which limits the feasibility of the optimized design for large-scale, parallel nanomanufacturing using bottom-up processes. We propose a novel design methodology for designing quasi-random NMSs that employs spectral density function (SDF) to concurrently optimize the nanostructure and design the corresponding nanomanufacturing conditions of a bottom-up process. Alternative to the well-known correlation functions for characterizing the structural correlation of NMSs, the SDF provides a convenient and informative design representation to bridge the gap between processing-structure and structure-performance relationships, to enable fast explorations of optimal fabricable nanostructures, and to exploit the stochastic nature of manufacturing processes. In this paper, we first introduce the SDF as a non-deterministic design representation for quasi-random NMSs, compared with the two-point correlation function. Efficient reconstruction methods for quasi-random NMSs are developed for handling different morphologies, such as the channel-type and particle-type, in simulation-based design. The SDF based computational design methodology is illustrated by the optimization of quasi-random light-trapping nanostructures in thin-film solar cells for both channel-type and particle-type NMSs. Finally, the concurrent design strategy is employed to optimize the quasi-random light-trapping structure manufactured via scalable wrinkle nanolithography process.

Soft skin layers on elastomeric substrates are demonstrated to support mechano-responsive wrinkle patterns that do not exhibit cracking under applied strain. Soft fluoropolymer skin layers on pre-strained poly(dimethylsiloxane) slabs achieved crack-free surface wrinkling at high strain regimes not possible by using conventional stiff skin layers. A side-by-side comparison between the soft and hard skin layers after multiple cycles of stretching and releasing revealed that the soft skin layer enabled dynamic control over wrinkle topography without cracks or delamination. We systematically characterized the evolution of wrinkle wavelength, amplitude, and orientation as a function of tensile strain to resolve the crack-free structural transformation. We demonstrated that wrinkled surfaces can guide water spreading along wrinkle orientation, and hence switchable, anisotropic wetting was realized.

We present the first experimental demonstration over a 43-km-long urban fiber network of a local two-way optical frequency comparison, which does not require any synchronization of the measurements. It was combined with a regular active-noise compensation on another parallel fiber leading to a very reliable and robust frequency transfer. This hybrid scheme enables us to investigate the major limiting factors of the local two-way comparison. We analyze the contribution to the phase noise of the recovered signal by the interferometers at local and remote places. By using the ability of this set up to be injected by a single laser or two independent lasers, we measure the contribution to the long-term instability by the demodulated laser instabilities. We show that a fractional frequency instability level of $1\times10^{-20}$ at 10 000 s can be obtained with this simple setup after 43-km-long propagation in an urban area.

We measured the absolute frequency of the $^1S_0$ - $^3P_0$ transition of $^{171}$Yb atoms confined in a one-dimensional optical lattice relative to the SI second. The determined frequency was 518 295 836 590 863.38(57) Hz. The uncertainty was reduced by a factor of 14 compared with our previously reported value in 2013 due to the significant improvements in decreasing the systematic uncertainties. This result is expected to contribute to the determination of a new recommended value for the secondary representations of the second.

Difficulties in the extraction of membrane proteins from cell membrane and their solubilization in native conformations have hindered their structural and biochemical analysis. To overcome these difficulties, an amphipathic polypeptide was synthesized by the conjugation of octyl and glucosyl groups to the carboxyl groups of poly-γ-glutamic acid (PGA). This polymer, called amphipathic PGA (APG), self-assembles as mono-disperse oligomers consisted of 4–5 monomers. APG shows significantly low value of critical micelle concentration and stabilization activity toward membrane proteins. Most of the sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-solubilized membrane proteins from Escherichia coli remain soluble state in the presence of APG even after the removal of SDS. In addition, APG stabilizes purified 7 transmembrane proteins such as bacteriorhodopsin and human endothelin receptor Type A (ETA) in their active conformations. Furthermore, ETA in complex with APG is readily inserted into liposomes without disrupting the integrity of liposomes. These properties of APG can be applied to overcome the difficulties in the stabilization and reconstitution of membrane proteins.

Proteomic analyses of the excretory/secretory proteins from the RH strain of Toxoplasma gondii have been performed to understand their functions in the host-parasite interaction. A total of 34 proteins were identified from LC/MS/MS analysis and their abundance was estimated by spectral counting methods. Among them, 8 species of micronemal proteins (MICs), 2 species of rhoptry proteins (ROPs), and 6 species of dense granular proteins (GRAs) were confirmed. Besides these, 18 species of protein were newly identified, and their cellular functions were estimated from sequence analysis. The three most abundant of the 34 identified extractor/

Bacterial resistance to many existing antibiotics is a growing health concern worldwide. There is an urgent need to identify new antibiotics with unexploited modes of action. Peptide deformylase (PDF) is an essential enzyme involved in N-terminal protein processing in eubacteria but not in higher organisms. Therefore, PDF is considered an attractive target for the development of novel antibiotics. Here, we report the structures of the PDFs from Enterococcus faecalis (EfPDF) and Streptococcus pyogenes (SpyPDF) complexed with actinonin at 1.4 and 2.1 A resolutions, respectively. Actinonin, a naturally occurring, highly potent inhibitor, is bound tightly at the active site. The conformation of actinonin in the EfPDF and SpyPDF complexes was similar to those of all others. The detailed information from this study will facilitate the development of novel antibacterial molecules.

Recent technological advances have increased interest in personal health monitoring. Electrocardio-gram(ECG) monitoring is a basic healthcare activity and can provide decisive information regarding cardiovascularsystem status. In this study, we developed a capacitive ECG measurement system that can be included within a clothmattress pad. The device permits ECG data to be obtained during sleep by using capacitive electrodes. However,it is difficult to detect R-wave peaks automatically because signals obtained from the system can include a high levelof noise from various sources. Because R-peak detection is important in ECG applications, we developed an algorithmthat can reduce noise and improve detection accuracy under noisy conditions. Algorithm reliability was evaluated bydetermining its sensitivity(Se), positive predictivity(+P), and error rate(Er) by using data from the MIT-BIH Poly-somnographic Database and from our capacitive ECG system. The results showed that Se = 99.75%, +P = 99.77%,and Er = 0.47% for MIT-BIH Polysomnographic Database while Se = 96.47%, +P = 99.32%, and Er = 4.34% forour capacitive ECG system. Based on those results, we conclude that our R-peak detection method is capable of pro-viding useful ECG information, even under noisy signal conditions.Key words: Capacitively Measured ECG, R-peak Detection, Ubiquitous Healthcare, Non-intrusive ECG MonitoringSystem, MIT-BIH Polysomnographic Database

A derivative of Mycobacterium bovis Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) has been used for the preparation of tuberculosis vaccines. To establish a Korean tuberculosis vaccine derived from BCG-Pasteur 1173P2, genome sequencing of a BCG-Korea strain was completed by Joung and coworkers. 1 A comparison analysis of the genome sequences of the BCG-Pasteur 1173P2 and BCG-Korea strains showed marginal increases in the total genome length (~0.05%) and the number of genes (~4%) in the BCG-Korea genome. However, how the genomic changes affect the BCG-Korea protein expression levels remains unknown. Here, we provide evidence of the proteomic alterations in the BCG-Korea strain by using a SWATH-based mass spectrometric approach (Sequential Window Acquisition of all THeoretical mass spectra). Twenty BCG proteins were selected by top-rank identification in the BCG proteome analysis and the proteins were quantified by the SWATH method. Thirteen of 20 proteins showing significant changes were enough to discriminate between the two BCG proteomes. The SWATH method is very straightforward and provides a promising approach owing to its strong reliability and reproducibility during the proteomic analysis.

The pro-apoptotic BCL-2 family protein BID activates BAK and/or BAX, which form oligomeric pores in the mitochondrial outer membrane. This results in the release of cytochrome c into the cytoplasm, initiating the apoptotic cascade. Here, we utilized liposomes encapsulating sulfo-rhodamine at a controlled temperature to improve upon a previously reported assay system with enhanced sensitivity and specificity for measuring membrane permeabilization by BID-dependent BAK activation. BAK activation was inhibited by BCL-XL protein but not by a mutant protein with impaired anti-apoptotic activity. With the assay system, we screened a chemical library and identified several compounds including trifluoperazine, a mitochondrial apoptosisinduced channel blocker. It inhibited BAK activation by direct binding to BAK and blocking the oligomerization of BAK.

The main function of methionine sulfoxide reductases (Msr) in many organisms is to protect cells against oxidative stress caused by the catalyzed reduction of oxidized methionine to normal methionine. In a few micro-organisms, the existence of Msr as a fusion protein on a single polypeptide, MsrAB, was reported. However, Msr generally exists as separate enzymes MsrA and MsrB. Here, MsrAB from Helicobacter pylori (HpMsrAB) was overexpressed in Escherichia coli, purified, and crystallized to determine its structure. HpMsrAB X-ray diffraction data were collected to the resolution of 3.3 A, and the crystals were found to belong to the tetragonal space group P41212, with the unit cell parameters a =100.91, b =100.91, and c =160.08 A. The crystals corresponded to 5.38 A3 Da−1 of Matthews coefficient and 77.2% solvent content from the molecular replacement suggest that there is a single molecule in an asymmetric unit. Due to their unusually high solvent content, diffraction of these crystals only reach a resolution of 3.3 A. A preliminary solution was determined by molecular replacement. Further refinement of the structure is in progress.

Protein kinase CK2 is a ubiquitous kinase that can phosphorylate hundreds of cellular proteins and plays important roles in cell growth and development. Deregulation of CK2 is related to a variety of human cancers, and CK2 is regarded as a suppressor of apoptosis; therefore, it is a target of anticancer therapy. Nucleolar phosphoprotein 140 (Nopp140), which is an intrinsically disordered protein, interacts with CK2 and inhibits the latter's catalytic activity in vitro. Interestingly, the catalytic activity of CK2 is recovered in the presence of d-myo-inositol 1,2,3,4,5,6-hexakisphosphate (IP6). IP6 is widely distributed in animal cells, but the molecular mechanisms that govern its cellular functions in animal cells have not been completely elucidated. In this study, the crystal structure of CK2 in complex with IP6 showed that the lysine-rich cluster of CK2 plays an important role in binding to IP6. The biochemical experiments revealed that a Nopp140 fragment (residues 568-596) and IP6 competitively bind to the catalytic subunit of CK2 (CK2α), and phospho-Ser574 of Nopp140 significantly enhances its interaction with CK2α. Substitutions of K74E, K76E, and K77E in CK2α significantly reduced the interactions of CK2α with both IP6 and the Nopp140-derived peptide. Our study gives an insight into the regulation of CK2. In particular, our work suggests that CK2 activity is inhibited by Nopp140 and reactivated by IP6 by competitive binding at the substrate recognition site of CK2.

The current status of an Yb optical lattice clock at the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS) is reported. The systematic uncertainty of the Yb clock in the first accuracy evaluation was 1.5 × 10−14 [Park et al., Metrologia 50, 119 (2013)]. The uncertainty was dominated by the large uncertainties in the lattice ac Stark shift and the collisional shift, which were mainly limited by the large linewidth and jitter of the clock laser. Recently, a highly stable clock laser at 578 nm was developed with a short-term linewidth of 3.5 Hz and a frequency jitter of about 25 Hz at 1 s and 10 s measurement times, respectively. The long-term frequency drift showed only a linear dependence on time, confirming that the temperature of the super-cavity was maintained a zero coefficient of thermal expansion. The frequency of the lattice laser at 759 nm was phase locked to the optical frequency comb and could be stabilized at the “absolute” frequency of the “magic wavelength”, to within a 1-MHz uncertainty. This improvement greatly reduced the fractional uncertainty due to the lattice ac Stark shift down to 2 × 10−16. The systematic uncertainty of the clock is currently 5.3 × 10−15 and is dominated by the collisional frequency shift.

Single-chain variable fragments of antibodies (scFv) specific to 2,4-dinitrotoluene (DNT) were isolated from a phage library displaying synthetic human scFv fragments with 6 diversified complementary determining regions (CDRs). A DNT derivative that contained an extended amine group was synthesized and conjugated to the NHS-group that was linked to magnetic beads. Phages specific to the immobilized DNT derivatives were isolated from the library after 4 rounds of sequential binding and elution processes. The displayed scFv fragments from the isolated phages showed consensus CDR sequences. One DNT-specific scFv was expressed in E. coli and purified using Ni-affinity chromatography. The purified DNT-specific scFv binds specifically to the immobilized DNT-derivative with value of M. The scFv and DNT interaction was not disrupted by the addition of 4-nitrotoluene or benzoic acid. These data demonstrate that the screened scFv from the phage displayed library could be used for selective and sensitive detection of explosives such as TNT.

Plasmonic nanostructures with enhanced localized optical fields as well as narrow linewidths have driven advances in numerous applications. However, the active engineering of ultranarrow resonances across the visible regime-and within a single system-has not yet been demonstrated. This paper describes how aluminum nanoparticle arrays embedded in an elastomeric slab may exhibit high-quality resonances with linewidths as narrow as 3 nm at wavelengths not accessible by conventional plasmonic materials. We exploited stretching to improve and tune simultaneously the optical response of as-fabricated nanoparticle arrays by shifting the diffraction mode relative to single-particle dipolar or quadrupolar resonances. This dynamic modulation of particle-particle spacing enabled either dipolar or quadrupolar lattice modes to be selectively accessed and individually optimized. Programmable plasmon modes offer a robust way to achieve real-time tunable materials for plasmon-enhanced molecular sensing and plasmonic nanolasers and opens new possibilities for integrating with flexible electronics.

In this paper we report on the implementation and stability analysis of a drift-compensated frequency synthesizer from a cryogenic sapphire oscillator (CSO) designed for a Cs/Rb atomic fountain clock. The synthesizer has two microwave outputs of 7 GHz and 9 GHz for Rb and Cs atom interrogation, respectively. The short-term stability of these microwave signals, measured using an optical frequency comb locked to an ultra-stable laser, is better than $5\times10^{-15}$ at an averaging time of 1 s. We demonstrate that the short-term stability of the synthesizer is lower than the quantum projection noise limit of the Cs fountain clock, KRISS-F1(Cs) by measuring the short-term stability of the fountain with varying trapped atom number. The stability of the fountain at 1-s averaging time reaches $2.5\times10^{-14}$ at the highest atom number in the experiment when the synthesizer is used as an interrogation oscillator of the fountain. In order to compensate the frequency drift of the CSO, the output frequency of a waveform generator in the synthesis chain is ramped linearly. By doing this, the stability of the synthesizer at an average time of one hour reaches a level of $10^{-16}$ which is measured with the fountain clock., 8 pages, 6 figures

This paper introduces an atomic gravimeter under development at KRISS for precise measurement of gravitational acceleration. The gravimeter based on atom interferometer uses two counter-propagating Raman lasers of π/2-π-π/2 pulse sequence and laser cooled 87Rb atoms in free fall. Atomic interference fringes caused by Raman lasers were observed at various time intervals between the three Raman pulses. The frequency sweep rate α which compensates Doppler shift due to gravitational acceleration g was obtained from the interference fringes. In the presentation, the current status and recent results of the KRISS atomic gravimeter will be discussed.

This paper reports implementation and operation of a frequency synthesizer based on a cryocooled cryogenic Sapphire oscillator (cryoCSO) for the Cesium atomic fountain clock developing at KRISS, KRISS-Fl(Cs). With use of this highly stable local oscillator, the short-term stability of KRISS-F1(Cs) was greatly improved and reaches the quantum projection noise limit, resulting in the measured lowest Allan deviation of 2.6×10−14. In addition, the long-term drift (4.8×10−14/day) of the cryoCSO could be compensated and reach below 5×10−16/day as low as state-of-the-art active hydrogen masers.

Nucleolar phosphoprotein 140 (Nopp140) is a nucleolar protein, more than 80% of which is disordered. Previous studies have shown that the C-terminal region of Nopp140 (residues 568-596) interacts with protein kinase CK2α, and inhibits the catalytic activity of CK2. Although the region of Nopp140 responsible for the interaction with CK2α was identified, the structural features and the effect of this interaction on the structure of Nopp140 have not been defined due to the difficulty of structural characterization of disordered protein. In this study, the disordered feature of Nopp140 and the effect of CK2α on the structure of Nopp140 were examined using single-molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer (smFRET) and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). The interaction with CK2α was increased conformational rigidity of the CK2α-interacting region of Nopp140 (Nopp140C), suggesting that the disordered and flexible conformation of Nopp140C became more rigid conformation as it binds to CK2α. In addition, site specific spin labeling and EPR analysis confirmed that the residues 574-589 of Nopp140 are critical for binding to CK2α. Similar technical approaches can be applied to analyze the conformational changes in other IDPs during their interactions with binding partners.

In renal cell carcinoma, transglutaminase 2 (TGase 2) crosslinks p53 in autophagosomes, resulting in p53 depletion and the tumor’s evasion of apoptosis. Inhibition of TGase 2 stabilizes p53 and induces tumor cells to enter apoptosis. This study explored the mechanism of TGase 2-dependent p53 degradation. We found that TGase 2 competes with human double minute 2 homolog (HDM2) for binding to p53; promotes autophagy-dependent p53 degradation in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) cell lines under starvation; and binds to p53 and p62 simultaneously without ubiquitin-dependent recognition of p62. The bound complex does not have crosslinking activity. A binding assay using a series of deletion mutants of p62, p53 and TGase 2 revealed that the PB1 (Phox and Bem1p-1) domain of p62 (residues 85–110) directly interacts with the β-barrel domains of TGase 2 (residues 592–687), whereas the HDM2-binding domain (transactivation domain, residues 15–26) of p53 interacts with the N terminus of TGase 2 (residues 1–139). In addition to the increase in p53 stability due to TGase 2 inhibition, the administration of a DNA-damaging anti-cancer drug such as doxorubicin-induced apoptosis in RCC cell lines and synergistically reduced tumor volume in a xenograft model. Combination therapy with a TGase 2 inhibitor and a DNA-damaging agent may represent an effective therapeutic approach for treating RCC.

We describe our high-performance experimental apparatus for producing large atom number 87Rb Bose-Einstein condensates by using a double magneto-optical trap (MOT) system that consists of a two-dimensional MOT (2D MOT) and a three-dimensional MOT (3D MOT). As an atomic beam source for loading the 3D MOT, we use a unique 2D MOT system with two-color pushing beams, which increase the loading rate and the total number of atoms in the 3D MOT, compared to a pure 2D MOT by a factor of 20. After MOT compression and polarization gradient cooling, atoms are optically pumped into a magnetically trappable hyperfine state |F = 1, mF = −1〉 to be loaded into a quadrupole-Ioffe-configuration (QUIC) trap. We enhance this optical pumping process by up to 300% by using two laser beams. After rf evaporative cooling, a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) with more than 2 × 107 atoms is achieved.