• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.83-89
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• 2022

Since the pandemic of COVID-19, active investigation to develop immunity to infectious disease by delivering nucleic acids has been proceeded. Particularly, many studies have been conducted on non-viral vector as several vital side-effects which were found on nucleic acid delivery system using viral vectors. In this study, we have developed plasmid DNA (pDNA) loaded-hyaluronic acid derivative (HA) coated-polyethyleneimine (PEI) based polyplex for enhanced nucleic acid delivery efficiency. We have optimized the ratio of pDNA : PEI : HA by measuring size and protein transcription efficiency. The final product, polyplex-HA, was characterized through measuring size, zeta-potential and TEM image. Intracellular uptake and protein transcription efficiency were compared to commercially available transfection reagent, lipofectamine, through fluorescence image and flow cytometry. In conclusion, polyplex-HA presents a novel gene delivery system for efficient and stable protein transcription since it is available for delivering various genetic materials and has less immunoreactivity.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.235-241
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• 2022

According to the World Water Development Report 2015 released by the United Nations, drinking water is expected to decrease by 40% by 2030. This does not mean that the amount of water decreases, but rather that the water source is contaminated due to environmental pollution. Because microbes are deeply related to water quality, the analysis of microbe is very important for water quality management. While the most common method currently used for microbial analysis is microscopic examination of the shape and feature after cell culture, as the gene analysis technology advances, quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) can be applied to the microscopic microbiological analysis, and the application method has been studied. Among them, a reverse transcription (RT) step enables the analysis of RNA by RT-PCR. Integrated cell culture (ICC)-qPCR shortens the test time by using it with microbial culture analysis, and viability qPCR can reduce the false positive errors of samples collected from natural water source. Multiplex qPCR for improved throughput, and microfluidic qPCR for analysis with limited amount of sample has been developed In this paper, we introduce the case, principle and development direction of the qPCR method applied to the analysis of microorganisms.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.670-673
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• 2023

The biocompatibility of hydroxyapatite (HAP) has led to its application in various fields. To accomplish practical biological applications, such as drug/gene delivery, the colloidal stability of HAP in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) is particularly important. In this study, we prepared a glycerol incorporated-HAP (Gly-HAP) by heating HAP in a glycerol environment at 200 ℃. To compare morphology and colloidal stability, HAP prepared at room temperature (RT-HAP) was thermally treated in water at 200 ℃ (H₂O-HAP). The heat treatment of HAP in both water and glycerol solutions results in an increase in the crystallinity of HAPs. Due to the low solubility of HAP in glycerol and the adsorption of glycerol on the HAP surface, crystal growth is limited. However, the heat-treated HAP under water increased in size by approximately four times compared to the initial crystallites. Compared to RT-HAP and H₂O-HAP, Gly-HAP shows improved colloidal stability in PBS, which originates from the adsorption of glycerol on the HAP surface that inhibits the agglomeration of individual HAP precipitates.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.38.1-38.8
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• 2021

Recently, a new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) (B.1.1.529) Omicron variant originated from South Africa in the middle of November 2021. SARS-CoV-2 is also called coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) since SARS-CoV-2 is the causative agent of COVID-19. Several studies already suggested that the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant would be the fastest transmissible variant compared to the previous 10 SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern, interest, and alert. Few clinical studies reported the high transmissibility of the Omicron variant but there is insufficient time to perform actual experiments to prove it, since the spread is so fast. We analyzed the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, which revealed a very high rate of mutation at amino acid residues that interact with angiostatin-converting enzyme 2. The mutation rate of COVID-19 is faster than what we prepared vaccine program, antibody therapy, lockdown, and quarantine against COVID-19 so far. Thus, it is necessary to find better strategies to overcome the current crisis of COVID-19 pandemic.