Immunology

Cellular health and function, as we know today, depend on a large extent on mitochondrial function. The essential function of mitochondria is the energy production, more precisely ATP production, via oxidative phosphorylation. Mitochondrial energy production parameters therefore represent important biomarkers. Studies on human cells have mainly

Sepsis is a dysregulated hyperinflammatory disease caused by infection. Sepsis leads to multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS), which is associated with high rates of mortality. The cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) model has been widely used in animals and has become the gold-standard method of replicating features of sepsis in humans.

Creating a robust and controlled infection model is imperative for studying the innate immune response. Leveraging the particular strengths of the zebrafish model system, such as optical transparency, ex utero development, and large clutch size, allows for the development of methods that yield consistent and reproducible results. We created a

Most vaccines require co-delivery of an adjuvant in order to generate the desired immune responses. However, many currently available adjuvants are non-biodegradable, have limited efficacy, and/or poor safety profile. Thus, new adjuvants, or self-adjuvanting vaccine delivery systems, are required. Here, we proposed a self-adjuvanting delivery

In this protocol, we describe a method to monitor cell migration by live-cell imaging of adherent cells. Scratching assay is a common method to investigate cell migration or wound healing capacity. However, achieving homogenous scratching, finding the optimal time window for end-point analysis and performing an objective image analysis imply, even

The mucus layer in the gastrointestinal tract covers the apical surface of intestinal epithelial cells, protecting the mucosal tissue from enteric pathogen and commensal microorganisms. The mucus is primarily composed of glycosylated protein called mucins, which are produced by goblet cells, a type of columnar epithelial cells in the intestinal

The ability to conduct in vivo macrophage-specific depletion remains an effective means to uncover functions of macrophages in a wide range of physiological contexts. Compared to the murine model, zebrafish offer superior imaging capabilities due to their optical transparency starting from a single-cell stage to throughout larval development.

Myeloid progenitors in the bone marrow generate monocytes, macrophages, granulocytes and most dendritic cells. Even though these innate immune cells are part of the same lineage, each cell type plays a specific and critical role in tissue development, host defense and the generation of adaptive immunity. Protocols have been developed in the past

The formation of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) is thought to play a critical role in infections and propagating sterile inflammation. Histone citrullination is an essential and early step in NETs formation, detectable prior to the formation of the hallmark extracellular DNA-scaffolded strands. In addition to the classical microscopy

Phytophthora infestans is a hemibiotroph oomycete that primarily infects potato and tomato. It infects stems, leaves, and tubers and fruits of potato and tomato. High throughput and reproducible infection assays are prerequisites to find sources of resistance in any crop. In this protocol, we describe a detached leaf assay (DLA) for conducting the