the largest accelerator of medical technology companies in the world had collaborated with Asia Pacific Medical Technology Association (APACMed) to recognise and honor the latest revolutionary medical technologies from around the globe at the forum staged on September 5th and 6th a Taiwanese Medical device company APrevent developing solutions for voice disorders emerged as the 2024 MedTech Innovator Asia Pacific Accelerator Program Lead Winner and awarded $175,000 KA Imaging (Canada) and Qritive (Singapore) are awarded $10,000 each for their exclusive innovations and contribution to the MedTech industry 2024 MedTech Innovator Asia Pacific Accelerator celebrated the APAC cohort companies' stellar innovations An expert panel of MedTech executives discussed the latest innovations in depth with the achievers Johnson & Johnson MedTech Asia Pacific; Vy Tran MedTech Innovator has been a catalyst for groundbreaking healthcare Solutions The accelerator works closely with stakeholders across the industry to foster the growth of early to mid-stage startups Till date MedTech Innovator has fostered the growth of 717 companies that have collectively raised over $8 billion in follow-on funding and introduced 345 products to the market more than 400 companies applied for the Asia Pacific Program and 20 were selected to complete the four-month Accelerator Program and digital health companies from around the globe made up the Asia Pacific cohort an unparalleled network of over 600 global peers and over $300,000 in cash and in kind prizes a Taiwan-based company has developed innovative solutions for voice and speech disorders and is the first Taiwanese company to win the MedTech Innovator Asia Pacific Accelerator Program Grand Prize “APrevent’s VOIS offers a significant improvement for the lives of patients suffering from glottic insufficiency or vocal fold paralysis reduce complications and enhance recovery through a minimally invasive procedure,” said Paul Grand breakthrough innovations in the MedTech field were recognized “APACMed is proud to partner with MedTech Innovator Asia Pacific supporting our shared goals to identify foster and mentor medtech innovation in the region to advance patient care,” said Harjit Gill Head of Business Development – Asia Pacific Johnson & Johnson MedTech said “Johnson & Johnson MedTech will continue to support MedTech Innovator APAC Accelerator in advancing new technologies for patients in our region which we view as one of the most promising areas for medtech innovation.” MedTech Innovator Asia Pacific unites best-in-class startups with investors and allied service professionals in the medtech industry to help drive commercialization of life-changing technologies in the region MM Activ Singapore Pte Ltd 1 North Bridge Road,#08-08 High Street Centre communications@biospectrumasia.com +65 90150305 Copyright 2025 MM Activ Singapore Pte Ltd Transwestern’s Paul Wittorf had quite the promotion recently when he went from SVP of the Houston office to executive managing partner and market leader for Transwestern’s North Texas operations We sat down for a quick Q&A to get to know him better Paul: My first job was working a bee farm in Navasota, TX. My first real estate job was leasing Esperson Buildings in Downtown Houston Bisnow: How did working on a bee farm prepare you for a career in commercial real estate Bisnow: As someone who has a fatal bee-sting allergy Paul: To gain the trust of Transwestern employees clients and the broader real estate community in DFW Bisnow: What is something you love about commercial real estate Paul: It’s a tie between crème brulee and bread pudding Paul: I can ride a unicycle while juggling Paul: The best thing about working in commercial real estate and specifically in Texas is the people We are also fortunate to be in such a business-friendly state which will contribute to the growth of our industry in the future Texas is a great place to be in the commercial real estate business You are subscribed to the Bisnow Dallas-Fort Worth Newsletter or click here to copy link to clipboard We will email you a link to reset your password Upcoming regulations in the European Union require us to show this pop-up and ask you to agree to keep using Bisnow.com We want to take 15 seconds to tell you what's going on: What: Ronald McDonald House of Dallas Under the Moonlight Gala Where: 141 Manufacturing Street mixed-use development The 411: Supporters of Ronald McDonald House of Dallas donned their cutest most colorful spring dresses on May 5 for the Cinco de Mayo-themed fiesta Attendees gathered at sunset for the organization's first in-person gala since the pandemic pause along with Holly and Paul Wittorf and honorary chairs Haylie and Bert Crouch a home-away-from-home for families of seriously ill children who travel to Dallas seeking medical treatment in area hospitals Cinco de Mayo was the perfect way to bring back the beloved gala said RMHD chief development officer Diane Fullingim the Under the Moonlight gala had been the pinnacle of our spring fundraising season raising over $3.5 million for the House since 2005,” she said “Getting to have the event in-person this year after such a long absence was an absolute blessing and that excitement was palpable in the room." Guests enjoyed the music of a mariachi band and noshed on authentic Mexican cuisine and sipped Osadía tequila tastings The industrial space had been transformed by event producer extraordinaire Hamilton A with hundreds of bright tissue paper blooms A competitive auction included such fabulous items as a private suite for 21 at the Kenny Chesney concert at AT&T Stadium a one-week luxury home escape in 30A Florida While exact figures were not made available the organization says it "smashed" its fundraising goals from gorgeous weather to The Masters golf tournament All that and more found its way onto chic chapeaus and sky-high hats at Mad Hatter's 2025 themed "Celebrating Spring in the South." The epic fundraising luncheon sponsored by the Women’s Council of the Dallas Arboretum assists with the development and Women's Council president Therese Rourk welcomed fashionably dressed guests to Ginsburg Plaza at the Dallas Arboretum on April 17 Kristyn Potter (@acaeventdesigns) captured the flirty while a lively and talented trio comprised of students from Lake Highlands High School Jazz Ensemble kept spirits high The Mad Hatter's extensive silent auction drew plenty of interest Those interested in competing for blue ribbons paraded their expertly crafted millinery before judges Amanda Shufeldt before the jazz trio led a vibrant second line into Rosine Hall for the fashion show The Taste of the Masters group.Photo by ASHGPHOTO Presented by NorthPark Center and produced by Jan Strimple with NBC 5 anchor Laura Harris serving as emcee the fresh fashions were as light as a spring breeze with beauty by Glossier and jewelry from Eiseman Jewels The hat winners then got their own turn on the runway: Emcee — and self-proclaimed Georgia peach —Laura Harris.Photo by ASHGPHOTO Guests were then invited to sit down to a lovely lunch of chilled avocado soup and mixed greens topped with sous-vide chicken all drizzled with peach-hot honey dressing A Bananas Foster tart proved a sweet ending to a positively enchanting day at the Dallas Arboretum Metrics details Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a heterogeneous disease characterized by clonal expansion of myeloid blasts in the bone marrow (BM) the prognosis for AML patients remains poor and there is a need to identify novel molecular pathways regulating tumor cell survival and proliferation but expression correlates with survival in AML patients and patients with higher expression have poorer outcomes Silencing FBXO21 in human-derived AML cell lines and primary patient samples leads to differentiation knockdown of FBXO21 leads to up-regulation of cytokine signaling pathways Through a mass spectrometry-based proteomic analysis of FBXO21 in AML we identified that FBXO21 ubiquitylates p85α a regulatory subunit of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway for degradation resulting in decreased PI3K signaling dimerization of free p85α and ERK activation These findings reveal the ubiquitin E3 ligase plays a critical role in regulating AML pathogenesis specifically through alterations in PI3K via regulation of p85α protein stability Little is known about the molecular mechanism of FBXO21 and it has not yet been studied within the context of malignant hematopoiesis knockdown (KD) of FBXO21 in AML patient samples and patient derived cells lines led to apoptosis and decreased proliferation at a greater degree compared to normal human CD34 + HSPC Silencing of FBXO21 in AML increased expression of inflammatory cytokines and chemokines we utilized a mass spectrometry based proteomic approach to identify p85α as a substrate of FBXO21 p85α is targeted for ubiquitination by FBXO21 and stabilization of p85α leads to apoptosis the data suggest that FBXO21 plays a key role leukemia progression and maintenance but has a limited role in normal hematopoiesis suggesting FBXO21 as a potential therapeutic target for drug discovery D Western blot probing for FBXO21 in two independent HBM samples compared to patient-derived AML (MOLM-13 A–J (MOLM-13: n = 3 biological replicates AML Patients: n = 3 technical replicates) MOLM-13 cells and 4 AML primary samples (2 de novo 2 relapse) were infected with lentiviral shRNAs against shFBXO21 and shNTC were analyzed at 72 h post puromycin selection by (A B) western blot for knockdown in (A) AML patient derived cell line (C) proliferative ability of MOLM-13 cells by cell count E) (left) representative flowcytometry plot and (right) bar graph of Annexin V and propidium iodide (PI) for percent of (1) AnnexinV+/PI− and (2) AnnexinV+/PI+ apoptotic cells in (D) MOLM-13 and (E) AML primary cells Cells were analyzed by flowcytometry for (F) (right) representative flowcytometry plot and (left) bar graph of CD11b (MOLM-13) and (G) (right) representative flowcytometry plot and (left) bar graph of CD15 (AML primary cells) expression Colony forming ability by CFU assay in (H) MOLM-13 and (I) AML primary cells J Survival of sub-lethally irradiated NSG mice transplanted with 5 × 105 MOLM-13 cells infected with shRNAs against shFBXO21 and shNTC 3 technical replicates) MOLM-13 cells were infected with retrovirus expressing FBXO21 and Empty control were analyzed after sorting via FACS for (A) protein expression by western blot (D) for percent of Annexin V+/PI- and Annexin V+/PI+ apoptotic cells (E) (left) representative flowcytometry plot and (right) bar graph of CD15 expression by flow cytometry and (F) survival of sub-lethally irradiated NSG mice transplanted with 5 × 105 cells infected with an Empty control or a plasmid overexpressing FBXO21 G MTT assay in MOLM-13 NTC and shFBXO21.55 following treatment with between 0.1-1000 nM cytarabine for 48 h and (I) AML primary cells with FBXO21 KD and shNTC and (J) MOLM-13 FBXO21 and Empty were treated with 50 nM cytarabine for 48 h stained with Annexin V and PI for Annexin V+/PI− and Annexin V+/PI+ apoptotic cells Together these finding demonstrate that levels of FBXO21 impact survival A Volcano plot showing fold change of expressed genes from MOLM-13 cells with silenced shFBXO21 and shNTC B Gene ontology analysis showing pathways known to be associated with significantly upregulated (p < 0.05 ≥1-fold change) and downregulated (p < 0.05 ≤1-fold change) genes using DAVID bioinformatics database C Localization of significantly upregulated genes (405) D Cytokine array for supernatant of MOLM-13 cells with shFBXO21 KD and shNTC membranes showing the change in inflammatory cytokines and quantified intensities relative to internal standards CXCL10 secretion was evaluated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in (E) MOLM-13 cells with silenced shFBXO21 and shNTC (F) AML primary cells with silenced shFBXO21 and shNTC and (G) MOLM-13 cells expressing FBXO21 and Empty control A Schematic of TMT MS and K-ε-GG IP/MS using MOLM-13 cells infected with shRNAs against shFBXO21 and shNTC B Volcano plots showing fold change of expressed proteins from shFBXO21 compared to shNTC cells C Gene ontology analysis showing pathways known to be associated with significantly upregulated (p < 0.05 ≥1.3-fold change) proteins using DAVID bioinformatics database Western blot for previously known FBXO21 substrates (ASK1 EID1) and other MAPK pathway proteins (D) in MOLM-13 cells and (E) AML primary cells proteins involved in cytokine signaling pathways and RNA-seq data comparing overlap of differentially expressed proteins and genes G Western blot in MOLM-13 cells for validation of upregulated proteins of interest identified via the combination of proteomic and genomic analysis the combination of proteomic and genomic analysis yielded two potential novel FBXO21 substrates in AML A Western blot of endogenous immunoprecipitation of FBXO21 in MOLM-13 cell line B Western blot of GFP and HA immunoprecipitation in HEK293T cells transiently transfected with plasmids expressing GFP-tagged p85α and/or HA-tagged FBXO21/∆FBXO21 C Western blot of shNTC/shFBXO21.55 MOLM-13 cells treated with 20 μM MG132 or DMSO D Western blot of Ubiquitin immunoprecipitation in shNTC/shFBXO21.55 HEK293T cells transiently transfected with p85α and 2 E Western blot of Ubiquitin immunoprecipitation in Empty/FBXO21/∆FBXO21 HEK293T cells transiently transfected with p85α and 5 or 10 μg Ubiquitin F HEK293T cells were transfected with GFP-tagged p85α After immunopurification with anti-GFP/anti-HA in vitro ubiquitylation of p85α was performed in the presence of E1 Samples were analyzed by western blot with the indicated antibodies these results demonstrate that FBXO21 directly mediates the ubiquitylation and degradation of p85α in AML 3 technical replicates) MOLM-13 cells were infected with retrovirus expressing p85α and Empty control were analyzed after sorting via FACS by (A) western blot (C) for percent of Annexin V+/PI- and Annexin V+/PI+ apoptotic cells Western blot in MOLM-13 cells with silenced shFBXO21 and shNTC for (F) PI3K pathway proteins and (G) native gel for PI3K complex proteins H Schematic highlighting FBXO21 mediated alterations within PI3K signaling pathway Together these finding suggest that p85α overexpression directly leads to ERK activation and elevated CXCL10 expression and elevated CXCL10 has a negative impact on AML cells This suggests that loss of FBXO21 leads to decreased canonical PI3K signaling and promotes dimerization of p85α leading to cell death and differentiation of AML cells by elevated CXCL10 via ERK activation led to activation of ERK and increased CXCL10 suggesting that p85α is either indirectly or directly activating ERK we found that silencing of FBXO21 leads to decreased canonical PI3K signaling with decreased activation of AKT as well as decreased interaction with the catalytic sub-unit p110 Excess free p85α due to overexpression and stabilization of p85α protein promoted dimerization of p85α Future studies are needed to decipher the signaling cascade altered by FBXO21 silencing and p85α overexpression It is unknown whether p85α dimers can activate ERK or decreased AKT phosphorylation promotes ERK activation Addition of CXCL10 to the media led to an anti-proliferative effect however previous studies have shown inhibition of AKT signaling can also inhibit suggesting multiple players in the signaling cascade maybe contributing to the anti-proliferative effects These findings identify a novel role of FBXO21 in regulating PI3K signaling in AML These findings identify a novel role for FBXO21 in PI3K signaling by ubiquitination of p85α Although p85α is a regulatory sub-unit of PI3K signaling and lacks kinase activity excess free p85α following silencing leads to dimerization and decreased interaction with its catalytic sub-unit p110 the data suggest targeting FBXO21 could inhibit canonical PI3K signaling and impedes growth of AML but may also impede growth of other cancer sub-types dependent on canonical PI3K signaling Lentivirus was produced according to manufacturer instructions Cells were treated with 1 μg/ml of puromycin 48 h post infection cells were treated for 48 h with 50 nM cytarabine cells were treated for 4 h with 20 µM MG132 For CFC assay cells were plated 100 cells/well of a 24-well plate in Methocult (H4434 5 × 105 MOLM-13 cells were transplanted into sub-lethally (250 cGy) irradiated 6–10 week old NSG mice (#005557 All experiments performed were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the University of Nebraska Medical Center in accordance with NIH guidelines staining was performed following BioLegend apoptosis staining protocol Antibodies listed in supplemental materials and methods Total RNA was harvested from cells using the Monarch Total RNA Miniprep Kit (New England Biolabs RNA sequencing and analysis was performed by Novogene Cytokine arrays were performed in accordance with the manufacturer’s protocol (R&D Systems Proteome Profiler Array: Human Cytokine Array Kit) CXCL10 ELISA assays were performed per manufacturer’s protocol (R&D Systems HEK293T cells were transfected with plasmids encoding HA-FBXO21 or GFP-p85α were immunopurified from the whole cell extracts using Anti-HA (Sigma) or Anti-GFP (MBL International) beads overnight at 4 °C The immunopurified HA-FBXO21 or HA-ΔFBXO21 (0.5 µg) proteins were incubated with immunopurified GFP-p85α (0.5 µg) Ubiquitylation reactions were performed in 100 mM NaCl and stopped with 2× laemmli buffer (10 min at 95 °C) All experiments were performed in triplicate unless noted and statistical analyses were performed using unpaired two-tailed Student’s t test assuming samples of equal variance Error bars depict the standard deviation ± mean the p value was calculated using a Log-rank (Mantel-cox) test The remaining data needed to evaluate all conclusions are available within the Article and/or Supplementary Information The ubiquitin ligase FBXW7 modulates leukemia-initiating cell activity by regulating MYC stability Regulation of c-Myc ubiquitination controls chronic myelogenous leukemia initiation and progression The SCF ubiquitin ligase: insights into a molecular machine Regulation of normal and malignant hematopoiesis by FBOX ubiquitin E3 ligases Genomic and epigenomic landscapes of adult de novo acute myeloid leukemia FBXO21 mediates the ubiquitylation and proteasomal degradation of EID1 A comprehensive method for detecting ubiquitinated substrates using TR-TUBE Peptidic degron in EID1 is recognized by an SCF E3 ligase complex containing the orphan F-box protein FBXO21 Lys29-linkage of ASK1 by Skp1-cullin 1-Fbxo21 ubiquitin ligase complex is required for antiviral innate response Pcid2 inactivates developmental genes in human and mouse embryonic stem cells to sustain their pluripotency by modulation of EID1 stability F-box protein interactions with the hallmark pathways in cancer Ubiquitin E3 ligase FBXO21 regulates cytokine-mediated signaling pathways but is dispensable for steady-state hematopoiesis Clinical utility of microarray-based gene expression profiling in the diagnosis and subclassification of leukemia: report from the International Microarray Innovations in Leukemia Study Group Validation and refinement of the Disease Risk Index for allogeneic stem cell transplantation Diagnosis and management of acute myeloid leukemia in adults: recommendations from an international expert panel Allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation for adults with acute myeloid leukemia: myths Comorbidity-age index: a clinical measure of biologic age before allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation The emerging role of CXCL10 in cancer (Review) Downmodulation of ERK activity inhibits the proliferation and induces the apoptosis of primary acute myelogenous leukemia blasts Survival of acute myeloid leukemia cells requires PI3 kinase activation PI3 kinase alpha and delta promote hematopoietic stem cell activation Oncogenic activity of the regulatory subunit p85β of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) Pan-cancer analysis on the role of PIK3R1 and PIK3R2 in human tumors Class IA PI3K regulatory subunits: p110-independent roles and structures Deregulated Gab2 phosphorylation mediates aberrant AKT and STAT3 signaling upon PIK3R1 loss in ovarian cancer Interleukin-6 activates phosphoinositol-3′ kinase in multiple myeloma tumor cells by signaling through RAS-dependent and GLI1 reduces drug sensitivity by regulating cell cycle through PI3K/AKT/GSK3/CDK pathway in acute myeloid leukemia Molecular balance between the regulatory and catalytic subunits of phosphoinositide 3-kinase regulates cell signaling and survival High frequency of PIK3R1 and PIK3R2 mutations in endometrial cancer elucidates a novel mechanism for regulation of PTEN protein stability Naturally occurring neomorphic PIK3R1 mutations activate the MAPK pathway dictating therapeutic response to MAPK pathway inhibitors The MLL recombinome of acute leukemias in 2017 and prognosis in adult acute myeloid leukemia Mll rearrangements in haematological malignancies: lessons from clinical and biological studies ERK signaling mediates the induction of inflammatory cytokines by bufalin in human monocytic cells GEPIA: a web server for cancer and normal gene expression profiling and interactive analyses The PI3K-Akt-mTOR signaling pathway in human acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells PI3K regulates MEK/ERK signaling in breast cancer via the Rac-GEF The Ras-ERK and PI3K-mTOR pathways: cross-talk and compensation The crossregulation between ERK and PI3K signaling pathways determines the tumoricidal efficacy of MEK inhibitor Multi-omics reveals mitochondrial metabolism proteins susceptible for drug discovery in AML Loss of FBXO9 enhances proteasome activity and promotes aggressiveness in acute myeloid leukemia UBR5 HECT domain mutations identified in mantle cell lymphoma control maturation of B cells Regulation of pluripotency and cellular reprogramming by the ubiquitin-proteasome system The ProteomeXchange consortium in 2017: supporting the cultural change in proteomics public data deposition Download references We would like to thank the University of Utah Flow Cytometry Shared Resource Laboratory Division of Hematology Biorepository at Huntsman Cancer Institute UNMC Flow Cytometry Research Facility and UNMC Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics Core Facility for expert assistance The UNMC core facilities are administrated through the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and supported by state funds from the Nebraska Research Initiative (NRI) and The Fred and Pamela Buffett Cancer Center’s National Cancer Institute Cancer Support Grant Human CD34+ cells were available with the support of Cooperative Centers of Excellence in Hematology NIDDK Grant # DK106829 KJW was supported by the UNMC Internal Fellowship SMB is supported by the National Institutes of Health P20GM121316 RKH and SMB are supported by the UNMC Pediatric Cancer Group This publication was supported by the Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah supported by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) under award number P30CA042014 and Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center Support Grant from the National Cancer Institute under award number P30CA036727 These authors contributed equally: Kasidy K Division of Hematology & Hematopoietic Malignancies Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and SMB conceived and designed the experiments CMG and SMB performed experiments and analysis NTW provided technical and/or material support All authors reviewed the manuscript before submission The authors declare no competing interests Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations Download citation DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41375-023-02020-w Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: a shareable link is not currently available for this article – Everything has changed for 45-year-old Jennifer Johnson A year sober and clean from alcohol and drug addiction she’s built an unshakable support system spurring her toward a better life Jennifer’s mom had cancer when she was young contributing to feelings she was attempting to escape she was free to do what she wanted with little risk of getting caught or punished At a very young age she started using drugs “That’s normal around here,” Jennifer said and for years she didn’t think anything was wrong she was an exotic dancer and got paid to drink This fed her increased dependance on alcohol “I just thought I was having a good time,” Jennifer said “My mother told me I couldn’t party for a living and during that time experienced a shattered vertebrae in her neck due to a car accident amphetamines were introduced to her through a group of friends she had gotten pregnant and curbed drug and alcohol usage long enough to have the baby Jennifer and the father split up when the baby was very young due to continuous drug and alcohol usage from both she went through a period of using cocaine which drove a wedge between her and her mother due to frequent stealing Jennifer decided to check herself into rehab and after some time she was pregnant with another child due to various circumstances relating to her addiction she was unable to have custody of either child Her drug usage then spiraled for many years “I had learned all the tricks to get away with it,” she said making it possible to use drugs without people’s knowledge things began to change when she most recently got arrested on a possession charge The judge explored sending her to The Lovelady Center recovery program the judge instead sent her to the Mobile Day Reporting Center This outcome was a good thing for Jennifer who works best under pressure and needed a program more stringent “[The judge] sent me to the DRC thinking it wouldn’t be in my favor At the DRC you can’t get away with anything One surprise coming to the Mobile DRC was the ability to be mentored again by Bridgette Davis who was a previous counselor at a methadone treatment program years prior not only willing to help herself but help others.” “The classes were not like other classes,” said Jennifer “The life skills were actually teaching me something I needed to know about my addiction The stuff they taught me replaced what I thought I knew about myself and the more I was out in the real world clean I had no idea it would be this wonderful.” DRC classes are known for their rigorous workload and hard work needed to graduate but most credit those elements to the program’s success Mobile DRC Administrator Seaton Fitzgerald who has high standards for success in the program was impressed with Jennifer’s work: “She’s great She’s been one person who has made my job really easy.” family and mentors who assisted her while in the DRC program She frequently prays for people who lack the resources and support available to her she has completed her GED and gotten her driver’s license during her first year of sobriety Jennifer credits Alcoholics Anonymous for continuing to set her on the right path Jennifer is now able to help others struggling with similar addictions “[Jennifer’s] transformation always amazes me,” said Lisa “When I go to meetings and see the light come on in her eyes – it’s such a gift.” a friend and fellow Mobile DRC participant also expressed support for Jennifer: “She is an absolute inspiration she really helped with building that foundation for a good recovery path.” “If you’re not serious about recovery you’re not going to like it,” Jennifer said when asked about advice for other DRC participants: “If you’re serious about it it can be the best thing you’ve ever done for your life.” She believes state leaders need to take a close look at how individuals with drug addiction are treated: “Drug addicts in jail just feed into other drug addicts I think something better will come if enough people get interested.” “They’ll keep you clean long enough for your heart to catch up with your mind,” Jennifer said the Mobile DRC program is highly effective at providing a path for recovery Jennifer was ultimately the one who took those steps Jennifer had many supportive people to guide her but then the unexpected happened: she became the mentor to those needing her the most Mobile Day Reporting Center Participant Jennifer Johnson questions@paroles.alabama.gov By Steve BrownReal Estate Editor Paul Wittorf will take over in June as executive managing partner of Transwestern’s Dallas-Fort Worth office Wittorf – who’s currently in the firm’s Houston office – will take over from longtime Transwestern exec Jack Eimer who’s moving to a new role on the company’s national leadership team Eimer had headed the Dallas-based operation for more than two decades I felt the urge to do something new and different while still contributing to the Transwestern national platform,” Eimer said in a letter to Transwestern’s North Texas team it became clear to us who the best candidate is to take our D-FW operations to even higher levels through the next generation.” Business BriefingBecome a business insider with the latest news GoogleFacebookBy signing up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy Wittorf has been in Transwestern’s Houston office since 2000. He’s been one of the company’s top producers in leasing and marketing office buildings. In his new job in Dallas he will oversee an operation with more than 300 people that leases and manages 220 properties totaling 55 million square feet. “We have grown our operation almost eight times its mid-1990s size,” Eimer said. Eimer will continue to serve on the firm’s Executive Committee and Board of Directors and will continue to work in Dallas. Join the conversation Thank you for reading. We welcome your thoughts on this topic. Comments are moderated for adherence to our Community Guidelines Please read the guidelines before participating This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page Metrics details Reduction of the greenhouse gas N2O to N2 is a trait among denitrifying and non-denitrifying microorganisms having an N2O reductase and physiological differences among organisms within the clades may affect N2O emissions from ecosystems To increase our understanding of the ecophysiology of N2O reducers we determined the thermodynamic growth efficiency of N2O reduction and the selection of N2O reducers under N2O- or acetate-limiting conditions in a continuous culture enriched from a natural community with N2O as electron acceptor and acetate as electron donor The biomass yields were higher during N2O limitation irrespective of dilution rate and community composition The former was corroborated in a continuous culture of Pseudomonas stutzeri and was potentially due to cytotoxic effects of surplus N2O Denitrifiers were favored over non-denitrifying N2O reducers under all conditions and Proteobacteria harboring clade I nosZ dominated The abundance of nosZ clade II increased when allowing for lower growth rates but bacteria with nosZ clade I had a higher affinity for N2O the specific growth rate is likely a key factor determining the composition of communities living on N2O respiration under growth-limited conditions there are no reports on long-term growth of bacteria based on their N2O-reducing capacity and the selective effect of N2O as sole electron acceptor in natural communities closely related to the dominant population in the enrichment culture during high dilution rates An acetate-consuming N2O-reducing culture was enriched from activated sludge and cultivated in a double-jacket glass bioreactor with a working volume of 2 l (Applikon the Netherlands) operated as a continuous stirred tank reactor (i.e. a flow-controlled chemostat) during 195 days Mixing was achieved with a stirrer having two standard geometry six-blade turbines turning at 750 rpm The dilution rate was controlled by two peristaltic pumps feeding-concentrated medium and water to the system and an effluent pump controlled by a level sensor The reactor temperature was maintained at 20 ± 1 °C using a cryostat bath (Lauda The pH was monitored with a pH electrode (Mettler Toledo) and maintained at 7.0 ± 0.05 by titration of 1 M HCl controlled by an ADI 1030 biocontroller (Applikon) The chemostat was operated under non-sterile conditions and cleaned approximately every 3 weeks to remove any biofilm present The contribution of biofilm growth to the amount of biomass inside the reactor was negligible Before terminating the chemostat experiment a batch experiment was performed on day 192 to compare the maximum acetate conversion rate of the enrichment with either N2O or NO3− as an electron acceptor the influent and effluent pumps of the chemostat were stopped but flushing with N2 gas was kept constant (at 800 ml min−1) The sparging with N2O was initially increased to obtain maximum conversion rates on N2O and then stopped before adding 1 mM NO3− and monitoring its reduction a strain closely related to the dominant population in the enrichment culture during periods I and II was grown under alternating N2O and acetate-limiting conditions The chemostat reactor set-up was similar to the one described above The substrate and mineral medium were fed simultaneously but final concentrations in the influent were the same as in the enrichment culture The mineral medium was adjusted to a defined medium by removing the yeast extract The chemostat was inoculated with a pre-culture of P stutzeri JM300 grown aerobically in a shake flask and harvested at exponential phase Start-up of the reactor was initially in batch mode with the defined mineral medium supplemented with 30 mM NO3− to induce denitrification and medium was added at a dilution rate of 0.044 h−1 the N2O supply rate varied to achieve N2O-limiting vs diluted in N2 supplied at a rate of 600 ml min−1 Samples from the reactor for analysis of acetate and NH4+ were immediately filtered after sampling (0.45-μm pore size poly-vinylidene difluoride membrane Acetate was measured with a Chrompack CP 9001 gas chromatograph (Chrompack the Netherlands) equipped with an HP Innowax column (Algilent Technologies was determined spectrophotometrically using cuvette test kits (Hach Lange For the estimation of biomass concentration the volatile suspended solids (VSS) concentration was determined by centrifuging 0.2 l of the enrichment and then burning the pellet at 550 °C for 2 h to determine the ash content and CO2 in the headspace of the reactor were monitored in dried gas either by using an infrared gas analyzer (NGA 2000 USA) or through mass spectrometry (Prima BT The N2O consumption and N2 and CO2 production rates were computed from the off-gas partial pressure and the gas supply rate Dissolved N2O as well as dissolved CO2 and ionized species were included in the mass balances an average of the N2O consumption and the N2 production was used to estimate the moles of electrons accepted To monitor the microbial community structure of the enrichment the reactor was sampled regularly for microscopy and DNA extraction for quantitative PCR and sequencing as described below DNA was extracted from a pellet retrieved from 2 ml of the enrichment culture at each sampling occasion and from the activated sludge samples used as inoculum using the PowerLyzer PowerSoil DNA Isolation Kit (MoBio Laboratories) DNA was quantified using the Qubit Fluorometer (Life Technologies Corporation) Standard curves were obtained using serial dilutions of linearized plasmids containing fragments of the respective genes We tested for PCR inhibitors in all DNA extracts with a plasmid-specific qPCR assay (pGEM-T; Promega) and no inhibition was detected when comparing to controls with only the plasmid added Sequencing was performed by Microsynth (Microsynth AG) on the MiSeq platform (Illumina) using 2 × 300 bp paired-end chemistry for 16S rRNA genes and on a 454 FLX Genome Sequencer (Roche) using Titanium FLX + chemistry for the nosZ genes The sequences obtained in this study are available at The Sequence Read Archive under the accession number PRJNA398140 using a hybridization buffer containing 35% (v/v) formamide Slides were observed with an epifluorescence microscope (Axioplan 2 the Netherlands) and images were acquired with a Zeiss MRM camera compiled with the Zeiss microscopy image acquisition software (AxioVision version 4.7 and nirK genes during operation of the N2O-reducing chemostat under four conditions (I–IV) with either acetate or N2O as growth-limiting factor The nirS and nirK genes were abundant in the enrichment culture throughout the entire time of operation (Fig. 1) except for a short period in which both genes were equally abundant (period II) The abundance of nirS was strongly affected by the shift from nitrous oxide to acetate limitation during the low dilution rate whereas nirK and nosZ genes were mainly affected by the change in dilution rate Relative abundance of nosZI (a) and nosZII (b) OTUs with >10% of the sequences at any given date during operation of the N2O-reducing chemostat under four conditions (I–IV). The OTUs are listed on the right-hand side with genus/family indicated in parenthesis (see Figure S2) Closely related OTUs are shown in shades of the same color When the relative abundances of the main groups present in the enrichment were independently validated using FISH, the results roughly corroborated those obtained by 16S rRNA sequencing (Figure S4) Gammaproteobacteria dominated the enrichment during periods I and II and were later washed out and replaced by Betaproteobacteria Microscopy did not reveal the presence of other cells than prokaryotes this phylum is understudied and might include members with other metabolic features than what is currently described Their presence could also indicate important microbial interactions that we cannot account for (e.g. etc.) resulting in the co-existence of N2O-reducing denitrifiers and other organisms We can only speculate about the Gracilibacteria living off the fermentation of byproducts excreted by denitrifiers or products of cell lysis The rhizosphere is an example of an environment where carbon supply is high and high growth rate or overall affinity would be a competitive advantage It would be interesting to address the competition of nosZ clade I vs clade II under N2O limitation under a larger range of growth rates N2O reducers would necessarily have to harvest energy during N2O reduction as it was the sole electron acceptor provided Nitrous oxide (N2O): the dominant ozone-depleting substance emitted in the 21st century Genomics and ecology of novel N2O-reducing microorganisms Nitric oxide and nitrous oxide turnover in natural and engineered microbial communities: biological pathways The unaccounted yet abundant nitrous oxide−reducing microbial community: a potential nitrous oxide sink Unexpected nondenitrifier nitrous oxide reductase gene diversity and abundance in soils Intergenomic comparisons highlight modularity of the denitrification pathway and underpin the importance of community structure for N2O emissions Recently identified microbial guild mediates soil N2O sink capacity Non-denitrifying nitrous oxide-reducing bacteria - an effective N2O sink in soil Substrate oxidation and nitrous oxide utilization in denitrification Three transcription regulators of the Nss family mediate the adaptive response induced by nitrate nitric oxide or nitrous oxide in Wolinella succinogenes Nitrous oxide reduction kinetics distinguish bacteria harboring clade I NosZ from those harboring clade II NosZ Diversity and evolution of bioenergetic systems involved in microbial nitrogen compound transformations Habitat partitioning of marine benthic denitrifier communities in response to oxygen availability Comparison of bacterial communities of conventional and A-stage activated sludge systems Simple model for the energetics of growth on substrates with different degrees of reduction Barcoded primers used in multiplex amplicon pyrosequencing bias amplification Development of a prokaryotic universal primer for simultaneous analysis of Bacteria and Archaea using next-generation sequencing Bourtzis K (ed) PEAR: a fast and accurate Illumina paired-end reAd mergeR VSEARCH: a versatile open source tool for metagenomics UCHIME improves sensitivity and speed of chimera detection SINA: accurate high-throughput multiple sequence alignment of ribosomal RNA genes QIIME allows analysis of high-throughput community sequencing data HMM-FRAME: accurate protein domain classification for metagenomic sequences containing frameshift errors Spatial and phyloecological analyses of nosZ genes underscore niche differentiation amongst terrestrial N2O reducing communities FunGene: the functional gene pipeline and repository ARB: a software environment for sequence data FastTree 2 - approximately maximum-likelihood trees for large alignments Poon AFY (ed) A general empirical model of protein evolution derived from multiple protein families using a maximum-likelihood approach Enrichment of a mixed bacterial culture with a high polyhydroxyalkanoate storage capacity Insights into the phylogeny and coding potential of microbial dark matter Anaerobic oxidation of thiosulfate to tetrathionate by obligately heterotrophic bacteria belonging to the Pseudomonas stutzeri group Isolation and properties of a denitrifying bacterium related to Pseudomonas lemoignei Pathway of nitrous oxide consumption in isolated Pseudomonas stutzeri strains under anoxic and oxic conditions Phenotypic and genotypic heterogeneity among closely related soil-borne N2- and N2O-producing Bacillus isolates harboring the nosZ gene Soil type overrides plant effect on genetic and enzymatic N2O production potential in arable soils Intercropping affects genetic potential for inorganic nitrogen cycling by root-associated microorganisms in Medicago sativa and Dactylis glomerata Growth yields in bacterial denitrification and nitrate ammonification Copper control of bacterial nitrous oxide emission and its impact on vitamin B12-dependent metabolism Expression of nitrous oxide reductase in Paracoccus denitrificans is regulated by oxygen and nitric oxide through FnrP and NNR Nitrous oxide reduction by an obligate aerobic bacterium and sulfur cycling among widespread estuary sediment bacteria Download references This work was funded by the European Commission (Marie Curie ITN NORA FP7-316472) and the Swedish Research Council (VR grant 2016-03551 to SH) We like to warmly thank Koen Verhagen for carrying out preliminary work with the N2O chemostat and Gerben Stouten for his help with the off-gas measurements The European Commission (Marie Sklodpowska-Curie ITN NORA FP7-316472) and the Swedish Research Council (grant 2016-03551) Department of Forest Mycology and Plant Pathology Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest Download citation DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41396-018-0063-7 Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering (2023) Home   Business   Article PetaGene’s PetaSuite software has been chosen to compress the huge data sets used at AstraZeneca’s Centre for Genomics Research (CGR) The CGR investigates the underlying genetic causes of disease and aims to integrate genomics across AstraZeneca’s drug discovery platform The scale of data required for such work is enormous. AstraZeneca’s CGR has so far processed more than 200,000 genomics datasets generating more than a petabyte of data - equivalent to the streaming HD movies for 40 years without a break PetaSuite is designed to accelerate data transfer for cloud computing and reduce storage costs for research projects involving genomics data co-founder and chief commercial officer of PetaGene which is based in Cambridge’s Hauser Forum said: “Using genomic data for biopharmaceutical targets discovery requires large cohorts with massive multi-petabyte data sets “The time required to transfer these data from sequencers to compute clusters as well as the cost of storage can cripple these large initiatives “PetaSuite addresses the challenges caused by growing volumes of genomics data and achieves up to 10x reductions in storage costs and transfer times while adhering to the industry-standard BAM and FASTQ genomics file formats.” PetaGene says its compression software will enable the CGR to compress more than 200,000 BAM files in a 24-hour period and will add the compressed data to tiered cloud storage the CGR can reduce its data by an average of 76 per cent or achieve a fourfold expansion in storage capacity The lossless compression of files reduces transfer times to less than a quarter and the software enables unmodified analysis tools to run more quickly vice president and head of genome analytics and bioinformatics at AstraZenecam said: “AstraZeneca’s Centre for Genomics Research has the bold ambition to analyse up to two million genomes by 2026 Minimizing the storage footprint and transfer time of genome data while maximizing data access and compute processing is a necessity to enable us to achieve our ambition.” PetaSuite is typically used as an intrinsic part of a client’s cloud or locally hosted analysis pipeline Data is compressed ready to use as it is processed and moves to the next stage of analysis without it needing to be decompressed later AstraZeneca records 18% sales growth in Q3 of 2019 as impressive results continue