• Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.271-290
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• 2020

The paper describes the analysis of deployment strategies and trajectories design suitable for executing the inspection of an operative spacecraft in orbit through re-usable CubeSats. Similar missions have been though indeed, and one mission recently flew from the International Space Station. However, it is important to underline that the inspection of an operative spacecraft in orbit features some peculiar characteristics which have not been demonstrated by any mission flown to date. The most critical aspects of the CubeSat inspection mission stem from safety issues and technology availability in the following areas: trajectory design and motion control of the inspector relative to the target, communications architecture, deployment and retrieval of the inspector, and observation needs. The objectives of the present study are 1) the identification of requirements applicable to the deployment of a nanosatellite from the mother-craft, which is also the subject of the inspection, and 2) the identification of solutions for the trajectories to be flown along the mission phases. The mission for the in-situ observation of Space Rider is proposed as reference case, but the conclusions are applicable to other targets such as the ISS, and they might also be useful for missions targeted at debris inspection.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.7.1-7.13
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• 2021

Levodopa (L-DOPA) therapy is normally practised to treat motor pattern associated with Parkinson disease (PD). Additionally, several inhibitory drugs such as Entacapone and Opicapone are also cosupplemented to protect peripheral inactivation of exogenous L-DOPA (~80%) that occurs due to metabolic activity of the enzyme catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT). Although, both Entacapone and Opicapone have U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval but regular use of these drugs is associated with high risk of side effects. Thus, authors have focused on in silico discovery of phytochemicals and evaluation of their effectiveness against human soluble COMT using virtual screening, molecular docking, drug-like property prediction, generation of pharmacophoric property, and molecular dynamics simulation. Overall, study proposed, nine phytochemicals (withaphysalin D, withaphysalin N, withaferin A, withacnistin, withaphysalin C, withaphysalin O, withanolide B, withasomnine, and withaphysalin F) of plant Withania somnifera have strong binding efficiency against human COMT in comparison to both of the drugs i.e., Opicapone and Entacapone, thus may be used as putative bioenhancer in L-DOPA therapy. The present study needs further experimental validation to be used as an adjuvant in PD treatment.

• BMB Reports
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• v.56 no.11
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• pp.594-599
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• 2023

A number of therapeutic drugs have been developed from functional chemicals found in plants. Knowledge of plants used for medicinal purposes has historically been transmitted by word of mouth or through literature. The aim of the present study is to provide a systemic platform for the development of lead compounds against breast cancer based on a traditional medical text. To verify our systematic approach, integrating processes consisted of text mining of traditional medical texts, 3-D virtual docking screening, and in vitro and in vivo experimental validations were demonstrated. Our text analysis system identified rutin as a specific phytochemical traditionally used for cancer treatment. 3-D virtual screening predicted that rutin could block EGFR signaling. Thus, we validated significant anti-cancer effects of rutin against breast cancer cells through blockade of EGFR signaling pathway in vitro. We also demonstrated in vivo anti-cancer effects of rutin using the breast cancer recurrence in vivo models. In summary, our innovative approach might be proper for discovering new phytochemical lead compounds designing for blockade of malignant neoplasm including breast cancer.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.65-74
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• 2021

Serine proteases are the most versatile proteolytic enzymes with tremendous applications in various industrial processes. This study was designed to investigate the biochemical properties, critical residues, and the catalytic potential of alkaline serine protease using in-silico approaches. The primary sequence was analyzed using ProtParam, SignalP, and Phyre2 tools to investigate biochemical properties, signal peptide, and secondary structure, respectively. The three-dimensional structure of the enzyme was modeled using the MODELLER program present in Discovery Studio followed by Molecular Dynamics simulation using GROMACS 5.0.7 package with CHARMM36m force field. The proteolytic potential was measured by performing docking with casein- and keratin-enriched residues, while the effect of the inhibitor was studied using phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride, (PMSF) applying GOLDv5.2.2. Molecular weight, instability index, aliphatic index, and isoelectric point for serine protease were 39.53 kDa, 27.79, 82.20 and 8.91, respectively. The best model was selected based on the lowest MOLPDF score (1382.82) and DOPE score (-29984.07). The analysis using ProSA-web revealed a Z-score of -9.7, whereas 88.86% of the residues occupied the most favored region in the Ramachandran plot. Ser327, Asp138, Asn261, and Thr326 were found as critical residues involved in ligand binding and execution of biocatalysis. Our findings suggest that bioengineering of these critical residues may enhance the catalytic potential of this enzyme.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.312-318
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• 2023

The natural flavonoid macakurzin C (1) exhibited adiponectin biosynthesis-inducing activity during adipogenesis in human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells and its molecular mechanism was directly associated with a pan-peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) modulator affecting all three PPAR subtypes α, γ, and δ. In this study, increases in adiponectin biosynthesis-inducing activity by macakurzin C derivatives (2-7) were studied. The most potent adiponectin biosynthesis-inducing compound 6, macakurzin C 3,5-dimethylether, was elucidated as a dual PPARα/γ modulator. Compound 6 may exhibit the most potent activity because of the antagonistic relationship between PPARδ and PPARγ. Docking studies revealed that the O-methylation of macakurzin C to generate compound 6 significantly disrupted PPARδ binding. Compound 6 has therapeutic potential in hypoadiponectinemia-related metabolic diseases.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Bioinformatics Conference
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• 2005.09a
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• pp.139-143
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• 2005

Cytochrome P450 14${\alpha}$-sterol demethylase enzyme (CYP51) is the target a of azole type antifungals. The azole blocks the ergosterol synthesis and thereby inhibits fungal growth. A three-dimensional (3D) homology model of CYP51 from Candida albicans was constructed based on the X-ray crystal structure of CYP51 from Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Using this model, the binding modes for the substrate (24-methylene-24, 25-dihydrolanosterol) and the known inhibitors (fluconazole, voriconazole, oxiconazole, miconazole) were predicted from docking. Virtual screening was performed employing Structure Based Focusing (SBF). In this procedure, the pharmacophore models for database search were generated from the protein-ligands interactions each other. The initial structure-based virtual screening selected 15 compounds from a commercial available 3D database of approximately 50,000 molecule library, Being evaluated by a cell-based assay, 5 compounds were further identified as the potent inhibitors of Candida albicans CYP51 (CACYP51) with low minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) range. BMD-09-01${\sim}$BMD-09-04 MIC range was 0.5 ${\mu}$g/ml and BMD-09-05 was 1 ${\mu}$g/ml. These new inhibitors provide a basis for some non-azole antifungal rational design of new, and more efficacious antifungal agents.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.956-964
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• 2017

Compactin and pravastatin are competitive cholesterol biosynthesis inhibitors of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase and belong to the statin drugs; however, the latter shows superior pharmacokinetic characteristics. Previously, we reported that the bacterial P450, CYP105D7, from Streptomyces avermitilis can catalyze the hydroxylation of 1-deoxypentalenic acid, diclofenac, and naringenin. Here, we demonstrate that CYP105D7 could also catalyze compactin hydroxylation in vitro. In the presence of both bacterial and cyanobacterial redox partner systems with an NADPH regeneration system, the reaction produced two hydroxylated products, including pravastatin (hydroxylated at the C6 position). The steady-state kinetic parameters were measured using the redox partners of putidaredoxin and its reductase. The $k_m$ and $k_{cat}$ values for compactin were $39.1{\pm}8.8{\mu}M$ and $1.12{\pm}0.09min^{-1}$, respectively. The $k_{cat}/K_m$ value for compactin ($0.029min^{-1}{\cdot}{\mu}M^{-1}$) was lower than that for diclofenac ($0.114min^{-1}{\cdot}{\mu}M^{-1}$). Spectroscopic analysis showed that CYP105D7 binds to compactin with a $K_d$ value of $17.5{\pm}3.6{\mu}M$. Molecular docking analysis was performed to build a possible binding model of compactin. Comparisons of different substrates with CYP105D7 were conclusively illustrated for the first time.

• Proceedings of the Korea Contents Association Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.626-632
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• 2009

An Edutainment Contents help the learners to recognize the problems effectively, grasp and classify important information needed to solve the problems and convey the contents of what they have learned. Owing not only to this game-like fun but also to the educational effect, The Edutainment contents can be usefully applied to education and training in the areas of scientific technology and industrial technology. This study proposes the Edutainment that users can apply to biotechnology by using intuitive multi-modal interfaces. In this study, a stereoscopic monitor is used to make three dimensional molecular structures, and multi-modal interface is used to efficiently control. Based on the system, this study easily solved the docking simulation function, which is one of the important experiments, by applying these game factors. For this, we suggested the level-up concept as a game factor that depends on numbers of objects and users.

• Proceedings of the Korea Contents Association Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.59-65
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• 2009

An Edutainment Contents help the learners to recognize the problems effectively, grasp and classify important information needed to solve the problems and convey the contents of what they have learned. Owing not only to this game-like fun but also to the educational effect, The Edutainment contents can be usefully applied to education and training in the areas of scientific technology and industrial technology. This study proposes the Edutainment that users can apply to biotechnology by using intuitive multi-modal interfaces. In this study, a stereoscopic monitor is used to make three dimensional molecular structures, and multi-modal interface is used to efficiently control. Based on the system, this study easily solved the docking simulation function, which is one of the important experiments, by applying these game factors. For this, we suggested the level-up concept as a game factor that depends on numbers of objects and users.

• Journal of Korea Game Society
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.93-103
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• 2009

A Serious Game helps the learners to recognize the problems effectively, grasp and classify important information needed to solve the problems and convey the contents of what they have learned. Owing not only to this game-like fun but also to the educational effect, The Serious Game can be usefully applied to education and training in the areas of scientific technology and industrial technology. This study proposes the Serious Game that users can apply to biotechnology by using intuitive multi-modal interfaces. In this study, a stereoscopic monitor is used to make three dimensional molecular structures, and multi-modal interface is used to efficiently control. Based on a such system, this study easily solved the docking simulation function, which is one of the important experiments, by applying these game factors. For this, we suggested the level-up concept as a game factor that depends on numbers of objects and users. The proposed system was evaluated in performance comparison in result time of a new drug design process on AIDS virus with previous approach.