The first time a cell biologist discovers that there might be a lipid involved in their favourite pathway, it’s a bit like finding a wall across the road (just the same situation as when a lipidomist finds a protein in their way…).

Due to the different nature of lipids, most cell biologists fear having to face this situation along their way. The good news is that there are some simple methods to help overcome this obstacle, and make the studyof lipids in a given pathway easier. Here, I’d like to go over some analytical and preparative tools for lipid-ligand interaction studies.

Efficient immune response against an infectious agent is organised according to a “two-legged” pattern. In order to give the immune system enough time to fine-tune its weapons against the invader (whilst maintaining the threat at bay), the first line of defence mobilises ancestral effectors during the first hours of the invasion. These “innate” defences aim at stimulating a dormant, but far more specialised and potent, second line of defence: the adaptive immune system.

That’s quite an elaborate chain of reactions… so what role do glycolipids play in immune response?

Adenovirus (AV) are non-enveloped and non-integrative icosaedral viruses. Recombinant AV (genetically modified with respect to the wild-type in order to lose their capacity of replication) are widely used for their high infectivity (almost 100% in almost all mammalian cell types) their high level of expression of exogenous protein (up to 20% of total host protein expression), their episomal maintenance (non-integrative, non-genome disruptive ) and because they are easy-to-use in vitro and in vivo.

Lentiviruses are robust tools for cell line engineering and development. As opposed to models that only infect dividing cells, lentiviral vectors are ideal for long term gene delivery into dividing and quiescent cells. This post is aimed at introducing the newest evolutions of lentiviral experimental approaches: the 3rd generation lentiviral plasmids.

Over the last decade, Lentivirus progressively became a research tool for stable cell line engineering and production. What makes them so attractive?