Plausible 3D Face Wrinkle Generation Using Variational Autoencoders.

Realistic 3D facial modeling and animation have been increasingly used in many graphics, animation, and virtual reality applications. However, generating realistic fine-scale wrinkles on 3D faces, in particular, on animated 3D faces, is still a challenging problem that is far away from being resolved. In this article we propose an end-to-end system to automatically augment coarse-scale 3D faces with synthesized fine-scale geometric wrinkles. By formulating the wrinkle generation problem as a supervised generation task, we implicitly model the continuous space of face wrinkles via a compact generative model, such that plausible face wrinkles can be generated through effective sampling and interpolation in the space. We also introduce a complete pipeline to transfer the synthesized wrinkles between faces with different shapes and topologies. Through many experiments, we demonstrate our method can robustly synthesize plausible fine-scale wrinkles on a variety of coarse-scale 3D faces with different shapes and expressions.

T7 exo-mediated FRET-breaking combined with DSN-RNAse-TdT for the detection of microRNA with ultrahigh signal-amplification.

A DSN-RNAse-TdT-T7 exo probing system allows the detection of miRNA 21 with very high sensitivity (LOD = 2.57 fM) and selectivity-the result of (i) avoiding the false-positive signal from miRNA reacting with TdT polymerase and (ii) signal amplification occurring through a FRET-breaking mechanism involving T7 exo.

Large-Stokes-shift-based folded DNA probing systems targeting DNA and miRNA 21 with signal amplification.

Large-Stokes-shift based simple folded DNA probing system (LSFP) had a simple folded DNA structure and exhibited a large Stokes-shifted (194 nm) fluorescence signal upon excitation at a single wavelength (386 nm). This Stokes shift was achieved through a simple combination of donor and acceptor fluorophores and employing multi-FRET systematically. This unique large Stokes-shifted fluorescence signal was used to detect target DNA with large increases in the fluorescence signal (9.7-14.2 fold). This LSFP exhibited enough selectivity, distinguishing a perfectly matched sequence from the probe itself and mismatched sequences. Surprisingly, when DSN was used for signal amplification with miR21P probing system whose target is miRNA 21, it showed high sensitivity (13.7 aM) and selectivity (one base mismatch discrimination). This system has several advantages over other molecular beacons (MBs): (i) it is easy to design and synthesize the probing system that does not require the construction of a finely designed stem and loop, as in most MBs (this can prevent the degradation of miR21P itself by DSN enzyme without special backbone modification); (ii) it can control unique fluorescence, such as large Stokes-shifted fluorescence through a simple combination of donor and acceptor fluorophores; and (iii) through signal amplification using DSN, it can efficiently detect extremely small amounts of target miRNA with high sensitivity (13.7 aM).

Direct incorporation and extension of a fluorescent nucleotide through rolling circle DNA amplification for the detection of microRNA 24-3P.

We designed and synthesized several fluorescent nucleotides from thiophene, anthracene and pyrene, which have different sizes, and screened their incorporation and extension capability during the rolling circle amplification of DNA. The thiophene-based fluorescent nucleotide (dUthioTP) could highly incorporate and extended into the rolling circle DNA product, while other fluorescent nucleotides (dUanthTP, and dUpyrTP) could not. This dUthioTP fluorescent nucleotide could be used for the detection of miRNA 24-3P, which is related PRRSV. This direct labeling system during rolling circle DNA amplification exhibited an increased fluorescence signal showing gel formation for the detection of miRNA 24-3P. This direct labeling system is a very simple and cost-efficient method for the detection miRNA 24-3P and also exhibited highly sensitive and selective detection properties.

Highly sensitive MicroRNA 146a detection using a gold nanoparticle-based CTG repeat probing system and isothermal amplification.

We have developed a gold nanoparticle (AuNP)-based CTG repeat probing system displaying high quenching capability and combined it with isothermal amplification for the detection of miRNA 146a. This method of using a AuNP-based CTG repeat probing system with isothermal amplification allowed the highly sensitive (14 aM) and selective detection of miRNA 146a. A AuNP-based CTG repeat probing system having a hairpin structure and a dTF fluorophore exhibited highly efficient quenching because the CTG repeat-based stable hairpin structure imposed a close distance between the AuNP and the dTF residue. A small amount of miRNA 146a induced multiple copies of the CAG repeat sequence during rolling circle amplification; the AuNP-based CTG repeat probing system then bound to the complementary multiple-copy CAG repeat sequence, thereby inducing a structural change from a hairpin to a linear structure with amplified fluorescence. This AuNP-based CTG probing system combined with isothermal amplification could also discriminate target miRNA 146a from one- and two-base-mismatched miRNAs (ORN 1 and ORN 2, respectively). This simple AuNP-based CTG probing system, combined with isothermal amplification to induce a highly sensitive change in fluorescence, allows the detection of miRNA 146a with high sensitivity (14 aM) and selectivity.

AuNP-CTG based probing system targeting CAG repeat DNA and RNA sequences.

We have developed a AuNP-CTG based probing system that is applicable to the detection of many units of CAG repeat sequences which was synthesized by a rolling circle amplification (RCA) system with changes in fluorescence. We also demonstrate that our AuNP-CTG based probing system could transfect without using transfection reagent and detect target CAG repeat sequences in HeLa cells with dramatic changes in fluorescence. This AuNP-CTG based probing system could also be used, in conjunction with the CAG repeat RCA system, to detect target DNA. This system was so sensitive to the target DNA that it could detect even picomolar amounts with amplification of the fluorescence signal. Furthermore, we have used our gold-based CAG probing system for the detection of RNA CAG repeat sequences.

Diverse size approach to incorporate and extend highly fluorescent unnatural nucleotides into DNA.

We have prepared a series of size-diverse unnatural nucleotides containing fluorescent (dApyrTP, dUpyrTP, dUantTP, dUthiTP) and quencher (dUazoTP) units, as well as nucleotides presenting small functional groups (dAethTP, dAoctTP, dUethTP, dUiodTP), all based on deoxyadenosine and deoxyuridine, and examined their suitability for use in enzymatic incorporation and extension into DNA. We observed a size-dependence of the incorporation and extension capability (following the order dUiodTP=dUethTP=dUthiTP>dUazoTP>dUpyrTP>dUantTP) during primer extension. This result was supported by circular dichroism (CD) spectra, which revealed a trend in the different B-form DNA structures depending on the size of the unit at the 5-position of the deoxyuridine (dUiodTP>dUethTP>dUthiTP>dUpyrTP), obtained from the PCR products. Interestingly, dUthiTP could be incorporated and extended into long DNA strands during primer extension and even PCR amplification, with CD spectroscopy confirming a stable secondary B-form duplex DNA structure. We observed full-length extension products even when combining dUthiTP with a template containing 24 continuous dA units during the primer extension. Thus, we believe that dUthiTP is a promising fluorescent nucleotide for a diverse range of biological applications requiring multiple incorporation and extension directly without disruption of B-form DNA structures.

An interactive geometric technique for upper and lower teeth segmentation.

Due to the complexity of the dental models in semantics of both shape and form, a fully automated method for the separation of the lower and upper teeth is unsuitable while manual segmentation requires painstakingly user interventions. In this paper, we present a novel interactive method to segment the upper and lower teeth. The process is performed on 3D triangular mesh of the skull and consists of four main steps: reconstruction of 3D model from teeth CT images, curvature estimation, interactive segmentation path planning using the shortest path finding algorithm, and performing actual geometric cut on 3D models using a graph cut algorithm. The accuracy and efficiency of our method were experimentally validated via comparisons with ground truth (manual segmentation) as well as the state of art interactive mesh segmentation algorithms. We show the presented scheme can dramatically save manual effort for users while retaining an acceptable quality (with an averaged 0.29 mm discrepancy from the ideal segmentation).