A Biomorphic Approach to Designing Special-Purpose Vehicles for Arctic Conditions.

The paper explores the potential of the biomorphic approach to context-based design with a focus on special-purpose mobility in the Arctic. The study seeks to contribute to the analytical and conceptual basis for developing the transport component of the Arctic life-support system, i.e., a set of objects and technologies, and knowledge and skills for handling them, allowing a person to survive and comfortably exist in severe environmental conditions. The central argument is that the system should incorporate structural components that possess not only technical but also artistic and emotional characteristics that align with the geographic (environmental and climatic), socio-cultural, and psychological peculiarities of use. This can be achieved by drawing inspiration from local nature. We probe the visual image of "soft military presence" using two case studies in different parts of the Russian Arctic: the Yamal and Chukchi peninsulas.

P.F508del editing in cells from cystic fibrosis patients.

Development of genome editing methods created new opportunities for the development of etiology-based therapies of hereditary diseases. Here, we demonstrate that CRISPR/Cas9 can correct p.F508del mutation in the CFTR gene in the CFTE29o- cells and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) derived from patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). We used several combinations of Cas9, sgRNA and ssODN and measured editing efficiency in the endogenous CFTR gene and in the co-transfected plasmid containing the CFTR locus with the p.F508del mutation. The non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) frequency in the CFTR gene in the CFTE29o- cells varied from 1.25% to 2.54% of alleles. The best homology-directed repair (HDR) frequency in the endogenous CFTR locus was 1.42% of alleles. In iPSCs, the NHEJ frequency in the CFTR gene varied from 5.5% to 12.13% of alleles. The best HDR efficacy was 2.38% of alleles. Our results show that p.F508del mutation editing using CRISPR/Cas9 in CF patient-derived iPSCs is a relatively rare event and subsequent cell selection and cultivation should be carried out.

Generation of induced pluripotent stem cell line (RCMGi001-A) from human skin fibroblasts of a cystic fibrosis patient with p.F508del mutation.

Skin fibroblasts obtained from a 27-year-old man with clinically manifested and genetically proven (F508del/F508del) cystic fibrosis were successfully transformed into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) by using Sendai virus-based reprogramming vectors including the four Yamanaka factors, OCT3/4, SOX2, KLF4, and c-MYC. The iPSCs showed a normal karyotype, expressed pluripotency markers and exhibited the potential to differentiate into three germ layers in spontaneous differentiation assay. This iPSC line may be subsequently used for development of a personalized etiotropic treatment including genome editing, and for disease modelling and drug screening.