Reina Tanaka about Carbotrace & Ebba Biotech Testing service:
“Ebba Biotech helped us by performing analyses on Tunicate derived Cellulose nanocrystals and softwood TEMPO Oxidised Cellulose nanofibrils to determine the best Carbotrace molecule for our analysis. This encompassed both spectrophotometric testing and data analysis. This service was instrumental for us to continue tests for our own research.”
Dr. Reina Tanaka from Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, Forest Research and Management Organization, Tsukuba, Japan
Prof. Avtar Matharu & Frederik Zitzmann (doctoral student) about Carbotrace 480:
”We used Carbotrace 480 as an analytical tool to map cellulose content and distribution in our defibrillated cellulose samples which we derived from microalgae. Due to the complex structure of the algal cell wall we had major difficulties in estimating the cellulose content in our samples and very clearly identify cellulose responses in the form of peaks of other types of analysis."
”Carbotrace 480 helped us in a major way as it specifically binds to cellulose and flags it up in green on a confocal laser microscope which gave us the power to clearly estimate cellulose content as well as visually see its distribution in our samples. We will continue our in-depth analysis with Carbotrace and also apply it to samples of other biomass types thus expanding our analytical tool set.”
Prof. Avtar Matharu and Frederik Zitzmann (doctoral student) from Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence, Department of Chemistry, University of York, UK
Fluorescence of biomass autofluorescence (red) and Carbotrace 480 bound to defibrillated cellulose derived from microalgae (green). . The images were kindly provided by Prof. Avtar Matharu and Frederik Zitzmann (doctoral student) from Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence, Department of Chemistry, University of York, UK
Saga Grånäs Jakobsson about Carbotrace 680:
“I used Carbotrace 680 in my master thesis project where I investigated hemicelluloses and nanocellulose. I was able to detect hemicelluloses xyloglucan and galactomannan with Carbotrace 680. Also, I was able to use Carbotrace 680 to assess cellulose presence in commercially available samples and extracts and resolve fibrillar fine structures using Carbotrace 680 and confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM).”
Saga Grånäs Jakobsson from Department of Fibre- and Polymer Technology, School of Engineering Sciences in Chemistry, Biotechnology and Health (CBH), KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
Prof. Aristóteles Góes-Neto & Thairine Mendes-Pereira (PhD student) about Carbotrace 680:
"We used Carbotrace 680 to label fungal cell wall chitin and spider exoskeleton chitin. More specifically, we studied the host-pathogen interaction of the pathogenic fungal genus Gibellula (Ascomycota) and the Pholcidae family of spiders.
In our hands, Carbotrace 680 proved very useful. It stained all the chitin in the fungal cell wall and in the exoskeleton of spider legs. The fungal cell wall chitin was stained with an intense bright red and the spider exoskeleton in a darker red. Furthermore, the parts of the fungal cell wall with more chitin - for instance, the septa between cell compartments - were stained more strongly.
We will pursue more detailed analysis using confocal microscopy to further our investigation into this biological system."
Prof. Aristóteles Góes-Neto & Thairine Mendes-Pereira (PhD student)from Department of Microbiology, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Carbotrace 680 was used to visualise chitin in the cell wall of the pathogenic fungal species Gibellula pulchra parasitizing spider legs of the Pholcidae family using a Leica DFC7000T epifluorescence microscope: A) Exoskeleton of spider legs B) Conidiophores C) Mycelial hyphae. The images were kindly provided by Prof. Aristóteles Góes-Neto & Thairine Mendes-Pereira (PhD student)from Department of Microbiology, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Prof. Ulrica Edlund about Carbotrace 540:
"We were studying the biochemical composition of Ulva lactuca (a.k.a. Ulva fenestrata), which is still not fully known. Our hypothesis, and we wanted to prove, was the presence of cellulose and we knew that optotracing was probably the best method for analysis to distinguish cellulose from other glucans, but not which optotracing molecule would work the best. So we simply took a few of the optotracers we had already used plus the newest available variant [Carbotrace 540 from Ebba Biotech] and that one proved to work best of all! We saw a clear redshift in the excitation spectra and a specific peak, confirming the presence of cellulose nanofibrils. So we have proven the presence of cellulose in Ulva and that the xylose detected in other analyses must stem from another saccharide co-existing with cellulose. Our studies will now continue to try to more fully understand the structure of Xyloglucan."
Ulrica Edlund is Professor in Polymer technology at KTH Royal Institue of Technology and Vice Director at the Center for the Advancement of Integrated Medical and Engineering Sciences (AIMES) at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden.
Dr. Ferdinand X. Choong about Carbotrace 680:
"It really made carbohydrate detection so much easier! Thinking back on how to detect starch you had to use iodine solutions - that was kind of messy - and now Carbotrace 680 just works - simple and accurate."
Dr. Ferdinand X. Choong is Assistant Professorat Karolinska Institutet and Team Leader at the Center for the Advancement of Integrated Medical and Engineering Sciences (AIMES) in Stockholm, Sweden. AIMES is a new center promoting interdisciplinary research, innovation, implementation and entrepreneurship and is funded by KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Karolinska Institutet.
Prof. Ulrica Edlund about Optotracing:
Ulrica Edlund is Professor in Polymer technology at KTH Royal Institue of Technology and Vice Director at the Center for the Advancement of Integrated Medical and Engineering Sciences (AIMES) at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden.
Optotracing in biorefinement of Canola Straw. Thin sections of canola straw were prepared for non-destructive optotracing analysis by fluorescence microscopy. Optotracing shows cellulose yellow and lignin blue-turquoise. The images were kindly provided by Prof. Ulrica Edlund.
Dr. Liudmila Kozlova about Carbotrace 680:
"We have used Carbotrace 680 to resolve the cellular structure of studied plants. It is possible due to the high content of cellulose in plant cell walls. Moreover, the fluorescence intensity of Carbotrace 680 can be used for the determination of cell wall thickness and, hence, as the normalization factor for quantification of labelling/staining by other cell wall-specific agents. Carbotrace 680 may be a better choice for cell wall thickness quantification than Calcofluor White in the case you are studying plant species that display high autofluorescence at UV irradiation (i.e. almost all Monocots). Carbotrace 680 also may help if for some reasons you cannot use UV excitation and/or blue light detection. Our experience with that molecule was just great. We definitely will use it again."
Dr. Liudmila Kozlova, Kazan Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Kazan Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Kazan, Russia
Fluorescence micrographs of maize root cross-sections stained with Carbotrace 680. The images were kindly provided by Dr. Anna Petrova, Kazan Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Kazan Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Kazan, Russia.
Tharagan Kumar about Carbotrace 680:
Tharagan Kumar is doctoral student at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Division of Nanobiotechnology located at SciLifeLab in Solna, Sweden. Tharagan sent us an image about how he was using Carbotrace 680 in his work.
Optimization of an immobilization matrix made of cellulose nanofibrils in a microfluidic device. The images were kindly provided by Tharagan Kumar, KTH Royal Institue of Technology, Division of Nanobiotechnology.