Heidelberg University 4 articles published in JoVE Developmental Biology Differentiation and Characterization of Osteoclasts from Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Alexander Blümke1,2, Jessica Simon1, Elizabeth Leber1, Marta Scatena1, Cecilia M. Giachelli1 1Department of Bioengineering, Department of Medicine, University of Washington, 2Department of Orthopedics and Trauma Surgery, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University This protocol presents the differentiation of human osteoclasts from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and describes methods for the characterization of osteoclasts and osteoclast precursors. Biology Evaluating Toxicity of Chemicals using a Zebrafish Vibration Startle Response Screening System Gaëlle Hayot1, Daniel Marcato1,2, Christina A. Cramer von Clausbruch1, Giuseppina Pace1, Uwe Strähle1,3, John K. Colbourne4, Christian Pylatiuk5, Ravindra Peravali1, Carsten Weiss1, Stefan Scholz6, Thomas Dickmeis1 1Institute of Biological and Chemical Systems - Biological Information Processing, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology - Campus Nord, 2DITABIS AG - Digital Biomedical Imaging Systems AG, 3Centre for Organismal Studies, Heidelberg University, 4School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, 5Institute for Automation and Applied Informatics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology - Campus Nord, 6Department of Bioanalytical Ecotoxicology, Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ We describe a screening system's workflow and data analysis for evaluating chemical compound toxicity based on the zebrafish embryo vibration startle response. The system records the movements of zebrafish embryos upon exposure to a vibration stimulus and allows for an integrated evaluation of general toxicity/lethality and neuromuscular toxicity. Bioengineering Control of Cell Adhesion using Hydrogel Patterning Techniques for Applications in Traction Force Microscopy Joel Christian1, Johannes W. Blumberg2, Dimitri Probst2, Cristina Lo Giudice1, Sandra Sindt3, Christine Selhuber-Unkel3, Ulrich S. Schwarz2, Elisabetta Ada Cavalcanti-Adam1 1Department of Cellular Biophysics, Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, 2Institute for Theoretical Physics and BioQuant, Heidelberg University, 3Institute for Molecular Systems Engineering (IMSE), Heidelberg University Near-UV lithography and traction force microscopy are combined to measure cellular forces on micropatterned hydrogels. The targeted light-induced release of single cells enables a high number of measurements on the same sample. Neuroscience Live Imaging of the Mitochondrial Glutathione Redox State in Primary Neurons using a Ratiometric Indicator Athanasios Katsalifis1, Angela Maria Casaril1, Constanze Depp2, Carlos Bas-Orth1 1Department of Medical Cell Biology, Institute for Anatomy and Cell Biology, Heidelberg University, 2Department of Neurogenetics, Max-Planck-Institute for Experimental Medicine This article describes a protocol to determine differences in basal redox state and redox responses to acute perturbations in primary hippocampal and cortical neurons using confocal live microscopy. The protocol can be applied to other cell types and microscopes with minimal modifications.