Graduate of the École polytechnique, Carnot

Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot was a French military engineer and physicist. A graduate of the École polytechnique, Carnot served as an officer in the Engineering Arm of the French Army. He also pursued scientific studies and in June 1824 published an essay titled Reflections on the Motive Power of Fire. In that book, which would be his only publication, Carnot developed the first successful theory of the maximum efficiency of heat engines.

Mycobacterial porins are a group of transmembrane beta-barrel proteins produced by mycobacteria, which allow hydrophilic nutrients to enter the bacterium. They are located in the impermeable mycobacterial outer membrane, or mycomembrane of fast-growing mycobacteria. The mycomembrane is unique and composed of very-long chain fatty acids, mycolic acids. These proteins are structurally different from the typical porins located in the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria. For example, the MspA protein forms a tightly interconnected octamer with eight-fold rotation symmetry that resembles a goblet and contains a central channel. Each protein subunit contains a beta-sandwich of immunoglobulin-like topology and a beta-ribbon arm that forms an oligomeric transmembrane beta-barrel.