Biotechnology
Study uses Botox to find new wrinkle in brain communication
May 2, 2013 2:36 pm | News | Comments
National Institutes of Health researchers have used the popular anti-wrinkle agent Botox to discover a new and important role for a group of molecules that nerve cells use to quickly send messages. This novel role for the molecules, called SNARES, may be a missing piece that scientists have been searching for to fully understand how brain cells communicate under normal and disease conditions.
Broad Institute an early adopter of Agilent’s new liquid-handling system
June 18, 2013 7:15 am | News | Comments
Agilent Technologies Inc. this week announced that the Broad Institute in Cambridge,...
To ease shortage of organs, grow them in a lab?
June 17, 2013 9:13 am | by Malcolm Ritter, AP Science Writer | News | Comments
Growing lungs and other organs for transplant is still in the future, but scientists...
DNA coatings help achieve new forms of colloidal self-assembly
June 13, 2013 8:58 pm | News | Comments
Colloidal solutions are made up of large particles, dispersed in a liquid solvent,...
A way to detect new viruses
June 17, 2013 2:14 pm | News | CommentsIn recently published research, St. Louis Univ. researchers describe a technology that can detect new, previously unknown viruses. The technique offers the potential to screen patients for viruses even when doctors have not identified a particular virus as the likely source of an infection. In the new approach, scientists use blood serum as a biological source to categorize and discover viruses.
Cockroaches quickly lose sweet tooth to survive
May 23, 2013 11:04 pm | by Malcolm Ritter, AP Science Writer | News | CommentsFor decades, people have been getting rid of cockroaches by setting out bait mixed with poison. But in the late 1980s, in an apartment test kitchen in Florida, something went very wrong. A killer product stopped working. Cockroach populations there kept rising. Mystified researchers tested and discarded theory after theory until they finally hit on the explanation.
Researchers perform fastest measurements ever made of ion channel proteins
May 20, 2013 3:08 pm | News | CommentsA team of researchers at Columbia Engineering has used miniaturized electronics to measure the activity of individual ion-channel proteins with temporal resolution as fine as one microsecond, producing the fastest recordings of single ion channels ever performed. Ion channels are biomolecules that allow charged atoms to flow in and out of cells, and they are an important work-horse in cell signaling, sensing, and energetics.
Turning up the heat on biofuels
May 15, 2013 3:11 pm | News | CommentsThe production of biofuels from lignocellulosic biomass would benefit on several levels if carried out at temperatures between 65 and 70 C. Researchers with the Energy Biosciences Institute have employed a promising technique for improving the ability of enzymes that break cellulose down into fermentable sugars to operate in this temperature range.
Engineered biomaterial could improve success of medical implants
May 14, 2013 12:24 pm | News | CommentsIt’s a familiar scenario—a patient receives a medical implant and days later, the body attacks the artificial valve or device, causing complications to an already compromised system. Expensive medical devices and surgeries often are thwarted by the body’s natural response to attack something in the tissue that appears foreign. Now, University of Washington engineers have demonstrated in mice a way to prevent this sort of response.
Grammar errors? The brain detects them even when you are unaware
May 14, 2013 10:40 am | News | CommentsYour brain often works on autopilot when it comes to grammar. That theory has been around for years, but University of Oregon neuroscientists have captured elusive hard evidence that people indeed detect and process grammatical errors with no awareness of doing so.
Researchers develop synthetic HDL cholesterol nanoparticles
May 14, 2013 9:46 am | News | CommentsA new study by University of Georgia researchers documents a technological breakthrough: Synthetic high density lipoprotein (HDL) nanoparticles. A completely biodegradable synthetic version of the so-called good cholesterol, the nanoparticles represent a potential new detection and therapy regimen for atherosclerosis.
Building protocells from inorganic nanoparticles
May 10, 2013 1:05 pm | News | CommentsResearchers at the University of Bristol in the U.K. have led a new enquiry into how extremely small particles of silica (sand) can be used to design and construct artificial protocells in the laboratory. By attaching a thin polymer layer to the external surface of an artificial inorganic protocell built from silica nanoparticles, the scientists have potentially the problem of controlling membrane permeability.
Wearable robots getting lighter, more portable
May 9, 2013 3:03 pm | by Carla K. Johnson, AP Medical Writer | News | CommentsWhen Michael Gore stands, it's a triumph of science and engineering. Eleven years ago, Michael Gore was paralyzed from the waist down in a workplace accident, yet he rises from his wheelchair to his full 6-foot-2-inches and walks across the room with help from a lightweight wearable robot. Still at least a year away from the market, the 27-pound Indego is the lightest of the powered exoskeletons that are now appearing in greater numbers.
“Marathon” mice and”'couch potato” mice reveal key to muscle fitness
May 8, 2013 12:09 pm | News | CommentsResearchers have identified MicroRNAs as the missing link between the two defining features of muscle fitness: fuel-burning and fiber-type switching. The team used two complementary mouse models—the "marathon mouse" and the "couch potato mouse"—to make the finding, which could provide a potential new target for interventions that boost fitness in people with chronic illness or injury.
Engineers build living patch for damaged hearts
May 7, 2013 7:56 am | News | CommentsDuke University biomedical engineers have grown 3D human heart muscle that acts just like natural tissue. This advancement could be important in serving as a platform for testing new heart disease medicines. The “heart patch” grown in the laboratory from human cells overcomes two major obstacles facing cell-based therapies—the patch conducts electricity at about the same speed as natural heart cells and it “squeezes” appropriately.
Decades-old question: Is antibacterial soap safe?
May 3, 2013 9:15 am | by Matthew Perrone, AP Health Writer | News | Commentst's a chemical that's been in U.S. households for more than 40 years, from the body wash in your bathroom shower to the knives on your kitchen counter to the bedding in your baby's basinet. But federal health regulators are just now deciding whether triclosan—the germ-killing ingredient found in an estimated 75% of antibacterial liquid soaps and body washes sold in the U.S.—is ineffective, or worse, harmful.
New imaging technique visualizes bio-metals and molecules simultaneously
May 2, 2013 2:25 pm | by Juliette Savin, RIKEN | News | CommentsMetal elements and molecules interact in the body, but visualizing them together has always been a challenge. Researchers at RIKEN in Japan have developed a new molecular imaging technology that enables them to image bio-metals and bio-molecules at the same time in a live mouse. This new technology will enable researchers to study the complex interactions between metal elements and molecules in living organisms.
Zinc: The perfect material for bioabsorbable stents?
May 1, 2013 9:49 am | by Marcia Goodrich, Michigan Technological University | News | CommentsIn 2012, more than 3 million people had stents inserted in their coronary arteries. But the longer a stent is in the body, the greater the risk of late-stage side effects. Studies have investigated iron- and magnesium-based bioabsorbable stents, but iron rusts and magnesium dissolves too fast. Recent research shows that a certain type of zinc alloy might be the answer.
Antibacterial hydrogel offers protection from stubborn infections
April 24, 2013 5:00 pm | News | CommentsCoating medical supplies with an antimicrobial material is one approach that bioengineers are using to combat the increasing spread of multidrug-resistant bacteria. A research team in Singapore has now developed a highly effective antimicrobial coating based on cationic polymers. The coating can be applied to medical equipment, such as catheters.
Scientists decode DNA of “living fossil” fish
April 17, 2013 9:04 pm | by Malcolm Ritter, AP Science Writer | News | CommentsThe lungfish is the closest living fish relative of animals with four limbs, called tetrapods. But the lungfish genome is too big to decode with current technology. Scientists have decoded the genome of the next best thing: the coelacanth. Thought to have gone extinct some 70 million years ago, the fish was surprisingly discovered alive in 1938 and could provide insights into the evolution of land animals.
Scientists learn what makes nerve cells so strong
April 16, 2013 11:05 am | News | CommentsHow do nerve cells—which can each be up to three feet long in humans—keep from rupturing or falling apart? Recent research reports that axons, the long, cable-like projections on neurons, are made stronger by a unique modification of the common molecular building block of the cell skeleton. The finding may help guide the search for treatments for neurodegenerative diseases.
System allows multitasking runners to read on a treadmill
April 16, 2013 10:03 am | News | CommentsNot many people can run and read at the same time, because the relative location of the eyes to the text is constantly changing. This forces the eyes to constantly adjust. At Purdue University, an industrial engineering professor has introduced a new innovation called ReadingMate, which adjusts text on a monitor to counteract the bobbing motion of a runner's head so that the text appears still.
Researchers turn skin cells directly into the cells that insulate neurons
April 15, 2013 1:00 pm | News | CommentsStanford University School of Medicine scientists have succeeded in transforming skin cells directly into oligodendrocyte precursor cells, the cells that wrap nerve cells in the insulating myelin sheaths that help nerve signals propagate. The research was done in mice and rats, but if the approach also works with human cells, it could eventually lead to cell therapies for a variety of diseases of the nervous system.
Tiny, injectable LEDs help neuroscientists study the brain
April 11, 2013 5:28 pm | News | CommentsA new class of tiny, injectable light-emitting diodes (LEDs) is illuminating the deep mysteries of the brain. Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Washington University in St. Louis developed ultrathin, flexible optoelectronic devices—including LEDs the size of individual neurons—that are lighting the way for neuroscientists in the field of optogenetics and beyond.
Overcoming barriers to medical use of microrockets and micromotors
April 11, 2013 2:13 am | News | CommentsAn advance in micromotor technology akin to the invention of cars that fuel themselves from the pavement or air, rather than gasoline or batteries, is opening the door to broad new medical and industrial uses for these tiny devices, scientists said here today. Their update on development of the motors—so small that thousands would fit inside this "o"—was part of the American Chemical Society national meeting.
Researchers engineer “protein switch” to dissect role of cancer's key players
April 10, 2013 12:45 pm | News | CommentsScientists at the Uniersity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine have "rationally rewired" some of the cell's smallest components to create proteins that can be switched on or off by command. These "protein switches" can be used to interrogate the inner workings of each cell, helping scientists uncover the molecular mechanisms of human health and disease.
Recruiting engineered cells to work for warfighters
April 10, 2013 12:22 pm | News | CommentsThe Office of Naval Research (ONR) this week launched a collaborative initiative with university researchers focused on synthetic, or engineered, cells—part of a larger effort to use the smallest units of life to help Sailors and Marines execute their missions. ONR currently has multiple ongoing projects in the field of synthetic biology.
“Artificial leaf” gains ability to self-heal damage, produce energy from dirty water
April 9, 2013 5:47 am | News | CommentsAnother innovative feature has been added to the world’s first practical “artificial leaf,” making the device even more suitable for providing people in developing countries and remote areas with electricity, scientists reported at the American Chemical Society’s National Meeting & Exposition this week. It gives the leaf the ability to self-heal damage that occurs during production of energy.
Newly discovered blood protein solves 60-year-old riddle
April 9, 2013 5:21 am | News | CommentsResearchers at Lund University in Sweden have discovered a new protein that controls the presence of the Vel blood group antigen on our red blood cells. The discovery makes it possible to use simple DNA testing to find blood donors for patients who lack the Vel antigen and need a blood transfusion. This is significant because there is a global shortage of Vel-negative blood
