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Category: bioengineering – Page 64

Researchers from the University of Maine and University of Massachusetts Amherst have designed new liquid-coated air filters that allow for improved early detection and analysis of airborne bacteria and viruses, including the one that causes COVID-19. The team has published their findings in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.

While conventional air filters help control the spread of disease in like hospitals and travel hubs, they struggle to keep the pathogens they capture viable for testing. The inefficiency can inhibit scientists’ ability to identify biological threats early on, which could hinder any response and protection measures.

The research team, led by Caitlin Howell, a UMaine associate professor of biomedical engineering, developed a composite membrane with a liquid layer for filters that is better suited for capturing viable bacterial and viral samples for analysis. They modeled the membrane after the Nepenthes pitcher plant, which has a slippery rim and inner walls that cause insects to fall and become trapped within its digestive fluid. By keeping the bacteria and they capture feasible for examination, researchers say their novel liquid-coated air filters can enhance air sampling efforts, early pathogen detection and biosurveillance for national security.

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Researchers at McMaster University have created a powerful new weapon against bacterial contamination and infection.

They have developed a way to coax bacteriophages—harmless viruses that eat bacteria—into linking together and forming microscopic beads. Those beads can safely be applied to and other materials to rid them of harmful pathogens such as E. coli 0157. Each bead is about 20 microns, (one 50th of a millimeter) in diameter and is loaded with millions of phages.

The McMaster engineering team behind the invention, led by professors Zeinab Hosseinidoust, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Bacteriophage Bioengineering, and Tohid Didar, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Nano-Biomaterials, and graduate student Lei Tian, have created a spray using nothing but the microbeads.

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In a breakthrough study, Japanese researchers at Osaka Metropolitan University have engineered the smallest motile life form ever. They introduced seven bacterial proteins into a synthetic bacterium, allowing it to move independently.

The rise of synthetic biology.

The new study is based on the synthetic bacterium called syn-3. The tiny spherical bacteria contain minimal genetic information, allowing them to grow and divide without motility.

The team experimented with syn-3 by introducing seven genes that code for proteins that are likely involved in the swimming motion of Spiroplasma bacteria.

Continue reading “The world’s smallest life form can now move, thanks to genetic engineering” | >

These fundamental units of the brain and nervous system – composed of the cell body, the dendrites and the axon (a long, thin extension responsible for communicating with other cells) – receive sensory input from the external world, send motor commands to our muscles and for transform and relay the electrical signals at every step in between.

“Our novel method of creating ‘mini-brains’ opens the door to finding solutions for various neurological impairments”

Prof. Orit Shefi and doctoral student Reut Plen from the Kofkin Faculty of Engineering at Bar-Ilan University (BIU) have developed a novel technique to overcome this challenge using nanotechnology and magnetic manipulations – one of the most innovative approaches to creating neural networks. Their research was recently published in the peer-reviewed journal Advanced Functional Materials under the title “Bioengineering 3D Neural Networks Using Magnetic Manipulations.”

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Ray Kurzweil is an author, computer scientist, inventor, futurist and a director of engineering at Google. Kurzweil is a public advocate for the futurist and transhumanist movements, and gives public talks to share his optimistic outlook on life extension technologies and the future of nanotechnology, robotics, and biotechnology.

Recorded 2013

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Steven Parton [00:00:37] Hello everyone. My name is Steven Parton and you are listening to the feedback loop on Singularity Radio. This week our guest is business and technology reporter Peter Ward. Earlier this year, Peter released his book The Price of Immortality The Race to Live Forever, where he investigates the many movements and organizations that are seeking to increase the human lifespan from the Church of Perpetual Life in Florida to some of the biggest tech giants in Silicon Valley. In this episode, we explore Peter’s findings, which takes us on a tour from cryogenics to mind uploading from supplements to gene editing and much more. Along the way, we discuss the details of how one might actually achieve immortality, talking about senescent cells and telomeres. Discussing whether it’s better to live healthy than to live long. We also discuss the scams and failures that seem to dominate the longevity space, as well as the efforts that seem the most promising. And now, since we’re on the topic of discussing how precious life is, are waste no more of your precious time? So everyone, please welcome to the feedback loop. Peter Ward. Well then, Peter, thanks for joining me. I think the best place to start is in April of this year. You released a book called The Price of Immortality The Race to Live Forever and where I love to start with anyone who’s written a book is just hearing about your motivations for the book. Why did you decide that this was a topic worth exploring?

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Dreaming about Immortality has a long history, almost as long as the failed quests to achieve it. And during all these years and years, the solutions for achieving immortality can fall in several categories. The first is to take some kind of “magic pill” – be it the fountain of youth, the elixir of life, the holy grail, till modern medicine of genetic engineering. After the magic “pills” proved to be a failure, the second attempt was through more creative endeavours, such as building a monastery, a temple, making a sculpture or painting, till nowadays when we talk about digital immortality and I guess soon about virtual immortality. And, of course, there were always the “party-spoilers”, the ones asking: why to be Immortal?

Humanity has changed in many ways, but the hope of the dream of Immortality remained and generation after generation, trying to find it in different ways or forms. So, keep with us as we travel alongside the deepest human dream, to see all (the failed) trials.

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Artificial intelligence would be used to detect changes in the vocals of each patient after a laryngectomy.

Researchers from Kaunas University of Technology Faculty of Informatics (KTU IF) and Lithuanian University of Health Sciences (LSMU) in Lithuania have created a new substitute voice evaluation index that can detect pathologies in patients’ voices more quickly and efficiently. Voice pathologies include a variety of disorders such as growths on the vocal cords, spasms, swelling or paralysis in the vocal cords.

AI could be used to determine changes in voice after laryngectomy.

Laryngectomy is a surgery that requires the removal of the larynx.

Continue reading “Researchers use AI to assess patients’ vocals after surgery on the larynx” | >

The solution to our carbon problem is floating in the oceans.

Phytoplankton are microscopic organisms (can be bacteria, algae, or plants) that perform photosynthesis in oceans and eliminate excess carbon dioxide from Earth’s atmosphere. They sequester about 40 percent of the total carbon produced every year globally and, therefore, also play a major role in mitigating global warming.

A team of researchers from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has proposed that by feeding engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) as fertilizers to phytoplankton. Humans can increase the growth of these microorganisms in oceans and eventually fix more CO2 from Earth than ever.

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