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Archive for the ‘biological’ category: Page 83

Dec 7, 2022

Evidence for long-term potentiation in phospholipid membranes

Posted by in categories: biological, neuroscience

Biological supramolecular assemblies, such as phospholipid bilayer membranes, have been used to demonstrate signal processing via short-term synaptic plasticity (STP) in the form of paired pulse facilitation and depression, emulating the brain’s efficiency and flexible cognitive capabilities. However, STP memory in lipid bilayers is volatile and cannot be stored or accessed over relevant periods of time, a key requirement for learning. Using droplet interface bilayers (DIBs) composed of lipids, water and hexadecane, and an electrical stimulation training protocol featuring repetitive sinusoidal voltage cycling, we show that DIBs displaying memcapacitive properties can also exhibit persistent synaptic plasticity in the form of long-term potentiation (LTP) associated with capacitive energy storage in the phospholipid bilayer. The time scales for the physical changes associated with the LTP range between minutes and hours, and are substantially longer than previous STP studies, where stored energy dissipated after only a few seconds. STP behavior is the result of reversible changes in bilayer area and thickness. On the other hand, LTP is the result of additional molecular and structural changes to the zwitterionic lipid headgroups and the dielectric properties of the lipid bilayer that result from the buildup of an increasingly asymmetric charge distribution at the bilayer interfaces.

Dec 7, 2022

Bio-circuitry mimics synapses and neurons in a step toward sensory computing

Posted by in categories: biological, robotics/AI

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the University of Tennessee and Texas A&M University demonstrated bio-inspired devices that accelerate routes to neuromorphic, or brain-like, computing.

Results published in Nature Communications report the first example of a lipid-based “memcapacitor,” a charge storage component with memory that processes information much like synapses do in the brain. Their discovery could support the emergence of computing networks modeled on biology for a sensory approach to machine learning.

“Our goal is to develop materials and computing elements that work like biological synapses and neurons—with vast interconnectivity and flexibility—to enable that operate differently than current computing devices and offer new functionality and learning capabilities,” said Joseph Najem, a recent postdoctoral researcher at ORNL’s Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, a DOE Office of Science User Facility, and current assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Penn State.

Dec 7, 2022

Biomembrane research findings could advance understanding of computing and human memory

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biological, computing, health, nanotechnology

While studying how bio-inspired materials might inform the design of next-generation computers, scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory achieved a first-of-its-kind result that could have big implications for both edge computing and human health.

Results published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences show that an artificial is capable of long-term potentiation, or LTP, a hallmark of biological learning and . This is the first evidence that a cell membrane alone—without proteins or other biomolecules embedded within it—is capable of LTP that persists for many hours. It is also the first identified nanoscale structure in which memory can be encoded.

“When facilities were shut down as a result of COVID, this led us to pivot away from our usual membrane research,” said John Katsaras, a biophysicist in ORNL’s Neutron Sciences Directorate specializing in neutron scattering and the study of biological membranes at ORNL.

Dec 7, 2022

Multiple Realizability (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biological, chemistry, neuroscience, physics

In the philosophy of mind, the multiple realizability thesis contends that a single mental kind (property, state, event) can be realized by many distinct physical kinds. A common example is pain. Many philosophers have asserted that a wide variety of physical properties, states, or events, sharing no features in common at that level of description, can all realize the same pain. This thesis served as a premise in the most influential argument against early theories that identified mental states with brain states (psychoneural, or mind-brain identity theories). It also served in early arguments for functionalism. Nonreductive physicalists later adopted this premise and these arguments (usually without alteration) to challenge all varieties of psychophysical reductionism. The argument was even used to challenge the functionalism it initially was offered to support. Reductionists (and other critics) quickly offered a number of responses, initially attacking either the anti-reductionist or anti-identity conclusion from the multiple realizability premise, or advocating accounts of the reduction relation that accommodated multiple realizability. More recently it has become fashionable to attack the multiple realizability premise itself. Most recently the first book-length treatment of multiple realizability and its philosophical import has appeared.

This entry proceeds mostly chronologically, to indicate the historical development of the topic. Its principle focus is on philosophy of mind and cognitive science, but it also indicates the more recent shift in emphasis to concerns in the metaphysics of science more generally. It is worth mentioning at the outset that multiple realizability has been claimed in physics (e.g., Batterman 2000), biochemistry (Tahko forthcoming) and synthetic biology (Koskinen 2019a, b). After more than fifty years of detailed philosophical discussion there still seems to be no end in sight for novel ideas about this persistent concern.

Dec 6, 2022

Team develops photon-efficient volumetric imaging method with light-sheet scanning fluorescence microscopy

Posted by in category: biological

In biological imaging, researchers aim to achieve 3D, high-speed, and high-resolution, with low photobleaching and phototoxicity. The light-sheet fluorescence microscope (LSFM) helps meet that aim. Based on a unique excitation and detection scheme, the LSFM can image live specimens with high spatiotemporal resolution and low photobleaching. It has shown great potential for 3D imaging of biological samples.

The principle of LSFM technology is to illuminate the sample with a thin and then collect the emitted fluorescence along the axis perpendicular to the transmission of the light-sheet. Therefore, only fluorophores close to the are excited and detected. Using a thinner light-sheet improves the axial , while a longer light-sheet improves the (FoV) and imaging speed. Tradeoffs are required, as it is difficult to generate a thin, uniform light-sheet.

Multiple light-sheets can be tiled to generate a virtual light-sheet with a higher aspect ratio. However, multiple beams also introduce sidelobes, decreasing the axial resolution and optical sectioning. Axially swept light-sheet microscopy (ASLM) uses a slit to reject the sidelobes. It uses the rolling shutter of the sCMOS, which naturally serves as a slit, to synchronize beam scanning. ASLM can image an arbitrarily large FoV with optimal axial resolution. However, the fluorescence signal outside the rolling shutter will be rejected, so a larger FoV comes at the price of lower photon efficiency.

Dec 5, 2022

Dr. Seemay Chou, Ph.D. — CEO, Arcadia Science — Tapping Biological Innovation In Nature For Humanity

Posted by in categories: biological, evolution, science

Tapping Biological Innovation In Nature For Humanity — Dr. Seemay Chou Ph.D., CEO, Arcadia Science


Dr. Seemay Chou, Ph.D. is the Co-Founder, CEO, and Board Member of Arcadia Science (https://www.arcadia.science/), a research and development company focusing on under researched areas in biology, with a specific focus on novel model organisms that haven’t been traditionally studied in the lab.

Continue reading “Dr. Seemay Chou, Ph.D. — CEO, Arcadia Science — Tapping Biological Innovation In Nature For Humanity” »

Dec 5, 2022

‘Croco-salamander’ bones offer clues to how early animals emerged from water

Posted by in category: biological

Date December 5, 2022 December 5, 2022

Dec 5, 2022

The world’s smallest life form can now move, thanks to genetic engineering

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biological, evolution, genetics

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.

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

Dec 1, 2022

In praise of research in fundamental biology

Posted by in category: biological

Science funders must remember the value of addressing the intrinsic biological questions that help to explain the natural world.

Nov 29, 2022

Physics of Emergent Behaviour III: from origin of life to multicellularity, 2nd July 2021 (part 2)

Posted by in categories: biological, physics

Workshop supported by the Imperial College Physics of Life Network of Excellence.

https://www.imperial.ac.uk/physics-of-life/

Continue reading “Physics of Emergent Behaviour III: from origin of life to multicellularity, 2nd July 2021 (part 2)” »

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