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Category: biotech/medical – Page 1,013

Magnetic and acoustic levitation to protect bioprint heart models against radiation

Reducing reliance of aninmal experimentation. 🐀

According to the team, this new unparalleled technology facilitates the precise manipulation of biological materials, enabling the creation of highly sophisticated and realistic organoids that closely mimic the complexity of the corresponding human organs.

The cutting-edge magnetic and acoustic levitation will bioprint heart models to improve protection against radiation both in space and on Earth.

After being awarded nearly 4 million euros by the European Innovation Council’s Pathfinder Open, PULSE is aiming to foster technological innovations to improve human health and pave the way for safer and more sustainable space exploration.

Multi-Levitation bioprinting and creating realistic organoids

The device, designed by PULSE, combines magnetic and acoustic levitation into an innovative bioprinting platform capable spatiotemporal control of cell deposition.

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Retina cell breakthrough could help treat blindness

When the scaffold is treated with a steroid called fluocinolone acetonide, which protects against inflammation, the resilience of the cells appears to increase, promoting growth of eye cells. These findings are important in the future development of ocular tissue for transplantation into the patient’s eye.

Scientists have found a way to use nanotechnology to create a 3D ‘scaffold’ to grow cells from the retina-paving the way for potential new ways of treating a common cause of blindness.

Researchers, led by Professor Barbara Pierscionek from Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), have been working on a way to successfully grow retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells that stay healthy and viable for up to 150 days. RPE cells sit just outside the neural part of the retina and, when damaged, can cause vision to deteriorate.

It is the first time this technology, called ‘electrospinning’, has been used to create a scaffold on which the RPE cells could grow, and could revolutionise treatment for one of age-related macular degeneration, one of the world’s most common vision complaints.

GravityLab wants to tackle the artificial gravity problem

Living without gravity spells disaster for the human body. Even a few weeks in microgravity can lead to issues with circulation and vision; over the longer term, the complications compound even further. The heart begins to degenerate and atrophy. Bones turn thin and brittle.

But what about Martian gravity, which is around 0.38 that of Earth? Or somewhere in-between — 0.16 G on the moon, or 0.91 on Venus? How do these gravity levels affect the body, plants and other organisms, even manufacturing processes? We have astonishingly few answers to these questions.

gravityLab wants to find some. The company is developing a spinning spacecraft that will be able to generate what co-founder and CEO Grant Bonin calls “programmable gravity.” The spacecraft will be equipped with a motorized boom that can extend and retract a counterweight. By dynamically varying the length of the boom and the rotation rate, the company says it will be able to control the acceleration of gravity inside the spacecraft.

Scientists Use Gene Editing To Create a Better Melon

The plant hormone ethylene, in its gaseous state, has long been recognized for its ability to hasten fruit ripening and has a notable impact on shelf-life. In a recent study, scientists used the CRISPR/Cas9 system for gene editing to modify the ethylene production pathway in the luxury Japanese melon (Cucumis melo var. reticulatus “Harukei-3”) to increase its shelf-life.

Their findings were recently published in the journal Frontiers in Genome Editing.

The enzyme 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid.

Meta-optical fibres downsize endoscopes

Ultrathin optical elements known as meta-optics can reduce the tip length of endoscopes, which is one of the limiting factors of these medical devices. That’s the latest finding from researchers at the University of Washington, who used an inverse design approach to downsize the tip length by a third. They also demonstrate that the endoscope can capture video in real time over the full visible spectrum, something that has proved difficult with previous approaches.

Endoscopy involves inserting a long, flexible tube (consisting of a camera and a light guide) into the body to obtain images of internal tissues. In existing devices, the tube is tipped with a rigid optical component, the length of which is a fundamental limitation to the device being able to travel through small convoluted ducts such as arteries.

In principle, this problem can be solved by making an endoscope from just a single optical fibre or a bundle of fibres, but the snag here is that some of the light travelling down the fibres is scattered by defects and gets distorted beyond recognition. It cannot therefore be reconstructed to obtain an accurate image. Such devices are also limited to short working distances.

How a BBQ lighter can make DNA vaccines more powerful

Georgia Tech researchers have transformed a standard BBQ lighter into a delivery system that uses an electric spark to boost DNA vaccines — and it could help increase global access to a cheap, powerful new vaccine technology.

mRNA vs. DNA vaccines: DNA vaccines deliver a bit of genetic code that tells cells in the body to make a protein from a specific virus or bacteria. That triggers the immune system to create antibodies against that protein that will protect you if you’re ever infected by that particular pathogen.

This is exactly how mRNA vaccines work, too, and just like mRNA vaccines, DNA-based shots are relatively cheap to produce and easy to change to make new vaccines — but the way mRNA and DNA vaccines get their genetic instructions into cells is different.

How Much Junk Food Is Bad For Health?

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Why Don’t We All Have Cancer?

Thanks to Cancer Research UK! http://www.cancerresearchuk.org.
Links to LEARN MORE and SOURCES are below.
follow me: http://www.twitter.com/tweetsauce.

What is cancer?

http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-info/cancerandresearc
is-cancer/
http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-info/cancerstats/keyfacts/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallmarks_of_cancer.

Visualizing the prevention of cancer: http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-info/cancerstats/caus
alisation/

10 cancer MYTHS debunked: http://scienceblog.cancerresearchuk.org/2014/03/24/dont-beli
-debunked/

Other cancer articles:

Continue reading “Why Don’t We All Have Cancer?” | >

Nascent mitochondrial proteins initiate the localized condensation of cytosolic protein aggregates on the mitochondrial surface

Eukaryotes organize cellular contents into membrane-bound organelles and membrane-less condensates, for example, protein aggregates. An unsolved question is why the ubiquitously distributed proteins throughout the cytosol give rise to spatially localized protein aggregates on the organellar surface, like mitochondria. We report that the mitochondrial import receptor Tom70 is involved in the localized condensation of protein aggregates in budding yeast and human cells. This is because misfolded cytosolic proteins do not autonomously aggregate in vivo; instead, they are recruited to the condensation sites initiated by Tom70’s substrates (nascent mitochondrial proteins) on the organellar membrane using multivalent hydrophobic interactions. Knocking out Tom70 partially impairs, while overexpressing Tom70 increases the formation and association between cytosolic protein aggregates and mitochondria. In addition, ectopic targeting Tom70 and its substrates to the vacuole surface is able to redirect the localized aggregation from mitochondria to the vacuolar surface. Although other redundant mechanisms may exist, this nascent mitochondrial proteins-based initiation of protein aggregation likely explains the localized condensation of otherwise ubiquitously distributed molecules on the mitochondria. Disrupting the mitochondrial association of aggregates impairs their asymmetric retention during mitosis and reduces the mitochondrial import of misfolded proteins, suggesting a proteostasis role of the organelle-condensate interactions.

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