Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Category: biotech/medical – Page 1,054

Some problems need a lifetime of thinking.

Nick Axten was recently awarded his doctoral degree by the University of Bristol in the U.K. While doctoral students usually take five or six years to complete their program, it took Nick 52 years to go from Mr. Axten to Dr. Axten.

Problems that take a lifetime.

University of Bristol.

If you are looking for inspiration and motivation to do something new in the mature years of your life, then the academic world is the best place. Previously, Interesting Engineering has reported how then-89-year-old Manfred Steiner had completed his doctorate in physics after having studied and practiced medicine all throughout his professional life.

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The Methuselah Foundation is a non-profit medical charity focused on extending the healthy human lifespan by making 90 the new 50 by 2030. Our goal is to accelerate results in the longevity field, as well as the biotechnology, regenerative medicine, life sciences sectors. We incubate and sponsor mission-relevant ventures, fund research, and support projects and prizes.

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The Methuselah Foundation is a non-profit medical charity focused on extending the healthy human lifespan by making 90 the new 50 by 2030. Our goal is to accelerate results in the longevity field, as well as the biotechnology, regenerative medicine, life sciences sectors. We incubate and sponsor mission-relevant ventures, fund research, and support projects and prizes.

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University of Chicago scientists have discovered a new wrinkle in our understanding of how our genes work. The team, led by Chuan He, the UChicago John T. Wilson Distinguished Service Professor of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, shed light on a longstanding puzzle involved in a common way our genes are modified that is known as RNA methylation.

Published Jan. 27 in Science, the finding could have implications for for disease, as well as our picture of gene expression, development, and evolution.

For more than a decade, Chuan He’s laboratory has been focused on trying to unravel the puzzle of a phenomenon called RNA methylation, which we are increasingly understanding plays a key role in our bodies and lives—everything from cancer to PTSD to aging.

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The behavioral disorders observed in autism are associated with a multitude of genetic alterations. Scientists from the Hector Institute for Translational Brain Research (HITBR) have now found another molecular cause for this condition. The transcription factor MYT1L normally protects the molecular identity of nerve cells. If it is genetically switched off in human nerve cells or in mice, the functional changes and symptoms typical of autism occur. A drug that blocks sodium channels in the cell membrane can reverse the consequences of MYT1L failure and alleviate the functional and behavioral abnormalities in mice.

Disorders from the autism spectrum (ASD, autism spectrum disorders) are not only manifested by impairments in social interaction, communication, interest formation, and by stereotypical behavior patterns. This is often accompanied by other abnormalities such as epilepsy or hyperactivity.

Scientists are intensively searching for the molecular abnormalities that contribute to this complex developmental disorder. A multitude of genetic factors that influence the molecular programs of the nerve cells have already been linked to the development of autism.

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The World Health Organization hopes to test an experimental Marburg vaccine in Equatorial Guinea, which announced its first outbreak of the virus Monday.

Nine deaths have been confirmed, while 16 suspected patients are in quarantine. Health officials are also monitoring 15 asymptomatic close contacts of infected people.

No vaccine or antiviral treatment is approved to treat Marburg virus disease, which has an average death rate of around 50%, according to the WHO.

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Professor of Biology at Tufts University Michael Levin shows the remarkable plasticity of somatic (non-neural) cells and the way they communicate through bioelectric signalling to produce different morphologies. He argues that cellular control of growth and form is a type of collective intelligence.

Prof. Levin also shows that by manipulating bioelectric signalling between cells it is possible to change what the cells are going to build. The particular examples include converting one type of tadpole tissue into another, making planaria (a type of flatworm) to regrow two heads, etc. Prof. Levin’s and his team work has profound theoretical contributions towards understanding better biological intelligence, and from the practical side, it may lead to applications in biomedicine (solving birth defects, curing degenerative disease and cancer).

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#CellularIntelligence #BioelectricSignalling #SyntheticOrganisms

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