Optogenetic techniques involve the introduction of photoreceptors into selected cells to allow control over their activity using light. In this Primer, Emiliani et al. discuss the most commonly used optogenetic tools, illumination approaches and applications in medicine, cardiovascular science and plants, among many other uses.
Eating foods such as bananas, avocados and salmon could help reduce the negative effects of salt in women’s diet, research suggests.
The study found that potassium-rich diets were associated with lower blood pressure, particularly in women with high salt intake.
A new study in mouse models of Alzheimer’s suggests that replacing blood containing amyloid-beta with fresh, healthy blood, may have therapeutic potential.
Gene therapy and optoelectronics could radically upgrade hearing for millions of people.
TEL AVIV, Israel — A one-time vaccine for HIV is a step closer to reality, according to a new study. A team in Israel used gene-editing technology to engineer type B white blood cells, which can trigger the immune system to fight the virus.
Dr. Adi Barzel of Tel Aviv University says this is one of the few times scientists have been able to engineer B cells outside of the human body. Their study finds that B white blood cells spark the immune system to produce more HIV-neutralizing antibodies. Currently, there is no cure for AIDS, which the HIV virus causes.
“Based on this study, we can expect that over the coming years we will be able to produce a medication for AIDS, additional infectious diseases and certain types of cancer caused by a virus, such as cervical cancer, head and neck cancer and more,” Dr. Barzel says in a university release.
A team of University of Kentucky researchers led by College of Engineering Professor Dibakar Bhattacharyya, Ph.D., and his Ph.D. student, Rollie Mills, have developed a medical face mask membrane that can capture and deactivate the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein on contact.
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Bhattacharyya, known to friends and colleagues as “DB,” along with collaborators across disciplines at UK set out to create the material. Their work was published in Communications Materials on May 24.
SARS-CoV-2 is covered in spike proteins, which allow the virus to enter host cells once in the body. The team developed a membrane that includes proteolytic enzymes that attach to the protein spikes and deactivates them.
Scientists have developed artificial intelligence software that can create proteins that may be useful as vaccines, cancer treatments, or even tools for pulling carbon pollution out of the air.
This research, reported today in the journal Science, was led by the University of Washington School of Medicine and Harvard University. The article is titled “Scaffolding protein functional sites using deep learning.”
“The proteins we find in nature are amazing molecules, but designed proteins can do so much more,” said senior author David Baker, an HHMI Investigator and professor of biochemistry at UW Medicine. “In this work, we show that machine learning can be used to design proteins with a wide variety of functions.”
Sub-Saharan Africa could soon account for half the world’s cases of cancer in children unless the disease is prioritized through robust national plans, a study published in Lancet Oncology suggests.
Lead author, Wil Ngwa, from the Johns Hopkins Medicine, said that the high rate of people in Africa surviving infectious diseases could be a reason for surging cases of infection-related cancers such as Kaposi sarcoma, Burkitt lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and hepatocellular carcinoma, and also embryonal cancers like retinoblastoma and nephroblastoma.
Another study, published in the journal Cancers, found close to 1.7 million children under 15 years of age with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) worldwide, a risk factor for cancer in children, 91% of them in sub-Saharan Africa. The researchers found that Kaposi sarcoma and lymphoma are the most common.
It was 2010, and 5-year-old Emily Whitehead had her entire future ahead of her. “From the time she was little, she liked to pull pranks and make us laugh,” her father Tom, 53, tells PEOPLE. “She made our lives a lot better.” The rambunctious preschooler had just gone to…
