Lifeboat Foundation

The manufacturing process for personalized T-cell therapies hardly begins before it stalls. Why? Right at the start, there is a severe bottleneck: the need to identify patient-derived, tumor-reactive T-cell receptors (TCRs).

To overcome this bottleneck, scientists at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and the University Medical Center Mannheim have developed predicTCR, a machine learning classifier. According to the scientists, it can identify individual tumor-reactive tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TILs) in an antigen-agnostic manner based on single-TIL RNA sequencing.

The scientists also assert that prediTCR can halve the time it takes to get past the bottleneck, helping to reduce the overall time needed to make a personalized T-cell therapy for cancer patients. Since the overall time is at least six months, any reduction in the time needed to complete any manufacturing step is welcome.

Humanity’s Michael Geer explains what Large Biological Models are and why they are the next giant leap in health.

Until now, it was not clear how hepatocytes were assigned tasks related to their localization. Researchers at the Spanish National Cancer Research Center (CNIO) have discovered that a gene, mTOR, is responsible for organizing the hepatocyte position map.

They also found that what triggers hepatocyte specialization is feeding after birth. The difference is marked by how nutrients reach the organism before and after birth: with no interruptions through the umbilical cord in one case, or in an intermittent fashion –when eating– in the other. The alternation of periods with and without available nutrients activates the mTOR gene and causes the hepatocytes to specialize, which completes the maturation of the liver.

Short version: You should be taking NAD boosters.

Professor Danica Chen from UC Berkeley presents ways to protect mitochondria and reverse stem cell aging in this video.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36255…
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32504…
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science…
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37146…
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37919…

Continue reading “SIRTUINS 2, 3 & 7 PROTECT Mitochondria & REVERSE Stem Cell Aging!!!” »

NEW ORLEANS, March 18, 2024 — Doctors have long prescribed exercise to improve and protect health. In the future, a pill may offer some of the same benefits as exercise. Now, researchers report on new compounds that appear capable of mimicking the physical boost of working out — at least within rodent cells. This discovery could lead to a new way to treat muscle atrophy and other medical conditions in people, including heart failure and neurodegenerative disease.

The researchers will present their results today at the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS). ACS Spring 2024 is a hybrid meeting being held virtually and in person March 17–21; it features nearly 12,000 presentations on a range of science topics.

Continue reading “Mimicking exercise with a pill” »

In a recent study published in The New England Journal of Medicine, a team of scientists from the United States (U.S.) and Canada evaluated the performance of a blood-based testing method that uses cell-free deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) to screen for colorectal cancer.

Study: A Cell-free DNA Blood-Based Test for Colorectal Cancer Screening. Image Credit: Connect world/Shutterstock.com.

Researchers from Weill Cornell Medicine have discovered that unique bacteria colonize the gut shortly after birth and make the neurotransmitter serotonin to educate gut immune cells that help in preventing allergic reactions to food and the bacteria themselves during early development.

The study published in the journal Science Immunology on March 15, 2024, revealed that bacteria abundant in the guts of newborns produce serotonin, which promotes the development of immune cells called T-regulatory cells or Tregs. These cells suppress inappropriate immune responses to help prevent autoimmune diseases and dangerous allergic reactions to harmless food items or beneficial gut microbes.

Continue reading “Can gut bacteria help shape newborn’s immune system? Study sheds light” »

Scientists are embarking on a £1.1 million project aimed at revolutionising drug production by using food by-products to develop new antimicrobial drugs.

Led by the University of Strathclyde in collaboration with the University of Surrey and GSK, the research endeavours to make antimicrobial production more cost-effective and sustainable, thereby addressing the pressing global challenge of antimicrobial resistance.

The project seeks to leverage bacteria, particularly Streptomyces, known for their potential to produce various drugs including antimicrobials. By harnessing food by-products, the team is aiming to device a less carbon-intensive process for biomanufacturing, which could pave the way for a range of medications including anti-parasitic, anti-cancer, anti-fungal, and immunosuppressant drugs.

Researchers in the UC Davis Department of Biomedical Engineering are introducing a groundbreaking catheter-based device that could revolutionize heart attack and stroke prevention by enhancing intravascular imaging of dangerous plaques.

Researchers in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of California, Davis, have developed a new catheter-based device that combines two powerful optical techniques to image the dangerous plaques that can build up inside the arteries that supply blood to the heart. By providing new details about plaque, the device could help clinicians and researchers improve treatments for preventing heart attacks and strokes.

Atherosclerosis occurs when fats, cholesterol and other substances accumulate on the artery walls, which can cause these vessels to become thick and stiff. A heart attack or stroke may occur if an atherosclerotic plaque inside the blood vessels ruptures or parts of it break off.

Continue reading “New cardiovascular imaging approach provides a better view of dangerous plaques” »