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Category: biotech/medical – Page 1,147

Scientists develop mouse model to study mpox virulence

Scientists from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, have removed a major roadblock to better understanding of mpox (formerly, monkeypox). They developed a mouse model of the disease and used it to demonstrate clear differences in virulence among the major genetic groups (clades) of mpox virus (MPXV).

The research, appearing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, was led by Bernard Moss, M.D., Ph.D., chief of the Genetic Engineering Section of NIAID’s Laboratory of Viral Diseases.

Historically, mpox, a disease resembling smallpox, was only occasionally transmitted from rodents to non-human primates or people, and was observed primarily in several African countries. Mpox rarely spread from person to person. That pattern changed in 2022 with an outbreak in which person-to-person mpox transmission occurred in more than 100 locations worldwide.

Lab-Made Enzymes Could Chop Up the Virus That Causes COVID

Artificial enzymes can fight the COVID-causing virus by selectively snipping apart its RNA genome, a new study suggests. Researchers say the technique may overcome key problems with previous technologies and could help create rapid antiviral treatments as threats emerge.

When the COVID pandemic struck, University of Cambridge chemical biologist Alexander Taylor scrambled to repurpose a gene-cutting technology he and his colleagues had been developing: synthetic enzymes called XNAzymes (xeno nucleic acids) formed from artificial RNA. Working single-handedly during lockdown, Taylor generated five XNAzymes targeting sequences in SARS-CoV-2’s genome in a matter of days.

Enzymes are natural catalysts that facilitate chemical transformations—in this case, by chopping other molecules apart. But previous DNA-and RNA-based enzymes have struggled to cut long, highly structured molecules such as virus genomes. Instead they destroy targets by recruiting existing enzymes inside cells—a less precise process that can lead to “off-target” cuts and increased side effects.

Mysterious Brain Activity in Mice Watching a Movie Could Help Tackle Alzheimer’s and Improve AI

Summary: Tracking hippocampal neurons in mice as they watched a movie revealed novel ways to improve artificial intelligence and track neurological disorders associated with memory and learning deficits.

Source: UCLA

Even the legendary filmmaker Orson Welles couldn’t have imagined such a plot twist.

Will CRISPR Cure Cancer?

One question for Brad Ringeisen, a chemist and executive director of the Innovative Genomics Institute. Founded by Nobel Prize-winning biochemist Jennifer Doudna, it aims to bridge revolutionary gene-editing tool development to affordable and accessible solutions in human health and climate.

Will CRISPR cure cancer?

We’re always thinking about: What are those targets in the future? Cancer is one of those things. The biggest impact is going to be what’s called systemic delivery, or in vivo delivery. There’s been one example of this in the community right now—to treat a liver disease. Intellia Therapeutics, a biotech company, has shown that you can actually intravenously apply CRISPR-Cas9 treatment. (CRISPR is the guide RNA, the targeting molecule, and Cas9 is the cutting molecule that edits DNA.) It can go to the liver and target the liver cells, and make edits at a high enough efficacy to treat genetic liver disease. The problem is that the liver is the easiest. It’s like the garbage can of the body. Pretty much anything that you put into the body is ultimately going to find its way to the liver. So that’s absolutely the easiest tissue to deliver to. But trying to deliver to a solid tumor, or to the brain, is much more difficult.

A new class of medicinal compounds that target RNA

A team of undergraduate and graduate chemistry students in Jennifer Hines’ lab at Ohio University recently uncovered a new class of compounds that can target RNA and disrupt its function. This discovery identified a chemical scaffold that could ultimately be used in the development of RNA-targeted medicines to treat bacterial and viral infections, as well as cancer and metabolic diseases.

RNA is chemically like DNA but also controls the extent to which the DNA’s instructions are carried out within a living cell. It is this essential regulatory role in the function of the cell that makes RNA such an attractive target.

“Trying to target RNA is at the forefront of medicinal chemistry research with enormous potential for treating diseases,” said Hines, professor of chemistry and biochemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences. “However, there are relatively few compounds known to directly modulate RNA activity which makes it challenging to design new RNA-targeted therapeutics.”

Link found between chronic pain and overactive pyramidal neurons during sleep

A team of neuroscientists at the New York University School of Medicine has found a link between chronic pain and overactive pyramidal neurons during sleep periods. In their study, published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, the group conducted experiments with injured mice experiencing chronic pain.

Prior research has shown that there is often a link between chronic pain and insomnia. After experiencing a neural injury of some sort, many patients are left with some degree of lasting pain. This tends to result in poor sleep and sometimes insomnia. Once that happens, the pain becomes worse, and over time becomes chronic. But why this happens has been a mystery. In this new effort, the team in New York conducted experiments with hoping to find the answer.

The work involved inducing chronic pain in mice by damaging two of the three branches that make up a group of sciatic nerves. Doing so led to sensitivity in the legs. The researchers scanned the brains of each of the mice before and after the damage. They observed that pyramidal neurons in the part of the cerebral cortex responsible for sensation processing in the skin became more active. And over the course of several weeks, the activity increased, peaking during non-REM sleep.

Scientists study increased fatigue and daytime sleep reported after ischemic stroke

Approximately 9,000 people are admitted to Norwegian hospitals with stroke each year. About half of these patients feel exhausted afterwards, and many patients sleep more during the day than before the stroke. These after-effects are challenging and significantly affect patients’ everyday life.

However, we still have a limited understanding of which factors lead to increased and daytime sleep after stroke. Our research group therefore wanted to investigate whether cognitive and emotional complaints are related to increased fatigue and sleep during the day.

Our results were recently published in an article in the journal Frontiers in Neurology.

Social isolation triggers astrocyte-mediated deficits in learning and memory

Here is an important reason to stay in touch with friends and family: social isolation causes memory and learning deficits and other behavioral changes. Many brain studies have focused on the effects social deprivation has on neurons, but little is known about the consequences for the most abundant brain cell, the astrocyte.

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine working with animal models report in the journal Neuron that during , become hyperactive, which in turn suppresses brain circuit function and memory formation. Importantly, inhibiting astrocyte hyperactivity reversed the cognitive deficits associated with .

“One thing we have learned during the COVID pandemic is that social isolation can influence cognitive functions, as previous studies suggested,” said co-first author, Yi-Ting Cheng, graduate student in Dr. Benjamin Deneen’s lab at Baylor. “This motivated co-first author Dr. Junsung Woo and me to further investigate the effects of social isolation in the brain, specifically in astrocytes.”

3D-printed smart contact lens with navigation function

Dr. Seol Seung-Kwon’s Smart 3D Printing Research Team at KERI and Professor Lim-Doo Jeong’s team at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) developed core technology for smart contact lenses that can implement augmented reality (AR)-based navigation, with a 3D printing process.

A smart contact lens is a product attached to the human eye like a normal lens that provides various information. Research on these lenses is currently focused mainly on diagnosing and treating health problems. Recently, Google and others are developing smart contact lenses for displays that can implement AR. Yet many obstacles to commercialization exist due to several technical challenges.

In implementing AR with smart contact lenses, electrochromic displays that can be driven with low power are necessary, and a “pure Prussian blue” color, with cost competitiveness and quick contrast and transition between colors, is attracting attention as the lens’ material. In the past, the color was coated on the in the form of a film using the electric plating method, which limited the production of advanced displays that can express various information (letters, numbers, images).

New AI tool makes speedy gene-editing possible

An artificial intelligence program may enable the first simple production of customizable proteins called zinc fingers to treat diseases by turning genes on and off.

The researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and the University of Toronto who designed the tool say it promises to accelerate the development of gene therapies on a large scale.

Illnesses including cystic fibrosis, Tay-Sachs disease, and are caused by errors in the order of DNA letters that encode the operating instructions for every human cell. Scientists can in some cases correct these mistakes with gene editing methods that rearrange these letters.