Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: biotech/medical – Page 123

Scientists discover a simple set of rules that may explain how the body’s tissues stay organized

Every day, your body replaces billions of cells—and yet, your tissues stay perfectly organized. How is that possible?

A team of researchers at ChristianaCare’s Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute and the University of Delaware believe they’ve found an answer.

In a study published in Biology of the Cell, they show that just five basic rules may explain how the body maintains the complex structure of tissues like those in the colon, for example, even as its cells are constantly dying and being replaced.

A Complete Human Genome Built from Scratch: This Unprecedented Scientific Feat Could Transform Everything We Know About Biology

IN A NUTSHELL 🌐 The SynHG project aims to synthesize a complete human genome, opening new horizons in biotechnology. ⚖️ Ethical considerations are central to the project, with a focus on responsible innovation and diverse cultural perspectives. 🧬 Initial steps involve creating a fully synthetic human chromosome, leveraging advances in synthetic biology and DNA chemistry.

Engineering functional liver organoids with organ-specific vasculature

Liver organoids with proper blood vessel networks have been successfully produced, as reported by researchers from Institute of Science Tokyo and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. This advancement addresses a major challenge in replicating the liver’s complex vasculature in lab-grown tissues. Using a novel 3D culture system, the researchers achieved the self-organization of four distinct precursor cell types into functional organoids, capable of producing essential clotting factors in a haemophilia A mouse model.

Over the past decade, organoids have become a major focus in biomedical research. These simplified, lab-grown organs can mimic important aspects of human biology, serving as an accessible and powerful tool to study diseases and test drugs. However, replicating the intricate arrangements and networks of blood vessels found in real organs remains a major hurdle. This is especially true for the liver, whose metabolic and detoxification functions rely on its highly specialized vasculature.

Because of such limitations, scientists haven’t fully tapped into the potential of liver organoids for studying and treating liver diseases. For example, in hemophilia A, a condition where the body cannot produce enough of a critical clotting factor, current treatments often involve expensive and frequent injections. An ideal long-term solution would restore the body’s ability to produce its own clotting factors, which could, in theory, be achieved using liver organoids with fully functional blood vessel structures called sinusoids.

8 Babies Born in UK Using Radical ‘Three Parent’ IVF Technique

Eight healthy babies have been born in the UK using a new IVF technique that successfully reduced their risk of inheriting genetic diseases from their mothers, the results of a world-first trial said Wednesday.

The findings were hailed as a breakthrough which raises hopes that women with mutations in their mitochondrial DNA could one day have children without passing debilitating or deadly diseases on to the children.

One out of every 5,000 births is affected by mitochondrial diseases, which cannot be treated, and include symptoms such as impaired vision, diabetes and muscle wasting.

Six-hour ‘undo’ button: GAI-17 rewinds stroke damage and may beat Alzheimer’s

Stroke kills millions, but Osaka researchers have unveiled GAI-17, a drug that halts toxic GAPDH clumping, slashes brain damage and paralysis in mice—even when given six hours post-stroke—and shows no major side effects, hinting at a single therapy that could also tackle Alzheimer’s and other tough neurological disorders.

Steroid Hormone Vitamin D: Implications for Cardiovascular Disease

Understanding of vitamin D physiology is important because about half of the population is being diagnosed with deficiency and treated with supplements. Clinical guidelines were developed based on observational studies showing an association between low serum levels and increased cardiovascular risk. However, new randomized controlled trials have failed to confirm any cardiovascular benefit from supplementation in the general population. A major concern is that excess vitamin D is known to cause calcific vasculopathy and valvulopathy in animal models. For decades, administration of vitamin D has been used in rodents as a reliable experimental model of vascular calcification. Technically, vitamin D is a misnomer. It is not a true vitamin because it can be synthesized endogenously through ultraviolet exposure of the skin. It is a steroid hormone that comes in 3 forms that are sequential metabolites produced by hydroxylases. As a fat-soluble hormone, the vitamin D-hormone metabolites must have special mechanisms for delivery in the aqueous bloodstream. Importantly, endogenously synthesized forms are carried by a binding protein, whereas dietary forms are carried within lipoprotein particles. This may result in distinct biodistributions for sunlight-derived versus supplement-derived vitamin D hormones. Because the cardiovascular effects of vitamin D hormones are not straightforward, both toxic and beneficial effects may result from current recommendations.

NIST Releases Trove of Genetic Data to Spur Cancer Research

To analyze the genome of pancreatic cancer cells, NIST researchers used 13 distinct state-of-the-art whole genome measurement technologies, some of which were only recently developed.

Each method identifies the sequence of DNA nucleotides — adenine (A), cytosine ©, guanine (G) and thymine (T) — in an individual’s genome. However, the methods produce slightly varying results and have different strengths and weaknesses.

NIST’s dataset contains separate results for each of the 13 techniques used to sequence the cancer genome. Scientists performing their analysis can compare their data with NIST’s. If there are discrepancies, they can then determine whether their equipment is working properly and remedy the problem if not.

MRI study reveals structural brain changes in children with restrictive eating disorders

In the last decade, the incidence of restrictive eating disorders in children, like anorexia-nervosa and avoidant/restrictive food intake disorders (ARFID), has doubled. These disorders have severe consequences for growing children, resulting in nutritional deficiencies and problems with bone development, statural growth and puberty. Most studies have focused on the effects of these disorders in older individuals, and little is currently known about how restrictive eating disorders affect the brain in children or what mechanisms in the brain might be responsible for this restrictive eating behavior.

To get a better understanding of how these early-onset eating disorders work in the brain, researcher Clara Moreau and her team conducted MRI brain scans on 290 , of which 124 had been hospitalized for early-onset anorexia-nervosa (EO-AN), 50 had been hospitalized for ARFID, and 116 were children with no eating disorders. All participants were under 13 years old, and those who were hospitalized had very low body mass index (BMI) due to restrictive eating. The results were published in Nature Mental Health.

Although EO-AN and AFRID both result in low BMI and malnutrition due to restrictive eating, they are distinct disorders. EO-AN—as well as later onset anorexia-nervosa—is characterized by restrictive eating arising from a distorted body image, while restrictive eating in AFRID arises from sensory issues, such as a dislike of certain food textures, a lack of interest in food or fear of negative health consequences from food. These differences indicate that the disorders probably arise from different mechanisms in the brain.

Smarter silicone bonding enables engineering of stronger soft devices

In a step forward for soft robotics and biomedical devices, Rice University engineers have uncovered a powerful new way to boost the strength and durability of silicone-based soft devices without changing the materials themselves. Their study, published in a special issue of Science Advances, focuses on printed and musculoskeletal robotics and offers a predictive framework that connects silicone curing conditions with adhesion strength, enabling dramatic improvements in performance for both molded and 3D-printed elastomer components.

/* */