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Using Human Brain Cells in Rats to Understand Psychiatric Disorders with Dr. Sergiu Pasca

The journal Nature published a groundbreaking new study by world-renowned Stanford neuroscientist Sergiu Pasca involving the transfer of human brain organoids into the brains of rats. Insoo Hyun, Director of the Center for Life Sciences and Public Learning at the Museum of Science, speaks candidly with Dr. Pasca about his research. Why did he do it? How might this uncover the mysteries of psychiatric disorders? And the Big Question we are all wondering about – can these rats ever develop “human-like” consciousness? Together they demystify the science.

00:33 Dr. Sergiu Pasca’s Romanian roots.
00:55 Why is Dr. Pasca’s work important for Psychiatry?
04:14 Dr. Pasca’s work with human brain organoids.
06:14 Challenges with using animal brains when trying to unlock mysteries of human psychiatric disorders.
07:13 Reason for Dr. Pasca’s latest research transplanting human brain organoids into rat brains.
08:47 How the human brain organoid transplantation into a rat brain is accomplished.
10:19 What Dr. Pasca learned from his experiment and its importance.
12:02 Brain cells’ amazing ability to take over and organize themselves in appropriate environments.
13:03 Will animals with human brain organoids in their brain develop human-like consciousness?
17:30 Will manipulating human neurons in a rat change the behavior of the rat?
19:43 Application of rat experiment findings for human patients.
22:07 The ethics and regulation of using animals in scientific research.
25:25 Why context matters in research of transplanting human brain organoids into rat brains and the challenge of people backfilling science they might not understand with mythology and science fiction.
32:28 Dr. Pasca’s inspiration to work so hard to unlock the mysteries of psychiatric disorders.

“The Big Question” is a production of the Museum of Science, Boston.

Learn more about the Museum of Science Life Sciences and Public Learning: https://www.mos.org/explore/center-for-life-sciences.

Nature article: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05277-w.

Among the world’s largest science centers, the Museum of Science engages millions of people each year to the wonders of science and technology through interactive exhibitions, digital programs, giant screen productions, and preK – 8 EiE® STEM curricula through the William and Charlotte Bloomberg Science Education Center. Established in 1,830, the Museum is home to such iconic experiences as the Theater of Electricity, the Charles Hayden Planetarium, and the Mugar Omni Theater. Around the world, the Museum is known for digital experiences such as Mission: Mars launching in 2022 on Roblox, and traveling exhibitions such as the Science Behind Pixar.

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Neutropenic precautions: 5 dos and don’ts for this cancer treatment side effect

You may already know that it’s important to wash your hands, wear a face mask and avoid sick people while neutropenic.

But is there anything else you should — or should not — be doing to avoid infections when you’re immunocompromised by a low white blood cell count during or after cancer treatment?

We spoke with internal medicine expert Carmen Escalante, M.D., for insight. Here are five precautions she shares with immunocompromised patients and their caregivers.

Eye drop recall: Florida woman sues company after eye removed

A Florida woman is suing an eye drop manufacture claiming that its product — which has been linked to a deadly bacteria outbreak — made her legally blind.

Sixty-eight-year-old Clara Elvira Oliva is taking legal action against Global Pharma Healthcare after suffering such a severe infection from using its EzriCare Artificial Tears that she had to have her eye removed, according to court documents.

Oliva’s right eye was removed and replaced with a plastic implant in September 2022 to control a “severe antibiotic resistant infection,” according to the lawsuit filed earlier this month in Federal court in Miami, Florida.

Blood Test #2 in 2023: Diet Composition

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Time of day matters when it comes to cancer diagnosis and treatment, says metastasis study

Your circadian rhythm doesn’t just govern your sleeping schedule; it can also impact cancer development, diagnosis, and treatment. In a review paper published in the journal Trends in Cell Biology, researchers discuss the role of circadian rhythms in tumor progression and spread and describe how we could better time when patients are tested for cancer and when they receive therapies to improve diagnostic accuracy and improve treatment success.

“The circadian rhythm governs most of the cellular functions implicated in cancer progression, and therefore its exploitation opens new promising directions in the fight against metastasis,” write the authors, molecular oncologists Zoi Diamantopoulou, Ana Gvozdenovic, and Nicola Aceto from the ETH Zurich in Switzerland.

Our circadian rhythms help our bodies synchronize different tasks throughout the day, including gene expression, immune function, and cell repair. We’ve long known that chronically disrupted circadian rhythms—as a result of erratic sleep patterns, jet lag, or , for example—can predispose us to a number of health issues, including cancer. More recent work has shown that circadian rhythms are not only involved in tumor onset, but also govern and metastasis, the colonization of secondary sites within the body.

Writing the Rules on CRISPR Activation

The researchers add that these data demonstrate that CRISPRa is generally applicable across chromatin states and cell types, and highlights the factors that impact the degree of gene activation and how easy it is to reproduce the effects. Understanding these factors is important in the design and analysis of CRISPRa screens, which are used to look for genes involved in genetic diseases, the team points out.

Further study is required to continue to add to these rules and to see whether different CRISPRa or CRISPR interference techniques behave in a similar way.

“Our research has established a system for reporting the effectiveness of CRISPR activation in stem cells, allowing us to gain a better understanding of how CRISPRa works in multiple cell states,” says Qianxin Wu, PhD, first author from Wellcome Sanger. “We also showed that CRISPR gene activation is powerful enough to induce stem cells to differentiate into other cell states. This suggests that CRISPRa screens can be used to search for genes involved in cellular processes or to generate more accurate models of cell types in the body, aiding research into genetic diseases and regenerative medicine.”

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