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A $500 Million International Project Will Create the Most Detailed Map of the Brain Ever

Our brains are among the most complex objects in the known universe. Deciphering how they work could bring tremendous benefits, from finding ways to treat brain diseases and neurological disorders to inspiring new forms of machine intelligence.

But a critical starting point is coming up with a parts list. While everyone knows that brains are primarily made up of neurons, there are a dazzling array of different types of these cells. That’s not to mention the various kinds of glial cells that make up the connective tissue of the brain and play a crucial supporting role.

That’s why the National Institutes of Health’s BRAIN Initiative has just announced $500 million in funding over five years for an effort to characterize and map neuronal and other types of cells across the entire human brain. The project will be spearheaded by the Allen Institute in Seattle, but involves collaborations across 17 other institutions in the US, Europe, and Japan.

Michael Levin: Biology, Life, Aliens, Evolution, Embryogenesis & Xenobots | Lex Fridman Podcast #325

Michael Levin is a biologist at Tufts University working on novel ways to understand and control complex pattern formation in biological systems. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
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Biological Robots: https://arxiv.org/abs/2207.00880
Synthetic Organisms: https://tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19420889.2021.2005863
Limb Regeneration: https://science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abj2164

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OUTLINE:
0:00 — Introduction.
1:40 — Embryogenesis.
9:08 — Xenobots: biological robots.
22:55 — Sense of self.
32:26 — Multi-scale competency architecture.
43:57 — Free will.
53:27 — Bioelectricity.
1:06:44 — Planaria.
1:18:33 — Building xenobots.
1:42:08 — Unconventional cognition.
2:06:39 — Origin of evolution.
2:13:41 — Synthetic organisms.
2:20:27 — Regenerative medicine.
2:24:13 — Cancer suppression.
2:28:15 — Viruses.
2:33:28 — Cognitive light cones.
2:38:03 — Advice for young people.
2:42:47 — Death.
2:52:17 — Meaning of life.

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Scientists sequence the world’s largest pangenome to help unlock genetic mysteries behind finer silk

BGI Genomics, in collaboration with Southwest University, the State Key Laboratory of Silkworm Genome Biology, and other partners, has constructed a high-resolution pangenome dataset representing almost the entire genomic content in a silkworm.

This research paper, providing genetic insights into artificial selection (domestication and breeding) and ecological adaptation, was published on September 24 in Nature Communications.

Previously, due to the scarcity of wild silkworms and technical limitations of former studies, many trait-associated sites were missing. This is the first research ever to digitize silkworm gene pool and create a “digital silkworm”, greatly facilitating functional genomic research, promoting precise breeding, and thus enabling additional use cases.

Microscopic Robots in the Lungs Treat Bacterial Pneumonia in Mice

The last decade has brought a lot of attention to the use of microscopic robots (microrobots or nanorobots) for biomedical applications. Now, nanoengineers have developed microrobots that can swim around in the lungs and deliver medication to be used to treat bacterial pneumonia. A new study shows that the microrobots safely eliminated pneumonia-causing bacteria in the lungs of mice and resulted in 100% survival. By contrast, untreated mice all died within three days after infection.

The results are published Nature Materials in the paper, “Nanoparticle-modified microrobots for in vivo antibiotic delivery to treat acute bacterial pneumonia.”

The microrobots are made using click chemistry to attach antibiotic-loaded neutrophil membrane-coated polymeric nanoparticles to natural microalgae. The hybrid microrobots could be used for the active delivery of antibiotics in the lungs in vivo.

Tiny Robots Have Successfully Cleared Pneumonia From The Lungs of Mice

Scientists have been able to direct a swarm of microscopic swimming robots to clear out pneumonia microbes in the lungs of mice, raising hopes that a similar treatment could be developed to treat deadly bacterial pneumonia in humans.

The microbots are made from algae cells and covered with a layer of antibiotic nanoparticles. The algae provide movement through the lungs, which is key to the treatment being targeted and effective.

In experiments, the infections in the mice treated with the algae bots all cleared up, whereas the mice that weren’t treated all died within three days.

Biohacking The Oral Microbiome: Test #2

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Breakthrough research links deformed proteins with schizophrenia « Kurzweil

New research from medical scientists at Johns Hopkins University linked abnormally formed proteins in the human brain with the psychiatric illness called schizophrenia, in a significant number of patients. While they’re not yet sure what the connection is, the study said that deformed proteins were found in the brains of many patients who were diagnosed with schizophrenia.

— contents —

~ story ~ infographic: diagram ~ report ~ by definition ~ infographic: chart ~ learning.

Superager Brains Contain ‘Super Neurons’

Summary: Neurons in the memory-associated entorhinal cortex of super-agers are significantly larger than their cognitively average peers, those with MCI, and even in people up to 30 years younger. Additionally, these neurons contained no signs of Tau, a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease.

Source: Northwestern University.

Neurons in an area of the brain responsible for memory (known as the entorhinal cortex) were significantly larger in SuperAgers compared to cognitively average peers, individuals with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease and even individuals 20 to 30 years younger than SuperAgers — who are aged 80 years and older, reports a new Northwestern Medicine study.