The eyes have been called the window to the brain. It turns out they also serve as an immunological barrier that protects the organ from pathogens and even tumors, Yale researchers have found.
In a new study, researchers showed that vaccines injected into the eyes of mice can help disable the herpes virus, a major cause of brain encephalitis. To their surprise, the vaccine activates an immune response through lymphatic vessels along the optic nerve.
A brutal twist in the insect world: Researchers discovered a virus that causes sterility in male insects by commandeering their sperm. A striking testament to the intricate and often harsh mechanisms of nature.
Penn State researchers unveil the tale of Wolbachia and its viral accomplice manipulating insect reproduction.
Transplanting Whole Human Eyes To Restore Vision In Patients Who Are Blind Or Visually Impaired — Dr. Calvin Roberts, MD — Program Manager, Transplantation of Human Eye Allografts (THEA), Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H)
Dr. Calvin Roberts, M.D. is Program Manager at the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) where manages for the Transplantation of Human Eye Allografts (THEA — https://arpa-h.gov/research-and-fundi…) program, which aims to transplant whole human eyes to restore vision in patients who are blind or visually impaired by reconnecting the nerves, muscles and blood vessels of whole donor eyes to the brain.
Dr. Roberts joined ARPA-H in September 2023 from Lighthouse Guild International, where is the president and chief executive officer. Lighthouse Guild is a not-for-profit organization that provides programs and services to people who are blind or visually impaired.
Previously, Dr. Roberts was the chief medical officer for the global eye care company Bausch + Lomb.
For the past 40 years, Roberts has also served as a clinical professor of ophthalmology at Weill Cornell Medical Center. As a practicing ophthalmologist from 1982 to 2008, he performed more than 10,000 cataract surgeries, as well as 5,000 refractive and other corneal surgeries. He is credited with developing surgical therapies, over-the-counter products for vision care, prescription ocular therapeutics and innovative treatment regimens. He also holds patents on the wide-field specular microscope and has done extensive research on ophthalmic non-steroidals and post-operative cystoid macular edema.
— Study found lower diabetes incidence with drug for patients who stayed on treatment.
New Haven, Conn. — Contrary to popular belief, brain cells use a mix of analog and digital coding at the same time to communicate efficiently, according to a study by Yale School of Medicine researchers published this week in Nature.
This finding partially overturns a longstanding belief that each of the brain’s 100 billion neurons communicate strictly by a digital code. Analog systems represent signals continuously, while digital systems represent signals in the timing of pulses. Traditionally, many human-designed circuits operate exclusively in analog or in digital modes.
“This study reveals that the brain is very sophisticated in its operation, using a code that is more efficient than previously appreciated,” said David McCormick, professor in the Department of Neurobiology and senior author of the study. “This has widespread implications, not only for our basic understanding of how the brain operates, but also in our understanding of neuronal dysfunction.”
Scientists have grown small but complex models of human organs from live fetus cells for the first time, giving experts new insight into our development and potential treatments for malformations while in the womb.
These organoids aren’t full replicas of organs, but they’re close enough to the real deal that they can be used to study disease and other aspects of human biology that are difficult to investigate in living people.
In a new study carried out by an international team of researchers, lung, kidney, and intestine organoids were grown from living stem cells in amniotic fluid. This fluid helps to protect the growing baby and feed it with nutrients, and is taken from the mother without harming her baby as part of regular pregnancy tests.
A research team has successfully synthesized a metal nanocluster and determined its crystal structure. Their study provides experimental evidence for understanding and designing nanoclusters with specific properties at the atomic level. Metal nanoclusters have wide-ranging applications in the biomedical field.
Their work is published in the journal Polyoxometalates.
Scientists have shown interest in ligand-protected atomically precise metal nanoclusters because they have definite atomic structures and exceptional physical and chemical properties. These properties include attributes such as luminescence, chirality, electrochemistry, and catalysis.
Retrotransposons can insert new genes into a “safe harbor” in the genome, complementing CRISPR gene editing.
The recent greenlighting of a CRISPR-Cas9 treatment for sickle cell disease underscores the efficacy of gene editing technologies in deactivating genes to heal inherited illnesses. However, the capability to integrate entire genes into the human genome as replacements for faulty or harmful ones remains unachievable.
A new technique that employs a retrotransposon from birds to insert genes into the genome holds more promise for gene therapy, since it inserts genes into a “safe harbor” in the human genome where the insertion won’t disrupt essential genes or lead to cancer.
ABOVE: After years of research, brain organoids now come close to mimicking endogenous brain cells. © iStock, StockSnap.
As a developmental neurobiologist at Harvard University, Paola Arlotta spends most of her time thinking about how the brain develops, how it functions, and what goes wrong in the context of neurological disease. Using human brain organoids as a model for brain development and disease research has been a game changer, providing Arlotta a novel view into brain pathologies that form in utero.
Microplastics found in blood vessels are linked to a greater risk of heart problems, a new study reports.
