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Category: biotech/medical – Page 1,419

Raising awareness of spina bifida

Spina bifida is the most common birth defect of the central nervous system and the second most common of all structural birth defects. To learn more about it, From the Labs sat with Dr. Richard H. Finnell, whose lab at Baylor College of Medicine focuses on discovering the role of folic acid in the prevention of birth defects and in identifying the genes that determine susceptibility to human neural tube defects such as spina bifida.

FTL: What is spina bifida?

RHF: Spina bifida is a condition that occurs during very early development affecting the neural tube, which will give rise to the spinal cord and brain. It can be diagnosed during pregnancy or after the baby is born. Typically, the neural tube closes by the 28th day after conception. In babies with spina bifida, a portion of the neural tube doesn’t close properly, resulting in a malformed spinal cord and problems in the bones of the spine. The neural tube exposed to amniotic fluid results in bladder and bowel dysfunction and in orthopedic problems that limit the child’s ability to walk.

Researchers develop novel tumor-targeting nanospheres to improve light-based cancer diagnosis and treatment

In a breakthrough in cancer therapeutics, a team of researchers at the Magzoub Biophysics Lab at NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) has made a significant advance in light-based therapies—biocompatible and biodegradable tumor-targeting nanospheres that combine tumor detection and monitoring with potent, light-triggered cancer therapy to dramatically increase the efficacy of existing light-based approaches.

Non-invasive, light-based therapies, (PDT) and (PTT) have the potential to be safe and effective alternatives to conventional treatments, which are beset by a number of issues, including a range of side-effects and post-treatment complications.

However, to date, the development of effective light-based technologies for cancer has been hindered by poor solubility, low stability, and lack of specificity, among other challenges. Nanocarriers designed to deliver PDT and PTT more effectively have also proven to have significant limitations.

A Biologic Agent for Treating Patients with Polymyalgia Rheumatica

Sarilumab„ allowed for more-rapid tapering of prednisone in a randomized trial.

When patients with polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) have recurrent symptoms repeatedly during tapering of steroids, rheumatologists sometimes add agents such as methotrexate to decrease cumulative steroid exposure. Sarilumab (Kevzara; an interleukin-6 receptor antagonist) recently was FDA-approved in the U.S. for this purpose, based on results of this clinical trial.

Researchers identified 118 patients with PMR who had received at least 8 weeks of prednisone (≥10 mg daily) during their treatment course and had at least one symptom flare while taking ≥7.5 mg daily. Patients were randomized to receive either sarilumab, injected twice monthly for 1 year, while tapering prednisone over 14 weeks, or placebo, while tapering prednisone over 1 year. The protocol allowed for steroid “rescue” therapy if symptoms flared.

Sustained remission between weeks 12 and 52 occurred significantly more often in the sarilumab group than in the placebo group (28% vs. 10%). At 52 weeks, patients in the sarilumab group were significantly more likely to be asymptomatic and to have received no rescue therapy (45% vs. 14%). Median cumulative prednisone exposure was much lower in the sarilumab group (777 mg vs. 2044 mg). Neutropenia, diarrhea, and arthralgia occurred more commonly with sarilumab than with placebo. No deaths occurred during the trial.

Thousands of programmable DNA-cutters found in algae, snails, and other organisms

I dont really care where it comes from but we need Crispr tec to be where any alteration we do want causes Zero un intended alterations any where else 100% of the time, aim for by 2030–2035 window.

A diverse set of species, from snails to algae to amoebas, make programmable DNA-cutting enzymes called Fanzors—and a new study from scientists at MIT’s McGovern Institute for Brain Research has identified thousands of them. Fanzors are RNA-guided enzymes that can be programmed to cut DNA at specific sites, much like the bacterial enzymes that power the widely used gene-editing system known as CRISPR. The newly recognized diversity of natural Fanzor enzymes, reported Sept. 27 in the journal Science Advances, gives scientists an extensive set of programmable enzymes that might be adapted into new tools for research or medicine.

“RNA-guided biology is what lets you make programmable tools that are really easy to use. So the more we can find, the better,” says McGovern Fellow Omar Abudayyeh, who led the research with McGovern Fellow Jonathan Gootenberg.

CRISPR, an ancient bacterial defense system, has made it clear how useful RNA-guided enzymes can be when they are adapted for use in the lab. CRISPR-based genome editing tools developed by MIT professor and McGovern investigator Feng Zhang, Abudayyeh, Gootenberg, and others have changed the way scientists modify DNA, accelerating research and enabling the development of many experimental gene therapies.

New AI-driven tool streamlines experiments

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have demonstrated a new approach to peer deeper into the complex behavior of materials. The team harnessed the power of machine learning to interpret coherent excitations, collective swinging of atomic spins within a system.

This groundbreaking research, published recently in Nature Communications, could make experiments more efficient, providing real-time guidance to researchers during , and is part of a project led by Howard University including researchers at SLAC and Northeastern University to use machine learning to accelerate research in materials.

The team created this new data-driven tool using “neural implicit representations,” a machine learning development used in computer vision and across different scientific fields such as medical imaging, particle physics and cryo-electron microscopy. This tool can swiftly and accurately derive unknown parameters from , automating a procedure that, until now, required significant human intervention.

So…Biocomputers Made Out of DNA Circuits May Be a Thing Now

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Hello and welcome! My name is Anton and in this video, we will talk about an invention of a DNA bio computer.
Links:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06484-9
https://www.washington.edu/news/2016/04/07/uw-team-stores-di…perfectly/
Other videos:
https://youtu.be/x3jiY8rZAZs.
https://youtu.be/JGWbVENukKc.

#dna #biocomputer #genetics.

0:00 Quantum computer hype.
0:50 Biocomputers?
1:55 Original DNA computers from decades ago.
3:10 Problems with this idea.
3:50 New advances.
5:35 First breakthrough — DNA circuit.
7:30 Huge potential…maybe.

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