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Category: biotech/medical – Page 1,465

Scientists Seek Innovative Cure for Cancer at the Molecular Level

Jun Huang from the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago.

Founded in 1,890, the University of Chicago (UChicago, U of C, or Chicago) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Located on a 217-acre campus in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood, near Lake Michigan, the school holds top-ten positions in various national and international rankings. UChicago is also well known for its professional schools: Pritzker School of Medicine, Booth School of Business, Law School, School of Social Service Administration, Harris School of Public Policy Studies, Divinity School and the Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies, and Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering.

UCI-led team discovers signaling molecule that potently stimulates hair growth

Irvine, Calif., June 30, 2022 — University of California, Irvine-led researchers have discovered that a signaling molecule called SCUBE3 potently stimulates hair growth and may offer a therapeutic treatment for androgenetic alopecia, a common form of hair loss in both women and men.

The study, published online today in Developmental Cell, determined the precise mechanism by which the dermal papilla cells – specialized signal-making fibroblasts at the bottom of each hair follicle – promote new growth. Although it’s well known that dermal papilla cells play a pivotal role in controlling hair growth, the genetic basis of the activating molecules involved has been poorly understood.

“At different times during the hair follicle life cycle, the very same dermal papilla cells can send signals that either keep follicles dormant or trigger new hair growth,” said Maksim Plikus, Ph.D., UCI professor of developmental & cell biology and the study’s corresponding author. “We revealed that the SCUBE3 signaling molecule, which dermal papilla cells produce naturally, is the messenger used to ‘tell’ the neighboring hair stem cells to start dividing, which heralds the onset of new hair growth.”

A Week At The Most Secretive Conference On Aging

One of the events hosted by the GRC this year was the conference called ‘Systemic Processes, Omics Approaches, and Biomarkers in Aging.” It was the inaugural Systems Aging Gordon Research Conference. Held in Newry, Maine, this event is not easy to get to. Many of the scientists on the East Coast of the US needed to spend half a day or more just to get there. There is a reason for this. Often, conferences that are organized in large metropolitan areas with easy access do not have the same level of “pressure cooking” and interactive networking just because many senior scientists tend to be distracted and often leave prematurely. But when they are put together in a remote location, it is not easy to leave and they have no choice but to interact with each other, share knowledge, and come up with new ideas and collaborations.

The level and impact of scientific conferences is often evaluated by the number and quality of the sponsors. And the GRC conference on Aging sported a number of high-profile sponsors including GRC itself, Carl Storm International Diversity Fellowship Program, National Institute on Aging, IOMICS Intelligent Analytics, Zymo Research, Kinexum, Insilico Medicine, Illumina, Aging journal, Impetus Grants, Infinita Life Science and VitaDAO.

With Vadim Gladyshev serving as chairman and Steve Horvath as vice-chairman, the conference set the stage for the field, paving the way for the development of interventions to delay and reverse aging. Vadim is a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and director of Redox Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, while Steve is a professor of human genetics and biostatistics at the University of California — Los Angeles, and a senior scientist at Altos Labs. Both are world-renowned researchers, and spoke and led the discussions at the conference.

Brain-computer interface technology opens up “whole new world” of therapies

“We are starting to help patients in ways that we did not think were possible,” Thomas Oxley (Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, USA) tells NeuroNews, referring to the potential of brain-computer interface (BCI) technology. Alongside his role as a vascular and interventional neurologist, Oxley is chief executive officer of Synchron, developer of the Stentrode motor neuroprosthesis. The Stentrode is an implantable BCI device that, according to Oxley, is the first of its kind to be in the early feasibility clinical stage in the USA following US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of Synchron’s investigational device exemption (IDE) application last month. Speaking to NeuroNewsfollowing a presentation on the topic at the Society of NeuroInterventional Surgery’s 18thannual meeting (SNIS; 26–29 July 2021, Colorado Springs, USA and virtual), Oxley gives an overview of the COMMAND early feasibility study, anticipates key results, and considers more generally how BCI technology could shape the future of deep brain stimulation.

Looking Beyond 2050 — On Earth and in Space with Lord Martin Rees

Cosmologist, noted author, Astronomer Royal and recipient of the 2015 Nierenberg Prize for Science in the Public Interest Lord Martin Rees delivers a thought-provoking and insightful perspective on the challenges humanity faces in the future beyond 2050. [3/2016] [Show ID: 30476]

Frontiers of Knowledge.
(https://www.uctv.tv/frontiers-of-knowledge)

Explore More Science & Technology on UCTV
(https://www.uctv.tv/science)
Science and technology continue to change our lives. University of California scientists are tackling the important questions like climate change, evolution, oceanography, neuroscience and the potential of stem cells.

UCTV is the broadcast and online media platform of the University of California, featuring programming from its ten campuses, three national labs and affiliated research institutions. UCTV explores a broad spectrum of subjects for a general audience, including science, health and medicine, public affairs, humanities, arts and music, business, education, and agriculture. Launched in January 2000, UCTV embraces the core missions of the University of California — teaching, research, and public service – by providing quality, in-depth television far beyond the campus borders to inquisitive viewers around the world.
(https://www.uctv.tv)

Experimental drug reverses synaptic loss in mouse models of Alzheimer’s

An experimental drug restored brain synapses in two mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease, raising hopes that it could help revive cognitive function in human dementia patients, Yale University researchers report June 1 in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

While much research in Alzheimer’s has centered on reducing levels of beta-amyloid plaque in the brain that is a hallmark of the , recent studies have suggested that immune system response in the brain also plays a role in in patients.

Some scientists now believe that cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s patients results from a loss of synaptic connections between neurons caused by a steady accumulation of beta-amyloid protein in the brain which in turn unleashes a chronic immune system response to the intruder. The end stages of the disease lead to the death of neurons.

One Dead and 22 Have Been Hospitalized in Listeria Outbreak Tied to Florida

One person has died and 22 people have been hospitalized in a listeria outbreak, with most of the infected people having been in Florida about a month before they became sick, the federal authorities said Thursday.

A food source has not been identified as the cause of the outbreak, which has sickened people across 10 states from January 2021 through June 12, 2022, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement.

It typically takes three or four weeks to determine if an illness is tied to an outbreak, so recent cases may not be reported in the data. The true number of sick people is most likely higher because some people recover without medical care, the agency said.

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