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Category: biotech/medical – Page 147

Coral study could help explain infertility and ovarian cancer by decoding cilia-driven fluid flows

A study by researchers at The University of Manchester, carried out alongside the Universities of Melbourne and Copenhagen, could hold the key to understanding the causes of long-term health problems, such as infertility and ovarian cancer.

The study, published in PRX Life, used a combination of high-resolution imaging, flow measurements, and mathematical modeling to examine fluid flows around corals that are driven by cilia—densely packed tiny hairs on the coral’s surface. The collective beating of the cilia contributes to the movement of fluid around the surface of the coral, regulating the animal’s immediate environment through the transport of particles such as oxygen.

The researchers found that heterogeneity in ciliary orientation —small variations in the direction individual cilia beat—can significantly boost transport efficiency. For substances that diffuse slowly through the fluid, this natural variability increased particle transport by more than 50% compared to perfectly aligned cilia. This contrasts with other biological systems, highlighting how coral cilia are uniquely adapted to their environment.

DNA ‘nicks’ make for safer, more precise genetic analysis

Researchers at Cornell University have developed a safer and more precise way to study how genes function in living tissues by refining a recently developed CRISPR-based genetic technique in fruit flies, enabling researchers to better study how genes contribute to development and disease.

Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the work highlights a new method that replaces the harsh DNA cuts used in traditional CRISPR analysis with gentler cuts known as “nicks.”

According to Chun Han, associate professor in the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) and the Weill Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology, the approach still allows scientists to study how genes function in living tissues, but with far less unintended cellular damage and greater control over the experiment.

Researchers push back fundamental limit on energy transfer between particles without ‘spilling’ radiation

Researchers at TU/e have demonstrated that energy transfer without loss via light or heat can occur over much greater distances than previously thought possible thanks to vibrations in microscopic gold rods. They succeeded in making energy jump from one particle to another over a distance of several millimeters without “spilling” energy along the way.

In the microscopic world in which this research takes place, that is a giant leap, with promising applications in quantum communication, solar energy, and ultrasensitive medical sensors. The researchers have published their findings in the journal Science Advances.

Normally, a molecule that absorbs energy loses it again as heat through vibrations passed on to the surrounding environment or as a particle of light (known as a photon). In Förster resonance energy transfer (or FRET for short, which is named after the German physicist Theodor Förster), something different happens: the energy jumps directly, without radiation, from one molecule to a specific neighboring molecule through an invisible interaction between their electric fields.

GD2 CAR T Cells Show Promise Against DMG

In a small clinical trial, a CAR T-cell therapy—a type of immunotherapy that uses a patient’s own immune cells to fight cancer—shrank tumors in several children and young adults with diffuse midline gliomas. This fast-growing form of brain and spinal cord cancer typically causes death within a year of diagnosis.

In the trial, several participants were still alive 2 years or more after receiving the treatment.

Patients in the trial had a type of diffuse midline gliomas known as H3K27M mutant, a genetic change that is found in about 80% of younger patients with these cancers Exit Disclaimer. Researchers at Stanford University, who led the study, designed the experimental CAR T-cell therapy to target a molecule called GD2 that is produced in large amounts by H3K27M-mutant diffuse midline gliomas.

Team finds brain circuit that helps you switch gears

A new study shows how the brain abandons outdated strategies and adapts to new rules.

Most people have experienced the feeling: switching from one task to another, only to find the brain momentarily stuck in the old mode of thinking. Sometimes, even after realizing a strategy no longer works, the mind keeps returning to it anyway.

Neuroscientists call the ability to adapt and shift strategies “cognitive flexibility”—a core feature of higher cognition that allows the brain to abandon outdated rules and respond to changing conditions. Impairments in cognitive flexibility are associated with disorders including Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), schizophrenia, and Alzheimer’s disease.

Lab-designed molecule offers hope for celiac disease sufferers

A research project led by the Institute for Research in Nutrition and Food Safety (INSA) and the Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Sciences at the University of Barcelona, together with the Molecular Biology Institute of Barcelona (IBMB) of the CSIC (which stands for Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas), has successfully designed and tested a gluten-degrading molecule that is a promising ally in the management of celiac disease, an autoimmune disease whose symptoms are triggered by the consumption of gluten and other prolamins found in cereals.

At present, there is a complete lack of treatment options beyond a diet free from gluten, which is difficult to maintain in Western societies where diets rely heavily on wheat products.

The major breakthrough is that the molecule is effective at very low concentrations and at a pH of 2—the pH of the stomach—a condition that none of the molecules currently available or under development had previously achieved with efficiency. Although some of them are marketed as nutritional supplements, they are not an effective alternative to gluten-free diets.

AI model predicts B cell response to advance personalized cancer vaccines

KAIST announced on the 2nd that a team led by Professor Jeong Kyun Choi of the Department of Bio and Brain Engineering, in a joint study with the company ‘Neogene Logic,’ has developed a new AI model to predict neoantigens—a key element in developing personalized cancer vaccines—and has identified the importance of B cells in cancer immunotherapy. The research findings were published in the international journal *Science Advances* on December 3.

Neoantigens are protein fragments derived from cancer cell mutations that serve as unique markers distinguishing only cancer cells. Moderna and BioNTech developed their COVID-19 vaccines using the messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) platform secured during their research on neoantigen-based cancer vaccines. Currently, global pharmaceutical companies are actively conducting clinical trials for cancer vaccines.

The problem is that most existing cancer vaccine technologies focus solely on T-cell-centered immune responses. B cells, along with T cells, play a key role in the immune system, and recent studies have increasingly demonstrated their importance in anti-cancer immune activity.

AI-Based Cancer Models in Oncology: From Diagnosis to ADC Drug Prediction

Introduction Artificial intelligence (AI) has been influencing the way oncology has been practiced. Major issues constituting a bottleneck are the lack of data for training purposes, confidentiality preventing development, or the absence of transparency in clarifying how models operate to generate decisions. Novel Models With explainable AI, trust and utilization barriers among clinicians, researchers, and patients can be removed. With the implementation of federated learning, multiple institutions could contribute to crucial dataset’s learning information. Precise diagnosis and prescription of the right drug are essential in preventing unnecessary life losses, and economic burden to the underling system.

Abstract: Address correspondence to: Koji Haratani, Department of Medical Oncology, Kindai University Faculty of Medicine, 377–2 Ohno-higashi, Osaka-Sayama, Osaka 589‑8511, Japan

Phone: 81.72.366.0221; Email: [email protected] or [email protected].

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