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Category: biotech/medical – Page 1,817

Brain Disease Transmitted By Tick Bites May Be Treatable

Summary: Researchers have identified specific anti-bodies that can have a neutralizing effect on the virus responsible for tick-borne encephalitis. Preliminary response in using the anti-bodies in mice has proven affected in preventing TBE. It is hoped a vaccine candidate for TBE can be developed for humans.

Source: Rockefeller University.

Tick-borne encephalitis is a disease just as nasty as it sounds. Once bitten by an infected tick, some people develop flu-like symptoms that resolve quietly but leave behind rampant neurological disease–brain swelling, memory loss, and cognitive decline. Cases are on the rise in Central Europe and Russia with some 10000 incidents reported each year. Vaccines can provide protection, but only for a limited time. There is no cure.

Glutathione Restoration Improves Hallmarks Of Aging in Older Adults

Papers referenced int the video:

Deficient synthesis of glutathione underlies oxidative stress in aging and.
can be corrected by dietary cysteine and glycine supplementation:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21795440/

Glycine and N-acetylcysteine (GlyNAC) supplementation in older adults improves glutathione deficiency, oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, inflammation, insulin resistance, endothelial dysfunction, genotoxicity, muscle strength, and cognition: Results of a pilot clinical trial:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33783984/

Glutathione declines during aging (Age-related changes in the glutathione redox system):
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11835271/

Dr. Suzan Murray, D.V.M., Smithsonian / SCBI — Wildlife Care And Combating Emerging Zoonotic Disease

Wildlife Care And Combating Emerging Zoonotic Diseases — Dr. Suzan Murray, D.V.M., D.A.C.Z.M. Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, Program Director, Global Health Program.

Dr. Suzan Murray, D.V.M., D.A.C.Z.M. is a board-certified zoo veterinarian at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) and serves as both the Program Director of the Global Health Program and as SCBI’s chief wildlife veterinary medical officer.

Dr. Murray leads an interdisciplinary team engaged in worldwide efforts to address health issues in endangered wildlife and combat emerging infectious diseases of global significance, including zoonotic diseases.

Dr. Murray also acts as the Smithsonian liaison to the Foreign Animal Disease Threat and Pandemic Preparedness subcommittees of the White House’s Office of Science and Technology.

Dr. Murray’s work focuses on providing clinical care to free-ranging wildlife, pathogen detection, advanced diagnostics, training of international veterinarians and other health professionals, capacity building, and collaboration in infectious disease research at the human-wildlife-domestic animal interface. She previously served as chief veterinarian for the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and has a wealth of clinical knowledge and experience with wildlife and zoo animals both free-ranging and in human care.

Continue reading “Dr. Suzan Murray, D.V.M., Smithsonian / SCBI — Wildlife Care And Combating Emerging Zoonotic Disease” | >

Genetic Engineering 2.0: An On-Off Switch for Gene Editing

New, reversible CRISPR method can control gene expression while leaving underlying DNA sequence unchanged.

Over the past decade, the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing system has revolutionized genetic engineering, allowing scientists to make targeted changes to organisms’ DNA. While the system could potentially be useful in treating a variety of diseases, CRISPR-Cas9 editing involves cutting DNA strands, leading to permanent changes to the cell’s genetic material.

Now, in a paper published online in Cell on April 9, researchers describe a new gene editing technology called CRISPRoff that allows researchers to control gene expression with high specificity while leaving the sequence of the DNA unchanged. Designed by Whitehead Institute Member Jonathan Weissman, University of California San Francisco assistant professor Luke Gilbert, Weissman lab postdoc James Nuñez and collaborators, the method is stable enough to be inherited through hundreds of cell divisions, and is also fully reversible.

Experimental oral pills auto-release insulin when glucose levels are high

Daily injections of insulin are a hassle for the hundreds of millions of people with diabetes. An oral pill would be much easier to swallow (pun intended), and now researchers from New York University Abu Dhabi have developed a new method for packing insulin into capsules that can survive the trip through the stomach to the bloodstream, and only release their payload when it’s needed.

Diabetes is characterized by inconsistent levels of insulin, a hormone that regulates glucose levels in the blood. Normally the condition is managed with regular subcutaneous injections, but they can be difficult for patients to self-administer, and the unpleasantness may make some people skip doses.

In an ideal world, managing diabetes would be as simple as popping a pill, but unfortunately developing that kind of system has been tricky. Insulin is a fragile molecule that’s quickly broken down in the stomach before it can work its magic. Much of the challenge for scientists then is to find ways to package insulin so it survives long enough to permeate the intestinal wall to get into the bloodstream.

MIT and UCSF researchers create CRISPR ‘on-off switch’ that controls gene expression without changing DNA

The gene editing system CRISPR-Cas9 makes breaks in DNA strands that are repaired by cells—a process that can be hard to control, resulting in unwanted genetic changes. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) designed an alternative technology that changes gene expression without damaging DNA, and they believe it could be useful for both research and drug development.

The researchers used their system, dubbed CRISPRoff and CRISPRon, to induce pluripotent stem cells to transform into neurons. They also used it to silence the gene that makes the protein Tau, which has been implicated in Alzheimer’s disease. They described their research in the journal Cell.

The MIT and UCSF researchers started by creating a machine made of a protein and small RNAs that guided it to specific spots on strands of DNA. The machine adds “methyl groups” to genes to silence their expression. The technology can also reverse the process, turning the genes back on by removing the methyl groups.

Soyuz Crew Launch to the International Space Station

Watch a Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft lift off on a two-orbit, three-hour journey to the International Space Station! NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov of Roscosmos are scheduled to launch at 3:42 a.m. EDT, Friday, April 9, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The trio will be part of Expeditions 64 and 65 on the station, where they’ll continue work on hundreds of experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science, and Earth science. This will be Vande Hei’s second spaceflight, Novitskiy’s third, and Dubrov’s first.

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