Biotech/medical – Lifeboat News: The Blog

Jul 23
2022

Scientists identify ‘bottleneck’ in drug delivery pathways in stem cells

Our bodies have evolved formidable barriers to protect themselves against foreign substances—from our skin, to our cells and every component within the cells, each part of our bodies has protective layers. These defenses, while essential, pose a significant challenge for pharmaceutical drugs and therapies, such as vaccines, that have to bypass multiple barriers to reach their targets.

Although these barriers are vitally important in pharmaceutical science and drug design, much is still unknown about them and how to overcome them.

In a recent study, researchers from Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University and Nanjing University in China, and Western Washington and Emory University in the U.S., shed some light on why the delivery of therapeutics to cells can be so difficult.

Jul 22
2022

Europe’s oldest known humans mated with Neandertals surprisingly often

DNA from ancient fossils suggests interbreeding regularly occurred between the two species by about 45,000 years ago, two studies find.

Jul 22
2022

First self-assembling DNA nanomotor runs on electricity

Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have developed the world’s first electric nanomotors made of DNA. The self-assembling structures can be activated by an electric charge to spin a ratcheting rotor arm.

The tiny motor was made using a technique called DNA origami. Like its namesake papercraft, the method involves intricately folding strands of DNA into three-dimensional shapes, with past examples including virus traps, immune-evading drug delivery systems, and even microscopic Van Gogh replicas. These structures are made by carefully selecting DNA sequences that will fold and attach to each other in certain ways, so researchers can add specific strands to a solution and let the DNA objects assemble themselves.

For the new study, the team used this process to make a molecular motor out of DNA for the first time. The motor consists of a rotor arm measuring up to 500 nanometers (nm) long, which is mounted on a base about 40 nm high that’s fixed to a glass plate. Wrapped around the tip of the base, just below the rotor, is a platform with several ratcheting obstacles built into its surface, which controls the direction that the rotor can spin.

Jul 22
2022

COVID-19 Rebound after Taking Paxlovid Likely Due to Insufficient Drug Exposure

Paxlovid is the leading oral medication for preventing severe cases of COVID-19 in high-risk individuals. However, symptoms returned in some patients after treatment was completed, prompting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to issue a health advisory on this so-called “COVID-19 rebound.”

In a study published June 20, 2022 in Clinical Infectious Diseases, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine evaluated one such patient and found their symptom relapse was not caused by the development of resistance to the drug or impaired immunity against the virus. Rather, the COVID-19 rebound appears to have been the result of insufficient exposure to the drug.

Jul 22
2022

Optogenetics for light control of biological systems

Optogenetic techniques involve the introduction of photoreceptors into selected cells to allow control over their activity using light. In this Primer, Emiliani et al. discuss the most commonly used optogenetic tools, illumination approaches and applications in medicine, cardiovascular science and plants, among many other uses.

Jul 22
2022

Bananas and salmon help counter effect of salt in women’s diet, study finds

Eating foods such as bananas, avocados and salmon could help reduce the negative effects of salt in women’s diet, research suggests.

The study found that potassium-rich diets were associated with lower blood pressure, particularly in women with high salt intake.

Jul 22
2022

Alzheimer’s: Targeting key protein in blood may slow progression

A new study in mouse models of Alzheimer’s suggests that replacing blood containing amyloid-beta with fresh, healthy blood, may have therapeutic potential.

Jul 22
2022

Restoring Hearing With Beams of Light

Gene therapy and optoelectronics could radically upgrade hearing for millions of people.

Jul 22
2022

One-time HIV treatment on the horizon after gene-editing breakthrough

TEL AVIV, Israel — A one-time vaccine for HIV is a step closer to reality, according to a new study. A team in Israel used gene-editing technology to engineer type B white blood cells, which can trigger the immune system to fight the virus.

Dr. Adi Barzel of Tel Aviv University says this is one of the few times scientists have been able to engineer B cells outside of the human body. Their study finds that B white blood cells spark the immune system to produce more HIV-neutralizing antibodies. Currently, there is no cure for AIDS, which the HIV virus causes.

“Based on this study, we can expect that over the coming years we will be able to produce a medication for AIDS, additional infectious diseases and certain types of cancer caused by a virus, such as cervical cancer, head and neck cancer and more,” Dr. Barzel says in a university release.

Jul 21
2022

Researchers develop antiviral face mask that can capture, deactivate SARS-CoV-2 spike protein on contact

A team of University of Kentucky researchers led by College of Engineering Professor Dibakar Bhattacharyya, Ph.D., and his Ph.D. student, Rollie Mills, have developed a medical face mask membrane that can capture and deactivate the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein on contact.

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Bhattacharyya, known to friends and colleagues as “DB,” along with collaborators across disciplines at UK set out to create the material. Their work was published in Communications Materials on May 24.

SARS-CoV-2 is covered in spike proteins, which allow the virus to enter host cells once in the body. The team developed a membrane that includes proteolytic enzymes that attach to the protein spikes and deactivates them.