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Archive for the ‘biotech/medical’ category: Page 2049

Jun 27, 2019

A Breakthrough in the Mystery of Why Women Get So Many Autoimmune Diseases

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, evolution

Evolution might have played a trick on women’s immune systems.

Jun 27, 2019

Microscopic glass blowing used to make tiny optical lenses

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Inserting air into hot glass to form a bubble has been used to make glass objects since Roman times. In new work, researchers apply these same glass blowing principles on a microscopic scale to make specialized miniature cone-shaped lenses known as axicons.

Axicons are used to shape in a way that is beneficial for optical drilling, imaging and creating for manipulating particles or cells. These lenses have been known for more than 60 years, but their fabrication, especially when small, is not easy.

“Our technique has the potential of producing robust miniature axicons in glass at a low cost, which could be used in miniaturized imaging systems for biomedical imaging applications, such as , or OCT,” said research team member Nicolas Passilly from FEMTO-ST Institute in France.

Jun 27, 2019

Ebola hot spots shift as pattern of spread fluctuates

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

In the past 10 days, officials have recorded nearly 100 new cases of Ebola in the ongoing outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a sign of fluctuating transmission throughout North Kivu and Ituri provinces, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in an update.

Today, the DRC will likely confirm another 18 new cases, which will raise the outbreak total to 2,265. As of yesterday, there were 1,510 deaths, and 269 suspected cases are still being investigated.

Jun 27, 2019

Researchers grow active mini-brain-networks

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, robotics/AI

Cerebral organoids are artificially grown, 3D tissue cultures that resemble the human brain. Now, researchers from Japan report functional neural networks derived from these organoids in a study publishing June 27 in the journal Stem Cell Reports. Although the organoids aren’t actually “thinking,” the researchers’ new tool—which detects neural activity using organoids—could provide a method for understanding human brain function.

“Because they can mimic cerebral development, can be used as a substitute for the to study complex developmental and neurological disorders,” says corresponding author Jun Takahashi, a professor at Kyoto University.

However, these studies are challenging, because current cerebral organoids lack desirable supporting structures, such as blood vessels and surrounding tissues, Takahashi says. Since researchers have a limited ability to assess the organoids’ neural activities, it has also been difficult to comprehensively evaluate the function of neuronal networks.

Jun 27, 2019

Growing embryonic tissues on a chip

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

It’s no surprise that using human embryos for biological and medical research comes with many ethical concerns. Correct though it is to proceed with caution in these matters, the fact is that much science would benefit from being able to study human biology more accurately.

Jun 27, 2019

Researchers reach milestone in use of nanoparticles to kill cancer with heat

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, nanotechnology

Researchers at Oregon State University have developed an improved technique for using magnetic nanoclusters to kill hard-to-reach tumors.

Jun 27, 2019

A vaccine for Alzheimer’s is on the verge of becoming a reality

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension, neuroscience

There are certain enzymes — proteins — plaques that help cause Alzheimer’s, just recently in fact {which I as most could have told them} the gut microbes and mouth microbes are found to assist in Dementia and Alzheimers. But I and Hippocrates as others have been declaring that fact for quite some time… Respect AEWR wherein the amazing gathered data of mankind has yielded the many causes and a cure for aging…


For decades, research into Alzheimer’s has made slow progress, but now a mother and daughter team think they have finally found a solution – a vaccine that could inoculate potential sufferers.

Jun 27, 2019

Google Is Giving Away AI That Can Build Your Genome Sequence

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, robotics/AI

Circa 2017


The deep learning tool can identify all the small mutations that make you unique, more accurately than every existing method.

Jun 27, 2019

New Drug Could Treat Paralysis and Fix Injured Spinal Cords

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

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Jun 27, 2019

Scientists create “artificial life” — synthetic DNA that can self-replicate

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, innovation

In one of the biggest breakthroughs in recent history, scientists have created a synthetic genome that can self-replicate. So what does this mean? Are we about to become gray goo?

Led by Craig Venter of the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), the team of scientists combined two existing techniques to transplant synthetic DNA into a bacteria. First they chemically synthesized a bacterial genome, then they used well-known nuclear transfer techniques (used in IVF) to transplant the genome into a bacteria. And apparently the bacteria replicated itself, too, thus creating a second generation of the synthetic DNA. The process is being hailed as revolutionary.