This Yale researcher is creating an experimental therapy for cystic fibrosis made from viruses — and it’s working.
Category: biotech/medical – Page 2,207
New brain imaging technique suggests memories are stored in the connections between your neurons
All memory storage devices, from your brain to the RAM in your computer, store information by changing their physical qualities. Over 130 years ago, pioneering neuroscientist Santiago Ramón y Cajal first suggested that the brain stores information by rearranging the connections, or synapses, between neurons.
Since then, neuroscientists have attempted to understand the physical changes associated with memory formation. But visualizing and mapping synapses is challenging to do. For one, synapses are very small and tightly packed together. They’re roughly 10 billion times smaller than the smallest object a standard clinical MRI can visualize. Furthermore, there are approximately 1 billion synapses in the mouse brains researchers often use to study brain function, and they’re all the same opaque to translucent color as the tissue surrounding them.
A new imaging technique my colleagues and I developed, however, has allowed us to map synapses during memory formation. We found that the process of forming new memories changes how brain cells are connected to one another. While some areas of the brain create more connections, others lose them.
Planting trees in pastureland provides significant cooling in the tropics
Farmers struggling to adapt to rising temperatures in tropical regions can unleash the benefits of natural cooling, alongside a host of other wins, simply by dotting more trees across their pasturelands. For the first time, a study led by the University of Washington puts tangible numbers to the cooling effects of this practice.
Researchers at the UW and The Nature Conservancy, along with Duke University, the University of California San Diego and Stony Brook University Hospital, find that adding trees to pastureland, technically known as silvopasture, can cool local temperatures by up to 2.4 C (4.3 F) for every 10 metric tons of woody material added per hectare (about 4 tons per acre) depending on the density of trees, while also delivering a range of other benefits for humans and wildlife.
The paper was published Feb. 4 in Nature Communications.
Researchers develop methodology for streamlined control of material deformation
Can you crumple up two sheets of paper the exact same way? Probably not—the very flexibility that lets flexible structures from paper to biopolymers and membranes undergo many types of large deformations makes them notoriously difficult to control. Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Universiteit van Amsterdam, and Universiteit Leiden have shed new light on this fundamental challenge, demonstrating that new physical theories provide precise predictions of the deformations of certain structures, as recently published in Nature Communications.
In the paper, Michael Czajkowski and D. Zeb Rocklin from Georgia Tech, Corentin Coulais from Universiteit van Amsterdam, and Martin van Hecke of AMOLF and Universiteit Leiden approach a highly studied exotic elastic material, uncover an intuitive geometrical description of the pronounced—or nonlinear—soft deformations, and show how to activate any of these deformations on-demand with minimal inputs. This new theory reveals that a flexible mechanical structure is governed by some of the same math as electromagnetic waves, phase transitions, and even black holes.
“So many other systems struggle with how to be strong and solid in some ways but flexible and compliant in others, from the human body and micro-organisms to clothing and industrial robots,” said Rocklin. “These structures solve that problem in an incredibly elegant way that permits a single folding mechanism to generate a wide family of deformations. We’ve shown that a single folding mode can transform a structure into an infinite family of shapes.”
New set of chemical building blocks makes complex 3D molecules in a snap
A new set of molecular building blocks aims to make complex chemistry as simple and accessible as a toy construction kit.
Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and collaborators at Revolution Medicines Inc. developed a new class of chemical building blocks that simply snap together to form 3D molecules with complex twists and turns, and an automated machine to assemble the blocks like a 3D printer for molecules.
This automation could allow chemists and nonchemists alike to develop new pharmaceuticals, materials, diagnostic probes, catalysts, perfumes, sweeteners and more, said study leader Dr. Martin D. Burke, a professor of chemistry at Illinois and a member of the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, as well as a medical doctor. The researchers reported their findings in the journal Nature.
Chula Medical Breakthrough! RED-GEM Molecules to Reverse Aging
Chula Medicine has successfully invented RED-GEMs (REjuvenating DNA by GEnomic Stability Molecules) that can reverse aging in lab animals. With human trials targeted within two years, the medical breakthrough is aimed to treat various age-related conditions and illnesses and bring back youthfulness in this aging society.
Dr. Stephani Otte, Ph.D. — Chan Zuckerberg Initiative — Measuring Human Biology in Action
Measuring Human Biology in Action, To Cure, Prevent Or Manage All Diseases — Dr. Stephani Otte, Ph.D., Science Program Officer, Imaging, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
Dr. Stephani Otte, Ph.D is Science Program Officer, Imaging, at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (https://chanzuckerberg.com/), who leads the organization’s Imaging program and is focused on the creation, dissemination, optimization, and standardization of transformative imaging technologies.
Prior to CZI, Dr. Otte was Director of Science at a neuro-technology / microscopy company, Inscopix, involved in accelerating brain science and innovating mini-scope microscope solutions for real-time mapping of the human brain and it’s circuits.
Dr. Otte received her Ph.D. in Neuroscience at the University of California, San Diego, and did postdoctoral fellowships in systems neuroscience at the Salk Institute and University of California, Berkeley.
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is an organization established and owned by Dr. Priscilla Chan and her husband, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, with a focus on science, education, immigration reform, housing, criminal justice, and other local issues, with a mission to “build a more inclusive, just, and healthy future for everyone” and to “advance human potential and promote equality in areas such as health, education, scientific research and energy”.
Omicron-specific booster may not be needed, U.S. monkey study finds
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CHICAGO, Feb 4 (Reuters) — A study in monkeys pitting the current Moderna Inc (MRNA.O) COVID-19 booster against an Omicron-specific booster showed no significant differences in protection, suggesting an Omicron-specific booster may not be needed, U.S. government researchers reported on Friday.
The study involved monkeys vaccinated with two doses of Moderna’s vaccine who were dosed nine months later with either the conventional Moderna booster or one specifically targeting the Omicron variant.
The researchers tested various aspects of the animals’ immune responses and exposed them to the virus. They found both boosters produced “comparable and significant increases in neutralizing antibody responses” against all of the variants of concern, including Omicron, according to the study, posted on bioRxiv ahead of peer review.
Keren Haruvi — President, Sandoz US, Head Of North America — Global Generic Medicine Access For All
Pioneering global generic medicine access to improve and extend people’s lives — keren haruvi snir-president, sandoz US, head of north america.
Keren Haruvi is President of Sandoz US and Head of their North America business (https://www.novartis.us/about-us/our-leadership/us-country-l…n-haruvi).
Sandoz is a division of the Novartis Group and a global leader in generic pharmaceuticals and biosimilars and was established in 2003, when Novartis united all of its generics businesses under the name Sandoz – a single global brand with a long history. Since then, Sandoz has grown into a leading global generics business with annual sales of approximately US$10 billion.
In her current role, Keren leads Sandoz’ largest commercial and country organization – the United States – which is responsible for over 35% of Sandoz global revenue. She also oversees Sandoz commercial operations in Canada. In addition to serving on the Novartis Country Leadership Team, Keren is a member of the Global Sandoz Executive Committee.
Prior to joining Sandoz, Keren served as Global Head of M&A at Novartis International AG. Her early career began at Teva Pharmaceutical Industries where she steadily advanced in leadership roles to Senior VP, Global Business Development and Alliance Management.