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Category: biotech/medical – Page 2,588

Physicists Capture Atomic Motion in 4D

A process called nucleation plays a critical role in many physical and biological phenomena that range from crystallization, melting and evaporation to the formation of clouds and the initiation of neurodegenerative diseases. However, nucleation is a challenging process to study experimentally, especially in its early stages, when several atoms or molecules start to form a new phase from a parent phase. Now, a team of physicists led by the University of California, Los Angeles has used a method called atomic electron tomography to study early-stage nucleation in four dimensions (that is, in three dimensions of space and across time) at atomic resolution.

Self-destructing mosquitoes and sterilized rodents: the promise of gene drives

The technical challenges are not as daunting as the social and diplomatic ones, says bioengineer Kevin Esvelt at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab in Cambridge, who was among the first to build a CRISPR-based gene drive. “Technologies like this have real-world consequences for people’s lives that can be nearly immediate.”

Altering the genomes of entire animal populations could help to defeat disease and control pests, but researchers worry about the consequences of unleashing this new technology.

A 3D-printed heart with blood vessels has been made using human tissue

The rabbit-sized heart was made from a patient’s own cells and tissues, using techniques that could help to increase the rate of successful heart transplants in future.

How it worked: A biopsy of tissue was taken from patients, and then its materials were separated. Some molecules, including collagen and glycoproteins, were processed into a hydrogel, which became the printing “ink.” Once the hydrogel was mixed with stem cells from the tissue, the researchers from Tel Aviv University were able to create a patient-specific heart that included blood vessels. The idea is that such a heart would be less likely to be rejected when transplanted. The study was published in the journal Advanced Science.

Let it flow: Until now, researchers have only been able to print simple tissues lacking blood vessels, according to the Jerusalem Post.

Fast new directed evolution technique makes viruses create drug proteins in days

Evolution is one of nature’s most impressive forces, allowing organisms to adapt to changing environments to survive. By harnessing and guiding that process scientists have managed to manipulate micro-organisms into producing useful new drugs and materials, but it’s still a time-consuming process. Now, researchers at the University of North Carolina (UNC) have developed a new tool that speeds up the process in mammalian cells, creating new therapeutics in a matter of days.

Scientists successfully edit a long-locked part of plant DNA, improving crop security

Think of DNA and chances are the double helix structure comes to mind, but that’s only one piece of the puzzle. Another major part is mitochondrial DNA, and in plants that’s even more important – and so complex that scientists haven’t yet been able to edit the genes in there. Now a team of Japanese researchers has managed to do just that, which could help improve the genetic diversity of crops.

The Scientist Who Believes We Can Reverse Aging | Dr. Aubrey de Grey ►Rob Konrad: Conversations #010

Dr Aubrey de Grey doesn’t just believe that aging, and the suffering that comes with it, can be slowed down — he believes it can be undone altogether.

What’s more, he thinks we are merely a few years away from making the scientific breakthroughs that will enable the medical field to put an end to death related to ageing — for good.

His independently funded non-profit, the SENS Foundation, is at the forefront of radical research that combines the problem solving approaches of technology with geriatric medicine.

In this conversation, he talks to Rob about his refusal to age gracefully, the biases of modern science, immortality, and why he won’t waste his time thinking about whether or not God exists.

▶▶ NEW EPISODE EVERY WEDNESDAY!

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