New research analyzes prostate cancer cells and finds the reason why the body’s own immune system may promote progression of the disease.
Category: biotech/medical – Page 2,627
AI Created in DNA-Based Artificial Neural Networks
Mention artificial intelligence (AI) or artificial neural networks, and images of computers may come to mind. AI-based pattern recognition has a wide variety of real-world uses, such as medical diagnostics, navigation systems, voice-based authentication, image classification, handwriting recognition, speech programs, and text-based processing. However, artificial intelligence is not limited to digital technology and is merging with the realm of biology—synthetic biology and genomics, to be more precise. Pioneering researchers led by Dr. Lulu Qian at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have created synthetic biochemical circuits that are able to perform information processing at the molecular level–an artificial neural network consisting of DNA instead of computer hardware and software.
Artificial intelligence is in the early stages of a renaissance period—a rebirth that is largely due to advances in deep learning techniques with artificial neural networks that have contributed to improvements in pattern recognition. Specifically, the resurgence is largely due to a mathematical tool that calculates derivatives called backpropagation (backward propagation)—it enables artificial neural networks to adjust hidden layers of neurons when there are outlier outcomes for more precise results.
Artificial neural networks (ANN) are a type of machine learning method with concepts borrowed from neuroscience. The structure and function of the nervous system and brain were inspiration for artificial neural networks. Instead of biological neurons, ANNs have artificial nodes. Instead of synapses, ANNs have connections that are able to transmit signals between nodes. Like neurons, the nodes of ANNs are able to receive and process data, as well as activate other nodes connected to it.
Building an Unlimited Army of T cells to Fight Cancer
Researchers at UCLA have managed to guide pluripotent stem cells into becoming adult T cells, the cells that patrol the body to kill cancer and other diseases and that are trained in our thymi.
The study, published in Cell Stem Cell, was led by senior author Gay Crooks, M.D., a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine and of pediatrics. Dr. Crooks is the co-director of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA.
These tiny swimming robots may deliver drugs in blood vessels
Scientists have developed tiny elastic robots that can change shape depending on their surroundings and can swim through fluids, an advance which may help deliver drugs to diseased tissue one day.
The smart, biocompatible microrobots that are highly flexible are made of hydrogel nanocomposites that contain magnetic nanoparticles allowing them to be controlled via an electromagnetic field.
As a result, these devices are able to swim through fluids and modify their shape when needed. They can also pass through narrow blood vessels and intricate systems without compromising on speed or manoeuvrability, said the group of scientists led by Selman Sakar at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and Bradley Nelson at ETH Zurich.
Alaska woman with MS says stem-cell treatment has left her ‘practically symptom-free’
A young mother from Anchorage, Alaska, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) more than 10 years ago says an experimental stem-cell treatment has left her “practically symptom-free.”
Amanda Loy was 27 years old when she was first diagnosed with the disease, which typically affects the brain and spinal cord, also known as the central nervous system. MS can be debilitating and there is currently no cure, according to the Multiple Sclerosis International Federation.
ACTRESS SELMA BLAIR, 46, REVEALS MS DIAGNOSIS: ‘I AM DISABLED’
Pioneering brain study reveals ‘software’ differences between humans and monkeys
Neuroscientists have for the first time discovered differences between the ‘software’ of humans and monkey brains, using a technique that tracks single neurons.
They found that human brains trade off ‘robustness’ — a measure of how synchronized neuron signals are — for greater efficiency in information processing. The researchers hypothesize that the results might help to explain humans’ unique intelligence, as well as their susceptibility to psychiatric disorders. The findings were published in Cell on 17 January.
Scientists say that this type of unusual study could help them to better translate research in animal models of psychiatric diseases into the clinic.
Doc in a Box Knows What Ails You
Engineers at Sandia National Laboratories have improved their SpinDx mobile diagnostic device so that it can perform both protein and nucleic acid tests. This lets it identify nearly any cause of illness in human patients, including viruses, bacteria, toxins, and immune system markers of chemical agent exposure.
This mobile diagnostic machine can test for viruses, bacteria, and active toxins.
Experimenting with Cancer Treatments Outside the Human Body
New research from MIT has resulted in a microfluidic device, the tumor analysis platform (TAP), that can simulate different cancer treatments on biopsied tumor tissue. The TAP device can be 3D printed within one hour and is slightly larger than a quarter. Three cylindrical shafts rise from the surface of the device and serve as ports to input and drain fluids, as well as remove air bubbles. Fluid—including various media, fluorescent markers, or lymphocytes—gets injected into an inlet port adjacent to the trap. The fluid enters through the inlet port and flows past the trap.
A new 3D-printed device from MIT researchers allows for the testing of different cancer treatments on live tumor tissue outside the human body.