To overcome that limitation, MIT researchers have developed a computational technique that allows large language models to predict antibody structures more accurately. Their work could enable researchers to sift through millions of possible antibodies to identify those that could be used to treat SARS-CoV-2 and other infectious diseases.
The findings are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Chinese scientists have found a common hypertension drug could prove potent in treating a rare but highly invasive brain tumour.
Although craniopharyngioma is a benign tumour, it can cause complications due to its growth along the critical nerve structures of the brain close to the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland.
Given its location, the tumour can cause hormone dysfunction and metabolic disorders, like obesity, diabetes and hypothyroidism.
Research reveals distinct mechanisms underlying neonatal and post-pubertal social behaviors, providing valuable insights for developing targeted early interventions.
Researchers from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and Hirosaki University have unveiled significant findings on the development of social behaviors in fragile X syndrome, the most common genetic cause of autism spectrum disorder. The study, published in Genomic Psychiatry, highlights the effects of a specific prenatal treatment on social behaviors in mice.
The researchers found that administering bumetanide—a drug that regulates chloride levels in neurons—to pregnant mice restored normal social communication in newborn pups with the fragile X mutation. However, they also discovered an unexpected outcome: the same treatment reduced social interaction after puberty in both fragile X and typical mice. These findings shed light on the complex and developmental-stage-specific effects of interventions for fragile X syndrome.
“The ultimate goal is to extend healthspan—meaning the number of years aging adults live healthy lives and enjoy overall well-being by compressing the frailty and disability that comes with aging into a shorter duration of time near the end of life,” says Andrew Brack, PhD, the PROSPR Program Manager.
The new venture will be building on some of the work that the National Institute of Aging (NIH) has been working on and will be working in collaboration with various organizations in the biotechnology industry as well as some unspecified regulators to accelerate the development, testing, and availability of new therapeutic that targets human healthspan.
It is hoped that the new initiative, along with positively impacting the healthspan of Americans, will also help to enhance the economy across the nation.
Mechanical force is an essential feature for many physical and biological processes. Remote measurement of mechanical signals with high sensitivity and spatial resolution is needed for a wide range of applications, from robotics to cellular biophysics and medicine and even to space travel. Nanoscale luminescent force sensors excel at measuring piconewton forces, while larger sensors have proven powerful in probing micronewton forces.
However, large gaps remain in the force magnitudes that can be probed remotely from subsurface or interfacial sites, and no individual, non-invasive sensor has yet been able to make measurements over the large dynamic range needed to understand many systems.
Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have developed an innovative technology inspired by the synchronization mechanism of WWI fighter aircraft, which coordinated machine gun fire with propeller movement. This breakthrough allows precise, real-time control of the pH in a cell’s environment to influence its behavior. Detailed in Nano Letters, the study opens exciting possibilities for developing new cancer and heart disease therapies and advancing the field of tissue engineering.
“Every cell is responsive to pH,” explains Jinglei Ping, associate professor of mechanical and industrial engineering at UMass Amherst and corresponding author of the study. “The behavior and functions of cells are impacted heavily by pH. Some cells lose viability when the pH has a certain level and for some cells, the pH can change their physiological properties.” Previous work has demonstrated that changes of pH as small as 0.1 pH units can have physiologically significant effects on cells.
Researchers are developing the world’s first topical cream to prevent and treat skin cancer, especially for organ transplant recipients.
Sensitive cells: Scientists discovered dozens of specific cell types, mostly glial cells, known as brain support cells, that underwent significant gene expression changes with age. Those strongly affected included microglia and border-associated macrophages, oligodendrocytes, tanycytes, and ependymal cells.
Inflammation and neuron protection: In aging brains, genes associated with inflammation increased in activity while those related to neuronal structure and function decreased.
Aging hot spot: Scientists discovered a specific hot spot combining both the decrease in neuronal function and the increase in inflammation in the hypothalamus. The most significant gene expression changes were found in cell types near the third ventricle of the hypothalamus, including tanycytes, ependymal cells, and neurons known for their role in food intake, energy homeostasis, metabolism, and how our bodies use nutrients. This points to a possible connection between diet, lifestyle factors, brain aging, and changes that can influence our susceptibility to age-related brain disorders.
Brain-wide cell-type-specific transcriptomic signatures of healthy ageing in mice.
We termed enhancers that gained (and maintained) H3K4me1 in obesity and WL ‘new enhancers’. Most of these ‘new enhancers’ were also active (that is, marked by H3K27ac) during obesity and/or WL (Fig. 4D). We then annotated the enhancers to their closest gene and performed a GSEA. In agreement with the promoter GSEA above, we found that the ‘new active enhancers’ were related to inflammatory signalling, lysosome activity and extracellular matrix remodelling (Fig. 4e and Extended Data Fig. 9i), indicating a persistent shift of adipocytes towards a more inflammatory and less adipogenic identity. Corroborating these results, Roh et al. had analysed H3K27ac in adipocytes of obese mice and reported impaired identity maintenance during obesity25.
To combine our findings regarding retained translational changes and epigenetic memory, we investigated whether epigenetic mechanisms, such as differentially marked promoters or enhancers, could explain the persistent translational obesity-associated changes after WL. Notably, 57–62% of downregulated and 68–75% of upregulated persistent translational DEGs after WL could be accounted for by one or more of the analysed epigenetic modalities (Fig. 4f). Overall, these results strongly suggest the presence of stable cellular, epigenetic and transcriptional memory in mouse adipocytes that persists after WL.
Ebola is a deadly hemorrhagic disease caused by a virus that is endemic in parts of East-Central and West Africa. Most people are aware that a primary route for person-to-person transmission is through contact with bodily fluids from an infected person. But more recent outbreaks, including the 2013–2016 Ebola epidemic in West Africa, demonstrated that infectious Ebola virus (EBOV) is also found on the skin’s surface of those who have succumbed to infection or at late times during infection.
Although evidence suggests that EBOV can be passed on from skin contact with a person in the later stages of the disease, very little is known about how the virus makes its way out of the body and onto the skin’s surface.
Researchers at University of Iowa Health Care and colleagues at Texas Biomedical Research Institute and Boston University have traced a cellular route the virus uses to traverse the inner and outer layers of skin and emerge onto the skin’s surface.