A culture collection of more than 500 fungal strains from seawater, sediments and seaweeds is helping scientists better understand marine fungi.
Category: biotech/medical – Page 37
Neighborly help in the brain: Cerebral cortex networks rapidly reorganize to compensate for lost neurons
How the brain largely maintains its function when neurons are lost—this is what researchers at the University Medical Center Mainz, the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (FIAS) and Hebrew University (Jerusalem) have deciphered. They show that neuronal networks in the cerebral cortex reorganize within a short period of time, with other nerve cells taking over the tasks of the lost neurons.
These findings could form the basis for future research into natural aging processes and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s. The study is published in the journal Nature Neuroscience.
Nerve cells (neurons) are the most important building blocks of the brain. They form the basis for all mental and physical functions such as thinking, feeling, movement, and perception. In the course of life, nerve cells in the brain can be lost for various reasons: They die off due to age-related processes, are damaged by toxins such as alcohol, or neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s lead to a more rapid progressive loss of neurons.
A single enzymatic switch steers cell fate in intestinal regeneration
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center researchers have identified a metabolic switch that determines whether intestinal stem cells become absorptive or secretory cells. Manipulating the enzyme OGDH either fuels cell expansion or redirects fate, with potential consequences for colitis recovery and regenerative therapy.
Stem cells in the intestine maintain a delicate balance between self-renewal and differentiation, continuously replenishing the epithelial lining of the gut.
As they divide, some daughter cells become absorptive enterocytes that expand the surface for nutrient uptake, while others branch into secretory cells that manufacture mucus, antimicrobial peptides, and hormones essential for gut immunity. Injury and inflammation can tip this balance, depleting secretory lineages and disrupting tissue integrity.
Nanogrid drug delivery systems developed for precise lung inflammation treatment
Understanding how drug delivery systems distribute in vivo remains a major challenge in developing nanomedicines. Especially in the lung, the complex and dynamic microenvironment often limits the effectiveness of existing approaches.
“Structural pharmaceutics” has been introduced as a new strategy to connect nanoparticle structures with physiological structures through advanced three-dimensional (3D) imaging and cross-scale characterizations.
In a study published in ACS Nano, a team led by Yin Xianzhen from the Lingang Laboratory and Zhang Jiwen from the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica of the Chinese Academy of Sciences developed a precise targeting strategy for tracheal inflammation.
A Downside of Taurine: It Drives Leukemia Growth
Leukemia cells use taurine to produce energy and grow, a study in Nature by a Wilmot Cancer institute team shows.
Scientists visualize key protein structures linked to immune response and inflammation
Two key protein structures in the body are being visualized for the first time, thanks in part to the latest technology in the University of Cincinnati’s Center for Advanced Structural Biology—potentially opening the door for better designed therapeutics.
The research of a trio of UC structural biologists was published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
It’s the first publication to come out of the Seegar Lab at UC. Tom Seegar, Ph.D., Ohio Eminent Scholar and assistant professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences in the College of Medicine, serves as corresponding author of the study.