Scientists are trying a revolutionary new approach to treat rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, lupus and other devastating autoimmune diseases — by reprogramming patients’ out-of-whack immune systems.
When your body’s immune cells attack you instead of protecting you, today’s treatments tamp down the friendly fire but they don’t fix what’s causing it. Patients face a lifetime of pricey pills, shots or infusions with some serious side effects — and too often the drugs aren’t enough to keep their disease in check.
“We’re entering a new era,” said Dr. Maximilian Konig, a rheumatologist at Johns Hopkins University who’s studying some of the possible new treatments. They offer “the chance to control disease in a way we’ve never seen before.”
“Drains” in the brain, responsible for clearing toxic waste in the organ, tend to get clogged up in people who show signs of developing Alzheimer’s disease, a study by researchers from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) has discovered.
This suggests that such clogged drains, a condition known as “enlarged perivascular spaces,” are a likely early-warning sign for Alzheimer’s, a common form of dementia.
“Since these brain anomalies can be visually identified on routine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans performed to evaluate cognitive decline, identifying them could complement existing methods to detect Alzheimer’s earlier, without having to do and pay for additional tests,” said Associate Professor Nagaendran Kandiah from NTU’s Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine) who led the study.
*This video was recorded at ‘Paths to Progress’ at LabWeek hosted by Protocol Labs & Foresight Institute.*
Protocol Labs and Foresight Institute are excited to invite you to apply to a 5-day mini workshop series to celebrate LabWeek, PL’s decentralized conference to further public goods. The theme of the series, Paths to Progress, is aimed at (re)-igniting long overdue progress in longevity bio, molecular nanotechnology, neurotechnology, crypto & AI, and space through emerging decentralized, open, and technology-enabled funding mechanisms.
*This mini-workshop is focused on Paths to Progress in Molecular Nanotechnology* Molecular manufacturing, in its most ambitious incarnation, would use programmable tools to bring together molecules to make precisely bonded components in order to build larger structures from the ground up. This would enable general-purpose manufacturing of new materials and machines, at a fraction of current waste and price. We are currently nowhere near this ambitious goal. However, recent progress in sub-fields such as DNA nanotechnology, protein-engineering, STM, and AFM provide possible building blocks for the construction of a v1 of molecular manufacturing; the molecular 3D printer. Let’s explore the state of the art and what type of innovation mechanisms could bridge the valley of death: how might we update the original Nanotech roadmap; is a tech tree enough? how might we fund the highly interdisciplinary progress needed to succeed: FRO vs. DAO?
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The Foresight Institute is a research organization and non-profit that supports the beneficial development of high-impact technologies. Since our founding in 1986 on a vision of guiding powerful technologies, we have continued to evolve into a many-armed organization that focuses on several fields of science and technology that are too ambitious for legacy institutions to support. From molecular nanotechnology, to brain-computer interfaces, space exploration, cryptocommerce, and AI, Foresight gathers leading minds to advance research and accelerate progress toward flourishing futures.
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Slicing up and analyzing real, living, three-dimensional brain tissue comes with some obvious complications – as in, it tends to be needed by its owner. But scientists are now closer than ever to being able to grow realistic brain tissue models in the lab to experiment on instead.
A team of researchers led by the University of California, Riverside (UCR) have created a tiny scaffolding some 2 millimeters (0.08 inches) wide, on which donated neural stem cells can be attached and develop into full neurons.
The scaffolding is called BIPORES – or the Bijel-Integrated PORous Engineered System – and it’s made mostly of the common polymer polyethylene glycol (PEG). The researchers modified the PEG to make it ‘sticky’ for brain cells, without needing the usual coatings that can interfere with the reliability of the science.
While our understanding of Alzheimer’s disease is far from complete, the latest therapies, and others in more than 100 clinical trials, offer new hope.
A new clinical trial shows that deep brain stimulation (DBS) improved symptoms in half of adults with treatment-resistant depression, with one-third reaching remission.
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy is revolutionizing the treatment of haematological malignancies, but expanding applicability to solid tumours presents substantial challenges. This Review describes key strategies to optimize CAR T cell therapy for solid tumours across areas spanning from target selection to response and safety evaluation.
Anchorage-dependent cells are cells that require physical attachment to a solid surface, such as a culture dish, to survive, grow, and reproduce. In the biomedical industry, and others, having the ability to culture these cells is crucial, but current techniques used to separate cells from surfaces can induce stresses and reduce cell viability.
“In the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, cells are typically detached from culture surfaces using enzymes—a process fraught with challenges,” says Kripa Varanasi, MIT professor of mechanical engineering. “Enzymatic treatments can damage delicate cell membranes and surface proteins, particularly in primary cells, and often require multiple steps that make the workflow slow and labor-intensive.”
Existing approaches also rely on large volumes of consumables, generating an estimated 300 million liters of cell culture waste each year. Moreover, because these enzymes are often animal-derived, they can introduce compatibility concerns for cells intended for human therapies, limiting scalability and high-throughput applications in modern biomanufacturing.
A new active substance attacks a key protein in tumor cells, leading to complete degradation. In cell experiments, this caused cancer cells to lose their protection and die. The active substance was developed by researchers at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) and the University Medical Center Mainz. Other substances usually try to inhibit the activity of the protein “checkpoint kinase-1” (CHK1). However, if the protein is completely broken down, a chain reaction is triggered which leads to other tumor proteins being destroyed. Thus, the cancer cells are further weakened.
The new study was published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition.
Usually, CHK1 is a vital protein for the human body. If errors occur during cell division and the genetic material is damaged, the protein halts the process so that the cell can repair it before proceeding. However, the protein does not distinguish between normal cells and tumor cells—it protects them equally.
