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Category: biotech/medical – Page 466

Can anyone think of a good use for this protein in our cells in the future? Perhaps in space travel? 😁

Freeze ‘em, heat ‘em, blast them into empty space; with survival skills unlike any other organism on the planet, those hardy critters known as tardigrades will only come back for more.

While it’s clear their ability to withstand stress is in part due to their ability to turn their insides into gel, the mechanisms behind this act of metabolic preservation haven’t yet been made clear.

A new study led by researchers from the University of Wyoming found that expressing key tardigrade proteins in human cells slowed metabolism, providing critical insights into how these virtually indestructible invertebrates can survive under the most extreme conditions.

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An international research team led by RMIT University has designed and manufactured a virus-killing surface that could help control disease spread in hospitals, labs, and other high-risk environments. The surface made of silicon is covered in tiny nanospikes that skewer viruses on contact.

Lab tests with the hPIV-3 virus – which causes bronchitis, pneumonia, and croup – showed 96% of the viruses were either ripped apart or damaged to the point where they could no longer replicate to cause infection. These impressive results, featured on the cover of top nanoscience journal ACS Nano, show the material’s promise for helping control the transmission of potentially dangerous biological material in laboratories and healthcare environments.

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A new analysis involving over 13,000 people has found changes to blood vessels in the brain that can increase the risk of stroke and dementia are common in people with a range of heart conditions, regardless of whether they have experienced a stroke.

The new research, published in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, is the most comprehensive systematic review of ‘hidden’ brain changes in people with a range of heart conditions to date.

Lead author Dr Zien Zhou from The George Institute for Global Health said that identifying these changes could play an important role in choosing treatments for these patients.

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Tryptophan is an essential amino acid, which means that it cannot be produced by the body but must be included as part of our diet. People with chronic bowel inflammation consume significantly more tryptophan than healthy people, as shown by previous research that involved members of the Cluster of Excellence “Precision Medicine in Chronic Inflammation” (PMI) at Kiel University.

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How can the microscopic creatures, tardigrades, also called water bearers, help contribute to developing new medical treatments? This is what a recent study published in Protein Science hopes to address as a team of international researchers investigated how tardigrade proteins could replace certain medical treatments when refrigerating those treatments are unavailable, specifically regarding stem cell treatments, and could possibly slow the aging process.

One reason tardigrades are an intriguing option is due to their ability to start and stop suspended animation when presented with outside stressors. Now, researchers are attempting to introduce tardigrade proteins in human cells, and the researchers have found some surprising results.

“Amazingly, when we introduce these proteins into human cells, they gel and slow down metabolism, just like in tardigrades,” said Dr. Silvia Sanchez-Martinez, who is a Senior Research Scientist at University of Wyoming and lead author of the study. “Furthermore, just like tardigrades, when you put human cells that have these proteins into biostasis, they become more resistant to stresses, conferring some of the tardigrades’ abilities to the human cells.”

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