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Category: biotech/medical – Page 505

White matter connections may drive adolescent cognitive gains, study suggests

Adolescence, the life stage that marks the transition between childhood and adulthood, is known to be a vital period for the brain’s development. During this critical phase, people’s mental abilities, including their problem-solving and memory skills, rapidly improve.

Past neuroscience studies have tried to link these observed cognitive improvements during adolescence to changes in the structure of the brain and the connections between different brain regions. Nonetheless, the relationship between changes in the brain and specific aspects of cognitive performance has not been fully elucidated.

Researchers at Vanderbilt University, CNRS Université de Lyon, and Wake Forest School of Medicine recently carried out a study involving monkeys that was aimed at shedding new light into the underpinnings of mental maturation during adolescence. Their findings, published in Nature Neuroscience, suggest that the cognitive development of adolescent monkeys is associated with a refined connectivity between brain regions, while changes in gray matter structure play a lesser role.

Preventing brain damage in premature babies: Lab-grown brain model reveals new hope

A treatment that could protect premature babies from brain damage showed promise in a recent study in Sweden. Using a first-of-its-kind prenatal brain model created with human cells, researchers observed new details about the effects of cerebral hemorrhages on stem cells during preterm birth. They also successfully tested an antidote that reduced the damage.

Publishing in Advanced Science, the researchers identified how neural stem cells in preterm infants are damaged as a result of a cerebral hemorrhage. Researchers from KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Karolinska Institutet, and Lund and Malmö Universities collaborated on the study.

The study shows that as red blood cells seep into the brain’s subventricular zone (SVZ) and break down, levels of the messenger protein interleukin-1 (IL-1) become elevated. These proteins send strong signals that direct to stop acting like stem cells, says Professor Anna Herland, senior lecturer at the AIMES research center at KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Karolinska Institutet.

New quantum sensing method measures three light properties at once with high precision

A new method for measuring three different properties of light, at the same time, has been developed using an interferometry-based quantum sensing scheme capable of simultaneously estimating multiple parameters of an optical network.

The approach could help advances in the fields of medicine and astronomy, for example, to improve the precision and scope of quantum measurements across applications ranging from biological imaging to gravitational wave detection.

To date, it has only been possible to measure each parameter individually. However, research published in The European Physical Journal Plus has demonstrated, for the first time, that three independent optical parameters can be measured in a single “view” with ultimate quantum precision, without the need to examine each one of them individually.

High-speed imaging tracks live brain cell activity in awake mice

A research team from the School of Engineering at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has achieved a breakthrough in brain imaging by developing the world’s first technology to capture high-resolution images of the brains of awake experimental mice in a nearly noninvasive manner.

By eliminating the need for anesthesia, this innovation enables scientists to study in its fully functional state. The advancement promises deeper insights into human brain function in both healthy and diseased conditions, opening new frontiers in neuroscience research.

The study was recently published in Nature Communications in a paper titled “Rapid adaptive optics enabling near-noninvasive high-resolution brain imaging in awake behaving mice.”

Sperm molecules can predict IVF success

The sperm is not a passive supplier of genetic material to the egg. A study from Linköping University, Sweden, shows that certain molecules that come with the sperm, so-called micro-RNA, contribute to the development of the embryo several days after conception. The findings, published in the journal Nature Communications, may in the long term, contribute to better diagnosis and treatment of involuntary childlessness.

“It seems that sperms can help with embryo development by bringing other molecules with them, in addition to DNA. These molecules aid in starting embryo development. So you can say that the sperm, or the male part of conception, has a greater significance than was previously understood,” says Anita Öst, professor of cell and at Linköping University, who led the study.

Many couples are affected by involuntary childlessness, or infertility. About one in six people suffer from infertility. For some, it is possible to become pregnant through what is known as in vitro fertilization, IVF, which takes place outside the body. The fertilized eggs are then transferred to the uterus and hopefully lead to pregnancy. Embryo quality is one of the major limiting factors for successful IVF treatment. Improved early embryo quality assessment could increase chances that IVF treatment leads to pregnancy.

A scalpel that can diagnose? Scientists unveil a ‘Lab-on-a-Scalpel’ for real-time surgical insights

Imagine a surgeon in the middle of a complex operation, able to get instant biochemical feedback not from a lab down the hall, but from the very tool in their hand. This vision is now one step closer to reality thanks to researchers at the University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague (UCT Prague).

The team, led by Professor Zdeněk Sofer, has developed and validated a “Lab-on-a-Scalpel” concept, a surgical tool with an integrated diagnostic sensor. They published their findings in the journal Analytical Chemistry.

This innovation addresses a critical challenge in surgery: the time lag between sample collection and lab results. During invasive procedures, a patient’s biochemical profile can change rapidly, but traditional testing methods are too slow to provide the real-time data needed for immediate, informed decisions.

Congenital heart disease mutation linked to kidney damage

Biomedical engineers at Duke University have shown that a genetic mutation that causes congenital heart disease also contributes to kidney damage and developmental defects. Identifying this early cause of kidney damage could enable clinicians to diagnose and address kidney problems much sooner than current practices allow. The research was published on November 3 in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering.

Congenital heart disease (CHD) is a common cause of death in childhood and affects 1 out of every 1,000 births. The disease occurs when the heart doesn’t form correctly before birth, causing leaky valves, defective vessels, or holes in the heart. While some cases of CHD can be remedied, children with life-threatening complications often require surgery or even a heart transplant. More than 25% of patients also end up developing problems with other organs, which severely compromise life expectancy.

“Research has shown that children diagnosed with CHD almost always have kidney problems by age 4,” said Samira Musah, the Alfred M. Hunt Faculty Scholar Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Duke University, and the senior author of the study. “Given the shared developmental origin of the heart and kidney, I wondered if a genetic mutation tied to CHD also causes the observed in affected patients.”

Protein linked to cancer found to play key role in wound healing

When doctors detect elevated levels of SerpinB3 in a blood test, it can signal that something is seriously wrong, from hard-to-treat cancers to severe inflammatory conditions.

SerpinB3 is a that often reveals when the body’s barrier tissues, like the skin or lungs, are under serious stress from cancer or chronic illness.

But new research from Arizona State University shows that SerpinB3, long recognized as a disease marker, also has a natural role in the body: helping to heal wounds.

Antibody therapy foils pancreatic cancer’s sugar-based disguise to reawaken immune system

Pancreatic cancer is notoriously hard to treat and often resists the most advanced immunotherapies. Northwestern Medicine scientists have uncovered a novel explanation for that resistance: Pancreatic tumors use a sugar-based disguise to hide from the immune system. The scientists also created an antibody therapy that blocks the sugar-mediated “don’t-attack” signal.

For the first time, the team identified how this sugar trick works and showed that blocking it with a monoclonal antibody reawakens immune cells to attack cancer cells in preclinical mouse models.

“It took our team about six years to uncover this novel mechanism, develop the right antibodies and test them,” said study senior author Mohamed Abdel-Mohsen, associate professor of medicine in the division of infectious diseases at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

Triggering cell death in metastatic melanoma may pave the way for new cancer treatments

Metastatic melanoma cells that have spread to lymph nodes survive by relying on a protein called ferroptosis suppressor protein 1 (FSP1)—a surprising metabolic dependency that could open the door to a new class of cancer treatments, according to a new study led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

The researchers say the study, published in Nature, not only highlights the therapeutic potential of drugs that inhibit FSP1, but also offers new ways to understand cancer and its vulnerabilities.

Ferroptosis is a form of cell death driven by excessive lipid oxidation in cell membranes. When this occurs, the cell’s structural integrity collapses, leading to death. Cancer cells rely heavily on antioxidant proteins like FSP1 to prevent ferroptosis.

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