Lifeboat Foundation

Nanotechnology is poised to transform neurological disorder treatments by overcoming the blood-brain barrier, enabling effective medication delivery for conditions like dementia and Alzheimer’s. This innovative approach also shows promise in dermatology and cancer treatment, enhancing drug absorption and targeting, while minimizing side effects. Experts at AIIMS highlighted ongoing research and potential breakthroughs expected in the next few years.

Skeletal editing has emerged as an appealing strategy for scaffold-hopping-based drug discovery, but the enantioselective single-atom skeletal editing of N-heteroarenes is challenging. Now, using trifluoromethyl N-triftosylhydrazones as carbene precursors, the enantiodivergent dearomative skeletal editing of indoles and pyrroles has been achieved through asymmetric carbon-atom insertion.

An unusual mode of energy metabolism discovered in a newly identified microbe provides fresh insights into primitive life processes and offers promising biotechnological applications.

Unearthed in the deep springs of northern California, this organism converts carbon dioxide into energy-rich chemicals using a previously unknown metabolic pathway, potentially mimicking early life mechanisms and paving the way for advancements in microbial manufacturing and biofuel production.

Discovery of Unique Microbe.

Bacteria modify their ribosomes when exposed to widely used antibiotics, according to research published in Nature Communications. The subtle changes might be enough to alter the binding site of drug targets and constitute a possible new mechanism of antibiotic resistance.

Escherichia coli is a common bacterium which is often harmless but can cause serious infections. The researchers exposed E. coli to streptomycin and kasugamycin, two drugs which treat bacterial infections. Streptomycin has been a staple in treating tuberculosis and other infections since the 1940s, while kasugamycin is less known but crucial in agricultural settings to prevent bacterial diseases in crops.

Both antibiotics tamper with bacteria’s ability to make new proteins by specifically targeting their ribosomes. These molecular structures create proteins and are themselves made of proteins and ribosomal RNA. Ribosomal RNA is often modified with chemical tags that can alter the shape and function of the ribosome. Cells use these tags to fine tune protein production.

Researchers used machine learning to optimize the process by which a tiny cage is opened to release a molecule.

Researchers have designed a tiny structure that could help deliver drugs inside the body [1]. The theoretical and computational work required machine learning to optimize the parameters for the structure, which could stick to a closed shell containing a small molecule and cause the shell to open. The results demonstrate the potential for machine learning to assist in the development of artificial systems that can perform complex biomolecular processes.

Researchers are developing artificial molecular-scale structures that could perform functions such as drug delivery or gene editing. Creating such artificial systems, however, usually entails a frustrating tradeoff. If the components are simple enough to be computationally tractable, they are unlikely to yield complex interactions. But if the components are too complex, they become harder to combine and coordinate. Machine learning can reduce the computational cost of designing useful artificial systems, according to graduate student Ryan Krueger of Harvard University.

Oxford University researchers have made a significant step toward realizing a form of “biological electricity” that could be used in a variety of bioengineering and biomedical applications, including communication with living human cells. The work was published on 28 November in the journal Science.

Iontronic devices are one of the most rapidly-growing and exciting areas in biochemical engineering. Instead of using electricity, these mimic the human brain by transmitting information via ions (charged particles), including sodium, potassium, and calcium ions.

Ultimately, iontronic devices could enable biocompatible, energy-efficient, and highly precise signaling systems, including for drug-delivery.

Can you pass me the whatchamacallit? It’s right over there next to the thingamajig.

Many of us will experience “lethologica”, or difficulty finding words, in everyday life. And it usually becomes more prominent with age.

Continue reading “Scientists Discover a Speech Trait That Foreshadows Cognitive Decline” »

Working with week-old zebrafish larva, researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and colleagues decoded how the connections formed by a network of neurons in the brainstem guide the fishes’ gaze.

The study, published Nov. 22 in Nature Neuroscience, found that a simplified artificial circuit, based on the architecture of this neuronal system, can predict activity in the network. In addition to shedding light on how the brain handles short-term memory, the findings could lead to novel approaches for treating eye movement disorders.

Organisms are constantly taking in an array of sensory information about the environment that is changing from one moment to the next. To accurately assess a situation, the brain must retain these informational nuggets long enough to use them to form a complete picture—for instance, linking together the words in a sentence or allowing an animal to keep its eyes directed to an area of interest.