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Category: biotech/medical – Page 674

Biomaterial developed at UCLA helps regrow brain tissue after stroke in mice

A new stroke-healing gel created by UCLA researchers helped regrow neurons and blood vessels in mice whose brains had been damaged by strokes. The finding is reported May 21 in Nature Materials.

“We tested this in laboratory mice to determine if it would repair the brain and lead to recovery in a model of stroke,” said Dr. S. Thomas Carmichael, professor of neurology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and co-director of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research. “The study indicated that new brain tissue can be regenerated in what was previously just an inactive brain scar after stroke.”

The results suggest that such an approach could some day be used to treat people who have had a stroke, said Tatiana Segura, a former professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at UCLA who collaborated on the research. Segura is now a professor at Duke University.

Immunofluorescence study sheds light on brain’s DNA damage and repair processes

Brain cells receive sensory inputs from the outside world and send signals throughout the body telling organs and muscles what to do. Although neurons comprise only 10% of brain cells, their functional and genomic integrity must be maintained over a lifetime. Most dividing cells in the body have well-defined checkpoint mechanisms to sense and correct DNA damage during DNA replication.

Neurons, however, do not divide. For this reason, they are at greater risk of accumulating damage and must develop alternative repair pathways to avoid dysfunction. Scientists do not understand how neuronal DNA damage is controlled in the absence of replication checkpoints.

A recent study led by Cynthia McMurray and Aris Polyzos in Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s (Berkeley Lab’s) Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging Division addressed this knowledge gap, shedding light on how DNA damage and repair occur in the brain. Their results suggest that DNA damage itself serves as the checkpoint, limiting the accumulation of genomic errors in cells during natural aging.

Reverse Aging : Small Molecule Cocktail & Epigenetic Reprogramming | Dr David Sinclair

This video provides a progress update on cutting-edge research exploring epigenetic reprogramming and small molecule cocktails for cellular rejuvenation.

Dr David Sinclair delve into the latest studies on how these approaches can potentially reverse the effects of aging at the cellular level. Topics covered include:

• The mechanisms of epigenetic reprogramming using Yamanaka factors. The development and testing of novel small molecule cocktails. Applications in various tissues and organs Research on reversing cellular senescence and restoring cell identity. The use of AI for high-throughput screening of potential rejuvenating compounds.
This update highlights recent advancements, challenges, and future directions in this exciting field of research.

* Credits to ARRD \& Dr David Sinclair*

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Serious Head Trauma May Awaken Dormant Viruses Inside Your Body

A serious knock to the head may also deliver an insidious blow to the human immune system – a one-two punch that could reawaken dormant viruses in the body, potentially contributing to neurodegenerative disease.

A study using stem cell ‘mini brains’ has shown that a herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) infection already ‘arrested’ by the immune system can shake off its shackles when brain tissue is injured.

“We thought, what would happen if we subjected the brain tissue model to a physical disruption, something akin to a concussion?” says biomedical engineer Dana Cairns from Tufts University in the US.

Study Identifies a New Target for Cancer Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy, cancer treatments that alter the immune system, making it better apt to fight tumor cells, have provided novel and efficacious therapeutic options for patients with advanced, difficult-to-treat malignancies. Many immune-based therapies work to boost immune mediators within the tumor microenvironment, and others can prime immune cells circulating through the body.

A groundbreaking study published in Cancer Cell brings us closer to achieving the best of both worlds. The novel data describing this comprehensive study suggests that we can achieve better efficacy with an immunotherapy that optimizes the immune response both inside the tumor (intratumoral immunity) and throughout the rest of the body (systemic immunity).

The researchers identified an enzyme (P4HA1) that is pivotal in directing immunotherapy effectiveness. P4HA1 regulates the differentiation of CD8+ T cells, a vital immune cell subset needed for finding and killing cancer. The study found that P4HA1 significantly upregulated the tumor-draining lymph nodes (TDLN), the lymph nodes located directly downstream of a tumor where immune cells, and sometimes cancer cells, drain out of the tumor.

Dual-reactor system converts CO₂ to consumable single-cell protein

A team of chemical, industrial and biotechnical engineers affiliated with several institutions in China has developed a dual-reactor system that can be used to convert CO2 to a consumable single-cell protein. In their paper published in the journal Environmental Science and Ecotechnology, the group describes how they designed, built and tested their dual reactor system and its possible uses.

Scientists note two major impediments to the continued practical existence of mankind: climate change and food production. In this new effort, the team in China developed a dual-reactor system that tackles both problems at once—it uses carbon dioxide in the air to produce a type of that can be consumed as food.

The new system has two stages. The first uses microbial electrosynthesis to convert carbon dioxide into acetate, which then serves as an intermediary. The second stage involves feeding the acetate produced in the first stage into a reactor, where it is mixed with aerobic bacteria, which uses the acetate to produce a single-cell protein.

Scientists Have Proven It’s Possible to Bring a Dead Brain ‘Back to Life’—But There’s a Catch

When dealing with a human brain, preventing perception would require even more care. If a person’s brain inched toward consciousness under such an experiment, the consequences would be thorny, according to Hank Greely, a biomedical legal expert at Stanford University in California. “That’s very tricky ethically, legally and scientifically,” he told New Scientist.

Vrselja told the publication that he and his colleagues “have no intention of plugging anyone at the point of death into their BrainEx machine.” But what they’ve accomplished so far is a significant step toward proving that brain death may not be as final as we once thought, arousing fresh hope that patients who are hovering between life and death can still be saved.

In the meantime, the researchers have had some success in keeping brains “cellularly active for up to 24 hours” so they can test treatments for neurological conditions. They hope to help patients with diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

New AI Model Exposes Secrets of Genetic “Dark Matter” in Human Cells

Columbia researchers created an AI model that predicts gene activity in any human cell, advancing disease research and treatment. It has already uncovered mechanisms behind pediatric leukemia and may reveal hidden genome functions.

Researchers at Columbia University.

Columbia University is a private Ivy League research university in New York City that was established in 1754. This makes it the oldest institution of higher education in New York and the fifth-oldest in the United States. It is often just referred to as Columbia, but its official name is Columbia University in the City of New York.

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