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Category: biotech/medical – Page 85

Chinese researchers create ‘human-on-chip’ system using brain matter to create ‘organoid’ robot

Destroy them.

Researchers at Tianjin University and the Southern University of Science and Technology in China have created a “human-on-chip” system that combines human brain matter with a neural interface chip and have used the technology to create a hybrid “organoid” robot.

The technology is reported to be an emerging branch of brain-computer interfaces, which aims to combine the brain’s electrical signals with external computing power. The idea behind the technology is to develop brain-like computing.

According to the Global Times, the system uses an artificial brain cultivated in vitro – such as a “brain-like organ” — that can interact with external information through encoding, decoding and stimulus feedback when coupled with electrode chips. In vitro, in this case, means that they’re growing the brain-like organ in a controlled laboratory environment using stem cell technology.

Lithium Dosing in Bipolar Disorder Shapes Brain Exposure Patterns

Now, a new study conducted by researchers at Newcastle University and Technische Universität Dresden has used a new lithium MRI technique to reveal that brain lithium levels closely track blood concentrations throughout the day.

Understanding lithium tracking gaps in bipolar disorder

Bipolar disorder affects ~40 million people globally. The mental health condition is characterized by severe shifts in mood, energy, and activity levels. Patients navigate intense emotional states that alternate between mania and deep depression.

New T‑cell therapy targets three tumor proteins, shows early survival gains in aggressive pediatric brain cancers

Researchers report encouraging early results from a first-in-human clinical trial led by Children’s National Hospital using a new T-cell immunotherapy for children and young adults with some of the deadliest brain tumors, including diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) and relapsed central nervous system (CNS) tumors. These findings, published in Nature Medicine, are particularly significant given the challenges of treating pediatric brain tumors, which remain the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in children. Immunotherapies have been shown to work in blood cancers but rarely succeed in solid tumors, especially brain tumors.

“This study represents an important step toward developing safer and more effective T-cell therapies for children with devastating brain cancers,” said Catherine Bollard, MBChB, MD, senior vice president and chief research officer at Children’s National, and co-senior author of the study. “Even in this early-stage trial focused on safety, we were encouraged to see lasting clinical benefit in several patients who otherwise had very few options.”

Lipids and DNA nanostructures independently control artificial cell mechanics

What if the mechanical properties of a cell could be programmed like the components of a machine? Researchers at the University of Tokyo have discovered that two fundamental modes of cellular deformation—stretching and bending—can be independently controlled using different molecular building blocks. The finding provides a new strategy for engineering artificial cells, drug-delivery capsules and adaptive soft materials with precisely tailored mechanical functions.

Miho Yanagisawa, an associate professor at the University of Tokyo, and Kazutoshi Masuda, a Ph.D. student, developed a new framework for dissecting the mechanics of artificial cells. Using lipid-coated microdroplets as simplified cell models, they combined micropipette aspiration experiments with a theoretical model that separates membrane mechanics into stretching and bending contributions. The approach successfully captured nonlinear deformation behaviors that conventional models could not explain. The work is published in the journal Small Science.

The researchers found that lipid molecular geometry primarily determines membrane stretching elasticity. In contrast, when Y-shaped DNA motifs were interconnected to form a three-dimensional network, they created a nanoscale scaffold that dramatically enhanced resistance to bending while leaving stretching elasticity largely unchanged.

USC scientists just unlocked an endless supply of cancer-fighting immune cells

A new stem-cell-inspired technique allows scientists to grow vast numbers of immune-cell progenitors that can be engineered to hunt cancer and strengthen immune responses. In animal studies, the cells fought tumors, restored immune function, and showed promise as a durable, off-the-shelf therapy platform.

Smoking triggers neutrophil response that may link lungs to heart disease

Scientists at the University of Oklahoma have identified a previously unrecognized immune system pathway that helps explain how cigarette smoking increases the risk of cardiovascular disease. The findings, published in Circulation Research, show that cigarette smoke activates immune cells that trigger widespread inflammation throughout the body, accelerating the buildup of plaque in arteries.

Cigarette smoking is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease and is linked to heart attacks, strokes and other life-threatening conditions. While smoking’s harmful effects on the lungs are well established, the biological processes that connect cigarette smoke exposure to cardiovascular disease have been less well understood.

Wireless biodegradable sensor could help injured knees heal without dangerous overloading

A biodegradable pressure sensor could help people with knee injuries exercise and heal faster, University of Connecticut researchers report in Science Advances. The knee can take a great deal of abuse, thanks to the cartilage that cushions it. But if it’s not moved and exercised enough, the knee stiffens and has poor blood flow. The cartilage can degrade or tear, worsening any injury already there. So people with injured knees have to move in order to heal. The challenge is knowing how much exercise or movement is too much.

To answer that question, UConn College of Engineering professor Thanh Nguyen, along with Ph.D. student Jinyoung Park and other colleagues, developed a pressure sensor that can be placed inside the knee joint and then degrade harmlessly in the body when no longer needed.

“Overloading destroys the cartilage. But if you don’t move and exercise, if you don’t run, walk, jump, you have a very stiff joint with little blood flowing to it,” says Nguyen, a professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, which is a joint effort by the College of Engineering, School of Medicine and School of Dental Medicine. “My lab developed a sensor that can monitor the force in real time.”

H. pylori screening could return fivefold value in gastric cancer prevention

Each unit of cost invested in Helicobacter pylori screening can generate approximately a fivefold return in gastric cancer prevention benefits.

The gastric cancer prevention research team at National Taiwan University Hospital and College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, has pioneered a globally applicable preventive model for gastric cancer control. To inform public health policymaking, the research team developed a globally adaptable decision-tree model to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of H. pylori screening. The findings were published in JAMA on June 1, 2026.

Building on Taiwan’s nationwide fecal immunochemical test-based colorectal cancer screening program, the gastric cancer prevention team has conducted a 10-year randomized clinical trial demonstrating that the additional use of an H. pylori stool antigen test (HPSA) alongside fecal occult blood testing could simultaneously achieve the dual goals of colorectal cancer and gastric cancer prevention. The findings were previously published on Sept. 30, 2024, in JAMA.

Light-activated compound kills antibiotic-resistant bacteria by turning its own defense enzyme against it

Antibiotic resistance is becoming an accelerating crisis because of the overuse and misuse of antibiotics over many years. The problem is exacerbated when antibiotics wipe out susceptible bacteria but leave resistant bacteria behind to multiply, further spreading resistance. There is an ongoing search for new treatments to fight resistant bacteria, and now researchers may have found a way to successfully treat at least one type of resistant bacteria.

A new study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, describes the design of a compound capable of destroying Gram-positive MRSA that produces β-lactamase when activated by light.

Rare inner ear cells point to regenerative hearing treatments

A study by a team of researchers from the Gray Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences at Tel Aviv University offers new hope to millions of people with irreversible hearing loss. The researchers identified a unique biological mechanism that could, in the future, enable the regeneration of sensory hair cells in the inner ear—a process previously thought impossible in humans.

The study was conducted under the leadership of Prof. Karen Avraham, dean of the Gray Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences and Drs. Sarah and Felix Dumont Chair for Research of Hearing Disorders. It was spearheaded by Lama Khalaily, a Tel Aviv University doctoral student, in collaboration with Prof. David Sprinzak of TAU’s Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Shahar Kasirer from Sprinzak’s laboratory, Dr. Litao Tao of Creighton University in Omaha, and additional researchers. The findings are published in the journal Science Advances.

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