Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: neuroscience – Page 694

Long-term effects of human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived retinal cell transplantation in Pde6b knockout rats

Circa 2021 First breakthrough in immortality of the eyes of rats using the inducing of pluripotent stem cells in the eye. Which will eventually lead to immortality of the human eye.

The retina is neural tissue located in the posterior part of the eye and is an extension of the central nervous system (CNS), which has limited regenerative potential once damaged1. Therefore, to maintain homeostasis of the retinal microenvironment and protect itself from harmful stimuli, the retina has a unique structure consisting of inner and outer blood-retinal barriers (BRBs)2,3,4. The outer BRB is mainly composed of retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells, which support photoreceptor cells, the primary neurons in the retina, and play a significant role in the pathogenesis of retinal degenerative disorders, such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and retinitis pigmentosa (RP)5,6,7,8,9. These disorders are commonly characterized by the irreversible loss of photoreceptor cells and RPE cells, and the only fundamental treatment for these retinal degenerative disorders is replacement of damaged or atrophied cells10,11,12. Thus, regenerative treatments, such as stem cell transplantation, are emerging as attractive options for targeting retinal degeneration that was previously considered untreatable13.

RP refers to a set of hereditary retinal degenerative disorders that initially involve photoreceptors and leads to subsequent RPE cell damage; it affects 1 in 4,000 individuals worldwide9. Due to its inherent nature, extensive genetic studies are ongoing, and more than 50 causal genes have been identified14. Among the causal genes, PDE6B is a gene that encodes rod cGMP-phosphodiesterase, which is a critical component of the biochemical light transduction pathway9. Although various molecular and genetic studies have identified the pathomechanisms of RP, attempts to restore vision in patients with RP have failed. To overcome this issue, preclinical stem cell-based studies involving transient dosing or permanent implantation of pluripotent stem cells are being conducted10,11,15,16.

Permanent implantation of retinal stem cells is a promising method and is highly expected to be a potential alternative treatment strategy for replacing damaged retinal cells13,16. Sharma et al.17 manufactured clinical-grade AMD patient stem cell-derived RPE cells using RPE patches of a biodegradable scaffold, and functionally validated the effects of their transplantation. This researchers provided a pipeline for the generation of clinical-grade induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived RPE cells, and histologically and functionally validated the efficacy of transplantation, thereby significantly advancing the retinal stem cell transplantation field; however, a single RPE cell transplantation cannot rescue already compromised photoreceptor cells and can be only applied in early stages of retinal degenerative diseases, when there are sufficient functional photoreceptor cells.

Dyslexia Actually Grants Special Powers, Researchers Say

As much as 20 percent of the global population could actually be better at exploration and curiosity, according to a new study published this week.

A team of Cambridge scientists published research in the journal Frontiers of Psychology earlier today that raises the possibility that dyslexia, which affects an estimated one in five people worldwide, could actually help the human species adapt and ensure future success.

“The deficit-centered view of dyslexia isn’t telling the whole story,” lead author Helen Taylor said in a statement accompanying the paper. “This research proposes a new framework to help us better understand the cognitive strengths of people with dyslexia.”

Nanotechnology spans many disciplines

Nanotechnologist and co-founder of the Black in Nanotech initiative, Olivia Geneus. (Courtesy: Alexander Harold) Welcome to this Physics World Nanotechnology Briefing, which showcases the breadth of applications of modern nanotechnology.

Olivia Geneus is one of the growing number of scientists who are developing nanotechnologies for medicine. In an interview, the PhD student at the State University of New York at Buffalo explains how she is developing nanoparticles designed to cross the blood–brain barrier in order to image and destroy brain cancer cells. Geneus also talks about Black in Nanotech Week, which she co-founded, and the need to encourage Black children to consider careers in science.

Ed Lester of the UK’s University of Nottingham knows that there are myriad uses for nanoparticles. In 2007 he founded the company Promethean Particles when he realized industrial users were not able to source nanoparticles in the quantities and quality that they required. In an interview, Lester talks about some of the company’s development projects including nanoparticles for aviation, healthcare and energy.

Genetic roots of three mitochondrial diseases identified via new approach

When something goes wrong in mitochondria, the tiny organelles that power cells, it can cause a bewildering variety of symptoms such as poor growth, fatigue and weakness, seizures, developmental and cognitive disabilities, and vision problems. The culprit could be a defect in any of the 1,300 or so proteins that make up mitochondria, but scientists have very little idea what many of those proteins do, making it difficult to identify the faulty protein and treat the condition.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of Wisconsin–Madison systematically analyzed dozens of mitochondrial proteins of unknown function and suggested functions for many of them. Using these data as a starting point, they identified the genetic causes of three and proposed another 20 possibilities for further investigation. The findings, published May 25 in Nature, indicate that understanding how mitochondria’s hundreds of proteins work together to generate power and perform the organelles’ other functions could be a promising path to finding better ways to diagnose and treat such conditions.

“We have a parts list for mitochondria, but we don’t know what many of the parts do,” said co-senior author David J. Pagliarini, Ph.D., the Hugo F. and Ina C. Urbauer Professor and a BJC Investigator at Washington University. “It’s similar to if you had a problem with your car, and you brought it to a mechanic, and upon opening the hood they said, ‘We’ve never seen half of these parts before.’ They wouldn’t know how to fix it. This study is an attempt to define the functions of as many of those mitochondrial parts as we can so we have a better understanding of what happens when they don’t work and, ultimately, a better chance at devising therapeutics to rectify those problems.”

Let Your Mind Control the Computer

Summary: New software can perform computerized image editing using only input from electrical activity in the human brain.

Source: University of Copenhagen.

Soon, we won’t need to use the Help function. The computer will sense that we have a problem and come to the rescue by itself. This is one of the possible implications of new research at University of Copenhagen and University of Helsinki.

New DNA Technology Is Shaking Up The Branches of The Evolutionary Tree

If you look different to your close relatives, you may have felt separate from your family. As a child, during particularly stormy fall outs you might have even hoped it was a sign that you were adopted.

As our new research shows, appearances can be deceptive when it comes to family. New DNA technology is shaking up the family trees of many plants and animals.

The primates, to which humans belong, were once thought to be close relatives of bats because of some similarities in our skeletons and brains. However, DNA data now places us in a group that includes rodents (rats and mice) and rabbits. Astonishingly, bats turn out to be more closely related to cows, horses, and even rhinoceroses than they are to us.

/* */