Lifeboat Foundation

Steve P. Miller, PhD, has spent much of his career figuring out how to shut off autoimmune responses when he observed dying cells acting as carriers of autoantigens that could modulate the immune system. More than 20 years ago, while a professor at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, Miller discovered that dendritic cells (DCs), a subtype of antigen-presenting cells (APCs), could be changed or turned off to send the right signals to make immunologically tolerant T cells, also known as “tolerogenic.”

Miller’s attention turned toward investigating how best to mimic the apoptotic cells, overriding the expression of dendritic cells. So, Miller partnered with polymer chemist Lonnie D. Shea, PhD, who was at the McCormick School of Engineering, to develop a nanoparticle that interacts effectively with dendritic cells.

In 2013, Miller and Shea helped launch a company spun out of Northwestern University, when Shea was still in Chicago, called Cour Pharmaceutical Development Company, to develop innovative nanobiological therapeutics for acute inflammation, autoimmune, and allergic conditions. After years of experimentation, they developed a formula for nanoparticles of the right size and charge that interact well with the immune system, which is the foundation for their proprietary antigen-specific immune tolerance platform.

Google’s Bard chatbot is powered by a new Gemini model. Early users rate it as similar to GPT-4.

Google’s head of AI, Jeff Dean, announced the new Gemini model on X. It is a model from the Gemini Pro family with the suffix “scale”

Thanks to the Gemini updates, Bard is “much better” and has “many more capabilities” compared to the launch in March, according to Dean.

Whether or not you can work during a stem cell transplant may depend on the type of job you have. The process of a stem cell transplant, with the high-dose treatments, the transplant, and recovery, can take many months. You will be in and out of the hospital during this time. Even when you are not in the hospital, sometimes you will need to stay near it, rather than staying in your own home.

You will be more tired and your ability to concentrate on work may be affected. You will be visiting the hospital two or three times a week after discharge. You may need to spend a few hours in the hospital for blood or platelet transfusions or replacing minerals in your body.

So, if your job allows, you may want to arrange to work remotely part-time. Many employers are required by law to change your work schedule to meet your needs during cancer treatment. Talk with your employer about ways to adjust your work during treatment. You can learn more about these laws by talking with a social worker.

Energy utility Origin Energy says it will spend $400 million on a new big 650 MWh big battery to be built at the site of its main gas generator in Victoria.

The board approval for the Mortlake Power Station battery, to be sized at 300 MW and 650 MWh, follows approval for the first stage of the Eraring big battery in NSW – at the site of its soon-tobe-shuttered coal fired power station – and a growing list of other battery projects.

Origin has chosen US-based energy storage systems supplier Fluence to build the project. Site preparation is expected to begin in a couple of months and the battery will be operating in late 2026.

Nanoclusters (NCs) are crystalline materials that typically exist on the nanometer scale. They are composed of atoms or molecules in combination with metals like cobalt, nickel, iron, and platinum, and have found several interesting applications across diverse fields, including drug delivery, catalysis, and water purification.

A reduction in the size of NCs can unlock additional potential, allowing for processes such as single-atom catalysis. In this context, the coordination of organic molecules with individual transition-metal atoms shows promise for further advancement in this field.

An innovative approach to further reduce the size of NCs involves introducing metal atoms into self-assembled monolayer films on flat surfaces. However, it is crucial to exercise caution in ensuring that the arrangement of metal atoms on these surfaces does not disrupt the ordered nature of these monolayer films.

Porsche isn’t directly targeting the Tesla Model Y with the new Macan EV, but the two vehicles have many surprising similarities.

SpaceX is teaming up with Northrop Grumman today to deliver more than 8,000 pounds of cargo, fresh food and scientific experiments to astronauts on the International Space Station.

The NG-20 resupply mission will take off from the Space Force’s Cape Canaveral in Florida on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at around 12:07 p.m. EST. Northrop’s Cygnus cargo capsule will arrive at the International Space Station on February 1.

Northrop has been launching Cygnus to the ISS for resupply missions using its own Antares rocket since 2013, with the exception of just two missions that used a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5. But Northrop retired that version of Antares last year, and the next version — an all-American launch vehicle called Antares 330, which it is developing with Firefly Aerospace — will not be ready to fly until around mid-2025.

Beijing is pushing a ‘whole-of-the-nation’ approach to focus resources on tech breakthroughs in key areas amid rising pressure from the US.

At the smallest scales, everything is made out of a cloud of quantum possibilities. A new idea attempts to explain how our everyday world comes from this, using the laws of thermodynamics.

By Tom Rivlin