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Dr. Abba Zubair, MD: “Our hope is to study these space-grown cells to improve treatment for age-related conditions such as stroke, dementia, neurodegenerative diseases and cancer.”

What can microgravity teach us about stem cell growth? This is what a recent study published in NPJ Microgravity hopes to address as a pair of researchers from the Mayo Clinic investigated past research regarding the growth properties of stem cells, specifically regeneration, differentiation, and cell proliferation in microgravity and whether the stem cells can maintain these properties after returning to Earth. This study holds the potential to help researchers better understand how stem cell growth in microgravity can be transitioned into medical applications, including tissue growth for disease modeling.

“The goal of almost all space flight in which stem cells are studied is to enhance growth of large amounts of safe and high-quality clinical-grade stem cells with minimal cell differentiation,” said Dr. Abba Zubair, MD, who is a faculty at the Mayo Clinic and the sole co-author on the study. “Our hope is to study these space-grown cells to improve treatment for age-related conditions such as stroke, dementia, neurodegenerative diseases and cancer.”

Continue reading “Space-Born Stem Cells: A New Frontier in Regenerative Medicine” »

USC researchers have developed a new process to upcycle the composite materials appearing in automobile panels and light rail vehicles, addressing a current environmental challenge in the transportation and energy sectors. The study recently appeared in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

When the ‘God of chaos’ asteroid Apophis makes an ultraclose flyby of Earth in 2029, our planet’s gravity may trigger tremors and landslides that totally change the asteroid’s surface.

“Badass”. That was the word Harvard University neuroscientist Steve Ramirez used in a Tweet to describe research published online by fellow neuroscientist Ali Güler and colleagues in the journal Nature Neuroscience last March. Güler’s group, based at the University of Virginia in the US, reported having altered the behaviour of mice and other animals by using a magnetic field to remotely activate certain neurons in their brains. For Ramirez, the research was an exciting step forward in the emerging field of “magnetogenetics”, which aims to use genetic engineering to render specific regions of the brain sensitive to magnetism – in this case by joining proteins containing iron with others that control the flow of electric current through nerve-cell membranes.

By allowing neurons deep in the brain to be switched on and off quickly and accurately as well as non-invasively, Ramirez says that magnetogenetics could potentially be a boon for our basic understanding of behaviour and might also lead to new ways of treating anxiety and other psychological disorders. Indeed, biologist Kenneth Lohmann of the University of North Carolina in the US says that if the findings of Güler and co-workers are confirmed then magnetogenetics would constitute a “revolutionary new tool in neuroscience”

The word “if” here is important. In a paper posted on the arXiv preprint server in April last year and then published in a slightly revised form in the journal eLife last August, physicist-turned-neuroscientist Markus Meister of the California Institute of Technology laid out a series of what he describes as “back-of-the-envelope” calculations to check the physical basis for the claims made in the research. He did likewise for an earlier magnetogenetics paper published by another group in the US as well as for research by a group of scientists in China positing a solution to the decades-old problem of how animals use the Earth’s magnetic field to navigate – papers that were also published in Nature journals.

At least 10 people including a child have died in Indonesia following a series of powerful volcanic eruptions that destroyed homes and a Catholic convent, authorities said.

The eruptions, originating from Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki, hit the remote island of Flores on Monday, according the country’s National Disaster Management Agency.

They began around midnight, sending thick plumes of ash up to 6,500 feet into the atmosphere and depositing hot ash on several nearby villages.

This line of research is quickly moving from science fiction to reality—though few people have yet noticed.

WASHINGTON — The Australian Department of Defence announced the cancellation of its JP9102 military satellite program, an estimated $5 billion project awarded to Lockheed Martin just 18 months ago, citing shifts in satellite technology and the market’s pivot toward multi-orbit space communications.

The cancellation of Australia’s JP9102 satellite program is yet another sign of the disruptive impact that low Earth orbit space internet services, led by the rapid growth of SpaceX’s Starlink, are having on the traditional satellite communications industry and government procurement models.

JP9102, or Defence Joint Project 9,102, was launched in 2021 with plans to develop between three to five geostationary satellites and ground systems, marking one of Australia’s most ambitious space infrastructure ventures.

MIT’s new tiny wearables wrap around neurons to monitor or heal, opening new treatments for brain diseases like multiple sclerosis.

A study led by Umeå University, Sweden, presents new insights into how stem cells develop and transition into specialized cells. The discovery can provide increased understanding of how cells divide and grow uncontrollably so that cancer develops.

“The discovery opens a new track for future research into developing new and more effective treatments for certain cancers,” says Francesca Aguilo, associate professor at the Department of Molecular Biology at Umeå University and leader of the study in collaboration with various institutions including the University of Pavia, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Universidad de Extremadura, and others.

All cells in the body arise from a single fertilized egg. From this single origin, various specialized cells with widely differing tasks evolve through a process called cellular differentiation. Although all cells share the same origin and share the same genetic information, specialized cells use the information in different ways to perform different functions. This process is regulated by genetic and epigenetic mechanisms.