Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog – Page 2

Get the latest international news and world events from around the world.

Log in for authorized contributors

Locus coeruleus noradrenaline neurons mapped!

BACKGROUND: Preeclampsia adversely affects fetal brain angiogenesis, with potential acute and long-term consequences. However, the mechanisms underlying these cerebrovascular alterations remain unclear. We investigated whether TSP-1 (thrombospondin-1), an antiangiogenic glycoprotein, mediates communication between fetoplacental and fetal brain endothelium in preeclampsia. METHODS: Conditioned media from human umbilical vein endothelial cells derived from normal and preeclamptic pregnancies were used to treat human (human cerebral microvascular endothelial cell line) and murine brain endothelial cells. Proteomic analysis of umbilical cord serum identified differentially expressed proteins, and TSP-1 was validated by Western blot. TSP-1 expression was investigated in umbilical endothelial cells (EA.

Utilizing a 3D Spheroid Model and Live-Cell Analysis for Compound Profiling

This application note explores how combining 3D single spheroid models with live-cell analysis can enhance compound screening and drug discovery workflows. Using a library of 880 FDA-approved compounds, researchers evaluated changes in spheroid growth, viability, and morphology over time to gain a more comprehensive understanding of compound activity than traditional endpoint assays can provide. The study demonstrates how live-cell imaging enables continuous, non-invasive monitoring of 3D cell models, delivering rich kinetic data while maintaining cells in a physiologically relevant environment.

The application note highlights the value of phenotypic screening in complex 3D models, allowing researchers to identify cytotoxic, cytostatic, and disruptive compound responses through simultaneous measurement of spheroid size and viability. It also compares findings from 2D monolayer cultures with 3D spheroid assays, revealing important differences in compound sensitivity and response that may improve the translation of in vitro results to in vivo outcomes. By integrating advanced imaging, automated analysis, and 3D cell culture, this workflow provides a powerful approach for identifying promising drug candidates and generating more predictive biological insights early in the drug development process.

Spinning Liquid into Solid

A new technique for generating solid fibers from a liquid jet is easier to model—and thus easier to control—than past methods.

In traditional spinning, fibers are twisted together into a continuous strand. In modern manufacturing, spinning can involve drawing out liquid streams to produce solid filaments that are woven into advanced materials. But the process is complex and challenging to model theoretically. Now researchers have shown how to greatly simplify the process by using light to catalyze solidification within a stream of freely falling liquid [1]. The technique may offer more control over the manufacture of fibers than current methods can provide.

The complexity of most modern force-driven spinning arrangements led fluid mechanics expert Henri Lhuissier of Aix-Marseille University in France and his colleagues to develop a simpler technique. “Most manufactured fibers are spun,” he says, “but what happens is mostly unpredictable due to the complexity of chemistry, phase changes, fluid mechanics, and other factors.” He says that much remains unknown about how solidification takes place and, therefore, what the ultimate size of the fiber will be.

Scientists discover first type I superconductor that breaks time-reversal symmetry

Superconductors are materials that conduct electricity with no resistance and expel magnetic fields when cooled to ultralow temperatures. And depending on their quantum structure, they can also showcase strange properties like magnetic levitation. But now things are getting a little weirder.

One of the most fascinating phenomena related to superconductors is the breaking of time-reversal symmetry. TRS is the principle that a physical system behaves the same way whether time runs forward or backward. Rare unconventional superconductors break this symmetry. When this happens, they spontaneously generate tiny internal magnetic fields when they enter their superconducting state.

Until recently, every superconductor known to do this was a type II material. But in a study published in the journal Physical Review Letters, researchers report the discovery of a type I superconductor that breaks time-reversal symmetry too.

How much are the world’s oceans warming? New method reveals double-digit percentage gaps from climate models

The world’s oceans behave like a thermometer: As the water warms, it expands and sea levels rise. Geodesy researchers at the University of Bonn are able to measure this and determine how much the oceans are warming. For individual ocean basins, their method has revealed significant deviations from model calculations—in some cases in the double-digit percentage range.

The research is published in the journal Earth System Science Data, and they explain their findings below.

Astronomers discover the lowest-mass double neutron star system to date

Neutron stars, the extremely dense remains of massive stars that exploded at the end of their lives, are widely studied astrophysical objects. Some of these stars, known as pulsars, spin and send out beams of radio waves, making them appear to pulse as the beams sweep past Earth.

According to Einstein’s theory of general relativity, orbiting neutron stars should emit ripples in spacetime known as gravitational waves. The resulting loss of energy should gradually draw pairs of neutron stars closer together, shortening the time they take to complete each orbit.

Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the State Key Laboratory of Radio Astronomy and Technology in Beijing and other academic institutions in China set out to test this prediction by studying PSR J1856–0039, a double neutron star (DNS) system discovered using the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) in China.

Black holes may grow quietly alongside galaxies even without violent mergers

Astronomers analyzed 2,435 galaxies hosting actively feeding black holes using data from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI). Among them, they identified 546 “bulgeless” galaxies—systems with little or no central stellar bulge. Their paper, published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, suggests that galaxies without a central bulge grow black holes just as effectively as galaxies that have one—a surprising sign that black holes don’t need galaxy mergers to grow normally.

There is a well-established relationship between a galaxy’s central black hole mass and properties of its host galaxy, such as the bulge mass, total mass in stars and the spread of different velocities within the galaxy. These relationships suggest that the galaxy’s black hole and the galaxy evolve together.

Two things have recently complicated the picture of this coevolution and what drives it. First, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) found black holes at high redshift that appear “too big” for their host galaxies compared to what relationships in the local universe predict. Second, JWST also found far more disk galaxies at high redshift than expected.

Computer-designed protein targets immune receptor linked to inflammation at new ‘undruggable’ site

To sense their environment and respond accordingly, cells enlist membrane proteins as communication hubs, receiving molecular messages from outside and triggering responses inside. One of these proteins is Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), an immune receptor that plays an essential role in protecting against infections. But overactivity of TLR4 has been linked to inflammatory disorders like sepsis, arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease, making it an attractive target for therapies. Despite its appeal, TLR4 is difficult to manipulate precisely, and no FDA-approved drugs specifically block it.

Now, in a new PNAS study, scientists at Scripps Research engineered a small synthetic protein that can bind to TLR4 within cell membranes and block subsequent inflammatory responses.

The findings advance understanding of what TLR4’s membrane-embedded region does. Rather than a passive anchor, it’s an active determinant of cross-membrane signaling—mechanistic insight that could guide the design of a new class of anti-inflammatory treatments. More broadly, the study outlines new computational tools that other researchers can use to target proteins within membranes.

/* */