Blog – Page 3194

Stem cells are valuable to a wide range of biomedical and pharmaceutical research applications because of their high self-renewal and differentiation potential. But working with human stem cells is not easy. For starters, they are high-maintenance and expensive to culture. They also need to be constantly monitored, to ensure they remain pluripotent, viable and homogeneous. In order to set yourself up for success, firstly, you need a precise and gentle way to isolate stem cells.

Challenges of stem cell isolation

Stem cells are cultured in the lab using specialized “recipes” that vary depending on the application. For example, adult cells can be reprogrammed into pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) by adding cofactors like Oct3/4, KLF4, Sox2 and c-Myc1. Along the way, stem cells are isolated for routine testing to make sure they have the expected features.

Stumbling across seashells and sea creatures is commonplace while on a trip to Florida, but finding a message in a bottle seems like something straight out of a storybook.

Brent Coleman, his 13-year-old son Garrison, and his friend, 13-year-old Lane McCall, had traveled from Georgia for a vacation when they came across a bottle while walking on Bradenton Beach, as reported by WFLA.

Inside the bottle was a handwritten note from a man named Howard Brown. He had written that he would have loved to live a life in Florida with his wife of 57 years, but “cancer had other plans.” The note continued, stating that by the time someone found the bottle, he would be gone.

As researchers make major advances in medical care, they are also discovering that the efficacy of these treatments can be enhanced by individualized approaches. Therefore, clinicians increasingly need methods that can both continuously monitor physiological signals and then personalize responsive delivery of therapeutics.

Implanted bioelectronic devices are playing a critical role in these treatments, but there are a number of challenges that have stalled their widespread adoption. These devices require specialized components for signal acquisition, processing, data transmission, and powering.

Up to now, achieving these capabilities in an implanted device has entailed using numerous rigid and non-biocompatible components that can lead to tissue disruption and patient discomfort. Ideally, these devices need to be biocompatible, flexible, and stable in the long term in the body. They also must be fast and sensitive enough to record rapid, low-amplitude biosignals, while still being able to transmit data for external analysis.