Lifeboat Foundation

Publishes original research in all areas of the natural and clinical sciences. We believe that if your research is scientifically valid and…

An alloy made of almost equal amounts of chromium, cobalt and nickel resists fracturing even at incredibly cold temperatures, which could make it useful for building spacecraft.

High on Life co-creator Justin Roiland explained AI art makes the game feel like a ‘strange alternate dimension’.

Astronomers have been eager for the landmark telescope to study the TRAPPIST-1 system.

Read more about Researchers discover “Evidence” of an earlier universe than our own.

Since as far back as Ancient Greece, humans have been fascinated by the solar system. However, Japanese researchers have now collected asteroid data that provides insights into the development of the solar system that earlier scientists such as Ptolemy, Galileo, and Copernicus could only have dreamed of.

Asteroid explorer Hayabusa2, launched in 2014, set out for Ryugu, a carbon-rich C-type asteroid. In 2018, it arrived in the area of Ryugu, conducting a number of remote observations and collecting samples from two locations on the asteroid. Before the launch of Hayabusa2, a research team at Osaka University had been developing a non-destructive method of light element analysis utilizing muons to analyze Ryugu.

So we designed CAR-T cells to produce IL-2 using synNotch. Now, when a CAR-T cell encounters a tumor, it produces IL-2 within the tumor instead of outside it, avoiding causing harm to surrounding healthy cells. Because synNotch is able to bypass the barriers tumors put up, it is able to help T cells amp up and maintain the amount of IL-2 they can make, allowing the T cells to keep functioning even in a hostile microenvironment.

We tested our CAR-T cells modified with synNotch on mice with pancreatic cancer and melanoma. We found that CAR-T cells with synNotch-induced IL-2 were able to produce enough extra IL-2 to overcome the tumors’ defensive barriers and fully activate, completely eliminating the tumors. While all of the mice receiving synNotch modified CAR-T cells survived, none of the CAR-T-only mice did.

Continue reading “Anti-cancer CAR-T therapy reengineers T cells to kill tumors — and researchers are expanding the limited types of cancer it can target” »

Computational modelling of the brain requires accurate representation of the tissues concerned. Mechanical testing has numerous challenges, in particular for low strain rates, like neurosurgery, where redistribution of fluid is biomechanically important. A finite-element (FE) model was generated in FEBio, incorporating a spring element/fluid–structure interaction representation of the pia–arachnoid complex (PAC). The model was loaded to represent gravity in prone and supine positions. Material parameter identification and sensitivity analysis were performed using statistical software, comparing the FE results to human in vivo measurements. Results for the brain Ogden parameters µ, α and k yielded values of 670 Pa, −19 and 148 kPa, supporting values reported in the literature. Values of the order of 1.2 MPa and 7.7 kPa were obtained for stiffness of the pia mater and out-of-plane tensile stiffness of the PAC, respectively. Positional brain shift was found to be non-rigid and largely driven by redistribution of fluid within the tissue. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study using in vivo human data and gravitational loading in order to estimate the material properties of intracranial tissues. This model could now be applied to reduce the impact of positional brain shift in stereotactic neurosurgery.

Finite-element (FE)-based computational models of the human brain are an increasingly common research tool, with applications ranging from head impact to neurosurgery. Studies considering head impacts are generally concerned with traumatic brain injury (TBI), where a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms is essential for the development of prevention measures [1]. Within neurosurgery, efforts are primarily focused on tumour resection, where loss of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and tissue resection are responsible for much of the deformation [2]. Movement and deformation of the intact brain, known as brain shift, is clinically significant in stereotactic neurosurgical procedures such as deep brain stimulation where electrode placement accuracy correlates with patient outcomes [3].

Computations support the 30-year-old idea that supercooled liquid water can undergo a transition between high-and low-density states.