Didn’t watch the video.
Prof David R. Liu, Professor at Harvard University, the Broad Institute, and HHMI was interviewed by the Sheeky Science Show. In the interview, they discussed how to make precise genome editing safe & efficient using the latest CRISPR tech advances in base editing and prime editing and taking it to the clinic (e.g Beam Therapeutics). They talked about the next frontier, epigenome editing.
**Five years ago, scientists created a single-celled synthetic organism that, with only 473 genes, was the simplest living cell ever known.** However, this bacteria-like organism behaved strangely when growing and dividing, producing cells with wildly different shapes and sizes.
Now, scientists have identified seven genes that can be added to tame the cells’ unruly nature, causing them to neatly divide into uniform orbs. This achievement, a collaboration between the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Center for Bits and Atoms, was described in the journal Cell.
Identifying these genes is an important step toward engineering synthetic cells that do useful things. Such cells could act as small factories that produce drugs, foods and fuels; detect disease and produce drugs to treat it while living inside the body; and function as tiny computers.
But to design and build a cell that does exactly what you want it to do, it helps to have a list of essential parts and know how they fit together.
“We want to understand the fundamental design rules of life,” said Elizabeth Strychalski, a co-author on the study and leader of NIST’s Cellular Engineering Group. “If this cell can help us to discover and understand those rules, then we’re off to the races.”
The recent eruptions in Iceland, vividly captured through dramatic drone footage, have drawn public attention to the immense power of volcanoes. Beautiful though they are, and mesmerizing to watch, they are also deadly.
History has recorded eruptions so spectacular they’ve never been forgotten. These include Krakatoa in 1883, whose explosion was heard around the world and Mount Tambora, which resulted in famines across the northern hemisphere.
But perhaps the most famous of all is the eruption of Vesuvius in Italy, in AD79, which sealed the Roman towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum beneath layers of ash.
Posted in media & arts, neuroscience
Summary: Interaction between auditory areas of the brain and the reward system drive pleasure when we listen to music.
Source: SfN
Communication between the brain’s auditory and reward circuits is the reason why humans find music rewarding, according to new research published in Journal of Neuroscience.
After decades of false starts, the federal approval of a new testing site off the coast of Oregon could give wave energy a much-needed jolt.
CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Cleveland Clinic and IBM have entered a 10-year partnership that will install a quantum computer — which can handle large amounts of data at lightning speeds — at the Clinic next year to speed up medical innovations.
The Discovery Accelerator, a joint Clinic-IBM center, will feature artificial intelligence, hybrid cloud data storage and quantum computing technologies. A hybrid cloud is a data storage technology that allows for faster storage and analysis of large amounts of data.
The partnership will allow Clinic researchers to use the advanced tech in its new Global Center for Pathogen Research and Human Health for research into genomics, population health, clinical applications, and chemical and drug discovery.
UVS images faint auroral rings that likely originate at edge of gas giant’s magnetosphere.
Researchers in Australia have discovered a gene responsible for a particularly aggressive type of hormone-sensitive breast cancer which has tragically low survival rates.
“Hopefully this will dramatically improve the poor outcomes these patients currently suffer,” said Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research epigeneticist Pilar Blancafort.
It’s hard to overstate just how different cancers can be from one another. Even under the umbrella of ‘breast cancer’ lie several types, such as hormone receptor sensitive, HER2 positive, or non-hormone sensitive breast cancer; within those groups, there are even more types that can respond to treatments differently from one another.
Sargramostim/GM-CSF is prescribed to boost white blood cells after cancer treatments or exposure to radiation. The protein stimulates the bone marrow to make more macrophages and granulocytes, specific types of white blood cells, and progenitor cells that repair blood vessels. These white blood cells circulate throughout the body and remove cells, bacteria and amyloid deposits and also repairing blood vessels.
The team carried out a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase II trial (NCT01409915) to test the safety and efficacy of Sargramostim treatment in participants with mild-moderate Alzheimer’s disease.
Study participants were either administered Sargramostim at the standard FDA dose of 250 μg/m2/day by subcutaneous injection, or saline for five days a week for three weeks. The study included 20 participants in the test and placebo group. Most participants in the study were recruited and treated at CU Anschutz with a few from the University of South Florida. The CU Anschutz researchers then conducted and studied multiple neurological, neuropsychological, cell, cytokine, Alzheimer’s pathology biomarkers and neuroimaging assessments.
The investigators found that short-term Sargramostim treatment increased innate and other immune cells, modulated cytokine measures, and was safe and well-tolerated by participants. They also found cognition memory improved by almost two points in the 30 point Mini-Mental State Exam. Brain amyloid, tangles, neurodegeneration, and measures of blood biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease, all improved toward normal.
