People with Down syndrome have an extra copy of the 21st chromosome where the production gene for the beta amyloid protein resides.
and Disassemble On Command Scientists have deciphered the genetic code that instructs proteins to either self-assemble
and is the first time that scientists have reported the ability to create biological structures that are programmed readily to assemble
biotechnology and medical treatments. The study appears September 21 in Nature Materials. he very simple design rules that we have discovered provide a powerful engineering tool for many biomedical
and biotechnology applications, said Ashutosh Chilkoti, chair of the Department of Biomedical engineering at Duke. e can now,
with a flick of a switch and a temperature jump, make a huge range of biological molecules that either assemble
or disassemble. The study investigated several triggers that can cause protein structures to assemble or break apart,
Because the laboratory identified the genetic sequences that encode this behavior they were able to point out a long list of human proteins that likely exhibit it. his paper shows the incredible richness of peptide sequences that already have this very simple switch,
and the biochemistry communities, said Quiroz. heyl be able to push the limits of what we know about these kinds of materials
and then go back to explore how biology is already making use of them. This work was funded by the National institutes of health and the National Science Foundation
#Targeting DNA MIT biological engineers have developed a modular system of proteins that can detect a particular DNA sequence in a cell
James Collins, the Termeer Professor of Medical Engineering and Science in MIT Department of Biological engineering and Institute of Medical Engineering and Science (IMES).
a professor of biotechnology and bioengineering at The swiss Federal Institute of technology in Zurich, described this experiment as an legant proof of conceptthat could lead to greatly improved treatments for viral infection. entinel designer cells engineered with the DNA sense
whether genetic material has been delivered successfully to cells that scientists are trying to genetically alter. Cells that did not receive the new gene could be induced to undergo cell death,
or to study the 3-D structure of normal chromosomes by testing whether two genes located far from each other on a chromosome fold in such a way that they end up next to each other,
the researchers say
#Researchers Discover Method to Measure Stiffness of Arteries in the Brain UCLA researchers have discovered a noninvasive method to measure vascular compliance,
. professor of developmental and stem cell biology and director of the Eli and Edyth Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCSF. ooking at these early stages in development is the best opportunity to understand our brain evolution.
They identified gene expression profiles typical of different types of neurons newborn neural progenitors and radial glia,
The gene activity profiles also provided several novel insights into the biology of outer radial glia.
the researchers found. his is a surprising new feature of their biology, Pollen said. hey generate their own stem cell niche.
First, it expands our knowledge of the biological role of Vitamin b12, which was understood already to help convert fat into energy,
said Catherine Drennan, a professor of chemistry and biology at MIT. The findings are detailed this week in the journal Nature.
of which exactly three are bound to the genetic material something Drennan said surprised her. hat the best part about science,
said Rowena Matthews, a professor emerita of biological chemistry at the University of Michigan, who has read the paper.
Corresponding author Zhen Gu, an assistant professor in the joint biomedical engineering program at North carolina State university and the University of North carolina Chapel hill, said there are two significant benefits in using platelet membranes to coat anticancer drugs.
lead author of the paper and a Ph d. student in the joint biomedical engineering program. The process works by isolating platelets from a blood sample
physiology and biotechnology and associate professor of engineering at Brown. e knew it was a relatively high-throughput system,
Hoffman-Kim lab collaborated with fellow biologists and bioengineers at Brown faculty colleagues Julie Kauer, Jeffrey Morgan
and the Center for Biomedical engineering, said she hopes the mini-brains might proliferate to many different labs,
A team from Oxford university's Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics led by Dr. Deborah Goberdhan worked with cancer doctor and researcher, Professor Adrian Harris,
the Wellcome Trust and the Biotechnology and Biological sciences Research Council will be published in the science journal Oncogene on 5 october 2015.
#Scientists Grow Old Brain cells from Patientsskin Cells Researchers from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have found a way to create aged brain cells from patientsskin samples for the first time.
said study author Rusty Gage, a professor in the Salk Institute Laboratory of Genetics. Researchers believe this technique will be very helpful to scientists studying age-related diseases
However, this technique did not guarantee cells with epigenetic signatures of older cells. This made it difficult to study the aging of the human brain
After, they compared the patterns of gene expression in the resulting neurons with cells taken from autopsied brains.
Different patterns of gene expression were recognizable using the direct conversion method, depending on the age of the person they were created from. he neurons we derived showed differences depending on donor age,
said Mertens. nd they actually show changes in gene expression that have been implicated previously in brain aging.
another form of muscle disease, exon skipping coaxes cells to kipover abnormal sections of the genetic code,
Limb Girdle Muscular dystrophy is caused by mutations in any of at least 15 different genes and affects 1 in 14,
Individuals with Limb Girdle Muscular dystrophy Type 2c have detrimental mutations in a key protein, gamma sarcoglycan,
the molecules that function to regulate gene expression that are necessary to make the treatment. e are thrilled to be able to continue development of this promising treatment technique,
Canada and The netherlands, including a team from Oxford Wellcome Trust Centre for Human genetics have carried out a series of experiments to assess the accuracy
sequencing the genome of a laboratory strain of E coli (Escherichia coli K-12). Working to a single, shared protocol, the consortium produced 20 data sets with enough results to be able to quantify the data yield, quality,
more expensive devices so-called standard short-read technologies other researchers have shown that theye of high enough quality to infer full-length genomes from scratch, for the E coli bacterium, Influenza virus,
and the Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast genomes. The researchers of this study point out, though, that there is work still to be done, to improve the reproducible delivery of molecules into the device and the clarity of the software it uses.
and Senior Analyst in Microbial Genomics at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human genetics. using the Minion in a project with secondary-school students in Oxford,
led by bioengineering professor Shyni Varghese at the University of California, San diego and Colin Jamora, a biologist at the IFOM-instem Joint Research Laboratory in India, published the findings in the Oct 15 issue of Nature Communications. ee identified a new component that hasn previously been studied as a factor contributing to fibrosis,
said Varghese. his discovery gives us a new understanding of how fibrosis forms and could help us develop therapeutic strategies that are more effective than existing ones. ibrosis is a condition in which tough,
They are very important in medicine most medications available now are small molecules as well as in biology as probes to uncover the inner workings of cells and tissues.
a graduate biologist specializing in neuropsychology, working with her Phd supervisor Axel Mecklinger and co-researcher Emma Bridger, is examining how power naps influence memory performance.
s Alectinib Shrank Tumors in Nearly Half of Patients With Specific Lung cancer Mutation Genentech Investigational Medicine Alectinib Shrank Tumors in Nearly Half of People With Specific Type of Lung cancer--Alectinib showed response rates of up to
Genentech is a leading biotechnology company that discovers, develops, manufactures and commercializes medicines to treat patients with serious or life-threatening medical conditions.
Of these, three proteins-LYVE1, REG1A and TFF1-were selected for closer examination, based on biological information and performance in statistical analysis.
said V. Reggie Edgerton, senior author of the research and a UCLA distinguished professor of integrative biology and physiology, neurobiology and neurosurgery.
and Bioengineering (grants U01eb15521 and R01eb007615), the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, the Walkabout Foundation and the Russian Scientific Fund. hese encouraging results provide continued evidence that spinal cord injury may no longer mean a lifelong sentence of paralysis
director of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering. he potential to offer a life-changing therapy to patients without requiring surgery would be a major advance;
It a wonderful example of the power that comes from combining advances in basic biological research with technological innovation.
and is director of the laboratory of movement physiology at Russia Pavlov Institute and a researcher in the UCLA department of integrative biology and physiology,
#Real-time Data For Cancer Therapy, MIT Study Biochemical sensor implanted at initial biopsy could allow doctors to better monitor
Now, researchers at MIT Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research are closing that information gap by developing a tiny biochemical sensor that can be implanted in cancerous tissue during the initial biopsy.
said senior author Christina Smolke, Phd, associate professor of bioengineering. Now, though the output is small it would take 4,
about one-third of the world supply has shifted to bioreactors. his is complicated the most chemical synthesis ever engineered in yeast,
said Stephanie Galanie, a Phd student in chemistry and a member of Smolke team. heye the action heroes of biology.
but even after the Stanford bioengineers added this enzyme into their microbial factory, the yeast didn create enough of the opioid compound.
with proper controls against abuse, allow bioreactors to be located where they are needed, she said. In addition to bioengineering yeast to convert sugar into hydrocodone,
The team's discovery, featured in the current issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, focuses on ERMANI, a protein that prevents the HIV virus from replicating."
MSU associate professor of microbiology and molecular genetics and co-author of the study.""We now know that ERMANI is an essential key,
Zheng's lab was the first to show that HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein biosynthesis can be inhibited specifically by ERMANI,
"said first author Mackenzie Lind, a doctoral candidate at the Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond."
explains Christian Kastrup, an assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular biology and the Michael Smith Laboratories at the University of British columbia.
biochemical engineers and emergency physicians to develop simple, gas-generating calcium carbonate micro-particles that can be applied in powder form to stop critical bleeding.
and we turn off the genetic information and the demographic and clinical information, and we see that with combined information,
This included data on genetic markers known as single-nucleotide polymorphisms; demographic data, such as subject age, gender, marital status, and education level;
and say that the original motivation was curiosity about how much of anatomy we could predict from genetics
borrowing tools from the developing field of optogenetics, which so far has been used mainly in brain science.
'Optogenetics uses genetic modification to alter cells so that they can be activated by light. Until now, it has mainly been used to activate individual cells
'A protein called channelrhodopsin was delivered to heart cells using gene therapy techniques so that they could be controlled by light.
However, as gene therapy moves into the clinic and with miniaturization of optical devices, use of this all-optical technology may become possible.
and is likely to bring dramatic advances in several biological fields s
#Powerful Plastic Microscope Brings Better Diagnostic Care for World's Rural Poor, Rice university Reveals You can learn a lot about the state of someone's immune system just by examining their blood under the microscope.
or sample preparation,"said Tomasz Tkaczyk, associate professor, Department of Bioengineering, Rice university, Houston, Texas."Many systems which work for point-of-care applications have quite expensive cartridges.
"Tkaczyk co-authors on this research included Rebecca Richards-Kortum, Fellow of The Optical Society and a professor in Rice's Department of Bioengineering.
'mini tumors'in a culture dish,"explains the study's corresponding author Senthil Muthuswamy, Phd, Director of the Cell biology Program in the Cancer Research Institute at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical center
and biology of the cancer tissue in the patient, "says Muthuswamy, who conducted this research while at the University of Toronto.
which we can screen for drugs and mutations, we can begin to understand why some patients respond to a treatment
The worldwide scientific consensus on the safety of genetic engineering is as solid as that which underpins human-caused global warming.
the gene-editing tool known as Crispr is on the brink of revolutionizing the field of genetics internationally.
The historical irony is that Europe once led in biotech: In 1983, Marc Van Montagu and Jeff Schell at the University of Ghent in Belgium introduced the world to modern plant genetic engineering.
Today, however, no rational young scientist interested in molecular techniques of crop breeding would choose a base in Continental Europe.
because biotech traits make them cheaper. Yet these same traits such as herbicide tolerance and insect resistance are barred now widely from domestic use.
In essence, Europe has chosen chemistry over biology: It will not be able to reduce fungicide applications by adopting genetically modified blight-resistant potatoes;
where anti-Western conspiracy theories about biotech companies have become part of the ruling party ideology. According to Tobaiwa Mudede, a crony of President Robert Mugabe, exual dysfunction is a huge problem in the U s a,
I was interrupted by an organic farmer who said he was determined never to grow biotech crops. His grounds?
Yet from drought tolerant maize to virus-resistant cassava, many biotech traits are being developed that could quickly improve the livelihoods of poorer African farmers.
#Gluten free wheat quest undertaken by farmers Kansas farmers are paying for genetic research to figure out exactly why some people struggle to digest wheat.
Horse poop yields antibiotic-laced mushrooms European biologists have discovered a bacteria-killing compound in common mushrooms that grow in horse dung.
and that is why we are using bioreactors which then provides controlled and sterile environment for copsin production."
lead author of the study published Monday in the journal BMC Evolutionary biology.""This is the first real big predator,
"said paper co-author Alexis Vallée-Belisle, a University of Montreal chemistry professor and the Canada Research Chair in bioengineering and bionanotechnology."
"Biochemistry professor Kevin Plaxco of the University of California at Santa barbara, who supervised Vallée-Belisle's previous postdoctoral work and who is himself an expert in electrochemical methods to detect antibodies,
which plants use solar energy to reduce carbon dioxide to acetate, a ubiquitous biochemical uilding block. In the second step, acetate is converted to more complex chemical precursors.
but our excuse for not knowing anything about is that the genome for S. ovata was sequenced only a couple of years ago.
The 2013 genome announcement launched right into the good stuff by noting that. ovata uses N-methyl compounds
said that he biological experiments do seem intriguing, and I wouldn dismiss them. source) Today, numerous teleportation breakthroughs have been made.
and biochemical building blocks it needs to grow during the first 11 weeks of pregnancy. During this time the embryo is too small and delicate for the umbilical cord to be attached
and potholed roads are numbered after a microbiologist developed a self-healing concrete that mends cracks using bacteria.
and diversification of the species.'For each robot child, there is a unique'genome'made up of a combination of between one and five different genes,
As in nature, evolution in robots takes place through'mutation, 'where components of one gene are modified
and'crossover',where a new genome is formed by merging genes from two individuals. In order for the'mother'to determine which'children'were the fittest
while mutation and crossover were introduced in the less successful children. The researchers found that design variations emerged
'One of the big questions in biology is how intelligence came about-we're using robotics to explore this mystery,
These adaptations allow biological organisms to survive in a wide variety of different environments-allowing animals to make the move from living in the water to living on land, for instance.
'But what we do have are a lot of enabling technologies that will help us import some aspects of biology to the engineering world.'
It uses microarrays of electrodes that can be implanted into the brains of volunteers to pick up tiny electrical pulses from the neurons.
#British scientists set to genetically modify embryos for the first time Genetic modification of human IVF embryos could be carried out for the first time in British history,
The geneticists have applied for a unique licence from the Government fertility watchdog to carry out the procedure using a gene manipulation technique called Crispr/Cas9.
If granted, it will be only the second occasion where the chromosome of human embryos have been modified.
Editing genetic codes to remove inherited disease has already been shown to work on mice. However most geneticists believe the procedure is not ready to be carried out on human embryos-after the Chinese research led to unwanted mutations in DNA.
The application for a licence to perform enome editingon human embryos has been made by Dr Kathy Niakan, of the Francis Crick Institute, London.
She emphasised that there would be o GM babiesbecause the team simply wants to understand the genetics of early embryonic development.
In 2008 the UK laws on IVF was changed to allow genetic manipulation of embryos that are less than two weeks old for research purposes,
of chromosomes passed on to future generations. But it continues to attract controversy as critics fear DNA alterations could create unforeseen health problems that would be passed down from generation to generation of the population.
but even among those there were numerous mutations which were intended not by the scientists. Many experts said the ultimate failure of the procedure underlines the case for caution with the technique.
'Dr David King, director of Human genetics Alert, a campaign group which opposes genetically-modified babies,
'Genome editing of embryos for use in treatment is illegal.''It has been permissible in research since 2009,
which produces biochemical signals suitable for transmission to neurons. In the tests pressure signals from the skin generated light pulses that activated a line of light-sensitive nerve cells.
#A new gene-editing breakthrough A FEW years ago, molecular biologists made a breakthrough. By borrowing an antiviral mechanism called CRISPR-Cas9 from bacteria,
they created an easy way to tweak the genetic information in a cell nucleus. This has implications for medicine and agriculture.
but by searching a published database of bacterial genetic sequences for promising-looking bits of DNA. This yielded two species that contain the new mechanism.
Despite the optimism of those who think the new techniques may calm qualms about genetic engineering,
Meredith Perry, who began tinkering with wireless charging as a paleobiology undergrad at the University of Pennsylvania,
borrowing tools from the developing field of optogenetics, which so far has been used mainly in brain science.
'Optogenetics uses genetic modification to alter cells so that they can be activated by light. Until now, it has mainly been used to activate individual cells
'A protein called channelrhodopsin was delivered to heart cells using gene therapy techniques so that they could be controlled by light.
However, as gene therapy moves into the clinic and with miniaturization of optical devices, use of this all-optical technology may become possible.
and then it must be degraded--the components are recycled then basically,"added Marth, also director of UCSB's Center for Nanomedicine and a professor in the campus's Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental biology."
The new work has broad implications for basic research into biological function at the cellular level as well as providing an efficient platform for new drug design
compared with biological molecules, which are often thousands of Daltons. A Dalton is roughly equal to the mass of a single nucleon--either a proton or neutron.
while yielding new insights into foundational issues in cellular biology.""We're very excited by this technology
He added that because many ALPS cases result from underlying gene mutations, future studies could also test
whether sirolimus can treat other ALPS-like disorders with mutations in similar genes.""More research remains to be done,
Loss-of-function mutations in the gene that codes for the TREX1 protein are linked to AGS and SLE in humans.
who also is an investigator in the Center for the Genetics of Host Defense and holder of the George L. Macgregor Distinguished Chair in Biomedical science.
About 60 percent of children and adults with T-cell leukemia harbor a Notch mutation. But drugs designed to block Notch have caused serious side effects such as severe diarrhea or skin cancers.
#A better way to read the genome UCONN researchers have sequenced the RNA of the most complicated gene known in nature,
They published their findings on Sept. 30 in Genome Biology. If your genome was a library
and each gene was a book, some genes would be straightforward reads -but some would be more like a"Choose Your Own Adventure"novel.
so that faculty and students across our campuses will successfully compete for grant dollars and launch bioscience ventures."
"Graveley will speak about the research at the Oxford Nanopore Minion Community Meeting at the New york Genome Center on Dec 3.
"This technology has amazing potential to transform how we study RNA biology and the type of information we can obtain,
that can be gleaned by combing the genome of a large collection of leukemia tissue samples. By analyzing genetic material in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and normal tissue from more than 500 patients,
researchers identified dozens of genetic abnormalities that may drive the disease, including two that had never before been linked to human cancer.
as its ever-churning genome spawns new groups and subgroups of tumor cells in a single patient.
similarly-treated group of patients provides the statistical power necessary to study the disease in all its genetic diversity-to draw connections between certain mutations and the aggressiveness of the disease,
and to chart the emergence of new mutations and their role in helping the disease advance,
"The growing sample size allows us to start engaging deeply with the complex interplay between different mutations found in any individual tumor,
which these mutations are acquired to allow the malignancy to thrive and overcome therapy.""Wu and her team collected tumor and normal tissue samples from 538 patients with CLL, 278 of
reading the genetic code letter by letter in sections of DNA that hold the code for making proteins.
and demonstrate specific mutations affect patients'response to therapy. These discoveries will form the basis for precision medicine of CLL and other tumor types
The combination-pairing a drug targeted against mutations in the BRAF gene with a second drug that targets another important signaling pathway-was discovered through one of the largest screens of cancer drug combinations conducted to date.
Findings from the study conducted at the MGH Cutaneous Biology Research center and Center for Molecular Therapeutics have been published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE."
Since around half the cases of malignant melanoma are driven by mutation in the BRAF gene, the team focused on combinations that might address intrinsic resistance to the BRAF inhibitor vemurafenib.
-which means that mutations and expression changes in each line's genes have been documented-we should be able to identify in advance patients who will benefit from specific combinations.
whose mutation leads to the aggressive growth of a common and deadly type of lung cancer in humans.
"Sometimes there are hundreds of mutations in the genes of a patient's tumors, but you don't know
or byproducts,"says senior author Inder Verma, professor of genetics and holder of Salk's Irwin and Joan Jacobs Chair in Exemplary Life science."
"Two gene mutations in particular are known to spur the growth of human tumors: KRAS and p53. Though both genes have been studied heavily,
The researchers narrowed in on the 4, 700 genes in the human genome related to cellular signaling--specifically,
"With a mutation in KRAS, a tumor forms in 300 days. But without Epha2, the KRAS mutation leads to tumors in half the time, 120 to 150 days,"says Verma,
who is also an American Cancer Society Professor of Molecular biology.""This molecule Epha2 is having a huge effect on restraining cancer growth
A 10-year national project called the Cancer Genome Atlas mapped the genomes of hundreds of patients for over 20 different cancers
and uncovered a number of related genetic mutations, though the role of these mutations has not been understood well in lung cancer (especially adenocarcinoma,
which makes up almost a quarter of all lung cancers). From the Cancer Genome Atlas data, the Salk team found that genetic alterations of Epha2 were detected in 54 out of 230 patients with adenocarcinoma.
The team also found, surprisingly, that the loss of Epha2 activated a pathway commonly associated with cancer (dubbed Hedgehog) that promotes tumor growth."
"Oddly, among human lung cancer patients with Epha2 mutations, around 8 percent of patients actually have high Epha2 expression.
In research that appeared today in Nature Genetics, a Weizmann Institute of Science team has revealed now one of the drivers of a particularly deadly subset of melanomas-one that is still seeing a rise in new cases.
Yardena Samuels and her team in the Institute's Molecular Cell biology Department were specifically searching for tumor suppressor genes in their database,
which consists of more than 500 melanoma genomes and exomes-protein-building sequences-making it the largest melanoma dataset to date.
Thus studying these genes is crucial in cancer biology.""The identification of targetable alterations in melanoma is need an urgent.
An in depth understanding of the functional effects of mutations in these genes is the first step toward revealing the underlying mechanism of melanoma growth,
Indeed, the melanoma genome sequences contained mutations in known tumor suppressor genes, but there was also a new gene that stood out in the team's search, named RASA2.
When they restored the production of the protein in melanoma cells that harbored RASA2 mutations,
However, loss or mutations in tumor suppressor genes like RASA2 also contribute to melanoma development;
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