#Laser probe knows if you ate your veggies Yale university rightoriginal Studyposted by Michael Greenwood-Yale on November 6 2014a diet full of fruits
and painlessly scan the skin of a subject s palm accurately measures changes in a biomarker known as skin carotenoids in response to an intervention involving a diet enriched in fruits and vegetables.
##There is great interest in the development of objective biomarkers of dietary intake especially biomarkers that can be measured noninvasively##says coauthor Susan T. Mayne professor of epidemiology at Yale university and a developer of the device.##
and fruit and vegetable intakeâ##this new paper demonstrates that the biomarker was sensitive to changes in fruit and vegetable intake in the intervention setting.##
and cost-effective way for arsenic removal says Bin Gao associate professor of agricultural and biological engineering at University of Florida.
and if some are susceptible could they harness the power of mouse genetics to figure out what genes make someone susceptible to the disease.
when infected with the virus. The team was able to show that a combination of genes were involved in producing a range of disease symptoms such that the genetic variation of the mice directly led to the variety of symptoms that the disease produced.
##A basic understanding of how our genetics influence susceptibility to viral infections and affect disease development is absolutely critical to creating much needed therapeutic interventions.##
and a research assistant professor of genetics in the UNC School of medicine says:####Public perception of Ebola infection typically focuses on the high mortality rate following hemorrhagic fever
##During an outbreak it is often difficult to assess the role that genetic variation plays in determining disease severity in people.
And if we re going to develop treatments then we need to know about this genetic variation.##
whose utility is difficult if not impossible to gauge says senior author Luis Amaral professor of chemical and biological engineering at the Mccormick School of engineering and Applied science and a professor of medicine at Feinberg.
and we now have increasing numbers of examples of where single gene mutations can produce the presence of both seizure and migraines in the same patients and families.
We have found within a single model of the biophysics of neuronal membranes that we can account for a broad range of experimental observations from spikes to seizures
While the initial intent was to better model the biophysics of the brain the connection
The National institutes of health and the Mathematical Biosciences Institute of the National Science Foundation supported the work.
##The problem with engineered tissue is that the mechanical properties are far from those of native tissue##says first author Eleftherios Makris a postdoctoral researcher biomedical engineering department of University of California Davis
##The ramifications of the work presented in the PNAS paper are tremendous with respect to tissue grafts used in surgery as well as new tissues fabricated using the principles of tissue engineering##says Kyriacos A. Athanasiou a professor of biomedical engineering and orthopedic surgery and chair
of the biomedical engineering department who oversaw the work. Grafts from cadavers such as cartilage tendons or ligamentsâ##notorious for losing their mechanical characteristics in storageâ##can now be treated with this new processes to make them stronger
##Not only did transplanted these cells survive in the mouse brain they showed functional properties similar to those of native cells##says senior author Andrew S. Yoo assistant professor of developmental biology at the Washington University School of medicine in St louis.##These cells
Telomeres are caps on the ends of chromosomes. Every time a cell divides the telomeres get a little shorter.
A team led by Selim Ã#nlã#a professor of biomedical engineering electrical and computer engineering and materials science and engineering at Boston University in collaboration with physics professor Bennett Goldberg showed the ability to pinpoint
Now after four years of refining the instrumentation with collaborators including John Connor a School of medicine associate professor of microbiology the team has demonstrated the simultaneous detection of multiple viruses in blood serum samplesâ##including viruses genetically modified to mimic the behavior of Ebola
and the Marburg virus The device identifies individual viruses based on size variations resulting from distinct genome lengths and other factors.
but none have been nearly as successful in detecting nanoscale viral particles in complex media##says Ã#nlã#referring to typical biological samples that may have a mix of viruses bacteria and proteins.##
##The shoebox-sized prototype diagnostic device known as the single particle interferometric reflectance imaging sensor (SP-IRIS) detects pathogens by shining light from multicolor LED sources on viral nanoparticles bound to the sensor surface by a coating
#Upgraded circuits built to run biocomputers ETH Zurich right Original Studyposted by Fabio Bergamin-ETH Zurich on October 27 2014.
Scientists have taken a key step toward realizing the goal of building programmable biocomputers that could detect
Biocomputers differ significantly from their counterparts made of silicon and bioengineers still face several major obstacles.
A silicon chip for example computes with ones and zeros current is either flowing or not and it can switch between these states in the blink of an eye.
In contrast biological signals are less clear: in addition to"signal"and"no signal"there is a plethora of intermediate states with"a little bit of signal".
"This is a particular disadvantage for biocomputer components that serve as sensors for specific biomolecules and transmit the relevant signal.
A team led by ETH Zurich Professor Yaakov Benenson has developed several new components for biological circuits.
These components are key building blocks for constructing precisely functioning and programmable biocomputers. The circuit controls the activity of individual sensor components using an internal timer.
The researchers recently published their work in the scientific journal Nature Chemical Biology. To understand the underlying technology it is important to know that these biological sensors consist of synthetic genes that are read by enzymes
and converted into RNA and proteins. In the controllable biosensor developed by doctoral candidate Nicolas Lapique the gene responsible for the output signal is not active in its basic state as it is installed in the wrong orientation in the circuit DNA.
"The input signals can be transmitted much more accurately than before thanks to the precise control over timing in the circuit"says Benenson professor of synthetic biology who supervised Lapique s work.
In biology there are a variety of different signals a host of different proteins or microrna molecules.
In order to combine biologic components in any desired sequence signal converters must be connected between them. Laura Prochazka also a doctoral candidate student under Benenson has developed a versatile signal converter.
This new biological platform will significantly increase the number of applications for biological circuits.""The ability to combine biological components at will in a modular plug-and-play fashion means that we now approach the stage
when the concept of programming as we know it from software engineering can be applied to biological computers.
Bioengineers will literally be able to program in future"says Benenson. Source: ETH Zurichyou are free to share this article under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noderivs 3. 0 Unported license e
#Ebola family is at least 16 million years old University at Buffalo rightoriginal Studyposted by Charlotte Hsu-Buffalo on October 26 2014the family of viruses to
##Filoviruses are far more ancient than previously thought##says lead researcher Derek Taylor professor of biological sciences at University at Buffalo.##
Taylor and coauthor Jeremy Bruenn professor of biological sciences research viral##fossil genes##â##chunks of genetic material that animals and other organisms acquire from viruses during infection.
One fossil gene called VP35 appeared in the same spot in the genomes of four different rodent species:
##These rodents have billions of base pairs in their genomes so the odds of a viral gene inserting itself at the same position in different species at different times are very small##Taylor says.##
##The genetic material in the VP35 fossil was more closely related to Ebola than to Marburg indicating that the lines leading to these viruses had begun already diverging from each other in the Miocene.
The work was based in the lab of Jane Grande-Allen of Rice s bioengineering department.
Her group studies the biomechanics of heart valves particularly their calcification or hardening a condition that lessens blood flow to the heart.
The National institutes of health the Rice Century Scholars Program and a Hamill Innovation Award by the Rice university Institute of Biosciences and Bioengineering supported the research.
Boosting NT3 production through gene therapy in humans could also be an option he says but a drug-based approach would be simpler
and become small and weak colony variantssays Eric Skaar professor of pathology microbiology and immunology at Vanderbilt University.
Topping the list was p53 a protein often called the##guardian of the genome ##because it causes damaged out of control cells to commit suicide
The discovery of a aternal age effectfor mitochondrial diseases could be a valuable tool for genetic counseling, report researchers.
Their findings could be used to predict the accumulation of MITOCHONDRIAL DNA mutations in maternal egg cells, as well as the transmission of these mutations to children.
These mutations cause more than 200 diseases and contribute to others such as diabetes, cancer, Parkinson disease,
and Alzheimer disease. The study found greater rates of the MITOCHONDRIAL DNA variants in children born to older mothers,
professor of biology at Penn State and one of the study primary investigators. hey affect organs that require a lot of energy,
whether maternal age is important in the accumulation of MITOCHONDRIAL DNA (mtdna) mutations, both in the mother and in the child as a result of transmission.
Studying healthy individuals gave the researchers a baseline for future studies of disease-causing mutations.
they found more mutations in blood and cheek cells in the older mothers in the study.
But finding greater rates of mutations in children born to the older mothers did come as a surprise.
The researchers believe a similar mutation process is occurring both in the cells of the mothersbodies and in their germ lines.
But the gene is prone to mutations and those mutations are linked to lots of cancersin fact
when researchers from the University of Iowa conducted a literature review they found that PTEN mutations show up in 40 percent of breast cancer cases up to 70 percent of prostate cancer cases and nearly half of all leukemia cases.
If you look at tumors across the boardâ and that doesn t mean just breast cancer or prostate cancerâ you find that PTEN is the most generally mutated gene.
And when you mutate PTEN in mice you cause tumors says David Soll biology professor
While it s unknown how to prevent PTEN mutations Soll and colleagues became interested in finding out
They also found a close relative of ptena in the amoeba which they called lpten that performs the same functions of ptena but to a lesser degreeâ a possible bench player in the amoeba s genome.
Once a patient is diagnosed with cancer caused by a PTEN mutation the patient could take the drug over-express the PTEN bench player gene
The majority of patients who succumb to cancer fall prey to metastatic forms of the disease says Jennifer Cochran an associate professor of bioengineering at Stanford university.
Axl proteins stand like bristles on the surface of cancer cells poised to receive biochemical signals from Gas6 proteins.
A paper published in the journal Nature Chemical Biology details the results. This is a very promising therapy that appears to be effective and nontoxic in preclinical experiments Giaccia says.
Giaccia and Cochran are scientific advisors to Ruga Corp. a biotech startup in Palo alto that has licensed this technology from Stanford.
infect cells by ejecting their genetic information into a host cell. But how does the usually rigid DNA packaged inside a virus shell flow from the virus to the cell?
In two separate studies Carnegie mellon University biophysicist Alex Evilevitch has shown that in viruses that infect both bacteria
The findings published in Nature Chemical Biology and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) provide a promising new target for antiviral therapies.
The repulsive forces formed by the layered strands of genetic material exert a large amount of pressure on the capsid
In the HSV-1 study which was published in Nature Chemical Biology Evilevitch set out to see what physical conditions lead to successful viral infection.
The Swedish Research Council the National Science Foundation the National institutes of health and the Mcwilliams Fellowship at Carnegie mellon supported the research published in Nature Chemical Biology.
and some smart bioinformatics allows us to detect and characterize the bacteria that cause TB in a matter of a day
while also giving us key insights into their genome sequences and the lineages that they belong to.
Last year they used metagenomics to obtain an outbreak strain genome from stool samples from an E coli outbreak
and to recover TB genomes from Hungarian mummies approximately 200 years-old. Earlier this year they recovered the genome of Brucella melitensis
which causes an infection called brucellosis in livestock and humans from a 700-year-old skeleton from Sardinia Italy.
The team was able to separate physical and biochemical effects on platelet behavior by forming polymer gels with different degrees of stiffness
First author Yongzhi Qiu and colleagues were also able to dissect platelet biochemistry by allowing the platelets to adhere
and then spread on the various gels under the influence of drugs that interfere with different biochemical steps.
because different biochemical pathways are involved in each step##Lam says.####Our data show that mechanosensing can occur
Lam is affiliated also with the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University.
Professor Benoit Ladoux co-principal investigator at the Mechanobiology Institute at the National University of Singapore and colleagues created a technique to measure the cell-generated nanoscale forces behind wound healing.
##Fibrin production is on the back end of the clotting process so we feel that it is a safer place to try to interact with it##says Tom Barker associate professor of biomedical engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University and a co-corresponding author of the paper.##
##In addition to providing new treatment options the particles could also cut costs by reducing costly natural transfusions says Lam assistant professor in the biomedical engineering department at Georgia Tech and Emory University.
and that others influence brain development in young mice says Argonne National Laboratory microbiologist Jack Gilbert who led the study.
As part of the research Zaveri who earned her doctorate in biomedical engineering at the University of Florida conducted extensive sensory-perception testing to assess acceptability of the suppositories among women.
But she says it seemed natural given her collaboration on the study with Gregory Ziegler who has expertise in biopolymers such as carrageenan
not only but also that real skin regeneration is occurring##says Zhaoli Sun director of transplant biology research at Johns Hopkins School of medicine.##
Johns hopkins university School of medicine s Transplant Biology Research center and a gift from the family of Francesc Gines supported the research.
##Our study has two crucial applicable findings##says lead author Charles A. Baillie an internal medicine specialist and fellow in the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Penn Medicine.##
The findings will be presented at the International Joint Conference on Biometrics on Oct 2. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funded the project.
and progress new treatments to the clinic at a much quicker rate a key goal of co-authors Martin Donnelley and David Parsons of the CF Gene therapy group at the Women s and Children s Hospital and the University
##Coauthor Christopher Basler professor of microbiology at Mount sinai Hospital was the first to show that VP24
The group includes researchers at the Icahn School of medicine at Mount sinai Washington University the University of Texas Southwestern Medical center Howard University and Microbiotix Inc. a Massachussetts biopharmaceutical company Source:
Lead researcher Peter Currie a professor at Monash University says that understanding how HSCS self-renew to replenish blood cells is a##Holy grail##of stem cell biology.##
However in infants born prematurely researchers at Washington University School of medicine in St louis have found that the population of bacteria in babies gastrointestinal tracts may depend more on their biological makeup and gestational age at birth than on environmental factors.
Collaborators at the Genome Institute at Washington University School of medicine used DNA sequencing to tally the bacterial populations in 922 stool samples from 58 premature infants.
who also holds an appointment in the cell and developmental biology department. Galectin-1 may help other types of tumor evade the innate NK cells, too.
Hong says. e could also label different neuron types in the brain with biomarkers and use this to monitor how each neuron performs.
#Mutated gene causes heart defect in Newfoundland dogs Researchers have discovered a gene mutation that causes a deadly heart defect in Newfoundland dogs.
and avoid breeding dogs that harbor this mutation, thus gradually eliminating the disease from the Newfoundland breed,
which revealed that the mutation associated with SAS resides in a gene called PICALM. This same gene mutation has been associated with the formation of plaque-like lesions in the brains of people with Alzheimer disease,
Stern says. The researchers also conducted a pedigree analysis in a family of 45 Newfoundland dogs to examine the inheritance pattern of the SAS mutation.
This analysis confirmed that the inheritance follows a certain pattern, by which only one parent needs to be carrying the gene mutation in order for the offspring to inherit the disease,
and that not all dogs carrying the mutation will develop the disease. SAS shows up in the dog heart as abnormal tissue growthften forming a ridge or ring below the aortic valve,
which restricts blood flow from the heart into the aorta. Diagnosing and treating SAS, however, is particularly challenging
whether a dog carries the PICALM mutation are now available through North carolina State university College of Veterinary medicine
and will soon be available through the Veterinary Genetics Laboratory at the UC Davis School of veterinary medicine.
which appears online in the journal Human genetics r
#Wearable vapor sensor can smell diabetes A wearable vapor sensor could monitor diseases such as diabetes
and hypertension by picking up airborne biomarkers exhaled or released through the skin. ach of these diseases has its own biomarkers that the device would be able to sense,
says Sherman Fan, professor of biomedical engineering at University of Michigan. or diabetes, acetone is a marker, for example.
Other biomarkers it could detect include nitric oxide and oxygen, abnormal levels of which can point to conditions such as high blood pressure, anemia,
or lung disease. Fan is developing the sensor with Zhaohui Zhong an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering,
These nanoelectronic graphene vapor sensors can be embedded completely in a microgas chromatography system which is the gold standard for vapor analysis,
The entire microgas chromatography system can be integrated on a single chip with low power operation, and embedded in a badge-sized device that can be worn on the body to provide noninvasive and continuous monitoring of specific health conditions. e believe this device can be extremely beneficial to society,
an assistant professor of biology at the California Institute of technology (Caltech) and the principal investigator whose team has developed the new techniques,
Gradinaru also leads Caltech Beckman Institute BIONIC center for optogenetics and tissue clearing and plans to offer training sessions to researchers interested in learning how to use PACT
and PARS in their own labs. think these new techniques are very practical for many fields in biology,
#Fabric dissolves to deliver HIV drug faster Bioengineers have developed a new way to protect women from HIV medicated,
says Cameron Ball, a doctoral student in bioengineering at the University of Washington. FAST DELIVERY The team
led by bioengineering assistant professor Kim Woodrow, previously found that electrically spun cloth could be dissolved to release drugs.
associate professor of chemical and biological engineering at the New york University School of engineering. ee known that phosphotriesterases had the power to detoxify these nerve agents,
Researchers have identified certain gene mutations that are increased indicative of an likelihood of thyroid cancer, and the new molecular testing panel can be run using the sample collected through the initial,
When the panel shows these mutations, a total thyroidectomy is advised. Yip and her colleagues followed 671 patients with suspicious thyroid nodes who received biopsies.
and then requiring a second operation. ee currently refining the panel by adding tests for more genetic mutations,
professor of medicine and of molecular microbiology and a Howard hughes medical institute investigator at Washington University studies how malaria affects red blood cells.
HSP101 may also give the proteins a biochemical kick that pushes them through the pore.
is that the mutation only affects its response to alcohol. The BK channel typically regulates many important functions
The alcohol-insensitive mutation does not disrupt these functions at all. e got pretty lucky and found a way to make the channel insensitive to alcohol without affecting its normal function,
which is based on a mutation discovered by lead author and graduate student Scott Davis, could be inserted into mice.
says Robert Koenekoop, professor of human genetics, pediatric surgery, and ophthalmology at Mcgill University. t is giving hope to many patients who suffer from this devastating retinal degeneration.
Their blindness was caused by either mutations in the genes RPE65 or LRAT, leading to a serious defect in the retinoid cycle.
Patients with RPE65 or LRAT mutations cannot produce this crucial molecule thus the retinal cells cannot create vision,
and slowly die. y giving patients with RPE65 or LRAT mutations an oral retinoid intermediate (QLT091001) most patientsvision improved rapidly.
and Molecular Biosciences. e have discovered genes that make up the cell wall of the strep bacteria, which is composed mainly of the group A carbohydrate or GAC,
says Craig Meyers, professor of microbiology and immunology at the Penn State College of Medicine.
They report their results in Cancer Biology & Therapy. The AAV2 killed 100 percent of the cells in the laboratory by activating proteins called caspases,
Other researchers on this project contributed from Penn State, PPD Vaccines and Biologics Laboratory, Feinstein Institute for Medical Research,
The microbe contains interesting genetic sequences, but it has proven challenging to culture in the lab. Researchers used the device, called Slipchip,
He and his colleagues began by looking for bacterial species that contained a set of specific genetic sequences.
The microbes carrying these genetic sequences are found abundantly in and on the human body, but have been difficult to grow in the lab. To grow these elusive microbes,
The method of creating two halves in each well in the Slipchip will be outlined in papers slated to be published in an upcoming issue of the journal Integrative biology. ost Wantedlist To validate the new methodology,
Ismagilov and his colleagues obtained enough genetic material to sequence a high-quality draft genome of the organism.
says Karl Deisseroth, professor of bioengineering and of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford university. The first problem was that laboratories were not set up to reliably carry out the CLARITY process.
When he first introduced optogenetics, which allows scientists to control individual nerves using light, a similar proportion of labs were not initially set up to easily implement the new technology,
This is what produces the colorful cellular images that are so common in biology research. Using CLARITY,
modeled after his optogenetics courses, to help disseminate the techniques. The work is funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), National institute of mental health, National Science Foundation, the National Instituteon Drug abuse, the Simons Foundation,
and linking the data to the residential addresses of approximately 1000 participants in the Northern California-based Childhood Risk of Autism from Genetics and the Environment (CHARGE) Study.
Schatz says. his study is a step in that direction, toward a biological cure. The patients in Haller study will be followed for three to five years to see
The results appear in PLOS Genetics. It is possible that low-nutrient diets set off the same pathways in us to put our cells in a quiescent state says David R. Sherwood an associate professor of biology at Duke university.
The trick is to find a way to pharmacologically manipulate this process so that we can get the antiaging benefits without the pain of diet restriction.
says principal investigator and senior author Edward Damiano of the Boston University department of biomedical engineering. here no current standard-of-care therapy that could match the results we saw. ne of the key virtues of this device is its ability to start controlling the blood sugar instantly,
adds co-lead author Firas El-Khatib, also of the department of biomedical engineering. Co-lead author Steven Russell of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH
explains Damiano, associate professor of biomedical engineering at BU. And even though the dosage needs of adults are more predictable,
explains Chay Kuo, an assistant professor of cell biology, neurobiology and pediatrics at Duke university. In a study with mice, his team found a previously unknown population of neurons within the subventricular zone (SVZ) neurogenic niche of the adult brain, adjacent to the striatum.
With optogenetic tools that allowed the team to tune the firing frequency of these Chat+neurons up and down with laser light,
a researcher in in the molecular physiology and biological physics department at University of Virginia. ut then it escapes from that internal vesicle into the body of the cell,
Tamm collaborated with Judith M. White, a researcher in the cell biology department, who has developed virus-like particles that act like Ebola,
Peter M. Kasson of the molecular physiology and biological physics department then created a computer model of the process.
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