#Generating broadband terahertz radiation from a microplasma in air Researchers have shown that a laser-generated microplasma in air can be used as a source of broadband terahertz radiation.
Prof Sader says this technique revolutionises molecule detection for biologists, or indeed anyone who wants to measure extremely small objects.
and inertial imaging could prove very useful for biological scientists.""You can imagine situations where you don't know exactly what you are looking for,
The paper, to be published online By nature Genetics on April 27, also demonstrates how computer science and statistical methods may combine to aggregate
the team collected and integrated data from about 38,000 genome-wide experiments (from an estimated 14,000 publications.
Then, combining that tissue-specific functional signal with the relevant disease's DNA-based genome-wide association studies (GWAS),
thus integrates quantitative genetics with functional genomics to increase the power of GWAS and identify genes underlying complex human diseases.
"Olga and her collaborators have demonstrated that extraordinary results can be achieved by merging deep biological insight with state-of-the-art computational methods,
"A key challenge in human biology is that genetic circuits in human tissues and cell types are very difficult to study experimentally,
nor can the function of genes be identified by genome-scale experiments. Yet we need to understand how proteins interact in these cells
The team created an interactive server, the Genome-scale Integrated Analysis of Networks in Tissues, or GIANT.
and Casey S. Greene, assistant professor of genetics at Dartmouth College, who was a postdoctoral fellow with the Troyanskaya group from 2009 to 2012.
and I believe we are still at the early stages of developing new ways to think about biological networks and their control,
The findings, described in the April 28 issue of the journal PLOS Biology, could lead to new approaches for helping people learn more efficiently.
which are problematic for conventional gel electrophoresis, a frequently used technique in biochemistry and molecular biology to size DNA and RNA fragments.
and insights for developing additional therapeutic strategies in the future,"explained Ed Seto, Ph d.,senior member of the Cancer Biology and Evolution Program at Moffitt t
and do not efficiently activate the biochemical cascade of events that ultimately lead to DNA repair.
Three atom-thick layers of molybdenum disulfide were cooked up in the lab of Jiwoong Park, associate professor of chemistry and chemical biology and member of the Kavli Institute at Cornell for Nanoscale Science.
#Scientists dramatically improve method for finding common genetic alterations in tumors St jude Children's Research Hospital scientists have developed a significantly better computer tool for finding genetic alterations that play an important role in many cancers
but were difficult to identify with whole-genome sequencing. The findings appear in the scientific journal Nature Methods.
St jude researchers created CONSERTING to improve identification of copy number alterations (CNAS) in the billions of pieces of genetic information generated by next-generation
whole-genome sequencing techniques. CNAS involve the gain or loss of DNA segments. The alterations affect just a few
and sensitivity than other techniques, including four published algorithms used to recognize CNA in whole-genome sequencing data.
The comparison involved the normal and tumor genomes from 43 children and adults with brain tumors, leukemia, melanoma and the pediatric eye tumor retinoblastoma."
whole-genome sequencing to better understand the genetic landscape of cancer genomes and lay the foundation for the next era of cancer therapy,
"said corresponding author Jinghui Zhang, Ph d.,a member of the St jude Department of Computational biology.""In this study of the tumor and normal genomes of 43 patients, CONSERTING identified copy number alterations in children with 100 times greater precision and 10 times greater precision in adults."
"First author Xiang Chen, Ph d.,a St jude senior research scientist, added:""CONSERTING helped us identify alterations that other algorithms missed,
"Using CONSERTING, researchers discovered genetic alterations driving pediatric leukemia, the pediatric brain tumor low-grade glioma, the adult brain tumor glioblastoma and retinoblastoma.
sometimes involving multiple chromosomes that swap pieces when they break and reassemble. St jude has made CONSERTING available for free to researchers worldwide.
scientists can upload data for analysis. Work on CONSERTING began in 2010 shortly after the St jude Children's Research Hospital--Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project was launched.
The Pediatric Cancer Genome Project used next-generation, whole-genome sequencing to study some of the most aggressive and least understood childhood cancers.
whole-genome sequencing data for the Pediatric Cancer Genome Project. The project includes the normal and cancer genomes of 700 pediatric cancer patients with 21 different cancer subtypes.
CONSERTING combines a method of data analysis called regression tree, which is a machine learning algorithm, with next-generation,
whole-genome sequencing. Machine learning capitalizes on advances in computing to design algorithms that repeatedly and rapidly analyze large,
Next-generation, whole-genome sequencing involves breaking the human genome into about 1 billion pieces that are copied
and reassembled using the normal genome as a template. CONSERTING software compensates for gaps and variations in sequencing data.
and identify their origins in the genome e
#Cellular bubbles used to deliver Parkinson's meds directly to brain And what's the best way of getting her drug-packed exosomes to the brain?
"Exosomes are engineered by nature to be the perfect delivery vehicles for proteins and genetic material, "Batrakova says."
Biopharmaceuticals, or biologics, are produced proteins by living cells. Proteins such as catalase are tens of thousands of times larger than the small molecules that make up traditional drugs.
because you are directly targeting the underlying biochemical defect in obesity, "Durante said.""L-arginine is a natural amino acid commonly found in red meat, poultry, fish and dairy products.
but it also exerts other biological effects, and it can be converted by arginase to alternative compounds that counteract its benefits to the circulation."
Published online ahead of print in the leading microbiology journal Molecular Microbiology, the researchers have identified a building block common to many types of bacterial'virulence factors'(the bacterial proteins
"says first author Matthew Doyle, Phd candidate in the School of Biological sciences.""Our results are very exciting#we are not just talking about one molecule in one particular pathogen but rather a building block
"The discovery will also be useful in the biotechnology field for the development of a variety of marketable products
and processes which rely on coupling biological molecules to cell surfaces. The latest findings follow more than a decade of work led by Associate professor Renato Morona looking at how bacteria cause disease.
"said Daniel Fletcher, associate chair and professor of bioengineering, whose UC Berkeley lab pioneered the Cellscope."
or biofilms, already growing on the bone fragments. They demonstrated this by first allowing bacteria to colonize the bone
and CD4+T lymphocytes. The assays for pathogens and cells were used as proof of concept to demonstrate the utility of several new detection and sensing technologies.
CD4+T lymphocyte capture and detectionaccurate CD4+T cell count is essential for HIV-1 diagnosis and treatment monitoring.
World health organization guidelines recommend antiretroviral therapy for individuals with a CD4+T cell count of less than 500 cells/ml.
Conventional CD4+T cell counting methods require an expensive flow cytometer a skilled operator, and costly reagents.
A disposable and flexible biosensing platform for efficient counting of CD4+T cells has potential to address some of these global health challenges in the point-of-care setting.
inexpensive assay for CD4+T cell count involved two novel technologies: a polyester film with microfluidic channels to capture the T cells,
The microfluidic channels were coated with an antibody that captures the CD4+T cells. A single drop of whole blood from a fingerprick was applied to the polyester film,
The shadow of the CD4+T cells that adhere to the channels can then be visualized on the polyester film.
Overall, the platform allows efficient CD4+T cell counting using fingerprick volume of unprocessed whole blood samples on disposable film at the point-of-care.
"says senior study author Mathew Garnett, a geneticist at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute.""We believe that these organoids are an important new tool in the arsenal of cancer biologists
and may ultimately improve our ability to develop more effective cancer treatments.""To study the causes of cancer
As a result, it has been challenging to predict the drug sensitivity of individual patients based on their unique spectrum of genetic mutations.
whether these cultures could potentially bridge the gap between cancer genetics and patient outcomes. In the new study, the researchers grew 22 organoids derived from tumor tissue from 20 patients with colorectal cancer
The genetic mutations in the organoid cultures closely matched those in the corresponding tumor biopsies and agreed well with previous large-scale analyses of colorectal cancer mutations.
In validation of the approach, the researchers identified previously reported associations between specific mutations and resistance to particular drugs.
indicating that the subset of cancer patients with RNF43 mutations would strongly benefit from a drug that inhibits a protein called porcupine."
#Urine test for early stage pancreatic cancer possible after biomarker discovery A team at Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, has shown that the three-protein'signature'can both identify the most common
based on biological information and performance in statistical analysis. Patients with pancreatic cancer were found to have increased levels of each of the three proteins
while to secure proof of principle funding in 2008 to look at biomarkers in urine, but it's been worth the wait for these results.
This is a biomarker panel with good specificity and sensitivity and we're hopeful that a simple,
if the 3-biomarker signature is present during the latency period--the time between the genetic changes that will cause the cancer to develop and the clinical presentation."
and developed for use in a standard cell culturing facility without the need for expensive bioprinting equipment.
to realise a biological outcome, "Professor Wallace said.""This paves the way for the use of more sophisticated printers to create structures with much finer resolution."
and optogenetics, which insert proteins into the surviving retinal cells to make them light-sensitive. But the devices have a major shortcoming
"There are similar issues with optogenetics, Boynton said.""The optogenetic proteins that are currently available produce sluggish responses over time,
and they are limited in the number of different cell types that they can separately target,
In view of the presence of MOCOS in many organs and its involvement in numerous biological and neurobiological functions
while revealing new clinical and biological disturbances in these patients. This work therefore opens new pathways for research
"Differentiated hepatocytes have amplified their chromosomes, "he explains. That is, the cells have more than the usual two copies of every chromosome."
"This enables the cells to make more proteins, but it really compromises their ability to divide."
the labeled cells had only two copies of each chromosome. By following the descendents of the stem cells for up to a year,
taking on the specialized features and amplified genomes of mature hepatocytes.""This fits the definition of stem cells,
#Molecular cell cycle clock discovered that controls stem cell potency Singapore scientists from A*STAR's Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) have, for the first time,
"said lead author of the research, Dr Kevin Gonzales, Post Doctoral Fellow at the Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology at GIS."
"Co-lead author Research Fellow Dr Liang Hongqing at GIS'Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology added,
and atomic nuclei within molecules that take place in less than a tenth of a trillionth of a second--information that will benefit groundbreaking research in materials science, chemistry and biology.
and other biological tissues because of needle buckling or fracturing on penetration. A research team in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Information Engineering
which dissolves upon contact with biological tissue. Silk fibroin is used as the dissolvable film because it has high biocompatibility,
and is known a biomaterial used in implantable devices.""We investigated preparation of a silk base scaffold for a microneedle, quantitatively analyzed needle stiffness,
including recording/stimulation electrodes, glass pipettes, and optogenetic fibers.""He added:""This has the potential to reduce invasiveness drastically
"The study links a family of enzymes--molecules that act as biological catalysts--known as polyketide synthases (PKS) directly to a complex series of chemical reactions that ultimately add sulfur to leinamycin, a member of the polyketide family of natural products."
cystic fibrosis and many others are treated permanently through the science of genome engineering. Thanks to his latest work, Hubbard is bringing that future closer to reality.
Hubbard's research, published in the journal Nature Methods, demonstrates a new technology advancing the field of genome engineering.
and then"edit"them, replacing the damaged genetic code with healthy DNA.""There is a trend in the scientific community to develop therapeutics in a more rational fashion,
'Your disease is caused by a mutation in gene X, and we're going to correct this mutation to treat it'."
'"In theory, genome engineering will eventually allow us to permanently cure genetic diseases by editing the specific faulty gene (s)."Genome engineering involves the targeted, specific modification of an organism's genetic information.
Much like how a computer programmer edits computer code, scientists could one day replace a person's broken
"Currently much of the research in the field of genome engineering is focused on treating monogenic diseases--diseases that involve a single gene--as they're much easier for researchers to successfully target.
He hopes his current work will play a role in helping genome engineering reach its full potential
000 group A streptococcus genomes collected over decades. Researchers from Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston Methodist Hospital, institutions in Finland and Iceland,
scientists are able to sequence the entire genome of the bacteria, just as is done in humans.
and its relatively small genome, which allows the genome of thousands of strains to be sequenced completely relatively rapidly.
The researchers'original hypothesis, which turned out to be correct, was that changes in the genetic make-up of the GAS pathogen had underpinned new epidemics.
the collaborating international team sequenced the genome of thousands of disease-causing strains, precisely defining every base pair mutation in the strains."
"The surprise was that the changes involved alterations in the genes encoding two potent toxins that contribute to human infections,
Their in-vitro experiments uncovered a multi-stage biochemical process in which protein molecules are dissolved from the aggregates.
Protein aggregates can also occur through changes in the protein structure due to mutation or chemical or environmental stresses.
#Bringing the Tasmanian devil back to mainland Australia would restore ecosystem health Reintroducing Tasmanian devils to the mainland could improve biodiversity by limiting the spread of red foxes
"says Phd candidate Daniel Hunter from the UNSW School of Biological, Earth and Environmental sciences.""The devil is the obvious answer.
"Hunter is the lead author of a study published in the journal Biological Conservation, which highlights the potential benefits of using the devil as a replacement apex predator.
and Joseph Wu, MD, Phd, professor of cardiovascular medicine and of radiology, teamed up with a group of genome-sequencing specialists to develop the new technique:
Wilson and Wu said that the gold standard of genome sequencing involves thousands of genes, costs $1,
it makes no sense to sequence the entire 22,000-gene genome, since fewer than 200 genes are known to affect the heart,
Moreover, whole-genome sequencing typically contains mistakes, so key mutations might be missed. To meet this challenge
Wilson and Wu's team designed a streamlined assay, or test, that looks at just the 88 genes known to carry mutations that cause heart problems.
Materials for the new test cost about $100, and results are back within three days.
This approach--surveying a small subgroup of relevant genes instead of the whole genome--is used already to test for other diseases, such as cystic fibrosis.
or clpps, were developed at the Stanford Genome Technology Center. These simple probes accurately target specific parts of the genome
and can be made in large batches at low cost. Because of their simplicity, they are customized easily to target different genes.
The heart disease clpp assay was cheaper, faster and more accurate than whole-genome assays. The Stanford team next plans to test the technique on a group of 200-300 patients.
"Wilson and Wu said the genome technology group has been working on the clpp technique for a long time.""Our goal is to make genetic testing more accessible to more people,
"Wilson said.""We want to democratize it. For now, we're going to release it free of charge: Researchers can get samples of the assay
In some ways it's making genetic testing open source.""The development of the new test is an example of Stanford Medicine's focus on precision health,
Chemistry & Biology. Making Leptin Last Longer Lerner's laboratory helped pioneer techniques for generating billions of different antibodies
the team edited the genetic code of a standard human antibody to replace one of its target-grappling elements--a structure that normally would bind to a virus, for example--with the protein leptin.
the Phd in biochemistry and molecular biology Gabriel Cabrera Betanzos designed a microencapsulation process from pomegranate juice
#Plant growth requires teamwork between two hormones The scientists used plants with mutations, which impaired the activity of brassinosteroids.
therefore necessary for the production of gibberellins--a mechanism that is highly relevant to the growth and development of plants,"says Poppenberger, Professor for the Biotechnology of Horticultural Crops.
Transcription factors are proteins that regulate gene expression. Once activated by brassinosteroids, they initiate the production of gibberellin."
"So using this method we can look at interactions between four biological components inside a cell in three-dimension and at very high resolution of about 10 nanometers,
"The applications are mostly in fundamental research and cell biology at this point, but hopefully it will lead to medical applications.
The cell nucleus is a ball of chromosomes wrapped in a protective fatty membrane. In this study, the researchers discovered that treating astrocytes with TGF-beta freed a small piece of the p75ntr protein to bind to nucleoporins,
At the same time, their CD4 T-cell counts increased and their rate of viral suppression increased by about one half.
In contrast, both the CD4 cell counts and the rate of suppression fell for those in the control arm."
such as interleukin 2, can"paralyze"CD4 T cells, immune components that help orchestrate the body's response to pathogens and other invaders.
it basically paralyzes CD4 T cells.""To be activated, T cells must first recognize an antigen, receive appropriate costimulatory signals,
The researchers believe this CD4 paralysis mechanism could play a role in preventing autoimmunity, a hypothesis they supported by testing immunotherapy in a multiple sclerosis model.
By shutting down CD4 T cells, immune stimulation prevented an autoimmune response. This offers the potential to paralyze the immune system to prevent autoimmunity
CD4 paralysis may also be coopted by pathogens, such as HIV, which could use this chronic inflammation response to disable the immune system."
"This really highlights the importance of CD4 T cells, "said Murphy.""The fact that they're regulated and suppressed means they are definitely the orchestrators we need to take into account.
The virus has been telling us CD4 T cells are critical because that's what it attacks."
"Combining the new dynamical biomarkers we created a test which, based on the number of subjects tested to date,
#New embryo image processing technology could assist in IVF implantation success rates A collaboration between biologists
This breakthrough has important implications for IVF (in vitro fertilisation) treatments and pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD.
By altering the tension of the cells using lasers or genetic manipulations, researchers could change which cells move inside the embryo.
or pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) first organise their cells.""If in the future, we can combine our new image processing technique with non-harmful dyes that can label the membranes of human embryos,
and quickly recreate microenvironments found across biology. To illustrate the potential of their technique, the Illinois team mixed breast cancer cells and cells called macrophages that signal cancer cells to spread
Arraykilian said his team's synthetic microenvironment lies somewhere in the middle of two extremes in the field of modeling biology:
then you can ask fundamental biological questions.""Kilian said these questions range from the basic--how macrophages signal to the breast cells--to the more long-term:
"Now, researchers can ask more sophisticated biological questions than they could, "Kilian said. And they can do it quickly.
The NAPA invention was licensed by Protea Biosciences Group, Inc, . and commercialized under the REDICHIP#name in June 2015.
Additionally, the NAPA platform has shown the capabilities to analyze a wide variety of biomolecules and xenobiotics in a broad class of samples, making it the foundation for matrix-free laser desorption ionization.
Protea Biosciences Group, Inc. exclusively licensed the NAPA platform; in June 2015, the company commercialized the platform under the name of REDICHIP#i
The overall method developed could find broad applications in sequestration and bioremediation of water-soluble uranium and similar transuranic elements.
This biotechnology method could also have similar applications to other low-concentration ions in solution.
and Argonne National Laboratory turned to biology. There are no naturally occurring proteins known to bind uranyl,
and Biosciences Division, Heavy Element Chemistry Program under contract number DE-FG02-07er15865 to C. H
professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics, was able to change the specificity of an enzyme,
The findings, detailed online in Nature Chemical Biology on Aug 31, 2015 have widespread implications for a broad range of industrial, scientific and medical applications in
A major goal in biotechnology is to modify enzyme activity in order to carry out bespoke reactions. Current methods use genetic engineering to physically mutate enzymes.
However this is difficult to accomplish and requires detailed knowledge of enzyme structure and functional dynamics,
and are already in use as a platform for other applications by biotechnology companies. The team is now investigating other enzymes that might benefit from monobody technology,
keeping the whole biological machine running smoothly. But in diseases such as breast cancer, the breakdown of this order has been associated with the rapid growth and spread of tumors."
but also to experiment with specifically adding in a single cell with a known cancer mutation to different parts of the organoid to observe its effects.
An international team of researchers led by Christian Haass (Professor of Metabolic Biochemistry at LMU and Speaker for the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases in Munich) and Dr. Michael Willem (LMU) has made now a discovery
as a tenet of modern biology held that only viruses and living microbes such as bacteria could transmit disease.
but some inherited forms are associated with mutations in the alpha-synuclein gene. While the mechanisms aren't fully understood,
researchers believe these mutations predispose the normal proteins to misfold into infectious prions. Other factors,
The team demonstrated that it only takes 4 days for human MSA tissue to infect cultured cells with alpha-synuclein mutations,
They presented their findings Aug 26 at the 37th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society in Milan, Italy.
An advantage of this system is that magnetic fields are able to pass freely through biological tissues,
followed by thorough clinical, biochemical and molecular biological investigations, the researchers found the causative mutation
and characterized the disease which is given the name RCDP5. The researchers believe that studies of the effect of the newly discovered genetic error will provide new insight into other diseases.
whom he suspected were both carriers of the unknown disease causing mutation. After clinical and diagnostic odyssey in the following years,
Arraythe breakthrough came after years of meticulous work developing expert knowledge in the field of genetics at Uio and OUS.
and English researchers, were published recently in Human Molecular genetics t
#Timing of sleep just as important as quantity Washington state University researchers have found that the timing of an animal's sleep can be
An international research team involving bioinformatics researcher Max von Kleist has produced ground-breaking findings that could, among other things
For a long time molecular biologists believed that RNA is a short-lived storage medium. DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), the blueprint of every living thing, is transcribed into RNA,
it can catalyze biochemical reactions. The research group developed the molecular biology method MIME (Mutational Interference Mapping Experiment) to investigate the interaction of RNA with its respective interaction partners in detail.
This way the researchers obtain data for each type of mutation as well as precise mutation frequencies at any position of the RNA.
Through mathematical and statistical calculations developed by bioinformatics researcher Max von Kleist the functional consequence of every possible mutation can be quantified.
The researchers can also determine which part and structural configuration of the RNA is investigated responsible for the function.
and hepatitis C. What they have in common is that the genome does not consist of DNA, but RNA.
scientists can determine how the genetic material of a virus is incorporated into nascent virions at the end of its reproductive cycle.
which mutations are tolerated by the virus and which not, a factor that is useful for the design of therapeutic RNA,
The research will be published by the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, the world's largest society of biomedical engineers."
and quality of life,"said V. Reggie Edgerton, senior author of the research and a UCLA distinguished professor of integrative biology and physiology, neurobiology and neurosurgery.
says Gerard Coté, professor of biomedical engineering and director of the Texas A&m Engineering Experiment Station's Center for Remote Health Technologies and Systems.
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