#Researchers retrieve ostmemories Retrograde amnesia is the inability to recall established memories. In humans, amnesia is associated with traumatic brain injury, Alzheimer disease,
and other neurological conditions. Whether memories lost to amnesia are erased completely or merely unable to be recalled remains an open question.
Now, in a finding that casts new light on the nature of memory, published in Science,
researchers from the RIKEN-MIT Center for Neural Circuit Genetics demonstrated in mice that traces of old memories do remain in the amnestic brain,
whose storage was disrupted by chemically inducing retrograde amnesia, could still be recalled. rain researchers have been divided for decades on
whether amnesia is caused by an impairment in the storage of a memory, or in its recall, said Tonegawa.
thus inducing retrograde amnesia. Other mice received saline as a control. As expected, amnestic mice returned to chamber A did not freeze,
despite the induction of retrograde amnesia, the authors suggest that different processes may control memory encoding and recall.
says Tonegawa, s that in retrograde amnesia, past memories may not be erased, but could simply be lost and inaccessible for recall.
Larger scale gene function studies A relatively new method of targeting specific DNA sequences in zebrafish could dramatically accelerate the discovery of gene function and the identification of disease genes in humans, according to scientists at the National Human genome Research
or have been identified as possible disease genes, but the functions of those genes have not been confirmed by knocking them out in animal models and seeing
Dr. Burgess said. he study of zebrafish has led already to advances in our understanding of cancer
and other human diseases, said NHGRI Director Eric Green, M d, . Ph d. e anticipate that the techniques developed by NHGRI researchers will accelerate understanding the biological function of specific genes
and the role they play in human genetic diseases. The CRISPR/Cas9 method of gene editing is one of the two essential components in the NHGRI team high-throughput method.
of which are similar to human genes involved in deafness. Hearing is one of the other interests of Dr. Burgess lab.)This produced mutations in 82 of the 83 genes.
and treat everything from neurodegenerative disorders to paralysis. It sounds unlikely, until you visit Charles Lieber lab. A team of international researchers, led by Lieber, the Mark Hyman, Jr.
and Applied science and California Nanosystems Institute has identified an unexpectedly general set of rules that determine which molecules can cause the immune system to become vulnerable to the autoimmune disorders lupus and psoriasis.
Autoimmune diseases strike when the body attacks itself because it fails to distinguish between host tissue
and disease-causing agents, or pathogens. Two such disorders are lupus, which can damage the skin, joints and organs, causing rashes, hair loss and fatigue;
and psoriasis, which causes rashes, lesions and arthritis, and creates an increased risk for cancer and diabetes.
When a healthy person is infected by a virus, VIRAL DNA can activate immune cells via a receptor called TLR9.
The receptor triggers the cells to send signaling molecules called interferons to initiate a powerful defensive response.
In people with lupus or psoriasis, these cells are activated by their own DNA, or self-DNA.
Using synchrotron X-ray scattering and other techniques, researchers determined that a broad range of molecules,
and triggering responses in disorders such as lupus and psoriasis. We were able to elucidate something that was understood poorly a key to triggering the immune response is that the molecules must arrange the DNA
reduce agility and result in fatigue, joint sprains or long-term ailments like arthritis or chronic back problems.
ETOWL measures the stress placed on each avatar joints as well as its balance, flexibility and center of gravity.
Squire believes this will prevent future injuries and reduce the time and financial cost of unnecessary field trials.
The polymer is known as Ropy 352 and produced by a non-disease-causing bacterium. his is one of many naturally occurring,
non-disease-causing bacterial strains my research program isolated and studied for years, said Janine Trempy,
In basic research, wee also broadened our understanding of how and why non-disease-causing bacteria produce polymers.
non-disease-causing bacterial strains that produce unique polymers with characteristics desirable and safe for food products,
These are driven chemical processes by naturally occurring bacteria that do not cause disease in humans, Trempy said,
but is derived from a bacterium known to be a plant pathogen and suspected of causing digestive distress
or fever-inducing. Trempy research program has determined the new polymer will thicken whole and nonfat milk,
#Petri dish tumor test could personalize drug therapy for cancer patients In a highly successful, first-of-its-kind endeavor,
which involves co-culturing multiple myeloma tumor cells with their surrounding nontumor cells, all from the same patient, in a microscale petri dish.
The researchers then treated the tumor cells with bortezomib, a drug commonly used in multiple myeloma therapy.
Multiple myeloma is a universally fatal cancer. Rising in the blood marrow due to an accumulation of abnormal,
or cancerous, plasma cells, myeloma is treatable but incurable. he median survival rate has improved, but is only about five to seven years,
The new assay could save many multiple myeloma cancer patients the psychological stress of having to try multiple drugs until they find the most effective one.
The fundamental idea behind the research was to focus on everything surrounding a tumor not just the tumor itself.
These surroundings can include bone marrow stromal cells, macrophages and other immune cells, all of which represent an integral part of the tumor environment.
By including these components in a microfluidic petri dish a device developed by Beebe and Miyamoto lab a few years ago the researchersability to accurately gauge results increased dramatically.
The researchers essentially created a miniaturized external model of an individual cancer, says Pak. She has founded a service-based company called Lynx Biosciences based on these findings,
In addition, they are starting to consider what this discovery means for other cancer types and other drugs.
The researchersresults could have interesting and wide-ranging implications for the future of cancer treatment and therapy,
although their work is far from over. his is only one type of cancer, one particular drug,
The engineered organ has implications for everything from rapid production of immune therapies to new frontiers in cancer or infectious disease research.
Germinal centers are a sign of infection and are not present in healthy immune organs.
the organ could be used to study specific infections and how the body produces antibodies to fight those infections from Ebola to HIV. ou can use our system to force the production of immunotherapeutics at much faster rates,
he said. Such a system also could be used to test toxic chemicals and environmental factors that contribute to infections or organ malfunctions.
The process of B cells becoming germinal centers is understood not well, and in fact, when the body makes mistakes in the genetic rearrangement related to this process,
blood cancer can result. n the long run, we anticipate that the ability to drive immune reaction ex vivo at controllable rates grants us the ability to reproduce immunological events with tunable parameters for better mechanistic understanding of B cell development and generation of B cell tumors,
as well as screening and translation of new classes of drugs, Singh said g
#New drug triggers tissue regeneration: Faster regrowth and healing of damaged tissues Research focuses on select tissues injured through disease, surgery and transplants,
but early findings indicate potential for broad applicationsthe concept sounds like the stuff of science fiction:
the Ingalls Professor of Cancer Genetics at the university School of medicine and a medical oncologist at University Hospitals Case Medical center Seidman Cancer Center. e have developed a drug that acts like a vitamin for tissue stem cells,
which suggests to us that it may have applications in treating many diseases. he institutions collaborating on this work next hope to develop the drug now known as W033291for use in human patients.
Zhang then traveled to UT Southwestern Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center where Willson serves as director.
The third finding came through collaboration between Markowitz and Stanton L. Gerson, MD, director of the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, UH Seidman Cancer Center,
Neutrophils battle infection, platelets prevent bleeding, and red blood cells deliver oxygen throughout the body. In addition, Desai work showed that
When investigators treated mice with other diseases the SW033291 drug again accelerated tissue recovery. For example, the investigators teamed with Fabio Cominelli, MD, Phd, a Case Western Reserve Professor and Chief of the Division of Gastroenterology and Liver disease,
to study a mouse model of ulcerative colitis. SW033291 healed virtually all the ulcers in the animalscolons
and prevented colitis symptoms. In mice where two-thirds of their livers had been removed surgically, SW033291 accelerated regrowth of new liver nearly twice as fast as normally happens without medication.
Because bone marrow, colon, and liver are significantly different tissues, the investigators believe the pathway by which SW033291 speeds tissue regeneration is likely to work as well for treating diseases of many other tissues of the body.
However the next stages of the research will concentrate on three diseases where SW033291 already shows promise to provide dramatic improvement.
In bone marrow transplants, for example, effects of SW033291 in accelerating tissue growth would provide the body the cells required to fight off the two most common and sometimes fatal complications, infection and bleeding.
For those suffering the debilitating impact of colitis, accelerating tissue growth could heal colon ulcers more quickly,
which in turn could allow patients to take lower dosages of other medications that treat colitis some
of which have serious side effects. Finally, the promise of tissue growth could increase survival rates for patients with liver cancer;
in some cases today, physicians are unable to perform surgery because the amount of the liver to be removed would be so great as to pose severe risk to the patient.
the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas; Inje University; and the Korean National Research Foundation.
Markowitz and Willson, former director of the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center and now director of the Simmons Cancer Center at UT Southwestern, initiated the project to study the potential of inhibiting 15-PGDH as a tissue
Yang and Bae, now at Inje University in Korea, worked in the Markowitz laboratory on studies of colitis (Yang) and on liver regrowth after surgery (Bae.
Fink and Tiwari, both of Case Western Reserve, completed the work on the colitis mouse model.
who played a role in the success of the colitis experiments in mice, and Mark Chance, who contributed proteomics expertise for studies that showed how SW033291 works.
Mesencephalic dopaminergic (mda) neurons and their connections to other neurons in the brain are believed to be related to disorders including drug abuse, schizophrenia, Parkinson disease,
and perhaps eating disorders, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, Tourette syndrome, and Lesch-Nyhan syndrome. However, studying mda neurons and neocortical neurons in isolation does not reveal much data about how these cells actually interact in these conditions.
This new capability to grow and interconnect two types of neurons in vitro now provides researchers with an excellent model for further study. his method,
#Tumour in a petri dish a way to a personalized cancer treatment Cancer is still one of those diagnoses that make people weak in their knees
That is why innovative cancer treatments are always in the spotlight of attention and that is why scientists have been puzzling how to treat cancer for a long time.
They understand that not every case is the same, individuals need individual treatment. And now scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison completed highly successful,
said that this research is one of the first steps of mimicking the body of the cancer patient in a dish.
which involves co-culturing multiple myeloma tumour cells with their surrounding cells that do not have cancer, all from the same patient, in a micro scale petri dish.
Then scientists treated this cancer in a dish with common drug called bortezomib, which is used often to treat myeloma,
and it only took them three days to see if treatment is effective or not.
so in is a universally fatal cancer. It is treatable but incurable. It rises in the blood marrow due to an accumulation of abnormal,
or testing process, may not help to reach the breakthrough in searching for cure for cancer.
Multiple myeloma is most likely to remain a universally fatal cancer until some major scientific discoveries are made.
However, it can save many multiple myeloma cancer patients the psychological stress of having to try multiple drugs until they find the most effective one.
Cancer is still able to interact with its surroundings as well as treatment, but outside of the body.
Scientists are already thinking how to expand this assay to test responsiveness to different drugs of other cancers as well.
This may not be a tool to cure cancer, but it will surely help cancer patients to receive personalized treatments.
It will reduce stress they get through usual trial and error method and will make treatment that a little bit less tormenting.
Which is very good news to many patients and to their families i
#Scientists announce first room-temperature magnetic skyrmion bubbles Researchers at UCLA and the U s. Department of energy Argonne National Laboratory announced a new method for creating magnetic skyrmion bubbles at room temperature.
as a result of human exploitation and disease-related die offs, says Joshua Miller, Phd student in the Department of Biological sciences and lead author on the study. hus,
#New imaging technique could make brain tumor removal safer, more effective Brain surgery is famously difficult for good reason:
When removing a tumor, for example, neurosurgeons walk a tightrope as they try to take out as much of the cancer as possible
while keeping crucial brain tissue intact and visually distinguishing the two is often impossible. Now Johns Hopkins researchers report they have developed an imaging technology that could provide surgeons with a color-coded map of a patient brain showing
and are not cancer. A summary of the research appears June 17 in Science Translational Medicine. s a neurosurgeon,
I in agony when I taking out a tumor. If I take out too little the cancer could come back;
too much, and the patient can be disabled permanently, says Alfredo Quinones-Hinojosa, M d.,a professor of neurosurgery,
thought OCT might provide a solution to the problem of separating brain cancers from other tissue during surgery.
Kut first built on the idea that cancers tend to be relatively dense, which affects how they scatter
Once they had found the characteristic OCT ignatureof brain cancer, the team devised a computer algorithm to process OCT data and,
nearly instantaneously, generate a color-coded map with cancer in red and healthy tissue in green. e envision that the OCT would be aimed at the area being operated on,
and the surgeon could look at a screen to get a continuously updated picture of where the cancer is
and in surgeries to remove brain tumors from mice. The researchers hope to begin clinical trials in patients this summer.
The system can potentially be adapted to detect cancers in other parts of the body, Kut says.
or knee osteoarthritis or the severe injuries caused by major trauma, for example in road traffic accidents or war injuries. heir new methodology,
#New tool on horizon for surgeons treating cancer patients Surgeons could know while their patients are still on the operating table
While yet other mass spectrometry-based techniques such as desorption electrospray ionization and rapid evaporative ionization mass spectrometry are being evaluated for classifying tumors and providing prognostic information,
rapidity and specificity of our method, there is great potential for our technology to assist surgeons in the detection of cancer from tissue biopsy samples,
can stimulate the immune system activity necessary to stop HIV infection. This research is extremely significant.
and prevent infection and current experiments with mice models showed promising results. Many vaccines for other diseases use a dead
or inactive version of the disease-causing microbe itself to trigger antibody production. However, this simple approach does not work with HIV immunizations with ativehiv proteins are ineffective in triggering an effective immune response
due to HIV ability to evade detection from the immune system and mutate rapidly into new strains.
until develops imunity to a certain disease. The research required a broad partnership between different institutions.
and block HIV infection. This suggests that eod-GT8 60mer immunogen could be a good candidate to serve as the first in a series of immunizations against HIV.
As previous attempts to prevent the spread of the disease proved ineffective and there is no cure for it,
#Cancer Blocked by Halving Levels of Protein Thought To Be ntouchablein a surprising finding, a team of UC San francisco and Stanford university scientists has discovered that a protein thought to be crucial for the body to develop
The work raises the possibility that targeted cancer drugs that lower levels of the protein could suppress tumor growth without affecting healthy cells.
a UCSF graduate student in the Biomedical sciences Program. his represents a new and exciting finding in regard to how we might target the development of tumors.
who holds the Helen Diller Family Chair in Basic Cancer Research, and Maria Barna, Phd, assistant professor of developmental biology and genetics at Stanford, co-senior authors of the new study. he dogma in every textbook was that
said Ruggero, a member of the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center (HDFCCC). During translation, strands of MESSENGER RNA (mrna) carry protein-making instructions from genes to ribosomes, the cellular machines in which proteins are made.
especially since previous research has shown that eif4e is present at abnormally high levels in tumor cells. ancer cells rely on increases in protein synthesis as a critical means for sustaining their growth and survival,
In lab-dish experiments, mutations in certain genes known as oncogenes, such as Ras and Myc, reliably ransformnormal mouse cells into cancer-like cells the cells overproliferate,
just as tumor cells do. But when the researchers introduced oncogenic Myc and Ras into cells in
they again observed that the potential of these cells to develop tumors was weakened significantly. The researchers found,
when they set the stage for the development of cancer. These results were consistent with those seen in eif4e-deficient mice carrying Ras mutations
when cells are under stress, such as that caused by oncogenic transformation. Though cells require some ROS to survive,
stress conditions can push ROS levels beyond a threshold, triggering a program that causes cells to commit suicide.
effector is developing new treatments for patients with cancer and other serious diseases, in part by characterizing drug action and identifying targets related to the cell translational mechanisms.
but they make use of the surplus to initiate protective mechanisms when under stress. Cancer cells appear to hijack this mechanism,
using the extra reservoir of eif4e to ward off the stress response to enhance their own survival. his work pulls back the curtain on a very unique trick that cancer cells have developed during the course of evolution to promote their own growth, through a program that specific to cancer cells,
Heather and Melanie Muss Endowed Chair and a principal investigator in the UCSF Brain tumor Research center and the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research. t may be unwelcome
the likelihood of our being able to use stem cell therapy to repair brain injury is very low. ource:
The team of researchers tested the therapeutic potential of these carbon nanoparticles by loading them with an anti-melanoma drug
Scientists also found that they can alter the infusion of the particles into melanoma cells by adjusting the polymer coatings.
It is a very versatile platform to treat melanoma, other kinds of cancers and other diseases.
which will eventually lead to innovative drug therapies for cancer and other diseases i
#Access to electricity and artificial light shortened time of our sleep Science knows that nowadays people tend to sleep less than they used to before modern times.
#Smart insulin patch could replace painful injections for diabetes This is the mart insulin patch, developed by researchers in the joint UNC/NC State Biomedical engineering Department.
A joint effort between diabetes doctors and biomedical engineers could revolutionize how people with diabetes keep their blood sugar levels in checkpainful insulin injections could become a thing of the past for the millions of Americans who suffer from diabetes, thanks to a new invention
painless patch could lower blood glucose in a mouse model of type 1 diabetes for up to nine hours.
but the approach shows great promise. e have designed a patch for diabetes that works fast,
and the UNC Diabetes Care Center. he whole system can be personalized to account for a diabetic weight and sensitivity to insulin,
Patients with type 1 and advanced type 2 diabetes try to keep their blood sugar levels under control with regular finger pricks and repeated insulin shots, a process that is painful and imprecise.
John Buse, MD, Phd, co-senior author of the PNAS paper and the director of the UNC Diabetes Care Center, said,
njecting the wrong amount of medication can lead to significant complications like blindness and limb amputations,
or even more disastrous consequences such as diabetic comas and death. esearchers have tried to remove the potential for human error by creating losed-loop systemsthat directly connect the devices that track blood sugar
they had to figure out a way to administer them to patients with diabetes. Rather than rely on the large needles
The researchers tested the ability of this approach to control blood sugar levels in a mouse model of type 1 diabetes.
when administered too frequently. he hard part of diabetes care is not the insulin shots, or the blood sugar checks,
the director of the North carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences (NC Tracs) Institute and past president of the American Diabetes Association. f we can get these patches to work in people,
said Professor Shankar Balasubramanian of the Department of chemistry and the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, who led the research. t had been thought this modification was solely a short-lived intermediate,
and the role that these modifications may play in the development of certain diseases, said Balasubramanian. hile work is continuing in determining the exact function of this xtrabase,
The research was supported by Cancer Research UK, the Wellcome Trust and the Biotechnology and Biological sciences Research Council UK e
While conventional lithium-ion batteries are composed of brittle electrodes that can crack under stress, the new formulation produces battery cells that can be bent,
and wires required by other implantable devices that can lead to infection and other complications,
Purdue University Mari Hulman George Professor of Applied Neuroscience and director of Purdue Center for Paralysis Research. his tool allows us to apply drugs as needed directly to the site of injury,
but it is our hope that this could one day be used to deliver drugs directly to spinal cord injuries, ulcerations, deep bone injuries or tumors,
or chemotherapy. he team tested the drug-delivery system in mice with compression injuries to their spinal cords
Wen Gao, a postdoctoral researcher in the Center for Paralysis Research who worked on the project with Borgens,
and transported a patch of the nanowire carpet on water droplets that were used used to deliver it to the site of injury.
The nanowire patches adhere to the site of injury through surface tension, Gao said. The magnitude and wave form of the electromagnetic field must be tuned to obtain the optimum release of the drug
Youngnam Cho, a former faculty member at Purdue Center for Paralysis Research; and Jianming Li, a research assistant professor at the center.
GFAP is expressed in cells called astrocytes that gather in high numbers at central nervous system injuries. Astrocytes are a part of the inflammatory process and form a scar tissue,
A 1-2 millimeter patch of the nanowires doped with dexamethasone was placed onto spinal cord lesions that had been exposed surgically,
The lesions were closed then and an electromagnetic field was applied for two hours a day for one week.
damaging our ability to fight deadly infections such as tuberculosis. In this illustration, phagemid plasmids infect a targeted bacteria.
for new approaches to tackle bacterial infection. In a paper published online in the journal Nano Letters, researchers at MIT, the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard,
and kill bacteria have been used for many years to treat infection in countries such as those in the former Soviet union.
as it can lead to the release of nasty toxins from the cell. hese toxins can lead to sepsis and even death in some cases,
Collins says. ou can use this to kill off very specific species of bacteria as part of an infection therapy,
This is in contrast to repeated infection with bacteriophages, where the researchers found that the bacteria did develop resistance over time.
Although Collins acknowledges that bacteria will ultimately develop resistance to any stress that is placed upon them
A ocktailof different phagemids could be given to patients to treat an unclassified infection, in a similar way to the broad-spectrum antibiotics used today.
which would allow physicians to treat specific infections, Collins says. ou would first run a fast diagnostic test to identify the bacteria your patient has,
and then give the appropriate phagemid to kill off the pathogen, he says. The researchers are planning to expand their platform by developing a broader range of phagemids.
but now hope to create particles capable of killing off pathogens such as Clostridium difficile and the cholera-causing bacterium Vibrio cholerea.
The paper demonstrates that using synthetic biology to modify a gene in a phage to make it more toxic to a pathogen can lead to more effective antimicrobial particles than classical approaches,
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