#Erasing a genetic mutation Using a new gene-editing system based on bacterial proteins MIT researchers have cured mice of a rare liver disorder caused by a single genetic mutation.
The findings described in the March 30 issue of Nature Biotechnology offer the first evidence that this gene-editing technique known as CRISPR can reverse disease symptoms in living animals.
Researchers have copied this cellular system to create gene-editing complexes that include a DNA-cutting enzyme called Cas9 bound to a short RNA guide strand that is programmed to bind to a specific genome sequence telling Cas9 where to make its cut.
When the cell repairs the damage produced by Cas9 it copies from the template introducing new genetic material into the genome.
Scientists envision that this kind of genome editing could one day help treat diseases such as hemophilia Huntington s disease
and others that are caused by single mutations. Scientists have developed other gene-editing systems based on DNA-slicing enzymes also known as nucleases
Disease correctionfor this study the researchers designed three GUIDE RNA strands that target different DNA sequences near the mutation that causes type I tyrosinemia in a gene that codes for an enzyme called FAH.
and one of the lead authors of the Nature Biotechnology paper. This work shows that CRISPR can be used successfully in adults
and also identifies several of the challenges that will need to be addressed moving forward to the development of human therapies says Charles Gersbach an assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Duke university who was not part of the research team.
says Constance Cepko, a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical school. Previous efforts have focused on analyzing only a small number of cell types at a time,
which respond to their environment produce complex biological molecules and span multiple length scales with the benefits of nonliving materials
or diagnostic sensors says Timothy Lu an assistant professor of electrical engineering and biological engineering. Lu is the senior author of a paper describing the living functional materials in the March 23 issue of Nature Materials.
I think this is really fantastic work that represents a great integration of synthetic biology and materials engineering says Lingchong You an associate professor of biomedical engineering at Duke university who was not part of the research team.
The research was funded by the Office of Naval Research the Army Research Office the National Science Foundation the Hertz Foundation the Department of defense the National institutes of health and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers s
According to Tim Lu, an assistant professor of electrical engineering and biological engineering at MIT, it boils down to the inefficient bacteria-detection assays used in the food industry.
Based on Lu graduate school research at MIT, the assay uses biological particles called bacteriophages, or phages,
or polymerase chain reactions (PCR, which copies DNA) may be efficient in one area, but lacking in the other two.
and for other means across other industries. hages are the most abundant biological particle On earth.
With the assay, Lu says Sample6 hopes to bring synthetic biology, and specifically phages, to microbial detection across many fields.
We want ultimately to democratize the use of synthetic biology in the real world he says i
Theye also used as biological probes to image cancer and to study processes inside cells,
Pentelute envisions that the technology could have an impact on synthetic biology comparable to rapid synthesis of short strands of DNA and RNA.
Strano and the paper lead author, postdoc and plant biologist Juan Pablo Giraldo, envision turning plants into self-powered, photonic devices such as detectors for explosives or chemical weapons.
Giraldo says. his is a marvelous demonstration of how nanotechnology can be coupled with synthetic biology to modify
a professor of biomedical engineering at Boston University who was involved not in the research. he authors nicely show that self-assembling nanoparticles can be used to enhance the photosynthetic capacity of plants,
as well as serve as plant-based biosensors and stress reducers. By adapting the sensors to different targets,
Giraldo says. t an opportunity for people from plant biology and the chemical engineering nanotechnology community to work together in an area that has a large potential.
That decoupling of the two parameters he says is something that biologists had observed in real fish.
Video Melanie Gonick All of our algorithms and control theory are designed pretty much with the idea that we ve got rigid systems with defined joints says Barry Trimmer a biology professor at Tufts University who specializes in biomimetic soft robots.
MIT cancer biologists have discovered now that certain proteins in this structure, known as the extracellular matrix, help cancer cells make their escape.
Other authors are Steven Carr, director of the Proteomics Platform at the Broad Institute; Karl Clauser, a research scientist at the Broad Institute;
It dependent on modern technology having the genome sequences, having mass spectrometry machines that are really good,
This study utilizes the power of proteomics to identify extracellular matrix proteins critical in metastasis. Many of the proteins identified interact with cancer cells by binding to proteins called integrins that are found on cell surfaces,
This is a clever and inspired technology to develop new exogenous compounds that can detect clinical conditions with aberrantly high protease concentrations says Samuel Sia an associate professor of biological engineering at Columbia University who was involved not in the research.
Microbiologists have taken rarely into account fluid flow as an ecological parameter whereas physicists have started just recently to pay attention to microbes he says adding:
the better, says Darrell Irvine, a professor of biological engineering and of materials science and engineering, and the senior author of the paper.
or it could be that you re interrogating a biological sample and too much light could damage it.
but other biological systems are the same. There could also be remote-sensing applications where you may want to look at something
#Biologists ID new cancer weakness About half of all cancer patients have a mutation in a gene called p53
A new study from MIT biologists has found that tumor cells with mutated p53 can be made much more vulnerable to chemotherapy by blocking another gene called MK2.
If DNA damage is too extensive p53 forces the cell to undergo programmed cell death or apoptosis. Tumors that lack p53 can avoid this fate.
Usually p53 is the main driver of cell death and if cells lose this pathway they become very resistant to different treatments that cause cell death Morandell says.
and potentially useful approach for others to use says Titia de Lange a professor of cell biology
and genetics at Rockefeller University who was not part of the research team. Using these mice the researchers found that before treatment tumors lacking both MK2
and the Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies through the U s army Research Office u
#Resistance is futile Cisplatin is given a chemotherapy drug to more than half of all cancer patients. The drug kills cells very effectively by damaging nuclear DNA but if tumors become resistant to cisplatin they often grow back.
and an author of a paper describing the findings in the Oct 31 online edition of the journal Biology & Chemistry.
Kelley a professor of biochemistry and pharmaceutical sciences at the University of Toronto. Lead authors are Simon Wisnovsky who received his Phd from the University of Toronto and MIT alumnus Justin Wilson Phd 13.
or replicate its genome. If enough of these blockages form the cell undergoes a type of programmed cell suicide called apoptosis
. However questions remain about cisplatin s effects in other parts of the cell Radford says.
Because mitochondria are involved in apoptosis the researchers wanted to see whether they could induce cell death by targeting MITOCHONDRIAL DNA particularly in cells that are already resistant to regular cisplatin.
The researchers also showed that the cells were dying through apoptosis and not some less-controlled form of cell death.
There are other ways for a cell to die besides apoptosis. You want a therapeutic agent to induce programmed cell death
because they can interact with so many different biomolecules Radford says. By targeting specific cellular organelles with the same therapeutic molecules we can learn a lot about how the cells respond to a given compound
Eric Perreault, a professor of biomedical engineering and physical medicine and rehabilitation at Northwestern University, says the group findings present the first insight into how muscle activation alters the ankle mechanical properties over its normal range of motion,
Mutations in the gene for calcineurin have previously been found in some schizophrenia patients. Ten years ago MIT researchers led by Susumu Tonegawa the Picower Professor of Biology
and Neuroscience created mice lacking the gene for calcineurin in the forebrain; these mice displayed several behavioral symptoms of schizophrenia including impaired short-term memory attention deficits and abnormal social behavior.
and colleagues at the RIKEN-MIT Center for Neural Circuit Genetics at MIT s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory recorded the electrical activity of individual neurons in the hippocampus of these knockout mice
In the previous version of the system reported last December in Nature Biotechnology the researchers used mass spectrometry to distinguish the fragments by their mass.
The technology could also be useful for predicting recurrence of clots says Henri Spronk an assistant professor of biochemistry at Maastricht University in The netherlands.
Now, Semprus Biosciences, a startup co-founded by two MIT alumni Christopher Loose Phd 7
the biomaterial has positioned Semprus as a fast-growing biotech firm in Kendall Square. In its six years, the startup seed-funded, in part,
Seeing commercial potential, Langer a chemical engineer, bioengineer, and famed MIT entrepreneur layed matchmakerbetween Loose and Lucchino,
The research was funded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering and Nanoscope Technologies, LLC n
The new technology is described in a paper appearing in the journal Nature Biotechnology, written by MIT Polina Anikeeva and 10 others.
For example, light could be transmitted through the optical channels to enable optogenetic neural stimulation, the effects
or silence neurons with pulses of light, a method called optogenetics. Activating the projections led to compulsive sucrose-eating
However, in recent years neuroscientists have shown in animal models that it is possible to reverse the debilitating effects of these gene mutations.
whether different gene mutations disrupt common physiological processes. If this were the case, a treatment developed for one genetic cause of autism
Different genes, same consequences Another cause of autism and intellectual disability is the loss of a series of genes on human chromosome 16,
Current research indicates that well over 100 distinct gene mutations can manifest as intellectual disability and autism.
where biomaterials are chosen and rationally designed to match specific tissue types and disease states. After characterizing the adhesive material performance in different diseased tissues,
Joseph Bonventre, chief of the renal unit and director of the bioengineering division at Brigham and Women Hospital in Boston, agrees that the study represents an important step toward a more personalized approach. ou want the best adhesive possible,
rather than developing biomaterials that try to work for all conditions. Doctors have begun using this kind of personalized approach
but it has not yet spread to the selection of biomaterials such as tissue glue. The MIT team now hopes to move the sealant into clinical trials
Fang says, of biomolecules placed on the hybrid material surface. Sheng Shen, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Carnegie mellon University who was involved not in this research,
and other biological components. n the biological domain, there are various molecules and atoms in contact with one another, sliding along like biomolecular motors,
as a result of friction or lack of friction, Gangloff says. o this intuition for how to arrange atoms so as to minimize
from the nanoscale to the macroscale. he applications and related impact of their novel method propels a huge variety of research fields investigating effects relevant from raft tectonics down to biological systems
Earlier this month, MIT spinout Microchips Biotech partnered with a pharmaceutical giant to commercialize its wirelessly controlled, implantable,
Invented by Microchips Biotech cofounders Michael Cima, the David H. Koch Professor of Engineering, and Robert Langer, the David H. Koch Institute Professor, the microchips consist of hundreds of pinhead-sized reservoirs,
and osteoporosis. Now Microchips Biotech will begin co-developing microchips with Teva Pharmaceutical, the world largest producer of generic drugs,
Microchips Biotech says these microchips could also improve medication-prescription adherence a surprisingly costly issue in the United states. A 2012 report published in the Annals of Internal medicine estimated that Americans who don stick to prescriptions rack up $100 billion to $289 billion
Microchips Biotech will continue work on its flagship product, a birth-control microchip, backed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,
Cima, who now serves on the Microchips Biotech board of directors with Langer, sees this hormone-releasing microchip as one of the first implantable rtificial organsecause it acts as a gland. lot of the therapies are trying to chemically trick the endocrine systems Cima says. e are doing that with this artificial organ we created. ild ideasinspiration for the microchips came in the late 1990s,
For years, the technology underwent rigorous research and development at Microchips Biotech. But in 2011, Langer and Cima,
EMS innovationsmicrochips Biotech made several innovations in the microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) manufacturing process to ensure the microchips could be commercialized.
To do so, Microchips Biotech modified a cold-welding ongue and grooveprocess. This meant depositing a soft,
"says researcher Jonathan Lovell, Phd, UB assistant professor of biomedical engineering.""Once such systems are developed, a patient could theoretically go in for one scan with one machine instead of multiple scans with multiple machines."
While this can be achieved through biological conversion (using bacteria to convert the nitrate to nitrogen gas),
"We have developed a smart SERS biosensor for the rapid screening of bladder cancer, "says Olivo."
and induce negative biological effects. However until this study their effect on the development of atherosclerosis has been largely unknown.
This reality leads to increased human exposure and interaction of silica-based nanoparticles with biological systems.
and Chemical Biology and Professor Walter Kolch in Systems Biology Ireland synthesised nanorods with a long iron segment coated with polyethylene glycol
and biological materials said Kong a graduate student in mechanical and aerospace engineering. Kong the lead author of the Oct 31 article describing the current work in the journal Nano Letters said that the contact lens project on the other hand involved the printing of active electronics using diverse materials.
or biological cells or to create antennas or photonic components. For this work we focused on creating nanostructures using photosensitive polymers
A new study shows that this feature could facilitate easier nanoscale manufacturing of biosensors and plasmonic devices with intricate high-density surface structures.
The research team received funding for their study from the Israel Ministry of Science and Technology the European Research Council and the Biotechnology and Biological sciences Research Council.
revealing how they selectively block certain molecules from entering, protecting genetic material and normal cell functions.
and new ways of delivering gene therapies, say the scientists behind the study. At the heart of every cell in our body is a cell nucleus,
the research may also hold promise for the development of new antiviral drugs and better delivery mechanisms for gene therapy.
It may also be possible to improve on the design of current mechanisms for delivering gene therapy to better cross the nuclear pores
and IBM's T. J. Watson Research center have developed a prototype DNA reader that could make whole genome profiling an everyday practice in medicine.
and protein diagnostic devices into every single doctor's office said Stuart Lindsay an ASU physics professor and director of Biodesign's Center for Single Molecule Biophysics.
Such game-changing technology is needed to make genome sequencing a reality. The current hurdle is to do so for less than $1000 an amount for
The research was funded by the National institutes of health's National Human genome Research Institute Roche and published in the journal ACS Nano.
which exist in existing biological markers. The breakthrough has resulted in two papers published in Small one of the world's top scientific journals for material science and nanotechnology.
#A gut reaction Queen's university biologist Virginia Walker and Queen's SARC Awarded Postdoctoral Fellow Pranab Das have shown nanosilver
says Akhilesh Gaharwar, assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Texas A&m and member of the research team.
represents a new direction in biomedical engineering. Two-dimensional materials are ultrathin substances with high surface area but a thickness of a few nanometers or less.
At UC Santa barbara researchers in the Department of Chemical engineering and at Center for Bioengineering (CBE) have turned to the human body's own mechanisms for inspiration in dealing with the necessary and complicated process of coagulation.
and surface biology of the body's own platelets they are able to accelerate natural healing processes
With surfaces functionalized with the same biochemical motifs found in their human counterparts these PLNS also can summon other platelets to the site
#Patent awarded for genetics-based nanotechnology against mosquitoes insect pests Kansas State university researchers have developed a patented method of keeping mosquitoes and other insect pests at bay.
The patent covers microscopic genetics-based technology that can help safely kill mosquitos and other insect pests.
Xin Zhang research associate in the Division of Biology; and Jianzhen Zhang visiting scientist from Shanxi University in China developed the technology:
or RNAI to destroy the genetic code of an insect in a specific DNA sequence. The technology is expected to have great potential for safe and effective control of insect pests Zhu said.
MESSENGER RNA carries important genetic information. In the studies on mosquito larvae researchers designed dsrna to target the mrna encoding the enzymes that help mosquitoes produce chitin the main component in the hard exoskeleton of insects crustaceans and arachnids.
of 2 nm creating a powerful and versatile nanoscale imaging tool with exciting promise and potential for the materials and biological sciences.
Even in its present form the techniques demonstrated here can revolutionize nanoscale imaging in realms far beyond materials science including electronics and biology.
Froeter devised a way to mount the microtubes on glass slides, the standard for biological cultures.
Williams, a professor of biomedical engineering at UW-Madison.""Without this we may have noticed an overall increase in growth rates,
You get a different biology chemistry and physics than you do with bigger things. And that's really attractive to scientists.
whereas others can be made in the lab sometimes from complex biological molecules. No says Graham.
You can attach biomolecules like proteins or DNA to them and make them change properties
And of course any biosensor needs to be accurate. You need to know the numbers. Is it 100%accurate?
and toxicity said Dr. Zhen Gu assistant professor in the Joint Department of Biomedical engineering at NC State and UNC-Chapel hill.
He is supported by faculty staff and Ph d. students in the Joint Department of Biomedical engineering a partnership between NC State and UNC-Chapel hill that tackles urgent biomedical problems.
or even individual cells and they are able to navigate through complex biological fluids. In the 1966 movie Fantastic Voyage a submarine complete with crew is shrunk in size
And they could make it possible to carry out gene therapy in a specific cell. If things go according to Peer Fischer leader of the Micro Nano
However because the researchers have in the long term set their sights on using the device in biological media they tested their swimmer directly in appropriate model fluids.
The scientists who have published their work in Nature Communications want to put their micro-swimmers to the test in specific biological fluids.
#Researchers create unique graphene nanopores with optical antennas for DNA sequencing High-speed reading of the genetic code should get a boost with the creation of the world's first graphene nanopores pores measuring approximately 2 nanometers in diameter that feature a"built-in
and other biological systems.""The results of this study were reported in Nano Letters in a paper titled"Graphene nanopore with a Self-Integrated Optical Antenna. e
In their latest paper, researchers from Cardiff University's Schools of Biosciences and Physics showed that non-fluorescing nanodiamonds (diamonds without defects) can be imaged optically
Professor Paola Borri from the School of Biosciences, who led the study, said:""This new imaging modality opens the exciting prospect of following complex cellular trafficking pathways quantitatively with important applications in drug delivery.
This interfacial layer is critical to our understanding of a diverse set of phenomena from biology to materials science.
Assistant professor Amir Karton from UWA's School of Chemistry and Biochemistry said the finding published this week in Chemical Physics Letters journal was significant
Moreover graphene is nontoxic to biological systems an improvement over previous research into transparent electrical contacts that are much thicker rigid difficult to manufacture and reliant on potentially toxic metal alloys.
and optogenetics which involves genetically modifying cells to create specific light-reactive proteins. RE-NET seeks to develop new tools
Graphene-based carbon-layered electrode array technology for neural imaging and optogenetic applications. Nature Communications 5 Article number:
Moreover the solution came straight from the life sciences biochemistry in fact. The technique known as density gradient ultracentrifugation is a decades-old process used to separate biomolecules.
The National Science Foundation (NSF)- funded scientist theorized correctly that he could adapt it to separate carbon nanotubes rolled sheets of graphene (a single atomic layer of hexagonally bonded carbon atoms) long recognized for their potential applications in computers
Paul Weiss distinguished professor of chemistry and biochemistry and a member of UCLA's California Nanosystems Institute developed the method for producing the nanoribbons with Patrick Han and Taro Hitosugi professors at the Advanced Institute
and designed said Peng Yin senior author of the paper Wyss core faculty member and Assistant professor of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical school.
The work was done in collaboration with MIT's Laboratory for Computational biology and Biophysics led by Mark Bathe senior co-author of the paper.
The paper's findings describe a significant advance in DNA NANOTECHNOLOGY as well as in inorganic nanoparticle synthesis Yin said.
a field that uses biology to develop new tools for science, technology and medicine. The new study, published in print today in the journal Nano Letters,
demonstrates how stable'lipid membranes'the thin'skin'that surrounds all biological cells can be applied to synthetic surfaces.
Importantly, the new technique can use these lipid membranes to'draw'akin to using them like a biological ink with a resolution of 6 nanometres (6 billionths of a meter),
and promises the ability to position functional biological molecules such as those involved in taste, smell,
and other sensory roles with high precision, to create novel hybrid bioelectronic devices, "said Professor Steve Evans,
"explained Professor Evans. Aside from biological applications, this area of research could revolutionise renewable energy production. Working in collaboration with researchers at the University of Sheffield,
the researchers will be able to arbitrarily swap out the biological units and replace them with synthetic components to create a new generation of solar cells.
"This is part of the emerging field of synthetic biology, whereby engineering principles are being applied to biological parts
whether it is for energy capture, or to create artificial noses for the early detection of disease
A group of researchers from the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) of A*STAR has taken the health benefits of green tea to the next level by using one of its ingredients to develop a drug delivery system
#New absorber will lead to better biosensors Biological sensors or biosensors are like technological canaries in the coalmine.
By converting a biological response into an optical or electrical signal they can alert us to dangers in our external and internal environments.
They can sense toxic chemicals and particles in the air and enzymes molecules and antibodies in the body that could indicate diabetes cancer and other diseases.
An optical biosensor works by absorbing a specific bandwidth of light and shifting the spectrum
The narrower the band of absorbed light is the more sensitive the biosensor. Currently plasmonic absorbers used in biosensors have a resonant bandwidth of 50 nanometers said Koray Aydin assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science at Northwestern University's Mccormick School of engineering and Applied science.
It is significantly challenging to design absorbers with narrower bandwidths. Aydin and his team have created a new nanostructure that absorbs a very narrow spectrum of light#having a bandwidth of just 12 nanometers.
This ultranarrow band absorber can be used for a variety of applications including better biosensors. We believe that our unique narrowband absorber design will enhance the sensitivity of biosensors Aydin said.
It's been a challenge to sense very small particles or very low concentrations of a substance.
#Blades of grass inspire advance in organic solar cells Using a biomimicking analog of one of nature's most efficient light-harvesting structures blades of grass an international research team led by Alejandro Briseno of the University of Massachusetts Amherst
Dr. Tal Dvir and his graduate student Michal Shevach of TAU's Department of Biotechnology, Department of Materials science and engineering,
He and his team discovered that gold particles are able to increase the conductivity of biomaterials.
to computer logic architectures that replicate the versatility and response time of a biological neural network.""While more investigation needs to be done,
silicon nanoparticles may one day serve as easily detectable"tags"for tracking nanosized substances in biological, environmental or other dynamic systems s
Novel applications of'quantum dots'including lasers biological markers qubits for quantum computing and photovoltaic devices arise from the unique optoelectronic properties of the QDS
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