Synopsis: Health: Illness:

and while many of these are beneficial, some can cause disease. For example, some reports have linked Crohn disease to the presence of certain strains of E coli. e like to be able to remove specific members of the bacterial population

and see what their function is in the microbiome, Lu says. n the longer term you could design a specific phage that kills that bug

so that simplifies that workflow in the lab. The new approach also overcomes an important hurdle in using bacteriophages to treat disease,

which makes it difficult to choose the right phage for the right infection, if such a phage is available at all,

and gastrointestinal infections, including pneumonia, sepsis, gastritis, and Legionnairesdisease. One advantage of the engineered phages is that unlike many antibiotics,

Lu says. e aim to create effective and narrow-spectrum methods for targeting pathogens. Lu and his colleagues are now designing phages that can target other strains of harmful bacteria

as well as treating human disease. Another advantage of this approach is that all of the phages are based on an identical genetic scaffold,

including in cancer research, says Levi Garraway, an institute member of the Broad Institute, and the inaugural director of the Joint Center for Cancer Precision Medicine at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Brigham and Women Hospital,

and the Broad Institute. Garraway was involved not in the research. An open approach to empower research Zhang,

unicorn fever has raised fears of a bubble in the private equity markets.""You have a frenzy of investors looking for the next Facebook.

and disease states such as cancer, "Harbin said.""Unfortunately, growth of cells in these oversimplified environments has been shown not to correlate well with human cell responses in the body.

including tumor metastasis and drug/toxin sensitivity.""This is important as pharmaceutical companies and regulatory agencies look for new,

it can cause a range of life-threatening diseases such as cancer, autoimmune disorders, Alzheimer's and diabetes.

This patented technology will allow pharmaceutical companies to measure simultaneously a large number of compounds and select which one can be developed into drugs to fight against diseases.

The device was developed at Bath by researchers Dr Pedro Estrela and Phd student Nikhil Bhalla in the Department of Electronic & Electrical engineering, Dr Mirella Di Lorenzo in the Department of Chemical engineering,

and facilitate the development of new drugs for diseases like cancer, stroke and dementia.""The simplicity is the strength of this technology.

This puts tremendous stress on the connection point, a conical clamping ring. Furthermore, once the parts have been joined together,

#Breakthrough finds molecules that block previously'undruggable'protein tied to cancer A team of scientists at the University of Kansas has pinpointed six chemical compounds that thwart Hur,

an"oncoprotein"that binds to RNA and promotes tumor growth. The findings, which could lead to a new class of cancer drugs,

thus blocking Hur function as a tumor-promoting protein, "said Liang Xu, associate professor of molecular biosciences and corresponding author of the paper.

The results hold promise for treating a broad array of cancers in people. The researcher said Hur has been detected at high levels in almost every type of cancer tested,

including cancers of the colon, prostate, breast, brain, ovaries, pancreas and lung.""Hur inhibitors may be useful for many types of cancer,

"Xu said.""Since Hur is involved in many stem cell pathways, we expect Hur inhibitors will be active in inhibiting'cancer stem cells,

'or the seeds of cancer, which have been a current focus in the cancer drug discovery field."

"Hur has been studied for many years, but until now no direct Hur inhibitors have been discovered, according to Xu.""The initial compounds reported in this paper can be optimized further

and developed as a whole new class of cancer therapy, especially for cancer stem cells, "he said."

"The success of our study provides a first proof-of-principle that Hur is druggable,

"A cancer-causing gene, or oncogene, makes RNA, which then makes an oncoprotein that causes cancer

or makes cancer cells hard to kill, or both,"Xu said.""This is the problem we're trying to overcome with precision medicine."

not a well-defined pocket seen in other druggable proteins targeted by many current cancer therapies."

and involved the collaboration of chemists, cancer biologists, computer modeling experts, biochemists and biophysicists at KUOTABLY the labs of Xu, Jeffrey Aubé in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Jon Tunge in the Department of chemistry.

For Xu, the findings are reflective of a personal commitment to improving odds for people diagnosed with cancer

the second-largest killer in the U s. after heart disease.""Trained as medical doctor and Ph d.,with both a grandfather and an uncle who died of cancer,

I devoted my career to cancer research and drug discoveryiming to translate discovery in the lab into clinical therapy,

to help cancer patients and their families, "he said.""We hope to find a better therapynd eventually a cureor cancer. c

#Synthetic muscle ready for launch Rasmussen developed the material at RAS Labs and has worked closely with researchers

and engineers at the U s. Department of energy's Princeton Plasma physics Laboratory (PPPL) to develop the material's ability to adhere to metal.

These noteworthy results were achieved by the non-destructive stress-relaxation ability of the unique electrodes as well as the good piezoelectricity of the device components.

which could help curb the risk of unwanted infections in agricultural or garden plants, the team says.

an infection of Cryptosporidium parvum may mean nothing more than a few days of bad diarrhea. For someone with a compromised immune system,

it can mean death, following an excruciating, protracted bout of watery diarrhea. Recently, researchers at Fudan University's Institute of Biomedical sciences in Shanghai developed a lab-on-a-chip device that can rapidly diagnose cryptosporidium infections from just a finger prickotentially bringing point-of-care diagnosis to at-risk areas in rural China

in order to improve treatment outcomes. Worldwide treatment for the parasitic infection consists largely of oral rehydration

and managing symptoms until the body clears the infection, something that may take far longer for people with HIV infections.

Currently, China has more than 780,000 people living with HIV/AIDS, but there is very little data on how many of them are living with Cryptosporidium infections.

This stems from the difficulties of diagnosing an infection in the field-poor sensitivity and a short window of spore secretion both limit the viability of acid-fast staining,

a standard diagnostic assay in use today. More advanced immunoassays such as ELISA, are difficult to use broadly

because they require relatively advanced lab settings and skilled technicians. To address this need, Xunjia Cheng and Guodong Sui, both professors at Fudan University,

Cheng's research has involved medical protozoa and opportunistic HIV infections, and Sui's lab focuses on microfluidics.

The microfluidic device tests for the presence of the parasites'P23 antigen, a major molecular target of host antibody responses against the pathogen's infective stages.

Sui and Cheng tested their device's efficacy at diagnosing Cryptosporidium infections in 190 HIV-infected patients in Guangxi, China.

Future work for Sui and Cheng involves expanding the chip's sample processing capacities to include other infectious diseases

Defects in this process can lead to cancer, genetic problems and premature aging. In a research paper published in the Journal of Cell biology, Alessandro Vindigni, Ph d.,professor in the Edward A. Doisy Department of Biochemistry and Molecular biology at Saint louis University

Lesions in DNA can occur as often as 100,000 times per cell per day. They can be the result of normal metabolic activities, like free radicals,

Improper repair of DNA lesions can lead to mutations, abnormal chromosome structures, or loss of genetic information that in turn can cause premature aging, cancer, and genetic abnormalities.

Depending on the degree of genome instability these alterations will determine whether a cell survives, goes into a growth-arrest state, or dies.

If the cell's replication machinery collides with the lesion, a strand break can occur."

"Or, a serious lesion may be tolerated and the cell will continue to replicate. This may or may not be a good decision,

as this can lead to cancer. It is the degree of genomic instability caused by the lesion that will determine

whether the cell will survive.""While these scenarios pose serious threats, our cells have evolved elegant mechanisms to cope,

"Sometimes, these forks run into obstacles-like the lesions described above-that block their progress. When they do,

"Fork reversal is a central mechanism that our replication machinery uses to deal with DNA lesions,

and collision with the lesion is prevented.""In this study, Vindigni and team have identified new enzymes that enable cells to resume replication once the DNA lesion has been repaired.

Vindigni found that DNA2, an enzyme that works both as a nuclease (an enzyme that degrades DNA)

in microgravity or through diseases such as osteoporosis, will use the Alvetex Scaffold in experiments 150 miles above the surface of the Earth after the equipment is delivered by the Spacex Dragon capsule.

and could lead to better treatments for diseases such as for osteoporosis. BBSRC-funded research by Professor Stefan Przyborski

showing structural stress corrosion cracking and wing panel composite skin abnormalities, engineers have had to do extensive analysis to develop repairs."

"So the need for certifying a new material comes in, "says Michopoulos, "and says,'How are we going to compare a new material and,

and pursued postdoctoral research in multiphysics, fracture mechanics, and applied mathematics at Lehigh University. When he tells how he came to be at NRL in 1986,

and identify areas of DNA responsible for desirable traits such as high yield or disease resistance. Crop breeding programmes can make use of this genetic information to ensure that the preferred trait is inherited by future crop yields,

and applied in a research project where it identified genetic markers that signal resistance to the wheat yellow rust pathogen (Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici).

This disease is responsible for devastating bread wheat crops and has developed'Warrior'strains capable of infecting individuals previously believed to have tolerance."

Their anxiety is heightened only by the prospect of an imminent rise in U s. interest rates, which would draw capital away from emerging markets like China."

He centers his research on robotic systems and technologies that assist those in need due to advanced age or illness.

However, these devices, often created with nondegradable elastic polymers, bear an inherent risk of intestinal obstruction as a result of accidental fracture or migration.

Now, researchers at MIT Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have created a polymer gel that overcomes this safety concern

as there is a greater risk for fracture if a device is too large or too complex.

The researchers also say that single-administration delivery systems for the radical treatment of malaria

and other infections could significantly benefit from these technologies. In a March 2015 commentary piece in Nature, Traverso and Langer wrote that the GI TRACT is an area rife with opportunity for prolonged drug delivery in tackling this global health problem.

With this new material which can be used to create extended-release systems via swallowable ills,

#Researchers Reveal How Chronic Inflammation Can Lead to Cancer Chronic inflammation caused by disease or exposure to dangerous chemicals has long been linked to cancer,

but exactly how this process takes place has remained unclear. Now, a precise mechanism by which chronic inflammation can lead to cancer has been uncovered by researchers at MIT a development that could lead to improved targets for preventing future tumors.

In a paper published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,

the researchers unveil how one of a battery of chemical warfare agents used by the immune system to fight off infection can itself create DNA mutations that lead to cancer.

As many as one in five cancers are believed to be caused or promoted by inflammation. These include mesothelioma,

a type of lung cancer caused by inflammation following chronic exposure to asbestos, and colon cancer in people with a history of inflammatory bowel disease, says Bogdan Fedeles,

a research associate in the Department of Biological engineering at MIT, and the paper lead author.

Innate immune response Inflammation is part of the body innate response to invading pathogens or potentially harmful irritants.

However, these molecules can also cause collateral damage to healthy tissue around the infection site:

he presence of a foreign pathogen activates the immune response, which tries to fight off the bacteria,

and James Fox all professors of biological engineering at MIT had identified the presence of a lesion,

or site of damage in the structure of DNA, called 5-chlorocytosine (5clc) in the inflamed tissues of mice infected with the pathogen Helicobacter hepaticus.

This lesion, a damaged form of the normal DNA base cytosine, is caused by the reactive molecule hypochlorous acid the main ingredient in household bleach

The lesion 5clc, was present in remarkably high levels within the tissue, says John Essigmann, the William R. 1956) and Betsy P. Leitch Professor in Residence Professor of Chemistry, Toxicology and Biological engineering at MIT,

who led the current research. hey found the lesions were very persistent in DNA, meaning we don have a repair system to take them out,

Essigmann says. n our field lesions that are persistent, if they are also mutagenic, are the kind of lesions that would initiate cancer,

he adds. DNA sequencing of a developing gastrointestinal tumor revealed two types of mutation: cytosine (C) bases changing to thymine (T) bases,

and adenine (A) bases changing to guanine (G) bases. Since 5clc had not yet been studied as a potentially carcinogenic mutagen,

the researchers decided to investigate the lesion further, in a bid to uncover if it is indeed mutagenic.

the researchers first placed the 5clc lesion at a specific site within the genome of a bacterial virus. They then replicated the virus within the cell.

when triggered by infection, fires hypochlorous acid at the site, damaging cytosines in the DNA of the surrounding healthy tissue.

he explains. his scenario would best explain the work of James Fox and his MIT colleagues on gastrointestinal cancer.

the researchers replicated the genome containing the lesion with a variety of different types of polymerase,

or patterns of DNA mutations, associated with cancerous tumors. e believe that in the context of inflammation-induced damage of DNA,

says the paper provides a novel mechanistic link between chronic inflammation and cancer development. ith a combination of biochemical,

a type of mutation that is frequently observed in human cancers, Wang says. Studies of tissue samples of patients suffering from inflammatory bowel disease have found significant levels of 5clc,

Fedeles adds. By comparing these levels with his team findings on how mutagenic 5clc is,

the researchers predict that accumulation of the lesions would increase the mutation rate of a cell up to 30-fold,

who was honored with the prestigious Benjamin F. Trump award at the 2015 Aspen Cancer Conference for the research.

This expansion and contraction of aluminum particles generates great mechanical stress, which can cause electrical contacts to disconnect.

#Unexpected Discovery Offers Insight into Mechanisms of Asthma, Other Diseases A new study from the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public health reveals an unexpected discovery In people with asthma,

The findings could also have important ramifications for research in other areas, notably cancer, where the same kinds of cells play a major role.

But the study showed that, in asthma, the opposite is true. The physics of biologythe researchers decided to look at the detailed shape and movement of cells from the asthmatic airway because, according to Fredberg,

and the fact that no one knows what causes asthma, which afflicts more than 300 million people worldwide it made sense to look at the shape and movement of epithelial cells,

which many scientists think play a key role in the disease. The study included lead authors Jin-Ah Park and Jae Hun Kim, research scientists in the Department of Environmental Health who study asthma,

and Jeffrey M. Drazen, a pulmonologist and professor in the department, who studies echanotransductionin asthma how the bronchial constriction of asthma might trigger cell changes in the epithelium.

The study also included mathematical physicists James Butler, senior lecturer on physiology in the Department of Environmental Health

whether asthma causes the cells to unjam, or the unjamming of the cells causes asthma. t a very big question to figure out why this particular cell shape

and movement is said happening Park. e know that asthma is related to genes, environment, and the interaction between the two,

but asthma remains poorly understood. hatever the reason, knowing more about how these cells jam

and unjam is said important Fredberg, because epithelial cells play a prominent role not just in asthma,

but in all processes involving cell growth and movement, including organ development, wound healing, and, importantly, cancer.

The findings open the door to new possibilities for developing drugs to fight asthma as well as other diseases

and to new research questions. rying to define how cells behave, how they exert forces on each other,

When the material did fracture, the researchers found it far more likely for this to happen at the eight-member rings,

#New Protein-Based Sensor Detects Viral Infection, Kills Cancer cells Biological engineers from MIT have designed a modular system of proteins that can detect a particular DNA sequence in a cell

Engineers Build Protein-Based Sensor to Detect Viral Infection At left, cells glow red to indicate that the detection system has been delivered successfully.

To achieve this, the researchers could program the system to produce proteins that alert immune cells to fight the infection,

a professor of biotechnology and bioengineering at The swiss Federal Institute of technology in Zurich, described this experiment as an legant proof of conceptthat could lead to greatly improved treatments for viral infection. entinel designer cells engineered with the DNA sense

While treating diseases using this system is likely many years away, it could be used much sooner as a research tool,

Most commercial sunblocks are good at preventing sunburn, but they can go below the skin surface

the researchers tested their sunblock against direct ultraviolet rays and their ability to cause sunburn.

the researchersformulation protected equally well against sunburn. They also looked at an indirect and much less studied effect of UV light.

Saltzman and Girardi are affiliated with the Yale Cancer Center

#Neurologists Speed up Connectome Analysis by More than 10-Fold Unraveling the connectivity maps between nerve cells in brains is a huge scientific endeavor called connectomics.

The transplanted photoreceptors migrated naturally within the retina of their host. one transplant represents a therapeutic solution for retinal pathologies caused by the degeneration of photoreceptor cells,

offering hope that treatments may be developed for currently non-curable degenerative diseases, like Stargardt disease and ARMD. esearchers have been trying to achieve this kind of trial for years,

he said. hanks to our simple and effective approach, any laboratory in the world will now be able to create masses of photoreceptors.

ARMD is in fact the greatest cause of blindness in people over the age of 50

Beyond the clinical applications, Professor Bernier findings could enable the modelling of human retinal degenerative diseases through the use of induced pluripotent stem cells,

when it is needed no longer. his really is a completely new platform for closing wounds or holes anywhere in the body,

which is the third level of sepsis, is difficult to predict. Sepsis is a severe immune system response triggered by an infection.

If untreated inflammation spreads throughout the body and can clot vessels. This blocks the blood flow to organs which can cause failure.

when the sepsis was relatively easy to counteract. The study found that TREWSCORE identified 61 percent of the septic shock patients before one of its competitors,

000 people in the United states develop severe sepsis and septic shock each year; for 40 percent of them, the condition is ultimately fatal,

This computer system can be tailored to many different medical conditions including acute lung injury, pneumonia, and post-rehabilitation illnesses like neuropathy. e are at a very exciting time,

says Saria. ore and more data is being collected on the electronic health records, and now our algorithms are reaching a point where they can be a real aid to clinicians. t

which in one chirality alleviates morning sickness in pregnant women and in the other causes birth defects.

genetic disorders are the leading cause of death. But pediatricians typically can scan an infant entire genome

Lead researcher Stephen Kingsmore, a pediatrician and genomics expert at Children Mercy Hospital in Kansas city, explains that doctors typically run targeted genetic tests for specific diseases

looking for disease-causing mutations. But with more than 8000 possible genetic diseases, such tests eren really relevant to clinical care, he tells IEEE Spectrum.

Whole-genome sequencing is a different matter entirely. These scans check for mutations at each of the 3. 2 billion locations on the human genome.

After that, Kingsmore team used in-house software to search through the mutations for those associated with a disease that matched the baby symptoms.

and diagnosed a genetic disease in 20 of those babies. In 13 cases, the doctors dramatically changed their treatment plans.

For example, a baby with liver failure received the proper surgeries and pharmaceutical treatments based on the accurate diagnosis of a rare genetic disorder,

In other cases, the genome scan allowed doctors to rule out diseases, which Kingsmore says can be equally valuable. octor always worry:

But if a certain disease-associated mutation isn found, doctors needn give justin-case treatments.

treat cancer, strengthen polymers, sterilize medical devices, and even to make diamonds green and pearls black.

#The device is intended for use in remote laboratory settings to diagnose various types of cancers and nervous system disorders, such as Alzheimer,

as well as detect drug resistance in infectious diseases. To use the camera it is necessary to first isolate

The team is currently using the tool to etect the presence of malaria-related drug resistance. g

This includes issues that are common in both developed and emerging markets from E coli and Salmonella to SARS and even the norovirus.

Through a disease management and doctor communication platform, Microhealth is attempting to crowdsource the management of rare, chronic conditions, starting with hemophilia.

If a patient with hemophilia gets a cut, he won stop bleeding until he intravenously injects enough of this protein.

And treatment is incredibly expensive around $300, 000 per patient per year, Miguel says. sually patients will infuse all of the time

Currently, 10 percent of hemophilia patients in the U s. nearly 3, 000 people) are using Microhealth,

Doctors can also request pictures and additional information from patients, who often live hundreds of miles from hemophilia treatment centers,

And hemophilia is just the first chronic disease that the company will tackle. The team has started already working with rheumatoid arthritis patients,

and plan to launch versions of the app for multiple sclerosis and high cholesterol patients in the future. magine a patient has cancer,

and only so much time to live, so choosing the right medication is saving his life,

Gomez Andonaegui found that the price fluctuated so much that it was major stress in running his business.

while youe still taking those antibiotics you were prescribed last week for your sinus infection. The hack is potentially a lot more useful for patients with serious conditions who are taking multiple prescription drugs for an extended period of time.

#Cells that regenerate liver without cancer risk NEW YORK: Scientists have discovered new type of cells which are an important part of liver regeneration.

and grow without causing cancer, which tends to be a risk with rapid cell division.""Hybrid hepatocytes represent not only the most effective way to repair a diseased liver,

They then exposed healthy mice to three known cancer-causing pathways and watched the hybrid hepatocytes closely.

Liver cancer never originated from these cells s

#Cells in mice restore liver damage without cancer risk In a breakthrough discovery, medical researchers have discovered a type of cell in mice

which restores liver damage without the risk of cancer. The researchers have also found the similar cells in human.

When healthy liver cells are depleted by long-term exposure to toxic chemicals, the newly discovered cells,

and then exposed healthy mice to three known cancer-causing pathways and watched the hybrid hepatocytes closely.

The researchers noticed that liver cancer never originated from these cells. Lead author Michael Karin of the University of California said that the hybrid hepatocytes represented not only the most effective way to repair a diseased liver,

A first of its kind device that transforms paralysis victims'breath into words has been developed by researchers,

#Scientists identify protein that will help treatment of arthritis Scientists have identified a protein that regulates the severity of tissue damage caused by rheumatoid arthritis.

C5orf30, regulates the severity of tissue damage caused by rheumatoid arthritis (RA), an autoimmune disease that causes pain, inflammation, stiffness and damage to the joints of the feet, hips, knees, and hands.

new effective drugs are increasingly available to treat the disease and prevent deformed joints. To conduct the research, scientists from University college Dublin and the University of Sheffield,

and its significance in human health and disease,"said co-author Munitta Muthana from the University of Sheffield.

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