Life-like organ replicas – so-called 3D organoids – are a good way to research disease processes. A team from the University of Würzburg has now presented a kind of blueprint for such a model of the cervix. A few stem cells, various growth factors, four to six weeks of time – and of course a great deal of expertise are needed to create a scaled-down but nevertheless lifelike and functional replica of a cervix in the laboratory. A new publication…
A UNIGE team shows that cells that make up our tissues increase in volume when tissues bend. A key discovery for the culture of in vitro organs. How do our cells organize themselves to give their final shape to our organs? The answer lies in morphogenesis, the set of mechanisms that regulate their distribution in space during embryonic development. A team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) has just made a surprising discovery in this field: when a tissue curves,…
Converting CO2 to formic acid using an alumina-supported, iron-based compound. Photoreduction of CO2 into transportable fuel like formic acid (HCOOH) is a great way of dealing with CO2’s rising levels in the atmosphere. To aid in this mission, a research team from Tokyo Tech chose an easily available iron-based mineral and loaded it onto an alumina support to develop a catalyst that can efficiently convert CO2 into HCOOH with ~90% selectivity! The rising CO2 levels in our atmosphere and their…
Plastic bottles, punnets, wrap – such lightweight packaging made of PET plastic becomes a problem if it is not recycled. Scientists at Leipzig University have now discovered a highly efficient enzyme that degrades PET in record time. The enzyme PHL7, which the researchers found in a compost heap in Leipzig, could make biological PET recycling possible much faster than previously thought. The findings have now been published in the scientific journal “ChemSusChem” and selected as the cover topic. One way…
Scripps Research scientists develop a sophisticated platform for building and modifying proteoglycans to dissect their normal roles and their roles in diseases, including cancers. Scientists at Scripps Research have developed a set of methods for the closer study of one of the least-accessible, least-understood players in biology: protein-sugar conjugates called proteoglycans. These molecules are often thickly present on the surfaces of cells and are known to have a broad set of functions in the body, though how they work and…
An animal model for a crucial component of our genome maintenance system. Researchers at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) have created a new disease model that has contributed to a better understanding of Bloom syndrome and the sex determination processes of zebrafish. The study, linking two seemingly unrelated topics, was carried out by the research teams of Mihály Kovács (Department of Biochemistry) and Máté Varga (Department of Genetics) and published in the scientific journal Cell Death and Disease. In addition to providing important…
A fast, efficient, selective membrane for purifying saltwater. Water scarcity is a growing problem around the world. Desalination of seawater is an established method to produce drinkable water but comes with huge energy costs. For the first time, researchers use fluorine-based nanostructures to successfully filter salt from water. Compared to current desalination methods, these fluorous nanochannels work faster, require less pressure and less energy, and are a more effective filter. If you’ve ever cooked with a nonstick Teflon-coated frying pan,…
The ground beneath our feet and under the ocean floor is an electrically-charged grid, the product of bacteria “exhaling” excess electrons through tiny nanowires in an environment lacking oxygen. Yale University researchers have been studying ways to enhance this natural electrical conductivity within nanowires 1/100,000th width of a human hair by identifying the mechanism of electron flow. In a new study published in Science advances, a team led by graduate student Peter Dahl with Nikhil Malvankar, Assistant Professor of Molecular…
Neurodegenerative diseases damage and destroy neurons, ravaging both mental and physical health. Parkinson’s disease, which affects over 10 million people worldwide, is no exception. The most obvious symptoms of Parkinson’s disease arise after the illness damages a specific class of neuron located in the midbrain. The effect is to rob the brain of dopamine—a key neurotransmitter produced by the affected neurons. In new research, Jeffrey Kordower and his colleagues describe a process for converting non-neuronal cells into functioning neurons able to take…
Synapses are the contact points in the brain via which nerve cells ‘talk’ to each other. Disturbances in this communication lead to diseases of the nervous system, since altered synaptic proteins, for example, can impair this complex molecular mechanism. This can result in mild symptoms, but also very severe disabilities in those affected. The interest of the two neurobiologists Professor Tobias Langenhan and Professor Manfred Heckmann, from Leipzig and Würzburg respectively, was aroused when they read in a scientific publication…
Tumors can force neighboring cells into supporting cancer growth by releasing lactate into their local environment, according to researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine. The findings pave the way for future drug treatments that thwart that defense mechanism to help cancer patients. In the study, published May 10 in Cell Reports, the researchers determined how tumors, as they develop, recruit nearby cells called fibroblasts to work as their enablers. Fibroblasts are part of the “stroma,” or connective tissue of organs, and normally…
… can be opened and locked with a key. Technique opens new possibilities for smart drug delivery and other applications. Just as countries import a vast array of consumer goods across national borders, so living cells are engaged in a lively import-export business. Their ports of entry are sophisticated transport channels embedded in a cell’s protective membrane. Regulating what kinds of cargo can pass through the borderlands formed by the cell’s two-layer membrane is essential for proper functioning and survival….
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a heart disease that leads to a stressed, swollen heart muscle. Due to a poor understanding of underlying mechanisms, effective clinical treatments are not available. Patients receive generic heart medication and sometimes need open-heart surgery to remove excess tissue. Researchers at the Hubrecht Institute have now successfully applied a new revolutionary technology (scRNA-seq) to uncover underlying disease mechanisms, including specifically those causing the swelling. The extensive “big data” set is a treasure trove of novel observations that…
The emergence of antibiotic-resistant pathogens and the increasing difficulty in developing new drugs has contributed to global challenges in combating infectious diseases. An extensive bioinformatics survey of around 170,000 bacterial genomes indicates that only three percent of the genomic potential for microbial natural products—chemically diverse bacterial metabolites that form the basis of antibiotic drugs—have been discovered so far. Co-led by Prof Nadine Ziemert of the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), the survey identified several bacterial genera as producers of…
NIH discovery sheds light on tissue targeted by age-related macular degeneration and other diseases. Researchers have identified distinct differences among the cells comprising a tissue in the retina that is vital to human visual perception. The scientists from the National Eye Institute (NEI) discovered five subpopulations of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE)—a layer of tissue that nourishes and supports the retina’s light-sensing photoreceptors. Using artificial intelligence, the researchers analyzed images of RPE at single-cell resolution to create a reference map that…
It’s often said that a little stress can be good for you. Now scientists have shown that the same may be true for cells, uncovering a newly-discovered mechanism that might help prevent the build-up of tangles of proteins commonly seen in dementia. A characteristic of diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s – collectively known as neurodegenerative diseases – is the build-up of misfolded proteins. These proteins, such as amyloid and tau in Alzheimer’s disease, form ‘aggregates’ that can cause irreversible…
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