Laboratory studies of lung tissue usually require the removal of large amounts of human or animal tissue. Now scientists from the University of Freiburg’s Faculty of Medicine have succeeded in collaboration with American researchers in generating tiny quantities of lung tissue, so-called organoids, from just a few body cells in the lab. The tissue forms a three-dimensional structure as it develops, complete with the tiny hairs on the surface typical of lung tissue. These organoids can play an important part…
Controlling how cells grow is fundamental to ensuring proper brain development and stopping aggressive brain tumors. The network of molecules that control brain cell growth is thought to be complex and vast, but now McGill University researchers provide striking evidence of a single gene that can, by itself, control brain cell growth in humans. In a paper published recently in Stem Cell reports, Carl Ernst, an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at McGill University and his team have shown that…
Converting carbon dioxide to ethylene holds commercial promise, professor says. Engineers at the University of Cincinnati have developed a promising electrochemical system to convert emissions from chemical and power plants into useful products while addressing climate change. UC College of Engineering and Applied Science assistant professor Jingjie Wu and his students used a two-step cascade reaction to convert carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide and then into ethylene, a chemical used in everything from food packaging to tires. The study was…
Increasing wildfires in a warming climate can reinforce the circum-Arctic warming and further contribute to global warming, forming a concerning feedback loop. Rapid warming in the Arctic and accelerated glacier and sea ice melting have a huge impact on the global environment. Greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, and black carbon aerosols are well-known warming agents. In contrast, atmospheric, light absorbing brown carbon particles belong to the least understood and most uncertain contributors in the Arctic and surrounding regions. An…
– genetic “botanical crime scene investigation” reveals diet. SNSB researchers determine the exact diet of Australian carnivorous plants by analyzing the genes of their prey. Even tiny parasites on captured insects could be detected in this way. The scientists have now published the results of their study in the journal Scientific Reports. Carnivorous plants attract, catch and digest small animals in order to obtain extra nutrients which they cannot get from the nutrient-poor soils they grow in. Hence, carnivorous plants…
… to deliver drugs to tumors. Researchers genetically engineer a microbial encapsulation system for therapeutic bacteria that can hide them from immune systems, enabling them to reach tumors more effectively and kill cancer cells in mice. Columbia Engineering researchers report that they have developed a “cloaking” system that temporarily hides therapeutic bacteria from immune systems, enabling them to more effectively deliver drugs to tumors and kill cancer cells in mice. By manipulating the microbes’ DNA, they programmed gene circuits that…
State-of-the-art method reveals never-before-seen atomic structures controlling the process. Methanotrophic bacteria consume 30 million metric tons of methane per year and have captivated researchers for their natural ability to convert the potent greenhouse gas into usable fuel. Yet we know very little about how the complex reaction occurs, limiting our ability to use the double benefit to our advantage. By studying the enzyme the bacteria use to catalyze the reaction, a team at Northwestern University now has discovered key structures…
Cells use RNA as a versatile tool to regulate the activity of their genes. Small snippets of RNA can fine-tune how much protein is produced from various genes; some small RNAs can shut genes off altogether. An enzyme called Dicer chops RNA into smaller pieces: plants use it to chew up the RNA of invading viruses; worms use it to shut genes off during development; and humans use it to produce gene-regulating microRNAs. Dicer is also of interest because mutations…
… with α-ketoesters as a new carbonyl source. By adding a new carbonyl source, the scientists have increased the scope of the process, which could accelerate drug development. Chiral tetrahydro-β-carbolines or tryptolines that contain a tetrasubstituted carbon center provides a framework for a variety of biologically active compounds. This basic structure is found in naturally occurring compounds and is a necessary component for pharmaceutical products. The synthesis of the bioactive structure and its derivatives begins with the asymmetric Pictet-Spengler reaction,…
Research led by Cincinnati Children’s suggests potential applications beyond blood cancers. Research led by experts at Cincinnati Children’s has revealed a protein—UBE2N—that appears crucial to multiple pathways that contribute to acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cell survival. The team also has found a class of small molecules that block the protein’s function, which in turn kills AML cells in lab dishes and in mouse models—without killing healthy blood cells. This potential breakthrough toward developing a novel therapy for AML was published…
Assay can quickly and easily inform decisions about public health policy and treatment for individual patients and can rapidly detect new variants, such as omicron, investigators report in The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics. After the start of the SARS-C0V-2 pandemic, investigators from ResearchPath LLC and their collaborators at Rutgers University quickly dedicated resources to develop accurate and reliable COVID-19 testing. As variants emerged, they developed a PCR test that uses molecular beacons not only to diagnose COVID-19 infection, but also…
A convenient and powerful tool in neuronal research. Toyohashi University of Technology research team led by Prof. Rika Numano and Prof. Takeshi Kawano showed DNA stamper injections can be performed delivering biomolecules into live neuronal cells within brain tissues ex vivo and in vivo using nanoscale-tipped wire (NTW) arrays to genetically modify and restore cell function in the brain. These NTW array injections followed the exploration of pacemaker cells in the brain slice of central clock with knockdown function using…
Chemists have developed a nano-scale structure that combines copper, gold and silver to work as a superior catalyst in a chemical reaction whose improved performance will be essential if carbon capture and utilization efforts are to succeed in helping to mitigate global warming. A study describing the process appeared in the journal Nano Research on Mar. 15. In the face of the climate change challenge, in recent years, policy-makers have increasingly focused on carbon-capture-and-utilization (CCU), wherein CO2 is drawn down from the…
A living cell is exposed to a variety of stimuli. Countless messengers dock on its surface, where receptors in the cell membrane receive the incoming “orders.” Signaling cascades are then triggered inside the cell, which ultimately responds by producing or breaking down substances, or by switching genes on and off in the cell nucleus. So far so clear. But what’s exactly going on here? Researchers at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC) have now…
Around 500,000 people in the UK live with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), a life-long, chronic condition characterised by sporadic bouts of gut inflammation causing debilitating symptoms. Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis – the latter affecting around 1 in 400 people – are the two most common types of IBD. Current treatments are ineffective and seriously impact the quality of life of the patients and those of their families. Scientists at the Earlham Institute, Quadram Institute and University of East Anglia on the…
Mutations that lead to muscle atrophy can be repaired with the gene editor CRISPR-Cas9. A team led by ECRC researcher Helena Escobar has now introduced the tool into human muscle stem cells for the first time using mRNA, thus discovering a method suitable for therapeutic applications. It may be only a tiny change in the genome, but this small difference can have fatal consequences: Muscular dystrophies are almost always caused by a single faulty gene. As different as the mutations…
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