Following a difficult surgery, some patients end up experiencing cognitive decline and delirium, which seems to arise from inflammatory changes in the brain, that are still poorly understood. This inflammation is difficult to control in a targeted way, but researchers at Duke University seem to have discovered that electrical nerve stimulation may (Read more...)
Tag: Genetics
New Efficient Method for Sequencing Epigenetic Modifications
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Medicine have developed a new method for sequencing chemical groups attached to the surface of DNA. These chemical groups are modifications of the DNA bases that convey important information relating to the patterns of gene expression. These modifications have been studied for the past (Read more...)
Powerful New X-Ray Laser Images Biomolecules Like Never Before
At the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), a research center of the Helmholtz Association in Germany, a team of scientists working within the newly built European X-Ray Free-Electron Laser Facility, have unveiled the structure of an enzyme involved in antibiotic resistance. While the finding is important in itself, it really validates a n (Read more...)
Smartphone App and Portable Lab Kit Can Rapidly Detect Pathogenic Bacteria
Researchers at UC Santa Barbara have developed a point-of-care diagnostic kit that can detect pathogenic bacteria in patient samples in as little as one hour. The technology is inexpensive and portable. It consists of a small box of basic lab equipment and a smartphone, that can achieve sensitive and specific identification of a variety of [&hellip (Read more...)
Micro-Patterned Cell Culture Platform Reveals Unknown Cancer Behavior
Researchers at Hokkaido University have developed a micro-patterned cell culture platform to study the behavior of pancreatic cancer cells. The new cell culture substrate revealed previously unknown and clinically relevant pancreatic cell behaviors that could help researchers to develop new therapies. “Cancer studies so far either use cell cu (Read more...)
“Spray-On Skin” from AVITA Medical Approved to Treat Serious Burns
AVITA Medical, a Valencia, California firm, won FDA approval for its remarkable RECELL Autologous Cell Harvesting Device for serious burns in adult patients. In preparation for treatment, a small healthy piece of the patient’s skin sample is taken, from which the so-called “Spray-On Skin” preparation is made. The process only take (Read more...)
Deep Convolutional Neural Network Identifies Lung Cancer Types from Biopsy Slices
Many of us think of artificial intelligence (AI) as computers mimicking humans in thinking and behavior. Thankfully, the reality is still very different and AI is more of an evolving tool that can tackle narrow tasks that humans are otherwise not good enough at. One of those tasks is looking at complex images of tissue […]
New Faster, Cheaper, Better Test Platform for Nucleic Acid Identification of Diseases
At the National University of Singapore, scientists have developed a portable, point-of-care nucleic acid test platform that can be used to diagnose a variety of diseases. It comes in the form of a cartridge that does not need to be kept refrigerated or handled specially in any other way and once used it provides results faster […]
New Fiber Optic Sensor for In Vivo Photoacoustic Imaging
Researchers at Jinan University in China have tinkered with the design of optical fibers to create a novel new type of sensor for photoacoustic imaging. Because the technology uses flexible fibers, it may have applications for implantable, wearable, and diagnostic medical devices. Photoacoustics involves using laser light to create ultrasound waves (Read more...)
Microscopic Implantable Sensors Measure Dopamine in Brain
Dopamine is a neural signaling molecule seemingly involved in nearly every aspect of the brain’s activity. Yet, there hasn’t been a practical way to monitor the long term levels of dopamine in lab animals, let alone in humans. The main problem is that sensors developed so far degrade in the brain within a matter of […]
Looking Deep Into Living Brain Using Photon Counter on Laser Scanning Microscope
New technology has been developed at Tel Aviv University in Israel that significantly improves 2D and 3D imaging of neuronal activity in the brains of living animals. The technology should help make new findings possible about the workings of the brain and how neurological diseases operate. PySight, as the technology is called, uses open-source sof (Read more...)
Microfluidic Device Corrals Viable Sperm for IVF
Researchers at Cornell University have developed a microfluidic device to rapidly isolate the strongest and fastest sperm from a sperm sample. The technique should help technicians during the IVF process, as the current method of isolating the most viable sperm is painstaking and can take hours for the manual effort to pay off. During IVF, [&hellip (Read more...)
Magnetic Nanoparticles Pull Cancer Biomarkers from Whole Blood
MicroRNA molecules are short RNA strings that bind to certain messenger RNAs, in the process blocking messenger RNAs from being translated to create new proteins. When microRNAs aren’t operating properly, cancer may be the cause, but this connection has been poorly studied for clinical applications because microRNAs are so difficult to isolat (Read more...)
DNA Empowerment for Lifestyle Changes: Interview with Wellness by Science CEO, Harry Blustein III
As genetic screening technologies continue being developed and offered at ever cheaper prices, members of the general public are growing increasingly curious about what lies hidden in their DNA. While many have elected to sample their genome out of pure curiosity and to get better insight into their family history, the resultant data could often [& (Read more...)
New Device for Studying Bacterial Biofilm Formation
Biofilms are large groups of bacterial cells that stick together and protect each other like a Roman legion. Drugs and other therapies can poke at the exterior of a biofilm, but killing the mass can be extremely challenging. Researchers at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology in Japan decided to look more closely at the […]
3D-Printed Placenta-on-a-Chip Mimics Structure of Placental Membrane
Researchers at TU Wien in Vienna have developed a placenta-on-a-chip microfluidic device which uses a femtosecond laser-based 3D-printing method to create a customized hydrogel membrane. The printed membrane is populated with placental cells and mimics the microstructure of the placental barrier. This allows researchers to study how substances, inc (Read more...)
Automation of Patch Clamp Technique to Speed Brain Studies
The patch clamp technique, for which the 1991 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded, is widely used to study the electrical activity of individual cells. It is particularly useful in neuroscience because electricity is the language through which neurons communicate. But it is slow and tedious since it requires a trained specialist to [& (Read more...)
New Device for Testing Immunotherapies on Tumor Fragments
Immuno-oncology, a rapidly developing field that harnesses the body’s immune system to attack cancers, lacks effective methods of testing potential therapies. In addition to animal studies, tiny bits of tumors are placed, along with chemical compounds being tested, within multiwell plates and watched over using a number of techniques. While t (Read more...)
Custom 3D-Printed Microfluidics for Cell-Based Health Research
Researchers at NYU Abu Dhabi (yes, there is such a thing) have developed a method to 3D print functional and inexpensive microfluidic probes for cancer research. The technique could make microfluidics more accessible, allowing researchers to easily design and produce their own devices, and conduct cell-based healthcare research, such as studying ca (Read more...)
Molecular Sensor to Detect if Cancer Drug is Working
Being able to monitor the chemical content of cancer cells may help scientists develop new anti-cancer medications. Additionally, it may also lead to personalized drug therapies for cancer patients that all too often end up trying multiple medications before finding one that works. Chemists at MIT have come up with just such a tool for […]