What is homocystinuria? In this article, learn about the causes of this condition and who it affects, the symptoms, and how it is diagnosed and treated.
Tag Archive for Genetics
New Way to Reprogram Macrophages Helps Immune System Kill Tumors
by Medgadged • • 0 Comments
Macrophages, as their greek-derived name implies, are hungry white blood cells that consume all kinds of foreign and unwanted objects within the body. They are one of the primary methods that the immune system uses to fight off disease, and they work by checking the protein content on the exterior of cells to identify whether […]
Expansion Microscopy Swells Samples for Better Imaging
by Medgadged • • 0 Comments
When trying to use light and conventional optics to image a biological sample at great detail, one eventually encounters the fact that objects smaller than the light’s wavelength cannot be resolved. While technological tricks have been developed to overcome this limitation in some ways, a team of researchers from MIT and Harvard have ins (Read more...)
New Microfluidic Chip Detects Circulating Tumor Cells in Real Time
by Medgadged • • 0 Comments
At the Rovira i Virgili University in Catalan, Spain, researchers have developed and patented a microfluidic device for detecting circulating tumor cells within whole blood that originate from breast cancer tumors and which are responsible for metastasis. The device, reported on in journal Scientific Reports, and already tested on blood (Read more...)
Scientists Convince Stem Cells Within Brain to Migrate Toward Injury
by Medgadged • • 0 Comments
To be able to fix the fine structure of damaged neural networks using transplanted stem cells would require a way to guide the stem cells to line up in a desired way. Researchers from University of California, Davis and Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China have discovered that they can use electric current to point to […]
New Imaging Technique Provides Molecular Orientation in Samples to Help Study Neuro Diseases
by Medgadged • • 0 Comments
A team of French scientists has developed a high speed imaging technique that provides them an unprecedented view of the chemical nature of biological samples. Not only does it provide an analysis of the chemical content, it also provides information about the orientation of the molecules detected. The newly available perspective of the molecular d (Read more...)
Researchers Work to Grow Capillaries Inside 3D Printed Molds
by Medgadged • • 0 Comments
Researchers at Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine have overcome an important challenge to using endothelial cells sourced from induced pluripotent stem cells to generate bioengineered blood vessels. Specifically, the investigators were able to watch and guide the formation of tiny blood vessels within specially built molds that promote (Read more...)
Using Light to Activate Genes and Kill Cancer
by Medgadged • • 0 Comments
Scientists at Kyoto University in Japan have developed a gene delivery system, involving gold nanorods and a near infrared laser, which can transport a gene into cells and activate it. Changing gene expression is a powerful way to affect cell behavior, and scientists hope to use this approach to treat a variety of diseases. Researchers […]
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Shows Structure of Proteins at Atomic Resolution
by Medgadged • • 0 Comments
Researchers at the University of Stuttgart and Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Germany have made quite a breakthrough by being able to study the atom by atom molecular configuration of proteins using a miniaturized version of an MRI scanner. These days the structures of individual protein molecules are impossible to see and [&helli (Read more...)
Genetically Engineered Baker’s Yeast Detects Variety of Fungal Pathogens
by Medgadged • • 0 Comments
Researchers at Columbia University have developed a cheap and easy to use fungal pathogen sensor based on store bought baker’s yeast. Currently available methods for detecting specific fungi involve expensive equipment, the use of refrigeration, and trained personnel. Using the team’s technique may result in cheap, readily available tes (Read more...)
Engineering Immune Organoids : An Interview with Prof. Ankur Singh from Cornell University
by Medgadged • • 0 Comments
Organ-on-a-chip technologies are redefining the way in which in vitro models help understand and recapitulate the in vivo environment. The immune system is particularly difficult to model in an in vitro environment because of the complexity of biological, mechanical, and chemical cues that modulate the immune cells. Prof. Ankur Singh, an assistant (Read more...)
High Speed Microfluidic Guillotine Helps to Study How Cells Repair Themselves
by Medgadged • • 0 Comments
There are single cell organisms in existence that, after being cut in two, regenerate themselves into two separate fully functional living beings. Understanding the mechanism of this ability can help to better study cancer, improve treatment for physical injuries, and track the development of neurodegenerative diseases. But, carefu (Read more...)
Georgia Tech Researchers May Have Developed Technology to Prevent Cancer Metastasis
by Medgadged • • 0 Comments
Cancer cells rely on their cytoskeletons to move away from where they are born, resulting in metastasis of the cancer. This process has been a challenge to prevent, but doing so can go a long way toward successfully killing cancers before they’re allowed to spread. Researchers at Georgia Tech are now reporting in Proceedings of the (Read more...)
Tiny Barometric Sensor to Detect Presence of Disease Biomarkers
by Medgadged • • 0 Comments
Researchers from Jinan University in Guangzhou, China and Washington State University have developed a novel type of sensor that works by measuring pressure changes induced by the production of oxygen (O2). The technology may miniaturize and make readily available testing of a wide variety of biomarkers. The team of researchers has already demonstr (Read more...)
Organs-on-Chip with Tiny Electrodes Sense Electrical Activity, Resistance of Cells
by Medgadged • • 0 Comments
Organ-on-chip technology promises to help speed up and improve research on how potential new drugs will interact with the body’s own organs. Additionally, it may alleviate the need for in-animal studies that can be difficult to perform and that too often produce misleading results. Organs-on-chip are essentially specialized microfluidic devic (Read more...)
Magnets and Nanoparticles for On-Demand Leaky Vessels
by Medgadged • • 0 Comments
Scientists at Rice University have developed a method to open gaps between the endothelial cells that line blood vessels using a magnetic field and iron oxide nanoparticles. The gaps close by themselves after the researchers remove the magnets. They hope that the concept could be used to help deliver larger therapeutic molecules like proteins to [& (Read more...)
Scientists Keep Bits of Hearts Alive Under High Speed Cameras to Study Arrhythmias
by Medgadged • • 0 Comments
Detecting the source of errant electric signals in the heart that cause cardiac arrhythmias, as well as understanding what causes them, has been a notoriously difficult challenge for both physicians and researchers. This is because the heart is difficult to study, but researchers at Ohio State University have come up with a new technique that [&hel (Read more...)
Microchip for Sorting and Identifying Large Numbers of Circulating Tumor Chips
by Medgadged • • 0 Comments
Detection and classification of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) may soon become a common method for screening for multiple types of cancer. Fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) is popular one technique for spotting CTCs, but it’s limited because the number of available dye colors is small and because for CTCs of certain cancers ther (Read more...)
Diagnosing Multiple Sclerosis with a Blood Test: Interview with IQuity CEO, Dr. Chase Spurlock
by Medgadged • • 0 Comments
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease that afflicts an approximate 2.5 million patients world-wide, giving rise to multiple issues regarding quality of life and the potential for disability. Up to 15,000 people are newly diagnosed with MS every year in the US, while another 45,000 experience a clinical precursor with similar symptom (Read more...)
Microchip Sorts DNA Fragments by Size in Minutes
by Medgadged • • 0 Comments
At the University of Twente in The Netherlands, scientists have come up with a rapid and inexpensive way of separating out DNA fragments from a sample. The technology will help speed up DNA sequencing, which normally relies on using computers to virtually combine millions of DNA fragments into a single string. Currently, the so-called fraction (Read more...)