Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley and the Keck Graduate Institute of The Claremont Colleges have developed a hand-held device that can detect genetic mutations, such as those causing genetic diseases or affecting how people respond to certain drugs, in just minutes. The device employs a combination of CRISPR and graphene transistors to achieve […]
Tag: Genetics
New Microscope Sees Large Groups of Neurons in Living Brains
Most current methods of looking at the activity of the brains of living animals are very limited in their field of view and/or frame rate. This makes it difficult to understand the complex activity taking place inside the brain that involves more than one small region of the organ. This is all rapidly changing as […]
Light and Sound Induce Brainwaves to Clear Brains of Amyloid Plaques
Alzheimer’s disease has no cure at this point. Only a few therapies that try to slow the progression are available, but there’s a light, and some sound, at the end of the tunnel. Researchers at MIT and Georgia Tech have now shown they can reduce the buildup of amyloid plaques in mouse models of Alzheimer’s […]
Bioreactors Inside Body Grow New Bones for Transplantation
Injuries and disease often necessitate putting something in place of where natural bone is. While there are custom-made artificial orthopedic implants and native bone grafts, researchers from Rice University have now shown a new and better way. The team printed in 3D a bioreactor mold within which new bone can grow. It is made to be […]
Macular Degeneration Treated with Viral Delivery of Gene Into Eye
A number of degenerative eye diseases are related to photoreceptors no longer functioning properly. There can be a host of reasons that photoreceptors don’t work, but soon it may not be that important to know why the disease is happening. That is because researchers at University of California, Berkeley have come up with a way […]
3D Brain Organoids Model Rare Neural Disease
Direct studies on the brain are inherently difficult, as it’s a complex and fragile organ hidden behind a thick skull. Animal studies can help, but animal brains are different from human ones. In order to better study how the brain works and its pathophysiology, researchers have been working on growing tiny replicas of specific parts […]
Multi-Parameter Sensors Detect Chemical and Physical Stimuli
Sensors are usually made to detect specific chemical or physical stimuli, making it difficult to create devices that can monitor a variety of different parameters at the same time. Now researchers at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have developed an unusual sensor, built out of conductive ink formed into origami arrays, that can detect both chemical and […]
Scientists Image Crawling Fruit Fly Larvae Down to Individual Cells and Even Reveal Activity Inside
Scientists at Columbia University have developed an amazing new microscope for viewing neurons, and they used it to image proprioceptive neurons in living fruit fly larvae. These neural cells help the larvae orient itself. The videos the Columbia team created are simply incredible, particularly if you consider how small these animals are and that the imaging […]
Handheld Skin Bioprinter Heals Deep Open Wounds With Patient’s Own Cells
The human organism has a number of physiologic processes that work together to heal skin wounds. Sometimes wounds are so large and difficult that these healing mechanisms simply can’t access damaged tissues. Researchers at Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine in North Carolina are now reporting the development of a bioprinter that uses a patient’s own […]
Tea Bag Implant Protects Islet Cells While Letting Insulin Flow Out
Type 1 diabetes patients have to inject themselves with insulin to replace the inability of beta cells of pancreas to produce the hormone. To cure Type 1 diabetes will require either a way to “fix” the pancreas and prevent it from being damaged by the immune system, or some sort of implant that can generate […]
Tea Bag Implant Protects Islet Cells While Letting Insulin Flow Out
Type 1 diabetes patients have to inject themselves with insulin to replace the inability of beta cells of pancreas to produce the hormone. To cure Type 1 diabetes will require either a way to “fix” the pancreas and prevent it from being damaged by the immune system, or some sort of implant that can generate […]
Bioengineered Gel to Reduce Risk of Bone Marrow Transplants
Bone marrow transplantation is a potentially life-saving treatment for leukemia, multiple myeloma, and HIV. The procedure involves depleting the patient’s immune system, then infusing blood stem cells from a donor, which develop into a new immune system. Unfortunately, during the transplant process, patients are susceptible to disease and infection, making it risky and not recommended […]
Neuron Tracking Tool Lets Scientists Study Complex Functionality of Brain
In order to understand how the brain functions, we have to be able to track the movement and activity of individual neurons. This is maddeningly complex at present, as single neural cells have to be visually tracked by grumpy lab techs to understand even a tiny bit of what’s going on. Now a new tool called […]
Researchers Give Animals Infrared Vision
Even those of us with perfect vision are actually blind in some ways. Many birds can see ultraviolet light and snakes can detect infrared, something we don’t have the right retinal cells for. But now researchers at University of Massachusetts Medical School and University of Science and Technology of China have shown that it may soon be […]
Artificial Proximal Tubule Model Mimics Functionality of Real Kidneys
Our kidneys are designed to filter out all kinds of impurities from the blood stream, a process that’s not particularly selective. This is done by glomeruli, which are groups of capillaries at the end of kidney tubules. But other parts of the kidneys, the proximal tubules, are charged with returning wanted nutrients back into the body. […]
Microfluidic Device Pulls Exosomes from Blood to Test for Cancer
Exosomes are tiny vesicles that seemingly all the cells in our bodies produce. Initially, exosomes were thought to be a way for cells to expunge built-up trash, but over the past decade or so scientists have discovered that they seem to play an important role in regulating a variety of biochemical processes. One thing that […]
Biowire II Allows for More Accurate Testing of Cardiac Tissue
Researchers at the University of Toronto have developed a new device to cultivate and test both atrial and ventricular cardiac tissue in the lab. The device, called Biowire II, consists of two elastic polymer wires which are positioned three millimeters apart, with a small band of cardiac tissue grown between them. A “training” regimen using […]
Soft Robotic Micromachines Mechanically Stimulate Small Tissue Samples
Researchers at Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland have developed miniature soft robots that can mechanically stimulate tiny tissue samples when activated by near-infrared light. The tiny machines could act as medical implants with a role in on-demand drug delivery or to mechanically manipulate tissues. Other applications include medical research, as components of lab-on-a-chip […]
Soft Robotic Micromachines Mechanically Stimulate Small Tissue Samples
Researchers at Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland have developed miniature soft robots that can mechanically stimulate tiny tissue samples when activated by near-infrared light. The tiny machines could act as medical implants with a role in on-demand drug delivery or to mechanically manipulate tissues. Other applications include medical research, as components of lab-on-a-chip […]
New Microscopy Technique for Nanoscale Imaging of Living Brain
Scientists collaborating on both coasts of the United States have developed a new technique for imaging the brain that provides an incredible new look at the detailed functionality of the organ. The technique combines expansion microscopy and lattice light-sheet microscopy, two techniques that on their own can provide impressive imaging of living tissues. The new approach […]