Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute researchers have reprogrammed ordinary heart cells to become exact replicas of highly specialized pacemaker cells by injecting a single gene (Tbx18)–a major step forward in the decade-long search for a biological therapy to correct erratic and failing heartbeats.
Turning vast amounts of genomic data into meaningful information about the cell is the great challenge of bioinformatics, with major implications for human biology and medicine. Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and colleagues have proposed a new method that creates a computational model of the cell from large networks of gene and protein interactions, discovering how genes and proteins connect to form higher-level cellular machinery.
Biologists at UC San Diego have succeeded in genetically engineering algae to produce a complex and expensive human therapeutic drug used to treat cancer.
Antibodies developed by researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute are unusually effective at preventing the formation of toxic protein particles linked to Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, as well as Type 2 diabetes, according to a new study.
Researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, have developed a new strategy for finding novel antibiotic compounds, using a diagnostic panel of bacterial strains for screening chemical extracts from natural sources.
Johns Hopkins researchers report concrete steps in the use of human stem cells to test how diseased cells respond to drugs. Their success highlights a pathway toward faster, cheaper drug development for some genetic illnesses, as well as the ability to pre-test a therapy’s safety and effectiveness on cultured clones of a patient’s own cells.
Although much research is being done to combat primary tumors, there still exists a crucial need to find a treatment that can be effective against metastatic cancer, or “mets.” Could a virus be the answer that finally beats the mets?
New study shows a compound produced naturally by marine algae, stimulated nerve cell growth and plasticity in cultured mouse neurons. This research advances a potentially new pharmacological treatment to aid recovery of brain function following a stroke or other traumatic brain injury.
A thin, flexible electrode developed at the University of Michigan is 10 times smaller than the nearest competition and could make long-term measurements of neural activity practical at last.
Texas Biomedical Research Institute scientists have developed a faster, less expensive route to screen suitable tests for bioterror threats and accelerate the application of countermeasures.
In her lab, MHC biochemistry professor Megan Núñez has discovered a way to inhibit the ‘stickiness’ of a strain of the E. coli bacterium, possibly changing the way infection is treated.
Researchers have made important advances in the rapidly-expanding field of “regenerative medicine,” outlining for the first time connections in genetic regulation that normally prevent birth defects in heart and facial muscles. This basic research will provide a road map to ultimately allow scientists to grow the cell types needed to repair such defects, from stem cells that can be generated from a person’s own body.
Universities not only provide the ideal petri dish for cultivating bioscience with commercial potential, but have a moral obligation to do so, given the opportunity to translate public funding into health and jobs, according to a new case study by UCSF researchers.
System biologists have teamed up with mechanical engineers from UT Dallas to conduct cell research that provides information that may one day be used to engineer organs.
• From suspensions of single kidney cells, researchers have constructed “organoids” that can carry out kidney functions when implanted into a living animal. • The advance marks a considerable step toward the goal of engineering kidney tissues suitable for transplantation. Tissue engineering of kidneys could help alleviate the shortage of kidneys for transplantation.
Global health researchers are working on cheap systems like a home-based pregnancy test that might work for malaria, diabetes or other diseases. A new chemical technique makes medically interesting molecules stick to regular paper -- a possible route to building such paper-based diagnostics from paper you could buy at an office-supply store.
Modulating immune response to injury could accelerate the regeneration of severed peripheral nerves, a new study in an animal model has found. By altering activity of the macrophage cells that respond to injuries, researchers dramatically increased the rate at which nerve processes re-grew.
Guided by magnetic forces, miniature robots could navigate the human body, performing delicate medical tasks with precision and ease.
The same “green revolution” concepts that have revolutionized crop agriculture and helped to feed billions of people around the world may now offer similar potential in forestry, scientists say, with benefits for wood, biomass production, drought stress and even greenhouse gas mitigation.
Researchers have discovered a molecule that may be capable of delivering drugs inside the body to treat diseases.
Feeling wheezy? You could call the doctor. Or soon you could use your smartphone to diagnose your lung health, with a new app that uses the frequencies in the breath to determine how much and how fast you can exhale.
Diarrheal disease is the second-leading cause of death in children under five years old – killing as many as 1.5 million children worldwide every year. These startling statistics from the World Health Organization (2009) point to the reason why a group of undergraduate students from Arizona State University is working to develop a low-cost biosensor – a simple device that would detect contaminated drinking water.
The injection of a tiny capsule containing heat-generating cells into the abdomens of mice led those animals to burn abdominal fat and initially lose about 20 percent of belly fat after 80 days of treatment.
A new study by University of Kentucky researchers shows promise for developing ultrastable RNA nanoparticles that may help treat cancer and viral infections by regulating cell function and binding to cancers without harming surrounding tissue.
A monoclonal antibody developed by MassBiologics of the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) and tested in an animal model at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute, prevents infection by the hepatitis C virus (HCV).
A new synthetic protein can pinpoint cancer and other diseases in the body by finding nearby damaged collagen.
Engineering researchers at the University of Arkansas have developed a method to simplify the pharmaceutical production of proteins used in drugs that treat a variety of diseases and health conditions, including diabetes, cancer, arthritis and macular degeneration.
Pathogens can slip through leaf pores and begin infecting a plant. However, University of Delaware research shows that this invasion is halted when a beneficial bacterium is present in the soil where the plant is rooted.
In the first human study of its kind, researchers found that using stem cells to re-grow craniofacial tissues—mainly bone—proved quicker, more effective and less invasive than traditional bone regeneration treatments.
Jianhua Xing, a Virginia Tech assistant professor of biology, and his colleagues recommend further study of how rope-like polymers called microtubules function. They computational comparations of two models of microtubules, a component of cell cytoskeletons.
In an effort to improve public understanding of modern food production, the International Food Information Council (IFIC) Foundation has released five videos featuring leading physicians in the fields of pediatrics, food allergy and obstetrics who answer frequently asked questions about food biotechnology.
The blood-brain barrier may be poised to give up some of its secrets as researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have created in the laboratory dish the cells that make up the brain’s protective barrier. The Wisconsin researchers describe transforming stem cells into endothelial cells with blood-brain barrier qualities.
– Dr. Balaji Sitharaman, PhD, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Stony Brook University, and a team of researchers developed a new, highly efficacious, potentially safer and more cost effective nanoparticle-based MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) contrast agent for improved disease diagnosis and detection. The most recent findings are discussed in detail in his team’s research paper “Physicochemical characterization, and relaxometry studies of micro-graphite oxide, graphene nanoplatelets, and nanoribbons,” published in the June 7 edition of the journal PLoS ONE.
The Weill Cornell Brain and Spine Center and the Weill Cornell Cancer Center will co-host the first annual Brain Tumor Biotech Summit 2012 on June 8 from 7:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at Weill Cornell Medical College. This first of its kind, one-day conference will gather together the nation's leading brain tumor and biotech industry experts who are joining forces to accelerate more effective treatments for brain tumors and promote funding for the latest emerging therapies.
A study led by researchers from McGill University provides new insights into the structure of muscle tissue in the heart – a finding that promises to contribute to the study of heart diseases and to the engineering of artificial heart tissue.
Bioengineers have developed the first structure to grow small human blood vessels, creating a 3-D test bed that offers a better way to study disease, test drugs and perhaps someday grow human tissues for transplant.
A new study led by University of Kentucky researchers shows a new way to precisely detect a single chemical at extremely low concentrations and high contamination.
Biologists at the University of California, San Diego have succeeded in engineering algae to produce potential candidates for a vaccine that would prevent transmission of the parasite that causes malaria, an achievement that could pave the way for the development of an inexpensive way to protect billions of people from one of the world’s most prevalent and debilitating diseases. Initial proof-of-principle experiments suggest that such a vaccine could prevent malaria transmission.
Latest edition of Physiology has a Review article that examines what’s known about regenerative biology and applies it to regenerative medicine.
Biomedical engineers have demonstrated the first all-polymeric bone scaffold that is fully biodegradable and offers significant mechanical support during repair. The technique uses silk fibers to reinforce a silk matrix. Adding microfibers to the scaffolds enhances bone formation and mechanical properties. It could improve repair after accident or disease.
Cancers shrank for about one third of the patients who could be evaluated, and disease stabilised for a further third. For one patient, all signs of their cancer disappeared.
A new device designed to more effectively produce DNA samples for genetic testing from slide-mounted tissue samples is better equipped than most models on the market to help in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.
Researchers have devised a nanoscale sensor to electronically read the sequence of a single DNA molecule, a technique that is fast and inexpensive and could make DNA sequencing widely available.
Mayo Clinic researchers have trained mouse immune systems to eradicate skin cancer from within, using a genetic combination of human DNA from melanoma cells and a cousin of the rabies virus.
Researchers at Clarkson University have implanted a biofuel cell in a living snail. This is the first incidence of an implanted biofuel cell continuously operating in a snail and producing electrical power over a long period of time using the snail's physiologically produced glucose as a fuel.
Plants subjected to a previous period of drought learn to deal with the stress thanks to their memories of the previous experience, new research has found. The findings could lead to development of crops better able to withstand drought.
A team of Australian scientists involving the University of Adelaide has bred salt tolerance into a variety of durum wheat that shows improved grain yield by 25% on salty soils.
When QB3 opened its “garage” for bioscience entrepreneurs in 2006, detractors deemed it a quixotic venture, sure to fill with aspiring startups that would never leave campus.
University of California, San Diego bioengineers have developed a self-healing hydrogel that binds in seconds, as easily as Velcro, and forms a bond strong enough to withstand repeated stretching.
For years, scientists have known that the genetic material called small RNA is key to our genetic makeup. But finding out what small RNA does hasn’t been easy. Now there's a way to turn off small RNAs and find out just how important they can be.
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