Feature Channels: Biotech

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Order and disorder might seem dichotomous conditions of a functioning system, yet both states can, in fact, exist simultaneously and durably within a system of oscillators, in what’s called a chimera state. Taking its name from a composite creature in Greek mythology, this exotic state still holds a lot of mystery, but its fundamental nature offers potential in understanding governing dynamics across many scientific fields. Researchers discuss this work in the journal Chaos this week.

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By sampling the molecules on cell phones, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences were able to construct lifestyle sketches for each phone’s owner, including diet, preferred hygiene products, health status and locations visited. This proof-of-concept study could have a number of applications, including criminal profiling, airport screening, medication adherence monitoring, clinical trial participant stratification and environmental exposure studies.

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Scientists have used the powerful X-ray laser at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory to make the first snapshots of a chemical interaction between two biomolecules – one that flips an RNA “switch” that regulates production of proteins, the workhorse molecules of life.

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Janelia scientists have developed the first adaptive light-sheet microscope — an instrument that continuously analyzes and adapts to dynamic changes in a specimen and thereby improves spatial resolution.

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A program that brings live fish into K-12 classrooms to teach the fundamentals of biology not only helps students learn, but improves their attitudes about science, a study finds.

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An international team of scientists has used a wireless "brain-spinal interface" to bypass spinal cord injuries in a pair of rhesus macaques, restoring intentional walking movement to a temporarily paralyzed leg. The researchers, who describe their work in the journal Nature, say this is the first time a neural prosthetic has been used to restore walking movement directly to the legs of nonhuman primates.

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The Case-Coulter Translational Research Partnership (CCTRP) announced more than $1 million in funding and support for the 2016 cycle. Four Case Western Reserve University projects were selected for full program funding. Projects range from diagnostic and screening technologies to cancer therapeutics. Six pilot grants were also awarded for earlier-stage projects.

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Body clock function can break down when light and temperature levels throughout the day are out of sync, finds new UCL research in fruit flies.

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Biochemists at the University of Wisconsin–Madison have created the first atlas that maps where molecular tools that can switch genes on and off will bind to the human genome. It is a development they say could enable these tools to be targeted to specific parts of an individual’s genome for use in precision medicine, developing therapies and treating disease.

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The latest research and features on obesity in the Obesity News Source.

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A computer scientist at Washington University in St. Louis has developed a way to coax cells to do natural things under unnatural circumstances, which could be useful for stem cell research, gene therapy and biofuel production.Michael Brent, the Henry Edwin Sever Professor of Engineering in the School of Engineering & Applied Science, has designed an algorithm, called NetSurgeon, that recommends genes to surgically remove from a cell’s genome to force it to perform a normal activity in a different environment or circumstance.

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Scientists from Children's Health Research Institute, a program of Lawson Health Research Institute, and Western University have developed a new blood test that identifies with greater than 90 per cent certainty whether or not an adolescent athlete has suffered a concussion.

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A Northwestern University study of the collaboration patterns sheds light on how the experiences of STEM female and male faculty vary. Researchers have found that female faculty (in six different disciplines) have as many collaborators, or co-authors, as male faculty and that female faculty tend to return to the same collaborators a little less than males. But they also found that females are underrepresented in large teams in genomics (a subdiscipline of molecular biology), which could indicate a negative cultural milieu.

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The 37 projects selected for the 2017 Community Science Program (CSP) of the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI), a DOE Office of Science User Facility, “exploit DOE JGI’s experimental and analytical ‘omics’ capabilities and build our portfolio in key focus areas.”

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In a paper published online November 3 in

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UT researchers have identified a set of bacterial genes that may help them find ways to lessen the severity of the disease malaria. Their findings could also aid the research of fellow scientists working in malaria-stricken regions around the world.

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Today’s release of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 14th Report on Carcinogens includes seven newly reviewed substances, bringing the cumulative total to 248 listings.

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During the AVS 63rd International Symposium and Exhibition being held November 6-11, 2016, in Nashville, Tennessee, Taher Saif and Brian Williams from the Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will explain how they have taken the first steps toward integrating microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) devices with living cells to form “biohybrid machines.”

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During the AVS 63rd International Symposium and Exhibition being held November 6-11, 2016 , in Nashville, Tennessee, David Gracias of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore will explain the decade-long effort of his laboratory to develop a “microgripper hand” that can can travel through the circulatory system.

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The latest research and features on cybersecurity in the Cybersecurity News Source

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NIH-funded scientists have developed a new diagnostic test for cystic fibrosis. The new device provides a cheaper, easier way to detect levels of chloride in sweat, which are elevated in cystic fibrosis patients.

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A new technology may help scientists better understand how an individual cell synchronizes its biological clock with other cells.

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Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a complex condition that requires a lifetime of care and increases a person's cancer risk. But its origins are still a mystery. Now, a team of researchers have created a new culture model of the human intestine where living tissue from a patient biopsy can be preserved and studied for days. They describe their work in this week’s Biomicrofluidics.

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Berkeley Lab researchers found that aberrant strands of genetic code have telltale signs that enable gateway proteins to recognize and block them from exiting the nucleus. Their findings shed light on a complex system of cell regulation that acts as a form of quality control for the transport of genetic information. A more complete picture of how genetic information gets expressed in cells is important in disease research.

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Scientists from the University of Basel in Switzerland have succeeded in organizing spherical compartments into clusters mimicking the way natural organelles would create complex structures. They managed to connect the synthetic compartments by creating bridges made of DNA between them. This represents an important step towards the realization of so-called molecular factories. The journal Nano Letters has published their results.

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Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have developed a broadly useful method to unmask new functional features of human proteins.

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Through a panel discussion at the Bipartisan Policy Center, Kansas State University leaders highlighted the threat of bio/agroterrorism and the importance of including agriculture in biosecurity and biodefense.

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Yeast’s ability to grow, divide, age and metabolize food is similar to human cells and provides researchers with a nearly perfect specimen to study cell processes and genetic variation. Biologist Jennifer Gallagher is taking advantage of the organism’s functions to examine how an individual would respond to stress at a molecular level, and the effects herbicides such as the common household weedkiller RoundUp, have on genes.

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Two faculty members at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have been invited to join the World Economic Forum’s Network of Global Future Councils. Cynthia Collins, associate professor of chemical and biological engineering, has been selected for the Global Future Council on Biotechnologies, and Heng Ji, the Edward P. Hamilton Development Chair and associate professor of computer science, has been selected for the Global Future Council on the Future of Computing.

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Southern Research honored the innovative work being conducted in its laboratories and facilities with the organization’s Intellectual Property Awards, announced at a special ceremony on Oct. 25.

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Understanding the molecular mechanisms that exist for cells to safeguard their genome against cancer-causing defects is crucial not only to understand how cancer arises but also because these mechanisms can be targeted therapeutically. Researchers have identified a new net of molecular interactions occurring within cells upon exposure to DNA damaging UV radiation. The team lead by Antonio Giordano, MD, PhD, Director and Founder of the Sbarro Health Research Organization at Philadelphia, PA , published their findings in Oncotarget.

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An international collaboration between scientists from the Mechanobiology Institute at the National University of Singapore and the Institut Jacques Monod and Université Paris Diderot, France, has revealed how epithelial cell extrusion is regulated by cell density.

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A new kind of bioluminescent sensor causes individual brain cells to imitate fireflies and glow in the dark. The probe, which was developed by a team of Vanderbilt scientists, is a genetically modified form of luciferase, the enzyme that a number of other species including fireflies use to produce light. It is described in a paper published in the journal Nature Communications on Oct.

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A blood test that has shown promise in predicting how cancer will progress and what treatments will be most effective for a given patient may not be reliable for either, according to a new Penn Medicine study published today in Cancer.

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The Latest in Cell Biology News

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The National Science Foundation has awarded $900,000 in grant funding to researchers at Binghamton University, State University of New York to continue investigations into the next-generation of brain biometric technology. The project, “Brain Hacking: Assessing Psychological and Computational Vulnerabilities in Brain-based Biometrics,” will investigate security vulnerabilities of brainprint biometrics and particularly evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of brain biometrics.

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A faculty member at Washington University in St. Louis’ School of Engineering & Applied Science has been awarded two separate grants worth a combined $2.5 million to develop better biomedical imaging tools.Mark Anastasio, professor of biomedical engineering, will use a four-year, $2.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to create a new X-ray technique that will assist engineers as they develop new bioengineered tissues.

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A study appearing online today in Clinical Chemistry, the premier journal in the field and a publication of AACC, has for the first time established precise newborn reference intervals for several steroid hormones and amino acids that play key roles in child development. This research could lead to earlier diagnosis and more effective treatment of numerous developmental disorders, from pediatric cancer and diabetes to congenital adrenal hyperplasia, and could aid detection of neonatal exposure to harmful endocrine-disrupting chemicals.

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For scientists listening in on the faint whispers of brain neurons, a first-ever robotic technique for cleaning the tiny devices that record the signals could facilitate a new level of automation in neuroscience research. That could accelerate the gathering of information used to map the functions of brain cells and ultimately provide a better understanding what’s going on between our ears.

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Texas Biomedical Research Institute Staff Scientist recently awarded a grant from the National Institutes of Health to study and identify molecular mechanisms underlying early atherosclerosis.

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Wearable “robot-assisted training” is quickly emerging as a method that helps improve gait rehabilitation. In a major advance, researchers from Beihang University in China and Aalborg University in Denmark have designed a lower-limb robot exoskeleton -- a wearable robot -- that features natural knee movement to greatly improve patients’ comfort and willingness to wear it for gait rehab. They describe their work in this week’s Review of Scientific Instruments.

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Researchers have been trying for decades to develop a vaccine against the globally endemic hepatitis C virus (HCV). Now scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have discovered one reason why success has so far been elusive.

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A new and more informative process to test the safety and efficacy of drugs—employing a “tissue chip” technique—is underway at Texas A&M University.

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David R. Walt, Ph.D., has been elected to the prestigious and exclusive National Academy of Medicine, one in a series of accolades from the national and international scientific communities in recognition of his stellar career as a chemist, engineer, innovator and entrepreneur.

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Biology, at the nitty-gritty level of motor proteins, DNA, and microtubules, takes its cue from physics. But while much is known about the biological components that form such cellular structures, researchers like Scott Forth are only beginning to explore the physical forces between those components.

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Groundbreaking research to help resolve medication plan challenge for treating Parkinson's.

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Investigators at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine’s Brain Injury Outcomes program and the Institute for Clinical and Translational Research have been awarded a seven-year, $25 million grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences.

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Michigan State University biometrics researchers created a life-size 3-D model hand complete with fingerprints using a 3-D high resolution printer. While intended to help calibrate fingerprint scanners, they realized this technology could be used to spoof someone’s hand and steal their identity. Now they want manufacturers to design a spoof-resistant scanner.