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This Stem Cell Treatment Could One Day Make Insulin Obsolete

Type I diabetes is an exhausting full-time job. Having it means living a life full of constant care and maintenance. You’re always checking in on your blood sugar to make sure it isn’t too high or is it too low, extremes that could be easily reached with the most minor indulgence or tiniest bout of laziness.

A new treatment, as detailed in the New York Times, might change everything we know about managing type I diabetes.

Zimislecel is an experimental stem cell-based therapy that recently dropped a bomb on the diabetes world. Developed by the Boston-based Vertex Pharmaceuticals, it’s a one-time infusion that has turned 10 of 12 trial patients suffering from severe type I diabetes into people who no longer need insulin, and in less than a year.

Topological quantum processor marks breakthrough in computing

In a leap forward for quantum computing, a Microsoft team led by UC Santa Barbara physicists on Wednesday unveiled an eight-qubit topological quantum processor, the first of its kind. The chip, built as a proof-of-concept for the scientists’ design, opens the door to the development of the long-awaited topological quantum computer.

“We’ve got a bunch of stuff that we’ve been keeping under wraps that we’re dropping all at once now,” said Microsoft Station Q Director Chetan Nayak, a professor of physics at UCSB and a Technical Fellow for Quantum Hardware at Microsoft. The chip was revealed at Station Q’s annual conference in Santa Barbara, and accompanies a paper published in the journal Nature, authored by Station Q, their Microsoft teammates and a host of collaborators that presents the research team’s measurements of these new qubits. (Circa Feb 20 2025)

Microsoft team led by UC Santa Barbara physicists unveils first-of-its-kind topological qubit, paving the way for a more fault-tolerant quantum computer.

ReElement Technologies uses Purdue tech in rare earth elements production critical to semiconductor manufacturing, other new-age technologies

Many essential products, from smartphones and magnets to electric vehicles, semiconductors and wind turbines, need rare earth metals to perform.

The rapidly growing demand for these critical products has led to increased need for domestic production of rare earth elements (REEs). However, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, the nation is still lagging globally behind countries such as China, with just over 14% of the world’s REE raw ore production and none of the world’s refining capacity. Purdue University is changing this harsh reality by using its patented rare earth technology in a partnership with Indiana-based ReElement Technologies in an effort to narrow the gap between the U.S. and the rest of the world in this critical industry.

Indy-area company builds on cutting-edge Purdue technology to help narrow the international gap in essential area.

Space systems degrees program meets the challenge of modern engineering

Purdue University is standing at the forefront of expanding space exploration and a future economy with the creation of the first-ever Comprehensive Space Engineering Degrees Program in the country.

The program combines both a new online master’s degree in space systems engineering and a new space engineering undergraduate certificate to the established array of cutting-edge programs in the College of Engineering.

The Comprehensive Space Engineering Degrees Program is the latest learning opportunity at Purdue, reflecting a demand for aerospace engineers around the world. The School of Aeronautics and Astronautics continues to offer a variety of important specializations within the undergraduate and graduate degree programs.

(Online programs 😍)

Purdue has the first-ever Comprehensive Space Engineering Degrees Program with offerings ranging an online master’s degree to undergraduate space certificate.

Neurons use built-in ‘backup batteries’ that fuel the brain under stress

A new Yale study has revealed that neurons — the energy-hungry cells that connect and direct activity in the brain — are equipped with “backup batteries” that kick in to keep the brain running during periods of metabolic stress.

Writing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers describe how neurons store their own glycogen, a form of sugar that helps neurons stay resilient when their main energy sources falter.

Sound stress alone found to heighten and prolong pain in mice

Pain is an important physiological response in living organisms. While physical pain is an outcome of tissue damage, pain can manifest as diverse unpleasant sensory and emotional experiences.

Many studies report that emotional or enhances pain responses. Furthermore, housed with other mice experiencing inflammatory pain exhibit a ‘bystander effect’ with heightened pain sensitivity, or “hyperalgesia.” However, the effects that underpin social pain transmission remain elusive.

Rodents emit ultrasonic vocalizations in the form of high-pitched squeaks in response to various stimuli, including pain, in both audible and ultrasound frequencies that are inaudible to humans. Recently, a team of researchers led by Assistant Professor Satoka Kasai from the Department of Pharmacy, Tokyo University of Science (TUS), Japan, conducted a series of experiments to understand how ultrasonic vocalizations emitted by mice in response to pain stimuli affect the other mice. The study, published in the journal PLOS One, was co-authored by Professor Satoru Miyazaki, Professor Akiyoshi Saitoh, (the late) Professor Satoshi Iriyama, and Professor Kazumi Yoshizawa, all from TUS.

Myocardial Metabolism in Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction

Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) is increasingly prevalent and now accounts for half of all heart failure cases. This rise is largely attributed to growing rates of obesity, hypertension, and diabetes. Despite its prevalence, the pathophysiological mechanisms of HFpEF are not fully understood. The heart, being the most energy-demanding organ, appears to have a compromised bioenergetic capacity in heart failure, affecting all phenotypes and aetiologies. While metabolic disturbances in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) have been extensively studied, similar insights into HFpEF are limited. This review collates evidence from both animal and human studies, highlighting metabolic dysregulations associated with HFpEF and its risk factors, such as obesity, hypertension, and diabetes.