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Category: biotech/medical

Chinese researchers on Tuesday unveiled their self-developed world’s first “bone glue”

Material capable of securely bonding fractured bone fragments within 2–3 minutes in a blood-rich environment.

ในช่วงไม่กี่ปีที่ผ่านมา จีนได้แสดงศักยภาพด้านวิทยาศาสตร์การแพทย์อย่างต่อเนื่อง หนึ่งในผลงานที่ได้รับความสนใจระดับโลกคือการพัฒนาวัสดุชีวภาพชนิดใหม่ที่เรียกว่ากาวกระดูก (Bine Glue) ที่สามารถเชื่อมกระดูกที่หักให้ติดกันได้ภายในระยะเวลาเพียง 3 นาที

Portable light-based brain monitor shows promise for dementia diagnosis

Early and accurate diagnosis of dementia remains a major challenge. Standard approaches such as MRI and PET scans can provide valuable information about brain structure and function, but they are expensive, not always accessible, and often too expensive for repeated use.

A team of researchers in the UK has now demonstrated that a compact, noninvasive technology—broadband (bNIRS)—may offer a new way to detect brain changes linked to Alzheimer’s disease, even in the early stages.

In this pilot study reported in the Journal of Biomedical Optics, scientists used bNIRS to monitor both blood oxygenation and brain metabolism in response to .

‘More than just an image’: New algorithm can extract hyperspectral info from conventional photos

Professionals in agriculture, defense and security, environmental monitoring, food quality analysis, industrial quality control, and medical diagnostics could benefit from a patent-pending innovation that opens new possibilities of conventional photography for optical spectroscopy and hyperspectral imaging.

Young Kim, Purdue University professor, University Faculty Scholar and Showalter Faculty Scholar, and postdoctoral research associate Semin Kwon of the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering created an algorithm that recovers detailed spectral information from photographs taken by conventional cameras. The research combines computer vision, color science and optical spectroscopy.

“A photograph is more than just an image; it contains abundant hyperspectral information,” Kim said. “We are one of the pioneering research groups to integrate computational spectrometry and spectroscopic analyses for biomedical and other applications.”

Fat molecules and water interact in surprising ways within collagen fibrils

Researchers from the Faculty of Natural Sciences at Chemnitz University of Technology have discovered fat molecules in natural collagen fibrils, the main component of connective tissue. Their research, published in Soft Matter, shows how fats affect the mechanical properties and water content of collagen fibrils.

Collagen fibrils are the basic building blocks of skin, tendons, ligaments, and bones. They hold our bodies together. Fats and oils have long been used to soften and protect leather, which consists of collagen molecules. However, it is not known how many fat molecules are contained in natural collagen fibrils.

Knowing the precise chemical composition of collagen fibrils is important for understanding biochemical processes involved in tissue growth, aging, and disease. In chemistry, the various molecular components are usually separated to study the properties of pure substances. However, contain thousands of different chemical molecules, all of which are likely important.

RNA technology ‘hacks’ into phage replication, offering new insights into molecular interactions

Bacteriophages, or phages for short, are viruses that infect bacteria. Using phages therapeutically could be very useful in fighting antibiotic-resistant pathogens, but the molecular interactions between phages and host bacteria are not yet sufficiently understood. Jörg Vogel’s research group at the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI) and the Institute of Molecular Infection Biology (IMIB) in Würzburg has now succeeded in specifically interfering with phage reproduction using a molecular tool called antisense oligomers (ASOs).

According to the researchers, this innovative RNA technology offers new insights into the molecular world of phages and is expected to advance the development of future therapeutic applications. The study has been published in the journal Nature.

Like humans, bacteria have to cope with viruses—known as bacteriophages, or phages for short. Phages invade bacteria, hijack their cellular machinery, multiply, and cause the bacterial cell to burst. This releases new phages, which then go on to infect other bacteria. Phages are harmless to humans because they target only bacteria. They are also quite selective: Most phages are specialized in infecting specific host bacteria, including bacterial pathogens.

Permeable inspection of pharmaceuticals: Real-time tablet quality inspection system developed

Led by Assistant Professor Kou Li, a research group at Chuo University, Japan, has developed a synergetic strategy among non-destructive terahertz (THz)–infrared (IR) photo-monitoring techniques and ultrabroadband sensitive imager sheets toward demonstrating in-line real-time multi-scale quality inspections of pharmaceutical agent pills.

The paper has been published in Light: Science & Applications.

While non-destructive in-line monitoring at manufacturing sites is essential for safe distribution cycles of pharmaceuticals, efforts are still insufficient to develop analytical systems for detailed dynamic visualization of foreign substances and material composition in target pills.

1,500-Year-Old Mystery Solved: Scientists Rewrite the Origins of the World’s First Pandemic

USF and FAU researchers identify bacterium behind 1,500-year-old pandemic mystery. For the first time, scientists have obtained direct genomic evidence of the bacterium responsible for the Plague of Justinian, the earliest known pandemic in recorded history. The outbreak, which struck the Eastern

Scientists Turned Our Cells Into Quantum Computers—Sort Of

For the protein qubit to “encode” more information about what is going on inside a cell, the fluorescent protein needs to be genetically engineered to match the protein scientists want to observe in a given cell. The glowing protein is then attached to the target protein and zapped with a laser so it reaches a state of superposition, turning it into a nano-probe that picks up what is happening in the cell. From there, scientists can infer how a certain biological process happens, what the beginnings of a genetic disease look like, or how cells respond to certain treatments.

And eventually, this kind of sensing could be used in non-biological applications as well.

“Directed evolution on our EYFP qubit could be used to optimize its optical and spin properties and even reveal unexpected insights into qubit physics,” the researchers said. “Protein-based qubits are positioned to take advantage of techniques from both quantum information sciences and bioengineering, with potentially transformative possibilities in both fields.”

Study finds cell memory can be more like a dimmer dial than an on/off switch

When cells are healthy, we don’t expect them to suddenly change cell types. A skin cell on your hand won’t naturally morph into a brain cell, and vice versa. That’s thanks to epigenetic memory, which enables the expression of various genes to “lock in” throughout a cell’s lifetime. Failure of this memory can lead to diseases, such as cancer.

Traditionally, scientists have thought that epigenetic memory locks genes either “on” or “off” — either fully activated or fully repressed, like a permanent Lite-Brite pattern. But MIT engineers have found that the picture has many more shades.

In a new study appearing today in Cell Genomics, the team reports that a cell’s memory is set not by on/off switching but through a more graded, dimmer-like dial of gene expression.

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