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Archive for the ‘biotech/medical’ category: Page 1152

Sep 23, 2021

A.I. Predicts the Shapes of Molecules to Come

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, robotics/AI

DeepMind has given 3D structure to 350,000 proteins, including every one made by humans, promising a boon for medicine and drug design.

Sep 22, 2021

Winged Microchip Is Smallest-Ever Human-Made Flying Structure — The Size of a Grain of Sand

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, computing

The size of a grain of sand, dispersed microfliers could monitor air pollution, airborne disease, and environmental contamination.

Northwestern University engineers have added a new capability to electronic microchips: flight.

Continue reading “Winged Microchip Is Smallest-Ever Human-Made Flying Structure — The Size of a Grain of Sand” »

Sep 22, 2021

Immune Cells in the Brain Share the Work

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

Microglia immune cells can join together to form networks when needed, a new study reports. However, certain mutations associated with Parkinson’s disease can impair this process.

Sep 22, 2021

Dr. Dina Radenkovic, MD — Longevity Physician, Med-Tech Entrepreneur, Thought Leader, Financier

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, computing, information science, life extension

Is an academic doctor and medical technology entrepreneur, working in the field of the computational biology of aging.

Dr. Radenkovic is also a Partner at the SALT Bio-Fund, and a co-founder of Hooke, an elite longevity research clinic in London.

Continue reading “Dr. Dina Radenkovic, MD — Longevity Physician, Med-Tech Entrepreneur, Thought Leader, Financier” »

Sep 22, 2021

Bacteria Makes Contaminated Water Drinkable

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, chemistry, engineering, health

Bacteria may get a bad reputation in general, yet it’s actually generally healthy and serves an important role in many habitats, including human bodies. From supporting life on Earth to being employed in industrial and medicinal processes, bacteria have their figurative fingers in many pots — some varieties of bacteria can even filter tainted water and make it safe for human consumption.

A team of researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University (IIT-BHU) has found a bacteria that can do just that — Named “microbacterium paraoxydans strain VSVM IIT (BHU)” by the scientists, it can separate toxic hexavalent chromium from water in an effective and eco-friendly manner, according to a research published in the Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering.

Hexavalent chromium is a heavy metal ion that is used in electroplating, welding, and chromate painting, among other things. It’s said to be responsible for health problems in humans like cancers, kidney and liver malfunctioning, and infertility. When compared to current approaches, the scientists believe that this bacterial strain, which can tolerate high amounts of hexavalent chromium, is particularly successful at eliminating the harmful substance from wastewater.

Sep 22, 2021

Obesity: Why exercising may be more important than dieting

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Advocates of the fat-but-fit approach to obesity treatment argue that improving fitness, even in the absence of weight loss, can help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and mortality.


New research suggests that improving fitness is at least as effective as weight loss for staving off obesity-related cardiovascular disease and mortality risks.

Sep 22, 2021

Deploying Artificial Intelligence At The Edge

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, climatology, finance, robotics/AI

From ecosystem development to talent, much effort is still required for practical implementation of edge AI.

By Pushkar Apte and Tom Salmon

Rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have made this technology important for many industries, including finance, energy, healthcare, and microelectronics. AI is driving a multi-trillion-dollar global market while helping to solve some tough societal problems such as tracking the current pandemic and predicting the severity of climate-driven events like hurricanes and wildfires.

Sep 22, 2021

Binary pan-cancer classes with distinct vulnerabilities defined by pro- or anti-cancer YAP/TEAD activity

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

Cancer heterogeneity impacts therapeutic response, driving efforts to discover over-arching rules that supersede variability. Here, we define pan-cancer binary classes based on distinct expression of YAP and YAP-responsive adhesion regulators. Combining informatics with in vivo and in vitro gain-and loss-of-function studies across multiple murine and human tumor types, we show that opposite pro-or anti-cancer YAP activity functionally defines binary YAPon or YAPoff cancer classes that express or silence YAP, respectively. YAPoff solid cancers are neural/neuroendocrine and frequently RB1−/−, such as retinoblastoma, small cell lung cancer, and neuroendocrine prostate cancer. YAP silencing is intrinsic to the cell of origin, or acquired with lineage switching and drug resistance. The binary cancer groups exhibit distinct YAP-dependent adhesive behavior and pharmaceutical vulnerabilities, underscoring clinical relevance. Mechanistically, distinct YAP/TEAD enhancers in YAPoff or YAPon cancers deploy anti-cancer integrin or pro-cancer proliferative programs, respectively. YAP is thus pivotal across cancer, but in opposite ways, with therapeutic implications.


Pearson et al. demonstrate that YAP/TAZ, well-known oncogenes, are tumor suppressors in a large group of cancers. Pan-cancer analyses reveal that opposite YAP/TAZ expression, adhesive behavior, and oncogenic versus tumor suppressor YAP/TAZ activity functionally stratify binary cancer classes, which interchange to drive drug resistance. Contrasting YAPoff/YAPon classes exhibit unique vulnerabilities, facilitating therapeutic selection.

Sep 22, 2021

Covid therapy from llamas shows promise

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Covid: Immune therapy from llamas shows promise.


An immune therapy derived from llama blood shows “exciting potential” in early coronavirus trials.

Sep 22, 2021

Scientists find a new way to reverse immune suppression in tumors

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

These club cell-secreted factors are able to nullify immune suppressor cells that otherwise help tumors escape an effective antitumor response,” said co-senior author Dr. Vivek Mittal, director of research at the Neuberger Berman Lung Cancer Center and the Ford-Isom Research Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Weill Cornell Medicine. “We’re excited by the possibility of developing these club cell factors into a cancer treatment.


Malignant tumors can enhance their ability to survive and spread by suppressing antitumor immune cells in their vicinity, but a study led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian has uncovered a new way to counter this immunosuppressive effect.

In the study, published Sept. 20 in Nature Cancer, the researchers identified a set of anti-immunosuppressive factors that can be secreted by called cells that line airways in the lungs. They showed in a mouse model of lung cancer that these club cell factors inhibit highly potent immunosuppressive cells called myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), which tumors often recruit to help them evade antitumor immune responses.

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