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Category: biotech/medical – Page 1,164

Stanford Medicine-led research identifies gene ‘fingerprint’ for brain aging

Most of us who’ve reached middle age have noticed a slowing in memory and cognition, but scientists don’t have a clear picture of the molecular changes that take place in the brain to cause it.

Now, a study in mice has determined that the most pronounced changes occur in the white matter, a type of nervous system tissue that’s integral to transmitting signals across the brain. The study also examined two treatments — caloric restriction and infusions of plasma from young mice — that affect certain regions of the brain, with the plasma appearing to slow the age-related decline.

The results offer insight into the cognitive decline of normal aging, as well as the way aging contributes to neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases and multiple sclerosis.

New bionic hand allows amputees to effortlessly control fingers

New bionic hand with better move of fingers.

Successful testing of the bionic hand has already been conducted on a patient who lost his arm above the elbow.

In a world first, surgeons and engineers have developed a new bionic hand that allows users with arm amputations to effortlessly control each finger as though it was their own body.

The innovation could revolutionise the way prosthetic limbs are designed and used, with scientists hailing it as a “major breakthrough”.

‘New’ ALS gene destabilizes neuron’s structure and chokes off its nucleus

The viral ALS Ice Bucket Challenge a few years ago raised major funding that resulted in the discovery of new genes connected to the disease. One of those genes is NEK1, in which mutations have been linked to as much as 2% of all ALS cases, making it one of the top-known causes of the disease.

But it wasn’t known how the mutated gene disrupts the function of the motor neuron and causes it to degenerate and die.

Northwestern Medicine scientists have discovered for the first time how this mutated gene leads to ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis).

Can cells think? | Michael Levin

We know that humans are an intelligent species. But this biologist breaks down the intelligence of each of our cells — and it will blow your mind.

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Michael Levin, a developmental biologist at Tufts University, challenges conventional notions of intelligence, arguing that it is inherently collective rather than individual.

Levin explains that we are collections of cells, with each cell possessing competencies developed from their evolution from unicellular organisms. This forms a multi-scale competency architecture, where each level, from cells to tissues to organs, is solving problems within their unique spaces.

Levin emphasizes that properly recognizing intelligence, which spans different scales of existence, is vital for understanding life’s complexities. And this perspective suggests a radical shift in understanding ourselves and the world around us, acknowledging the cognitive abilities present at every level of our existence.

Read the full video transcript: https://bigthink.com/the-well/intelligence-can-cells-think.

Continue reading “Can cells think? | Michael Levin” | >

Enhanced Efficacy for Next-Gen Antibody Therapies

The company achieved proof-of-concept with trastuzumab, an anti-HER2 antibody. Preclinical studies show Multilink increases cytotoxicity and improves tumor regression.

In mouse studies, tumor volume after 49 days was approximately half its original size with Trastuzumab Multilink (T-Multilink) with mertansine (DM1), but had grown four-fold when treated with the same compound without the linker. Comparable studies with T-Multilink-auristatin F showed complete tumor regression by about day 25, while treatment without the linker allowed the tumor to approximately triple in size.

“Multilink is a powerful technology to tackle cancers with low antigen expression,” Marx says. Debiopharm is using it to develop “novel, potent, stable, and safe ADCs for various antibodies.”

Increasing the bioavailability of oncology drugs with amorphous solid dosage formulations

Oral tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) are a class of cancer drugs that can be highly susceptible to issues with solubility in the gastrointestinal tract. Most crystalline TKI drugs have pH-dependent solubility that affects their bioavailability in an oral dosage form. Consequently, natural variations in gastric pH, or variations due to eating or taking antacids, can significantly impact drug absorption and, in turn, therapeutic efficacy.

Alternative formulation techniques such as amorphous solid dispersion (ASD) can still deliver the convenience of a pill while reducing TKIs’ sensitivity to physiological variation. This ensures more consistent—and higher—bioavailability. This whitepaper outlines the challenges associated with pH-dependent solubility for oral TKI drugs and reviews how leveraging ASD formulation can help create more effective, patient-friendly drug products.

Breaking down language walls: ElevenLabs launches multilingual text-to-speech for diverse audiences

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ElevenLabs, a year-old startup that is leveraging the power of machine learning for voice cloning and synthesis, today announced the expansion of its platform with a new text-to-speech model that supports 30 languages.

The expansion marks the platform’s official exit from the beta phase, making it ready to use for enterprises and individuals looking to customize their content for audiences worldwide. It comes more than a month after ElevenLabs’ $19 million series A round that valued the company at nearly $100M.

Stem Cell Studies Suggest Mechanism by Which Gene Increases Risk of Sporadic Alzheimer’s Disease

A research team headed by investigators at Brigham and Women’s Hospital reported on the results of a study in which they used stem cells from Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients to identify a potential mechanism by which a gene known as SORL1 may impact the risk for the neurodegenerative disorder. Their work found that loss of normal SORL1 function leads to a reduction in two key proteins, APOE and CLU, which are known to be involved in AD, and which play an essential role in the neurons of healthy individuals. The study findings suggest a potential new strategy for AD treatment, especially for patients not responsive to existing therapies.

“Understanding the subtypes of AD is relatively new in the field of neurology research,” said Tracy Young-Pearse, PhD, of the Ann Romney Center for Neurological Diseases. “This is getting at a precision neurology approach, with which we can better predict which patients may be responsive to Alzheimer’s treatment strategies that attack specific genes or target the problems they cause.” Young-Pearse is corresponding author of the team’s published paper in Cell Reports, which is titled, “ Cell-type-specific regulation of APOE and CLU levels in human neurons by the Alzheimer’s disease risk gene SORL1,” in which they concluded, “Taken together, we demonstrate that AD-relevant SORL1 loss of function results in neuron-specific reduction in APOE and CLU and dysregulated lipid homeostasis.”

AD varies widely in its age of onset, presentation, and severity. Key neurological features of AD, including the accumulation of amyloid-beta (Aβ) plaques in the brain, also vary across individuals. The anti-amyloid therapies, aducanumab and lecanemab, have received FDA accelerated and traditional approval, respectively, but not all patients respond to these drugs, warranting other treatment options.

Researchers develop new technique to keep drinking water safe using machine learning

Waterborne illness is one of the leading causes of infectious disease outbreaks in refugee and internally displaced persons (IDP) settlements, but a team led by York University has developed a new technique to keep drinking water safe using machine learning, and it could be a game changer. The research is published in the journal PLOS Water.

As drinking water is not piped into homes in most settlements, residents instead collect it from public tap stands using storage containers.

“When water is stored in a container in a dwelling it is at high risk of being exposed to contaminants, so it’s imperative there is enough free residual chlorine to kill any pathogens,” says Lassonde School of Engineering Ph.D. student Michael De Santi, who is part of York’s Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research, and who led the research.

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