Lifeboat Foundation

The researchers also showed that they could restore normal cognitive function in mice with these genetic mutations by artificially turning down hyperactivity in neurons of the AD thalamus. The approach they used, chemogenetics, is not yet approved for use in humans. However, it may be possible to target this circuit in other ways, the researchers say.

Summary: Certain genes that are mutated or missing in those with schizophrenia and autism cause similar dysfunction in neural networks within the thalamus.

Source: MIT

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Nano-Magnetics For Wireless Brain-Computer Interfaces & Precision Medicine — Dr. Sakhrat Khizroev, Ph.D., University of Miami.

Dr. Sakhrat Khizroev is a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the College of Engineering of the University of Miami, with a secondary appointment at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Miller School of Medicine.

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Researchers aboard the ISS have announced the first successful use in space for a new technique for studying DNA repair in yeast. Astronauts aboard the space station have demonstrated a successful CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing method. An organism can suffer damaged DNA occurring during normal biological processes or as the result of environmental causes.

In both humans and animals, damaged DNA can lead to cancer. However, there are multiple natural strategies inside cells that allow damaged DNA to be repaired. NASA is working hard on studying DNA repair in space because astronauts traveling outside of the atmosphere have an increased risk of DNA damage due to ionizing radiation.

Until now, technological and safety obstacles have limited research into the issue. Now astronauts aboard the ISS have developed a new method for studying DNA repair in yeast cells that can be conducted completely in space. The process uses CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing technology to create precise damage in DNA strands to allow DNA repair mechanisms to be observed.

A new class of drugs prevents the repair of damaged DNA. In recent animal studies, scientists found that it killed cancer cells with BRCA mutations.

Businesses around the world rushed Saturday to contain a ransomware attack that has paralyzed their computer networks, a situation complicated in the U.S. by offices lightly staffed at the start of the Fourth of July holiday weekend.

It’s not yet known how many organizations have been hit by demands that they pay a ransom in order to get their systems working again. But some cybersecurity researchers predict the attack targeting customers of software supplier Kaseya could be one of the broadest ransomware attacks on record.

It follows a scourge of headline-grabbing attacks over recent months that have been a source of diplomatic tension between U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin over whether Russia has become a safe haven for cybercriminal gangs.

A year after University at Buffalo scientists demonstrated that it was possible to produce millions of mature human cells in a mouse embryo, they have published a detailed description of the method so that other laboratories can do it, too.

The ability to produce millions of mature human cells in a living organism, called a chimera, which contains the cells of two species, is critical if the ultimate promise of stem cells to treat or cure human disease is to be realized. But to produce those mature cells, human primed stem cells must be converted back into an earlier, less developed naive state so that the human stem cells can co-develop with the inner cell mass in a mouse blastocyst.

The protocol outlining how to do that has now been published in Nature Protocols by the UB scientists. They were invited to publish it because of the significant interest generated by the team’s initial publication describing their breakthrough last May.

Nuclear Pore Complexes and Genome Integrity — Dr. Veronica Rodriguez-Bravo Ph.D., Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center — Jefferson Health, Thomas Jefferson University.

Dr. Veronica Rodriguez-Bravo, PhD, is Assistant Professor, Department of Cancer Biology, at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, Thomas Jefferson University, in Philadelphia, PA, USA. (https://sidneykimmelcancercenter.jeffersonhealth.org/)

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“Cannabis may contribute to increased risk for mental disorders, which has actually been shown in schizophrenia,” Penzes said. “Conversely, cannabis could be beneficial in some brain disorders, which prompted trials of medical marijuana in patients with autism.”

Summary: Findings reveal a role the endocannabinoid system plays in a range of psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and ASD.

Source: Northwestern University

Continue reading “Cannabinoid Pathway Linked to Psychiatric Disorders” »

Indiana University School of Medicine researchers are developing a new, noninvasive brain stimulation technique to treat neurological disorders, including pain, traumatic brain injury (TBI), epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and more.

“Given the increasing use of brain stimulation in human brain study and treatment of neurological diseases, this research can make a big impact on physicians and their patients,” said Xiaoming Jin, Ph.D., associate professor of anatomy, cell biology and physiology.

When someone experiences a brain injury, nerve injury, or neurodegeneration, such as in epilepsy and TBI, there is damage to the brain which can lead to loss and damage of nerve or neurons and development of hyperexcitability that underlies some neurological disorders such as neuropathic pain and epilepsy.