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Category: biotech/medical – Page 1,370

Scientists develop new technique to peer into the genome’s spatial architecture

People who owned black-and-white television sets until the 1980s didn’t know what they were missing until they got a color TV. A similar switch could happen in the world of genomics as researchers at the Berlin Institute of Medical Systems Biology of the Max Delbrück Center (MDC-BIMSB) have developed a technique called Genome Architecture Mapping (“GAM”) to peer into the genome and see it in glorious technicolor. GAM reveals information about the genome’s spatial architecture that is invisible to scientists using solely Hi-C, a workhorse tool developed in 2009 to study DNA interactions, reports a new study in Nature Methods by the Pombo lab.

With a black-and-white TV, you can see the shapes but everything looks grey. But if you have a color TV and look at flowers, you realize that they are red, yellow and white and we were unaware of it. Similarly, there’s also information in the way the genome is folded in three-dimensions that we have not been aware of.

Extreme DNA resolution: Spatially multiplexed single-molecule translocations through a nanopore at controlled speeds

Aleksandra Radenovic, head of the Laboratory of Nanoscale Biology in the School of Engineering, has worked for years to improve nanopore technology, which involves passing a molecule like DNA through a tiny pore in a membrane to measure an ionic current. Scientists can determine DNA’s sequence of nucleotides—which encodes genetic information—by analyzing how each one perturbs this current as it passes through. The research has been published in Nature Nanotechnology.

Currently, the passage of molecules through a and the timing of their analysis are influenced by random physical forces, and the rapid movement of molecules makes achieving high analytical accuracy challenging. Radenovic has previously addressed these issues with optical tweezers and viscous liquids. Now, a collaboration with Georg Fantner and his team in the Laboratory for Bio-and Nano-Instrumentation at EPFL has yielded the advancement she’s been looking for—with results that could go far beyond DNA.

“We have combined the sensitivity of nanopores with the precision of scanning ion conductance microscopy (SICM), allowing us to lock onto specific molecules and locations and control how fast they move. This exquisite control could help fill a big gap in the field,” Radenovic says. The researchers achieved this control using a repurposed state-of-the-art scanning ion conductance microscope, recently developed at the Lab for Bio-and Nano-Instrumentation.

Less-invasive cardiac MRI helps in early evaluation of patients: Study

An estimated 3 million people with severe chest discomfort and slightly increased troponin levels visit emergency rooms each year. When the heart muscle suffers damage due to a heart attack, high amounts of protein troponin are produced. It is still unknown how to diagnose and treat people with chest discomfort with detectable or barely increased troponin.

Now, a new study from researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine reveals that cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), is a safe and valuable tool to help evaluate these complex patients.

The study findings appear online today in Circulation: Cardiovascular Imaging, a journal of the American Heart Association.

From Stage 3 Colon Cancer to NO Cancer Detected in 4 Months

Check out Fred Evrard’s Book (HOW MY IMMUNE SYSTEM BEAT CANCER) HERE: https://amzn.to/3MGjOE1

FRED EVRARD’S YOUTUBE CHANNEL:
https://youtube.com/channel/UCnJF5tsWLdZ7mZnjM5r0GrQ

AMAZON

Guy Tenenbaum Youtube Channels:
http://youtube.com/c/CancerTherapy.
http://youtube.com/c/SurviveFromCancer.

The cancer study, Dr. Berg and Guy Tenenbaum sponsored:
http://jscholaronline.com/full-text/JOCR/3_104/Inhibition-of…reases.php.

Inhibition of SCOT and Ketolysis Decreases Tumor Growth and Inflammation in the Lewis Cancer Model.

Continue reading “From Stage 3 Colon Cancer to NO Cancer Detected in 4 Months” | >

Lab-grown human embryo models spark calls for regulation

Scientists have used stem cells to create structures that resemble human embryos in the lab, in a first that has prompted calls for stricter regulation in the rapidly advancing field.

Several different labs around the world have released pre-print studies in the past seven days describing their research, which experts said should be treated with caution as the research has not yet been peer-reviewed.

The labs used different techniques to encourage , which can become any type of cell, to self-assemble into a structure that resembles an embryo—without needing sperm, an egg or fertilization.

Pre-Clinical Study Shows Benefits to Targeting the Lymph Node for Cancer Treatment

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have improved the landscape of cancer research over the past decade. These therapies, which target a patient’s own immune system aiming to make it stronger and more equipped to fight cancer, have provided novel and beneficial therapeutic options for patients with advanced and metastatic disease.

While ICIs can induce long-term responses and cures in patients with limited therapeutic options, they present significant challenges. First, different patients exhibit different levels of responsiveness to ICIs. So, when one patient achieves a cure, another with a similar type of cancer may remain non-responsive. While we don’t fully understand the reasons behind the disparate responsiveness of ICIs, this remains an active area of research globally. Second, ICI use can elicit toxicities known as immune-related adverse events (irAEs). In some patients irAEs can be managed and thus tolerable, especially given the anti-cancer effects. However, some patients experience severe irAEs that can significantly hinder the quality of life of cancer survivors. In some cases, serious and life-threatening irAEs can even require treatment discontinuation.

A pre-clinical study recently published in the Journal of Clinical and Experimental Cancer Research explores a potential regimen that may help confront both of these challenges. The researchers hypothesized that ICIs, if targeted directly to the lymph node (LN), could both enhance the anti-tumor response and reduce the associated irAEs.

Unexpected discovery: Blue-green algae produce oil

face_with_colon_three Year 2020

Cyanobacteria — colloquially also called blue-green algae — can produce oil from water and carbon dioxide with the help of light. This is shown by a recent study by the University of Bonn. The result is unexpected: Until now, it was believed that this ability was reserved for plants. It is possible that blue-green algae will now also become interesting as suppliers of feed or fuel, especially since they do not require arable land. The results have now been published in the journal PNAS.

What do rapeseed, avocado and olive tree have in common? They are all used by humans as producers of oil or fat. However, the ability to produce oil from water and carbon dioxide with the help of light is something that is essentially common to all plants, from unicellular algae to the giant sequoia trees. “We have now shown for the first time that cyanobacteria can do the same,” explains biologist Prof. Dr. Peter Dörmann from the Institute of Molecular Physiology and Biotechnology of Plants (IMBIO) at the University of Bonn. “This was a complete surprise, not only to us.”

Until now, experts had assumed that cyanobacteria lack this property. After all, they are actually bacteria, even if their trivial name “blue-green algae” suggests otherwise. They therefore differ considerably from plants in many respects: Cyanobacteria are closer related to the intestinal bacterium E. coli than to an olive tree. “There are indeed ancient reports in the literature that cyanobacteria can contain oil,” says Dörmann. “But these have never been verified.”

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