Researchers have identified a cancer-causing mutation in the PDGFRA gene that drives cell mutation and growth when activated. The findings have implications for the treatment of a subset of glioblastoma brain cancer.
Dead Cells
It’s an intriguingly microscopic example of pro-social behavior — an adaptation that doesn’t help an individual survive, but does let it use its death to help others, therefore making the entire swarm more likely to survive and reproduce.
“Dead cells are helping the community survive,” University of Texas at Austin professor of molecular biosciences told Live Science.
WASHINGTON (SBG) — Researchers studying cognitive deficits following traumatic brain injuries have discovered what they say is a revolutionary drug that could provide the cure for aging. The study by the University of California San Francisco has shown promising results among mice, essentially reversing age-related declines in memory. “We went on with this crazy experiment… and were able to return their cognitive function to as if they were never injured,” said Dr.
Researchers at EPFL have developed an approach to print tiny tissues that look and function almost like their full-sized counterpart. Measuring just a few centimeters across, the mini-tissues could allow scientists to study biological processes—and even test new treatment approaches—in ways that were previously not possible.
For years, mini versions of organs such as the brain, kidney and lung—known as “organoids”—have been grown from stem cells. Organoids promise to cut down on the need for animal testing and offer better models to study how human organs form and how that process goes awry in disease. However, conventional approaches to grow organoids result in stem cells assembling into micro-to millimeter-sized, hollow spheres. “That is non-physiological, because many organs, such as the intestine or the airway, are tube-shaped and much larger,” says Matthias Lütolf, a professor at EPFL’s Institute of Bioengineering, who led the study published today in Nature Materials.
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The side effects are similar to that of the shingles vaccine. But studies show about 20 percent of the people who get the shingles vaccine skip the second dose.
Experts say if that happens with the COVID vaccines, there could be consequences.
The worst-case scenario is that skipping the second shot could allow the virus to spread and mutate, and potentially build resistance to the vaccines, according to Penn State University biologist David Kennedy.
Have you ever wondered why our bodies react as they do to stresses?
In this quick guide, I go right back to the primordial soup so to speak, and trace the factors that led to where we are today, and I finish off by looking at good and bad stresses so you can understand them, and use them to your advantage to stay fit and healthy, and even, maybe, to help you slow down aging…whilst we wait for the medical breakthroughs that will allow us to role back the years…
Northwestern researchers have developed a first-of-its-kind soft, aquatic robot that is powered by light and rotating magnetic fields. These life-like robotic materials could someday be used as “smart” microscopic systems for production of fuels and drugs, environmental cleanup or transformative medical procedures.
Creative technology studio playtronica has found a way of making music with pretty much anything including vegetables. their electronic devices transform touch into midi notes making anything into a midi controller including one that turns the human body into a keyboard. how it works is by effectively creating a circuit between the device and human body or the fruit. it’s then connected to a computer so when you touch the instrument the circuit is closed, and a specified sound is played. the tools are designed to work with organic materials and mostly anything that has water inside.
Rotationplasty is a bone cancer surgery for children that replaces the knee with a backwards foot so it can function as a knee joint for a prosthesis…
Researchers from the Francis Crick Institute (FCI) and University College London (UCL) have rebuilt a human thymus, an essential organ of the immune system, using human stem cells and a bioengineered scaffold. Their work is an important step towards being able to grow artificial thymi for use as transplants.
The thymus – located in the upper front part of the chest, behind the sternum – is a lymphoid organ where T cells mature. These play a vital role in the body’s immune system. If the thymus does not work properly or does not form during foetal development in the womb, it can result in severe immunodeficiency and other conditions where the body cannot fight infectious diseases or cancerous cells, or autoimmunity, where the immune system mistakenly attacks the patient’s own healthy tissue.
In their proof-of-concept study, published in Nature Communications, the scientists rebuilt thymi using stem cells taken from patients who had to have the organ removed during surgery. When transplanted into mice, the bioengineered thymi were able to support the development of mature and functional human T cells.
