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Category: biotech/medical – Page 1,538

Most biological traits are inherited via genes, but there are exceptions to this rule. Two teams from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) have been investigating the location of centromeres—specific sites on chromosomes that are essential for cell division. They found that in the small worm Caenorhabiditis elegans, the transmission of the correct location of these sites to the offspring is not mediated by genes, but by an epigenetic memory mechanism. These results have been published in the journal PLOS Biology.

Living organisms, from humans to microscopic worms, inherit physical and sometimes behavioral traits from their parents. The transmission of biological traits is usually mediated by DNA which is replicated at each cell division and contains the genes. However, some characteristics can be transmitted from one generation to the next independently of genes: these are epigenetic phenomena.

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In 2017, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers broke his right collarbone in a game against the Minnesota Vikings. Typically, it takes about 12 weeks for a collarbone to fully heal, but by mid-December fans and commentators were hoping the three-time MVP might recover early and save a losing season.

So did Xudong Wang, a professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an expert in creating thin, movement-powered medical devices. “I started wondering if we could provide a new solution to bring athletes back to the field quicker than ever,” Wang says.

Researchers know that electricity can help speed up bone healing, but “zapping” fractures has never really caught on, since it requires surgically implanting and removing electrodes powered by an external source.

A major update of that same electrostimulation concept, Wang’s latest invention didn’t come in time to help the 2017 Packers–however, it may help many others by making electrostimulation a much more convenient option to speed up bone healing.

His thin, flexible device is self-powered, implantable and bioresorbable, so once the bone is knitted back together, the device’s components dissolve within the body.

Wang and his collaborators, including Weibo Cai, a UW-Madison professor of radiology and medical physics, described the new device today (July 5, 2021) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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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

Many neurodevelopmental disorders share similar symptoms, such as learning disabilities or attention deficits. A new study from MIT has uncovered a common neural mechanism for a type of cognitive impairment seen in some people with autism and schizophrenia, even though the genetic variations that produce the impairments are different for each condition.

In a study of mice, the researchers found that certain genes that are mutated or missing in some people with those disorders cause similar dysfunctions in a neural circuit in the thalamus. If scientists could develop drugs that target this circuit, they could be used to treat people who have different disorders with common behavioral symptoms, the researchers say.

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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.

Dr Khizroev’s laboratory conducts research on nano-magnetics and spintronics applications ranging from energy-efficient information processing to precision medicine. From 2011 to 2018, he was a Professor (tenured) of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Florida International University, with a joint appointment at the College of Medicine, where he co-founded and spearheaded the university-wide initiative on personalized nanomedicine.

From 2006 to 2011, Dr Khizroev was a Professor (tenured) of Electrical Engineering at the University of California, Riverside (UC-Riverside).

Prior to joining academia, Dr Khizroev spent four years as a Research Staff Member with Seagate Research and one year as a Doctoral Intern with IBM Almaden Research Center.

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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.

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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.

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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 in a living organism, called a chimera, which contains the cells of two species, is critical if the ultimate promise of to treat or cure 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 can co-develop with the inner cell mass in a 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.

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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/)

Dr. Rodriguez-Bravo obtained her PhD in Pathology and Cell Biology (Summa Cum Laude) from the University of Barcelona in 2007, where she also received the Extraordinary Doctorate Award for her studies on the distinct DNA replication checkpoint mechanisms of tumor cells. During her postdoctoral training at the Experimental Oncology Department of the University Medical Center of Utrecht (UMC, The Netherlands) and at the Molecular and Cell Biology Programs of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC, New York), she specialized in the study of chromosome segregation during mitosis and the role of nuclear pores in genome integrity maintenance.

Dr. Rodriguez-Bravo’s post-doctoral work allowed her to apply genome-editing techniques crucial to dissect the function of mitotic and nuclear pore proteins in chromosomal stability and resulted in the recognition with the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Postdoctoral Research Award.

Dr. Rodriguez-Bravo’s research focuses on the study of genome integrity maintenance mechanisms and the relationship of defects in cell division to cancer pathogenesis with special emphasis in the pathways contributing to cancer cells’ more aggressive phenotypes.

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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

Northwestern Medicine scientists discovered an unexpected connection between a synapse protein that has been implicated in neuropsychiatric disorders and the endocannabinoid pathway, according to a study published in Biological Psychiatry.

These findings suggest a role for the endocannabinoid system in conditions including bipolar disorder, according to Peter Penzes, PhD, the Ruth and Evelyn Dunbar Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, professor of Physiology and Pharmacology, and senior author of the study.

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