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Biomedical engineering researchers at North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have developed a technique that uses a patch embedded with microneedles to deliver cancer immunotherapy treatment directly to the site of melanoma skin cancer. In animal studies, the technique more effectively targeted melanoma than other immunotherapy treatments.

According to the CDC, more than 67,000 people in the United States were diagnosed with melanoma in 2012 alone – the most recent year for which data are available. If caught early, melanoma patients have a 5-year survival rate of more than 98 percent, according to the National Cancer Institute. That number dips to 16.6 percent if the cancer has metastasized before diagnosis and treatment. Melanoma treatments range from surgery to chemotherapy and radiation therapy. A promising new field of cancer treatment is cancer immunotherapy, which helps the body’s own immune system fight off cancer.

3D printed heart replicas, A new type of colossal galaxy, shutting down HIV with gene editing, and more!

This Week in Science — March 20 −27, 2016.

3D printed heart replicas, A new type of colossal galaxy, shutting down HIV with gene editing, and more.

1st of many steps in the gene editing oversight.

PRINCETON, N.J., March 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — WIRB-Copernicus Group^® (WCG™), one of the world’s leading providers of solutions that measurably improve the quality and efficiency of clinical research, today announced that it has assembled a team of world-renowned experts to advise the company regarding the latest advances in gene therapy research. The WCG Gene Therapy™ Advisory Board will convene today in Princeton, NJ.

“Human gene therapy is one of the fastest-growing areas of medical research, and also one of the most promising,” said WCG Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Donald A. Deieso, Ph.D. “The advances made by scientists and clinicians in the field of gene therapy have enabled us to target disease at the genetic level, redefining the concept of precision medicine.” He added, “More than that, gene transfer researchers have succeeded – over the course of a single lifetime – in transforming the world’s most persistent and lethal viruses into disease-fighting allies in the quest to improve human health.”

Continue reading “WIRB-Copernicus Group Establishes WCG Gene Therapy Advisory Board” »

Synthetic biology involves creating or re-engineering microbes or other organisms to perform specific tasks, like fighting obesity, monitoring chemical threats or creating biofuels. Essentially, biologists program single-celled organisms like bacteria and yeast much the same way one would program and control a robot.

But 10 years ago, it was extremely challenging to take a DNA sequence designed on a computer and turn it into a polymer that could implement its task in a specific host, say a mouse or human cell. Now, thanks to a multitude of innovations across computing, engineering, biology and other fields, researchers can type out any DNA sequence they want, email it to a synthesis company, and receive their completed DNA construct in a week. You can build entire chromosomes and entire genomes of bacteria in this way.

Continue reading “Magic Microbes: The Navy’s Next Defense?” »

Now, we have to truly ask ourselves; when one looks at all of the complexities of the brain and how it interacts with the body such as pathways; and then you look at our existing digital infrastructure and technology how can anyone truly believe that they can mimic the human brain and all of its functions. Not on the existing digital platform, not happening. We need a way more advance platform and infrastructure.

Suppose it’s Thursday night and you’re in bed. Your roommate is talking to you about the football team’s chances for the fall, but just when they predict a Tiger playoff berth, you drift off to sleep.

Enzo Tagliazucchi, a physicist at the Institute for Medical Psychology in Kiel, Germany, might explain why you fell asleep during the conversation by suggesting that your neurons are too disconnected.

Continue reading “Tigra scientifica: A pathway to consciousness” »

Hmmm;

Researchers are testing mild electrical stimulation to improve brain function and mental health, but warn do-it-yourselfers to be wary of treating themselves with models available online.

Dr. Fidel Vila-Rodriguez, director of the Non-Invasive Neurostimulation Therapies (NINET) Lab at the University of B.C., is starting to lend devices for home use to people with Parkinson’s disease and depression that will deliver a weak electrical current through electrodes placed on their temples.

Continue reading “Experts wary of electrical brain stimulation at home” »

Awesome!

Even the simplest networks of neurons in the brain are composed of millions of connections, and examining these vast networks is critical to understanding how the brain works. An international team of researchers, led by R. Clay Reid, Wei Chung Allen Lee and Vincent Bonin from the Allen Institute for Brain Science, Harvard Medical School and Neuro-Electronics Research Flanders (NERF), respectively, has published the largest network to date of connections between neurons in the cortex, where high-level processing occurs, and have revealed several crucial elements of how networks in the brain are organized. The results are published in the journal Nature.

“This is a culmination of a research program that began almost ten years ago. Brain networks are too large and complex to understand piecemeal, so we used high-throughput techniques to collect huge data sets of brain activity and brain wiring,” says R. Clay Reid, M.D., Ph.D., Senior Investigator at the Allen Institute for Brain Science. “But we are finding that the effort is absolutely worthwhile and that we are learning a tremendous amount about the structure of networks in the brain, and ultimately how the brain’s structure is linked to its function.”

Continue reading “Research on largest network of cortical neurons to date” »

Moscow (AFP) — The hunters searching for mammoth tusks were drawn to the steep riverbank by a deposit of ancient bones. To their astonishment, they discovered an Ice Age puppy’s snout peeking out from the permafrost.

Five years later, a pair of puppies perfectly preserved in Russia’s far northeast region of Yakutia and dating back 12,460 years has mobilised scientists across the world.

“To find a carnivorous mammal intact with skin, fur and internal organs — this has never happened before in history,” said Sergei Fyodorov, head of exhibitions at the Mammoth Museum of the North-Eastern Federal University in the regional capital of Yakutsk.

Continue reading “Caveman’s best friends? Preserved Ice Age puppies awe scientists” »