Lifeboat Foundation

A Spain-based startup has successfully demonstrated the capability of its graphene-based brain-computer interface (BCI) to perform precise tumor surgery.

INBRAIN Neuroelectronics, a company specializing in brain-computer interface therapies, successfully implanted its cortical interface in a human patient.

Continue reading “‘World’s first’ graphene brain chip implanted in a cancer patient” »

Researchers have discovered an antibody able to neutralize all known variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, as well as distantly related SARS-like coronaviruses that infect other animals.

As part of a new study on hybrid immunity to the virus, the large, multi-institution research team led by The University of Texas at Austin discovered and isolated a broadly neutralizing plasma antibody, called SC27, from a single patient. Using technology developed over several years of research into antibody response, the team led by UT engineers and scientists obtained the exact molecular sequence of the antibody, opening the possibility of manufacturing it on a larger scale for future treatments.

“The discovery of SC27, and other antibodies like it in the future, will help us better protect the population against current and future COVID variants,” said Jason Lavinder, a research assistant professor in the Cockrell School of Engineering’s McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering and one of the leaders of the new research, which was recently published in Cell Reports Medicine.

Up to 4,000 people with sickle cell disease in England could benefit from the drug Voxelotor if recommended by their clinician, which will offer an additional treatment option from today, following its approval by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).

Voxelotor (Oxbryta®)…

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Continue reading “NHS rolls out ‘life-changing’ treatment for thousands with sickle cell disease” »

This is actually an addition to Genevieve’s post on CubeSat.

Humans are returning to the Moon for the first time in decades, and we intend to stay. NASA’s Artemis missions are preparing for a sustained human presence on and around the Moon, with the ultimate goal of sending humans to Mars. These deep-space destinations present health risks to astronauts that are qualitatively and quantitatively different from those associated with stays on the International Space Station (ISS). One of the most significant risks for astronauts venturing outside the protection of Earth’s magnetic field is ionizing radiation: Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCR), Solar Particle Events (SPE), and the “albedo” radiation produced by the interaction of space radiation with the lunar surface. Exposure to ionizing radiation can result in an increased risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and neurological impairment.

In some mammals, the timing of the normally continuous embryonic development can be altered to improve the chances of survival for both the embryo and the mother. This mechanism to temporarily slow development, called embryonic diapause, often happens at the blastocyst stage, just before the embryo implants in the uterus.

During diapause, the embryo remains free-floating and pregnancy is extended. This dormant state can be maintained for weeks or months before development is resumed, when conditions are favorable. Although not all mammals use this reproductive strategy, the ability to pause development can be triggered experimentally. Whether human cells can respond to diapause triggers remained an open question.

Now, a study by the labs of Aydan Bulut-Karslıoğlu at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin and Nicolas Rivron at the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology (IMBA) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, has identified that the molecular mechanisms that control embryonic diapause also seem to be actionable in human cells.

Can cannabidiol (CBD) be used to counter insecticide resistance, specifically for mosquitoes? This is what a recent study published in Insects hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated how hemp leaf extract could be used to kill mosquito larvae that is responsible for yellow fever. This study holds the potential to help researchers better understand how cannabis can be used to fight insecticide resistance and mitigate yellow fever around the world.

“Mosquitoes are one of the deadliest animals in the world, mainly because as adults they serve as vectors of disease,” said Erick Martinez Rodriguez, who is a graduate student in entomology at The Ohio State University and lead author of the study. “It’s very important to be able to control these pests at an early stage, when they are at the most vulnerable.”

This study builds off a 2018 study from The Ohio State University that a Madagascar-native plant successfully worked as a mosquito insecticide. For this recent study, the researchers created CBD from ground-up hemp extract and fed this CBD to mosquito larvae with two strains of yellow fever. In the end, the researchers found both strains were effectively killed by the CBD, along with this occurring with very small amounts of CBD.

A magnetic nanoparticle (MNP)-based platform is introduced for the spatially controlled viral transduction in retina explants and whole eyes. The platform uses magnetic fields to guide adeno-associat…

NEW YORK — In a groundbreaking development, scientists have created a revolutionary method to track the spread of cancer throughout the body, potentially paving the way for more effective treatments against this devastating disease. The new technology, developed by researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and Weill Cornell Medicine in New York, uses genetic “barcodes” to monitor the movement of individual cancer cells, providing unprecedented insights into the process of metastasis.

In recent years, the scientific community has made significant strides in the field of gene editing, particularly through the development of the CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) systems. In 2020, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to the scientists for the discovery of CRISPR–Cas9 system, a revolutionary genome editing technology that advanced DNA therapeutics. Subsequently, the CRISPR–Cas13 system has emerged as a potential tool to identify and rectify errors in RNA sequences. CRISPR–Cas13 is a novel technology is specifically engineered for virus detection and RNA-targeted therapeutics. The CRISPR RNA (CrRNA) targets specific and non-specific RNA sequences, and Cas13 is an effector protein that undergoes conformational changes and cleaves the target RNA. This RNA-targeting system holds tremendous promise for therapeutics and presents a revolutionary tool in the landscape of molecular biology.

Now, in a recently published BioDesign Research study, a team of researchers led by Professor Yuan Yao from ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center, Zhejiang University, China has elucidated the latest research trends of CRISPR–Cas13 in RNA-targeted therapies. Talking about this paper, which was published online on 6 September 2024, in Volume 6 of the journal, Prof. Yao says, “By focusing on RNA-;the intermediary between DNA and proteins-;CRISPR-Cas13 allows scientists to temporarily manipulate gene expression without inducing permanent changes to the genome. This flexibility makes it a safer option in scenarios where genome stability is critical.”

RNA plays a central role in carrying genetic information from DNA to protein-synthesizing machinery, and also regulates gene expression and participates in numerous cellular processes. Defects in RNA splicing or mutations can lead to a wide variety of diseases, ranging from metabolic disorders to cancer. A point mutation occurs when a single nucleotide is erroneously inserted, deleted, or changed. CRISPR–Cas13 plays a role in identifying and correcting these mutations by employing REPAIR (RNA editing for programmable A-to-I replacement) and RESCUE (RNA editing for specific C-to-U exchange) mechanisms. Explaining the applications of Cas13-based gene editors, Prof. Yao adds, “The mxABE editor, for example, can be used to correct a nonsense mutation linked with Duchenne muscular dystrophy that can be corrected with mxABE. This approach has proved high editing efficiency, restoring dystrophin expression to levels more than 50% of those of the wild type.”