Lifeboat Foundation

Series — Clinical Trials on Alzheimer’s Disease (CTAD) 2022: Part 1 of 14: Dare We Say Consensus Achieved: Lecanemab Slows the Disease Part 2 of 14: Brexpiprazole Eases Agitation in People with AD; So Does Being in a Trial Part 3 of 14: Two New Stabs at Vaccinating People Against Pathologic Tau Part 4 of 14: Cognitive Tests Taken at Home Are on Par with In-Clinic Assessments Part 5 of 14: In Small Trial, Gene Therapy Spurs ApoE2 Production Part 6 of 14: Donanemab Mops Up Plaque Faster Than Aduhelm Part 7 of 14: Gantenerumab Mystery: How Did It Lose Potency in Phase 3? Part 8 of 14: Could Personalizing Multimodal Interventions Give Them Oomph?

Nuclear physicists have found a new way to use the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC)—a particle collider at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory—to see the shape and details inside atomic nuclei. The method relies on particles of light that surround gold ions as they speed around the collider and a new type of quantum entanglement that’s never been seen before.

Through a series of quantum fluctuations, the particles of light (a.k.a. photons) interact with gluons—gluelike particles that hold quarks together within the protons and neutrons of nuclei. Those interactions produce an intermediate particle that quickly decays into two differently charged “pions” (π). By measuring the velocity and angles at which these π⁺ and π^- particles strike RHIC’s STAR detector, the scientists can backtrack to get crucial information about the photon—and use that to map out the arrangement of gluons within the nucleus with higher precision than ever before.

“This technique is similar to the way doctors use positron emission tomography (PET scans) to see what’s happening inside the brain and other body parts,” said former Brookhaven Lab physicist James Daniel Brandenburg, a member of the STAR collaboration who joined The Ohio State University as an assistant professor in January 2023. “But in this case, we’re talking about mapping out features on the scale of femtometers —quadrillionths of a meter—the size of an individual proton.”

Many applications, from fiber-optic telecommunications to biomedical imaging processes require substances that emit light in the near-infrared range (NIR). A research team in Switzerland has now developed the first chromium complex that emits light in the coveted, longer wavelength NIR-II range. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, the team has introduced the underlying concept: a drastic change in the electronic structure of the chromium caused by the specially tailored ligands that envelop it.

Many materials that emit NIR light are based on expensive or rare metal complexes. Cheaper alternatives that emit in the NIR-I range between 700 and 950 nm have been developed but NIR-II-emitting complexes of non–precious metals remain extremely rare. Luminescence in the NIR-II range (1000 to 1,700 nm) is, for example, particularly advantageous for in vivo imaging because this light penetrates very far into tissues.

The luminescence of complexes is based on the excitement of electrons, through the absorption of light, for example. When the excited electron drops back down to its ground state, part of the energy is emitted as radiation. The wavelength of this radiation depends on the energetic differences between the electronic states. In complexes, these are significantly determined by the type and arrangement of the ligands bound to the metal.

An international research group has for the first time reconstructed ancestors dating back 2.6 billion years of the well-known CRISPR-Cas system, and studied their evolution over time. The results suggest that the revitalized systems not only work, but are more versatile than current versions and could have revolutionary applications. Nature Microbiology has published the results of this research, which, in the opinion of the research team, “opens up new avenues for gene editing.”

The project, led by Ikerbasque research professor Rául Pérez-Jiménez of CIC nanoGUNE, involves teams from the Spanish National Research Council, the University of Alicante, the Rare Diseases Networking Biomedical Research Center (CIBERER), the Ramón y Cajal Hospital-IRYCIS and other national and international institutions.

The acronym CRISPR refers to the repeated sequences present in the DNA of bacteria and archaea (prokaryotic organisms). Among the repeats, these microorganisms harbor fragments of genetic material from viruses that infected their ancestors; that enables them to recognize a repeat infection and defend themselves by cutting the invaders’ DNA using Cas proteins associated with these repeats. It is a mechanism (CRISPR-Cas system) of antiviral defense. This ability to recognize DNA sequences is the basis of their usefulness, and they act as if they were molecular scissors. Nowadays CRISPR-Cas technology enables pieces of genetic material to be cut and pasted into any cell, so that it can be used to edit DNA.

In a recent study published in the journal Cureus, researchers conducted a literature review to determine whether platelet-rich plasma therapy could help slow disease progression through lung regeneration in patients with chronic respiratory disease.

Chronic respiratory disease comprises many disorders related to the respiratory system, such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and interstitial lung fibrosis, of which COPD is the most fatal, causing close to 3.23 million deaths worldwide in 2019. Statistics suggest that approximately 37 million people in the United States live with chronic respiratory disease, and over 150,000 individuals in the country succumbed to the disease in 2020.

Chronic bronchitis and emphysema as the two prominent disorders constituting COPD, causing abnormal airflow into and out of the lungs. Emphysema causes the destruction of the alveoli, which is where the exchange of gases occurs in the lungs, while chronic bronchitis causes excessive mucus production and obstruction of airways.

Scientists at Imperial College London, UK have proved that a modern surgical knife dubbed iKnife can “smell tumours”, effectively detecting womb cancer within seconds. The breakthrough could enable thousands of women to get an earlier cancer diagnosis.

“The iKnife reliably diagnosed endometrial cancer in seconds, with a diagnostic accuracy of 89%, minimising the current delays for women whilst awaiting a histopathological diagnosis,” said the researchers in the finding published in the journal Cancers.

Notably, the iKnife is already being used to treat breast and brain cancers, reported the Guardian, and now it can also accurately detect the presence of endometrial cancer.

Compared to other areas of microbiome research, fewer studies have examined the microbiome of the male genital mucosa. However, recent studies suggest that the information about the male genital tract microbiome is important since it is indicative of men’s fertility and sexual behavior. As the most important and adaptive structure of the male reproductive system, the male genital mucosa triggers a range of immune responses.

Understanding the composition of healthy male genital mucosa microbiome and its variations is essential since it might contain determinants such as risk factors for viral and bacterial infections. A few studies have assessed the male reproductive tract microbiome’s role but focus mainly on the coronal sulcus or urine.

A new study in the journal Microorganisms aimed to identify and analyze studies on the composition of the microbial community on different parts of the healthy and diseased male genital mucosa.

𝐋𝐚𝐛-𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐞𝐲𝐞 𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐝𝐨𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬

𝙍𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙘𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙨 𝙜𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙢 𝙘𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙨 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙣𝙚𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙗𝙤𝙧𝙨, 𝙖𝙘𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙖 𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙨𝙩𝙪𝙙𝙮, 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖 “𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙠𝙚” 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙢𝙖𝙮 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙮 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙡𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙝𝙪𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙙𝙚𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙚𝙮𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨.𝙍𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙘𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙨 𝙜𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙢 𝙘𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙨 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙣𝙚𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙗𝙤𝙧𝙨, 𝙖𝙘𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙖 𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙨𝙩𝙪𝙙𝙮, 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖 “𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙠𝙚” 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙢𝙖𝙮 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙮 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙡𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙝𝙪𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙙𝙚𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙚𝙮𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨.

Retinal cells grown from stem cells can reach out and connect with neighbors, according to a new study, completing a “handshake” that may show the cells are ready for trials in humans with degenerative eye disorders.

Continue reading “Lab-grown retinal eye cells make successful connections, open door for clinical trials to treat blindness” »

We are living a data revolution in the biomedical field, and scientific research is advancing at an unprecedented speed to improve modern medicine. One of the key aspects of such medicine is the tailoring of treatments to each patient, by analising the specific changes that led to disease along with the unique characteristics with which the person was born. The use of supercomputers is essential to make sense of the vast amounts of data, and to simulate aspects of our bodies to calculate for instance which drug is more appropriate for each patient for a given disease.

This video showcases some of the research done at the Life Sciences Department of the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, contributing to a better understanding of our bodies in health and disease, and to a future where a Human Digital Twin can help to live healthier and longer.