Lifeboat Foundation

Tumor cells are known to be fickle sleeper agents, often lying dormant in distant tissues for years before reactivating and forming metastasis. Numerous factors have been studied to understand why the activation occurs, from cells and molecules to other components in the so-called tissue microenvironment.

Now, an interdisciplinary Cornell University team has identified a new mechanism regulating tumor growth in the skeleton, the primary site of breast cancer metastasis: mineralization of the bone matrix, a fibrous mesh of organic and inorganic components that determines the unique biochemical and biomechanical properties of our skeleton.

The team’s paper, “Bone-Matrix Mineralization Dampens Integrin-Mediated Mechanosignalling and Metastatic Progression in Breast Cancer,” published Aug. 7 in Nature Biomedical Engineering. The co-lead authors are research associate Siyoung Choi and doctoral student Matthew Whitman.

Microplastics have been detected in human stool, lungs, and placentas, which have direct exposure to the external environment through various body cavities, including the oral/anal cavity and uterine/vaginal cavity. Crucial data on microplastic exposure in completely enclosed human organs are still lacking. Herein, we used a laser direct infrared chemical imaging system and scanning electron microscopy to investigate whether microplastics exist in the human heart and its surrounding tissues. Microplastic specimens were collected from 15 cardiac surgery patients, including 6 pericardia, 6 epicardial adipose tissues, 11 pericardial adipose tissues, 3 myocardia, 5 left atrial appendages, and 7 pairs of pre-and postoperative venous blood samples.

Alien enthusiasts have a new reason to get excited about potential life on Mars, after scientists found cracked mud on the Red Planet.

A recent research paper showed that the conditions that created cracks in the surface of Mars might have been favourable for microscopic life to thrive.

While scientists don’t yet know how life on Earth began, a prevalent theory is that repeated cycles of wet and dry conditions might have helped build the complex chemical building blocks needed for microbial life.

An international team that includes researchers from the University of Toronto has designed and implemented a new model for photoreactors, a solar-powered technology for converting water, carbon dioxide, methane and nitrogen into greener chemicals and fuels.

The innovative design allows the photoreactor to capture photons at high efficiency under varying sun directions, eliminating the need for sun-tracking. The panels are also manufacturable via extrusion of polymers, making them inexpensive and easily manufacturable at scale—all of which could help make a sustainable future more affordable and practical.

Geoffrey Ozin, University Professor in U of T’s department of chemistry in the Faculty of Arts & Science, and his team collaborated with researchers from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany on the project.

Reichman University’s new Innovation Institute, which is set to formally open this spring under the auspices of the new Graziella Drahi Innovation Building, aims to encourage interdisciplinary, innovative and applied research as a cooperation between the different academic schools. The establishment of the Innovation Institute comes along with a new vision for the University, which puts the emphasis on the fields of synthetic biology, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Advanced Reality (XR). Prof. Noam Lemelshtrich Latar, the Head of the Institute, identifies these as fields of the future, and the new Innovation Institute will focus on interdisciplinary applied research and the ramifications of these fields on the subjects that are researched and taught at the schools, for example, how law and ethics influence new medical practices and scientific research.

Synthetic biology is a new interdisciplinary field that integrates biology, chemistry, computer science, electrical and genetic engineering, enabling fast manipulation of biological systems to achieve a desired product.

Prof. Lemelshtrich Latar, with Dr. Jonathan Giron, who was the Institute’s Chief Operating Officer, has made a significant revolution at the University, when they raised a meaningful donation to establish the Scojen Institute for Synthetic Biology. The vision of the Scojen Institute is to conduct applied scientific research by employing top global scientists at Reichman University to become the leading synthetic biology research Institute in Israel. The donation will allow recruiting four world-leading scientists in various scopes of synthetic biology in life sciences. The first scientist and Head of the Scojen Institute has already been recruited – Prof. Yosi Shacham Diamand, a leading global scientist in bio-sensors and the integration of electronics and biology. The Scojen Institute labs will be located in the Graziella Drahi Innovation Building and will be one part of the future Dina Recanati School of Medicine, set to open in the academic year 2024–2025.

NIH study finds Black women may be more affected due to higher use.

Women who used chemical hair straightening products were at higher risk for uterine cancer compared to women who did not report using these products, according to a new study from the National Institutes of Health. The researchers found no associations with uterine cancer for other hair products that the women reported using, including hair dyes, bleach, highlights, or perms.

The study data includes 33,497 U.S. women ages 35–74 participating in the Sister Study, a study led by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of NIH, that seeks to identify risk factors for breast cancer and other health conditions. The women were followed for almost 11 years and during that time 378 uterine cancer cases were diagnosed.

Scientists have developed a way to recycle plastic waste by transforming it into soap.

For the first time, researchers have used plastics to create soap. To achieve this goal, a team led by Virginia Tech scientists devised a novel approach.

As per the official release, this innovative method allowed them to upcycle plastics into chemicals known as surfactants, which are widely used in making soap and detergent.

Continue reading “Soap made from discarded plastics? This is upcycling at its best” »

A team from the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering has invented a device that leverages electrochemistry to increase the efficiency of direct air carbon capture. Their alternative strategy aims to accelerate the widespread adoption of this emerging technology.

“The technology required to pull carbon directly out of the air has been developing for decades, but the field is now accelerating with governments and industry investing in the infrastructure required to actually do this at scale,” says David Sinton, a professor in the faculty’s department of mechanical and industrial engineering and senior author on a paper published in Joule that outlines the new technique.

“One key barrier is that current processes require a lot of energy, and indeed emit a fair amount of carbon themselves,” says Sinton, who holds a Canada Research Chair in microfluidics and energy and is academic director of the Climate Positive Energy Initiative, one of U of T’s Institutional Strategic Initiatives.

A change in just one letter in the code that makes up a cancer-causing gene can significantly affect how aggressive a tumor is or how well a patient with cancer responds to a particular therapy. A new, very precise gene-editing tool created by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators will enable scientists to study the impact of these specific genetic changes in preclinical models rather than being limited to more broadly targeted tactics, such as deleting the entire gene.

The tool was described in a study published Aug. 10 in Nature Biotechnology. Dr. Lukas Dow, an associate professor of biochemistry in medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, and his colleagues genetically engineered mice to carry an enzyme that allows the scientists to change a single base or “letter” in the mouse’s genetic code. The enzyme can be turned on or off by feeding the mice an antibiotic called doxycycline, reducing the prospect of unintended genetic changes occurring over time. The tool can also grow miniature versions of intestine, lung, and pancreas tissue called organoids from the mice, enabling even more molecular and biochemical studies of the impact of these precise genetic changes.

“We are excited about using this technology to try and understand the genetic changes that influence a patient’s response to cancer therapies,” said Dr. Dow, who is also a member of the Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center at Weill Cornell Medicine.