BioWorld looks at translational medicine, including: Engineered opsin restores vision.

New gene therapy approaches may be able to treat forms of vision loss that currently have no treatment options, and improve the treatment of others.

A multi-institutional team of researchers has implicated lipid droplets, which are key energy storage units of individual cells, in innate immune defense. "Until now it was thought that [lipid droplets] were at the service of viruses or bacteria during infection," Albert Pol told BioWorld. The new study, which was published in the Oct. 16, 2020, issue of Science, demonstrated that cells also use the droplets to coordinate their defense.

A collaborative Sino-Australian study led by scientists at the Institute of Ageing Research at Hangzhou Normal University in Chongqing has identified a new target for enhancing respiratory function and preventing stress-induced premature lung aging and fibrosis due to environmental stresses in mice.

An international collaborative study led by U.S and Chinese scientists was the first to show that the extracellular autophagy regulator, sequestosome-1, mediates septic death in mice by activating insulin receptor signaling in macrophages and monocytes.

TORONTO – What’s the difference between an organ transplant container tucked under a paramedic’s arm and an ordinary beer cooler packed with ice? Surprisingly, not much, according to researchers at London, Ontario’s Western University. They’ve come up with a portable, temperature-controlled container that prevents spoilage of donor organs during transport to the operating room – and of potential vaccines.

A multi-institutional team of researchers has implicated lipid droplets, which are key energy storage units of individual cells, in innate immune defense.