By pairing the expression of an inhibitory ion channel with an activity-dependent promoter, researchers have developed the first on-demand gene therapy that specifically silenced hyperactive cells and prevented epileptic seizures.
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2022 was awarded to Svante Pääbo today "for his discoveries concerning the genomes of extinct hominins and human evolution." Pääbo, who is currently the director of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, and his colleagues overcame extreme technical challenges to sequence the DNA of ancient hominids – because after tens of thousands of years, there is no such thing as aging well for DNA.
The 2022 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award has been awarded to Richard Hynes, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Erkki Ruoslahti, of the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, and Timothy Springer, of Harvard Medical School “for discoveries concerning the integrins, key mediators of cell-matrix and cell-cell adhesion in physiology and disease.”
Researchers from ESPCI Paris (Paris University for Industrial Physics and Chemistry), are working on a novel functional neuroimaging technique for measuring whole-brain activity dynamically at the microscopic level.
Research over the past decade has shown embryonic stem cells can undergo many disparate aspects of mammalian embryogenesis in vitro. But without the support of extra-embryonic stem cells that go on to form the placenta and yolk sac, development stalls. Now, two groups of researchers, led by scientists at the Weizmann Institute in Israel and Cambridge University, U.K., have taken the in vitro development of whole mouse embryos further, by adding or inducing the differentiation of trophoblast cells and extra-embryonic endoderm stem cells.
Akadeum Life Sciences Inc. is rolling out a new dead cell removal kit using its patented microbubble technology. The research-use-only Dead Cell Removal Microbubble Kit (DCR kit) is currently available via direct sales to the U.S. market and on the company’s website. Akadeum’s DCR kit is designed to resolve current challenges in dead cell removal, which can hamper elimination of dead cells and the salvage of viable ones for research use.
Noninvasive electrical stimulation of the brain for 20 minutes per session over four days has been demonstrated to improve both working- and long-term memory for at least one month, in people ages 65 to 88.
Integrated Graphene Ltd. is partnering with a team of scientists at the University of Edinburgh to develop a point-of-care biomedical test for liver transplants. The Sensibile project team is working to develop a prototype electrochemical biosensor that can detect biliary complications’ biomarkers in donor livers. Sterling, Scotland-based Integrated Graphene’s 3D graphene foam electrode will help to assess the viability of the biliary compartment, and the quality of the donor liver prior to transplantation.
Heartpoint Global Inc. has reached a milestone in the ongoing preclinical trials of its Heartpoint Global Implant System (HPGS), focused on treating left heart diseases, congestive heart failure, and structural pulmonary hypertension. In large animal studies, the system appeared to significantly improve the structure of the heart and the function of the heart-lung system.
It is now possible to look up the 3D structure of every known protein following the latest release of Alphafold, an open database run in partnership by Deepmind, the London-based artificial intelligence company owned by Google parent Alphabet and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory’s European Bioinformatics Institute in Cambridge, U.K.
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