BioWorld - Friday, March 27, 2026

Mar de Miguel

Articles

ARTICLES

Day 4 embryoid showing an inner epiblast-like domain that has apico-basal polarity
Drug Design, Drug Delivery & Technologies

New human embryonic models bring hope for insights, but also lots of brouhaha

June 28, 2023
By Mar de Miguel
The development of an embryo in its early stages involves a series of processes in which cells interact and organize to form tissues. In humans, these stages are studied with animal models, stem cells and cell aggregates that mimic natural development phases, or with human embryos, depending on their availability and a strict protocol. Now, in back-to-back papers published online in Nature, scientists from Yale University and the University of Cambridge have two new embryonic models formed from human stem cells to study development after embryo implantation in the uterus.
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Cardiovascular

Advances in regenerative medicine for cardiovascular repair

June 23, 2023
By Mar de Miguel
Over the past decade there has been much research into the use of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) as a cell therapy to regenerate tissue and treat heart disease. Now, one researcher has narrowed the focus down to treating heart disease not with whole cells, but with mitochondria derived from iPSCs. Gentaro Ikeda, a researcher at the Department of Medicine at Stanford University, has worked on generating extracellular vesicles (EVs) containing mitochondria from pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes and administering these to restore the functionality of the myocardium in a porcine model of an infarct.
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Drug Design, Drug Delivery & Technologies

Molecular changes reveal distinct phases in iPSCs that explain their pluripotency

June 21, 2023
By Mar de Miguel
Several developmental biology and regenerative medicine laboratories that use cellular reprogramming techniques presented their latest results on the differences in the states of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) during a Plenary Session on “Epigenetic regulation of distinct cell states” at the Annual Meeting of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR), in Boston from June 14 to 17, 2023.
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RNA gene writer
Drug Design, Drug Delivery & Technologies

RNA gene writing technology to reverse phenylketonuria and sickle cell disease

June 21, 2023
By Mar de Miguel
With CRISPR-Cas9 technology making its way toward clinical practice, laboratories are studying different gene-editing techniques, from base editors to prime editors, to correct mutations associated with various pathologies. Researchers at Tessera Therapeutics Inc. have been inspired by retrotransposons to develop a tool for editing DNA using RNA and reverse diseases such as phenylketonuria (PKU) or sickle cell disease (SCD).
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Neurology/Psychiatric

Map of brain autophagic vesicles could be a guide for neurodegenerative research

June 16, 2023
By Mar de Miguel
The degradation pathways of cellular components can be shared by different molecules or selectively replace different substances and organelles. In the brain, synaptic transmission involves signaling pathways for a wide range of molecules, vesicles and receptors that require constant recycling. A proteomic study from the University of Lausanne and the University of Fribourg sheds light on brain autophagy-selective routes in adolescent, adult and aged brains.
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Poliovirus binding to its receptor CD155 on a human cell
Infection

New polio vaccines could block development of virulent vaccine-derived poliovirus variants

June 15, 2023
By Mar de Miguel
Two new polio vaccine candidates designed to prevent the emergence of vaccine-derived virulent polioviruses have been shown to induce immune responses in mice, raising the possibility of eradicating the virus. For that to happen, the transmission of all poliovirus serotypes must be blocked. However, the vaccine used to control polio prevents disease but does not stop transmission, enabling the virus to mutate and regain virulence.
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Genetic brain disorders, conceptual 3D illustration
Neurology/Psychiatric

Spinocerebellar ataxia variants show vast heterogeneity

June 14, 2023
By Mar de Miguel
The phenotypic variety of spinocerebellar ataxias (SCAs) not caused by CAG repeat expansion (polyglutamine SCA) is greater than expected. A collaboration directed by scientists of the Paris Brain Institute described seven variants of this disorder in 756 individuals, observing that age at onset and progression by gene and variant can occur from childhood to late adulthood with very different forms of the disease.
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Neurology/Psychiatric

Psychedelic drugs activate an antidepressant pathway without hallucinogenic effects

June 6, 2023
By Mar de Miguel
Psychedelic drugs could have two distinct overlapping effects based on their affinity for two receptors involved in neuronal plasticity. Scientists at the University of Helsinki have observed that lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and psilocin (a drug isolated from the mushroom Psilocybe mexicana) have an antidepressant effect that is independent of their hallucinogenic outcome. These two different pathways are established through their binding to the tyrosine kinase receptor (TrkB), which has an antidepressant nature, or to the serotonin receptor, with a hallucinogenic activity.
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