You've heard of a lab-on-a-chip, now we've got a gym-on-a-chip or an "Acoustic Gym", as the University of Colorado researchers named it.
Understanding how exercise improves the neurogenic condition of Parkinson’s sufferers is complicated. So these scientists used some engineering to make it simpler, with genetically modified C. elegans and an incredibly tiny wave pool for swimming.
#Biology #Genetics #Medicine #Disease #Biotech #Parkinson's #Celegans
There are major concerns about microplastics in the environment and what impact they are having not only on human health, but the health of the ecosystem as well.
Scientists at the Central South University of Forestry and Technology in China used a gene-edited GFP fluorescent C. elegans to find out just how bad the different sizes of microplastics are.
Spoiler alert: They're pretty bad. In multiple ways.
#Science #Scicomm #Biology #Environment #Health #Microplastics
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969722061575
Continuing with our theme of cells, let's talk about CYBORG CELLS.
Scientists from UC Davis and Academia Sinica have added an artificial chassis of synthetic polymers to living cells to support various processes and prevent them from dividing.
And the plan is to then use them to go all cyborg on cancer cells and help with many other conditions that require targeted activity.
#Science #Genetics #Biology #Biotech #Biotechnology #Artificial #sciencemastodon #scicomm
Scientists at Sweden's Linköping University have been working on making artificial nerve cells that can mimic the function of their biological counterparts.
One of the difficulties they've found is communication between the cells with ions, as is done biologically.
But their new ion-electron system accomplishes this goal and can emulate sodium and potassium ion channels.
#Science #Biotechnology #Biomaterials #Cells #Scicomm #sciencecommunication #sciencemastodon
Silicon-based complementary metal-oxide semiconductors or negative differential resistance device circuits can emulate neural features, yet are complicated to fabricate and not biocompatible. Here, the authors report an ion-modulated antiambipolarity in mixed ion–electron conducting polymers demonstrating capability of sensing, spiking, emulating the most critical biological neural features, and stimulating biological nerves in vivo.
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute have managed to use the grafting of plant shoots with different plant roots in order to make genetic changes with no transgene material left behind.
Using CRISPR and a modified plant root, they have used a guide RNA and protein fusion to have RNAs be taken across the plant divide and modify the wild type plant top to create transgene free children.
#Biotechnology #Science #Biology #ScienceMastodon #Scicomm #CRISPR
Drug discovery is a difficult process, especially nowadays.
Researchers at Rice University have decided to use the new CRISPR technique of multiplex base-editing to make 8 genetic changes at once.
They've employed this on fungi to turn off regulatory systems and activate normally silenced (cryptic) genes to see what protein products they make, identifying new chemical structures that have potential therapeutic purposes.
For conditions like diabetes, there are symptoms that can prove just as harmful, such as diabetic foot ulcers. These lack the normal healing capabilities of the body
A research team decided to see if cancerous tumor cells might be the key,
What they found after co-culturing the cells with macrophages is that they became more active against inflammation and activating the immune system.
How might this be used for future therapeutic treatments?
An impressive new study from the University of Georgia using CRISPR to make poplar trees flower sooner.
They succeeded, reducing the time from 7 years to just a few months, with some other additions.
They found that the change made the trees make male and female flowers both, showing they have the potential for trimonoecy.
They also removed the cottony seed fluff allergy sufferers hate.
#CRISPR #Poplar #Biotech #Biotechnology #scicomm #sciencemastodon
Many diseases are based around insufficient energy production of ATP in your cells.
Researchers at the Zhejiang University School of Medicine decided to try and correct for this by genetically synthesizing a mature cell that can photosynthesize despite the disorder (in this case, osteoarthritis in mouse chondrocyte cells).
Where might we go from here? So many options to choose from.
#Photosynthesis #ATP #Anabolism #Biotech #Biotechnology #sciencemastodon #scicomm
Expansions in the field of organoids is always a cool topic to learn more about, especially since they are one of the keys to regenerative medicine.
Scientists at the Tokyo Medical and Dental University have combined the use of special cell culture plates and bioreactors to be able to grow human intestine organoids at a much easier and more controlled and efficient manner.
#Organoids #RegenerativeMedicine #Regeneration #Biotech #Biotechnology #sciencemastodon #scicomm
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266723752200234X
