Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: biotech/medical

Cell proteins that drive severe viral infections identified

In two recently published studies, the nucleoporins NUP98 and NUP153 have been identified as key host factors in orthoflavivirus infection.

NUP98 and NUP153 are normally part of the nuclear pore complex, which regulates the transport of proteins and RNA between the cell nucleus and the cytosol, the fluid in which the cell’s internal components are suspended. Since orthoflaviviruses copy their RNA in the cytosol, these proteins had not previously been linked to the viral life cycle.

The researchers now show that during infection, both nucleoporins are recruited to viral replication sites in the cytosol, where they bind directly to viral RNA. In addition, NUP153 also interacts with viral proteins.

“It was surprising to see how proteins that normally act as ‘gatekeepers’ to the nucleus instead become active participants in the virus’s replication machinery,” says the first author.

The studies show that NUP98 and NUP153 have distinct roles during infection. NUP98 is required for efficient replication of viral RNA, while NUP153 influences how much of the different viral proteins are produced.

NUP153 binds to a specific region of the viral RNA located between the sequences encoding structural and non-structural proteins. Through this interaction, the balance between different viral proteins is regulated, which is critical at an early stage of infection. sciencenewshighlights ScienceMission.

Continue reading “Cell proteins that drive severe viral infections identified” | >

After a 40-year wait, technology finally enables three-sided zipper design

In 1985, the Innovative Design Fund placed an ad in Scientific American offering up to $10,000 to support clever prototypes for clothing, home decor, and textiles. William Freeman Ph.D., then an electrical engineer at Polaroid and now an MIT professor, saw it and submitted a novel idea: a three-sided zipper. Instead of fastening pants, it’d be like a switch that seamlessly flipped chairs, tents, and purses between soft and rigid states, making them easier to pack and put together.

Freeman’s blueprint was much like a regular zipper, except triangular. On each side, he nailed a belt to connect narrow wooden “teeth” together. A slider wrapping around the device could be moved up to fasten the three strips into place, straightening them into a triangular tube. His proposal was rejected, but Freeman patented his prototype and stored it in his garage in the hopes it might come in handy one day.

Nearly 40 years later, MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) researchers wanted to revive the project to create items with “tunable stiffness.” Prior attempts to adjust that weren’t easily reversible or required manual assembly, so CSAIL built an automated design tool and adaptable fastener called the “Y-zipper.” The scientists’ software program helps users customize three-sided zippers, which it then builds on its own in a 3D printer using plastics. These devices can be attached or embedded into camping equipment, medical gear, robots, and art installations for more convenient assembly.

DNA-reading AI reconstructs ancestry in minutes, matching top statistical methods

Researchers at the University of Oregon have developed an artificial intelligence tool that can read genetic code the way large language models like ChatGPT read text. Scanning the genome for biological mutation patterns, the computer model traces pairs of genes back in time to their last common ancestor.

It’s the first language model designed for population genetics, said Andrew Kern, a computational biologist in the UO College of Arts and Sciences. As described in a paper published April 10 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the AI tool offers scientists a fast and flexible alternative to classical methods for reconstructing evolutionary history.

In practice, it can help researchers like Kern understand when disease-resistance genes emerged in a population, for example, or when species evolved key traits.

No more guesswork in drug design—atomic-resolution method exposes what trial and error keep missing

Drug discovery still too often relies on expensive trial and error. Researchers from ICTER show there is another way—building molecules step by step and observing their behavior at atomic resolution. This approach could significantly speed up the development of new therapies while reducing side effects.

The starting point of the study, published in Diabetology by Vineeta Kaushik, Saurav Karmakar, and Humberto Fernandes, is aldose reductase (AR)—an enzyme that has long been at the center of research into diabetic complications. Under conditions of chronic hyperglycemia, the so-called polyol pathway becomes overactive, converting glucose into sorbitol. Its accumulation leads to osmotic stress, redox imbalance, and ultimately cellular damage.

This mechanism is directly linked to complications such as diabetic retinopathy, neuropathy, and nephropathy. Inhibiting aldose reductase, therefore, appears to be an obvious therapeutic strategy. Yet despite decades of research, no drug has successfully combined strong efficacy with a favorable safety profile.

This New “Sound Laser” Could Measure Gravity With Stunning Precision

A new sound-based laser could measure gravity with unprecedented precision and reshape navigation technology.

Since their introduction in the 1960s, lasers have fueled major advances in science and everyday technology, from supermarket scanners to eye surgery. Traditional lasers operate by controlling photons, which are particles of light. Over the past two decades, researchers have expanded this concept to other particles, including phonons, which represent tiny units of vibration or sound. Learning to control phonons could unlock new capabilities, including access to unusual quantum effects such as entanglement.

Squeezed Phonon Laser Advances Precision.

A common parasite in the brain is far more active than we thought

A parasite carried by billions isn’t dormant at all—it’s running a secret survival operation inside the brain.

A common parasite long thought to lie dormant is actually much more active and complex. Researchers found that Toxoplasma gondii cysts contain multiple parasite subtypes, not just one sleeping form. Some are primed to reactivate and cause disease, which helps explain why infections are so hard to treat. The discovery could reshape efforts to develop drugs that finally eliminate the parasite for good.

Physical exercise protects against Toxoplasma gondii infection-induced muscle atrophy and microvascular rarefaction

FNDC5/irisin detection was performed by a sandwich ELISA reaction using DuoSet® ELISA Development Systems kit (R&D Systems), according to manufacturer’s instructions. Blood samples were collected at 10 or 40 dpi, allowed to sit for at least 1 h, and then centrifuged for 10 min at 224 g in a refrigerated centrifuge (4 °C) to isolate the serum. Samples were stored at −80 °C until irisin detection.

Serum samples were assayed for TNF-α, INF-γ, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, and IL-17a using a Cytometric Bead Array (CBA) Th1/ Th2/ Th17 kit (BD Biosciences), according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Data were acquired using a Cytoflex S (Beckman Coulter) flow cytometer. After data acquisition, dedicated software (FCAP Array, BD Biosciences) was used to analyze the results by gating bead populations, calculating MFI values, generating standard curves, and determining analyte concentrations. These analyses were performed at the Flow Cytometry Facility of the Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz).

T. gondii infection was quantified using RT-qPCR with bag1 and enolase2 primers to detect bradyzoite and tachyzoite forms, respectively, according to49. Ct values were compared to a standard curve amplification, derived from known T. gondii RNA concentrations. The standard curve was constructed with six 10-fold dilutions, starting with 6.0 × 106 parasites for either bradyzoites or tachyzoites. Primer sequences are available in Table 2.

An ultrasound-scanning in vivo light source

Beautifully executed paper on putting mechanoluminescent nanoparticles into blood circulation of mice which express optogenetic channels. Focused ultrasound can then trigger targeted light emission and control of neural activity in the brain and elsewhere.

A deep-tissue light source made from mechanoluminescent transducers stimulated by focused ultrasound enables wide imaging of live animal vasculature, and modulation of neuronal activity and behaviour.

One missing metabolic step can turn cancer’s DNA-copying machinery into a lethal weakness

Loss of an enzyme necessary for a process called lipoylation disrupts the way cancer cells copy their DNA, increasing their vulnerability to a class of anticancer drugs known as PARP inhibitors, a study led by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers shows.

The findings, published in Science Advances, reveal a previously unrecognized mechanism to protect DNA replication and genome stability that could lead to new treatments for some cancers.

“This study shows that metabolism doesn’t just fuel cancer cells—it also directly shapes how DNA is copied and protected. This helps explain why inhibiting lipoylation could make tumors especially sensitive to PARP inhibitors,” said Yuanyuan “Faith” Zhang, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology and a member of the Experimental Therapeutics Research Program in the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center at UT Southwestern. Dr. Zhang co-led the study with first author Zengfu Shang, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology in the Zhang Lab.

/* */