Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: biotech/medical – Page 106

NSF invests nearly $32M to accelerate novel AI-driven approaches in protein design, strengthening the U.S. bioeconomy

The U.S. National Science Foundation Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (NSF TIP) announced an inaugural investment of nearly $32 million to five teams across the U.S. through the NSF Use-Inspired Acceleration of Protein Design (NSF USPRD) initiative. This effort aims to accelerate the translation of artificial intelligence-based approaches to protein design and enable new applications of importance to the U.S. bioeconomy.

“NSF is pleased to bring together experts from both industry and academia to confront and overcome barriers to the widespread adoption of AI-enabled protein design,” said Erwin Gianchandani, NSF assistant director for TIP. “Each of the five awardees will focus on developing novel approaches to translate protein design techniques into practical, market-ready solutions. These efforts aim to unlock new uses for this technology in biomanufacturing, advanced materials, and other critical industries. Simply put, NSF USPRD represents a strategic investment in maintaining American leadership in biotechnology at a time of intense global competition.”

Researchers have made significant progress in predicting the 3D structures of proteins and are now leveraging this knowledge to design proteins with specific, desirable characteristics. These advances have been driven by macromolecular modeling, access to training data, applications of AI and machine learning, and high-throughput methods for protein characterization. The NSF USPRD investment seeks to build on this foundation by bringing together cross-disciplinary and cross-sector experts nationwide. The goal is to extend these advances to enzyme design and accelerate the translation of this work into widespread, real-world applications.

A Boost for the Precision of Genome Editing

The FDA’s recent approval of the first CRISPR-Cas9–based gene therapy has marked a major milestone in biomedicine, validating genome editing as a promising treatment strategy for disorders like sickle cell disease, muscular dystrophy, and certain cancers.

CRISPR-Cas9, often likened to “molecular scissors,” allows scientists to cut DNA at targeted sites to snip, repair, or replace genes. But despite its power, Cas9 poses a critical safety risk: the active enzyme can linger in cells and cause unintended DNA breaks—so-called off-target effects—which may trigger harmful mutations in healthy genes.

Now, researchers in the labs of Professor Ronald T. Raines (MIT Department of Chemistry) and Professor Amit Choudhary (Harvard Medical School) have engineered a precise way to turn Cas9 off after its job is done—significantly reducing off-target effects and improving the clinical safety of gene editing. Their findings are detailed in a new paper published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Researchers used cells that glow green due to a green fluorescent protein (GFP) gene. If Cas9 is working, it disrupts the GFP gene and the cells stop glowing. If LFN-Acr blocks Cas9, the cells keep glowing. These images depict cells in different conditions: some with active Cas9 (which stopped the green glow), some with Cas9 and LFN-Acr (glow stayed on).

Image courtesy of the researchers.

New insights into how the visual system synchronizes visual information

The human brain builds mental representations of the world based on the signals and information detected via the human senses. While we perceive simultaneously occurring sensory stimuli as being synchronized, the generation and transmission speeds of individual sensory signals can vary greatly.

Researchers at the Institute of Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology Basel (IOB), University of Basel and Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule (ETH) Zurich recently carried out a study aimed at better understanding how the human visual system achieves this synchronization, regardless of the speed at which visual signals travel. Their paper, published in Nature Neuroscience, reports a previously unknown mechanism through which the retina synchronizes the arrival times of different visual signals.

“We can see because photoreceptors in the retina at the back of our eyes detect light and encode information about the visual world in the form of electrical signals,” Felix Franke and Annalisa Bucci, senior author and first author of the paper, respectively, told Medical Xpress.

Mobile phone app reduces suicidal behavior among high-risk patients, new study shows

A mobile phone app designed to deliver suicide-specific therapy reduced suicidal behavior among high-risk psychiatric inpatients, according to a new study by scientists at Yale School of Medicine and The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and College of Medicine.

The study, published in JAMA Network Open, found that the app, OTX-202, reduced the recurrence of post-discharge suicide attempts by 58.3% among patients who had previously attempted suicide. This reduction is a critical achievement for a group that is particularly vulnerable to repeated suicidal behaviors, the researchers said.

Users of the app also experienced sustained reductions in for up to 24 weeks after psychiatric hospitalization, according to the study. In contrast, patients who used an active control app in addition to treatment as usual showed early improvement, but suicidal thoughts rebounded by week 24.

Ultrathin metal and semiconductor films emit multicolor light, paving way for new optical sensing devices

A new breakthrough in the field of physics led by doctoral student Yueming Yan could allow for the creation of small, thin, low-power optical devices to be used in both medical imaging and environmental sensing.

In a study published in Science Advances, Yan and his colleagues, including Associate Professor of Chemistry Janet Macdonald and Stevenson Professor of Physics Richard Haglund, examined tiny nanoparticles of metals and semiconductors, specifically gold and copper.

The team laid down two ultrathin layers of gold and semiconducting copper sulfide nanoparticles, creating a “sandwich” 100 times thinner than a human hair. They then zapped this sandwich with a flash of light shorter than a trillionth of a second. Doing so caused the particles to “chat” back and forth, exchanging energy so efficiently that they re-emitted light in multiple different colors.

Lifestyle and environmental factors affect health and ageing more

A new study led by researchers from Oxford Population Health has shown that a range of environmental factors, including lifestyle (smoking and physical activity) and living conditions, have a greater impact on health and premature death than our genes.

The researchers used data from nearly half a million UK Biobank participants to assess the influence of 164 environmental factors and genetic risk scores for 22 major diseases on ageing, age-related diseases, and premature death. The study is published in Nature Medicine.

Pelage Pharmaceuticals Announces Positive Phase 2a Clinical Trial Results for PP405 in Regenerative Hair Loss Therapy

Clinical validation of stem cell reactivation approach positions Pelage as leader in regenerative medicine and aging

LOS ANGELES—(BUSINESS WIRE)— #HairLoss —Pelage Pharmaceuticals, a clinical-stage regenerative medicine company, today announced positive results from its Phase 2a clinical trial of PP405 — a topical therapy for androgenetic alopecia advancing through the FDA clinical development pathway. PP405 is designed to reactivate dormant hair follicle stem cells, offering a potential first-in-class approach for both men and women experiencing hair loss.

Bat-Inspired AI-Powered Echolocation Technology Helps Drones Navigate in Darkness

In a remarkable leap forward for machine navigation, researchers funded by the U.S. Army have developed a synthetic echolocation system inspired by the natural sonar abilities of bats and dolphins.

This cutting-edge technology enables drones, autonomous vehicles, and robots to detect and identify objects in complete darkness, relying not on traditional visual sensors like cameras or LIDAR, but on ultrasonic pulses processed by artificial intelligence (AI). The result is a system that promises to transform how machines operate in low-visibility environments, offering new possibilities for military operations and civilian applications alike. From navigating smoke-filled battlefields to aiding search and rescue missions in disaster zones, this bioinspired innovation could reshape the future of autonomous systems.

The U.S. Army’s investment in this research, supported by the Army Research Office and the DEVCOM Ground Vehicle Systems Center, reflects a growing need for machines that can function effectively where human senses or conventional technology falter. By drawing on the way bats and dolphins use sound to perceive their surroundings, this system provides a robust alternative to light-dependent sensors, which struggle in conditions such as darkness, fog, or dust. Its potential extends beyond defence, with researchers envisioning its use in fields as varied as medical imaging, industrial inspection, and underwater exploration. What makes this development particularly exciting is not just its versatility, but the clever way it was created—using simulated data to train AI, paving the way for a cost-effective and adaptable solution.

Scientists reconstruct 10,500-year-old woman’s face using DNA

Researchers studying the remains of a prehistoric woman who lived around 10,500 years ago in what is now Belgium have produced a reconstruction of her face using ancient DNA.

A team led by scientists from Ghent University found that the woman would have had blue eyes and slightly lighter skin than most other people from the Mesolithic period in Western Europe who have been analyzed to date, according to a statement from the university on Tuesday.

Isabelle De Groote, an archaeologist at Ghent University who leads the research project on Mesolithic Belgium, told CNN that the woman came from the same population group as the Cheddar Man, who lived in what is now the United Kingdom at around the same time, but had lighter skin.

/* */