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Category: biotech/medical – Page 122

Spin as an input parameter: Machine learning predicts magnetic properties of materials

Magnetic materials are in high demand. They’re essential to the energy storage innovations on which electrification depends and to the robotics systems powering automation. They’re also inside more familiar products, from consumer electronics to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines.

Current sources and supply chains won’t be able to keep up as demand continues to grow. We need to design new , and quickly.

A collaboration between Carnegie Mellon University, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft is broadening capabilities to screen potential new materials with machine learning models.

Microrobots shaped and steered by metal patches could aid drug delivery and pollution cleanup

Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder have created a new way to build and control tiny particles that can move and work like microscopic robots, offering a powerful tool with applications in biomedical and environmental research.

The study, published in Nature Communications, describes a new method of fabrication that combines high-precision 3D printing, called two-photon lithography, with a microstenciling technique. The team prints both the particle and its stencil together, then deposits a thin layer of metal—such as gold, platinum or cobalt—through the stencil’s openings. When the stencil is removed, a metal patch remains on the particle.

The particles, invisible to the naked eye, can be made in almost any shape and patterned with surface patches as small as 0.2 microns—more than 500 times thinner than a human hair. The metal patches guide how the particles move when exposed to electric or magnetic fields, or chemical gradients.

Chain of magnets transports proton beams over range of energies in test of future cancer treatment

While radiation treatments designed to kill cancer cells have come a long way, scientists and doctors are always exploring new ways to zap tumors more effectively. Recent tests at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory show that a small array of magnets designed as an offshoot of the Lab’s nuclear physics research could quite literally provide a path for such future cancer treatments.

The tests revealed that an arc of meticulously designed permanent magnets can transport beams of cancer-killing protons over a broad range of energies, from 50 to 250 million electron volts (MeV). “That’s the highest energy ever for this sort of beamline,” said Brookhaven Lab physicist Stephen Brooks, designer of the fixed-field magnets, and it’s an energy range that could enable more effective cancer treatment.

Specifically, the project is a step toward a possible future accelerator built using this technology, where physicians could rapidly switch among energies to deliver very fast lethal proton doses throughout a tumor’s depth.

When stem cells feel the squeeze, they start building bone

In a discovery that could reshape approaches to regenerative medicine and bone repair, researchers have found that human stem cells can be prompted to begin turning into bone cells simply by squeezing through narrow spaces.

The study suggests that the physical act of moving through tight, confining spaces, like those between tissues, can influence how stem cells develop. This could open new possibilities for engineering materials and therapies by guiding using physical, rather than chemical, signals.

The research was led by Assistant Professor Andrew Holle from the Department of Biomedical Engineering in the College of Design and Engineering at the National University of Singapore (NUS), and the Mechanobiology Institute (MBI) at NUS, and was published on 8 May 2025 in the journal Advanced Science.

Can psychedelic mushrooms turn back the clock? Study suggests psilocybin preserves telomere length

A compound found in psychedelic mushrooms may have antiaging properties. Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine have found that psilocybin, the active compound in psychedelic mushrooms, may extend both cellular and organismal lifespans.

The findings, published in the journal npj Aging, show that psilocybin reduced multiple hallmarks of aging in cells while also improving survival in aged mice.

“There have been a number of clinical studies that have explored the therapeutic potential of psilocybin in psychiatric conditions such as depression and anxiety; however, few studies have evaluated its impacts outside the brain,” said Dr. Louise Hecker, associate professor of medicine— at Baylor and senior author of the study.

Treating postoperative delirium as preventable ‘acute brain failure’: Low-cost interventions could have major impact

A new large-scale study spotlights postoperative delirium as a preventable and high-impact complication which is driven by patient frailty and surgical stress—and one that can be addressed through low-cost, evidence-based interventions.

The findings, which appear in JAMA Network Open, provide a call to action for clinicians, health systems, patients, and families to prioritize brain health throughout perioperative care.

“Postoperative delirium isn’t a minor complication—it’s analogous to acute brain failure, a medical emergency that should be recognized and addressed,” said Laurent Glance, MD, a professor of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) and senior author of the study.

Divide-and-conquer strategy with engineered ossification center organoids for rapid bone healing through developmental cell recruitment

Critical-sized bone defects are a clinical challenge, with long-term recovery often leading to delayed union or nonunion. Here, Zhang et al. report an engineered ossification center-like organoid which recruits Krt8+ skeletal stem cells and reduces Has1+ fibrotic cells, mimicking developmental bone formation for regeneration of critical-sized bone defects.

Scientists create biological ‘artificial intelligence’ system

Australian scientists have successfully developed a research system that uses ‘biological artificial intelligence’ to design and evolve molecules with new or improved functions directly in mammal cells. The researchers said this system provides a powerful new tool that will help scientists develop more specific and effective research tools or gene therapies.

Named PROTEUS (PROTein Evolution Using Selection) the system harnesses ‘directed evolution’, a lab technique that mimics the natural power of evolution. However, rather than taking years or decades, this method accelerates cycles of evolution and natural selection, allowing them to create molecules with new functions in weeks.

This could have a direct impact on finding new, more effective medicines. For example, this system can be applied to improve gene editing technology like CRISPR to improve its effectiveness.

Development and Validation of a Simple and Cost-Effective LC-MS/MS Method for the Quantitation of the Gut-Derived Metabolite Trimethylamine N-Oxide in Human Plasma of Healthy and Hyperlipidemic Volunteers

Trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) is a gut microbial metabolite of dietary precursors, including choline and carnitine. Elevated levels of TMAO in human plasma have been associated with several diseases such as cardiovascular, diabetes mellitus, chronic kidney disease, neurological disorders, and cancer. This has led to an increased interest in the accurate determination of TMAO in human blood, for which a reliable, cost-effective and sensitive analytical method should be established. LC-MS/MS has emerged as a powerful tool for the determination of TMAO due to its high sensitivity, specificity, and ability to handle complex matrices. Herein, we describe the development and validation of an LC-MS/MS method for the determination of TMAO in human blood plasma.

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