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Archive for the ‘biotech/medical’ category: Page 1321

Nov 23, 2020

Antiviral method against herpes paves the way for combating incurable viral infections

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics

Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have discovered a new method to treat human herpes viruses. The new broad-spectrum method targets physical properties in the genome of the virus rather than viral proteins, which have previously been targeted. The treatment consists of new molecules that penetrate the protein shell of the virus and prevent genes from leaving the virus to infect the cell. It does not lead to resistance and acts independently of mutations in the genome of the virus. The results are published in the journal PLOS Pathogens.

Herpes virus infections are lifelong, with latency periods between recurring reactivations, making treatment difficult. The major challenge lies in the fact that all existing antiviral drugs to treat herpes viruses lead to rapid development of resistance in patients with compromised immune systems where the need for herpes treatment is the greatest (e.g. newborn children, patients with HIV, cancer or who have undergone organ transplantation). Both the molecular and physical properties of a virus determine the course of infection. However, the physical properties have so far received little attention, according to researcher Alex Evilevitch.

“We have a new and unique approach to studying viruses based on their specific physical properties. Our discovery marks a breakthrough in the development of antiviral drugs as it does not target specific viral proteins that can rapidly mutate, causing the development of drug resistance — something that remains unresolved by current antiviral drugs against herpes and other viruses. We hope that our research will contribute to the fight against viral infections that have so far been incurable,” says Alex Evilevitch, Associate Professor and senior lecturer at Lund University who, together with his research team, Virus Biophysics, has published the new findings.

Nov 23, 2020

Scientists stored “The Wizard of Oz” on a strand of DNA

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Finally, the way the story was originally meant to be told.

Nov 23, 2020

Tesla Model X gets hacked through new relay attack, Tesla says it is pushing a patch

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

A hacker managed to develop a new key cloning relay attack for Tesla vehicles and demonstrated it on a Tesla Model X.

Tesla was informed of the new attack and it is reportedly pushing a new patch for it.

Thefts of Tesla vehicles are quite rare in North America, but in Europe, they have some more sophisticated thieves that managed a string of Tesla vehicle thefts through relay attacks, and most vehicles haven’t been recovered.

Nov 23, 2020

Doctors say CDC should warn people the side effects from Covid vaccine shots won’t be ‘a walk in the park’

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, health

Public health officials and drugmakers must be transparent about the side effects people may experience after getting their first shot of a coronavirus vaccine, doctors urged during a meeting Monday with CDC advisors as states prepare to distribute doses as early as next month.

Dr. Sandra Fryhofer of the American Medical Association noted that both Pfizer’s and Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccines require two doses at varying intervals. As a practicing physician, she said she worries whether her patients will come back for a second dose because of the potentially unpleasant side effects they may experience after the first shot.

Nov 23, 2020

CRISPR-based treatment destroys two cancer types

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

Researchers from Tel Aviv University (TAU) in Israel have demonstrated that the CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing system is very effective in treating brain and ovarian cancers, without side effects.

Nov 23, 2020

Microfluidic Brain-on-a-Chip: Perspectives for Mimicking Neural System Disorders

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, chemistry, computing, neuroscience

Neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs) include more than 600 types of nervous system disorders in humans that impact tens of millions of people worldwide. Estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO) suggest NDDs will increase by nearly 50% by 2030. Hence, development of advanced models for research on NDDs is needed to explore new therapeutic strategies and explore the pathogenesis of these disorders. Different approaches have been deployed in order to investigate nervous system disorders, including two-and three-dimensional (2D and 3D) cell cultures and animal models. However, these models have limitations, such as lacking cellular tension, fluid shear stress, and compression analysis; thus, studying the biochemical effects of therapeutic molecules on the biophysiological interactions of cells, tissues, and organs is problematic. The microfluidic “organ-on-a-chip” is an inexpensive and rapid analytical technology to create an effective tool for manipulation, monitoring, and assessment of cells, and investigating drug discovery, which enables the culture of various cells in a small amount of fluid (10−9 to 10−18 L). Thus, these chips have the ability to overcome the mentioned restrictions of 2D and 3D cell cultures, as well as animal models. Stem cells (SCs), particularly neural stem cells (NSCs), induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), and embryonic stem cells (ESCs) have the capability to give rise to various neural system cells. Hence, microfluidic organ-on-a-chip and SCs can be used as potential research tools to study the treatment of central nervous system (CNS) and peripheral nervous system (PNS) disorders. Accordingly, in the present review, we discuss the latest progress in microfluidic brain-on-a-chip as a powerful and advanced technology that can be used in basic studies to investigate normal and abnormal functions of the nervous system.

Nov 23, 2020

Diabetes & Oral Medication: Types & How They Work

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Oral diabetes medication.


Find information about oral diabetes medication types from Cleveland Clinic, including different types and names of medications and more.

Nov 23, 2020

Science@Berkeley Lab: Engineering the Fruit Fly Genome

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical, genetics, science

Although Drosophila is an insect whose genome has only about 14,000 genes, roughly half the human count, a remarkable number of these have very close counterparts in humans; some even occur in the same order in the fly’s DNA as in our own. This, plus the organism’s more than 100-year history in the lab, makes it one of the most important models for studying basic biology and disease.

To take full advantage of the opportunities offered by Drosophila, researchers need improved tools to manipulate the fly’s genes with precision, allowing them to introduce mutations to break genes, control their activity, label their protein products, or introduce other inherited genetic changes.

“We now have the genome sequences of lots of different animals — worms, flies, fish, mice, chimps, humans,” says Roger Hoskins of Berkeley Lab’s Life Sciences Division. “Now we want improved technologies for introducing precise changes into the genomes of lab animals; we want efficient genome engineering. Methods for doing this are very advanced in bacteria and yeast. Good methods for worms, flies, and mice have also been around for a long time, and improvements have come along fairly regularly. But with whole genome sequences in hand, the goals are becoming more ambitious.”

Nov 23, 2020

Scientists say they just created the world’s first 3D-printed heart

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Circa 2019


If researchers can master organ printing, medicine will never be the same again, and traditional transplants will become a thing of the past.

Nov 23, 2020

Scientists 3D-Printed Squishy, Brain-Like Tissue for the 1st Time

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

Circa 2018

Livescience.com | By LIVESCIENCE


A new 3D-printing technique can create tissues as soft as a human’s squishy brain or spongy lungs — something that has not been possible before.

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