Lifeboat Foundation

In the search for ways to effectively combat age-related human disease, the enzyme sirtuin 6 (Sirt6) has recently become a focus of biochemical research. A targeted activation of Sirt6 could prevent or mitigate such diseases, for example some types of cancer. In a paper for the journal Nature Chemical Biology, biochemists from the University of Bayreuth have now shown how the small molecule MDL-801 binds to the enzyme Sirt6 and influences its activity. These findings stand to aid the development of new drugs.

The Archdiocese of New Orleans warned Catholics that a newly-approved Johnson & Johnson vaccine for COVID-19 was developed with the “extensive use of abortion-derived cell lines.”

Tissue engineering has long-depended on geometrically static scaffolds seeded with cells in the lab to create new tissues and even organs. The scaffolding material—usually a biodegradable polymer structure—is supplied with cells and the cells, if supplied with the right nutrients, then develop into tissue as the underlying scaffold biodegrades. But this model ignores the extraordinarily dynamic morphological processes that underlie the natural development of tissues. Now, researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago have developed new 4D hydrogels—3D materials that have the ability to change shape over time in response to stimuli—that can morph multiple times in a preprogrammed or on-demand manner in response to external trigger signals. In a new Advanced Science study, the UIC researchers, led by Eben Alsberg, show that these new materials may be used to help develop tissues that more closely resemble their natural counterparts, which are subject to forces that drive movement during their formation.

Researchers have developed an injectable hydrogel that could help repair and prevent further damage to the heart muscle after a heart attack event.

Research from the University of Kent has led to the development of the MeshCODE theory, a revolutionary new theory for understanding brain and memory function. This discovery may be the beginning of a new understanding of brain function and in treating brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

Insilico Medicine discovered a completely new drug for pulmonary fibrosis and brought it to the cusp of clinical trials in just 18 months and at a cost of less than $2.7 million, a fraction of what it normally takes.

Some genes don’t stay in the same place in the genome. Sometimes called jumping genes or transposons, this genetic material can hop around and rearrange itself | Genetics And Genomics.

Some genetic sequences don’t stay in the same place in the genome. Sometimes called jumping genes or transposons, this genetic material can hop around and rearrange itself to create new sequences. Some transposons even encode for their own enzymes, and these co-called transposases can edit the genome by cutting sequences from one place and pasting them to another.

Continue reading “New Genes Can Form From ‘Jumping Gene Fusions” »

Some really cool advances happening in cancer detection with things like liquid biopsies from companies like Grail and Thrive:

It’s important to detect cancer early to maximize longevity and survival rates. Here are cancer screening tests for 6 deadly cancers.

Now, Tejada-Martinez and her colleagues have studied the evolution of 1077 tumour suppressor genes (TSGs). In all, they compared the evolution of the genes in 15 mammalian species, including seven cetacean species.

Genes regulating DNA damage, tumour spread and the immune system were positively selected among the cetaceans. The team also found that cetaceans gained and lost TSGs at a rate 2.4 times higher than in other mammals.

It’s not like we’re gonna be taking whale genes and putting them into humans and making humans cancer resistant, says Lynch. But if you can find the genes that play a role in tumour suppression in other animals, and if you could figure out what they’re doing, maybe you can make a drug that mimics that for human treatment…