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Category: biotech/medical – Page 361

A new project unites world-leading experts in quantum computing and genomics to develop new methods and algorithms to process biological data.

Researchers aim to harness quantum computing to speed up genomics, enhancing our understanding of DNA and driving advancements in personalized medicine

A new collaboration has formed, uniting a world-leading interdisciplinary team with skills across quantum computing, genomics, and advanced algorithms. They aim to tackle one of the most challenging computational problems in genomic science: building, augmenting, and analyzing pangenomic datasets for large population samples. Their project sits at the frontiers of research in both biomedical science and quantum computing.

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Xaira has recruited a group of researchers who developed the leading models for protein and antibody design while in Baker’s lab. The company aims advance these models and develop new methods that can “connect the world of biological targets and engineered molecules to the human experience of disease.”

“Driven by growing data sets and new methods, there has been accelerating progress in artificial intelligence and its applications to medicine, biology and chemistry, including seminal work from David Baker’s lab at the Institute for Protein Design,” said Foresight’s Dr Vikram Bajaj. “In starting Xaira, we have brought together incredible multidisciplinary talent and capabilities at the right time to reimagine our entire approach, from drug discovery to clinical development.”

Boasting proficiency in handling vast and multidimensional datasets, Xaira claims it will enable comprehensive characterization of disease biology at various levels, from molecular to clinical. Drawing from Illumina’s functional genomics R&D effort and integrating a key proteomics group from Interline Therapeutics, the company aims to gain new insights into disease mechanisms.

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DNA nanostructures can perform some of the complex robotic fabrication process for manufacturing and self-replication. Building things and performing work with nanorobots has been a major technical and scientific goal. This has been done and published in the peer reviewed journal Science. Nadrian C. “Ned” Seeman (December 16, 1945 – November 16, 2021) was an American nanotechnologist and crystallographer known for inventing the field of DNA nanotechnology. He contributed enough to this work published in 2023 to be listed as a co-author.

Seeman’s laboratory published the synthesis of the first three-dimensional nanoscale object, a cube made of DNA, in 1991. This work won the 1995 Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology. The concept of the dissimilar double DNA crossover introduced by Seeman, was important stepping stone towards the development of DNA origami. The goal of demonstrating designed three-dimensional DNA crystals was achieved by Seeman in 2009, nearly thirty years after his original elucidation of the idea.

The concepts of DNA nanotechnology later found further applications in DNA computing, DNA nanorobotics, and self-assembly of nanoelectronics. He shared the Kavli Prize in Nanoscience 2010 with Donald Eigler for their development of unprecedented methods to control matter on the nanoscale.

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The gang, which calls itself RansomHub, published several files on its dark web leak site containing personal information about patients across an array of documents, some of which included internal files related to Change Healthcare. RansomHub said it would sell the stolen data unless Change Healthcare paid a ransom.

In a statement provided to TechCrunch, UnitedHealth spokesperson Tyler Mason confirmed the company paid the cybercriminals. “A ransom was paid as part of the company’s commitment to do all it could to protect patient data from disclosure.” The company would not confirm the amount it paid.

RansomHub is the second gang to demand a ransom from Change Healthcare. The health tech giant reportedly paid $22 million to a Russia-based criminal gang called ALPHV in March, which then disappeared, stiffing the affiliate that carried out the data theft out of their portion of the ransom.

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Researchers at the University of Toronto have discovered a DNA repair mechanism that advances understanding of how human cells stay healthy, and which could lead to new treatments for cancer and premature aging.

The study, published in the journal Nature Structural and Molecular Biology, also sheds light on the mechanism of action of some existing chemotherapy drugs.

“We think this research solves the mystery of how DNA double-strand breaks and the nuclear envelope connect for repair in human cells,” said Professor Karim Mekhail, co-principal investigator on the study and a professor of laboratory medicine and pathobiology at U of T’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine.

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An intricate simulation performed by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers using one of the world’s most powerful supercomputers sheds new light on how proteins called SNAREs cause biological membranes to fuse.

Their findings, reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest a new mechanism for this ubiquitous process and could eventually lead to new treatments for conditions in which is thought to go awry.

“Biology textbooks say that SNAREs bring membranes together to cause fusion, and many people were happy with that explanation. But not me, because membranes brought into contact normally do not fuse. Our simulation goes deeper to show how this important process takes place,” said study leader Jose Rizo-Rey (“Josep Rizo”), Ph.D., Professor of Biophysics, Biochemistry, and Pharmacology at UT Southwestern.

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Studying tissues, cells, and proteins under a microscope is essential for disease prevention and treatment. This research requires accurately measuring the dimensions of these biological structures. However, when viewed through a light microscope, these samples can sometimes appear more flattened than their true form.

Researchers at Delft University of Technology have now demonstrated for the first time that this distortion is not constant, contrary to what many scientists have assumed for decades. The breakthrough, published in Optica, confirms a prediction by Nobel laureate Stefan Hell from the 90s. With an online calculation tool and software, every researcher can now determine the correct depth of a biological sample.

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Unlike the rigid skeletons within our bodies, the skeletons within individual cells—cytoskeletons—are changeable, even fluid. And when these cytoskeletons reorganize themselves, they do more than support different cell shapes. They permit different functions.

Little wonder, then, that scientists who build artificial cells hope to create synthetic cytoskeletons that act like natural cytoskeletons. Synthetic cytoskeletons capable of supporting dynamic changes in cell shape and function could enable the development of novel drug delivery systems, diagnostic tools, and regenerative medicine applications.

Synthetic cytoskeletons have incorporated building blocks such as polymers, small molecules, carbon nanotubes, peptides, and DNA nanofilaments. Mostly DNA nanofilaments. Although they offer programmability, they can be hard to fine tune. To get around this difficulty, scientists based at UNC Chapel Hill led by Ronit Freeman, PhD, investigated the relatively unexplored possibilities offered by peptides. Specifically, the scientists engineered artificial cells using a programmable peptide–DNA nanotechnology approach.

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Cognitive decline and dementia already affect more than 55 million people worldwide. This number is projected to skyrocket over the next few decades as the global population ages.

There are certain risk factors of cognitive decline and dementia that we cannot change – such as having a genetic predisposition to these conditions. But other risk factors we may have more power over – with research showing certain modifiable lifestyle habits, such as smoking, obesity and lack of exercise, are all linked to higher risk of dementia.

What role nutrition plays in preventing cognitive decline and dementia has also been the focus of scientific research for quite some time.

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