Lifeboat Foundation

Year 2020 😗😁

Utilizing a multi-step CRISPR-Cas9 screen, researchers from Yale University (CT, USA) have identified two genes within the complex axolotl genome that seem to play an important role in limb regeneration. The study, publi shed in eLife, has overcome the limitations imposed by the size and repetitious areas of the axolotls’ genome to identify the genes through a novel platform, combining CRISPR and fluorescent chimeras.

While some level of regeneration is present in most animals, axolotls possess one of the most extensive capabilities, regenerating a range of tissues, including major organs and limbs, and many believe that the animals may help unlock the ability to regenerate large wounds. The researchers from Yale University have tracked 25 genes that are believed to be involved in the process, identifying two genes as having a considerable role in partial regeneration of the axolotl limb.

Continue reading “Regeneration genes identified in axolotls” »

Physicists at Delft University of Technology have developed a new technology on a microchip by combining two Nobel Prize-winning methods for the first time. The microchip is capable of accurately measuring distances in materials, which could have applications in areas such as underwater measurement and medical imaging.

The new technology, which utilizes sound vibrations instead of light, could be useful for obtaining high-precision position measurements in materials that are opaque. This breakthrough could result in the development of new methods for monitoring the Earth’s climate and human health. The findings have been published in the journal Nature Communications.

<em>Nature Communications</em> is a peer-reviewed, open-access, multidisciplinary, scientific journal published by Nature Portfolio. It covers the natural sciences, including physics, biology, chemistry, medicine, and earth sciences. It began publishing in 2010 and has editorial offices in London, Berlin, New York City, and Shanghai.

Scientific work often involves sifting through enormous amounts of data, a task that’s overwhelmingly mundane for humans but a piece of cake for artificial intelligence. A new platform dubbed BacterAI can conduct as many as 10,000 experiments per day to teach itself – and us – more about bacteria.

The human body is home to trillions of microbes, covering almost every surface inside and out. Many of them are vital to specific bodily functions, while many others make you sick. Research continues to uncover how inextricably linked our overall health is to our microbiomes, but managing and exploring the data involved remains a daunting task.

“We know almost nothing about most of the bacteria that influence our health,” said Paul Jensen, corresponding author of the new study. “Understanding how bacteria grow is the first step toward reengineering our microbiome.”

New research by biotech Integrated Biosciences and scientists from MIT and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard has demonstrated the potential of AI in discovering novel senolytic compounds.

Longevity. Technology: Senolytics are small molecules that suppress age-related processes such as fibrosis, inflammation and cancer. They target senescent cells – the so-called ‘zombie’ cells that are no longer dividing, emit toxic chemicals and are a hallmark of aging. Senescent cells have been linked to various age-related diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease, but senolytic compounds can tackle them by selectively inducing apoptosis or programmed cell death in these zombie cells. This new research reduced the number of senescent cells and lowered the expression of senescence-associated genes in aged mice, results which, the authors say “underscore the promise of leveraging deep learning to discover senotherapeutics” [1].

The AI-guided screening of more than 800,000 compounds led to the identification of three drug candidates, which, when compared with senolytics currently under investigation, were found to have comparable efficacy and superior medicinal chemistry properties [1].

Human lifespan is intricately connected to the aging process of individual cells, and this means that scientists have spent decades trying to unravel the mysteries of cellular aging and exploring methods to slow down the ticking of the aging clock.

Longevity. Technology: In 2020, a group of researchers from the University of California San Diego identified two distinct mechanisms of cellular aging and genetically manipulated them to extend cell lifespan [1]. Now, their research has progressed to employ synthetic biology and gene circuits to delay the deterioration associated with cellular aging [2]. The team’s innovative approach could revolutionize scientific methods of aging prevention and contribute to reprogramming aging pathways in various human cell types.

Publishing in Science, the researchers describe how cells in yeast, plants, animals and humans all contain gene regulatory circuits responsible for several physiological functions, including aging. These gene circuits, akin to electric circuits controlling household devices, can operate in different ways, and the UC San Diego team discovered that cells don’t necessarily age the same way – it all depends on their genetic material and environment. The researchers found that cells can age either through DNA stability decline or mitochondrial decline.

Yichen Cai creates thin, flexible devices that could have myriad uses, from wearable blood-pressure monitors to touch sensors for robots.

The U.S. Surgeon General has released an advisory alerting the public at large that loneliness has become an epidemic and represents an urgent public health concern. You might be tempted to think that this advisory is somewhat over the top and that loneliness is merely something that we all need to contend with from time to time. It seems obvious that loneliness happens. It seems obvious that loneliness is challenging.

Why should the nation’s highest official public health advisor make such a seemingly outsized clamor over a matter that we take for granted and assume is a natural part of living our lives?

SK bioscience inked a manufacturing deal with MSD for an Ebola vaccine candidate.

Under the contract manufacturing organization (CMO) deal, the New Jersey-based company will transfer technology for the candidate to SK bioscience so that the Korean company can make it at the L House, its vaccine manufacturing site in Andong, North Gyeongsang.

Despite AI’s impressive track record, its computational power pales in comparison with that of the human brain. Scientists unveil a revolutionary path to drive computing forward: organoid intelligence (OI), where lab-grown brain organoids serve as biological hardware. “This new field of biocomputing promises unprecedented advances in computing speed, processing power, data efficiency, and storage capabilities – all with lower energy needs,” say the authors in an article published in Frontiers in Science.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has long been inspired by the human brain. This approach proved highly successful: AI boasts impressive achievements – from diagnosing medical conditions to composing poetry. Still, the original model continues to outperform machines in many ways. This is why, for example, we can ‘prove our humanity’ with trivial image tests online. What if instead of trying to make AI more brain-like, we went straight to the source?