Lifeboat Foundation

First described by Nedergaard and her colleagues in 2012, the glymphatic system is the brain’s unique waste removal process that uses cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) to wash away excess proteins generated by energy hungry neurons and other cells in the brain during normal activity.

A drug used to induce labor in pregnant women has been shown to reactivate tiny waste-clearing pumps in the brains of old mice. The finding could hold promise as a new way to fight Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases and overall cognitive decline.

When our brains are working properly, there is an excess of proteins that build up from the energy intensive processes that take place between our neurons. Those proteins need to be removed in order for the brain to continue to operate properly. When they aren’t, they can gunk up the works, leading to the beta amyloid and tau protein tangles that are a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease or the build up of alpha-synuclein that accompanies Parkinson’s.

Continue reading “Common drug restores youthful function to clean up aging brains” »

Bacteria defend themselves from viral infection using diverse immune systems, many of which sense and target foreign nucleic acids. Defense-associated reverse transcriptase (DRT) systems provide an intriguing counterpoint to this immune strategy by instead leveraging DNA synthesis, but the identities and functions of their DNA products remain largely unknown. Here we show that DRT2 systems execute an unprecedented immunity mechanism that involves de novo gene synthesis via rolling-circle reverse transcription of a non-coding RNA (ncRNA). Unbiased profiling of RT-associated RNA and DNA ligands in DRT2-expressing cells revealed that reverse transcription generates concatenated cDNA repeats through programmed template jumping on the ncRNA. The presence of phage then triggers second-strand cDNA synthesis, leading to the production of long double-stranded DNA. Remarkably, this DNA product is efficiently transcribed, generating messenger RNAs that encode a stop codon-less, never-ending ORF (neo) whose translation causes potent growth arrest. Phylogenetic analyses and screening of diverse DRT2 homologs further revealed broad conservation of rolling-circle reverse transcription and Neo protein function. Our work highlights an elegant expansion of genome coding potential through RNA-templated gene creation, and challenges conventional paradigms of genetic information encoded along the one-dimensional axis of genomic DNA.

One-Sentence Summary Bacterial reverse transcriptases synthesize extrachromosomal genes via rolling-circle amplification to confer potent antiviral immunity.

Columbia University has filed a patent application related to this work. S.H.S. is a co-founder and scientific advisor to Dahlia Biosciences, a scientific advisor to CrisprBits and Prime Medicine, and an equity holder in Dahlia Biosciences and CrisprBits.

Light technology is at the heart of many cutting-edge innovations, from high-speed internet to advanced medical imaging. However, transmitting light through challenging environments, such as turbulent atmospheres or deformed optical systems, has always posed a significant hurdle. These complexities can distort and disrupt the light field, making it difficult to achieve clear and reliable results. Scientists have long sought ways to overcome these limitations, and a new breakthrough may hold the key to advancing practical applications.

Researchers at the University of Houston unveiled an advancement in X-ray imaging technology that could provide significant improvements in medical diagnostics, materials and industrial imaging, transportation security and other applications.

Bracha et al.

Toxoplasma gondii culture and maintenance.

Type I RH and type II Pru and ME49 strain T. gondii were grown in HFF in high-glucose Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium (DMEM) supplemented with 4 mM l-glutamine, 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS) and 1% penicillin/streptomycin or 20 μg ml⁻¹ gentamicin antibiotics (‘complete DMEM’) at 37 °C with 5% CO₂. Cultures were monitored daily and T. gondii were passaged by transferring 1–3 drops (20–100 μl) of the supernatant of a lysed dish (containing extracellular parasites) into a fresh dish with confluent HFF cells. Type I RH and type II Pru strains were validated by PCR–restriction-fragment length polymorphism (primers described in Supplementary Table 1)⁸¹ or by passage into Cre Reporter cell lines to confirm Cre recombination as previously described¹⁶.

Continue reading “Engineering Toxoplasma gondii secretion systems for intracellular delivery of multiple large therapeutic proteins to neurons” »

Leonard Rome’s lab discovered an odd, abundant component of cells in the 1980s—and he’s still trying to figure out what it does.

Understanding the molecular changes underlying aging is important for developing biomarkers and healthy aging interventions. In this study, the authors used comprehensive multi-omics data to reveal nonlinear molecular profiles across chronological ages, highlighting two substantial variations observed around ages 40 and 60, which are linked to increased disease risks.

The uptake of artificial intelligence (AI), computer vision and machine learning has been high in some industries, such as retail (see AiFi and Standard AI) and automotive (see Waymo and Tesla), but we’re now starting to see it break into some of the most critical aspects of society.

The recent accelerations in healthcare are perhaps the best example of this. Over 90% of hospitals and healthcare systems now have an AI or automation strategy in place, up from 53% in 2019, and “the global market for surgical robotics and computer-assisted surgery is anticipated to grow from $6.1 billion in 2020 to $11.6 billion by 2025.”

AI is starting to become more than just a buzzword. At this very moment, we’re starting to see AI-enhanced advanced tooling augment human capabilities and reshape how surgical procedures are planned, executed and managed. With aging populations, rising costs, lack of medical staff and backlogs worse than ever (almost 8 million people in the U.K.), the demand for AI-driven efficiency and surgery precision is escalating like never before.

New AI system uses tongue color images to accurately diagnose diseases:

AI analyzes tongue colors for real-time disease diagnoses such as anemia, COVID-19, vascular and gastrointestinal issues, or asthma.