Lifeboat Foundation

Functional movement/conversion disorder (FMD), part of the spectrum of Functional Neurological Disorder (FND), is a neuropsychiatric condition marked by a range of neurological symptoms, including tremors, muscular spasms and cognitive difficulties. Despite being the second-most common cause of referrals to neurology outpatient clinics after headache, scientists have struggled to pin down the disorder’s root cause. Female sex and a history of childhood trauma are factors associated with higher risk of developing FMD, but it’s been unclear why.

A new study from investigators of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, in collaboration with researchers at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, demonstrated that FMD is characterized by epigenetic changes, and that women and childhood abuse survivors with FMD have different epigenetic profiles linked to this condition. Their study, which examined the genomes of over 100 individuals and was recently published in Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, is the first to demonstrate the occurrence of epigenetic changes in FMD.

“This study finally takes FMD out of a cloud of confusion and provides a neuroscientifically grounded explanation for why childhood trauma and female sex are associated with this disorder,” said lead author Primavera A. Spagnolo, MD, Ph.D., scientific director of the Mary Horrigan Connors Center for Women’s Health and Gender Biology and assistant professor of psychiatry at HMS.

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Continue reading “Epigenetic Test #5: Impact of NMN?” »

Scientists in Britain have finally solved one of the greatest mysteries of life: how chromosomes get their X shape. Chromosomes, discovered in the late 1800s, are DNA molecules which contain the genetic material of an organism.

All chromosomes, without exception, either go through or end up with an X shape before the cells of an organism divide.

But it was always a mystery how they are X-shaped. While Biology students across the world study that chromosomes get their shape during cell division, the exact reason behind their X shape was not known.

In this episode, my guest is Oded Rechavi, Ph.D., professor of neurobiology at Tel Aviv University and expert in how genes are inherited, how experiences shape genes and remarkably, how some memories of experiences can be passed via genes to offspring. We discuss his research challenging long-held tenets of genetic inheritance and the relevance of those findings to understanding key biological and psychological processes including metabolism, stress and trauma. He describes the history of the scientific exploration of the “heritability of acquired traits” and how epigenetics and RNA biology can account for some of the passage of certain experience-based memories. He discusses the importance of model organisms in scientific research and describes his work on how stressors and memories can be passed through small RNA molecules to multiple generations of offspring in ways that meaningfully affect their behavior. Nature vs. nurture is a commonly debated theme; Dr. Rechavi’s work represents a fundamental shift in our understanding of that debate, as well as genetic inheritance, brain function and evolution.

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Continue reading “Dr. Oded Rechavi: Genes & the Inheritance of Memories Across Generations | Huberman Lab Podcast” »

Multi-genome assemblies called pangenomes can capture genetic diversity in a species, but researchers are still working out how best to build and explore them.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=QHHrph7zDLw

How do viruses make more copies of themselves? They do this by taking over human cells. When a virus infects a cell, it hijacks the protein-making machinery of the cell by releasing its own genetic code, or instructions, into the cell. Now, instead of making proteins for the body, the cell starts working for the virus, helping it replicate. The cell makes more and more virus particles that are released to go on and infect more cells.

Play a Kahoot! trivia game based on this animation: http://www.vaccinemakers.org/trivia.

Continue reading “How do Viruses Reproduce?” »

Finally got around to reading through the Feng Zhang laboratory’s amazing SEND (Selective Endogenous ENcapsidation for cellular Delivery) paper!

[Link: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abg6155] The authors describe a new gene therapy delivery vehicle which leverages virus-like particles (VLPs) originally produced within human cells. These VLPs arise from ancient retroviral genomic fragments that were integrated into the human genome long ago and eventually were utilized to benefit our own physiology. Because they are recognized as ‘self’ by the immune system, the VLPs have potential as a novel gene therapy delivery modality. In this paper, Segel et al.

Aera’s strategy is to harness these proteins, and structures, to move the cargo of genetic medicines: RNAi, antisense RNA, mRNA, or a genetic editing payload, for example. To date, proteins and nucleic acids have been packaged. The company’s first goal is to move smaller nucleic acids like ASOs and siRNA from cell to cell.

Continue reading “Feng Zhang’s Delivery Platform Launched by Aera Therapeutics” »

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Researchers have recently made a groundbreaking discovery in the field of kidney disease. They have found a new pathway that could potentially prevent kidney failure in thousands of people. Dr. Carl May and his team at Bristol Medical School, with funding from Kidney Research UK, have discovered a new treatment pathway for non-genetic nephrotic syndrome.

This targets the unknown factor that leads to kidney failure. Nephrotic syndrome is a rare kidney condition that causes protein to leak into the urine, affecting around 10,000 people annually in the UK. The discovery offers hope for patients, especially children, who may develop kidney failure.

Researchers from Bristol Renal have identified a receptor called PAR-1 that works in conjunction with an unknown factor to cause kidney failure in patients with idiopathic nephrotic syndrome (INS). They found that anti-PAR-1 treatments could block the effect of the factor and prevent kidneys from failing, potentially making transplantation a more viable option for more patients.