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Archive for the ‘genetics’ category: Page 160

Nov 15, 2022

Transforming bacterial cells into living artificial neural circuits

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical, genetics, robotics/AI

Bringing together concepts from electrical engineering and bioengineering tools, Technion and MIT scientists collaborated to produce cells engineered to compute sophisticated functions— biocomputers of sorts.

Graduate students and researchers from Technion—Israel Institute of Technology Professor Ramez Daniel’s Laboratory for Synthetic Biology & Bioelectronics worked together with Professor Ron Weiss from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to create genetic “devices” designed to perform computations like artificial neural circuits. Their results were recently published in Nature Communications.

The was inserted into the bacterial cell in the form of a plasmid: a relatively short DNA molecule that remains separate from the bacteria’s “natural” genome. Plasmids also exist in nature, and serve various functions. The research group designed the plasmid’s genetic sequence to function as a simple computer, or more specifically, a simple artificial neural network. This was done by means of several genes on the plasmid regulating each other’s activation and deactivation according to outside stimuli.

Nov 15, 2022

Gene Therapy Can Restore Night Vision After Decades of Congenital Blindness

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics

The patients had some, although severely diminished, visual function during the day, however, at night they were essentially blind, with light sensitivity 10,000–100,000 times less than normal.

According to researchers at the Scheie Eye Institute at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, adults with a genetic form of childhood-onset blindness experienced remarkable recoveries of night vision within days of receiving an experimental gene therapy.

The patients had Leber Congenital Amaurosis (LCA), a congenital blindness caused by GUCY2D gene mutations. The findings were published in the journal iScience. The researchers administered AAV gene therapy, which contains the DNA.

Nov 15, 2022

First Aquarium Coral “Family Tree” Created To Promote Genetic Diversity

Posted by in categories: climatology, genetics, sustainability

Genetic diversity enables coral species to adapt to threats from climate change, so researchers have designed an aquarium coral “family tree” to help maintain and promote genetic diversity.

Nov 15, 2022

In a First, Genetically Modified Pig Heart Transplanted Into a Human

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics

Nov 15, 2022

Epidemiology of Glaucoma: The Past, Present, and Predictions for the Future

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, health

Glaucoma impacts tens of millions of people globally, and is the second leading cause of blindness, after cataracts. Now, Purdue University researchers have developed smart contact lenses that may help save people’s sight.


Glaucoma is a multifactorial optic degenerative neuropathy characterized by the loss of retinal ganglion cells. It is a combination of vascular, genetic, anatomical, and immune factors. Glaucoma poses a significant public health concern as it is the second leading cause of blindness after cataracts, and this blindness is usually irreversible. It is estimated that 57.5 million people worldwide are affected by primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG). People over 60 years of age, family members of those already diagnosed with glaucoma, steroid users, diabetics, as well as those with high myopia, hypertension, central cornea thickness of.

Nov 14, 2022

Study questions the medical privacy of forensic samples

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, law enforcement

Watch any episode of “CSI,” and a character will use forensic DNA profiling to identify a criminal. A new study from San Francisco State University suggests that these forensic profiles may indirectly reveal medical information—perhaps even those of crime victims—contrary to what the legal field has believed for nearly 30 years. The findings, now published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could have ethical and legal implications.

“The central assumption when choosing those [forensic] markers was that there wouldn’t be any information about the individuals whatsoever aside from identification. Our paper challenges that assumption,” said first author Mayra Bañuelos, who started working on the project as a San Francisco State undergraduate and is now a Ph.D. student at Brown University.

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Nov 14, 2022

Forever Young: Scientists Reveal the Secret to a Strange Animal’s Eternal Youth

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, life extension, neuroscience

Sea anemones are seemingly immortal animals. They seem to be immune to aging and the negative impacts that humans experience over time. However, the exact reasons for their eternal youth are not completely understood.

The genetic fingerprint of the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis reveals that members of this incredibly ancient animal phylum employ the same gene cascades for neural cell differentiation as more complex organisms. These genes are also in charge of maintaining the balance of all cells in the organism during the anemone’s lifetime. These findings were recently published in the journal Cell Reports by a group of developmental biologists headed by Ulrich Technau of the University of Vienna.

Almost all animal organisms are made up of millions, if not billions, of cells that join together in intricate ways to create specific tissues and organs, which are made up of a range of cell types, such as a variety of neurons and gland cells. However, it is unclear how this critical balance of diverse cell types emerges, how it is regulated, and if the different cell types of different animal organisms have a common origin.

Nov 13, 2022

Longitudinal Biomarker Optimization: A Road To Maximize Health And Longevity?

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, life extension

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Nov 13, 2022

A discussion with Dr. Nir Barzaili on Age Later

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, life extension, neuroscience

Ever wonder why some 90-year olds don’t seem to slow down and seem. to retain the mental and physical capacity of someone half their age?
Do they have good genes? Or is there a way that all of us can get older without getting old?

That’s what Dr. Nir Barzilai, founder of the Institute for Aging Research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, set out to answer in his book, Age Later.

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Nov 12, 2022

New genetically engineered houseplant cleans air as efficiently as 30 air purifiers

Posted by in category: genetics

😀


A Paris-based startup has created a genetically engineered houseplant that can literally clean the air within your home. The plant builds off the natural purifying properties that houseplants already offer. So, while it adds some color to whatever room you put it in, it’s also actively keeping the air cleaner than 30 air purifiers.

The company, called Neoplants, modified both a pothos plant as well as its root microbiome to pump the plant’s natural air-cleaning properties up quite a bit. Called Neo P1, the genetically engineered houseplant recently hit the market, and you can purchase it right now.

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