Human Embryo Clone Survives 8 Divisions
A new paper published in the journal Cell shares the work of a group of researchers in Oregon who have grown a human clone — at least up to a couple hundred cells. Given the nature of some of the manipulations involved, and the constitution of the resultant cell mass, it is not realistic to imagine that the amalgam they created would ever develop much beyond the stage they present.
They therefore do not call their achievement an “embryo” as such. The intended use of this finely-tuned cell bank is rather to provide personalized stem cell resources to those who have already wrought for themselves a conscious form, and wish to forestall its untimely dissolution.
Injectable Nanogel for Diabetics Monitors Blood Glucose Levels, Secretes Insulin as Needed
Injectable nanoparticles developed at MIT may someday eliminate the need for patients with Type 1 diabetes to constantly monitor their blood-sugar levels and inject themselves with insulin.
The nanoparticles were designed to sense glucose levels in the body and respond by secreting the appropriate amount of insulin, thereby replacing the function of pancreatic islet cells, which are destroyed in patients with Type 1 diabetes. Ultimately, this type of system could ensure that blood-sugar levels remain balanced and improve patients’ quality of life, according to the researchers.
Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/05/injected-nanogel-can-help-fight-diabetes
(via laboratoryequipment)
Researchers Using Quantum “Squeezed Light” to Image The Insides of Cells
Conventional optical imaging is limited by the process of diffraction, the way light spreads out when it passes an object. The amount of diffraction depends, in part, on natural uncertainties in the position of the photons. Physicists think of this uncertainty as quantum noise.
In recent years, however, they’ve have worked out how to minimise the amount quantum noise by carefully manipulating the way photons are created. They call the resulting photons “squeezed light” and there has been no little excitement over their potential to beat the conventional diffraction limit in all kinds of applications.
One obvious use is in cellular imaging where squeezed light offers biologists a clear advantage for exploring cellular processes. Various groups have used squeezed light to make pioneering measurements inside cells. But the process of imaging to reveal spatial variations in the structure of a cell, has so far eluded them.
(via First Quantum-Enhanced Images of a Living Cell | MIT Technology Review)
Injectable Microbots, Steered by Magnets Deliver Drugs Exactly Where They’re Needed
Researchers from the Institute of Robotics in Zurich have recently developed an electromagnetically-controlled robot that can be delivered to the eye — by injection with a 23-gauge needle — and precisely positioned to sites where drug is needed.
…by coating the microbot with dye-containing nanospheres, the researchers have now repurposed the device to provide critical measurements of oxygen concentration in the eye to make quick diagnoses when vision unexpectedly fails. These new machines, and the apparatus which controls them, are part of a larger effort to deliver and control devices within several organ systems using remote power…
Steering is done by a device called the OctoMag control system (PDF). The OctoMag has three degrees of freedom (DOF) in positioning and two for pointing orientation. It is composed of eight DC-operated electromagnets arranged in a hemispherical configuration. It can create a maximum gradient of 1.5 Tesla per meter.
The microbots have a diameter less than 500um, and their length can be adjusted according to the size of drug reservoir needed. The researchers experimented with several materials for their microbot, but the best proved to be NdFeB (neodymium magnet). Most of the experiments thus far have been done in eyes from pigs or human cadavers.
(via Magnetically steerable, injectable microrobots could help treat blindness | ExtremeTech)
Scientists Learn How to Grow Bones Cheaply: Major Breakthrough in Understanding How Stem Cells Work
Researchers at Brigham and Women’s hospital have discovered that layered clay—that is, synthetic silicate nanoplatelets used in everything from glass and ceramics to food additives—can induce stem cells to become bone cells without needing any additional bone-inducing factors. In other words, the presence of this synthetic material can coax human stem cells into becoming bone all on its own, and that could have huge implications for the future of tissue engineering.
(via Scientists Create Bone Using Layered Clay | Popular Science)
3D Printing Cyborg Tech: ‘Bio’ Ear Melds Electronics and Biology to Hear Radio Waves
Scientists at Princeton University used off-the-shelf printing tools to create a functional ear that can “hear” radio frequencies far beyond the range of normal human capability.
The researchers’ primary purpose was to explore an efficient and versatile means to merge electronics with tissue. The scientists used 3D printing of cells and nanoparticles followed by cell culture to combine a small coil antenna with cartilage, creating what they term a bionic ear.
(via futurescope)
Swiss Scientists Nanoengineer Artificial Antibodies Using Human Viruses
Swiss researchers have developed nanoparticles that can detect, and one day could combat, viruses.
When viruses enter the human body, the immune system responds to their presence. This triggers a sophisticated chain of events that leads to production of antibodies specific to the virus. Depending on the swiftness and effectiveness of the response, there are usually three possibilities: viruses are eliminated before they cause damage, they are eliminated after the person suffers a bout of sickness, or, in the worst case scenario, the virus spreads uncontrolled.
One option for combating viral infections is to develop “artificial” antibodies. These antibodies can have two uses: they can be used to detect infections and, if produced at large enough scale, they can be used to combat infections.
That’s what Patrick Shahgaldian and his colleagues at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland have been working on. Their solution is relatively simple. Find the virus that causes infection; imprint copies of it on a nanoparticle; then use this “mold” to trap the virus.
(via Nanoparticles formed using human viruses, to fight human viruses | Ars Technica)
Nanoparticle Disguised as a Blood Cell Fights Bacterial Infections
The “nanosponges” work by targeting so-called pore-forming toxins, which kill cells by poking holes in them.
One of the most common classes of protein toxins in nature, pore-forming toxins are secreted by many types of bacteria, including Staphylococcus aureus, of which antibiotic-resistant strains, called MRSA, are endemic in hospitals worldwide and cause tens of thousands of deaths annually. They are also present in many types of animal venom.
There are a range of existing therapies designed to target the molecular structure of pore-forming toxins and disable their cell-killing functions. But they must be customized for different diseases and conditions, and there are over 80 families of these harmful proteins, each with a different structure.
Using the new nanosponge therapy, says Zhang, “we can neutralize every single one, regardless of their molecular structure.”
Zhang and his colleagues wrapped real red blood cell membranes around biocompatible polymeric nanoparticles. A single red blood cell supplies enough membrane material to produce over 3,000 nanosponges, each around 85 nanometers (a nanometer is a billionth of a meter) in diameter.
Since red blood cells are a primary target of pore-forming toxins, the nanosponges act as decoys once in the bloodstream, absorbing the damaging proteins and neutralizing their toxicity. And because they are so small, the nanosponges will vastly outnumber the real red blood cells in the system, says Zhang. This means they have a much higher chance of interacting with and absorbing toxins, and thus can divert the toxins away from their natural targets.
Cocaine-Addled Monkeys With Ceramic Brain Implants Use Electronic Prosthetics to Aid Memory
The monkeys’ neural activity was recorded by a tiny ceramic-enclosed electronic device and relayed to an external computer. In the first part of the experiment, the researchers analyzed the brain activity they had recorded from the cortex.
But then came the hard part. Memory is formed when one set of neurons processes the signals from another set, but how can you replicate this processing in an electronic device? First, you have to figure out the code the brain is using.
From the initial recordings, the research team was able to extrapolate what’s called a MIMO model—short for multi-input/multi-output. This type of mathematical model can characterize the neural firing patterns detected by the electrode implant and, after processing the patterns, spit out the signals that instruct other neurons to form the appropriate memory.
To demonstrate that their model worked, the researchers gave the monkeys cocaine. The cocaine-addled monkeys had trouble remembering the correct image. But with the implant in place and the MIMO model translating the incoming signals and feeding data back to another set of neurons, they were able to pick out the right picture about as reliably as usual, if not slightly more so.
Rhenium-Impregnated Listeria Bacteria Deliver Radiation Directly to Metastatic Tumors
Pancreatic cancer is deadly because it tends to spread, or metastasise, to other parts of the body before symptoms appear. In previous work in mice,Claudia Gravekamp of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York had shown that weakened listeria bacteria colonise tumour tissue but not healthy tissue. What’s more, the bacteria seem to home in on the metastatic tumours.
To take advantage of this, her team have now armed the bacteria with a radioactive payload – attaching the isotope rhenium-188 to the listeria using a type of antibody.
They seeded mice with human pancreatic tumours and then injected them daily with the souped-up bacteria for a week, giving them a week off before four more days of injections. A few days later, there were on average 90 per cent fewer metastatic tumours in this group than there were in untreated mice, and the average weights of original pancreatic tumours had decreased by 64 per cent.
A week later, the animals’ livers and kidneys had completely cleared the radioactive bacteria from their systems, with no damage to either organ.
