Human glioblastoma multiforme, one of the most common, aggressive and deadly forms of brain cancer, is notoriously difficult to study. Now a team of engineers has developed a three-dimensional hydrogel that more closely mimics conditions in the brain than other platforms used to study brain cancer. In a paper in the journal Biomaterials, the researchers describe the new material and their approach, which allows them to selectively tune up or down the malignancy of the cancer cells they study.
Jul 23rd, 2013
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New technique can rapidly turn genes on and off, helping scientists better understand their function.
Jul 23rd, 2013
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Novel microchips imitate the brain's information processing in real time. Neuroinformatics researchers demonstrate how complex cognitive abilities can be incorporated into electronic systems made with so-called neuromorphic chips: They show how to assemble and configure these electronic systems to function in a way similar to an actual brain.
Jul 22nd, 2013
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Scientists at EPFL have developed a quick and simple method for connecting and assembling new molecules together, paving a new road for synthetic chemistry, material science, chemical biology, and even drug discovery.
Jul 22nd, 2013
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Improved technique makes it easier to add or delete genes in living cells, with less risk of off-target DNA damage.
Jul 22nd, 2013
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Scientists use genetics and live cell imaging to illuminate molecular mechanisms that position the cell division machinery in growing tissues.
Jul 21st, 2013
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Tolerance of phosphorus limitation in plants is linked to a previously unidentified lipid family.
Jul 19th, 2013
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An artificial base that enhances the protein-binding affinity and selectivity of DNA expands the DNA machinery.
Jul 19th, 2013
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Hair loss is a common disorder that affects many men and women due to aging or medical conditions. Current FDA-approved drugs can minimize further hair loss but are unable to regrow new hair. The Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) has recently engineered a new hair follicle model that could help discover new drugs for hair regeneration.
Jul 19th, 2013
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Biologists at the Caltech have worked out the details of a mechanism that leads undifferentiated blood stem cells to become macrophages - immune cells that attack bacteria and other foreign pathogens. The process involves an unexpected cycle in which cell division slows, leading to an increased accumulation of a particular regulatory protein that in turn slows cell division further. The finding provides new insight into how stem cells are guided to generate one cell type as opposed to another.
Jul 18th, 2013
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Researchers have refined a new microscopy imaging method to visualize exactly how the endoplasmic reticulum sheets are stacked, revealing that the 3D structure of the sheets resembles a parking garage with helical ramps connecting the different levels.
Jul 18th, 2013
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The search for new drugs, including those for cancer, is set to speed up thanks to a new research technique invented by scientists at the Nanyang Technological University.
Jul 18th, 2013
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Researchers at the University of Basel have developed a live-cell fluorescent labeling that makes bacterial cell-to-cell communication pathways visible. The communication between bacterial cells is essential in the regulation of processes within bacterial populations, such as biofilm development.
Jul 18th, 2013
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Granada-based researchers patent a new biomaterial based on an activated carbon cloth support that acts as scaffolding for the construction of cells capable of bone regeneration.
Jul 18th, 2013
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Michael Laub studies the complex interactions that underlie cells' responses to their environment.
Jul 18th, 2013
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Engineered liver tissue developed at MIT could help scientists test new drugs and vaccines.
Jul 18th, 2013
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How to cure malignant brain tumour? Why two cells from the same organism, in spite of having identical gene set up, have different shape and functions? How small variations in human genes determine changes in the way we think, feel and behave? Answers to such questions are sought by scientists from the new Laboratory of Molecular Neurobiology of the Nencki Institute.
Jul 18th, 2013
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Insight into the mechanism of protein aggregation provides a model system that could lead to treatments for several associated diseases.
Jul 17th, 2013
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