All posts tagged: cells

Lifesaving AI technology tracks how cells respond to drug treatments

Lifesaving AI technology tracks how cells respond to drug treatments

Published by skeptic

Single-cell gene sequencing has changed the way scientists understand life at the smallest level. It lets researchers study how each cell behaves, especially when cells face challenges like disease or drug treatments. But while the technology provides great detail, it also creates a huge amount of noise in the data. This noise often hides important biological signals, making it hard to draw accurate conclusions. One of the most promising solutions to this problem, published in the scientific journal Nature Methods, comes from a new method called scNET. Developed by researchers at a university in Israel, this system blends two powerful tools: single-cell RNA sequencing and protein–protein interaction networks. By combining these, scNET can give you a much clearer picture of how genes and cells interact across different conditions. The noise problem in single-cell data Single-cell RNA sequencing, or scRNA-seq, lets you examine gene activity inside individual cells. Unlike older methods that average gene activity across millions of cells, this newer approach allows scientists to spot unique behaviors of different cells—even when they belong to the …

Giving blood frequently may make your blood cells healthier

Giving blood frequently may make your blood cells healthier

Published by skeptic

Blood donation may not be purely altruistic SerhiiHudak/Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty Images Frequent blood donors may be getting more than a warm, fuzzy feeling from their altruism, as giving blood may also enhance your ability to produce healthy blood cells, potentially reducing the risk of developing blood cancer. Hector Huerga Encabo at the Francis Crick Institute in London and his colleagues analysed genetic data extracted from blood cells donated by 217 men in Germany, aged between 60 and 72, who had given blood more than 100 times. They also looked at samples from 212 men of a similar age who had donated blood fewer than 10 times, and found that frequent donors were more likely to have blood cells carrying certain mutations in a gene called DNMT3A. To understand this difference, the team genetically engineered human blood stem cells – which give rise to all blood cells in the body – with these mutations and added them to lab dishes along with unmodified cells. In order to mimic the effects of blood donation, they also …

Weird New Computer Runs AI on Captive Human Brain Cells

Weird New Computer Runs AI on Captive Human Brain Cells

Published by José

Australian startup Cortical Labs has launched what it’s calling the “world’s first code deployable biological computer.” The shoe box-sized device, dubbed CL1, is a notable departure from a conventional computer, and uses human brain cells to run fluid neural networks. In 2022, Cortical Labs made a big splash after teaching human brain cells in a petri dish how to play the video game “Pong.” The CL1, however, is a fundamentally different approach, as New Atlas reports. It makes use of hundreds of thousands of tiny neurons, roughly the size of an ant brain each, which are cultivated inside a “nutrient rich solution” and spread out across a silicon chip, according to the company’s website. Through a combination of “hard silicon and soft tissue,” the company claims that owners can “deploy code directly to the real neurons” to “solve today’s most difficult challenges.” “A simple way to describe it would be like a body in a box, but it has filtration for waves, it has where the media is stored, it has pumps to keep everything …

Alzheimer’s disease study identifies brain cells at higher risk of tau protein damage

Alzheimer’s disease study identifies brain cells at higher risk of tau protein damage

Published by José

Scientists have developed a powerful new tool to map different types of cells throughout the brain. Using this technique, researchers have discovered that specific brain cells crucial for memory, located in a region called the hippocampus, are especially susceptible to the protein buildup that characterizes Alzheimer’s disease. This finding, published in Nature Communications Biology, helps explain why Alzheimer’s disease damages memory so severely and opens new avenues for targeted treatments. Alzheimer’s disease is a devastating brain disorder that progressively erodes memory and thinking abilities, and currently has no cure. A major characteristic of Alzheimer’s is the accumulation of a protein called tau within brain cells. This buildup is thought to disrupt normal cell function and contribute to the widespread brain damage seen in the disease. Scientists have long observed that Alzheimer’s disease doesn’t affect the brain uniformly; some regions are hit harder and earlier than others. Understanding why some brain areas are more vulnerable than others is a significant question in Alzheimer’s research. Researchers from The University of Texas at Arlington and the University of …

How plastics are invading our brain cells – video | Plastics

How plastics are invading our brain cells – video | Plastics

Published by Sam

Plastics are everywhere, but their smallest fragments – nanoplastics – are making their way into the deepest parts of our bodies, including our brains and breast milk. Scientists have now captured the first visual evidence of these particles inside human cells, raising urgent questions about their impact on our health. From the food we eat to the air we breathe, how are nanoplastics infiltrating our systems? Neelam Tailor looks into the invisible invasion happening inside us all Source link

Lab-grown T cells engineered to live longer and fight cancer more effectively

Lab-grown T cells engineered to live longer and fight cancer more effectively

Published by skeptic

Researchers have developed a new method for growing T cells in the lab, allowing them to survive longer and fight cancer more effectively. This advancement, detailed in Cell Metabolism, could significantly improve immunotherapy, a treatment that harnesses the body’s immune system to target cancer. Immunotherapy has transformed cancer treatment, with strategies like immune checkpoint blockade and adoptive cell therapy (ACT) helping the body’s T cells attack tumors. However, these treatments face major hurdles, particularly in solid tumors. While ACT has shown success against blood cancers, solid tumors present metabolic barriers that weaken T cells before they can eliminate cancer cells. A major challenge in ACT is the tumor microenvironment (TME), which starves T cells of essential nutrients and alters their function. When T cells face continuous stimulation without proper metabolic support, they lose their ability to fight tumors. Scientists have been working to improve the metabolic resilience of these cells, but the traditional lab methods used to expand T cells may be part of the problem. Graphical abstract. Hyperglycemic culture conditions promote expansion at the …

Scientists Recreate the Conditions That Sparked Complex Life

Scientists Recreate the Conditions That Sparked Complex Life

Published by skeptic

The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. Far from being solo operators, most single-celled microbes are in complex relationships. In the ocean, the soil, and your gut, they might battle and eat each other, exchange DNA, compete for nutrients, or feed on one another’s by-products. Sometimes they get even more intimate: One cell might slip inside another and make itself comfortable. If the conditions are just right, it might stay and be welcomed, sparking a relationship that could last for generations—or billions of years. This phenomenon of one cell living inside another, called endosymbiosis, has fueled the evolution of complex life. Examples of endosymbiosis are everywhere. Mitochondria, the energy factories in your cells, were once free-living bacteria. Photosynthetic plants owe their sun-spun sugars to the chloroplast, which was also originally an independent organism. Many insects get essential nutrients from bacteria that live inside them. And last year researchers discovered the “nitroplast,” an endosymbiont that helps some algae process nitrogen. So much of life relies on endosymbiotic relationships, but scientists have struggled to …

Gene-edited cells that evade rejection show promise in type 1 diabetes

Gene-edited cells that evade rejection show promise in type 1 diabetes

Published by skeptic

A transmission electron micrograph of a section through pancreas tissue, showing cells that produce insulin STEVE GSCHMEISSNER/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/Alamy The first human trial of insulin-producing cells that have been gene-edited to evade immune attack is a success so far. The cells have survived and produced insulin for a month after being injected into a 42-year-old man with type 1 diabetes early in December. As a precaution, only a small number of insulin-producing beta cells were injected into a forearm muscle in this initial test, so the man still needs insulin injections. It also remains to be seen how long the… Source link

Glowing biological quantum sensor could track how cells form

Glowing biological quantum sensor could track how cells form

Published by skeptic

A fluorescent protein based on one made by the bioluminescent crystal jelly can be used as a quantum sensor Alex Archontakis/Alamy Quantum sensors made from a glowing protein can be produced by living cells and could be used to much more accurately measure tiny changes in the body. This could one day help with early disease detection or tracking how cells form. Sensors based on the quantum mechanical property of spin can measure temperature, magnetic fields and other phenomena much more sensitively than conventional devices. They have already been shown to work in living animals, such as detecting the magnetic… Source link

Ketamine’s rapid antidepressant effects traced to overlooked brain cells

Ketamine’s rapid antidepressant effects traced to overlooked brain cells

Published by José

A new study has uncovered a surprising player in ketamine’s rapid antidepressant effects: astrocytes, the star-shaped support cells of the brain. By studying larval zebrafish, researchers found that ketamine reduces behavioral passivity by altering astrocytic activity in response to futile conditions. Their findings have been published in the journal Neuron. Ketamine is a medication traditionally used as an anesthetic, but in recent years, it has gained attention for its rapid and long-lasting antidepressant effects at low doses. Unlike conventional antidepressants, which often take weeks to produce noticeable results, ketamine can alleviate symptoms of depression within hours. This fast-acting property makes it especially promising for conditions like treatment-resistant depression. However, the exact mechanisms behind ketamine’s antidepressant effects remain only partially understood, particularly its influence on non-neuronal brain cells such as astrocytes. Researchers were interested in larval zebrafish as a model for studying ketamine because of the fish’s unique biological characteristics. Zebrafish are small, transparent, and genetically modifiable, allowing scientists to observe brain-wide activity in real-time. “We were originally studying a behavior in which larval zebrafish ‘gave …