Category Biology/Biotechnology

New research from the WISE group (Wearable, Intelligent, Soft Electronics) at The University of Hong Kong (HKU-WISE) has addressed a long-standing bioelectronic challenge: the development of soft, 3D transistors.

This work introduces a new approach to semiconductor device design with transformative potential for bioelectronics. It is published in Science.

Led by Professor Shiming Zhang from the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, the research team included senior researchers who joined HKU-WISE from the University of Cambridge and the University of Chicago, together with HKU Ph.D...

Children born to mothers who consume a high-fat, high-sugar diet during pregnancy and breastfeeding face a higher risk of developing fatty liver disease later in life.

New research from the University of Oklahoma suggests that risk may be reduced. A recent study has found that supplementing pregnant and lactating mice with a naturally occurring compound produced by healthy gut bacteria significantly lowered rates of fatty liver disease in their offspring as they aged.

The research is published in the journal eBioMedicine.

How gut bacteria compound may help
The compound, called indole, is naturally made by healthy gut bacteria when they break down tryptophan, an amino acid found in foods such as turkey and nuts...

While investigating the FGF21-oxytocin-dopamine system, a mechanism that regulates sugar appetite, a team of researchers at Kyoto University noticed reports suggesting that the protein FGF21 may regulate alcohol ingestion.

The team’s original aim had been to address sugar appetite in lifestyle-related diseases, but since alcohol is a fermented product of sugar, they speculated that perhaps the body contains a system that recognizes both alcohol and sugar as the same entity.

Alcohol consumption and intervention challenges
Excessive alcohol consumption is a major global health issue, and effective countermeasures for prevention and treatment are limited...

X-ray tomography is a powerful tool that enables scientists and engineers to peer inside of objects in 3D, including computer chips and advanced battery materials, without performing anything invasive. It’s the same basic method behind medical CT scans.

Scientists or technicians capture X-ray images as an object is rotated, and then advanced software mathematically reconstructs the object’s 3D internal structure...