Category Biology/Biotechnology

Approach exploits tumor weaknesses when 2 genetic defects are combined. Researchers report that inhibiting a key enzyme caused human cancer cells associated with two major types of breast and ovarian cancer to die and in mouse studies reduced tumor growth.

With advances in genome sequencing, cancer treatments have increasingly sought to leverage the idea of “synthetic lethality,” exploiting cancer-specific genetic defects to identify targets that are uniquely essential to the survival of cancer cells.

Synthetic lethality results when non-lethal mutations in different genes become deadly when combined in cells.

The research team, led by senior study author Richard D...

Study of bacterium links biology, materials science, and electrical engineering. When the Shewanella oneidensis bacterium “breathes” in certain metal and sulfur compounds anaerobically, it produces materials that could be used to enhance electronics, electrochemical energy storage, and drug-delivery devices.

The ability of this bacterium to produce molybdenum disulfide – a material that is able to transfer electrons easily, like graphene – is the focus of research published in Biointerphases by a team of engineers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

“This has some serious potential if we can understand this process and control aspects of how the bacteria are making these and other materials,” said Shayla Sawyer, an associate professor of electrical, computer, and systems ...

An existing drug boosts survival for insulin-producing cells under autoimmune attack. Researchers have found an unusual strategy that eventually may help to guard transplanted beta cells or to slow the original onset of type 1 diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes occurs when a person’s own immune system destroys insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. In recent years, scientists have learned how to grow large volumes of replacement beta cells, but the researchers are still trying out many options to protect these cells against the immune attack...

In a meta-analysis, researchers found that sputum was more accurate than nasopharyngeal or oropharyngeal swabs. The study also shows early testing increased rates of COVID-19 diagnosis.

Early and accurate detection is critical for preventing the spread of COVID-19 and providing appropriate care for patients. Nasopharyngeal (NP) swabs, which require inserting a long shaft into the nasal cavity to collect a sample from the back of the nose and throat, are currently the gold standard for collecting a specimen for diagnosis. But the procedure is technically challenging, often uncomfortable for patients and requires personal protective equipment that may be in short supply...