Category Biology/Biotechnology

Intricate sugar networks dissolve to create pathways for blood in lab-grown tissues. Bioengineers have shown they can keep densely packed cells alive in lab-grown tissues by creating complex networks of branching blood vessels from templates of 3D-printed sugar.

Powdered sugar is the special ingredient in a Rice University recipe for mimicking the body’s intricate, branching blood vessels in lab-grown tissues.

In research published in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering, Rice bioengineers showed they could keep densely packed cells alive for two weeks in relatively large constructs.

“One of the biggest hurdles to e...

Molecule that regulates two side effects of aging identified. Increasing abdominal girth and shrinking muscles are two common side effects of aging. Researchers at the University of Bonn have discovered a receptor in mice that regulates both effects. Experiments with human cell cultures suggest that the corresponding signaling pathways might also exist in humans. The study, which also involved researchers from Spain, Finland, Belgium, Denmark and the USA, has now been published in the journal Cell Metabolism.

The surfaces of some cells are virtually teeming with A2B receptors, for example in the so-called brown adipose tissue. Brown adipose tissue, unlike its white-colored counterpart, is not used to store fat. Instead, it burns fat and thereby generates heat.

“In our publication we to...

Researchers are using high-resolution printing technology and the unique properties of graphene to make low-cost biosensors to monitor food safety and livestock health.

It turned out the sensors — printed with high-resolution aerosol jet printers on a flexible polymer film and tuned to test for histamine, an allergen and indicator of spoiled fish and meat — can detect histamine down to 3.41 parts per million.

The U.S...

Researchers have discovered that a single treatment to inhibit a gene called PTB in mice converts native astrocytes, brain support cells, into neurons that produce the neurotransmitter dopamine. As a result, the mice’s Parkinson’s disease symptoms disappear.

Xiang-Dong Fu, PhD, has never been more excited about something in his entire career. He has long studied the basic biology of RNA, a genetic cousin of DNA, and the proteins that bind it. But a single discovery has launched Fu into a completely new field: neuroscience.

For decades, Fu and his team at University of California San Diego School of Medicine studied a pr...