Category Biology/Biotechnology

Developed by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, this janus gamma peptide nucleic acid (PNA) can invade the double helix of DNA and RNA.
Credit: Carnegie Mellon University

Carnegie Mellon University researchers have developed a synthetic molecule that can recognize and bind to double-stranded DNA or RNA under normal physiological conditions. It could provide a new platform for developing methods for the diagnosis and treatment of genetic conditions. Their findings are published in Communications Chemistry, a new Nature journal.

The work was carried out by an international team of experts, including Carnegie Mellon Professor of Chemistry Danith Ly, an expert in peptide nucleic acid design, chemistry postdoc Shivaji Thadke and chemistry graduate student Dinithi Perera, Chemistry Profes...

Characterization of B cells in spleen and CNS of mice lacking functional Ly6G+ MDSCs during recovery from EAE.

B cells are important in helping the immune system fight pathogens. However, in the case of the neurological autoimmune disease Multiple Sclerosis (MS) they can damage nerve tissue. When particular control cells are missing, too many B cells accumulate in the meninges, resulting in inflammation of the central nervous system. A team from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) demonstrated the process using animal and patient samples.

The fight against illnesses and pathogens requires activation or deactivation of a large number of different cell types in our immune system at the right place and the right time...

The Purdue University glaucoma drainage device is built with microactuators that vibrate when a magnetic field is introduced. (Image provided by Hyowon Lee)

Smart drainage device may help patients with glaucoma save their eyesight. Purdue University researchers have invented a new smart drainage device to help patients with glaucoma, a leading cause of blindness in the world, as they try to save their eyesight. Glaucoma can be treated only with medications or surgical implants, both of which offer varying degrees of success in helping to improve sight and to relieve pressure buildup inside the eye. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says about 3 million Americans have glaucoma.

Implantable glaucoma drainage devices have grown in popularity over the past years, but only hal...

Chronic pain is the leading cause of disability in the world.
Credit: © Kittiphan / Fotolia

For the first time, researchers at the UNC School of Medicine showed they could target one brain region with a weak alternating current of electricity, enhance the naturally occurring brain rhythms of that region, and significantly decrease symptoms associated with chronic lower back pain.

The results, published in the Journal of Pain and presented at the Society for Neuroscience conference in San Diego this week, suggest that doctors could one day target parts of the brain with new noninvasive treatment strategies, such as transcranial alternating current stimulation, or tACS, which researchers used in this study to boost the naturally occurring brain waves they theorized were important for the tre...