Recent Comments

    Category Biology/Biotechnology

    Eczema Drug Restores Hair Growth in Patient with Longstanding Alopecia

    October 16, 2018, Categories  Biology/Biotechnology, Health/Medical

    After 11 months of dupilumab treatment, significant pigmented hair has grown across the patient’s scalp.

    After 11 months of dupilumab treatment, significant pigmented hair has grown across the patient’s scalp.

    Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) physicians are reporting an unexpected side-effect from treatment with dupilumab, which is FDA approved for the treatment of moderate to severe eczema, also called atopic dermatitis. In their case report published in JAMA Dermatology, the physicians describe how their 13-year-old patient, who has alopecia totalis – a total lack of scalp hair – along with eczema, experienced significant hair regrowth while being treated with dupilumab, a drug marketed under the brand name Dupixent.

    “We were quite surprised since this patient hadn’t grown scalp hair since the age of 2, and other treatments that can help with hair loss did not in her case,” says Marya...

    Read More

    Fat: A new player expands our definition of Diabetes

    October 14, 2018, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Protein Kinase C Epsilon Deletion in Adipose Tissue, but Not in Liver, Improves Glucose Tolerance

    Protein Kinase C Epsilon Deletion in Adipose Tissue, but Not in Liver, Improves Glucose Tolerance

    A new study by Australian researchers, out today, is challenging what we know about the causes of diabetes. The new research points to fat tissue as a source of disease, and widens our understanding beyond the traditional focus on liver and pancreas as the main culprits. The findings, uncovered in mice, are published in the high-impact journal Cell Metabolism.

    The new research is centred around the surprising finding that protein kinase C epsilon (PKCε), known to be involved in diabetes, isn’t acting in the liver or the pancreas as was once assumed. Researchers have long known that PKCε is important for the development of diabetes...

    Read More

    Human Retinas grown in a Dish explain how Color Vision develops

    October 14, 2018, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Temporally regulated TH signaling specifies cone subtypes. (A) Embryonic stem cell–derived human retinal organoids [wild type (WT)] generate S and L/M cones. Blue, S-opsin; green, L/M-opsin. (B) Organoids that lack thyroid hormone receptor β (Thrβ KO) generate all S cones. (C) Early activation of TH signaling (WT + T3) specifies nearly all L/M cones. (D) TH-degrading enzymes (such as DIO3) expressed early in development lower TH and promote S fate, whereas TH-activating regulators (such as DIO2) expressed later promote L/M fate.

    Temporally regulated TH signaling specifies cone subtypes.
    (A) Embryonic stem cell–derived human retinal organoids [wild type (WT)] generate S and L/M cones. Blue, S-opsin; green, L/M-opsin. (B) Organoids that lack thyroid hormone receptor β (Thrβ KO) generate all S cones. (C) Early activation of TH signaling (WT + T3) specifies nearly all L/M cones. (D) TH-degrading enzymes (such as DIO3) expressed early in development lower TH and promote S fate, whereas TH-activating regulators (such as DIO2) expressed later promote L/M fate.

    Biologists at Johns Hopkins University grew human retinas from scratch to determine how cells that allow people to see in color are made...

    Read More

    Engineers develop process to 3D print cells to produce Human Tissue such as Ligaments and Tendons

    October 13, 2018, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    This image of cells that were made fluorescent shows how they are printed in complex structures for the purpose of producing tissue such as tendons and ligaments. Credit: Robby Bowles/University of Utah College of Engineering

    This image of cells that were made fluorescent shows how they are printed in complex structures for the purpose of producing tissue such as tendons and ligaments.
    Credit: Robby Bowles/University of Utah College of Engineering

    Scientists have developed a method to 3D print cells to produce human tissue such as ligaments and tendons to greatly improve a patient’s recovery. A person with a badly damaged ligament, tendon, or ruptured disc could simply have new replacement tissue printed and ultimately implanted in the damaged area.

    “It will allow patients to receive replacement tissues without additional surgeries and without having to harvest tissue from other sites, which has its own source of problems,” says University of Utah biomedical engineering assistant professor Robby Bowles, who co-a...

    Read More