Category Biology/Biotechnology

A new tool accurately predicts height.
Credit: © Rido / Fotolia

A new DNA tool created by Michigan State University can accurately predict people’s height, and more importantly, could potentially assess their risk for serious illnesses, such as heart disease and cancer.

For the first time, the tool, or algorithm, builds predictors for human traits such as height, bone density and even the level of education a person might achieve, purely based on one’s genome. But the applications may not stop there.

“While we have validated this tool for these three outcomes, we can now apply this method to predict other complex traits related to health risks such as heart disease, diabetes and breast cancer,” said Stephen Hsu, lead investigator of the study and vice president for research and graduate st...

A nanopore device can contain different binding proteins. Once inside the pore, these proteins act as transducers to identify specific small molecules in a sample of body fluid.
Credit
Giovanni Maglia, University of Groningen

Scientists have designed a nanopore system that is capable of measuring different metabolites simultaneously in a variety of biological fluids, all in a matter of seconds. The electrical output signal is easily integrated into electronic devices for home diagnostics.

Measuring many metabolites or drugs in the body is complicated and time-consuming, and real-time monitoring is not usually possible. The ionic currents that pass through individual nanopores are emerging as a promising alternative to standard biochemical analysis...

UQ’s Dr Mario D. Garcia conducting one of the many experiments involved in the research.
Credit: The University of Queensland

A chemical compound found in common herbicides could help fight hospital-acquired human fungal pathogenic infections, which claim an estimated two million lives per year. A team of international researchers led by The University of Queensland has discovered that the chemical chlorimuron ethyl also targets a range of fungal infections that are potentially fatal to humans, particularly people undergoing treatments which place the immune system under stress.

Dr Luke Guddat, from UQ’s School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, said the finding was very timely, given the growth in drug-resistant infections...

Nanoparticles to treat Snakebites

Venomous snakebites affect 2.5 million people, and annually cause more than 100,000 deaths and leave 400,000 individuals with permanent physical and psychological trauma each year. Researchers reporting in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases have now described a new approach to treating snake bites, using nanoparticles to bind to venom toxins and prevent the spread of venom through the body.

The standard treatment for snakebites is the intravenous administration of IgG immune molecules that recognize venoms. However, such antivenom therapies must be administered quickly – and by trained healthcare workers – to be effective and are highly specific to particular venoms...