Category Biology/Biotechnology

If approved for use in humans, the magnetic wire (depicted in gray) would be inserted into a vein in the arm (in light pink) and attract floating cancer cells labeled with magnetic nanoparticles (light green and gray) that have come from the tumor (neon green). Courtesy of Sam Gambhir

A magnetic wire used to snag scarce and hard-to-capture tumor cells could prove to be a swift and effective tactic for early cancer detection, according to a study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. The wire, which is threaded into a vein, attracts special magnetic nanoparticles engineered to glom onto tumor cells that may be roaming the bloodstream if you have a tumor somewhere in your body...

In the absence of SIRT7, a human primary cell displays multiple nucleoli. DNA was stained with DAPI (turquoise) and nucleolus was stained with anti-fibrillarin (red).

Aging is a process of gradual deterioration from exposure to time and the elements; this process begins with deterioration deep inside every cell. Researchers from Stanford University and the VA Palo Alto Health Care System (VAPAHCS) have identified a protein that guards cells against senescence – aging-related problems – by protecting a particularly vulnerable set of genes. The study is published in the July 13 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

The genes that encode components of the ribosome – the protein-making machine of the cell – are abundant and constantly in use...

Mice were exposed to two auditory fear conditioning, separated by five hours. Both memories were encoded by shared neurons in the lateral amygdala while they were encoded by different neurons in the auditory cortex. Mice showed freezing behavior in response to 7kHz and 2kHz tones. Induction of optical long term depotentiation (LTD) to synapses specific to 7kHz fear memory, erased only that memory (test 3) without affecting the other memory (test 4) that was stored in shared neuron ensemble.
Credit: Kaoru Inokuchi, Kareem Abdou

Memories are formed through long-term changes in synaptic efficacy, a process known as synaptic plasticity, and are stored in the brain in specific neuronal ensembles called engram cells, which are activated during corresponding events...

Spontaneous spikes being similar to nerve impulses of neurons was generated from a POM/CNT complexed network. Credit: Osaka University

Molecular/carbon nanotube network devices enable artificial spiking neurons that mimic nerve impulse generation. Researchers have created extremely dense, random SWNT/ POM network molecular neuromorphic devices, generating spontaneous spikes similar to nerve impulses of neurons. They conducted simulation calculations of the random molecular network model complexed with POM molecules, which are able to store electric charges, replicating spikes generated from ] random molecular network. They also demonstrated that this molecular model would very likely become a component of reservoir computing devices...