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    Category Biology/Biotechnology

    The Cells that Control the Formation of Fat

    June 21, 2018, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Two different aspects of fat: left, mature human fat cells grown in a Petri dish (green: lipid droplets); right, a section of mouse fat tissue with in the middle, a blood vessel (red circle) surrounded by Aregs (arrows), newly discovered cells capable of suppressing adipogenesis. Credit: Bart Deplancke/EPFL

    Two different aspects of fat: left, mature human fat cells grown in a Petri dish (green: lipid droplets); right, a section of mouse fat tissue with in the middle, a blood vessel (red circle) surrounded by Aregs (arrows), newly discovered cells capable of suppressing adipogenesis. Credit: Bart Deplancke/EPFL

    A study has revealed a new cell type that resides in the body’s fat depots where it can actively suppress fat cell formation. This discovery was made using single-cell transcriptomics and opens entirely new avenues to combat obesity and related diseases such as diabetes.

    Adipogenesis – the formation of mature fat cells from their precursor cells – has been linked to obesity and related health problems such as cardiovascular disease and type-2 diabetes...

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    Putting the Brakes on Metastatic Cancer

    June 21, 2018, Categories  Biology/Biotechnology

    Overview of the in vivo screen for genes required for productive motility. a HEp3 cells were transduced with a pooled whole human genome lentiviral shRNA library and injected intravenously into 100 ex ovo avian embryos. Compact metastatic colonies derived from single cancer cells were excised 6 days post injection, expanded and analyzed by Illumina deep sequencing. Colonies were re-injected individually to validate their phenotype and prioritized based on a composite compactness (C.I.) index. Selected screen hits that produced metastatic colonies that were significantly more compact than those produced by cancer cells transduced with scramble shRNA transduced cells were selected for further analysis. b Composite compactness index (C.I.) distribution of screen hits relative to positive (anti-CD151) and negative (scramble shRNA) controls. Screen hits that are significantly more compact than negative control are indicated in green. Clones containing a single shRNA species are in bold. For clones containing multiple shRNAs, the two most predominant shRNAs are shown. Statistical significance was determined using one-way ANOVA with Fisher’s LSD test (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001). c Table summarizing shRNA gene IDs from significantly compact clones containing single shRNA. Gene cards (http://www.genecards.org) and KEGG pathway (http://www.genome.jp) databases were used for gene function annotations

    Overview of the in vivo screen for genes required for productive motility. a HEp3 cells were transduced with a pooled whole human genome lentiviral shRNA library and injected intravenously into 100 ex ovo avian embryos. Compact metastatic colonies derived from single cancer cells were excised 6 days post injection, expanded and analyzed by Illumina deep sequencing. Colonies were re-injected individually to validate their phenotype and prioritized based on a composite compactness (C.I.) index. Selected screen hits that produced metastatic colonies that were significantly more compact than those produced by cancer cells transduced with scramble shRNA transduced cells were selected for further analysis. b Composite compactness index (C.I...

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    Human Immune Response in the Fruit Fly

    June 19, 2018, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    A magenta-stained cell shows how the molecule STING (green) is positioned next to the bacteria Listeria (blue) to start an immune response. Credit: Washington State University

    A magenta-stained cell shows how the molecule STING (green) is positioned next to the bacteria Listeria (blue) to start an immune response. Credit: Washington State University

    Discovery opens door to efficient research model. Washington State University researchers have seen how both humans and fruit flies deploy a protein that plays a critical role in their immune responses to invading bacteria. The discovery gives scientists a model organism with which to explore ways to boost the human immune system and create infection-fighting medicines.

    Naturally, there are enormous differences between humans and fruit flies, whose common ancestor goes back 800 million years...

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    Camouflaged Nanoparticles used to Deliver Killer Protein to Cancer

    June 17, 2018, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Extracellular vesicle-like metal-organic framework nanoparticles are developed for the intracellular delivery of biofunctional proteins. The biomimetic nanoplatform can protect the protein cargo and overcome various biological barriers to achieve systemic delivery and autonomous release. Credit: Zheng Lab/Penn State

    Extracellular vesicle-like metal-organic framework nanoparticles are developed for the intracellular delivery of biofunctional proteins. The biomimetic nanoplatform can protect the protein cargo and overcome various biological barriers to achieve systemic delivery and autonomous release. Credit: Zheng Lab/Penn State

    A biomimetic nanosystem can deliver therapeutic proteins to selectively target cancerous tumors, according to a team of Penn State researchers. Using a protein toxin called gelonin from a plant found in the Himalayan mountains, the researchers caged the proteins in self-assembled metal-organic framework (MOF) nanoparticles to protect them from the body’s immune system...

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