Category Biology/Biotechnology

Zebrafish-Based Discovery of Antiseizure Compounds from the Red Sea: Pseurotin A2 and Azaspirofuran A

New treatments for epilepsy are sorely needed because current medications don’t work for many people with the disease. To find new leads, researchers have now turned to the sea – a source that has been largely untapped for prospective drugs. 2 metabolites produced by a fungus from the Red Sea look promising. “Epilepsy” covers a spectrum of brain disorders with symptoms ranging from mildly odd sensations to seizures, loss of consciousness and death. Worldwide, the condition affects 50 million people, according to the World Health Organization. Current treatments work in only about 70% of those who try them.

Marcel Jaspars, Peter A. M...

In this visualization, as the supersonic solar wind (yellow haze) flows around the Earth’s magnetic field (blue wavy lines), it forms a highly turbulent boundary layer called the ‘magnetosheath’ (yellow swirling area). A new research paper describes observations of small-scale magnetic reconnection within the magnetosheath, revealing important clues about heating in the sun’s outer layers and elsewhere in the universe. Credit: NASA/GSFC

Explorations in Earth’s space environment by NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale spacecraft have discovered a surprising new magnetic event in turbulent plasma. Magnetic reconnection is one of the most important processes in the space – filled with charged particles known as plasma – around Earth...

Immunofluorescence of ?-catenin protein (red) and cell nuclei (blue) in the human hair follicle bulb, the command center for maintaining hair growth. Credit: Dr. Nathan John Hawkshaw

A new drug could ease the distress of men and women who suffer from baldness, according to researchers from The University of Manchester’s Centre for Dermatology Research. It shows that a drug originally designed as a treatment for osteoporosis has a dramatic stimulatory effect on human hair follicles donated by patients undergoing hair transplantation surgery.

Currently only two drugs – minoxidil and finasteride – are available for treatment of male-pattern balding (androgenetic alopecia). However, both agents have moderate side effects and often produce disappointing hair regrowth results...

This image shows vascularized pancreatic islets (areas in green) bioengineered by researchers and transplanted into a mouse. The bioengineered islets — which have a network of blood vessels (shown in red) and secrete hormones like insulin — are shown seven days after transplant. Scientists reporting research data in Cell Reports say their goal is to one day translate the bioengineering process used to generate and transplant mouse pancreatic islets to human patients with diabetes. Credit: Cincinnati Children’s

Self-condensation process for cells generates vascularized organ tissues for transplant...