Category Biology/Biotechnology

Confocal image showing glucose signalling.

Glucose may actually be crucial in the fight against cancer and inflammatory disease as scientists have just discovered a new role in which it stimulates cells that work on the front line in the fight against tumours and infection. The immune cells become very active during an immune response, such as when responding to infection, and as a result they tend to have high demands for glucose. Unsurprisingly, when immune cells are starved of glucose, as might occur within tumours for instance, they become dysfunctional.

However, new research led by scientists at Trinity College Dublin shows that the immune cells that monitor our bodies for signs of danger (dendritic cells) are different—when they are starved of glucose they actually become better at s...

A prototype of the speculum-free “pocket colposcope” being developed by Duke University produces images on a smart phone or laptop and can make cervical cancer screening more accessible to women living in low-resource areas.

‘Pocket colposcope’ removes need for speculum, may enable self-screening. Duke University researchers have developed a handheld device for cervical cancer screening that promises to do away with uncomfortable speculums and high-cost colposcopes. The “pocket colposcope” is a slender wand that can connect to many devices, including laptops or cell phones.

If widely adopted, women might even use the device to self-screen, transforming screening and cure rates in low-income countries and regions of the US, where cervical cancer is most prevalent...

Self-assembly of a redox-responsive stomatocyte nanomotor system, which can be used for triggered drug release under biological reducing conditions

Self-destroyed redox-sensitive stomatocyte nanomotor delivers and releases drugs for cells. Autonomous targeting and release of drugs at their site of action are desired features of nanomedical systems. Now, a team of Dutch scientists has designed a nanomotor that has these functions: An antitumor drug encapsulated in self-propelled, self-assembled stomatocytes is carried across the cellular membrane and released inside the cell upon a chemical signal that disassembles the vesicle membrane. This deliver and unpack nanomedicinal system is introduced in the journal Angewandte Chemie.

Self-propelling nanovesicles if fueled by hydrogen peroxide, th...

Rod-like cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) approximately 120 nanometers long and 6.5 nanometers in diameter under the microscope.
Credit: Empa

Empa researchers have succeeded in developing an environmentally-friendly ink for 3D printing based on cellulose nanocrystals (CNC). This technology can be used to fabricate microstructures with outstanding mechanical properties, which have promising potential uses in implants and other biomedical applications. In order to produce 3D microstructured materials for automobile components, for instance, Empa researchers have been using a 3D printing method called “Direct Ink Writing” for the past year (DIW)...