Category Biology/Biotechnology

In some people, the brain protein tau collects into toxic tangles that damage brain cells and contribute to diseases such as Alzheimer’s. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found a drug that can lower tau levels and prevent some neurological damage. In neurons that contain the drug (above, in red) there are no tau tangles (in green). Credit: Sarah DeVos

Appears to reverse some neurological harm. Under ordinary circumstances, the protein tau contributes to the normal, healthy functioning of brain neurons. In some people, though, it collects into toxic tangles that damage brain cells. Such tangles are a hallmark of Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. But researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St...

MIT chemical engineers have developed arrays of carbon nanotube sensors that can detect single protein molecules as they are secreted from cells. Credit: Courtesy of the researchers

Modified carbon nanotubes could be used to track protein production by individual cells eg tracking viral infection, monitoring cell manufacture of useful proteins, or revealing food contamination. “We hope to use sensor arrays like this to look for the ‘needle in a haystack,'” says Michael Strano, the Carbon P. Dubbs Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT. “These arrays represent the most sensitive molecular sensing platforms that we have available to us technologically. You can functionalize them so you can see the stochastic fluctuations of single molecules binding to them.”

Strano’s lab has previously dev...

Stretch-and-release fabrication, testing and optimization of a flexible ceramic armor inspired from fish scales,” by Robert Martini and François Barthelat, Bioinspiration and Biomimetics: http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-3190/11/6/066001

Ceramic-covered gloves offer industrial workers increased protection from piercing. They started with striped bass. Over a 2-year period the researchers went through about 50 bass, puncturing or fracturing hundreds of fish scales under the microscope, to try to understand their properties and mechanics better. “The people at the fish market must have wondered what we were up to,” says François Barthelat smiling ruefully...

New research could lead to ways of enhancing cognitive function to counteract the effects of diseases such as Alzheimer’s and schizophrenia, as well as enhancing memory in healthy people. Credit: © Maxim Pavlov / Fotolia

How does heightened attention improve our mental capacity? This is the question tackled by new research published in the journal Cell Reports, which reveals a chemical signal released across the brain in response to attention demanding or arousing situations. The discoveries indicate how current drugs in the treatment of Alzheimer’s, designed to boost this chemical signal, counter symptoms of dementia. The results could also lead to new ways of enhancing cognitive function to counteract Alzheimer’s and schizophrenia, as well as enhancing memory in healthy people.

The team...