Category Biology/Biotechnology

Retro-inverso peptide inhibitor nanoparticles as potent inhibitors of aggregation of the Alzheimer’s Aβ peptide

New Alzheimer’s Rx could be delivered as nasal spray. A novel treatment could block the development of Alzheimer’s disease using microscopic droplets of fat, nanoliposomes, coated in protein fragments to carry drugs into the brain. This treatment approach, which is used to target drugs to cancer cells, has been successfully applied to Alzheimer’s disease for the first time, restoring memory loss in mice. The method stops amyloid protein accumulating into plaques, even at low concentrations.

Mice that were genetically altered to develop Alzheimer’s disease were injected with the nanoliposomes for three weeks...

Gold Nanoparticle Reprograms Pancreatic Tumor Microenvironment and Inhibits Tumor Growth

A diagnosis of pancreatic cancer is often a death sentence because chemotherapy and radiation have little impact on the disease. In the U.S. this year, some 53,000 new cases will be diagnosed, and 42,000 patients will die of the disease, according to the National Institutes of Health. But research now being reported in ACS Nano could eventually lead to a new type of treatment based on gold nanoparticles.

Scientists have previously studied these tiny gold particles as a vehicle to carry chemotherapy drug molecules into tumors or as a target to enhance the impact of radiation on tumors...

TRIM29 binds to and colocalizes with NEMO in the lysosome.

Houston Methodist researchers kept mice from getting the flu by removing a gene that regulates their immune system. According to a study recently published in Nature Immunology, mice missing the gene Trim29 eliminated human influenza virus within 48 hours, protecting them from infection.

“Influenza is the leading cause of death from infections worldwide. An effective treatment is vital, especially for children, the elderly and patients with compromised immune systems,” said Zhiqiang Zhang, Ph.D. “Mice lacking Trim29 kept them from a full blown infection and completely cleared them of the virus. This finding points the way to a potential flu treatment.”

Immune cells around the lungs are the first line of defense against infections...

Washington State University researchers have developed a low-cost, portable laboratory on a smartphone that can analyze several samples at once to catch a cancer biomarker, producing lab quality results. Credit: Washington State University

Researchers have developed a low-cost, portable laboratory on a smartphone that can analyze several samples at once to catch a cancer biomarker, producing lab quality results. At a time when patients and medical professionals expect always faster results, researchers are trying to translate biodetection technologies used in laboratories to the field and clinic, so patients can get nearly instant diagnoses in a physician’s office, ambulance or emergency room.

The WSU research team created an 8 channel smartphone spectrometer that can detect human interleu...