Category Biology/Biotechnology

On left is an activated “ordinary” platelet (scanning electron microscope image), the right — “super-activated” (procoagulant) platelet (transmission electron microscope image).

Scientists have discovered the mechanism of the platelet programmed cell death, resulting in acceleration of the blood coagulation process by a factor of 1,000 to 10,000. Platelets are small anucleated blood cells responsible for stopping bleeding. They detect blood vessel damage and agglutinate, creating aggregates and stopping the blood loss. This process is called hemostasis (from the Greek “haimatos” – blood, “stasis” – stop). Platelets become able to aggregate and plug the wound upon activation...

Josh Zimmerman, Ph.D., (right) and Todd McDevitt, Ph.D., discovered a biomaterials hack that can boost cells’ ability to combat inflammation and potentially treat autoimmune diseases. Credit: Elisabeth Fall

A biomaterials hack can boost cells’ ability to combat inflammation and potentially treat autoimmune diseases. With a trick of engineering, scientists at the Gladstone Institutes improved a potential weapon against inflammation and autoimmune disorders. Their work could one day benefit patients who suffer from IBD or organ transplant rejection.

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) reside in bone marrow and have been found to secrete anti-inflammatory proteins that help regulate the immune system...

Rotated wireframe of brain’s physical inference and action centers

The ‘Physics Engine’ of the brain predicts how world behaves; among ‘most important aspects of cognition for survival’. Whether or not they aced the subject in high school, human beings are physics masters when it comes to understanding and predicting how objects in the world will behave. A Johns Hopkins University cognitive scientist has found the source of that intuition, the brain’s “physics engine.”

This engine, which comes alive when people watch physical events unfold, is not in the brain’s vision center, but in a set of regions devoted to planning actions, suggesting the brain performs constant, real-time physics calculations so people are ready to catch, dodge, hoist or take any necessary action, on the fly...

A significant number of autumnous adenomas carry a mutation in a gene that is involved in controlling cell proliferation and differentiation. EZH1 – or Enhancer of Zeste Homolog 1 – is the scientific name of this gene. ( Graphic: Davice Calebiro / Kerstin Bathon)

Autonomous adenomas are the most common benign tumors of the thyroid gland. Mutations in 2 genes account for around 70% of the cases. Scientists have now discovered another key trigger. Thyroid hormones are involved in controlling many functions of the human body: They influence sugar, lipid and protein metabolism, regulate body temperature, heart rate, circulation and many more functions. In children, they also control the development of the brain and nerves as well as bone growth...