Category Biology/Biotechnology

Luigi Puglielli working in the lab. Credit: Clint Thayer, UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health Department of Medicine

A new mouse model is the first to show that when more of acetyl-CoA moves between different parts of nerve cells in the mouse brain, it can lead to behaviors that resembles some aspects of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in humans. Acetyl-CoA, is a major part of the process cells use to make energy from food. It’s also used within cells to tag different proteins, which influences where and how they function. Local concentrations of acetyl-CoA and its movement, or flux, between different areas within cells is tightly regulated.

“We show, for the very first time, that changes in acetyl-CoA flux, and not just changes in its levels, in individual neurons can affect ne...

VAMPs are shown actuated and cut open in cross section. The cross section shows the inner chambers that collapse when vacuum is applied. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University

To make robots more cooperative and have them perform tasks in close proximity to humans, they must be softer and safer. A new actuator generates movements similar to those of skeletal muscles using vacuum power to automate soft, rubber beams. Like real muscles, the actuators are soft, shock absorbing, and pose no danger to their environment or humans working collaboratively alongside them or the potential future robots equipped with them.

“Functionally, our actuator models the human bicep muscle,” said Whitesides, Director of the Kavli Institute for Bionano Science and Technology at Harvard University...

ProAgio induces apoptosis by recruiting caspase 8, that plays an essential role in programmed cell death, to the cytoplasmic area of integrin v3

A protein designed Georgia State Uni researchers can effectively target a cell surface receptor linked to a number of diseases, showing potential as a therapeutic treatment for an array of illnesses, including cancer. ProAgio, which is created from a human protein, targets the cell surface receptor integrin v3 at a novel site that has not been targeted by other scientists. The researchers found ProAgio induces apoptosis of cells that express integrin v3. This integrin has been a focus for drug development because abnormal expression of v3 is linked to the development and progression of a number of diseases.

“This integrin pair, v3, is not expresse...

Daniel G. Nocera. Credit: Courtesy of Daniel G. Nocera

Harvard Chemist Daniel Nocera et al have engineered a bacterium that has made it capable of taking in carbon dioxide and hydrogen, and excreting several types of alcohol fuels, along with biomass that can be burned and used as an energy source. Nocera achieved a level of notoriety 5 years ago, when he and his team announced that they had created an artificial leaf that could be used to generate hydrogen for use as a fuel—that idea did not lead to hydrogen fuel cells displacing gasoline in automobiles, as he had hoped, so this go round, he has set his sights or providing a fuel source for those more in need—parts of India where there is still no electricity.

The new bacterium, named Ralston eutropha was first caused (via genetic eng...