Category Biology/Biotechnology

Improved sensitivity for enolase detection via its enzymatic activity when using tethered PK and Luc. Credit: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0142326

Tethering enzymes to nanoparticles makes measuring tiny quantities possible. Besides early stroke detection, the method can be expanded to diagnose concussion, some forms of dementia, and some types of cancer and heart disease. Minutes count when treating stroke, but current diagnostics take as long as 3hrs, lab work, and skilled technicians to arrive at a conclusive diagnosis. Scientists at Cornell University’s Baker Institute for Animal Health have developed a device that helps diagnose stroke in <10min using a drop of blood.

“3/4 of stroke patients suffer from ischemic stroke…time is of the essence, because...

Bilirubin – Wikipedia

Mildly elevated levels of a bile pigment bilirubin may provide natural protection from heart attacks and help to stave off cardiovascular disease. The study shows that when hearts are infused with bilirubin following a heart attack, the pigment reduces damage and improves heart function during recovery.

“This is a very important finding as very few drugs are able to be administered following a heart attack to improve heart function,” says Dr Bulmer. “Generally, if it is a small heart attack people can survive. However there is a 20% mortality rate from heart attack, with approximately 50,000 heart attack sufferers each year in Australia.

“Generally, bilirubin was just associated with people having jaundice; however we have now shown that mildly elevated bilirubin is a...

These are neurons (c-fos, green) in the rat central amygdala activated by E. coli proteins in stationary phase and surrounded by nerve terminals (calcitonin gene-related peptide, red) originating from anorexigenic brainstem projections. Credit: J. Breton, N. Lucas & D. Schapman.

Don’t have room for dessert? The bacteria in your gut may be telling you something. 20 min after a meal, gut microbes produce proteins that can suppress food intake in animals, reports a study. The researchers also show how these proteins injected into mice and rats act on the brain reducing appetite, suggesting that gut bacteria may help control when and how much we eat.

The new evidence coexists with current models of appetite control, which involve hormones from the gut signalling to brain circuits when we’re hu...

Self-repaired supergel supports its own weight after being sliced in half. Credit: Image courtesy of University of Texas at Austin

Researchers in the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin have developed a first-of-its-kind self-healing gel that repairs and connects electronic circuits, creating opportunities to advance the development of flexible electronics, biosensors and batteries as energy storage devices.

Although technology is moving toward lighter, flexible, foldable and rollable electronics, the existing circuits that power them are not built to flex freely and repeatedly self-repair cracks or breaks that can happen from normal wear and tear...