Category Biology/Biotechnology

Gerard Coté, professor of biomedical engineering and director of the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station’s Center for Remote Health Technologies and Systems. Credit: Texas A&M University

It could significantly improve malaria diagnoses, Rx in developing countries that often lack the resources to address the life-threatening disease. The add-on device, which is similar in look and feel to a protective phone case, uses a smart phone’s camera features to produce high-resolution images of objects 10X smaller than the thickness of a human hair, says Prof Gerard Coté who developed the mobile-optical-polarization imaging device (MOPID).

MOPID is capable of accepting a small cartridge containing a patient’s blood-smear sample, which is then imaged using polarized light in order to detect ...

Coccolithophore phytoplankton Emiliania huxleyi and cells covering crystals of calcium carbonate—coccoliths. Credit: Hiroshima University

Coccolith disks made of calcium carbonate, formed by coccolithophores, which are single-celled algae such as E. huxleyi, one of the promising biomass resources reduces/ enhances light entering cells by light scattering. Elucidation of the physiological significance of coccolith formation can help promote efficient bioenergy production using microalgae.

The most important question concerning coccolith function is with regard to how they modulate solar light in the ocean, where huge blooms of E. huxleyi have frequently been observed as satellite images by SeaWiFS Color Senor from space...

NAS/ Nonalcoholic‬ ‪‎fatty‬ liver disease progression

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is the most common cause of liver damage. In this study, TGen scientists sequenced microRNAs from liver biopsies, spelling out their biochemical molecules to identify several potential gene targets associated with NAFLD-related liver damage.

The miRNAs – RNA molecules that regulate gene expression – were obtained from liver biopsies of 30 female candidates for gastric bypass surgery: 15 with, and 15 without, NAFLD liver damage. Using the most advanced technology to refine the data, researchers identified several potential gene targets associated with NAFLD-related liver damage...

Credit: Vera Kratochvil/public domain

Shifting Sleep Cycle affects Immune response, sleep quality. Ilia Karatsoreos, an assistant professor in WSU’s Department of Integrative Physiology and Neuroscience, shifted mice from their usual cycle of sleeping and waking and saw that, while they got enough sleep, it was of poorer quality. The animals also had a disrupted immune response, leaving them more open to illness.

Most sleep research focuses on the effects of sleep deprivation or the overall amount of sleep an animal needs. This is generally referred to as sleep’s homeostatic process, which is driven by sleepiness or “sleep pressure.”
“…disruption of the circadian clock is nearly ubiquitous in our modern society” due to nighttime lighting, shift work, jet lag and even the blue-tinged light ...