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    Category Health/Medical

    Brain Plasticity Restored in Adult Mice through Targeting Specific Nerve Cell Connections

    January 9, 2019, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology


    Research in mice led by neuroscientists at Tufts University School of Medicine reveals a new molecular mechanism that is essential for brain maturation and may be used to restore plasticity in aged brains. The study focused on a subtype of inhibitory cell also found in people called Parvalbumin neurons (stained in blue) which exert significant power over the timing of the “critical period” for brain maturation. While previous studies had shown that the short-range synapses (green dots) on these neurons affected critical period opening in the brain’s visual cortex (which processes visual scenes), the new study shows that long-range synapses (red dots) on these neurons have a powerful control over critical period closure, despite their lower density in the brain...
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    New Materials could ‘Drive Wound Healing’ by harnessing natural healing methods

    January 9, 2019, Categories  Biology/Biotechnology, Health/Medical

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    Bioinspired aptamers enable the creation of synthetic mimics of the natural TGF‐β1 large latent complex (LLC).

    Materials are widely used to help heal wounds: Collagen sponges help treat burns and pressure sores, and scaffold-like implants are used to repair bones. However, the process of tissue repair changes over time, so scientists are developing biomaterials that interact with tissues as healing takes place.

    Now, Dr Ben Almquist and his team at Imperial College London have created a new molecule that could change the way traditional materials work with the body. Known as traction force-activated payloads (TrAPs), their method lets materials talk to the body’s natural repair systems to drive healing.

    The researchers say incorporating TrAPs into existing medical materials c...

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    Controlling Neurons with light – but without wires or batteries

    January 6, 2019, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics, Health/Medical

    Wireless and battery-free implant with advanced control over targeted neuron groups.
    Credit: Philipp Gutruf

    New research demonstrates a new optogenetics method that eliminates the need for bulky optical fibers, gives researchers more precise control of the light’s intensity, and allows for stimulating multiple areas of the brain simultaneously. Optogenetics is a biological technique that uses light to turn specific neuron groups in the brain on or off. For example, researchers might use optogenetic stimulation to restore movement in case of paralysis or, in the future, to turn off the areas of the brain or spine that cause pain.

    “We’re making these tools to understand how different parts of the brain work,” Gutruf said...

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    Engineers create an Inhalable form of Messenger RNA

    January 6, 2019, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    MIT researchers have designed inhalable particles that can deliver messenger RNA. These lung epithelial cells have taken up particles (yellow) that carry mRNA encoding green fluorescent protein.
    Credit: Asha Patel

    Patients with lung disease could find relief by breathing in messenger RNA molecules. In an advance that could lead to new treatments for lung disease, researchers have now designed an inhalable form of mRNA. This aerosol could be administered directly to the lungs to help treat diseases such as cystic fibrosis, the researchers say.

    mRNA, which can induce cells to produce therapeutic proteins, holds great promise for treating a variety of diseases...

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