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    Category Health/Medical

    DNA design that anyone can do Computer Program can translate a Free-form 2D Drawing into a DNA structure

    January 4, 2019, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    MIT and Arizona State University researchers have created a computer program that can translate drawings of arbitrary shapes into two-dimensional structures made of DNA.
    Credit: Hyungmin Jun

    Researchers at MIT and Arizona State University have designed a computer program that allows users to translate any free-form drawing into a two-dimensional, nanoscale structure made of DNA. Until now, designing such structures has required technical expertise that puts the process out of reach of most people. Using the new program, anyone can create a DNA nanostructure of any shape, for applications in cell biology, photonics, and quantum sensing and computing, among many others.

    “What this work does is allow anyone to draw literally any 2D shape and convert it into DNA origami automatically,”...

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    Wireless ‘Pacemaker for the Brain’ could offer new Treatment for Neurological Disorders

    January 2, 2019, Categories  Biology/Biotechnology, Health/Medical


    In a proposed device, two of the new chips would be embedded in a chassis located outside the head. Each chip could monitor electrical activity from 64 electrodes located into the brain while simultaneously delivering electrical stimulation to prevent unwanted seizures or tremors. Credit
    Credit: Rikky Muller, UC Berkeley

    Device fine-tunes treatment by stimulating and and recording electric current in the brain at the same time. A new neurostimulator developed by engineers at the University of California, Berkeley, can listen to and stimulate electric current in the brain at the same time, potentially delivering fine-tuned treatments to patients with diseases like epilepsy and Parkinson’s.

    The device, named the WAND, works like a “pacemaker for the brain,” monitoring the brain’s ele...

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    Low Carb? Low Fat? What the Latest Dieting Studies tell us

    January 1, 2019, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Low carb? Low fat? What the latest dieting studies tell us
    This June 9, 2014 file photo shows a dish of steak and cheese pasta in Concord, N.H. Two major studies in 2018 provided more fuel for the debate around carbs and fats, yet failed to offer a resolution to the polarizing matter of the best way to lose weight. (AP Photo/Matthew Mead)

    If you’re planning to try to lose weight in 2019, you’re sure to find a fierce debate online and among friends and family about how best to do it. It seems like everyone has an opinion, and new fads emerge every year. Two major studies last year provided more fuel for a particularly polarizing topic—the role carbs play in making us fat. The studies gave scientists some clues, but, like other nutrition studies, they can’t say which diet—if any—is best for everyone...

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    A boundary dance of Amyloid-beta stepping into Dementia

    January 1, 2019, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    (a) An A-beta peptide that forms a beta-hairpin structure at the hydrophilic/hydrophobic interface. (b) View from the bottom of panel (a).
    Credit: ExCELLS/IMS

    Formation mechanism of the causative substances of Alzheimer’s disease revealed. Alzheimer’s disease is caused by aggregates of amyloid-beta peptides. This aggregation is accelerated at a cell membrane surface. The research group at ExCELLS revealed the reason of this phenomenon by molecular dynamics simulations and NMR experiments.

    Many proteins aggregate at higher concentrations and form spherical substances called oligomers and acicular substances called amyloid fibrils...

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