Category Health/Medical

3D Bioprinting of Living Structures with Built-in Chemical Sensors

3-D-bioprinted structure containing green algae (Chlamydomonas) in a hydrogel. Credit: Anja Lode, TU Dresden

3-D-bioprinted structure containing green algae (Chlamydomonas) in a hydrogel.
Credit: Anja Lode, TU Dresden

A new method enables non-invasive monitoring of oxygen metabolism in cells that are 3D-bioprinted into complex living structures. This has great implications for studies of cell growth and interactions e.g. under tissue-like conditions, as well as for the design of 3D printed constructs facilitating higher productivity of microalgae in biofilms or better oxygen supply for stem cells used in bone and tissue reconstruction efforts.

An international team of researchers led by Professor Michael Kühl at the Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen has just published a breakthrough in 3D bioprinting...

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Artificial Sweeteners Have Toxic Effects on Gut Bacteria

Artificial sweeteners are used in countless food products and soft drinks with reduced sugar content. Many people consume this added ingredient without their knowledge. NeuroscienceNews.com image is in the public domain.

Artificial sweeteners are used in countless food products and soft drinks with reduced sugar content. Many people consume this added ingredient without their knowledge. NeuroscienceNews.com image is in the public domain.

FDA-approved artificial sweeteners and sport supplements were found to be toxic to digestive gut microbes, according to a new paper published in Molecules by researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) in Israel and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

The collaborative study indicated relative toxicity of six artificial sweeteners (aspartame, sucralose, saccharine, neotame, advantame, and acesulfame potassium-k) and 10 sport supplements containing these artificial sweeteners...

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Research teams find widespread Inflammation in the Brains of Fibromyalgia patients

This combined MR/PET image highlights areas of the brain in which patients with fibromyalgia were found to have increased glial activation, compared with unaffected control volunteers. Credit: Marco Loggia, PhD, Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital

PET imaging studies reveal elevated glial activation, correlation with fatigue levels. A study by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers – collaborating with a team at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden – has documented for the first time widespread inflammation in the brains of patients with the poorly understood condition called fibromyalgia. Their report has been published online in the journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity.

“We don’t have good treatment options for fibromyalgia, so identifying a potential treatment target could lead to the development of innovative, more effective therapies,” says Marco Loggia, PhD, of the MGH-based Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, co-senior author of the report...

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Sugar-powered Sensor developed to detect, prevent disease

Su Ha and Subhanshu Gupta, holding a glucose-powered biofuel cell. Credit: Washington State University

Su Ha and Subhanshu Gupta, holding a glucose-powered biofuel cell.
Credit: Washington State University

Cell runs on glucose from body fluids. Researchers at Washington State University have developed an implantable, biofuel-powered sensor that runs on sugar and can monitor a body’s biological signals to detect, prevent and diagnose diseases.

A cross-disciplinary research team led by Subhanshu Gupta, assistant professor in WSU’s School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, developed the unique sensor, which, enabled by the biofuel cell, harvests glucose from body fluids to run.

The research team has demonstrated a unique integration of the biofuel cell with electronics to process physiological and biochemical signals with high sensitivity.

Many popular sensors for disease detection...

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