Category Health/Medical

This is an infographic of how the implanted capsule releases antibodies to the brain. Credit: Patrick Aebischer (EPFL)

The lab of Patrick Aebischer at EPFL has developed a bioactive capsule containing cells that have been genetically engineered to produce antibodies against amyloid-β. The capsule is implanted in the tissue under the skin, and over time the cells produce and release a steady flow of antibodies into the bloodstream, from where they cross over into the brain to target the amyloid-β plaques.

To be most effective, this treatment has to be given as early as possible, before the first signs of cognitive decline. But this requires repeated vaccine injections, which can cause side effects...

A haploid cell with 23 chromosomes (left), and a diploid cell with 46 chromosomes (right). Credit: Columbia University Medical Center/Hebrew University

The stem cell carries a single copy of the human genome, instead of the two copies typically found in normal stem cells. These are the first human cells that are known to be capable of cell division with just 1 copy of the parent cell’s genome. Since the stem cells were a genetic match to the egg cell donor, they could also be used to develop cell-based therapies for diseases such as blindness, diabetes, or other conditions in which genetically identical cells offer a therapeutic advantage. Because their genetic content is equivalent to germ cells, they might also be useful for reproductive purposes.

Previous efforts to generate embryonic s...

Engram cell in AD mouse — This image depicts a single memory engram cell (green) in the hippocampal dentate gyrus (DG) region of a mouse model of early Alzheimer’s disease. To optically manipulate specific connections to these engram cells, a blue light-sensitive protein oChIEF was expressed in an upstream brain region, i.e., medial entorhinal cortical inputs (red) to the DG. The majority of DG granule cells were not active during engram labeling (blue, non-engram cells). Credit: Image courtesy of RIKEN

The rescue of memories, which changed both the structure of neurons as well as the behavior of mice, was achieved using optogenetics, a method for manipulating genetically tagged cells with precise bursts of light...

Quantum dots are fluorescent crystals in which the color of the emitted light is dependent on the size of the crystal. Credit: Richard E. Cruise, University of Leeds

University of Leeds researchers have observed for the first time how HIV and Ebola viruses attach to cells to spread infection. The findings offer a new way of treating such viruses: instead of destroying the pathogens, introduce a block on how they interact with cells. They used ‘quantum dots’ that mimicked the shape of the viruses and acted as technological stand-ins in experiments to reveal how they bind to cells.

Quantum dots are fluorescent crystals in which the colour of the emitted light is dependent on the size of the crystal – one of several properties that has led to them becoming the most desirable component for the...