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    Category Health/Medical

    Link made between Genetics, Aging

    February 19, 2016, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Rob Pazdro, left, and Yang Zhou led a study looking at a new pathway by which genetics regulates aging and disease. Credit: Cal Powell/University of Georgia

    Rob Pazdro, left, and Yang Zhou led a study looking at a new pathway by which genetics regulates aging and disease. Credit: Cal Powell/University of Georgia

    Uni of Georgia scientists have shown a hormone instrumental in the aging process is under genetic control, introducing a new pathway by which genetics regulates aging and disease. Previous studies have found that blood levels of this hormone, growth differentiation factor 11, decrease over time. Restoration of GDF11 reverses cardiovascular aging in old mice and leads to muscle and brain rejuvenation, a discovery that was listed as one of the top 10 breakthroughs in science in 2014.

    Scientists in the UGA College of Family and Consumer Sciences have now discovered that levels of this hormone are determined by genetics, representing ano...

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    Shape-Shifting Engineered Nanoparticles for Delivering Cancer Drugs to Tumors

    February 19, 2016, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    U of T Engineering professor Warren Chan has spent the last decade figuring out how to deliver chemotherapy drugs into tumours -- and nowhere else. Now his lab has designed a set of nanoparticles attached to strands of DNA that can change shape to gain access to diseased tissue. Credit: NSERC

    U of T Engineering professor Warren Chan has spent the last decade figuring out how to deliver chemotherapy drugs into tumours — and nowhere else. Now his lab has designed a set of nanoparticles attached to strands of DNA that can change shape to gain access to diseased tissue. Credit: NSERC

    Modular nanoparticles attached to strands of DNA can change shape to gain access to diseased tissue. Many cancer drugs target fast-growing cells ie tumours, but unfortunately also hair follicles, GI lining, and skin. U of T Engineering Prof. Warren Chan has spent the last decade figuring out how to deliver chemotherapy drugs into tumours – and nowhere else.

    One thing we know about cancer: no 2 tumours are identical...

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    Mechanism behind Enzyme Suv39h1 that Tags Unneeded DNA revealed

    February 18, 2016, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    This is a graphical representation of work investigating the mechanism of Suv39h1 using designer chromatin. Credit: Image provided by the Muir lab

    This is a graphical representation of work investigating the mechanism of Suv39h1 using designer chromatin. Credit: Image provided by the Muir lab

    Essential DNA packing enzyme relies on 2-step activation to ensure correct genetic organization. For any particular cell, eg skin or brain cell, much of this genetic information is extraneous and must be packed away to allow sufficient space and resources for more important genes. Failure to properly pack DNA jeopardizes the stability of chromosomes and can result in severe diseases. Suv39h1 is one of the main enzymes that chemically mark the irrelevant regions of DNA to be compacted by cellular machinery, but little is known about how it installs its tag.

    Scientists at Princeton have used ‘designer chromatin’ templates – highly customized repli...

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    Some Aging Rx’s have Opposite Effects on Males and Females

    February 18, 2016, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    John Tower and his colleagues found that treating flies with a steroid hormone decreased egg production in females while increasing longevity. Credit: USC Photo/Gus Ruelas

    John Tower and his colleagues found that treating flies with a steroid hormone decreased egg production in females while increasing longevity. Credit: USC Photo/Gus Ruelas

    Research in flies, mice supports theory that sexes age differently. What helps her live longer might be harmful to him, according to a new study that may shed light on how and why organisms age. Analyzing years of previous research on dietary and pharmaceutical tests on flies and mice, researchers showed that aging interventions can have opposite effects on mortality rates in males versus females. The findings appear consistent with data gathered on humans as well, says John Tower of the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and the USC Davis School of Gerontology.

    Treating flies with steroid hormone mifespr...

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