Category Health/Medical

Durdu Güney stands in his lab where he and his team work on creating a ‘perfect lens’.
Credit: Michigan Tech

Imagine if we could see nanometer-sized viruses with the naked eye. That’s a real possibility with a “perfect lens.” It is a theoretical perfected optical lens made out of metamaterials, engineered to change the way the materials interact with light. MTU researchers have found a way to possibly solve one of the biggest challenges, getting light waves to pass through the lens without getting consumed. “These findings open the possibility of reviving the early dreams of making ‘magical’ metamaterials from scratch.”

Metamaterials go beyond the limits of natural materials such as glass, plastic, metal or wood...

SRBAL liver implant and Mayo Expert: Artificial Liver Ready for Human Testing: On any given day about 15,000 Americans are on the liver transplant waiting list, hoping they can get a lifesaving donor organ in time: https://youtu.be/bFLgr3G8ZQg

It supports healing and regeneration of the injured liver, and improve outcomes and reduce mortality rates for patients with acute liver failure. ~30,000-40,000 people die from liver disease each year, according to the American Liver Foundation. For acute liver failure, the only proven treatment has been liver transplantation. Developed by Scott Nyberg, M.D., Ph.D...

Images showing the difference in the prevalence of p53 in the oral tissue of a 28-year-old (left) and a 74-year-old (right). Credit: Dr. Reuben Kim

UCLA researchers have found that a protein that serves as a suppressor of cancer diminishes in skin and mouth epithelial cells as the human body ages. Dr. No-Hee Park, UCLA School of Dentistry dean and his team have been studying p53, tumor suppressor protein, “guardian of the genome” involved in DNA repair, cell cycle regulation and cellular deterioration.

“Looking at ways to maintain levels of p53 as one ages may provide a therapeutic clue to preventing cancer development,” said Park. Previous studies have shown p53 accumulates in large quantities as connective tissue cells, called fibroblasts, age and stop dividing...

The immune system produces antibodies finely tuned to antigens. Recent research describes how the interaction between T cells (green) and B cells (blue) allows this to take place. Bystander B cells and antigen appear in red.
Credit: Laboratory of Molecular Immunology at The Rockefeller University

Cell Division speeds up as part of antibody selection. Mechanisms that favor selection of B cells capable of producing antibodies with highest affinity for that invader. “2 of the mechanisms that allow high affinity B cells to overwhelm the others,” says Alex Gitlin.

During an infection, B + other immune cells form germinal centers in spleen and lymph nodes, where B cells evolve in a Darwinian-like fashion...