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Space: A New Frontier for Exploring Stem Cell Therapy

Stem cells grown in microgravity aboard the International Space Station (ISS) have unique qualities that could one day help accelerate new biotherapies and heal complex disease, two Mayo Clinic researchers say. The research analysis by Fay Abdul Ghani and Abba Zubair, M.D., Ph.D., published in NPJ Microgravity, finds microgravity can strengthen the regenerative potential of cells. Dr. Zubair is a laboratory medicine expert and medical director for the Center for Regenerative Biotherapeutics at Mayo Clinic in Florida. Abdul Ghani is a Mayo Clinic research technologist. Microgravity is weightlessness or near-zero gravity.

“Studying stem cells in space has uncovered cell mechanisms that would otherwise be undetected or unknown within the presence of normal gravity,” says Dr. Zubair...

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Revolutionary High-Speed 3D Bioprinter hailed a Gamechanger for Drug Discovery

The 3D bioprinter at the Collins BioMicrosystems Laboratory at the University of Melbourne.
The 3D bioprinter at the Collins BioMicrosystems Laboratory at the University of Melbourne.

Biomedical engineers from the University of Melbourne have invented a 3D printing system, or bioprinter, capable of fabricating structures that closely mimic the diverse tissues in the human body, from soft brain tissue to harder materials like cartilage and bone.

This cutting-edge technology offers cancer researchers an advanced tool for replicating specific organs and tissues, significantly improving the potential to predict and develop new pharmaceutical therapies. This would pave the way for more advanced and ethical drug discovery by reducing the need for animal testing.

Head of the Collins BioMicrosystems Laboratory at the University of Melbourne, Associate Professor David Collins sa...

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A Trick of Light: UC Irvine researchers turn Silicon into Direct Bandgap Semiconductor

composite photograph of three male scientists.
UC Irvine’s Ara Apkarian, Distinguished Professor emeritus of chemistry; Dmitry Fishman, adjunct professor of chemistry; and Eric Potma, professor of chemistry, (from left) brought together decades of knowledge and experience on a project that resulted in the discovery of a new way light can interact with matter, specifically indirect semiconductors, like silicon, an important building block in computers, electronics and solar power systems. Their work will help to greatly improve the power, efficiency and usability of the second-most abundant element in Earth’s crust. UC Irvine

Discovery enables manufacturing of ultrathin solar panels, advanced optoelectronics

By creating a new way for light and matter to interact, researchers at the University of California, Irvine have enable...

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Learning more about Supernovae through Stardust

Pair of presolar grains from the Murchison meteorite. Credit: Argonne National Laboratory, Department of Energy

Most of the diverse elements in the universe come from supernovae. We are, quite literally, made of the dust of those long-dead stars and other astrophysical processes. But the details of how it all comes about are something astronomers strive to understand.

How do the various isotopes produced by supernovae drive the evolution of planetary systems? Of the various types of supernovae, which play the largest role in creating the elemental abundances we see today? One way astronomers can study these questions is to look at presolar grains.

These are dust grains formed long before the formation of the sun...

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