New Breakthrough in the Treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis

A research team, led by Professor Sung Ho Park in the Department of Biological Sciences at UNIST announced the results of a study on osteoblasts that damage joint bones in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

In this study, the research team studied the possibility of a treatment method targeting mechanisms related to the differentiation process of osteoblasts that melt bones through enzyme reactions. First, it was confirmed that a superinhancer is formed near the NFATC1 gene, which is known to be an important factor in the formation of osteoblasts, and it is formed only in osteoblasts.

In addition, it was confirmed that an enhancer RNA, a type of non-encrypted RNA, is formed in the NFATC1 superinhand during osteoblastic cell formation.

Non-encrypted RNA does not encode protei...

Read More

New Type of Solar Cell is being tested in Space

New type of solar cell is being tested in space
Nanowires in three materials imaged by a scanning electron microscope. A thread is a thousand times thinner than a strand of hair. The red and blue colour shows the direction of the current, and that the nanowires work as a tandem solar cell. Credit: Lund University

Physics researchers at Lund University in Sweden recently succeeded in constructing small solar radiation-collecting antennas—nanowires—using three different materials that are a better match for the solar spectrum compared with today’s silicon solar cells. As the nanowires are light and require little material per unit of area, they are now to be installed for tests on satellites, which are powered by solar cells and where efficiency, in combination with low weight, is the most important factor...

Read More

Scientists release newly Accurate Map of all the Matter in the Universe

Two views of the sky side-by-side with dark and lighter spots
By comparing maps of the sky from the Dark Energy Survey telescope (at left) with data from the South Pole Telescope and the Planck satellite (at right), the team could infer how the matter is distributed.
Image courtesy Yuuki Omori

Analysis combines Dark Energy Survey, South Pole Telescope data to understand evolution of universe. A group of scientists have released one of the most precise measurements ever made of how matter is distributed across the universe.

When the universe began, matter was flung outward and gradually formed the planets, stars and galaxies that we know and love today. By carefully assembling a map of that matter today, scientists can try to understand the forces that shaped the evolution of the universe.

A group of scientists, including several with the Uni...

Read More

This Groundbreaking Biomaterial Heals Tissues from the inside out

A beaker with tissue being spun
The biomaterial is based on a hydrogel that Christman’s lab developed. 

The material can be injected intravenously and has potential application in heart attacks, traumatic brain injury and more. A new biomaterial that can be injected intravenously, reduces inflammation in tissue and promotes cell and tissue repair. The biomaterial was tested and proven effective in treating tissue damage caused by heart attacks in both rodent and large animal models. Researchers also provided proof of concept in a rodent model that the biomaterial could be beneficial to patients with traumatic brain injury and pulmonary arterial hypertension.

“This biomaterial allows for treating damaged tissue from the inside out,” said Karen Christman, a professor of bioengineering at the University of California...

Read More