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    ‘Undruggable’ Cancer Protein becomes druggable, thanks to Shrub

    April 21, 2021, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    jatropha-curcas
    Curcusone D, the first synthesized BRAT-1 inhibitor, originally comes from the root of Jatropha curcas, a shrub native to the Americas. (Forest and Kim Starr)

    A chemist from Purdue University has found a way to synthesize a compound to fight a previously “undruggable” cancer protein with benefits across a myriad of cancer types.

    Inspired by a rare compound found in a shrub native to North America, Mingji Dai, professor of chemistry and a scientist at the Purdue University Center for Cancer Research, studied the compound and discovered a cost-effective and efficient way to synthesize it in the lab...

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    Artificial Synapse that works with Living Cells created

    June 16, 2020, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    A 2017 photo of Alberto Salleo, associate professor of materials science and engineering, and graduate student Scott Keene characterizing the electrochemical properties of a previous artificial synapse design. Their latest artificial synapse is a biohybrid device that integrates with living cells. (Image credit: L.A. Cicero)

    Researchers have created a device that can integrate and interact with neuron-like cells. This could be an early step to an artificial synapse for use in brain-computer interfaces. In 2017, Stanford University researchers presented a new device that mimics the brain’s efficient and low-energy neural learning process...

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    High-Fat Diet Starves the Brain

    May 1, 2016, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Cross-section through the brain of a mouse: regions with reduced uptake of glucose after three days of a high-fat diet (blue: slightly reduced, white: greatly reduced). [less] © MPI f. Metabolism Research

    Cross-section through the brain of a mouse: regions with reduced uptake of glucose after three days of a high-fat diet (blue: slightly reduced, white: greatly reduced). © MPI f. Metabolism Research

    A high-fat diet of 3 days in mice leads to a reduction in the amount of glucose that reaches the brain. The mouse brain restored its sugar uptake after 4 weeks, albeit at the cost of the rest of the body. High-fat-content foods throw our bodies out of kilter. Obesity and diseases such as type 2 diabetes can be the result. But what does a high-fat diet actually do to our brain? Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Metabolism Research in Cologne have looked into the brains of mice to understand how obesity and diabetes develop.

    “A high-fat diet reduces the uptake of blood glucose into the ...

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    Why we’re Smarter than Chickens: PTBP1 proteins

    August 21, 2015, Categories  Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

    Schematic representation of PTBP1 protein structure. Each RNA recognition motif (RRM) has different binding affinity for pyrimidine-rich sequences on mRNA. The N-terminal domain encloses partially overlapping nuclear localisation (NLS) and export signals (NES). Blue boxes representing RRMs are not drawn to scale.

    Schematic representation of PTBP1 protein structure. Each RNA recognition motif (RRM) has different binding affinity for pyrimidine-rich sequences on mRNA. The N-terminal domain encloses partially overlapping nuclear localisation (NLS) and export signals (NES). Blue boxes representing RRMs are not drawn to scale.

    A small change in a protein PTBP1 can spur the creation of neurons that could have fuelled the evolution of mammalian brains to become the largest and most complex among vertebrates. Brain size and complexity vary enormously across vertebrates, but it is not clear how these differences came about. Humans and frogs, for example, have been evolving separately for 350 million years and have very different brain abilities...

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