Lifeboat Foundation

Tel Aviv University researchers have published a new study in Nature outlining how a type of white blood cell can be engineered to secrete anti-human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) antibodies. Based on the results of this study, the team are hopeful that they will be able to produce a one-time medication for acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and other diseases.

Gene therapy for HIV

The introduction of treatments such as anti-retroviral therapy (ART) for HIV has helped patients diagnosed with the infection to live longer and healthier lives. Patients are required to take the medicine daily in order to reduce the amount of virus in the body (viral load) so that it is undetectable. If a viral load is undetectable, patients with HIV have effectively zero risk of transmitting the virus. However, a one-time treatment for HIV, which can develop into AIDS, is still desirable to improve HIV patients’ quality of life.

The application of mechanic forces to the cell nucleus affects the transport of proteins through the nuclear membrane, an action that controls cellular processes and could play a key role in several diseases such as cancer. These findings draw a new scenario for understanding how the mechanic forces drive the progression of cancer and open the doors to the design of potential innovative techniques—both diagnostic and therapeutic. This is the conclusion of a study published in the journal Nature Cell Biology led by lecturer Pere Roca-Cusachs, from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the University of Barcelona, the Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology of the UB (IN2UB) and the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC).

The cells in the body receive mechanical stimuli from their environment and respond accordingly regarding decisions on how and when to grow, move and differentiate. The process is known as mechanotransduction and it is critically important for the cell function and for human health.

The study reveals that the direct application of force to the nucleus can affect the spatial organization of the DNA and the activity of nuclear proteins, among other functions. When cancer cells invade the organs and metastasis appears, these create physical forces that are transmitted to the cell nucleus.

A team of scientists at a company called 3DBio Therapeutics have successfully transplanted a 3D printed ear made from the patient’s own cells, The New York Times reports.

It appears to be a first in the field of tissue engineering, according to experts, and could be the harbinger of a new era of regenerative medicine.

“It’s definitely a big deal,” Carnegie Mellon biomedical engineering researcher Adam Feinberg, who was not involved in the project, told the NYT. “It shows this technology is not an ‘if’ anymore, but a ‘when.’”.

If I’ve been reading the articles right, progeria may be cured soon. Really amazing.

Advances in gene editing have brought us ever closer to fixing some of the most devastating diseases of our time, such as progeria and sickle cell disease.

Tomatoes gene-edited to produce vitamin D, the sunshine vitamin, could be a simple and sustainable innovation to address a global health problem.

Researchers used gene editing to turn off a specific molecule in the plant’s genome which increased provitamin D3 in both the fruit and leaves of tomato plants. It was then converted to vitamin D3 through exposure to UVB light.

Vitamin D is created in our bodies after skin’s exposure to UVB light, but the major source is food. This new biofortified crop could help millions of people with vitamin D insufficiency, a growing issue linked to higher risk of cancer, dementia, and many leading causes of mortality. Studies have also shown that vitamin D insufficiency is linked to increased severity of infection by Covid-19.

Things are only impossible until they’re not.

During that uncomfortable period between puberty and adulthood, the brain undergoes carefully orchestrated changes in gene expression and epigenetic modification. Alcohol, unfortunately, interferes with this biological architecture. Consequently, mistakes are made, and gene expression and modification do not go as planned, leaving the person vulnerable to a lifetime of psychiatric challenges, such as anxiety and alcoholism.

A team of researchers from the University of Illinois Chicago recently found they could reverse these changes in rats via gene editing. If their findings carry through to human studies, gene editing may be a potential treatment for anxiety and alcohol-use disorder in adults who were exposed to binge drinking in their adolescence.

In a few months, a daring clinical trial may fundamentally lower heart attack risk in the most vulnerable people. If all goes well, it will just take one shot.

It’s no ordinary shot. The trial, led by Verve Therapeutics, a biotechnology company based in Massachusetts, will be one of the first to test genetic base editors directly inside the human body. A variant of the gene editing tool CRISPR-Cas9, base editors soared to stardom when first introduced for their efficiency at replacing single genetic letters without breaking delicate DNA strands. Because it’s safer than the classic version of CRISPR, the new tool ignited hope that it could be used for treating genetic diseases.

Verve’s CEO, Dr. Sekar Kathiresan, took note. A cardiologist at Harvard University, Kathiresan wondered if base editing could help solve one of the main killers of our time: heart attacks. It seemed the perfect test case. We know one major cause of heart attacks—high cholesterol levels, particularly a version called LDL-C (Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol). We also know several major genes that control its level. And—most importantly—we know the DNA letter swap that can, in theory, drastically lower LDL-C and in turn throttle the risk of heart attacks.

An international team which includes University of Manchester scientists has for the first time demonstrated that nerve signals are exchanged between clogged up arteries and the brain.

The discovery of the previously unknown electrical circuit is a breakthrough in our understanding of atherosclerosis, a potentially deadly disease where plaques form on the innermost layer of arteries.

The study of mice found that new nerve bundles are formed on the outer layer of where the artery is diseased, so the brain can detect where the damage is and communicate with it.