Lifeboat Foundation

The evolution of the human eye has long been considered one of biology’s more challenging mysteries, drawing debate over the sequence of steps required to turn rudimentary sensitivity to light into a complex photographic system.

New research suggests some components of vertebrate vision may not have been shaped incrementally as their genes passed down family lines, but were ‘stolen’ from entirely different branches of life.

“At least one innovation that led to the current structure of vertebrate eyes did not occur from stepwise “tinkering” with genes that exist in other animals, but came from introduction of novel DNA from bacteria by horizontal gene transfer,” explains molecular biologist Matt Daugherty from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) on Twitter.

Sources:
https://sites.google.com/view/sources-complement-system.

One of the key players of our immune system is the complement system. An army of millions and trillions of tiny bombs, which work together in a complex and elegant dance to stop intruders in your body.

Continue reading “Tiny Bombs in your Blood — The Complement System” »

In this animation, the differences between bacteria and viruses are explained. How does a bacterium or virus enter the body? And what are typical complaints of a viral or bacterial infection? Finally, the different treatments for bacterial and viral infections are mentioned.

Health TV makes complex medical information easy to understand. With 2D and 3D animations checked by medical doctors, we give information on certain diseases: what is it, wat are the causes and how is it treated? Subscribe to our Youtube channel and learn more about your health!

Continue reading “Bacteria and viruses — What is the difference between bacteria and viruses?” »

https://youtube.com/watch?v=QHHrph7zDLw

How do viruses make more copies of themselves? They do this by taking over human cells. When a virus infects a cell, it hijacks the protein-making machinery of the cell by releasing its own genetic code, or instructions, into the cell. Now, instead of making proteins for the body, the cell starts working for the virus, helping it replicate. The cell makes more and more virus particles that are released to go on and infect more cells.

Play a Kahoot! trivia game based on this animation: http://www.vaccinemakers.org/trivia.

Continue reading “How do Viruses Reproduce?” »

A tiny computer chip was implanted into seven mice at once

The implant created by the engineers at Columbia is record-breakingly small, but it’s also breaking new ground in simply existing as a wholly functional, electronic circuit whose total volume is less than 0.1 cubic millimeter. In other words, it’s the size of a dust mite, not to mention far more compact than the world’s smallest computer, which is a cube-shaped device precisely 0.01-inches (0.3 mm) on each side. The smaller, new chip is only visible with a microscope, and pushed the envelope in power-sourcing and communications ingenuity design.

Typically, small electronics feature radio frequency (RF) modules capable of transmitting and receiving electromagnetic signals, this method generates wavelengths too large to originate from devices as small as the new one. Alternatively, ultrasound wavelengths are far smaller at specific frequencies because the speed of sound is a lot slower than the speed of light at which all electromagnetic waves move. Consequently, the Colombia team of engineers integrated a piezoelectric transducer capable of functioning like an “antenna” for wireless communication and powering using ultrasound waves.

Finally got around to reading through the Feng Zhang laboratory’s amazing SEND (Selective Endogenous ENcapsidation for cellular Delivery) paper!

[Link: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abg6155] The authors describe a new gene therapy delivery vehicle which leverages virus-like particles (VLPs) originally produced within human cells. These VLPs arise from ancient retroviral genomic fragments that were integrated into the human genome long ago and eventually were utilized to benefit our own physiology. Because they are recognized as ‘self’ by the immune system, the VLPs have potential as a novel gene therapy delivery modality. In this paper, Segel et al.

Aera’s strategy is to harness these proteins, and structures, to move the cargo of genetic medicines: RNAi, antisense RNA, mRNA, or a genetic editing payload, for example. To date, proteins and nucleic acids have been packaged. The company’s first goal is to move smaller nucleic acids like ASOs and siRNA from cell to cell.

Continue reading “Feng Zhang’s Delivery Platform Launched by Aera Therapeutics” »

The pandemic also helped by normalizing remote work.

A new report by Vice.

“That’s the only reason I got my job this year,” one worker referred to only as Ben said of OpenAI’s tool.

Continue reading “Remote workers can now hold down many jobs thanks to AI tools” »

Senescent cells are those that have stopped dividing but haven’t read the “time to die” memo. Instead, they hang around, accumulating in the body and fueling chronic inflammation – sometimes called inflammaging – which in turn, contributes to conditions such cardiovascular diseases, chronic kidney disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer, sarcopenia and degenerative disorders.

Longevity. Technology: In mice, eliminating senescent cells from aging tissues can restore tissue balance and lead to an increased healthy lifespan. Now a team led by investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), a founding member of Mass General Brigham (MGB), has found that the immune response to a virus that is ubiquitously present in human tissues can detect and eliminate senescent cells in the skin [1].

For the study, which is published in Cell, the scientists analyzed young and old human skin samples to learn more about the clearance of senescent cells in human tissue.

Neuroscientists at MIT have discovered a way to potentially reverse neurodegeneration and other issues related to Alzheimer’s disease, according to a news release from the school.

Researchers, experimenting on mice, found that interfering with an enzyme that is typically overactive in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s can reverse the degeneration in the brain.