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Researchers in the Oregon State University College of Engineering have developed a handheld sensor that tests perspiration for cortisol and provides results in eight minutes, a key advance in monitoring a hormone whose levels are a marker for many illnesses including various cancers.

Findings were published in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. The material and sensing mechanism in the new device could be easily engineered to detect other specific hormones, the researchers say—for example, progesterone, a key marker for women’s reproductive health and pregnancy outcomes.

“We took inspiration from the natural enzymes used in blood glucose meters sold at pharmacies,” said Larry Cheng, associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science. “In glucose meters, specific enzymes are applied to an electrode, where they can capture and react with glucose molecules to generate an electrical signal for detection. However, finding natural enzymes for cortisol detection is not straightforward, and natural enzymes are prone to instability and have a short lifespan.”

Hailey-Hailey disease is a rare, inherited condition characterized by patches of blisters appearing mainly in the skin folds of the arm pits, groin and under the breasts. It is caused by a mutation in the gene that codes for a specific protein involved in the transportation of calcium and manganese ions from the cell cytoplasm and into a sac-like organelle called the Golgi apparatus.

Scientists at Tohoku University, together with colleagues in Japan, have uncovered some aspects of this protein’s structure that could help researchers understand how it works. The findings, published in the journal Science Advances, help build the foundations for research into finding treatments for Hailey-Hailey disease and other neurodegenerative conditions.

The protein the team studied is called secretory pathway Ca²⁺/Mn²⁺-ATPase, or SPCA for short. It is located in the Golgi apparatus, a cellular sac-like structure that plays a crucial role in protein quality control before they are released into cells. The Golgi apparatus also acts like a sort of calcium ion storage container. Calcium ions are vital for cell signaling processes and are important for proteins to function properly, so maintaining the right calcium ion balance inside cells is necessary for their day-to-day activities.

A team of chemists and computer scientists from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, the University of California and Institut des Sciences et Ingenierie Chimiques, Ecole, have developed an ecosystem of tools to boost machine-learning-based design of metal-organic frameworks.

In their study, reported in the journal ACS Central Science, Kevin Maik Jablonka, Andrew Rosen, Aditi Krishnapriyan and Berend Smit coded tools to convert data into machine learning inputs to create a system to boost machine-learning frameworks.

Reticular chemistry is the science of designing and synthesizing porous crystalline materials with certain predefined structures and properties (building blocks). These materials, known as metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have applications in gas storage, separation, catalysis, sensing and drug delivery.

Genetic Engineering extends far beyond the controversial news headlines that obsess over ‘designer babies’. In the science community, gene-editing tools like CRISPR and PRIME editing will do nothing less than save the planet.

The Rise Of Genetic Engineering (2022)
Writers: Kyle McCabe, Christopher Webb Young.
Stars: Rodolphe Barrangou, George Church, Mary Beth Dallas.
Genre: Documentary.
Country: United States.
Language: English.
Release Date: August 24, 2022 (United States)

Continue reading “The Rise Of Genetic Engineering | Gene-Editing | Documentary” »

Nucleic acid sensing involving CRISPR technologies is powerful but has certain limitations, such as PAM sequence requirements and limited multiplexing. Here, authors report a CRISPR-based barcoding technology which enables multiple outputs from any target sequence, based on cis-and trans-cleavage.

Scientists had a hard time reconstructing how complex molecular parts are being held together. However, that was before SISSA’s Cristian Micheletti and his team studied how the DNA double helix unzips when translocated at high velocity through a nanopore.

DNA Double Helix’s Unzipping

Continue reading “DNA Double Helix Splits Due to Invasive Nature of Unzipping Process” »

Our brains aren’t limited to producing just one type of brain wave at a time, but usually, one type is dominant, and the type it is can often be linked to your level of alertness: delta waves may dominate when you sleep, while gamma waves might dominate when you concentrate intensely.

The idea: Researchers have previously observed that people with Alzheimer’s — a devastating neurological disease affecting more than 6 million people in the US alone — may have weaker and less in-sync gamma waves than people who don’t have the disease.

Continue reading “MIT is testing light and sound to combat Alzheimer’s” »

Organoids are an incredible tool for research into the brain. Cerebral organoids are created by growing human stem cells in a bioreactor. They might be the key to unlocking the answers to many of our questions about the brain. We explain how they’re made and some of the discoveries they’ve helped with so far!
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It’s a long-debated flaw in CRISPR: When you try to give Cas9 to a patient to snip its DNA, that person’s immune system may recognize that the protein comes not from us but from our ancient microbial foes. And it might then attack.