Bioengineering

Pohang, South Korea — A Korean research team led by Professor Ki Hean Kim, candidates Seonghan Kim and Jungbin Lee (Department of Mechanical Engineering) at POSTECH, in collaboration with Professor Chang Ho Yoon (Department of Ophthalmology) of Seoul National University Hospital and Professor Young-Ho Jung (Department of Ophthalmology) of Eulji Hospital, has successfully demonstrated the […]

Madison, WI — A new biodegradable gel improves the immune system’s ability to keep cancer at bay after tumours are surgically removed. The gel, tested in mice, releases drugs and special antibodies that simultaneously deplete immune-blocking cells called macrophages from the surgical site and activate T cells so they can attack cancer. University of Wisconsin–Madison […]

Singapore — Scientists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have developed a novel method of delivering drugs into human cells using large biological molecules, by first encasing them in a protein-based microdroplet. This discovery promises to be faster, safer, more effective, and better suited for gene therapy, cancer treatment, and vaccine delivery, including mRNA-based […]

Washington, DC — Strings of sugars called polysaccharides are the most abundant biopolymers on Earth. Because of their versatile and environmentally friendly properties, these molecules could eventually replace some plastics. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Central Science have identified a previously unknown bacterial enzyme that can make a new type of polysaccharide, which is similar […]

Cincinnati, OH — Creating synthetic life could be easily within our grasp soon based on a comparison with the evolution of computer chips. Computer programming and gene synthesis appear to share little in common. But according to University of Cincinnati professor Andrew Steckl, an Ohio Eminent Scholar, leaps forward in technology in the former make […]

Edmonton, AB — Female astronauts could avoid knee injuries during space flight — and better tests, prevention and treatments could be developed for knee osteoarthritis in women here on Earth — based on newly published research on the sex differences in knee meniscus tissue. Knee osteoarthritis is more common in females than in males, but […]

Munich, Germany — Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg and their collaborators at the Max Planck Bristol Center for Minimal Biology at the University of Bristol have developed a new approach to study Sars-CoV-2. For systematic and standardized research of Sars-CoV-2 they built minimalistic synthetic virus particles where they can […]

Chicago, IL — The Intracortical Visual Prosthesis (ICVP), an implant that bypasses the retina and optic nerves to connect directly to the brain’s visual cortex, has been successfully surgically implanted in the ICVP study’s first participant at Rush University Medical Center this week. This surgery is part of a Phase I Feasibility Study of an […]

Osaka, Japan — T cells, also known as lymphocytes, have important roles in various immune reactions. However, there are only a few reports on delivery systems into T cells. Realizing this, it is essential to work and actively contribute in controlling immune systems. Associate Professor Chie Kojima and her co-workers from Department of Applied Chemistry, […]

Hokkaido, Japan — Simulations have led to the fabrication of a polymer-DNA gel that could be used in tissue regeneration and robotics. Scientists in Japan have made a tuneable, elastic and temperature-sensitive gel by using complementary DNA strands to connect star-shaped polymer molecules together. The gel, and the method used to develop it, could lead […]

Menlo Park, CA — Acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), the American Cancer Institute estimates, will affect more than 20,000 Americans this year and kill more than 11,000 of them. Many of those who are treated with intensive chemotherapy or stem cell transplantation will have side effects, including infections, hair loss and vomiting, in addition to long term […]

Baltimore, MD — A Johns Hopkins Medicine scientist who spent 30 years figuring out how to put chemical labels into cells to track their movement in living tissues has found that certain self-renewing stem cells have built-in tracers — made out of sugars — that can do the job without added chemical “labels” when injected […]