Human hair cells. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of Virginia Health System)
A novel gene therapy approach has been developed by the scientists in University of Virgina Health System to treat the patients with genetic or acquired hearing loss.
The research has focused on a gene called KCNQ4. It is said that this gene is responsible for genetic hearing loss in human when it get mutated. According to the resources, Dr. Jeffrey Holt, associate professor of neuroscience and otolaryngology at UVa, and his research team, including Dr. Bradley Kesser, an assistant professor of otolaryngology, have engineered a correct version of this gene. Then they have transferred these modified genes in to hair cells obtained from inner ears of people having genetic hearing loss, by using a gene therapy delivery system, developed by this team
"Our results show that gene therapy reagents are effective in human inner ear tissue” says Dr. Holt.
Hair cells are special kind of cells that lines the cochlear (cochlea is the portion of the inner ear that is responsible for hearing) There are hair-like projections in each hair cell. When a sound wave hits these projections an electric signal is generated and transferred to the brain. When brain receives this signal the corresponding sound that generated the signal is identified by the person. This is the theory of hearing. In a patient with hearing disability, these hair cells are either absent, low or damaged.
Past research by Dr. Holt revealed the speed at which hair cells develop in mouse embryos. Therefore it is expected that this team of scientists lead by Dr. Holt would someday find out a perfect cure for genetic or acquired hearing loss.
Read the original article ; Category : Medicine, Molecular Biology, Gene Therapy
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Thursday, February 7, 2008
Gene Therapy For Hearing Loss
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Biochip That Mimics the Body
Tha datachip -Human liver cells are dotted across the chip
Photo Credit: Moo-Yeal Lee/Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Animals are widely being used by cosmetics and pharmaceuticals industry to test chemicals and drug candidates for their toxicity and activity, before being used by the humans. This process is not an easy task as it is getting harder and harder everyday with the emerging laws, higher cost and with the huge amount of chemicals being synthesized. Therefore an effective, faster and a much cheaper alternative for animal-based toxicology screening was a major requirement for a long time; because, deployment of newly synthesized pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, without pre-screening, can be very dangerous for the usage by human.
Researchers at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the University of California at Berkeley, and Solidus Biosciences Inc. have come up with a promising solution for the problem. They have developed two biochips, the datachip and the metachip that when combined, can replace the animal-based screening.
Datachip consists up to 1,080 three-dimensional human cell cultures. This represents the actual arrangement of cells within the organs and can be used to screen the potential toxicity of various chemicals and drug candidates, in a faster rate than when done with animals.
Metachip mimics the metabolic pathways occur within the liver. Liver is the place where chemicals and drugs are processed. Therefore the metachip facilitates to determine how different chemicals and drugs behave within the human body. It is said that by varying the ratio of enzyme level of the metachip, a personalized chip can also be developed, which can support the determination of the affect of drugs to different people.
“When coupled with the new DataChip, the two chips could someday be used to determine the levels and combinations of drugs that are safe and effective for each individual patient” says co-lead author and Solidus Biosciences co-founder Douglas S. Clark, professor of chemical engineering at the University of California at Berkeley.
Read the original article ; Category : Biochemistry, Engineering
Battery-powered Bus
An automotive engineer Bruce Emmons has designed an electric bus which gets its power by using batteries. Exists still as a prototype, the inventors are hopping to debut this by the middle of year 2008.
The bus is propelled by motors attached to each wheel. Theses motors are exclusively powered by batteries. The secret behind this is that the body and chasis is developed from high-strength lightweight stainless steel, which reduces the weight of the bus half as mush as a normal city bus. Reduction of the weight increases the fuel efficiency of the bus as it saves the energy that is generally consumed by a heavy conventional bus to overcome the huge drag created when it is on the run. Therefore the power produced by a battery is said to be sufficient to boost up a bus with a low weight, like this.
According to the researchers the invention also provides an effective solution to the problem of carbon dioxide—a major green house gas, produced by standard diesel powered buses.
Autokinetics Inc, the engineering company that designed the bus by a collaboration between Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the Department of Energy's FreedomCAR and Vehicle Technologies Program, reports its state-of-the-art design features ; The vehicle has full low floor architecture making it easier to get in and out of. In addition, the bus has more space than a traditional city bus providing facility for 20% more passengers to get in than a traditional city bus.
”You can have a very efficient bus, but if nobody likes to ride on it, then it doesn't really help the fuel economy." says Emmons.
(Information were gathered from several sources) ; Category : Engineering
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The bus is propelled by motors attached to each wheel. Theses motors are exclusively powered by batteries. The secret behind this is that the body and chasis is developed from high-strength lightweight stainless steel, which reduces the weight of the bus half as mush as a normal city bus. Reduction of the weight increases the fuel efficiency of the bus as it saves the energy that is generally consumed by a heavy conventional bus to overcome the huge drag created when it is on the run. Therefore the power produced by a battery is said to be sufficient to boost up a bus with a low weight, like this.
According to the researchers the invention also provides an effective solution to the problem of carbon dioxide—a major green house gas, produced by standard diesel powered buses.
Autokinetics Inc, the engineering company that designed the bus by a collaboration between Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the Department of Energy's FreedomCAR and Vehicle Technologies Program, reports its state-of-the-art design features ; The vehicle has full low floor architecture making it easier to get in and out of. In addition, the bus has more space than a traditional city bus providing facility for 20% more passengers to get in than a traditional city bus.
”You can have a very efficient bus, but if nobody likes to ride on it, then it doesn't really help the fuel economy." says Emmons.
(Information were gathered from several sources) ; Category : Engineering
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Molecular Nanovalves- Nanotechnology for Storing Gas
Scientists in University of Calgary, have produced a novel approach to capture and store gases from the environment. It is said that this approach eliminates the use of special storage tanks and security concerns which are highly necessary in storing gases with high densities.
In this technique, a unique solid structure, made by modifying a chemical material called barium organotrisulfonate is used as a storage material. The material consists of a series of open channels which can be converted in to a collection of closed air tight chambers when filled with air. This conversion is done by heating the material—a quick process that encloses the nanovalves in the material. To release the trapped gases, water is added to the material to re-open the closed nanovalves.
"The process is highly controllable and because we're not breaking any strong chemical bonds, the material is completely recyclable and can be used indefinitely," says George Shimizu, a professor in Chemistry at University of Calgary.
According to the researchers, this new process would become a highly helpful tool in developing hydrogen fuel cells and to develop filters for trapping gases like CO2 or hydrogen sulfide that are generated from various industrial operations.
Read the original article ; Category : Nanotechnology, Chemistry
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Sperm Cells from Bone Marrow.!!
(Credit: Newcastle University, England)
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Sounds like something that is impossible. But according to the researchers in Germany, it is not quite an ‘impossible’ task.
A research carried out in Germany has successfully produced early-stage sperm cells by culturing isolated stem cells from human bone marrow. (Stem cells are special type of cells which have the ability to develop in to other body tissues such as muscles)
For this remarkable experiment scientists took isolated stem cells from human bone marrow and cultured in the laboratory conditions. Then these cells were coaxed to differentiate into germ cells—male reproductive cells. The results were surprising; researchers were able to correctly identify the presence of early-stage sperm cells which are also described as spermatagonial stem cells, in the same culture medium informing them that the cells previously obtained from the bone marrow have converted into male reproductive cells.
"We're very excited about this discovery, particularly as our earlier work in mice suggests that we could develop this work even further” says Prof Nayernia, of Newcastle University who was formerly a professor at University of Göttingen.
However scientists are still working on this project in order to produce fully matured, functional sperm cells from bone marrow in addition to cells in the early stage
Read the original article ; Category : Cell Biology, Human Biology
A research carried out in Germany has successfully produced early-stage sperm cells by culturing isolated stem cells from human bone marrow. (Stem cells are special type of cells which have the ability to develop in to other body tissues such as muscles)
For this remarkable experiment scientists took isolated stem cells from human bone marrow and cultured in the laboratory conditions. Then these cells were coaxed to differentiate into germ cells—male reproductive cells. The results were surprising; researchers were able to correctly identify the presence of early-stage sperm cells which are also described as spermatagonial stem cells, in the same culture medium informing them that the cells previously obtained from the bone marrow have converted into male reproductive cells.
"We're very excited about this discovery, particularly as our earlier work in mice suggests that we could develop this work even further” says Prof Nayernia, of Newcastle University who was formerly a professor at University of Göttingen.
However scientists are still working on this project in order to produce fully matured, functional sperm cells from bone marrow in addition to cells in the early stage
Read the original article ; Category : Cell Biology, Human Biology
Brain Reading Algorithm
A group of cognitive neuroscientists and computer scientists in the Carnegie Mellon University have successfully developed a technique to tell what other people are thinking, by observing their brain activity.
When a person thinks of some particular object, thoughts and perceptions are generated in various positions of the brain producing a particular pattern specific for that object. Different objects cause different patterns. By combining medical imaging and machine learning methods, scientists have been able to develop a novel algorithm—a set of well defined instructions to classifying them according to their corresponding objects. As a result, by analyzing those patterns, one can exactly tell what others were thinking about in a particular moment.
In addition, when this algorithm is trained from datasets obtained from a particular person, it could correctly classify unknown datasets obtained from a different person showing that there are similarities between brain activities of two different persons. "This part of the study establishes, as never before, that there is a commonality in how different people’s brains represent the same object," says Mitchell, head of the Machine Learning Department in Carnegie Mellon's School of Computer Science.
Finally researchers are hoping to develop this new technique further in order to use this as a valuable tool for studies and research in neurological disorders, such as autism.
When a person thinks of some particular object, thoughts and perceptions are generated in various positions of the brain producing a particular pattern specific for that object. Different objects cause different patterns. By combining medical imaging and machine learning methods, scientists have been able to develop a novel algorithm—a set of well defined instructions to classifying them according to their corresponding objects. As a result, by analyzing those patterns, one can exactly tell what others were thinking about in a particular moment.
In addition, when this algorithm is trained from datasets obtained from a particular person, it could correctly classify unknown datasets obtained from a different person showing that there are similarities between brain activities of two different persons. "This part of the study establishes, as never before, that there is a commonality in how different people’s brains represent the same object," says Mitchell, head of the Machine Learning Department in Carnegie Mellon's School of Computer Science.
Finally researchers are hoping to develop this new technique further in order to use this as a valuable tool for studies and research in neurological disorders, such as autism.
(same article on http://compuzer.blogspot.com/2008/03/brain-reader.html by same author)
Read the original article ; Category : Computer Science, Neurobiology
Monday, February 4, 2008
‘ Antimicrobial Paints ’. –Low Cost and Environmental Friendly
A research, done with the collaboration between City College of New York (CCNY) and Rice University of Houston have resulted in a new, environmental friendly and low cost technique of developing ‘antimicrobial paints’. What the technique does is embedding antimicrobial silver nanoparticles into vegetable oil-based paints as it is said that silver nanoparticles are having remarkable antibacterial properties while being non toxic to organisms.
According to the researchers, the process is simple and economically significant. They are using the same natural lipid oxidization process that happens regularly within our body, to generate a variety of chemically active free radicals which subsequently act as a tool in synthesizing non-toxic, antibacterial silver nanoparticles in situ in the oil medium.
“The simplicity of the process and economics should allow us to commercialize these paints as a versatile coating material for health and environmental applications” says Dr. Pulickel M. Ajayan, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science at Rice University in Houston, and the co-author of the article.
It is said that these antibacterial paints are more suitable for public buildings specially for hospitals as it have shown effective defense against germs like Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus)—two of the main disease causing bacteria.
Read the original article ; category : Nanotechnology, Chemistry
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According to the researchers, the process is simple and economically significant. They are using the same natural lipid oxidization process that happens regularly within our body, to generate a variety of chemically active free radicals which subsequently act as a tool in synthesizing non-toxic, antibacterial silver nanoparticles in situ in the oil medium.
“The simplicity of the process and economics should allow us to commercialize these paints as a versatile coating material for health and environmental applications” says Dr. Pulickel M. Ajayan, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science at Rice University in Houston, and the co-author of the article.
It is said that these antibacterial paints are more suitable for public buildings specially for hospitals as it have shown effective defense against germs like Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus)—two of the main disease causing bacteria.
Read the original article ; category : Nanotechnology, Chemistry
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Energy from Bacteria
Energy from bacteria…is this possible? Well, this is possible according to Thomas Wood, a professor of chemical engineering in Texas A&M University with his novel technique of converting E-Coli bacteria in to energy factories which produce hydrogen as energy.
Prof. Wood, a researcher at Texas A&M University has devised a new biotechnological technique to increase the production of hydrogen by E-Coli bacteria by altering its natural hydrogen producing process. This alternation is primarily done by selectively deleting six specific genes in E-Coli’s DNA which in turn, as a result, produces 140 times more hydrogen than is created via the natural process, along with a supply of sugar to utilize.
Hydrogen is considered as a valuable component in fuel-cell technology. Therefore massive scale production of hydrogen is extremely important. Currently a process termed as “cracking water” does this task. But the current method has major drawbacks such as high cost of money and high cost of energy. Here the Wood’s technique provides an efficient solution for the above drawbacks as it does not require extensive heating or electricity.
“The size of the reactor that we'd need today if we implemented this technology would be less than the size of a 250-gallon fuel tank found in the typical east-coast home. If we implemented the technology right now, you or a machine would have to shovel in about the weight of a man every day so that the reactor could provide enough hydrogen to take care of the average American home for a 24-hour period” Wood explains.
Read the original article ; category : Microbiology, Engineering
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Prof. Wood, a researcher at Texas A&M University has devised a new biotechnological technique to increase the production of hydrogen by E-Coli bacteria by altering its natural hydrogen producing process. This alternation is primarily done by selectively deleting six specific genes in E-Coli’s DNA which in turn, as a result, produces 140 times more hydrogen than is created via the natural process, along with a supply of sugar to utilize.
Hydrogen is considered as a valuable component in fuel-cell technology. Therefore massive scale production of hydrogen is extremely important. Currently a process termed as “cracking water” does this task. But the current method has major drawbacks such as high cost of money and high cost of energy. Here the Wood’s technique provides an efficient solution for the above drawbacks as it does not require extensive heating or electricity.
“The size of the reactor that we'd need today if we implemented this technology would be less than the size of a 250-gallon fuel tank found in the typical east-coast home. If we implemented the technology right now, you or a machine would have to shovel in about the weight of a man every day so that the reactor could provide enough hydrogen to take care of the average American home for a 24-hour period” Wood explains.
Read the original article ; category : Microbiology, Engineering
Superhuman Vision
"Looking through a completed lens, you would see what the display is generating superimposed on the world outside," said Babak Parviz, a assistant professor of electrical engineering, University of Washington in Seattle. This simply means that you would possibly see anything that is projected on to the display of your contact lenses along with the natural objects that we see on the world outside..such as in science fictions. Surprising..isnt it?
Well…UW engineers have already developed a prototype of this amazing device and have already tested on rabbits for any adverse-effects. The results were truly encouraging —no adverse effects were produced by the rabbits after testing for up to 20 minutes.
The lens comprises of an electric circuit as well as red light-emitting diodes for a display. As this still a prototype the display does not light up yet. “A full-fledged display won't be available for a while, but a version that has a basic display with just a few pixels could be operational ‘fairly quickly’ ” according to Parviz.
In order to develop a safer devise with no adverse effects for eyes, engineers have used flexible organic materials to build up its electronic circuits. A method called microfabrication technique known as self-assembly has been used to set its tiny electronic components in the correct positions within the circuit. Designers of the devise say that these components will not affect the lens-wearers vision as they entirely occupy the positions outside the transparent region of the eye.
Still, researchers are continuously working on the devise in order to place further improvements to enable wireless communication, and to power up the lens using radio-frequency power and solar cells.
Well…UW engineers have already developed a prototype of this amazing device and have already tested on rabbits for any adverse-effects. The results were truly encouraging —no adverse effects were produced by the rabbits after testing for up to 20 minutes.
The lens comprises of an electric circuit as well as red light-emitting diodes for a display. As this still a prototype the display does not light up yet. “A full-fledged display won't be available for a while, but a version that has a basic display with just a few pixels could be operational ‘fairly quickly’ ” according to Parviz.
In order to develop a safer devise with no adverse effects for eyes, engineers have used flexible organic materials to build up its electronic circuits. A method called microfabrication technique known as self-assembly has been used to set its tiny electronic components in the correct positions within the circuit. Designers of the devise say that these components will not affect the lens-wearers vision as they entirely occupy the positions outside the transparent region of the eye.
Still, researchers are continuously working on the devise in order to place further improvements to enable wireless communication, and to power up the lens using radio-frequency power and solar cells.
(same article on www.compuzer.blogspot.com by same author)
Read the original article ; category : Engineering, Medicine
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Read the original article ; category : Engineering, Medicine
Cancer cells to ' commit suicide '..?
Researchers in the Beatson Institute for Cancer Research in Glasgow have developed a novel technology to treat cancers. Researchers were already able to treat several types of tumors including bowel cancer, cervical and bone cells.
The new method involves the activation of a specialized gene by the cancer cells which in turn, causes their own death. The gene is described as p73. According to the researchers, this new technology can be effectively used as an alternative to some of the current existing cancer treatment methods as most of these methods are based on a gene called p53 which is also an important gene in controlling cancers. But the main need for an alternation is that in most cases of cancers, p53 gene is held disabled. Scientists are actively working on these disabled p53 gene in order to find out a successful method to restore their function as a way of treating the disease. But the main strategy is that in some cases these p53 genes are kept disabled in such a way that its function cannot be restored. This is where the gene p73 comes in to the action.
Scientists were able to activate p73 by synthetic DNA nano-particles in order to provide a way to force cancer cells to commit suicide.
“This technology, developed in collaboration with Professor Uchegbu's group, has allowed us for the first time to demonstrate that selective activation of the gene p73 can cause cell death in tumours. We showed that it is possible to force cancer cells to commit suicide in two ways: firstly through expression of a gene coding for a small peptide and secondly by using RNA interference. Both approaches activate p73 by reducing the activity of cellular p73 inhibitors.” Says Dr Schatzlein, Reader in the Cancer Research UK Biomolecular Structure Group.
Read the original article ; Category : Medicine, Molecular Biology, Cancer
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