Tech Suki

Source: Dailytech

U.S. Department of Defense announces AFIRM with goal of using stem cell research to treat injured soldiers

Source: Dailytech

Last week scientists from Yale working with researchers from Asuragen, Inc. announced they found a treatment that has performed well in lab mice for treating lung cancer using micro RNA (miRNA). The miRNA used in the study is called let-7.

Let-7 has been found to be present in reduced amounts in cancerous lung tumors. The low concentrations of this let-7 miRNA are thought to contribute to the development of lung tumors. The work of the researchers has demonstrated that the miRNA inhibits the growth of lung tumors and cancer cells in culture and lab mice.

Source: Dailytech

Stem cells carry high hopes to help treat and possibly cure a myriad of diseases. However, the use of stem cells is a subject of great debate do to the fact that the best source for stem cells for use in this type of research is from human embryos.

Reuters reports that researchers from California-based Novocell Inc. recently used human embryonic stem cells to treat diabetes in mice. The stem cells were implanted into mice and were turned into “nearly” normal insulin-producing cells in the mice.

Source: Dailytech

British scientists reported last week that they successfully created human embryos from the DNA of not two, but three people — two women and a man. Researchers tried to downplay concerns of ethics with genetic modification, citing that the embryos chiefly consist of the DNA from one man and one women, but contain select segments from the other women.

Source: Dailytech

Clone your beloved Snookums for a mere $150k

Cloning is a subject of much debate here in the United States, therefore, we don’t hear of the cloning of animals by American scientists much. However, the process of cloning animals is done in other countries.

A Korean company called RNL Bio is working with the scientists who cloned the first canine named Snuppy. The company is offering to clone deceased pets for the tidy sum of $150,000. A company spokeswoman says that the first customer, Bernann McKunney from California, has already signed up to have her dead pit bull cloned.

Source: BBCNews

UK scientists hope to mend shattered bones and damaged cartilage using a patient’s own stem cells.

They are developing a “bioactive scaffold” to protect the stem cells and encourage them to grow into bone or cartilage when placed in the body.

Source: Dailytech

South Korean scientists clone cat that glows red

Source: Dailytech

Using micro-fabrication machinery at Draper Laboratory in Cambridge, the group etched out nano-scale patterns on a bed of silicone elastomer. The patterns, a collection of ridges and grooves, guide the direction of cellular growth to make it uniform rather than random.

Source: BBCNews

Scientists have reversed the effects of ageing on the skin of mice by blocking the action of a specific protein.

In two-year old mice, Californian researchers found that they could rejuvenate skin to look more youthful.

Further analysis published in the journal Genes and Development showed the skin had the same genetic profile as the skin of newborn mice.

Source: Dailytech

Scientists commonly use baker’s yeast in studies involving aging because it is simple and one of the best understood organisms at a molecular and genetic level. Researchers from the University of Southern California (USC) have created a baker’s yeast that has a lifespan 10-times that of normal baker’s yeast.

Source: BBCNews

Experts have for the first time created cloned embryos from an adult monkey - a technical breakthrough that could bring efficient human cloning a step closer.

Source: BBCNews

A prototype artificial skin used to heal wounds has been developed by British researchers.

Writing in the journal Regenerative Medicine, UK-based company Intercytex said it had produced promising results in early trials.

It said the skin seemed to incorporate itself much better with real tissue than any other skin substitutes tried in the past.

Source: Dailytech

Sticky nanoparticles find tumor cells where they can be used to release drugs straight to the culprit

Building on past research with sticky nanoparticles, scientists at MIT have developed a method of delivering drugs straight to tumor cells. Previously the particles, which flow discretely through the bloodstream adhering only to tumorous cells, helped visualize tumors via magnetic resonance imaging. Now, using electromagnetic wave pulses, the same particles could be used to bomb the tumor cells with drugs.

Sourc: BBCNews

Human skin cells have been reprogrammed by two groups of scientists to mimic embryonic stem cells with the potential to become any tissue in the body.

The breakthrough promises a plentiful new source of cells for use in research into new treatments for many diseases.

Source: BBCNews

The race to create life version 2.0 is under way.

And rumours abound that closest to the finish line in constructing a lifeform in the laboratory is US genome-entrepreneur Craig Venter’s research team.