NIH restarts bat virus grant suspended 3 years ago by Trump
Three years after then-President Donald Trump pressured the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to suspend a research grant to a U.S. group studying bat coronaviruses with partners in China, the agency has restarted the award.
The new 4-year grant is a stripped-down version of the original grant to the EcoHealth Alliance, a nonprofit research organization in New York City, providing $576,000 per year. That 2014 award included funding for controversial experiments that mixed parts of different bat viruses related to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), the coronavirus that sparked a global outbreak in 2002–04, ...
Source: ScienceNOW - May 8, 2023 Category: Science Source Type: news
‘Lost’ microbial genes found in dental plaque of ancient humans
About 19,000 years ago, a woman died in northern Spain. Her body was deliberately buried with pieces of the natural pigment ochre and placed behind a block of limestone in a cave known as El Mirón. When her ochre-dyed bones were unearthed in 2010, archaeologists dubbed her the Red Lady. The careful treatment of her body provided scientists with insights into how people from the time buried their dead.
Now, thanks to the poor oral hygiene of that period, her teeth are helping illuminate a vanished world of bacteria and their chemical creations. From dental calculus, the rock-hard plaque that accumulates on teet...
Source: ScienceNOW - May 4, 2023 Category: Science Source Type: news
To Make a Real Difference in Health Care, AI Will Need to Learn Like We Do
Millions of people, many of whom have never thought much about computer science, are experimenting with generative AI models such as the eminently conversational ChatGPT and creative image generator DALL-E. While these products reflect less of a technological breakthrough than AI’s emergence into the public consciousness, the traction they have found is guiding massive investment streams—investment shaping how this technology will be applied for years to come.
For those of us who have long been bullish on AI’s potential to transform society, especially in key areas such as health and medicine, recent mont...
Source: TIME: Health - May 3, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Vijay Pande Tags: Uncategorized Innovation Technology TIME 2030 Source Type: news
Use of antibiotics in farming ‘endangering human immune system’
Study suggests antimicrobial used to promote livestock growth breeds bacteria more resistant to our natural defencesThe blanket use of antibiotics in farming has led to the emergence of bacteria that are more resistant to the human immune system, scientists have warned.The research suggests that the antimicrobial colistin, which was used for decades as a growth promoter on pig and chicken farms in China, resulted in the emergence ofEcoli strains that are more likely to evade our immune system ’s first line of defence.Continue reading... (Source: Guardian Unlimited Science)
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - April 25, 2023 Category: Science Authors: Hannah Devlin Science correspondent Tags: Antibiotics Agriculture Farming Environment Science Health Immunology Biochemistry and molecular biology Medical research UK news Source Type: news
The ‘invented persona’ behind a key pandemic database
When Jeremy Kamil started to sequence samples of the rapidly spreading pandemic coronavirus in the spring of 2020, it was clear where he should deposit the genetic data: in
GISAID
, a long-running database for influenza genomes that had established itself as the go-to repository for SARS-CoV-2 as well.
Kamil, a virologist at Louisiana State University’s (LSU’s) Health Sciences Center Shreveport, says he quickly struck up a friendly relationship with a Steven Meyers, who used a gisaid.org email address. The two often exchanged emails and talked on the phone, sometimes for hours, about the pandemic and da...
Source: ScienceNOW - April 19, 2023 Category: Science Source Type: news
Roche presents positive phase Ib data at AACR 2023, reinforcing the potential of its KRAS G12C inhibitor divarasib in advanced solid tumours
In the phaseIb GO42144 study,divarasib in combination withcetuximab, an anti-EGFR therapy, led to a confirmed overall response in 62% of people with advanced colorectal cancerThe treatment combination demonstrated a manageable safety profileThe data presented at AACR 2023further support Roche ' s programme to developdivarasib as single-agent or in combination for treating solid tumoursBasel, 18 April 2023 - Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) announced today new positive data from the phase Ib GO42144 study, which show that treatment with the KRAS G12C inhibitor, divarasib (GDC-6036), in combination with anti-EGFR therapy, ...
Source: Roche Investor Update - April 18, 2023 Category: Pharmaceuticals Source Type: news
First mock monkey embryos may shine light on human pregnancy
To probe the mysterious early stages of development, researchers have concocted a variety of embryo stand-ins from mouse or human stem cells. Now, scientists in China have created the first monkey versions. These pseudoembryos should more closely reflect human development than their mouse equivalents. And unlike human embryo mimics, they can be inserted into females to help scientists better understand the beginnings of pregnancy—and why it often fails.
“The findings are a milestone in the field of stem cell–derived embryo models,” says stem cell biologist Alejandro De Los Angeles of the University of Oxford,...
Source: ScienceNOW - April 6, 2023 Category: Science Source Type: news
No kittens required: Scientists find new way to study toxoplasmosis parasite in lab
One of the most widespread parasites on the planet can also be one of the most difficult to study.
Toxoplasma gondii
—a single-celled protozoan—is capable of infecting almost every mammal and bird species,
including humans
, and in severe cases causes blindness, birth defects, and death. Yet it only sexually reproduces inside the intestines of domestic cats and other members of the Felidae family, prompting controversial studies on kittens.
Now, a research team has come up with a technique that uses gene editing of
Toxoplasma
to push the parasite toward sexu...
Source: ScienceNOW - March 31, 2023 Category: Science Source Type: news
Mental Illness May Speed Up the Aging Process, Study Finds
Mental illness is a notorious thief, stealing joy, peace, and ease from the estimated one billion people worldwide who suffer from it. Now, it appears that mental illness steals still more too: years and youth. According to new research presented Mar. 26 at the European Congress of Psychiatry in Paris, people suffering from a range of psychiatric conditions—particularly depression, bipolar disorder, and anxiety—carry markers in their blood indicating that their biological age is older than their chronological age.
The findings, presented by Julian Mutz, a post-doctoral research associate at King’s College...
Source: TIME: Health - March 28, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Jeffrey Kluger Tags: Uncategorized healthscienceclimate Mental Health Source Type: news
News at a glance: Modernizing bed nets, IDing a Solar System visitor, and health lessons from Beethoven ’s hair
PUBLIC HEALTH
Next-gen bed nets get go-ahead
A new type of malaria-fighting bed net
received a major endorsement
from the World Health Organization (WHO) last week. The net combines two chemicals to more effectively kill the mosquitoes that transmit the parasite behind malaria, a disease that killed an estimated 619,000 people in 2022, most of them young children in sub-Saharan Africa. Insecticide-treated bed nets have helped drive malaria rates down dramatically. But in recent years, resistance to the insecticide used to treat nets, pyrethroid, has been spreading. That has contributed to ...
Source: ScienceNOW - March 23, 2023 Category: Science Source Type: news
Scientists use tardigrade proteins for human health breakthrough
University of Wyoming researchers' study of how microscopic creatures called tardigrades survive extreme conditions has led to a major breakthrough that could eventually make life-saving treatments available to people where refrigeration isn’t possible.
Thomas Boothby, an assistant professor of molecular biology, and colleagues have shown that natural and engineered versions of tardigrade proteins can be used to (Source: World Pharma News)
Source: World Pharma News - March 20, 2023 Category: Pharmaceuticals Tags: Featured Research Research and Development Source Type: news
Harvard professor's four age-defying hacks REVEALED: Expert, 53, is a decade younger thanks to edits
Dr David Sinclair is a 53-year-old molecular biologist at Harvard University. But thanks to his age-defying hacks, he says his biological age is now about a decade younger. (Source: the Mail online | Health)
Source: the Mail online | Health - March 15, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
Harvard professors four age-defying hacks REVEALED: Expert, 53, is a decade younger thanks to edits
Dr David Sinclair is a 53-year-old molecular biologist at Harvard University. But thanks to his age-defying hacks, he says his biological age is now about a decade younger. (Source: the Mail online | Health)
Source: the Mail online | Health - March 15, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
Paul Berg obituary
Nobel prizewinning biochemist who was a pioneer in the field of genetic engineeringThe Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine against Covid-19 was built on the principle of stitching together DNA from two viruses, one to enable the vaccine to enter cells and the other to provoke an immune response.In 1972 Paul Berg, who has died aged 96, became the first person to combine the DNA of two organisms in this way. Recombinant DNA has become a fundamental tool of biomedical research and drug discovery, making it possible to grow drugs such as human insulin in bacteria as well as to develop tailor-made vaccines.Continue reading... (Source: G...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - March 14, 2023 Category: Science Authors: Georgina Ferry Tags: Genetics Biochemistry and molecular biology Nobel prizes US news New York Science People in science Source Type: news
Plasmid Analysis Using the Agilent Fragment Analyzer System
Verifying plasmid quality is critical for molecular biology and biomanufacturing applications. (Source: The Scientist)
Source: The Scientist - March 13, 2023 Category: Science Tags: The Marketplace Source Type: news
