Posted on

The hunt for a Huntington’s cure

Huntington’s disease and Friedreich’s ataxia are two debilitating diseases that progress to damage the nervous system and the brain over time. They are caused by parts of your DNA repeating themselves over and over again — kind of like a stuck record that gets worse the longer it plays.

Now scientists have found a way to sort those repetitive bits with a new type of gene-editing tool called base editing, rewriting single letters at a time in the DNA without cutting the entire strand.

Two types of base editors were used: cytosine and adenine.

The researchers tested the tools on mice and on cells of patients with Huntington’s or Friedreich’s ataxia and found that by changing just a few letters within the repeated DNA sections, they became more stable — preventing growth and ultimately more damage.

In mice, the brain remained more stable, and the worsening symptoms slowed.

While in its early stages, the research opens the door to potential treatments that don’t just mask symptoms — but could potentially tackle the disease at the fundamental level.

The article was published in Nature Genetics.

More like this: Spotting early signs of Alzheimer’s

Posted on

Bring on the trees

A new study out of Costa Rica shows that a higher tree volume doesn’t just help the planet, it might just protect our health.

In the lush countryside of southern Costa Rica, researchers from Stanford and Princeton teamed up to explore how tree cover affects mosquitoes. Using satellite data and fieldwork, they found that even small patches of trees, within about 90 to 250 meters, made a big difference.

Some places with more tree cover had a higher volume of mosquitos, which is good for the ecosystem, and it was fewer of the bad kind — namely Aedes albopictus, a mosquito that spreads illnesses like dengue and chikungunya.

These disease-spreading bugs preferred places more built-up or disturbed by people.

The research suggests planting and protecting trees might be a natural way to fight the spread of mosquito-borne diseases. Forest conservation isn’t just about saving the rainforest — it might just help save us too.

The findings were published in Landscape Ecology.

More like this: Regreen

Posted on

Quiet please … proteins are sharing
secrets

Proteins, one of the most studied and complex molecules in biology, are the worker bees of a cell. They play an essential role in most biological systems and are responsible for most cellular functions. So, scientists thought they had a pretty good handle on the bonds that hold proteins together, but it seems they missed a few.

A new study published in Communications Chemistry reveals four brand-new types of chemical connections in proteins. Specifically, these connections involve nitrogen, oxygen and sulfur and are called NOS bonds.

The connections were discovered by reanalyzing already explored data of 86,000 protein structures and searching for patterns using an AI tool called SimplifiedBondfinder.

The search highlighted 69, previously missed NOS bonds, including some involving the amino acids glycine and arginine

These connections could play important roles in how proteins respond to changes in the body like oxidative stress or why they behave in certain ways not previously understood.

This recent find could help in designing new drugs or custom proteins. Knowing about these new types of bonds could help to build better, more effective molecules.

Sometimes looking back is the key to moving forward.

More like this: History of the mRNA vaccine

Posted on

Please don’t eat the artwork!

Have you ever walked up to a bakery window, looked at the samples and thought, those look a little like shiny plastic toys? Welcome to the world of fake food and the problem 3D printers is solving with exact replicas that are so like the original, you might not be able to tell the difference.

From space to the medical industry, these replicators have advanced to produce surgical tools, prosthetics, habitable lunar bases and food we actually eat. Now artists are taking advantage of the enhanced technology to print fake food for window displays, movie sets, photo shoots and more.

And it looks good enough to eat.

3D-printed fake food is an entire industry dedicated to mimicking the food we eat every day. Dubai-based FoodArtConcept by Caro works closely with restaurants, chocolatiers, museums and entertainment sets to ensure the presentation is as exact a match as possible. But it’s not as simple as asking the printer for something and out it pops.

There’s a lot more involved, and the process goes a little like this:

Typically, clients provide high-resolution images of the desired product outcome and overall impression they wish to convey with the artwork. From these images, a software program creates a rendering, or 3D digital model, of what the finished product will look like.

The raw material used for printing, typically composed of white or colored filaments, is fed into the 3D printer. FoodArtConcept uses Digital Light Processing 3D printing.

Digital Light Processing 3D printing is a type of stereolithography technology that uses light to solidify a photosensitive polymer (or plastic that melts instead of burns when heated) called a photopolymer.

CAPTION: 3D printed food display IMAGE: Courtesy of FoodArtConcept

The photopolymers react to ultraviolet (UV) light through a chemical reaction called photopolymerization. A digital light projector shines UV light in the shape of each layer of the 3D object onto the photopolymer resin, causing the resin to harden in those areas. This process is repeated layer by layer until the object is completed.

The process, originally developed in 1987, is popular because of its high printing speed. These printers create detailed and meticulous 3D prints, and because they are able to cure entire layers at once, they’re the faster choice — a clear benefit when you rely on them for business purposes.

IMAGE: Caroline Ismail, founder and managing director-FoodArtConcept

“The outcome is a plastic-shaped food, white or pre-colored (depending on the added filament). If white, it will be hand-painted to match as much as possible the food color,” says Caroline Ismail, food consultant and founder of FoodArtConcept.

Ismail started FoodArtConcept over nine years ago and serves clients all over the Middle East. She is also a doctoral researcher at College de Paris-Ascencia Business School in the UAE. Her research is focused on obesity and its relationship to socio-economic, cultural, consumer and federal influences.

The main obstacle Ismail faces is pushback on product cost. She says that businesses can create mouth-watering displays to draw in more business. Movie sets can save money and reduce food waste on sets.

Caption: Display at Qasr Al Hosn Museum, Abu Dhabi  IMAGE: Courtesy of FoodArtConcept

And ultimately, the return on investment over time can be worth it now that near exact replicas can be color matched, textured and painted to mimic the real thing.

“I always ask my clients to look at the profit and loss when needing to display a fresh croissant or ice cream every day,” says Ismail, who is also a food stylist who ensures brand continuity with not only individual pieces of food but entire displays.

“The final stage is done manually. Let’s take the example of a date basket or a bowl of nuts. Food styling for photography or filming purposes, the process entails ensuring each layer can be distinguished by the end consumer.

For 3D printing, the extra element is glue, ensuring each piece is displayed realistically and offers a long-lasting shelf life,” she says.

Some of FoodArtConcept’s clients include Subway, Godiva, Haagen-Dazs and the Qasr al Hosn museum in Abu Dhabi.

So be careful the next time you spot a piece of fruit or cake that looks too good to pass up, because if you choose to indulge, you might just break a tooth.

Posted on

Dancing electrons

For years scientists thought it was the spin of electrons that caused certain materials to act in quirky, quantum ways. But a new study from researchers around the globe says we’ve been focusing on the wrong kind of motion. It’s not spinning — it’s orbiting. Electrons zooming in loops around atoms are the real drivers of these effects.

In a chiral crystal called CoSi, researchers found these orbital motions create swirling patterns on the crystal’s surface called Fermi arcs. And those patterns change direction depending on whether the crystal is left or right-handed.

This matters because it opens up a new branch of tech called orbitronics.

Instead of using electron spin, like in spintronics, we might one day build devices based on how electrons orbit. That could mean computers that are faster, more stable and less energy intensive.

It’s also a big step for quantum materials science showing that the shape and symmetry of a material can guide the flow of information.
The study was published in Advanced Materials.

More like this: Seeing space in 2D