The latest on Methuselah, health span research, and regenerative medicine
Researchers have recently made a significant breakthrough in motion recognition that could greatly impact human health and longevity.
Read MoreNorthwestern scientists found the master gene switch that programs the ear hair cells is TBX2. When it is expressed, the cell becomes an inner hair cell. When blocked, the cell becomes an outer hair cell. Jaime García-Añoveros, professor of Anesthesiology, Neurology and Neuroscience at Northwestern and the study’s lead author, said that producing these cells will require a gene cocktail. First, ATOH1 and GF1 are necessary to make a cochlear hair cell from a non-hair cell. Then the TBX2 would be turned on or off to produce the needed inner or outer cell. The goal would be to reprogram supporting cells into outer or inner hair cells. These supporting cells are interlaced among the hair cells and provide them with structural support
Read MoreSkeptics of cellular regeneration often encourage researchers to slow down and be cautious. They say there is much we don’t know about the science – even, that it may be dangerous. But that science is incredibly promising. While much research remains to done, we would hate for excessive caution to needlessly delay scientific progress. Many researchers are working on cellular regeneration.
Read MoreScientists are searching for ways to extend the healthy human lifespan, but an Alabama researcher thinks they’re studying the wrong animals in their quest for longer life.
Read MoreScientific openness is threatened by two major challenges: 1) publishing research effectively, and 2) adequate funding. A new concept, the decentralized science movement or DeSci, promises to overcome both.
Read MoreFor the first time, scientists were able to correct the genetic mutation that causes sickle cell disease in stem cells.
In a collaborative effort, researchers at UC Berkeley, UC San Francisco Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHORI), and the University of Utah School of Medicine fixed the mutation in modified stem cells from patients with the condition using a CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing approach.
Read MoreWhen it comes to the billions of neurons in your brain, what you see at birth is what get — except in the hippocampus. Buried deep underneath the folds of the cerebral cortex, neural stem cells in thehippocampus continue to generate new neurons, inciting a struggle between new and old as the new attempts to gain a foothold in the memory-forming center of the brain.
In a study published online today in Neuron, Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) researchers atMassachusetts General Hospital and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard in collaboration with an international team of scientists found they could bias the competition in favor of the newly generated neurons.
Read MoreNASA, in partnership with the nonprofit Methuselah Foundation’s New Organ Alliance, is seeking ways to advance the field of bioengineering through a new prize competition.
The Vascular Tissue Challenge offers a $500,000 prize to be divided among the first three teams that successfully create thick, metabolically-functional human vascularized organ tissue in a controlled laboratory environment.
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