Futures in Biotech

On the latest episode (#14, posted on 3/23/07) of Futures in Biotech, host Marc Pelletier talks with the founder and scientists from the Myelin Repair Foundation. The MRF is pioneering a new collaborative form of research aimed at developing treatments for multiple sclerosis, which is a disease where the myelin insulation of neurons is destroyed in an intermittent and unpredictable manner.

Modern man"s earliest known close ancestor was significantly more apelike than previously believed, a New York University College of Dentistry professor has found.

A computer-generated reconstruction by Dr. Timothy Bromage, a paleoanthropologist and Adjunct Professor of Biomaterials and of Basic Science and Craniofacial Biology, shows a 1.9 million-year-old skull belonging to Homo rudolfensis, the earliest member of the human genus, with a surprisingly small brain and distinctly protruding jaw, features commonly associated with more apelike members of the hominid family living as much as three million years ago.

Researchers at the University at Buffalo have described a novel pathway by which estradiol, the primary estrogen in humans, aids in maintaining bone density, a function critical to avoiding osteoporosis.

It is well known that estrogen is essential for healthy bone, and that when the production of estrogen is reduced, as occurs normally in postmenopausal women and pathogenically after exposure to radiation or chemotherapeutic drugs, bones become brittle and break easily. However, the mechanisms involved aren’t clearly understood.

Tissue engineering has emerged as a promising alternative for the reconstitution of lost or damaged organs and tissues, circumventing the complications associated with traditional transplants. Tissue engineers attempt to repair or regenerate damaged tissue by using engineered tissue substitutes that can sustain functionality during regeneration and eventually integrate into the host tissue. The traditional tissue-engineering paradigm combines isolated cells with appropriate bioactive agents in a biomaterial scaffold.

More powerful computers are allowing scientists and engineers to conduct simulations that grow more realistic each year. While companies are using these tools to slash the costs of producing everything from airliners to antibiotics, researchers in Houston are using them to refine their search for the genetic causes of disease.

Factoring in crustal strength changes along the San Andreas Fault would improve the predictive models that researchers use to understand the likelihood and intensity of earthquakes there. That's the conclusion from a study published in the April issue of Geology titled, "Diffuse interseismic deformation across the Pacific-North America plate boundary."
 

Investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have mapped out many of the dynamic genetic and biochemical changes that make up a cell's response to a shortage of a molecule called Coenzyme A (CoA), a key player in metabolism. The results provide the most detailed look ever obtained of the complex metabolic changes in a cell triggered by a potentially fatal stress.

Metabolism is the sum of all biochemical reactions involved in maintaining the health of the cell, including breaking down and synthesizing various molecules to produce energy and build substances the cell needs to operate normally. CoA plays key roles in the cell's metabolism by participating in biochemical reactions in specific areas throughout the cell.

Craftsmen tile walls or floors by hand; but how can you get an ordered monolayer onto a substrate when the "tiles" are microscopically small instead of big and easy to handle? Previously, self-assembly processes have been the method of choice for this scale. Korean researchers have now come to the realization that even such tiny components can be arranged in a "do-it-yourself" method. As they describe in the journal Angewandte Chemie, their manually produced monolayers of microcrystals are qualitatively superior to the self-assembled variety.

As an electromagnetics guy I stay in touch with a lot of what is happening in that segment of physics by subscribing to plain, ol' email lists. People who need info just fire off a question to the group and someone helps.

Occasionally recruiters spam the place because, you know, all of their recruiting emails are terribly important to the whole planet. When I got my email this morning, I saw this: