Some interesting information came out from MIT on their efforts to build batteries using genetically engineered viruses.
The new virus powered batteries have the same energy capacity and power performance as current rechargeable batteries that will be used to power plug-in hybrid cars. The new batteries developed at MIT will be described in more detail in the April 2 online version of Science.
They can be made by a very inexpensive and environmentally friendly process. The synthesis is done at below room temperature, and does not require any harmful organic solvents, and everythng going into the battery is non-toxic, including the viruses.
In order to create the battery, the researchers genetically engineered viruses that first coat themselves with iron phosphate, then grab hold of carbon nanotubes to create a network of highly conductive material. Because the viruses recognize and bind to certain materials such as the carbon nanotubes, each iron phosphate nanowire can be electrically wired to conducting carbon nanotube networks. Electrons can then travel along the cabon nanotube networks.
In lab tests, batteries with the new material can be charged and discharged at least 100 times. That is fewer times than currently available lithium-ion batteries, but the researchers expect to be able to increase that number by a considerable amount in the near future.
Last week, MIT President Susan Hockfield took the prototype battery to a press briefing at the White House, where she and President Obama spoke about the need for federal funding to advance new clean-energy techniques.
The research was funded by the Army Research Office Institute of the Institute of Collaborative Technologies, and the National Science Foundation through the Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers Program.
Effective stem cell treatment for strokes has taken a significant step forward as scientists reveal how they have replaced stroke-damaged brain tissue in rats.
The team of scientists is funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and led by Dr Mike Modo of the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London. The work, carried out at the Institute of Psychiatry and University of Nottingham, shows that by inserting tiny scaffolding with stem cells attached, it is possible to fill a hole left by stroke damage with brand new brain tissue within a week. The work was published in the journal Biomaterials.
Previous experiments where stem cells have been injected into the void left by stroke damage have had some success in improving outcomes in rats. The problem is that in the damaged area there is no structural support for the stem cells and so the cells tend to migrate into the surrounding healthy tissues, instead of filling up the hole left by the stroke.
Dr Modo said: “We would expect to see much better improvement in the outcome after a stroke if we can fully replace the lost brain tissue, and that is what we have been able to do with our technique.”
Using individual particles of a biodegradable polymer called PLGA that have been loaded with neural stem cells, the team of scientists have been able to fill stroke cavities with stem cells on a ready-made support structure.
Dr Modo continued: “This works really well, because the stem cell-loaded PLGA particles can be injected through a very fine needle and then adopt the precise shape of the cavity. In this process the cells fill the cavity and can make connections with other cells, which helps to establish the tissue. (more…)
A recent article in the journal of the American Chemical Society reports that sugar-coated “Quantum Dots” may be useful for Drug Delivery. It is thought they will be useful for treating cancer and other diseases. They say that giving quantum dots an icing-like cap of certain sugars makes the nanoparticles accumulate in individual selected organs, but not in other parts of the body.
As a result, that selective targeting will allow for anti-cancer drugs to be targeted at one organ, without causing the many side-effects that occur with current drugs.
Doctor Peter H. Seeberger and his colleagues have developed a new type of quantum dot coated with certain sugar molecules that are attracted to receptors in specific tissues and organs. In a study using lab mice they coated quantum dots with either mannose or galactosamine, two sugars that accumulate selectively in the liver. As you would expect, the sugar coated dots became three times more concentrated in the mouse livers than the uncoated dots.
To get much more detailed information and read the entire article, go to the following location:
http://pubs.acs.org/stoken/presspac/presspac/full/10.1021/ja807711w?cookieSet=1 at the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
It seems as though almost every day I am hearing about new advances in Stem Cell Research. I can only imagine what will be happening over the next five years or so.
The Whitehead Instutute has announced that they have discovered a method that produces Parkinson’s Disease patient-specific stem cells that do not contain any harmful reprogramming genes. They then used the resulting induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) to create dopamine producing neurons, the cells that degenerate in Parkinson’s disease.
The researchers at the Whitehead Institute say that this is the first time that researchers have generated human iPS cells that have been able to keep their embryonic stem cell properties after the removal of the reprogramming genes.
According to one of the researchers, Frank Soldner, “Until this point it was not completely clear that when you take out the reprogramming genes from human cells, the reprogrammed cells would actually mantain the iPS state and be self-perpetuating.” It would appear that they have solved this problem.
Quoting Rudolf Jaenisch, a co-author of the article, “Other labs have reprogrammed mouse cells and removed the reprogramming genes, but it was incredibly inefficient, and they couldn’t get it to work in human cells.” He continued to say, “We have done it much more efficiently, in human cells, and made reprogrammed, gene-free cells.” A very impressive and important piece of the puzzle solved.
Reprogramming of adult cells into iPS cells by using viruses to transfer genes is “old hat” by now, but the most important problem in using this method was the potential to cause cancer. Trading Parkinson’s disease for Cancer is most likely not too high on your average Patients agenda.
Jaenisch states that although the initial results are extremely exciting and promising, there is much more research to be done. He says “The next step is to use these iPS-derived cells as disease models, and that’s a high bar, a real challenge. I think a lot of work has to go into that.”
Despite the caveats mentioned by Rudolf Jaenisch and others at the Whitehead Institute, this is a very exciting breakthrough and they are to be congratulated on a job well done.
Their research was supported by the National Institutes of Health and the Life Sciences Research Foundation.
To get much more detailed information on how this process works, we would recommend that you read the article in the March 6 edition of the journal Cell.
Scientists at the University of Edinburgh have discovered a way to use stem cells made from skin cells to be more safely transplanted into humans. This discovery overcomes one of the main health risks associated with stem cell transplantation.
Reprogramming cells for human transplantation currently uses viruses, which when given to patients greatly increases the likelihood of cancer. The new method, developed by two teams of researchers, one in the UK and the other in Canada say their discovery could end the need for using human embryos as a source of stem cells!
The two teams, one led by Dr Keisuke Kaji from the Medical Research Council Centre for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Edinburgh, and Dr Andras Nagy from the University of Toronto, are the first to get human skin cells to act like embryonic stem cells without using the problematic viruses in the process. It also allows for the four genes inserted to affecting cell reprogramming to be removed once their job is done. This extra benefit could possibly avoid any abnormalities in how the cells develop. (more…)
The Real Tooth Fairy
One of the most unpleasant aspects of modern day life, the dentists chair, could some day be a thing of the past. The high pitched scream of high speed drills across our land may finally be silenced. A recent genetic discovery has identified the gene that controls the production of tooth enamel, a discovery that could some day lead to the repair of damaged teeth. This would create a whole new way of of preventing and repairing cavities, and could even result in the reproduction of replacement teeth.
The gene is called Ctip2. It is a “transcription factor” that has been known to researchers for a while. It is known that this factor is involved in immune response and the development of skin and the nervous system.
This discovery was made at the College of Pharmacy at Oregon State University and was recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. This is the first transcription factor ever found to control the formulation of ameloblasts, which are the cells that secrete enamel.
The researchers used a lab mouse model in which this gene had been knocked out and its protein was missing. The resulting mice had rudimentary teeth ready to erupt, but they lacked the proper enamel coating and the teeth would never be functional. Without enamel, teeth are too soft to last any significant amount of time. Enamel is one of the hardest coatings found in nature, and it had evolved to give carnivores the hard and tough teeth they needed to survive.
The next goal in this research will be to determine how to use tooth stem cells to stimulate the growth of new enamel. The inner portions of teeth have already been grown in lab animals at other labs, but without the enamel, so the end results have been less than stellar.
This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health and the OSU College of Pharmacy. The study was a collaboration of scientists from the OSU College of Pharmacy, the College of Science and College of Engineering, and the Instutut de Genetique et de Biologie Moleculaire et Cellulaire in France.
I love going onto the websites of the major Universities doing life science research. I’m a regular on the MIT and Harvard websites, but there is a ton of exciting research being outside of the Boston area as well. The University of Minnesota has been the scene of many very interesting discoveries over the years. They have done it again.
U of M Researchers Find Master Gene Behind Blood Vessel Development
MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (Feb. 4, 2009) – In a first of its kind discovery, University of Minnesota researchers have identified the “master gene” behind blood vessel development. Better understanding of how this gene operates in the early stages of development may help researchers find better treatments for heart disease and cancer.
Using genetically engineered mice, researchers with the University of Minnesota Medical School’s Lillehei Heart Institute were able to identify a protein, Nkx2-5, which activates a certain gene, and in turn, determines the fate of a group of cells in a developing embryo.
“If we can understand the mechanism, or how certain stem cells choose a particular path, we can alter it to prevent or treat disease,” said Daniel Garry, M.D., Ph.D., lead researcher, executive director of the institute, and chief of the cardiovascular division in the Department of Medicine. “This gene discovery provides the key to unlocking the secret of how blood vessels grow.”
Researchers knew that certain precursor cells, or progenitor cells, become the three types of cells that make up the cardiovascular system: smooth muscle, endothelial (blood vessel), and cardiac muscle. What they didn’t know, until now, is how those progenitor cells end up as one type or another. Garry likened the team’s discovery to finding the recipe of how certain cells become blood vessels.
By understanding how the cells develop, Garry said they will be able to study how they might modify the gene to create a desired response.
“Next we are looking at how we could over-express the gene or knock it down,” he said.
For example, in the case of heart disease or heart failure, they may be able to “turn on” the gene to make it create new, healthy blood vessels. Or, in the case of cancer, they could turn off the gene to limit blood supply to a tumor, causing it to shrink.
The research, which appeared in a recent issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the March of Dimes.
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