Lifeboat Foundation

A multitude of genetic, behavioral, and environmental factors come together to create mental health problems in teens.

Using a broad genetic trawling method, scientists at Washington University identified connections between genetic risk factors and behaviors like screen time and stressful life events in youth. Their findings highlight potential areas for intervention to mitigate the risk of psychiatric disorders.

Genetic Research in Youth Behavior.

Meteorites hold all five DNA and RNA bases, hinting that life’s ingredients may come from space!

Meteorites Contain All DNA and RNA Bases, Hinting at Space Origins for Life

A recent study published in Nature Communications reveals that meteorites contain the five nucleobases essential for life’s genetic code, suggesting a possible extraterrestrial origin for some of life’s building blocks. Scientists, including astrochemist Daniel Glavin from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and geochemist Yasuhiro Oba from Hokkaido University, discovered adenine, guanine, cytosine, thymine, and uracil in meteorites that landed in various locations around the world. These nucleobases combine with sugars and phosphates to create DNA and RNA, the molecules responsible for storing genetic information in all life on Earth.

An international team of researchers has provided a genetic diagnosis for 30 individuals whose condition was undiagnosed for years despite extensive clinical or genetic testing. The study, conducted by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine, National University of Singapore and collaborating institutions worldwide, was published in Genetics in Medicine.

“The story of our findings began with one patient I saw in the clinic presenting an uncommon combination of problems,” said first and co-corresponding author Dr. Daniel Calame, instructor of pediatric neurology and developmental neurosciences at Baylor.

“The patient had severe developmental conditions, epilepsy and complete insensitivity to pain, which was very atypical. The condition had remained undiagnosed despite numerous tests conducted by geneticists and neurologists.”

Novel magnetic nanodiscs could provide a much less invasive way of stimulating parts of the brain, paving the way for stimulation therapies without implants or genetic modification, MIT researchers report.

The scientists envision that the tiny discs, which are about 250 nanometers across (about 1/500 the width of a human hair), would be injected directly into the desired location in the brain. From there, they could be activated at any time simply by applying a magnetic field outside the body. The new particles could quickly find applications in biomedical research, and eventually, after sufficient testing, might be applied to clinical uses.

The development of these nanoparticles is described in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, in a paper by Polina Anikeeva, a professor in MIT’s departments of Materials Science and Engineering and Brain and Cognitive Sciences, graduate student Ye Ji Kim, and 17 others at MIT and in Germany.

RegenxBio, a publicly-traded biotech firm, released data this week from a Phase 2 clinical trial designed to test its leading genetic therapy product in patients with bilateral wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD). AMD is characterized by abnormal growth of blood vessels in the retina, and is a leading cause of loss of vision in elderly populations globally.

ABBV-RGX-314, developed in collaboration with AbbVie, offers the potential of a one-time treatment for wet AMD and other retinal conditions, including diabetic retinopathy. This is in contrast to existing treatments which rely on repeated intraocular injections of drugs that inhibit a protein known as Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF), a protein responsible for the formation of new retinal blood vessels.

The ABBV-RGX-314 therapy is based on a an AAV8 viral vector as a delivery system. The AAV8 platform has been genetically engineered to encode an antibody that can inhibit VEGF for the long-term.

In his keynote presentation at RAADfest 2024, Bill Faloon discusses research updates about age-reversal research including IL-11 inhibition, young plasma transfer, epigenetic reprogramming, and other topics.

“Badass”. That was the word Harvard University neuroscientist Steve Ramirez used in a Tweet to describe research published online by fellow neuroscientist Ali Güler and colleagues in the journal Nature Neuroscience last March. Güler’s group, based at the University of Virginia in the US, reported having altered the behaviour of mice and other animals by using a magnetic field to remotely activate certain neurons in their brains. For Ramirez, the research was an exciting step forward in the emerging field of “magnetogenetics”, which aims to use genetic engineering to render specific regions of the brain sensitive to magnetism – in this case by joining proteins containing iron with others that control the flow of electric current through nerve-cell membranes.

By allowing neurons deep in the brain to be switched on and off quickly and accurately as well as non-invasively, Ramirez says that magnetogenetics could potentially be a boon for our basic understanding of behaviour and might also lead to new ways of treating anxiety and other psychological disorders. Indeed, biologist Kenneth Lohmann of the University of North Carolina in the US says that if the findings of Güler and co-workers are confirmed then magnetogenetics would constitute a “revolutionary new tool in neuroscience”

The word “if” here is important. In a paper posted on the arXiv preprint server in April last year and then published in a slightly revised form in the journal eLife last August, physicist-turned-neuroscientist Markus Meister of the California Institute of Technology laid out a series of what he describes as “back-of-the-envelope” calculations to check the physical basis for the claims made in the research. He did likewise for an earlier magnetogenetics paper published by another group in the US as well as for research by a group of scientists in China positing a solution to the decades-old problem of how animals use the Earth’s magnetic field to navigate – papers that were also published in Nature journals.

A study led by Umeå University, Sweden, presents new insights into how stem cells develop and transition into specialized cells. The discovery can provide increased understanding of how cells divide and grow uncontrollably so that cancer develops.

“The discovery opens a new track for future research into developing new and more effective treatments for certain cancers,” says Francesca Aguilo, associate professor at the Department of Molecular Biology at Umeå University and leader of the study in collaboration with various institutions including the University of Pavia, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Universidad de Extremadura, and others.

All cells in the body arise from a single fertilized egg. From this single origin, various specialized cells with widely differing tasks evolve through a process called cellular differentiation. Although all cells share the same origin and share the same genetic information, specialized cells use the information in different ways to perform different functions. This process is regulated by genetic and epigenetic mechanisms.

Researchers tracked the health of nearly one thousand mice on a variety of diets to see if these diets would extend the mice’s lifespan. The study was designed to ensure that each mouse was genetically distinct, which allowed the team to better represent the genetic diversity of the human population. By doing so, the results are made more clinically relevant, elevating the study to one of the most significant investigations into aging and lifespan to date.

For nearly a century, laboratory studies have shown consistent results: eat less food, or eat less often, and an animal will live longer. But scientists have struggled to understand why these kinds of restrictive diets work to extend lifespan, and how to best implement them in humans. Now, in a long-awaited study to appear in the Oct. 9 issue of Nature, scientists at The Jackson Laboratory (JAX) and collaborators tracked the health of nearly one thousand mice on a variety of diets to make new inroads into these questions.

The study was designed to ensure that each mouse was genetically distinct, which allowed the team to better represent the genetic diversity of the human population. By doing so, the results are made more clinically relevant, elevating the study to one of the most significant investigations into aging and lifespan to date.