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Myeloid cells are a population of cells classified to denote a specific lineage. “Myeloid” specifically refers to granulocytes and monocytes generated from the bone marrow. Many cells under this term share common progenitors from which they derive including, macrophages, neutrophils, basophils, and eosinophils. In the context of cancer, many of these cells become ‘pro-tumorigenic’. More specifically, they suppress the immune system to allow the tumor to proliferate and progress. Each myeloid cell type is associated with antitumor immune suppression. Myeloid cells suppress antitumor immune activity by blocking T cell activation, aid in angiogenesis (blood vessel formation) to increase metastasis, and producing cytokines or proteins that activate suppressive activity in other cells. Unfortunately, myeloid cells make up a major percentage within the tumor microenvironment, so targeting these cells is crucial. Many researchers are currently working on different ways to target these cell populations.

A recent article in Nature by Dr. Miriam Merad and her team demonstrated how protein signaling drives pro-tumor myeloid cell generation. Merad is a physician scientist, Director of the Precision Immunology Institute at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, and Director of the Mount Sinai Human Immune Monitoring Center (HIMC). While her work focuses on targeting myeloid cells (particularly macrophages) to lower their suppressive phenotype and improve cancer treatment, her current publication identifies specific drivers of immunosuppressive myeloid states, previously undefined.

Merad and her team used advanced single cell sequencing to analyze non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) lesions from both humans and mice. Single cell sequencing is commonly used to identified up-and downregulated genes in a variety of cell types. By sequencing the tumor lesions the team discovered that interleukin 4 (IL-4) was a predictive driver of macrophages that infiltrated the tumor. Researchers used various genetically modified mouse models to conclude that the IL-4 receptor is necessary for tumor progression. Interestingly, they concluded that deletion of the IL-4 receptor in the progenitor phase reduced tumor growth compared to IL-4 deletion in mature macrophages which had little effect.

As a therapy for vision impairment resulting from inherited retinal degeneration, the mRNA would instruct cells in the retina, which are impaired because of a genetic mutation, to manufacture the proteins needed for sight. Inherited retinal degeneration, commonly abbreviated to IRD, encompasses a group of disorders of varying severity and prevalence that affect one out of every few thousand people worldwide.

An example of a genetic pulmonary condition is cystic fibrosis, a progressive disorder that results in persistent lung infection and affects 30,000 people in the U.S., with about 1,000 new cases identified every year. One faulty gene—the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator, or CFTR—causes the disease, which is characterized by lung dehydration and mucus buildup that blocks the airway.

The thiophene-based LNP study, which involved mice and non-human primates, stems from a $3.2 million grant from the National Eye Institute. The grant’s purpose is addressing limitations associated with the current primary means of delivery for gene editing: adeno-associated virus, or AAV.

Cancer cells are characterized by their aggressiveness: they grow rapidly and spread to other parts of the body. To enable this, numerous mechanisms come into play, and one of them involves a protein called MYC, which activates certain genes on the cancer cell’s DNA strand, causing the cancer cell to grow and divide.

The MYC protein is also present in healthy individuals, where it plays a crucial role in regulating many cell functions.

“When cancer occurs, it is due to an accumulation of mutations in our DNA, often resulting in the overactivation of the MYC protein. Therefore, this protein plays a crucial role in most cancer forms,” says Rasmus Siersbæk, head of research at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Southern Denmark.

Every time a cell divides, its DNA is duplicated so that the two daughter cells have the same genetic material as their parent. This means that, millions of times a day, a biochemical wonder takes place in the body: the copying of the DNA molecule. It is a high-precision job carried out by specific proteins and includes systems to protect against potential errors that could lead to diseases such as cancer.

One of these anti-failure systems has just been discovered by researchers in the DNA Replication Group at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), led by Juan Méndez. It is based on a protein that ensures that DNA is copied only once, as it should be, and not twice or more.

The work is published in The EMBO Journal.

Inherited memory was a popular theory in the past, inspiring stories like Frank Herbert’s Dune, but could it be possible with alien biologies or cybernetic civilizations, and what is it? Music Courtesy of: Epidemic Sound http://epidemicsound.com/creator

Plant genomics has come a long way since Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) helped sequence the first plant genome. But engineering the perfect crop is still, in many ways, a game of chance. Making the same DNA mutation in two different plants doesn’t always give us the crop traits we want. The question is why not? CSHL plant biologists just dug up a reason.

CSHL Professor and HHMI Investigator Zachary Lippman and his team discovered that tomato and Arabidopsis thaliana plants can use very different regulatory systems to control the same exact gene. Incredibly, they linked this behavior to extreme genetic makeovers that occurred over 125 million years of evolution.

The scientists used genome editing to create over 70 mutant strains of tomato and Arabidopsis thaliana plants. Each mutation deleted a piece of regulatory DNA around a gene known as CLV3. They then analyzed the effect each mutation had on plant growth and development. When the DNA keeping CLV3 in check was mutated too much, fruit growth exploded. They published their findings in PLoS Genetics.

Bioresorbable neural implants offer a promising solution to the challenges of secondary surgeries required for the removal of implanted devices. Here, the authors introduce a fully bioresorbable flexible hybrid opto-electronic system for simultaneous electrophysiological recording and optogenetic stimulation.

Using lipid nanoparticles (LNPs), engineers have successfully delivered genetic material to the lung that suppresses lung tumors in mice.

A computational model of the more than 26 million atoms in a DNA-packed viral capsid expands our understanding of virus structure and DNA dynamics, insights that could provide new research avenues and drug targets, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers report in the journal Nature.

“To fight a virus, we want to know everything there is to know about it. We know what’s inside in terms of components, but we don’t know how they’re arranged,” said study leader Aleksei Aksimentiev, an Illinois professor of physics. “Knowledge of the internal structures gives us more targets for drugs, which tend to focus on receptors on the surface or replication proteins.”

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