Lifeboat Foundation

Whether people with rare genetic mutations that result in important medical discoveries should be compensated is a topic of intense debate.

Genetic mutations from extinct human relatives called the Denisovans might have influenced modern human immune systems, as well as fat and blood sugar levels, researchers say.

Very little is known about the Denisovans. The first evidence of them was discovered in Denisova Cave in Siberia in 2008, and DNA from their fossils suggests they shared an origin with Neanderthals but were nearly as genetically distinct from Neanderthals as Neanderthals were from modern humans.

Previous work found that any modern humans with ancestry outside of Africa inherited about 1.5 to 2.1 percent of their DNA from Neanderthals. In contrast, prior research suggested that substantial levels of Denisovan ancestry are found only in the Pacific islands of Melanesia. Scientists are increasingly uncovering the effects of Neanderthal ancestry on modern humans, from potential immune boosts to increased risks for depression, obesity, heart attacks, nicotine addiction. However, relatively little was known about the effects of Denisovan ancestry.

Continue reading “DNA from Mysterious ‘Denisovans’ Helped Modern Humans Survive” »

On track to resolving defective RNA through CRISPR-Cas9.

According to a study published in journal Cell on March 17, researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, have found a way to track RNA in living cells. CRISPR-Cas9, a DNA-editing technique will be applied to target RNA in order to find cure for presently untreatable diseases such as cancer and autism.

There are many diseases that are associated with RNA behavior, which carries the genetic code from the cell’s nucleus. There was no technique found until now that could track RNA in living cells efficiently. However now, CRISPR-Cas9, which so far was only able to manipulate DNA, would now target RNA, which is also called RNA-targeted Cas9.

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March 16th, 2016 Editors Nanomedicine

Biologically powered robots may one day be used to perform surgical procedures, deliver drugs, and maybe to even make humanoid overlords for us mortals. A big step toward that was taken by researchers at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who used light-activated muscle cells as the power source to make tiny bio-bots.

The optogenetic technique published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences relies on genetically engineered mouse muscle cells that were made to contract in response to blue light. Rings of these cells were placed around a 3D printed flexible rods of different lengths between two and seven millimeters. When light was illuminated over the mechanism, the biobots contracted and walked in a certain direction. Various lengths and configurations were tried to achieve the best walking results. Moreover, the researchers were able to change the direction of the walking bio-bot.

Continue reading “Light Activated Bio-Bots Powered by Live Muscle Cells (VIDEO)” »

ARPA-E creating sustainable energy crops for the production of renewable transportation fuels from biomass.

In Washington, the DOE’s ARPA-E TERRA projects seek to accelerate the development of sustainable energy crops for the production of renewable transportation fuels from biomass. To accomplish this, the projects uniquely integrate agriculture, information technology, and engineering communities to design and apply new tools for the development of improved varieties of energy sorghum. The TERRA project teams will create novel platforms to enhance methods for crop phenotyping (identifying and measuring the physical characteristics of plants) which are currently time-intensive and imprecise.

The new approaches will include automated methods for observing and recording characteristics of plants and advanced algorithms for analyzing data and predicting plant growth potential. The projects will also produce a large public database of sorghum genotypes, enabling the greater community of plant physiologists,

Bioinformaticians and geneticists to generate breakthroughs beyond TERRA. These innovations will accelerate the annual yield gains of traditional plant breeding and support the discovery of new crop traits that improve water productivity and nutrient use efficiency needed to improve the sustainability of bioenergy crops.

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Finally there’s a use for dog drool: this spring, a new startup called Embark plans to launch a DNA testing kit for dogs that will tell owners about their canine’s ancestry, and disease risk. That’s not all the founders have in mind though; they may be aiming at human diseases by enlisting our longtime best friends.

Soon, interested pooch lovers will be able to swab their dogs’ slimy cheeks and mail in the sample. By extracting DNA from the swab, Embark’s founder says they’ll be able to trace a dog’s ancestry on a global level. The “Embark Dog DNA Test Kit” will also look for genetic variants that are associated with more than 100 diseases, and inform owners if their dog has a higher than average chance of developing one of them. The kit will also tell owners if their dog is likely to pass disease-associated mutations to a pup — which will likely be valuable information for breeders. Because of this, Embark’s founders say their product will be the most complete kit of its kind. At least, that’s the idea that Embark’s founders will be pitching today at SXSW.

For the company’s founders, the real objective will be the research they’ll be able to conduct with the DNA samples; that became clear when I spoke to two of Embark’s founders on the phone last week. They spent the first 10 minutes of the call talking about the potential of dog genetics to deliver advancements in human health. In fact, they were so enthusiastic about their future research that I had to interrupt them to steer the conversation back to the product we were supposed to discuss.

Continue reading “Doggie DNA startup wants to learn about human diseases from dog drool” »

Genetically engineered muscles power tiny, light-sensitive biobots. Continue reading →

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A new class of miniature biological robots, or bio-bots, has seen the light — and is following where the light shines.

The bio-bots are powered by muscle cells that have been genetically engineered to respond to light, giving researchers control over the bots’ motion, a key step toward their use in applications for health, sensing and the environment. Led by Rashid Bashir, the University of Illinois head of bioengineering, the researchers published their results in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“Light is a noninvasive way to control these machines,” Bashir said. “It gives us flexibility in the design and the motion. The bottom line of what we are trying to accomplish is the forward design of biological systems, and we think the light control is an important step toward that.”

A team of researchers at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has designed a biosensor that uses an optical method called upconversion luminescence resonance energy transfer (LRET) for virus detection within 2–3 hours. Its cost is around HK$20 ($2.50) per sample—about 80% lower than traditional testing methods—and can be used for detecting different types of viruses, shedding new light on the development of low-cost, rapid, and ultrasensitive detection of different viruses.

Related: Infectious disease control with portable CMOS-based diagnostics

Traditional biological methods for flu virus detection include genetic analysis—reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) used in immunology. However, RT-PCR is expensive and time-consuming, while the sensitivity for ELISA is relatively low. Such limitations make them difficult for clinical use as a front-line and onsite diagnostic tool for virus detection.

Continue reading “Newly developed optical biosensor can detect viruses quickly and cheaply” »