For the past few decades, plastic pollution has become a serious environmental challenge. Plastic production has continued to increase and there are a variety of plastic polymer types available. Polystyrene (PS) is one of the most widely used plastics due to its durability, strength, and low cost. However, the qualities that make this plastic valuable also make it highly resistant to degradation.
Continue reading “Bacteria From Insect Guts Could Help Degrade Plastic”
Aging is a natural process that occurs in all living creatures, seemingly inevitable and inescapable. Yet, it is a collective dream of humanity to somehow avoid the deterioration caused by old age, including declining brain function, chronic illnesses, and organ failure. For decades, scientists have been exploring ways to slow down the aging process in the hope of extending lifespans and improving the quality of life. Now, we may be closer than ever to finding an answer. It’s called “metformin”.
Continue reading “A Diabetes Drug, Metformin, Slows Aging in Male Monkeys”
Digestive disorders are a leading cause of mortality worldwide, with diarrhea being particularly deadly. Despite declining mortality rates, diarrhea still causes an estimated 1.65 million deaths annually, with the highest burden in low- and middle-income countries, largely due to poor sanitation and lack of clean water. While acute diarrhea has been extensively studied, less is known about the pathogens responsible for long-lasting digestive issues, including diarrhea and abdominal pain that persist for 14 days or more. A recent study in Scientific Reports offers valuable insights into the prevalence of these pathogens and highlights the importance of advanced molecular diagnostics in addressing this issue.
Continue reading “Understanding Persistent Digestive Disorders With Multiplex PCR”
For decades, pharmaceutical companies have relied on high-throughput screening (HTS) as the first step in the drug discovery process. After an initial screening of thousands of compounds, scientists select a smaller list of candidate drugs that is then used for further downstream testing. A major limitation to HTS, however, is the need to synthesize all compounds used in the screen—the compounds need to physically exist to be tested. This significantly limits the number of compounds that can be tested, hindering the discovery of new drugs.
What if we could test compounds even before they are synthesized?
Continue reading “Can AI Replace High-Throughput Screens for Drug Discovery?”
Avian influenza, commonly known as bird flu, has become an increasingly severe public health issue. According to the CDC, the frequency of avian influenza outbreaks and diversity of virus subtypes have increased significantly in the past decade. In 2022, there were reports of sporadic H5 virus infections in mammals across several U.S. states, Canada, and other countries. Affected animals included fox kits, bobcats, coyote pups, raccoons, skunks, mink, and even seals. Human cases of H5N6 and other subtypes following poultry exposures were reported in China, with several cases resulting in severe or critical illness and death.
Continue reading “How Avian Influenza Crosses Species”
When we think about the immune system, B cells and T cells are often the focus of attention. B cells are known for producing antibodies, and T cells are celebrated for their cytotoxic capabilities. More recently, however, macrophages are being brought into the spotlight and recognized for their integral role in immune defense and the field of biologic drug development.
Continue reading “Macrophages: The Unsung Heroes of Immune Response and Biologic Drug Development “
Chimeric Antigen Recepter (CAR)-T cell therapy is a personalized immunotherapy that harnesses the patient’s own immune system to combat cancer. It is done by engineering the patient’s T cells to specifically target and attack cancer cells in their body, and it has shown great success in treating various blood cancers such as leukemia.
Treating solid tumors with CAR-T cells, however, has proved much more challenging. This is mainly because solid tumors contain a heterogeneous population of cells, expressing a variety of antigens—many of which are also expressed in healthy cells. Therefore, T cells targeting solid tumors could potentially attack healthy tissue, resulting in serious side effects. In addition, solid tumors create a hostile microenvironment that is difficult for CAR-T cells to infiltrate.
Continue reading “Treating Solid Tumors: Combining CAR-T Cell Therapy with Probiotics”
Over the past few decades, the prevalence of diabetes has been on the rise. According to the WHO, 422 million people worldwide have diabetes, causing an estimated 1.5 million deaths every year. Among those with diabetes, 95% have type 2 diabetes—which is caused by the body’s resistance to insulin. It is known that risk factors for type 2 diabetes include older age, excess weight, poor diet and family history. However, the precise genetic basis of type 2 diabetes is still largely a mystery.
Dr. Mark McCarthy’s lab at the Oxford Center for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism (OCDEM) focuses on understanding the genetic causes of type 2 diabetes. Identifying which genes contribute to type 2 diabetes could provide opportunities for developing new therapeutics. Chris Grove, former lab manager in Dr. McCarthy’s lab, explained how they have approached this challenge.
Continue reading “Studying the Genetic Basis of Type 2 Diabetes with An Automated Maxwell® Workflow”
In the past decade, there has been a sharp rise in studies using spheroids as cell models for basic research and drug discovery. Spheroids are self-organized aggregation of cells that form a spherical mass, and they have become widely popular because they are much more physiologically relevant compared to flat 2D cell cultures.
In spheroids, the inner cells have less access to nutrients and oxygen compared to the outer layer, forming a natural gradient. As a result, metabolite concentration and cellular state such as proliferation and differentiation, can be very different at the periphery compared to the inner core. This phenomenon, known as “heterogeneity”, makes 3D tumor spheroids much more representative of actual tumors in the human body.
Continue reading “MISpheroID: A Knowledgebase to Improve Reproducibility in Spheroid Research”Understanding how a compound or drug affects cellular pathways often requires measuring kinetic changes over an extended period of time—from several hours to days. Live-cell kinetic cell-based assays that measure cell viability, cytotoxicity, apoptosis and other cellular pathways are great for collecting real-time data. You don’t necessarily need expensive equipment to run these types of assays. In the videos below, Dr. Sarah Mahan, a research scientist at Promega, demonstrates how you can easily get great 24-hour or multi-day kinetic data using a GloMax® Microplate Reader.
Continue reading “How to Get Real-Time Kinetic Data With GloMax® Microplate Readers”