Washington, Feb 5 (ANI): Using a liquid laser, researchers have devised a better way to detect the slight genetic mutations that might make a person more vulnerable to a particular type of cancer or other diseases.
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Liquid lasers to make detection of cancer genes easier
Sam Sabin said he heard that the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs is one of the nation’s top academic institutions.
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Jenks' Sam Sabin: Lineman headed to Air Force to study genetic engineering
( Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News ) A new study shows that 18- to 24-year olds who stop smoking for at least two weeks report substantially fewer respiratory symptoms, especially coughing. The study appears in the peer-reviewed journal Pediatric Allergy, Immunology, and Pulmonology.
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Coughing and other respiratory symptoms improve within weeks of smoking cessation
( Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News ) Small RNA-based nucleic acid drugs represent a promising new class of therapeutic agents for silencing abnormal or overactive disease-causing genes, and researchers have discovered new mechanisms by which RNA drugs can control gene activity. A comprehensive review article in Nucleic Acid Therapeutics, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary …
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New RNA-based therapeutic strategies for controlling gene expression
Using a liquid laser, University of Michigan researchers have developed a better way to detect the slight genetic mutations that might predispose a person to a particular type of cancer or other diseases.
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Researchers use liquid laser to diagnose genetic mutations linked with cancer
There are not two sides to every story.
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NPR's Bias Against Genetic Engineering
EDITORS: See photo at: http://www.ns.umich.edu/new/releases/20189-genes-linked-to-cancer-could-be-easier-to-detect-with-liquid-lasers
Newswise — ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Using a liquid laser, University of Michigan researchers have developed a better way to detect the slight genetic mutations that might predispose a person to a particular type of cancer or other diseases.
Their results are published in the current edition of the German journal Angewandte Chemie.
This work could advance understanding of the genetic basis of diseases. It also has applications in personalized medicine, which aims to target drugs and other therapies to individual patients based on a thorough knowledge of their genetic information.
The researchers say their technique works much better than the current approach, which uses fluorescent dye and other biological molecules to find and bind to mutated DNA strands. When a patrol molecule catches one of these rogues, it emits a fluorescent beacon. This might sound like a solid system, but it's not perfect. The patrol molecules tend to bind to healthy DNA as well, giving off a background glow that is only slightly dimmer than a positive signal.
“Sometimes, we can fail to see the difference,” said Xudong Fan, an associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and principal investigator on the project. “If you cannot see the difference in signals, you could misdiagnose. The patient may have the mutated gene, but you wouldn't detect it.”
In the conventional fluorescence technique, the signal from mutated DNA might be only a few tenths of a percent higher than the background noise. With Fan's new approach it's hundreds of times brighter.
“We found a clever way to amplify the intrinsic difference in the signals,” Fan said.
He did it with a bit of backtracking.
Liquid lasers, discovered in the late '60s, amplify light by passing it through a dye, rather than a crystal, as solid-state lasers do. Fan, who works at the intersection of biomedical engineering and photonics, has been developing them for the past five years. In his unique set-up, the signal is amplified in a glass capillary called a “ring resonator cavity.”
Last year, Fan and his research group found that they could employ DNA (the blueprints for life that reside in all cells) to modulate a liquid laser, or turn it on and off. His group is one of just a few in the world to accomplish this, Fan said. At the time, they didn't have a practical application in mind. Then they had an epiphany.
“We thought, 'Let's look at the laser output. Can we see what's causing the different outputs and use it to detect differences in the DNA?'” Fan said. “I had an intuition, and it turns out the output difference was huge.”
The journal editors named this a “hot paper” that “advances knowledge in a rapidly evolving field of high current interest.”
The paper is titled “Distinguishing DNA by Analog-to-Digital-like Conversion by Using Optofluidic Lasers.” The research was funded by the National Science Foundation. The first author is Yuze Sun, a doctoral student in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. The university is pursuing patent protection for the intellectual property, and is seeking commercialization partners to help bring the technology to market.
The University of Michigan College of Engineering is ranked among the top engineering schools in the country. At more than $130 million annually, its engineering research budget is one of largest of any public university. Michigan Engineering is home to 11 academic departments and a National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center. The college plays a leading role in the U-M Energy Institute and hosts the world-class Lurie Nanofabrication Facility. Michigan Engineering's premier scholarship, international scale and multidisciplinary scope combine to create The Michigan Difference. Find out more at www.engin.umich.edu.
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Genes Linked to Cancer Could Be Easier to Detect with Liquid Lasers
( Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News ) A variety of innovative products and technologies that promote healing of difficult, painful, and potentially life-threatening acute and chronic wounds are described in the premier issue of Advances in Wound Care, a bimonthly online publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. and an Official Journal of the Wound Healing Society. The issue is …
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New high-tech wound care products speed healing of ulcers, burns, injuries and surgical wounds
( Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News ) An expert Roundtable Discussion in the current issue of Childhood Obesity, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., debates the pros and cons of routine BMI screening in the school setting, discusses the most recent data, and explores when and for what purpose BMI screening results should be shared with parents and the …
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Assessing the value of BMI screening and surveillance in schools
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) recently announced a major breakthrough in engineering systems of RNA molecules through computer-assisted design.
This could lead to important improvements across a range of industries, including the development of cheaper advanced biofuels.
Scientists will use these new “RNA machines,” to adjust genetic expression in the cells of microorganisms.
This will enable scientists to develop new strains of Escherichia coli (E. coli) that are better able to digest switchgrass biomass and convert released sugars to form three types of transportation fuels — gasoline, diesel and jet fuels.
“This is a perfect example of how our investments in basic science innovations can pave the way for future industries and solutions to our nation’s most important challenges,” Energy Secretary Steven Chu said in a news release.
“This breakthrough at the Joint BioEnergy Institute holds enormous potential for the sustainable production of advanced biofuels and countless other valuable goods.”
A breakthrough with E. coli could make it cheaper to produce fuel from switchgrass or other non-food biomass plants to create advanced biofuels with the potential to replace gasoline.
While the work at the JBEI remains focused on the development of advanced biofuels, its researchers believe their concepts may help other researchers to develop many other desired products, including biodegradable plastics and therapeutic drugs.
For example, some researchers have started a project to investigate how to use the “RNA machines” to increase the safety and efficacy of medicine therapies to treat diseases, including diabetes and Parkinson’s.
Biological systems are incredibly complex, which makes it difficult to engineer systems of microorganisms that will produce desired products in predictable amounts.
JBEI’s work, featured in the Dec. 23 issue of “Science” magazine, is the first of its kind to set up and adjust a RNA system in a predictable way.
Specifically, researchers focused their design-driven approach on RNA sequences that can fold into complicated three dimensional shapes, called ribozymes and aptazymes.
By using JBEI-developed computer-assisted models and simulations, researchers then created complex RNA-based control systems that are able to program a large number of genes.
In microorganisms, “commands” that are sent into the cell will be processed by the RNA-based control systems, enabling them to help develop desired products.
One of the major goals of synthetic biology is to produce valuable chemical products from simple, inexpensive and renewable starting materials in a sustainable manner.
Computer-assisted models and simulations like the one JBEI developed are essential for doing so.
Up to this point, such tools for biology have been limited, and JBEI’s breakthrough in applying computer assisted design marks an important technical and conceptual achievement for this field.
To view additional details about this research, visit http://newscenter.lbl.gov/news-releases/2011/12/22/cad-for-rna/.
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Genetic breakthroughs help develop cheaper biofuels: DOE
Experts who made an unprecedented recommendation that bird-flu researchers hold back some details of their work justified the controversial decision on Tuesday, saying that the experiments were akin to the 1940s work on nuclear weapons or the first attempts at genetic engineering in the 1970s.
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Flu Work Akin to Nuclear-Bomb Experiments, Board Says
Bill Gates has a terse response to criticism that the high-tech solutions he advocates for world hunger are too expensive or bad for the environment: Countries can embrace modern seed technology and genetic modification or their citizens will starve.
When he was in high school in the 1960s, people worried there wouldn’t be enough food to feed the world, Gates recalled in his fourth annual letter, which was published online on January 24 and reported on by the AP in the Huffington Post. But the “green revolution,” which transformed agriculture with high-yield crop varieties and other innovations, warded off famine.
Gates is among those who believe another, similar revolution is needed now. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has spent about $2 billion in the past five years to fight poverty and hunger in Africa and Asia, and much of that money has gone toward improving agricultural productivity.
Gates doesn’t apologize for his endorsement of modern agriculture or sidestep criticism of genetic modification. He told the Associated Press that he finds it ironic that most people who oppose genetic engineering in plant breeding live in rich nations that he believes are responsible for global climate change that will lead to more starvation and malnutrition for the poor.
In his 24-page letter, the Microsoft Corp. chairman lamented that more money isn’t spent on agriculture research and noted that of the $3 billion spent each year on work on the seven most important crops, only 10 percent focuses on problems in poor countries.
“Given the central role that food plays in human welfare and national stability, it is shocking – not to mention short-sighted and potentially dangerous – how little money is spent on agricultural research,” he wrote in his letter, calling for wealthier nations to step up.
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Bill Gates: Embrace Genetic Modification or Starve
( Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News ) If you think palliative care and the ICU don't go together, think again. The importance and potential benefits of palliative care to ease suffering and improve quality of life for patients being treated in hospital intensive care units has received increasing recognition but is not without significant challenges, as discussed in a Roundtable …
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Opportunities and challenges of palliative care in the ICU discussed in expert roundtable
ANALYSIS/OPINION: It's the 21st century. We've got robots. Genetic engineering. Artificial intelligence. Hypersonic transportation. Nanotechnology. Human cloning. Hydrogen-powered cars. We're even working on antigravity machines. So where are the candidates of the Grand Old Party? They're busy trying to be a movie actor born more than 100 years ago, in …
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CURL: The end of the GOP as we knew it
( Imperial College London ) A study published in Nature Genetics today has found new evidence for a link between the body clock hormone melatonin and Type 2 diabetes.
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Body clock receptor linked to diabetes in new genetic study
LINCOLN, Neb. – The world is entering a “wild and woolly” time
of genetic engineering of food, when some of the most
significant advancements may come from “amateur biotech”
practitioners and in the developing world, says Stewart Brand,
a self-described ecopragmatist and founder of the “Whole Earth
Catalog.”
Brand spoke at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln this month as
part of the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources
Heuermann Lecture series.
Brand, who acknowledges he's “having great fun being a heretic”
among environmentalists, said genetic engineering is critical
to feeding an expanding world population. He describes those
who oppose genetic engineering as “superstitious, anti-science
and, by the way, very harmful.”
As an example, he cited golden rice, a new genetically modified
rice that contains beta carotene, a source of Vitamin A
critical to children's nourishment. Planting of the rice was
delayed for a decade by opponents; it's only now being planted
in the Philippines. Another genetically modified type of rice
can “breathe under water for two weeks,” which would make it
invaluable in countries like Bangladesh, which experience
severe flooding that now wipes out crops.
Rice feeds half of humanity, Brand noted.
The phrase “developing world” is no longer a euphemism for poor
countries, Brand said. Nations that have lagged behind the
United States and others truly are developing quickly and, by
mid-century, many, relying on “resourcefulness, energy and just
sheer gumption,” will catch up. One of the keys to that
advancement will be genetic engineering of foods, “a moral
imperative in developing countries” that will result in
healthier citizens.
Brand listed a number of foods that are being improved by
genetic engineering: cassava, sorghum and bananas, all of which
will see boosts in vitamin content; carrots with a calcium
content matching dairy products; rice with a cholera vaccine
built in; and pigs with as much heart-healthy omega-3 fatty
acids as fish.
“That will be really neat – encouraging people to eat more
bacon because it's good for you,” said Brand, author, most
recently, of “Whole Earth Discipline: An Ecopragmatist
Manifesto.”
If the developing world will be one leading edge of
agricultural biotechnology, another will be found among
do-it-yourself scientists experimenting in their own labs,
which now can be built cost-effectively in a garage.
“Young people are driving this. Things are moving very fast,”
Brand said. “Amateur biotechnology is going to be a very
interesting sequence of events.”
To a question about the risks of such “dispersed innovation,”
compared to the highly regulated research at universities and
corporations, Brand said, “Good luck stopping it. But I think
we can work with it.”
Brand described these do-it-yourself scientists as young and
idealistic, but also responsible and serious. And the risks are
not as great as some may worry, he added.
“Fortunately, it is really really hard to make something
harmful, especially something that can survive in the wild,”
said Brand, who likes to describe his opinions as “strongly
stated but loosely held.”
Finally, Brand noted, some genetic engineering efforts might
even bring back to life beloved, extinct species. For example,
one team of scientists is working to reintroduce the
once-common American Chestnut Tree to the country. Another has
focused on reviving the passenger pigeon, which he described as
the “most heartbreaking extinction.” Some even dream of
reintroducing the woolly mammoth by cloning genetic material
found in bones.
“We are terraforming Earth anyway. Badly, so far,” Brand said.
“We cannot just stop. Therefore, learning to terraform well is
the task of this century.”
The next Heuermann lecturer will be Roberto Lenton, incoming
founding director of the University of Nebraska's Robert B.
Daugherty Water for Food Institute, at 3:30 p.m. Feb. 20.
Heuermann Lectures are made possible by a gift from B. Keith
and Norma Heuermann of Phillips, Neb., long-time university
supporters with a strong commitment to Nebraska's production
agriculture, natural resources, rural areas and people.
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Brand: World is entering ‘wild and woolly’ times for genetic engineering
A brother with autism or a grandmother with depression could help determine which subjects you find intellectually engaging, according to new research that reveals a link between family psychiatric history and interests.
( Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News ) Mary Ann Liebert Inc. announces the launch of its new website, offering streamlined access to over 92,000 articles from 70 high-impact publications.
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KIRKLAND, Wash. – Bill Gates has a terse response to criticism that the high-tech solutions he advocates for world hunger are too expensive or bad for the environment: Countries can embrace modern seed technology and genetic modification or their citizens will starve.
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Bill Gates defends focus on high-tech agriculture in fight against world hunger
KIRKLAND, Wash. — Bill Gates has a terse response to criticism that the high-tech solutions he advocates for world hunger are too expensive or bad for the environment: Countries can embrace modern seed technology and genetic modification or their citizens will starve.
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Bill Gates Calls For More Agriculture Research To Fight Hunger