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The new and promising therapy "antigenic"

Nessun commento October 22, 2010 No comments
The therapy is based on the formation of triple helices of DNA and light energy to silence gene activity

The antigen is an innovative therapy treatment strategy that involves the use of DNA-based drugs to precisely locate the light energy on a target gene, thereby shutting down its activity.

A recent review of published Oligonucleotides, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. of New Rochelle (New York), analyzes the opportunities and challenges for the clinical application of this new approach through modulation of DNA photo-activation. The review can be viewed for free at segnente links (Site-Specific DNA Photocleavage by Oligonucleotide Conjugates and Photomodulation)

Formation of a triple helix of DNA through the insertion of a oligont. in the major groove

Eylon Yavin, and Kolevzon Netanel, of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel), in their article describing the mechanism that undergirds antigen and development of drugs based on TFO (which stands for Triple Forming Oligonucleotide), capable of inhibiting the expression gene in a highly targeted and selective.

The TFO are in fact oligonucleotides (synthetic) capable of forming a triple helix, breaking into the major groove of the double helix and creating Hoogsteen-type hydrogen bonds with the purines of the Watson-Crick base pairs than : Unlike antisense therapies already exist, that target RNA, then therapy targeting antigen directly to a DNA sequence.

Attaching a photoreactive agent all'oligonucleotide TFO, and providing light energy to the site of attack on the genome, the drug (light sensitive) is activated and triggers a reaction cut or cross-linking DNA damage to the genome, photo- induced and site-specific, will have the effect of gene silencing.

"Many obstacles lie ahead before this strategy can be applied clinically," the authors warn. In any case, if the therapy will prove antigenic actually valid "many currently incurable diseases that are treatable with poor results or otherwise, could be potential applications of this kind of approach," they conclude.

"This is a clever and potentially very effective approach for regulating targeted gene expression," said Jhon Smith, PhD, co-editor of Oligonucleotides and Professor at the Department of Molecular Biology, Beckman Research Institute (California)
Sources: PhD in Biotechnology Stefano D'Errico , University of Naples Federico II
Liebertpub.com
Categories: Biotech , Medicine and Health

The fungi and the decomposition of plastics containing bisphenol

2 commenti May 13, 2010 2 comments

As well as cooking helps people digest food better, even spray all polycarbonate plastic - the sources of serious environmental damage because they contain bisphenol A (BPA) - could be the key to a more eco-friendly disposal of our waste, as claimed by researchers in an article published in ACS 'Biomacromolecules.
Mukesh Doble and Trishul artham, authors of the paper, point out that are produced each year about 2.7 million tons of plastic containing BPA.

The fungi may be a path of ecological disposal of plastics containing Bisphenol A polycarbonate

The polycarbonate plastic is extremely durable, and is used in various fields: from the grips of screwdrivers for eyeglasses, CDs and DVDs to the windows in the civil and industrial.

A number of studies have shown that bisphenol A content in these plastics may have a variety of adverse effects on human health: the Food and Drug Administration says that low levels of exposure to BPA (like today) appear safe for the health (at least as shown by standardized toxicological testing), specifying, however, as recent studies with more sensitive approaches have raised concerns about the potential effects of BPA on the brain, behavior and prostate gland in fetuses and young children.

On the other hand has recently reported that several states have banned the sale of baby bottles made ​​of plastic containing bisphenol In addition to Canada and Denmark, France now declared them dangerous to the health of newborns.
So searching for a way for environmentally safe disposal of plastics to avoid the release of bisphenol A, is thus a field in full swing.

Bisphenol A (BPA), organic compound with two phenol groups

Indian scientists were the authors of this paper pre-treated polycarbonate with ultraviolet light and heat and they then exposed to three different types of fungi, including the legendary white-rot fungus , often used for environmental remediation by the stronger pollutants.

The result was that the fungi grow better on plastic pre-treated in this way, because they use bisphenol in this (and other compounds) as a source of energy, decomposing plastic.

After 12 months of similar exposure, there has been no decomposition of the same untreated plastic, compared to substantial decomposition of the pre-treated, which has thus led to release of BPA.

Source: EurekAlert! | Full article
Categories: Biotech , Medicine and Health

Bioengineering: M13 viruses to split water into hydrogen and oxygen

3 commenti April 11, 2010 3 comments
A decisive step towards the conversion of water into hydrogen fuel

A team of researchers at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) has discovered a new way to mimic the process by which plants use solar energy to split (split) water and get the chemical fuel needed for their growth. The team used a virus appropriately modified as a kind of biological scaffold that can assemble the components (nanoscale) necessary to split a water molecule into hydrogen and oxygen.

Catalyst and pigment molecules are assembled around the M13 viruses modified to form a structure similar to a nano-electrical cable

Splitting water into its constituent elements is a way to solve the basic problem of solar energy, or the fact that it is available only when the sun shines. Using sunlight to obtain hydrogen from water, this can then be stored in a fuel cell that generates electricity when needed, or that hydrogen can be used to make liquid fuels for cars and trucks.

Other researchers have previously developed systems that use electrical energy, perhaps derived from solar panels to split water molecules, but the new bio-based system skips the intermediate steps and uses sunlight to directly power the reaction .
The preview of the research was published today, April 11, of Nature Nanotechnology .

The team, led by Angela Belcher, professor of materials science and biological engineering at Germeshausen Center , has engineered the M13 virus, a bacteriophage common and harmless, so they were able to attract and bind molecules of a catalyst (in this case oxide iridium) and an organic pigment ( porphyrin coordinated to zinc). The virus has thus become, under the form of filamentous phage M13, a device similar to an electric cable, capable of very efficiently split the oxygen from water molecules.

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Category: Biotech

Super-stable collagen created in the laboratory

Nessun commento March 19, 2010 No comments

A team of researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has created the strongest form of collagen ever known in the scientific world, a form of alternative and more stable human collagen that may soon be used in the treatment of arthritis and other disorders arising from defects of collagen.

3d model of the collagen molecule

"What we got is the most stable collagen ever created," said Ron Raines, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Wisconsin-Madison who led the study, published Jan. 12 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Collagen is the most abundant protein in the human body, where it assembles into sheets and wires that make up strong support for the skin, internal organs, cartilage and bones, as well as the connective tissue interposed. For decades now is used in medicine collagen extracted from cows for the treatment of severe burns and other wounds in humans, despite the risk of rejection due to transplantation of tissue from a different species.

In 2006 Raines team had discovered a method to synthesize human collagen in the lab, creating collagen molecules longer than any found in nature. For advice about the news published on February 17, 2006 Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

Now, after 4 years of research, scientists have taken a step further, creating a form of collagen called its "super-strong" because of its high stability, which could soon help millions of people through its clinical use. In fact, Raines highlights how this new artificial collagen is very promising for therapeutic use in diseases such as arthritis, that only the United States affecting more than 46 million people.

To obtain the new form of collagen, Raines and his team have replaced two-thirds of the normal amino acid sequence of the protein with other amino acids are less flexible, without compromising the three-dimensional structure of the folded protein and mature: the result was a much more stable and rigid, with similar three-dimensional characteristics of the engineered molecule.

"The cornerstone of this approach was the use of synthetic amino acids, more rigid, but similar to the original ones, or with natural forms like those in the folded conformation (folded) and functional protein," says Raines

The resulting collagen fiber is able to maintain its individual subunits firmly anchored even at temperatures much higher than those in which the normal fiber (made of natural collagen subunits) will disintegrate.

Moreover, despite the individual subunits of collagen are formed engineered for the most part (two thirds for the note) of amino acids not found in nature (totally artificial), the analysis of X-ray crystallography confirmed that its three-dimensional structure is indistinguishable from that of natural collagen, as claimed by the bacteriologist Katrina Forest, co-authored the study.

"This hyper-stable collagen is an important demonstration of how powerful it is becoming the modern protein chemistry" says Raines

Source: University of Wisconsin-Madison
Links: Collagen, Molecule of the Month , April 2000 - RCSB Protein Data Bank
Category: Biotech

Magnetic levitation allows 3D cell culture

Nessun commento March 17, 2010 No comments

Researchers at Houston's Texas Medical Center have published in Nature Nanotechnology in March a new technique for growing cell cultures in three dimensions, a great technological leap forward compared to the classical Petri dish two-dimensional, which will save millions of dollars in testing costs of drugs.

3D cell culture, obtained by growth with magnetic levitation

The new 3-D technique is simple enough to be applied immediately in most laboratories: it uses magnetic forces to levitate cells while they do they divide and grow. Compared with cell cultures grown on flat surfaces, crops tend to form 3D tissues much more similar to those actually present in the body.

"There is ultimately a big push to find ways to grow cells in three dimensions, because the body itself is in 3 dimensions, and cell cultures that resemble more the actual tissue from which provide much more accurate test results pharmaceuticals which are subject during pre-clinical testing phase, "said Tom Killian, associate professor of physics at Rice University" Putting to improve the accuracy of pharmaceutical test early as little as 10%, you could save some 100 million dollars for each trial drug "

In cancer research, "the invisible scaffolding" generated by the magnetic field could allow cultured cancer cells that are structurally more similar to real tumors, which pose a definite advantage in the study of the various processes that incur during the development of tumor .

Finally, a third option allowed by the 3-D culture is to create models of organs in the laboratory more advanced and closer to real organs, to be able to better study the functions and mechanisms.

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Category: Biotech

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