#BioEngineering

[galactic-mayhem]

made minos prime out of gmo e. coli

[wildcat2030]

 These are some absolutely wild ideas, so before we get started, it's important to know that Michael Levin is no fringe scientist or crackpot. He's a director of the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University, as well as the Tufts Center for Regenerative and Developmental Biology, and a co-director of the Institute for Computationally Designed Organisms. He's co-authored several hundred research papers, with nearly 30,000 citations, and has a list of distinguishing awards as long as your arm. All of which is to say: we can see why Levin's work might have flown under a lot of folks' radars; this quick summary is gonna get pretty 'out there.' But over more than two decades, he's earned the right to be taken seriously.

[mindblowingscience]

Their results in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry offer a new path forward in the development of drugs that could potentially help cure—rather than treat—HIV. Although effective treatments are available to manage HIV, a cure has remained elusive due to the virus’s ability to hide from the immune system, lying dormant in reservoirs of infected cells.

Continue Reading.

[himmelstudies]

9 November 2022

Cramming session, hope information stays inside my brain and not diffuse back into the surrounding again

[carnocus]

WIP INTRODUCTION: THE AGE OF CARNOCUS

genre: sci-fi, horror, dystopia, dark fantasy, speculative biology (yes. all of the above)

status: planning/drafting

type: novel series and worldbuilding project

In the near future, an alien has taken over the earth. With it, come its monstrous servants: amalgamations of flesh and bone. Desperate in this new world, people worship the alien as a god named Carnocus, and it gives them a gift: the ability to create their own amalgamations, but only if they eat raw human meat first. Centuries later, a theocracy hides the true nature of the gift, pretending that it is given only to a select few chosen by god. Only those who know how to activate the power have it, and thus only those part of the Clergy government have control. Yet, despite its already immense power, the Clergy wants more. A group of aspiring scientists is assembled at an academy that studies the gift. Their mission, as established by the Clergy, is to expand upon this gift and learn how to manipulate living tissue. As the students do their jobs, danger creeps up from the network of dungeons beneath them. Past Clergy experiments walk and talk, and Carnocus' own creatures sneak inside. Among them is a serial killer who can do what the Clergy cannot. As the students unravel the depths of Clergy conspiracy and of their own abilities, they must grapple with the question of what to tell and what to hide.

ahhh I love this project so much, I've been working on it for a while now and it is my current main project. It very much reflects my love for both horror and science, and explores themes of unethical experimentation, the concept of "the greater good", and more!

Featuring enemies to lovers, found family, haunted houses, and made up creatures.

Inspired by a variety of my favorite media, including NBC Hannibal, The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir, and Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.

Ask to be added/removed from taglist! I hope to be posting more soon, thanks for reading! Moodboard made using Canva with images found on Pinterest.

[scipunk]

Blade Runner (1982)

==============

🌟 The X-MEN of Science: 🧬🔬 GENETICALLY ENGINEERED HUMANS

In our changing world, signs are pointing to the imminent arrival of genetically engineered humans. Similar to Blade Runner's Replicants, these beings mix artificial intelligence (AI) with bioengineering, blurring the line between human and machine… they have advanced cognitive abilities, emotions, and physical skills.

The term "genetically engineered humans" emphasizes the replication of human qualities through a blend of AI and bioengineering.

Imagine a future where head transplants, synthetic organs, and bionic eyes become integral parts of human augmentation.

The fusion of cutting-edge medical technologies with genetic programming is reshaping our understanding of what it means to be human.

[cbirt]

Protein engineering is a fast-growing area of biotechnology. Responsible for carrying out nearly every biological function, the question of how to reliably engineer them in order to perform certain tasks intrigues scientists worldwide. So far, most attempts have focused primarily on reproducing the structures of wild-type proteins to use as a blueprint for novel protein design. Though this approach has been quite popular due to the relative ease of constructing new proteins, the reliance on already-existing proteins restricts the kind of structures these proteins can have. The study published in Nature Communications delves into the design of deeply knotted proteins, offering valuable insights into the folding mechanisms of knotted proteins

De novo design of proteins can result in the creation of protein sequences and folds that are unlike those that can be observed in nature. Until now, de novo design has been relatively simple. However, the challenge of constructing more complex structures can have a significant impact on the field by opening the door to more creative and complicated approaches.

The design and characterization of knotted proteins is one such challenge: first conceptualized in the 1990s, they are still not properly understood, though more knotted proteins have emerged. These only form a tiny proportion of protein structures that are known to science, and their high diversity means that there are not many conserved features that can be used as a basis for the de novo design of these molecules.

Continue Reading

[bpod-bpod]

Magnetic Morphing

Using magnetic forces to remotely shape 3D printed hydrogel scaffolds with biomedical applications such as for growing endothelial cells in vessel networks (pictured)

Read the published research paper here

Image from work by Ruoxiao Xie and Yuanxiong Cao, and colleagues

Department of Materials, Department of Bioengineering and Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Imperial College London, London and Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, Kavli Institute for Nanoscience Discovery, University of Oxford, UK

Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Published in Science Advances, February 2024

You can also follow BPoD on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook

[dragonthunders01]

Spectember D28: Spec at the Cell level

Is not strange for space traveling ships to find unusual concentrations of biological matter around some solar systems, probably expelled from some icy moon or from asteroids that are disintegrating, through a unique case happened through the investigation of a crumbling space super structure, upon reaching a space station the ship used for the travel showed a considerable damage in the side of the isolation panels, which was covered by a dark slime-like goo that for the time passed from the exploration of the ruins to reaching a space station it was noticeable it grew up on the surface as originally were spotted as small dot that partially were clean, and even managed to corrode the surface making it a hazard to be checked out before it could spread to other gear.

What was found out was something more peculiar than a strange corrosive element and more of an organism thriving of feeding of artificial parts of the remains of the super structure, nicknamed the Cecisolus, as far it was analyzed this was a mat colony made of thousands of eukaryote like organisms with a simple nuclei and different organelles, through over it there was a second layer of the body membrane which on one section was concentrated few more layers of dead tissue reinforced with Melanin in high quantity, within them there were multiple chains of chemical connections that integrated within some organelles which in reaction to sunlight radiation produce a reaction that is converted to energy and the Melanin reflect the rest to avoid any mutation of the cell, as the energy is transferred the organism proceed to digest the artificial spaceship material into molecules useful for their survival, disposing of the rest into space or out of the cell in the form of a dark soot.

The process seems to take days and even days to happen, probably for the energy that takes to break the compounds. In a second expedition in the remains ancient super structure it was found more colonial mats great quantities, specially around of what was identified as electricity or energy conducts and infrastructure. There has been some speculation of such correlation that the mats was once part of a organic technological system created by the extinct civilization artificers of the megastructure millions of years ago, a system that collected the solar energy of the star like solar panels and regenerated itself by feeding it specific chemicals, but on some point after abandoning the super structure the photonic collector organism might have suffered of some mutations upon a failure of their facility or a disastrous event, spreading and likely devouring the space artifact, which many researchers are considering the main reason why this ancient space habitat became a total ruin.

[inkintheinternet]

Ai Philosophers Thinkers of the New World

By Arjuwan Lakkdawala

Ink in the Internet

After writing had been established in the world - its origin going back to Mesopotamia (ancient Iraq) closely followed by Ancient Egypt and China, the records show Greek philosophers with overwhelming efforts trying to articulate into words mysteries of the natural world, reason and logic, concepts of what makes a good life, and of course questions about ethics and existence. In my research I found 9 Greek philosophers, to mention a few of them Pythagoras (notoriously famous for the Pythagoras Theorem).

Side Note: "Although the theorem has long been associated with Greek mathematician-philosopher Pythagoras (c. 570–500/490 BCE), it is actually far older. Four Babylonian tablets from circa 1900–1600 BCE indicate some knowledge of the theorem, with a very accurate calculation of the square root of 2."

Protagoras, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. It is said that western thought is highly influenced by them. As history unfolded we know that many philosophers expressed their ideas, and presently we have an infinite maze of ideologies.

In a free world everyone believes what they want to believe, but if it is harmful to society, causes self harm, is illogical, then it should be illegal and wrong.

Up to now we were doing all the thinking, but presently there is an emerging new class of very different thinkers, and that is Artificial Intelligence, computer scientists are taking big data which is basically infinite and feeding it to Ai, and concepts from neuroscience is being used to develope more powerful computing like neuromorphic chips.

A study published in Neuron in 2022 explains "Bioneural Circuitry." In simple words, neurons use electricity to send signals so it is possible to merge them with electrical signals from artificial intelligence on electrodes. This could be similar to the technology used by Neuralink implants.

A very futuristic idea that occurred to me is what if a hypothetical Ai (Star-Sci) is used as a teacher from kindergarten to university graduation, with constant upgrade of information as the years go by. This teacher would teach and even give tests. An Ai model that teaches everything. Students would instead of naming universities or a string of teachers, be known only as pupils of a certain Ai. This is of course a very sci-fi idea, but in realistic terms as I see anarchy increasing in the world, and the cases of teachers behaving inappropriately with students, I think Ai teachers will be looked upon favourably pretty soon.

After thought: academics can contribute for free or paid to the Star-Sci life long teaching system. This could be a new style university, where students only interect with Ai, preventing any non-educational use of the institute or corruption from fellow students or teachers.

We in this current age are going through the greatest social experiment. That is the Internet which is a merging of human mind with artificial intelligence. It is changing the world in ways we cannot predict as this hasn't happened before. We have no previous case studies.

Ai is reportedly often used in writing essays, I personally use search engines for my research. I avoid using Ai to do any of my writing, I don't want my mind to rely on artificial intelligence, because I believe it will corrode my much superior human intelligence.

I think artificial intelligence is good to use in the management of big data, but not in any paper with concepts within the ability of human calculation and comprehension.

Scientists are trying to come up with a unified theory of consciousness. According to research and most human experiences we have an outer sense in which we comprehend empirical evidance and what we immediately experience, and then we have an inner consciousness in which we think, form memories and plan ahead. The outer world is not really complicated, it's the inner world - thoughts that can warp into unknown manesfeststions, some of these neurological paths can lead to genuise and others to insanity.

This unknown manesfestations of consciousness is exactly what defines the difference between human thinking and Ai programming. Artificial intelligence cannot have thoughts at all. It can only compute programmed instructions based on the data it has. But with big data this programming could in the near future start to resemble consciousness. As we do not and mentally cannot compute big data, so the output of Ai from big data could seem to us like independent thoughts.

It is crucial to understand this about Ai as technology integrates it further in our lives and we interact with it increasingly.

At the same time we must avoid using it where we can use our human intelligence. This is of prime importance if we are to preserve the excellence of our cognitive abilities.

Neuroscience studies reveal that neural networks that are not used get lost. We don't really need scientific experiments to confirm this, as we can immediately tell when our memory improves, or we get better at any intellectual skill, well known that it only happens with practice, therefore if we rely on Ai it will result gradually in mental decline.

As we think our brains form complex neural networks that improve our intelligence regarding a study or concept.

Thoughts are different than feelings, we have often heard that the brain is logical and sensible while the heart isn't. Studies have confirmed that the heart has a neural network known as the intrinsic cardiac nervous system (ICNS). While this does not say that it is why we have feelings that could contradict our intelligence, it is an interesting hypothetical concept to explain how feelings and logical thoughts can be in conflict with each other.

Being irrational and illogical or hateful, and having several other destructive traits, that cause self harm, or harm to society, is unfortunately observed more often these days.

Mental health is a very complicated and difficult terrain to traverse, we are nothing without our consciousness. Our whole quality of life depends on the level of our intelligence and the health of our minds - this is maintained and achieved by a good upbringing, secure environment, healthy diet, and a rounded education with physical exercise.

There are foods that improve the health of our brains, and foods that increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease and dementia and have other negatives effects. Google for articles about brain health foods.

(I have added notes to this articles in the comments section).

Arjuwan Lakkdawala is an author and independent science researcher.

X/Twitter/Instagram: Spellrainia

Email: arjuwan.writer@gmail.com

Copyright ©️ Arjuwan Lakkdawala 2024

Sources:

MBF Bioscience - Researchers map and explore the heart's "little brain"

Psychology Today - Neuroplasticity - reviewed by Psychology Today staff

Medium - Neuromorphic Computing

ABclonal Knowledge Base - Melding Neuroscience with Computer Technology  - Kin Leung

Pythagorean Theorem - written and fact checked by the editors of Britannica Encyclopedia

Singularity Hub - Scientists are Working Towards a Unified Theory of Consciousness  - Shelly Fan

The Collector - 9 Greek Philosophers who Shaped the World - Eddie Hodsdon, BA professional Writing, member Canterbury Archealogical Trust

[aelloposchrysopterus]

A little comic I sketched today about learning to pipette, in a cross between lab journal entry and memoir.

[nick-nonya]

this radical bioengeneer is trying to REPLACE our natural corn-fed Gamers

[jcmarchi]

Unlocking mRNA’s cancer-fighting potential

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/unlocking-mrnas-cancer-fighting-potential/

Unlocking mRNA’s cancer-fighting potential

What if training your immune system to attack cancer cells was as easy as training it to fight Covid-19? Many people believe the technology behind some Covid-19 vaccines, messenger RNA, holds great promise for stimulating immune responses to cancer.

But using messenger RNA, or mRNA, to get the immune system to mount a prolonged and aggressive attack on cancer cells — while leaving healthy cells alone — has been a major challenge.

The MIT spinout Strand Therapeutics is attempting to solve that problem with an advanced class of mRNA molecules that are designed to sense what type of cells they encounter in the body and to express therapeutic proteins only once they have entered diseased cells.

“It’s about finding ways to deal with the signal-to-noise ratio, the signal being expression in the target tissue and the noise being expression in the nontarget tissue,” Strand CEO Jacob Becraft PhD ’19 explains. “Our technology amplifies the signal to express more proteins for longer while at the same time effectively eliminating the mRNA’s off-target expression.”

Strand is set to begin its first clinical trial in April, which is testing a proprietary, self-replicating mRNA molecule’s ability to express immune signals directly from a tumor, eliciting the immune system to attack and kill the tumor cells directly. It’s also being tested as a possible improvement for existing treatments to a number of solid tumors.

As they work to commercialize its early innovations, Strand’s team is continuing to add capabilities to what it calls its “programmable medicines,” improving mRNA molecules’ ability to sense their environment and generate potent, targeted responses where they’re needed most.

“Self-replicating mRNA was the first thing that we pioneered when we were at MIT and in the first couple years at Strand,” Becraft says. “Now we’ve also moved into approaches like circular mRNAs, which allow each molecule of mRNA to express more of a protein for longer, potentially for weeks at a time. And the bigger our cell-type specific datasets become, the better we are at differentiating cell types, which makes these molecules so targeted we can have a higher level of safety at higher doses and create stronger treatments.”

Making mRNA smarter

Becraft got his first taste of MIT as an undergraduate at the University of Illinois when he secured a summer internship in the lab of MIT Institute Professor Bob Langer.

“That’s where I learned how lab research could be translated into spinout companies,” Becraft recalls.

The experience left enough of an impression on Becraft that he returned to MIT the next fall to earn his PhD, where he worked in the Synthetic Biology Center under professor of bioengineering and electrical engineering and computer science Ron Weiss. During that time, he collaborated with postdoc Tasuku Kitada to create genetic “switches” that could control protein expression in cells.

Becraft and Kitada realized their research could be the foundation of a company around 2017 and started spending time in the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship. They also received support from MIT Sandbox and eventually worked with the Technology Licensing Office to establish Strand’s early intellectual property.

“We started by asking, where is the highest unmet need that also allows us to prove out the thesis of this technology? And where will this approach have therapeutic relevance that is a quantum leap forward from what anyone else is doing?” Becraft says. “The first place we looked was oncology.”

People have been working on cancer immunotherapy, which turns a patient’s immune system against cancer cells, for decades. Scientists in the field have developed drugs that produce some remarkable results in patients with aggressive, late-stage cancers. But most next-generation cancer immunotherapies are based on recombinant (lab-made) proteins that are difficult to deliver to specific targets in the body and don’t remain active for long enough to consistently create a durable response.

More recently, companies like Moderna, whose founders also include MIT alumni, have pioneered the use of mRNAs to create proteins in cells. But to date, those mRNA molecules have not been able to change behavior based on the type of cells they enter, and don’t last for very long in the body.

“If you’re trying to engage the immune system with a tumor cell, the mRNA needs to be expressing from the tumor cell itself, and it needs to be expressing over a long period of time,” Becraft says. “Those challenges are hard to overcome with the first generation of mRNA technologies.”

Strand has developed what it calls the world’s first mRNA programming language that allows the company to specify the tissues its mRNAs express proteins in.

“We built a database that says, ‘Here are all of the different cells that the mRNA could be delivered to, and here are all of their microRNA signatures,’ and then we use computational tools and machine learning to differentiate the cells,” Becraft explains. “For instance, I need to make sure that the messenger RNA turns off when it’s in the liver cell, and I need to make sure that it turns on when it’s in a tumor cell or a T-cell.”

Strand also uses techniques like mRNA self-replication to create more durable protein expression and immune responses.

“The first versions of mRNA therapeutics, like the Covid-19 vaccines, just recapitulate how our body’s natural mRNAs work,” Becraft explains. “Natural mRNAs last for a few days, maybe less, and they express a single protein. They have no context-dependent actions. That means wherever the mRNA is delivered, it’s only going to express a molecule for a short period of time. That’s perfect for a vaccine, but it’s much more limiting when you want to create a protein that’s actually engaging in a biological process, like activating an immune response against a tumor that could take many days or weeks.”

Technology with broad potential

Strand’s first clinical trial is targeting solid tumors like melanoma and triple-negative breast cancer. The company is also actively developing mRNA therapies that could be used to treat blood cancers.

“We’ll be expanding into new areas as we continue to de-risk the translation of the science and create new technologies,” Becraft says.

Strand plans to partner with large pharmaceutical companies as well as investors to continue developing drugs. Further down the line, the founders believe future versions of its mRNA therapies could be used to treat a broad range of diseases.

“Our thesis is: amplified expression in specific, programmed target cells for long periods of time,” Becraft says. “That approach can be utilized for [immunotherapies like] CAR T-cell therapy, both in oncology and autoimmune conditions. There are also many diseases that require cell-type specific delivery and expression of proteins in treatment, everything from kidney disease to types of liver disease. We can envision our technology being used for all of that.”

[mindblowingscience]

Wounds that are superficial for some can be life-threatening for others. With diabetic wounds, healing can be slow, particularly in the feet, increasing the tissue's susceptibility to infection. Foot ulcers and other diabetic foot complications have similar mortality rates to some cancers, yet progress toward improved treatments has plateaued. Now, researchers may have found a better way to kickstart the healing process. Arizona State University (ASU) bioengineers have developed a multistep strategy that applies different nanomaterials to wounds at different times to support both early- and late-stage healing. In a study published in the journal Biomaterials, the authors' method outperformed a common wound dressing in a diabetic mouse model, closing wounds faster and producing more robust skin tissue.

Continue Reading.

[himmelstudies]

15 August 2023

I'm back. Today marks the first day of my last academic year as an undergraduate student. I had a 3 hour long lecture in the morning which didn't really end well. I have been sick for the past 1 week and don't do well in cold spots as it aggravates my cough. So the 3 hour lecture felt more like torture to me. But hey, warm water helps a lot and it made me feel better.

I had my first lab session for my final year project today as well. It was really fun. I am looking forward to tomorrow as I have yet another lab session to check on my cell cultures. Hoping that the cells grow well!

[crimsonpublishersbiosciences]

Modulating the Antioxidant Activity of Thin Layer-by-Layer Films with Polyphenols_Crimson Publishers

Abstract:

Layer-by-layer deposition of a polycation and of a cheap polyphenol, tannic acid, allows to produce thin coatings having an antioxidant activity proportional to the amount of deposited polyphenol. This means that the used probe, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), is able to reach all tannic acid molecules present in the film whatever their location. However, when the tannic acid containing film is capped with a few nanometers thick capping layer made of poly (allylamine hydrochloride) and poly (sodium 4-styrene sulfonate), the DPPH has no access anymore to the embedded tannic acid. On this basis, an application is proposed for the production of a packaging film containing tannic acid as a probe able to sense if the packaging has undergone some mechanical damage.

Read More About this Article: https://crimsonpublishers.com/sbb/fulltext/SBB.000560.php

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