Biochemistry

Aussie quantum tech has its sights set on human biochemistry – Space Daily

Australian scientists have developed a new tool for imaging life at the nanoscale that will provide new insights into the role of transition metal ions such as copper in neuro-degenerative diseases.

In a new paper published in Nature Communications, a team of researchers at the University of Melbourne reveal a "quantum kangaroo" that demonstrates a way to detect and image electronic spins non-invasively with ambient sensitivities and resolution orders of magnitude never before achieved. The breakthrough will provide physicians and researchers with a new tool for probing the role transition metal ions play in biology and disease.

Electron spin resonance (ESR) techniques have been a mainstay in understanding biochemical processes in biological systems. Yet ESR has not seen the rapid growth compared to its sister technology, nuclear magnetic resonance, which is now a mature technology used in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to look inside the body.

Both ESR and NMR apply a magnetic field to image molecules, but unlike NMR, ESR can reveal biochemistry related to metal ions and free radicals. The challenge is that in biological systems the detectable concentration of electron spins is many orders of magnitude lower than nuclear spins. Hence, the roadblock for the development of ESR-based imaging techniques has been the sensitivity required - typically billions of electronic spins have been needed to generate a sufficient signal for successful imaging.

Enter: quantum technology. A team led by Professor Lloyd Hollenberg has used a specially engineered array of quantum probes in diamond to demonstrate non-invasive ESR imaging with sub-cellular resolution. Remarkably, the system is able to image and interrogate very small regions containing only a few thousand electron spins.

"The sensing and imaging technology we are developing enables us to view life in completely new ways, with greater sensitivity and resolution derived from the fundamental interactions of sample and probe at the quantum mechanical level," said Hollenberg, who is Deputy Director of the Centre for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology (CQC2T) and Thomas Baker Chair at the University of Melbourne.

"This dramatic improvement in ESR imaging technology is an exciting development and a clear demonstration of how quantum technology can be used to enhance signal sensitivity and provide solutions to long standing problems, for example probing human biochemistry at even finer scales."

Scaling ESR technology down to sub-micron resolution has been challenging because such a reduction in spatial resolution requires substantially better sensitivity. However, this is precisely what quantum probes offer - high sensitivity with high spatial resolution.

By generating an array of quantum probes in diamond, using the material's unique nitrogen-vacancy colour centre, the interdisciplinary research team was able to image and detect electronic spin species at the diffraction limit of light, 300 nanometres. Critically, the sensing technology is able to provide spectroscopic information on the particular source of electronic spins being imaged.

Dr David Simpson, lead author and co-head of sensing and imaging at the Centre for Neural Engineering said that the technology can provide new insight into the role transition metal ions play in biology.

"Transition metal ions are implicated in several neuro-degenerative diseases, however, little is known about their concentration and oxidation state within living cells," he said.

"We aim to adapt this new form of sensing to begin probing such effects in a range of biological systems."

One of the unique advantages of quantum-based sensing is that it does not interfere with the sample being imaged. Other approaches rely on fluorescent molecules binding to particular targets of interest. While these approaches are species-specific, they modify the functionality and availability of the target species being imaged.

PhD student and co-author on the paper Robert Ryan explained the technique.

"Our technique relies on passive, non-invasive detection of electronic spins by observing their interaction with the quantum probe array," said Ryan.

"By carefully tuning an external magnet into resonance with the quantum probes, we are able to listen to the magnetic noise created by the sample's electronic spins. Different electronic spin species have different resonance conditions; therefore we are able to detect and image various electronic spin targets."

A key to the success of the work was collaboration among the team members, who were drawn from different research centres across the university.

"The interdisciplinary aspect of this research helped push the boundaries of what is possible," said Professor Paul Mulvaney, co-author and Director of the Centre for Exciton Science in the School of Chemistry at the University of Melbourne.

"From a chemistry perspective, it is surprising to see that a fragile quantum system can accommodate the fluctuating environment encountered in ?real' chemical systems and the inherent fluctuations in the environment of ions undergoing ligand rearrangement. The complementary expertise within chemistry, physics and neuroscience has led to this advance."

Research paper

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Aussie quantum tech has its sights set on human biochemistry - Space Daily

Biochemistry

Federation of European Biochemical Societies head to Jerusalem – ITCM

After Kite Pharma exit last week, and number of successes in the field of medical, biological and pharmaceutical research, we can learn how significant Israel is to the world research in biochemistry by hosting the International Congress in this field. FEBS (Federation of European Biochemical Societies) will hold their prestigious International Congress next week at ICC Jerusalem

About 40,000 scientists from 37 countries (from Britain in the west to Armenia in the east) are members of FEBS. This will be the 42nd conference of the organization, and this year the main topic of the conference is 'From molecules to cells and back.'

More than 1,200 prominent researchers, scientists and doctors from Europe and more than 500 researchers and academics from Israel are expected to attend the prestigious conference, which will take place on September 10-14.

Prof. Michal Sharon, vice chairman of the Israel Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, says:"It was a great achievement to convince the organization's leadership to come to Israel, the decision was made at a problematic time, during the military Operation " Protective Edge", when various groups in the world called for a boycott of the State of Israel. Nevertheless, Prof. Abdussalam Azem (Professor of Life Sciences at Tel Aviv University) and Professor Israel Pecht, who served as general secretary of FEBS at the time, succeeded in convincing to hold the Congress in Israel, thanks to its esteemed status in the world, as a leading country for research in the field of biochemistry and molecular biology. "

According to Prof. Michal Sharon: "The organization's management held a vote, and in the end elected to come to ICC Jerusalem in 2017. As time approaches, the excitement in Israel among researchers and practitioners in these areas is evident. We are preparing for a fascinating conference, and we hope that during the course of it some new scientific discoveries will be revealed for relief of all humanity. "The conference will include professional scientific discussions in such fields as: cancer biology, metabolomics and signaling pathways, chromatin structure and post-genetic editing processes, career and education, women in science, and more.

Among the conference guests expected to arrive to Israel are Nobel Prize Laureate in Chemistry (2012), Prof. Robert Joseph Lefkowitz from Duke University (USA), who has won a prize for his research of G-protein-coupled receptors, Prof. Carol Robinson from University of Oxford, who studies Membrane protein complexes, Prof. Feng Zhang from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), who contributed a lot to development of the CRISPR method for genetic modification and more others.

This week, one week before the congress, FEBS is organizing the Young Scientists Forum (YSF), which brings together about 150 young researchers and promotes scientific and social connections between them. Students from all over Europe and Israel arrive at this gathering this week at Kibbutz Ramat Rachel on the suburbs of Jerusalem.

"We are preparing to host this important international conference and are aware of its contribution to the city of Jerusalem, to Israeli science and to the Tourism industry," said Mira Altman, CEO of the International Convention Center.

Altman adds: "The conference tourism has the potential to bring into the Israeli economy over 60 million $ a year."

The Federation of European Biochemical Societies and the Israel Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, work to promote and improve research, science and cooperation in the field.

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Federation of European Biochemical Societies head to Jerusalem - ITCM

Biochemistry

Australian Scientists Have Developed a New Tool for Imaging Life at the Nanoscale – Futurism

In BriefScientists at the University of Melbourne have established a new method of imaging biochemistry at the nanoscale. It's hoped that this could lead to a better understanding of neuro-degenerative diseases.

A group of scientists at the University of Melbourne have developed a new means of inspecting biochemistry at the nanoscale. The teams study centers around a quantum kangaroo that is revealed by the tools capacity to detect electron spins at resolutions that were never before possible.

Electron spin resonance (ESR) methodology has been used to help scientists understand biochemical processes in biomechanical systems for quite some time. However, in the past, billions of electronic spins have been required to produce a legible image.

This new project uses an array of quantum probes in diamond to perform non-invasive ESR imaging at a sub-cellular resolution. Its capable of producing images from only a few thousand electron spins.

The sensing and imaging technology we are developing enables us to view life in completely new ways, with greater sensitivity and resolution derived from the fundamental interactions of sample and probe at the quantum mechanical level, Professor Lloyd Hollenberg, who lead the project, told Phys.

Its hoped that this new non-invasive technique could help researchers get a better idea of how transition metal ions like copper play into diseases affecting the brain.

Transition metal ions are implicated in several neuro-degenerative diseases, however, little is known about their concentration and oxidation state within living cells, Dr. David Simpson, lead author the paper and co-head of sensing and imaging at the Centre for Neural Engineering. explained to Phys.Click to View Full Infographic

The University of Melbournes Centre for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology is making great strides when it comes to using quantum technology to improve imaging techniques. In April 2017, a team at the institution was able to capture the movements of electrons in 2D graphene.

Nanotechnology is set to have a huge impact on medicine, and not just in terms of imaging. Recent advances have facilitated projects like a breathalyzer that can detect the flu, and a nanoparticle that can remove toxins administered by snake bites but of course being able to check out whats happening at the nanoscale is incredibly valuable in terms of both diagnosis and research.

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Australian Scientists Have Developed a New Tool for Imaging Life at the Nanoscale - Futurism

Biochemistry

Molecular Map Shows How to Disable Dangerous Bioweapon … – Duke Today

DURHAM, N.C. -- During World War II, the Soviet Red Army was forced to move their biological warfare operations out of the path of advancing Nazi troops. Among the dangerous cargo were vials of Francisella tularensis, the organism that causes tularemia and one of the worlds most infectious pathogens.

Years later, a Soviet defector claimed that his country had unleashed their stores of F. tularensis on German soldiers, weakening them shortly before the pivotal Battle of Stalingrad. Others believe the outbreak on the German-Soviet front was more likely spread by rats, not Russians. Yet no one has disputed the bacterias capacity to inflict harm.

The Centers of Disease Control ranks tularemia as one of the six most concerning bioterrorism agents, alongside anthrax, botulism, plague, smallpox and viral hemorrhagic fever. And Russian stockpiles of it likely remain.

American scientists studying F. tularensis recently mapped out the complex molecular circuitry that enables the bacterium to become virulent. The map reveals a unique characteristic of the bacteria that could become the target of future drug development.

The research appeared early online Sept.1 and will be in the Sept. 13, 2017 journal Genes & Development.

Now we have the coordinates for stopping one of the most infectious agents known to man. By having all of these pieces, and understanding how they fit together, we can design new drugs that can shut down virulence, said Maria A. Schumacher, Ph.D., senior study author and the Nanaline H. Duke Professor of Biochemistry at the Duke University School of Medicine.

F. tularensis is an exceptionally hardy organism that can infect a variety of hosts, including humans, rabbits and mosquitos, and can survive for weeks at a time in dead and decaying carcasses. It is so virulent that a person only has to inhale 10 microscopic particles of the bacterium to become infected. The Russians and Japanese, as well as the Americans and their allies, all explored its potential as a biological weapon during World War II.

After the war, Russians continued to develop the agent, searching for mutations that could make it resistant to antibiotics and thus even more deadly. The World Health Organization has since projected that 110 pounds of F. tularensis dispersed over a city of 5 million people would cause about 250,000 cases of severe illness, and 19,000 deaths.

Despite decades of fervent study, the factors that make this bacterium so pathogenic are still not fully understood. Recently, a cluster of genes called the Francisella pathogenicity island emerged that is essential for its virulence. In this study, researchers carried out a battery of structural, biochemical and cellular studies to define the molecular factors that turn these pathogenicity genes on and off.

They suspected that a stress-sensing molecule or alarmone called ppGpp might play a role. Alarmones are known to respond to stressful conditions by promoting survival and virulence in bacteria.

Lead study author and Duke graduate student Bonnie J. Cuthbert started by looking at factors that might interact with ppGpp, such as the aptly named protein pathogenicity island gene regulator or PigR, the macrophage growth locus protein A or MglA, and the stringent starvation protein A or SspA. Cuthbert used a technique called x-ray crystallography to produce atomic-level three-dimensional structures of each of these proteins, and then assembled them one by one, like the components of a circuit board.

She found that MglA and SspA partner up to form a two-part protein that contains a unique binding pocket on its underside for ppGpp. Once this molecule is bound, it recruits PigR and subsequently stabilizes RNA polymerase to this area of the F. tularensis genome, creating a large complex that latches onto the DNA to flip on the pathogenicity genes.

The researchers then created mutations that destroyed the binding pocket for ppGpp. They found that when the alarmone couldnt bind, pathogenicity couldnt be activated.

We have uncovered a totally novel way for controlling virulence, said senior study author Richard G. Brennan, Ph.D., James B. Duke Professor of Biochemistry and Chair of Biochemistry at Duke University School of Medicine and also an advisor to Cuthbert. If we could block this binding pocket, then we could stop virulence in F. tularensis. It would be a new way of fighting this bacteria, by disabling it with antivirulence drugs rather than by killing it outright with antibiotics.

The research was supported by aNational Institutes of Health grants GM115547,GM37048, and AI081693. The Berkeley Center for Structural Biology is supported in part by the National Institutesof Health, the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The ALS issupported by the Director, Office of Science, Office of Basic EnergySciences of the US Department of Energy under contract numberDEAC02-05CH11231.

CITATION: Dissection of the molecular circuitry controlling virulence in Francisella tularensis, Bonnie Cuthbert, Wilma Ross, Amy Rohlfing, Simon Dove, Richard Gourse, Richard G. Brennan, and Maria A. Schumacher. Genes & Development, September 13, 2017. DOI: 10.1101/gad.303701.117

http://genesdev.cshlp.org/content/early/2017/09/01/gad.303701.117.full.pdf+html?sid=f7d8a806-f7ee-4da3-ac9e-1f1f4f82f5c3

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Molecular Map Shows How to Disable Dangerous Bioweapon ... - Duke Today

Immunology

Award-winning immunologist Catherine Bollard to lead Center for Cancer and Immunology Research at the Children’s … – Markets Insider

WASHINGTON, Sept. 5, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --Children's National Health System announced that Catherine "Cath" Bollard, M.D., M.B.Ch.B., currently chief of the division of allergy and immunology, has been chosen to serve as director of the Children's Research Institute's (CRI) Center for Cancer and Immunology Research (CCIR).CCIR, with annual National Institutes of Health and other external funding of more than $10 million, includes more than 50 clinicians and scientists performing groundbreaking clinical and translational research in understanding the origins and developing and testing novel therapies for childhood cancers and immunologic disorders. In her new role, Dr. Bollard will lead the promotion and oversight of cancer and immunology research performed at Children's National and will join the leadership team of CRI.

"I'm honored and excited to take on this new role," says Dr. Bollard. "Since joining Children's National, we've made incredible progress in the cancer immunotherapy field. I look forward to continuing to build on these successes and lead the way toward the next generation of innovative immunotherapy treatments."

Since 2015, Dr. Bollard has served as the chief of the Division of Allergy and Immunology at Children's National after joining the hospital in 2013 to direct the cellular immunotherapy research program. She also is Professor of Pediatrics and of Microbiology, Immunology and Tropical Medicine at The George Washington School of Medicine and Health Sciences and serves as the director of the Program for Cell Enhancement and Technologies for Immunotherapy.

"Cath's unique background and pioneering work in T-cell immunotherapy have established her as an international leader in research and treatment of children with cancer and immunologic disorders," says Vittorio Gallo, Ph.D., Chief Research Officer at CRI. "Her leadership will reinforce our ongoing commitment to fighting cancer and developing innovative treatments."

Dr. Bollard's research focuses on improving outcomes for patients after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, as well as the development of novel cell therapies for viral diseases and hematologic malignancies. With her move to Children's National, she and her team extended this focus to include pediatric solid tumors, human immunodeficiency virus, primary immune deficiency and more recently, allergic and autoimmune disorders.The novel cell therapies program that Dr. Bollard and her team built moves basic proof-of-principle work in the laboratory to the clinic.

"All of Children's National's progress in cellular immunotherapy can be attributed to Catherine and her leadership," says Mark L. Batshaw, M.D., Chief Academic Officer and Director of CRI. "We are confident her impact will extend even further in her new role."

An internationally recognized pioneer in cellular therapy, Dr. Bollard's publication record includes over 110 original papers, over 70 reviews and commentaries and 18 book chapters. She is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and is President of the International Society for Cellular Therapy. Dr. Bollard serves as an associate editor for the journals Blood and Cytotherapy, a member of the National Cancer Institute Clinical Oncology Study Section and a member of the Cellular, Tissues and Gene Therapies Advisory Committee for the Food and Drug Administration, among other distinguished positions.

A New Zealand native, Dr. Bollard received her medical degree at University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. Board Certified both in pediatrics and hematology, she worked both in New Zealand and London before moving to Baylor College of Medicine in Houston in 2000, where she completed her training and rapidly rose to Professor of Pediatrics, Medicine and Immunology and Director of the Texas Children's Cancer and Hematology Center Pediatric Lymphoma Program.

About Children's National Health System

Children's National Health System, based in Washington, D.C., has been serving the nation's children since 1870. Children's National is #1 for babies and ranked in every specialty evaluated by U.S. News & World Report including placement in the top 10 for:Cancer(#7),NeurologyandNeurosurgery(#9)Orthopedics(#9) andNephrology(#10). Children's National has been designated two times as a Magnet hospital, a designation given to hospitals that demonstrate the highest standards of nursing and patient care delivery. This pediatric academic health system offers expert care through a convenient, community-based primary care network and specialty outpatient centers. Home to the Children's Research Institute and the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation, Children's National is one of the nation's top NIH-funded pediatric institutions. Children's National is recognized for its expertise and innovation in pediatric care and as a strong voice for children through advocacy at the local, regional and national levels. For more information, visitChildrensNational.org, or follow us onFacebookandTwitter.

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Award-winning immunologist Catherine Bollard to lead Center for Cancer and Immunology Research at the Children's ... - Markets Insider

Immunology

Moffitt cancer center trying to partner with researchers in Cuba – Tampabay.com

TAMPA People who are working in Tampa and Havana on the fight against cancer say they have a lot to learn from one another.

And now, with relations between their two countries expanding if still tentative, they're ready to formalize a partnership.

For the last 18 months, cooperation has occurred below the radar for Tampa's H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute and two centers in Cuba the National Institute of Oncology and Radiobiology and the Center of Molecular Immunology.

Surgeons from Cuba have visited Moffitt to study its treatment for pediatric bone cancer and Moffitt researchers have travelled to Cuba to learn how cancer scientists there break new ground with limited resources.

Against a politically divisive backdrop, with Florida interests including Gov. Rick Scott criticizing the Obama-era outreach to Cuba, Moffitt has declined to talk about its work with Cuba.

Now, officials at the Tampa center acknowledge they drafted a memorandum of understanding with their Cuban counterparts and it was submitted to the Cuban government a year ago. They still await a decision patiently, they say.

"The memorandum broadly describes that we want to collaborate on research and education," said David de La Parte, Moffitt executive vice president. "Once approved we can have a more intensive discussion around what we might do ... to benefit patients around the world and to advance science."

The Florida Aquarium in Tampa also pursued joint research with Havana's National Aquarium and waited two years for Cuban government approval.

An estimated 24 staffers from Tampa and Havana have been involved in visits as part of the Moffitt effort, de La Parte said.

On some occasions, they attended conferences together. Other times, doctors have shadowed their counterparts.

That a nation like Cuba with a struggling economy has anything to offer top researchers in the United States might come as a surprise, de La Parte said.

In fact, Cuba has much to offer, he said in part because of its underdog status.

Most notably, the Center of Molecular Immunology developed CIMAvax, a vaccine that extends and improves the quality of life for those with advanced lung cancer.

Gail Reed, editor of MEDICC Review, a journal dedicated to publishing Cuban scientists, said the Havana center has also developed treatments for brain cancer in children and for cancer in the pancreas, head and neck.

"Necessity is the mother of invention," Reed said. "Cuban leaders saw that without abundant natural resources or stable agricultural prices, investing in science and scientists was key to securing the population's health."

CIMAvax is undergoing clinical trials in the United States through the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, N.Y.

"Roswell Park were quicker on their feet than we were and it frankly agitated some of us," Moffitt's de La Parte said. "Here is this cancer center in New York that has a relationship with a country in our back yard."

Roswell began pursuing a partnership with the Center of Molecular Immunology in 2011 and made it official in April 2015.

Moffitt representatives didn't visit Cuba until May 2015, after executive orders from the Obama administration made scientific collaboration between the former Cold War adversaries easier to pursue.

Still, the state of Florida isn't on board with expanded cooperation involving Cuba. Opposition nationwide is at its strongest in South Florida, home to many who lost property and businesses nationalized by Cuba's Communist government.

Gov. Scott has stopped the state's ports from signing memorandums with Cuba by threatening to withhold state money.

And Moffitt relies heavily on state funding $7.1 million worth from two grant programs last year alone. So does the Florida Aquarium, which received $1 million from the state last year.

Partnering with Cuba could prove divisive, de La Parte admits, but he believes the medical and scientific benefits outweigh political considerations.

"We are not going to proceed in a way that will violate any kind of regulations," he said.

"Hopefully this is something that can be celebrated by our supporters, and the governor is one of our supporters."

Contact Paul Guzzo at pguzzo@tampabay.com. Follow @PGuzzoTimes.

Moffitt cancer center trying to partner with researchers in Cuba 09/07/17 [Last modified: Thursday, September 7, 2017 10:42am] Photo reprints | Article reprints

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Cell Biology

The protein TAZ sends ‘mixed signals’ to stem cells – Phys.Org

The protein TAZ (green) in the cytoplasm (the region outside of the nuclei, blue) promotes the self-renewal of human embryonic stem cells. Credit: Xingliang Zhou/Ying Lab, USC Stem Cell

Just as beauty exists in the eye of the beholder, a signal depends upon the interpretation of the receiver. According to new USC research published in Stem Cell Reports, a protein called TAZ can convey very different signalsdepending upon not only which variety of stem cell, but also which part of the stem cell receives it.

When it comes to varieties, some stem cells are "nave" blank slates; others are "primed" to differentiate into certain types of more specialized cells. Among the truly nave are mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs), while the primed variety includes the slightly more differentiated mouse epiblast stem cells (EpiSCs) as well as so-called human "ESCs"which may not be true ESCs at all.

In the new study, PhD student Xingliang Zhou and colleagues in the laboratory of Qi-Long Ying demonstrated that nave mouse ESCs don't require TAZ in order to self-renew and produce more stem cells. However, they do need TAZ in order to differentiate into mouse EpiSCs.

The scientists observed an even more nuanced situation for the primed varieties of stem cells: mouse EpiSCs and human ESCs. When TAZ is located in the nucleus, this prompts primed stem cells to differentiate into more specialized cell typesa response similar to that of the nave cells. However, if TAZ is in the cytoplasm, or the region between the nucleus and outer membrane, primed stem cells have the opposite reaction: they self-renew.

"TAZ has stirred up a lot of controversy in our field, because it appears to produce diverse and sometimes opposite effects in pluripotent stem cells," said Ying, senior author and associate professor of stem cell biology and regenerative medicine. "It turns out that TAZ can indeed produce opposite effects, depending upon both its subcellular location and the cell type in question."

First author Zhou added: "TAZ provides a new tool to stimulate stem cells to either differentiate or self-renew. This could have important regenerative medicine applications, including the development of a better way to generate the desired cell types for cell replacement therapy."

Explore further: Study reveals how to better master stem cells' fate

More information: Xingliang Zhou et al, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear TAZ Exert Distinct Functions in Regulating PrimedPluripotency, Stem Cell Reports (2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.stemcr.2017.07.019

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The protein TAZ sends 'mixed signals' to stem cells - Phys.Org

Cell Biology

This New, Cutting-Edge Treatment Could Be the End of Baldness – Reader’s Digest

docent/ShutterstockWhether or not theres a scientific benefit to being baldwell let the follically challenged among us be the judge of thatscientists continue to search for a balding cure. According to UCLA researchers, that isnt completely out of the question. A team, led by Heather Christofk, PhD, and William Lowry, PhD, found a new way to activate the stem cells in the hair follicle to make hair grow. Their findings, published in the journal Nature Cell Biology, may lead to new drugs to promote hair growth or work as a cure for baldness or alopecia (hair loss linked to factors like hormonal imbalance, stress, aging or chemotherapy).

Working at the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA, the researchers discovered that the metabolism of the stem cells embedded in hair follicles is different from the metabolism of other cells of the skin. When they altered that metabolic pathway in mice, they discovered they could either stop hair growth, or make hair grow rapidly. They did this by first blocking, then increasing, the production of a metabolitelactategenetically.

Before this, no one knew that increasing or decreasing the lactate would have an effect on hair follicle stem cells, says Dr. Lowry, a professor of molecular, cell and developmental biology, as reported on ScienceDaily. Once we saw how altering lactate production in the mice influenced hair growth, it led us to look for potential drugs that could be applied to the skin and have the same effect.

Two drugs in particularknown by the generic designations of RCGD423 and UK5099influenced hair follicle stem cells in distinct ways to promote lactate production. The use of both drugs to promote hair growth are covered by provisional patent applications. However, they are experimental drugs and have been used in preclinical tests only. They wont be ready for prime time until theyve been tested in humans and approved by the Food and Drug Administration as safe and effective. (While youre waiting for a male pattern baldness cure, check out these natural remedies for hair loss.)

So while it may be some time before these drugs are availableif everto treat baldless or alopecia, researchers are optimistic about the future. Through this study, we gained a lot of interesting insight into new ways to activate stem cells, says Aimee Flores, a predoctoral trainee in Lowrys lab and first author of the study. The idea of using drugs to stimulate hair growth through hair follicle stem cells is very promising given how many millions of people, both men and women, deal with hair loss. I think weve only just begun to understand the critical role metabolism plays in hair growth and stem cells in general; Im looking forward to the potential application of these new findings for hair loss and beyond.

This 7-year-old girl living with alopecia will inspire you.

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Cell Biology

Researchers develop a fluidic device to track over time which cancer cells lead the invasive march – Medical Xpress

Cancer cells move through a microfluidic chamber. Credit: Michigan Medicine

As cancer grows, it evolves. Individual cells become more aggressive and break away to flow through the body and spread to distant areas.

What if there were a way to find those early aggressors? How are they different from the rest of the cells? And more importantly: Is there a way to stop them before they spread?

These questions drove a team of researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center and Michigan Engineering to develop a tiny device designed to solve these big questions.

"It's especially important to be able to capture those leader cells and understand their biology - why are they so successful, why are they resistant to traditional chemotherapy and how can we target them selectively?" says study author Sofia Merajver, M.D., Ph.D., scientific director of the Breast Oncology Program at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.

"Microfluidic devices are helping us understand biology that was previously not accessible," she says.

The problem with existing microfluidic devices is that the cells don't last long within them. Devices typically lend themselves to brief experiments of several days. But the characteristics of cancer cells change over time.

"A lot of tumor processes like invasion and resistance don't happen overnight. Our goal was to track the long-term evolution of invasion," says lead study author Koh Meng Aw Yong, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in Merajver's lab. "We cannot look at just a certain time point, like in a three-day experiment. That might not represent what's happening in the body over time."

So the team developed a new fluidic device to allow them to cultivate cells for longer periods of time. Researchers found the device was stable up to at least three weeks in culture. Their results are published in Scientific Reports.

The cells look like a thin milky line in a chamber that's smaller than a pillbox. They are actually suspended in three dimensions, unlike typical fluidic devices that capture cells in two dimensions. It allows researchers to feed the cancer cells into the device with very minimal disturbance or change to the cells.

The device consists of three tiny molded channels through which cells flow. The cells are fed into one channel. Fluid flows through a parallel channel to provide pressure and flow without disturbing the culture. The flow of fluid through the outer channel mimics what happens with the body's capillaries.

"These forces are important and incorporate everything into one system," Aw Kong says.

The researchers tested the device with two lines of metastatic prostate cancer cells. They were able to isolate the leader cells - those cells that first broke off and would be traveling to distant organs.

After two weeks, they found that the cells from one line were twice as invasive as the other cell line. But by three weeks, that difference was gone, suggesting that the invasive potential of cells may change over time.

The hope is that researchers can find differences in the molecular signature between cells that invade and those that don't. Then, they would target the molecular underpinning with therapies to prevent cancer from invading - essentially keeping the cancer confined and preventing metastasis.

"The device also holds potential to be used to test drugs and detect when cancer becomes resistant. This would allow oncologists to know sooner if a therapy is not working, and perhaps switch the patient to another option," says senior study author Jianping Fu, Ph.D., associate professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan. "Of course, more research is needed to explore this possibility in the future."

"We think we can grow this while the patient is undergoing treatment or monitoring. The device would be able to show us if the cells become more aggressive before a traditional imaging test would detect anything," Aw Yong says.

Researchers next want to extend the work to triple-negative breast cancer, a particularly aggressive form of the disease. Once the leader cells are identified, they will also begin looking at whether these cells have different genetic or molecular markers than the less-aggressive cells.

Explore further: Cell culture system could offer cancer breakthrough

More information: Koh Meng Aw Yong et al, Tracking the tumor invasion front using long-term fluidic tumoroid culture, Scientific Reports (2017). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-10874-1

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Embryology

Rees-Mogg ignites fresh row over abortion – BBC News

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Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg is the first British politician in decades to publicly oppose abortion in all cases, even when a woman has been raped.

It was not, he stressed, government policy, but his own personal view based on Catholic teachings.

He got credit from his supporters for his candour - not for Mr Rees-Mogg the evasions and caveats of other politicians who have found their personal religious convictions out of step with party policy and the prevailing orthodoxy.

But others found his views "extreme" and wildly at odds with majority opinion in the UK.

Tory MP Margot James called them "utterly abhorrent".

It would certainly be a strange way to launch a party-leadership bid, although Mr Rees-Mogg insists he has no ambitions in that direction, whatever social media says about "Moggmentum".

Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith said Mr Rees-Mogg's appearance on ITV's Good Morning Britain programme could well be a "tipping point" if the North-East Somerset MP ever changed his mind about that.

Former Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe, a Catholic who has previously spoken out against abortion, told BBC Radio 5 live's Emma Barnett Mr Rees-Mogg's views were "nothing like as rare as you may think" and they would have no long-term effect on his career.

"Now, can a politician say what he thinks?" she said. "Or are we simply going to end up in a situation where every time you say what you think, you end up with an adverse effect, so in the end you simply dodge it?"

So why is abortion such an apparently taboo subject in British politics?

In the US, being against abortion is a standard position for Republican politicians and a reliable dividing line with the Democrats, although the issue of exemptions for rape and incest is a highly sensitive one.

It still causes controversy when someone running for office voices their opposition to such exemptions, as Republican hopeful Marco Rubio did last year.

But American politicians are expected to be upfront about their religious beliefs and take a position on moral issues that in the UK tend to be seen as personal matters.

Piers Morgan, who prodded Mr Rees-Mogg into revealing his views on the Good Morning Britain sofa, tried a similar line of questioning, on his CNN show in 2012, during the Republican primaries.

The former Mirror editor asked White House hopeful Rick Santorum, a devout Catholic, if he would let his daughter get an abortion after rape.

Mr Santorum said did not say yes outright, adding that he would explain to her that a baby, even when "horribly created", was still a "gift, in a very broken way".

Donald Trump, who before running for president was pro-choice and is now firmly against abortion, draws the line at cases of rape, incest, and when the mother's health is endangered.

The issue of abortion in Britain is seen by many people as a settled matter - it rarely comes up at general elections.

"We are a pro-choice country, we have a pro-choice Parliament," said Katherine O'Brien, of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service.

"Every politician is entitled to hold their own opinion on abortion. But what matters is whether they would let their own personal convictions stand in the way of women's ability to act on their own."

In fact, there have been several serious attempts to restrict abortions since Liberal leader David Steel succeeded in liberalising the law in 1967, resulting in some impassioned debates in the House of Commons.

In 2008, MPs voted on cutting the 24-week limit, for the first time since 1990, in a series of amendments to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill.

There were calls for a reduction to 12, 16, 20 or 22 weeks, but MPs rejected the proposals in a series of votes.

Going further back, Liberal MP David Alton resigned as his party's chief whip in 1987 to launch what turned out to be an unsuccessful bid to ban late abortions.

The first version of Mr Alton's bill did not include an exemption for women who had been raped - he argued that they represented a tiny minority of cases.

The exemption was added at a later date, but supporters of the bill made it clear that they viewed it as a stepping stone to a complete ban.

Conservative MP Terry Dicks told MPs: "I understand and am concerned about incest and rape and the implication of a child being born as a result. I do not know the answer, but I do know that life is important from the minute that conception takes place.

"Of course ladies have rights and we must consider them, but they also have obligations and responsibilities that they have to face up to."

Few MPs have been as outspoken in their opposition to abortion since, although senior figures in all parties have expressed their personal support for reducing the time limit.

And there have been cases where politicians have had to wrestle with their conscience on the issue.

Labour's Ruth Kelly, a member of Opus Dei, an arm of the Catholic Church firmly opposed to abortion, refused to take a ministerial role at the Department of Health to avoid conflicts with her beliefs.

The issue has crept back on to the political agenda in recent months with the deal between Theresa May and the DUP to keep the Conservatives in power.

Unlike in the rest of the UK, abortion is illegal in Northern Ireland unless a woman's life is in danger or there is a serious risk to her mental or physical health.

And the DUP has consistently opposed abortion, with its leader, Arlene Foster, saying: "I would not want abortion to be as freely available here as it is in England."

But, in an unexpected turn of events, Northern Irish women have now been granted access to terminations on the NHS in mainland Britain.

In June, the government had to draw up emergency plans to head off a revolt by Conservative MPs who joined forces with Labour in opposing the DUP's stance, to the evident delight of some Tory ministers.

As the law was changed, Education Secretary and Equalities Minister Justine Greening said: "Let us send a message to women everywhere that in this Parliament their voices will be heard and their rights upheld."

Prime Minister Theresa May is also opposed to changing the abortion laws and was careful to distance herself from Jacob Rees-Mogg's opinions, while stressing that it was a "long-standing principle" that abortion was a "matter of conscience" for individual MPs to decide on.

Mr Rees-Mogg knows his views are not mainstream in Conservative circles at Westminster. In his Good Morning Britain interview, he said women's abortion rights under UK law were "not going to change".

But he argued that his party was more tolerant of religious views than the Liberal Democrats, whose former leader Tim Farron quit after facing repeated questions about his views on gay sex.

"It's all very well to say we live in a multicultural country... until you're a Christian, until you hold the traditional views of the Catholic Church, and that seems to me fundamentally wrong," he said.

"People are entitled to hold these views."

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Rees-Mogg ignites fresh row over abortion - BBC News