Brain cell membranes' lipids may play big role in Alzheimer's progression

Lipids have been largely overlooked for Alzheimer's disease therapeutics

23-Jun-2021 - Alzheimer's disease is predominant in elderly people, but the way age-related changes to lipid composition affect the regulation of biological processes is still not well understood. Links between lipid imbalance and disease have been established, in which lipid changes increase the formation of ...

COVID-19 testing method gives results within one second

Superfast, portable COVID-19 testing method detects the virus much faster than currently available methods

20-May-2021 - The COVID-19 pandemic made it clear technological innovations were urgently needed to detect, treat, and prevent the SARS-CoV-2 virus. A year and a half into this epidemic, waves of successive outbreaks and the dire need for new medical solutions -- especially testing -- continue to exist. In the ...

Cellphone converts into powerful chemical detector

With only $50 worth of components, an ordinary cellphone transforms into a sophisticated scientific instrument, capable of identifying chemicals, drugs, and pathogens

07-May-2021 - Scientists from Texas A&M have developed an extension to an ordinary cellphone that turns it into an instrument capable of detecting chemicals, drugs, biological molecules, and pathogens. The advance is reported in Reviews of Scientific Instruments, by AIP Publishing. Modern cellphones include ...

Tiny brains grown in 3D-printed bioreactor

Small device contains wells to let small bits of tissue grow, develop, and be studied in real time

08-Apr-2021 - Scientists from MIT and the Indian Institute of Technology Madras have grown small amounts of self-organizing brain tissue, known as organoids, in a tiny 3D-printed system that allows observation while they grow and develop. The work is reported in Biomicrofluidics, by AIP Publishing. Current ...

Aerosol microdroplets inefficient carriers of COVID-19 virus

Modeling shows SARS-CoV2 isn't spread very well by the small droplets that linger longest

30-Oct-2020 - Aerosol microdroplets, the tiny particles that linger in the air longest after we talk, cough, or sneeze, do not appear to be extremely efficient at spreading the virus that leads to COVID-19. Modeling of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in confined spaces suggests aerosol transmission is not a very ...

Spider silk can create lenses useful for biological imaging

Lenses built on dragline spider silk generate a special type of light jet that can image large biological areas with high resolution

02-Jul-2020 - Spiders -- what are they good for? The answer, it turns out, is more than just insect control. Spider silk is useful for a variety of biomedical applications. It exhibits mechanical properties superior to synthetic fibers for tissue engineering, and it is not toxic or harmful to living cells. One ...

Flushing toilets create clouds of virus-containing particles

Coronavirus could be transmitted through a long-lasting cloud of virus-containing aerosol droplets ejected from a flushing toilet

17-Jun-2020 - Researchers used a computer simulation to show how a flushing toilet can create a cloud of virus-containing aerosol droplets that is large and widespread and lasts long enough that the droplets could be breathed in by others. With recent studies showing the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 ...

Targeting SARS-CoV-2 enzyme with inhibitors

COVID-19 virus has an Achilles' heel, making it an excellent target for inhibitors or new drugs

11-Jun-2020 - As the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 continues to spread around the world, many researchers are studying epidemiological models to predict its propagation. However, Ernesto Estrada, a mathematician and expert in complex systems of the ARAID Foundation at the University of ...

Survival of coronavirus in different cities, on different surfaces

Temperature, humidity, surface play roles in the drying time of COVID-19 virus respiratory droplets

11-Jun-2020 - One of the many questions researchers have about COVID-19 is how long the coronavirus causing the disease remains alive after someone infected with it coughs or sneezes. Once the droplets carrying the virus evaporate, the residual virus dies quickly, so the survival and transmission of COVID-19 ...

Folded paper creates portable lab for field laboratory tests

22-Aug-2019 - Monitoring and tracking biological threats or epidemics require the ability to carry out medical and laboratory tests in the field during a disaster or other austere situations. Expensive laboratory equipment is often unavailable in these settings, so inexpensive point-of-care technology is ...