Vol. 02 NO 16
NEWS - PAGE 3
TOP 30 UNIVERSITIES AS PER –
MHRD, GOVT OF INDIA FOR 2018
NEWS EDITION
A CELL-WALL BUILDING
PROTEIN COULD CAUSE THE
DOWNFALL OF BACTERIA
The exact function of SEDS proteins was
for a long time poorly understood, but now,
a recent research by a team at the Harvard
Medical School has revealed how it could
make for an uncompromisable Achilles heel
of most bacteria.
The study has revealed that the prototypi-
cal SEDS family member RodA is a pepti-
doglycan polymerase—a role previously
attributed exclusively to members of the pen-
icillin-binding protein family. This discovery
has thereby made RodA and other SEDS pro-
teins promising targets for the development
of next-generation antibiotics.
“Our latest findings reveal the molecular
structure of RodA and identify targetable
spots where new antibacterial drugs could
bind and subvert its work,” said study senior
investigator Andrew Kruse, associate profes-
sor of biological chemistry and molecular
pharmacology at Harvard Medical School.
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NEWS - PAGE 4
TOP 20 COLLEGES OF INDIA AS PER
GOVT OF INDIA SURVEY – 2018
The researchers mapped RodA’s molecular
structure and found that it included an unusu-
al cavity on its outer edge. And where there’s
a gap – in anything, really – sooner or later
someone will find an object to fill it.
To test the limits of RodA’s apparent weak
spot, the scientists set up experiments using
two species drawn from the two basic bacte-
rial domains – gram-negative and gram-pos-
itive.
In both cases, they found that making
even small changes to the shape of the cav-
ity caused the bacteria to distort, swell, and
eventually burst. For drug developers, the re-
sult is potentially great news.
“What makes us excited is that this protein
has a fairly discrete pocket that looks like it
could be easily and effectively targeted with
a drug that binds to it and interferes with
the protein’s ability to do its job,” said study
co-senior author David Rudner, professor of
NEWS - PAGE 6
ADHESION PROTEIN THAT HELPS BACTERIA
STICK TO CELLS COULD HELP FIND NEW
ANTIBIOTICS
By Disha Padmanabha
microbiology and immunobiology at Harvard
Medical School.
“A chemical compound—an inhibitor—
that binds to this pocket would interfere with
the protein’s ability to synthesize and main-
tain the bacterial wall,” Rudner said. “That
would, in essence, crack the wall, weaken
the cell and set off a cascade that eventually
causes it to die.”
Additionally, because the protein is highly
conserved across all bacterial species, the
discovery of an inhibiting compound means
that, at least in theory, a drug could work
against many kinds of harmful bacteria.
“This highlights the beauty of super-basic
scientific discovery,” said co-investigator
Thomas Bernhardt, professor of microbiolo-
gy and immunobiology at Harvard Medical
April 17th, 2018.
NEWS - PAGE 10
CARDIOVASCULAR RISK
INCIDENCE PREDICTING BLOOD TEST
DEVELOPED
THE DOWNFALL
OF BACTERIA?
The shape, elongation, division and
sporulation (SEDS) proteins are a large
family of ubiquitous and essential trans-
membrane enzymes with critical roles in
bacterial cell wall biology.
School. “You get to the most fundamental lev-
el of things that are found across all species,
and when something works in one of them,
chances are it will work across the board.”
The success of this “roundabout” approach,
researchers said, circumvents a significant
hurdle in field of structural biology and can
open the doors toward defining the structures
of many more newly discovered proteins.
“These insights underscore the importance
of creative crosspollination among scien-
tists from multiple disciplines and depart-
ments,” said study first author Megan Sjodt,
a research fellow in biological chemistry and
molecular pharmacology at Harvard Med-
ical School. “We believe our results set the
stage for subsequent work toward the discov-
ery and optimization of new classes of anti-
biotics.”
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April 17th, 2018. Vol. 02 NO 16

TOP 30 UNIVERSITIES AS PER – MHRD,

GOVT OF INDIA FOR 2018

By Shekhar Suman

MHRD, Govt of India under National Insti- versities of India. For all PhD Admissions,
tutional Ranking Framework has released a Msc Admissions, B.tech Admissions, B.Sc
list of Top 100 Universities with rank. Listed Admissions, M.Tech Admissions.
below are names and scores of Top 30 Uni-

2
Vol. 02 NO 16
TOP 20 COLLEGES OF INDIA AS PER GOVT OF
INDIA SURVEY – 2018
As per survey done by NIRF, Government
of India for the year 2018, listed below are
top 20 colleges of India. List of top 20 colleg-
es has been released with their score. Names
of Top Colleges all across India can be found
below. In the Top 5 list are 3 colleges from
Delhi – Miranda House, St. Stephen`s Col-
lege & Hindu College each occupying 1st, LIVER REGENERATION THROUGH
2nd & 4th position respectively. TELOMERASE REPOPULATION
Myriad genetic and epigenetic alterations
are required to drive normal cells toward ma-
lignant transformation. These somatic events
commandeer many signaling pathways that
cooperate to endow aspiring cancer cells with
a full range of biological capabilities needed
to grow, disseminate and ultimately kill its
host.
Telomeres are nucleoprotein structures
that protect the ends of eukaryotic chromo-
somes and are particularly vulnerable due to
progressive shortening during each round of
DNA replication and, thus, a lifetime of tis-
sue renewal places the organism at risk for
increasing chromosomal instability.
Telomere dysfunction can produce the
opposing pathophysiological states of de-
generative aging or cancer with the specific
outcome dictated by the integrity of DNA
damage checkpoint responses.
Hepatocytes are replenished gradually dur-
ing homeostasis and robustly after liver inju-
ry. In adults, new hepatocytes originate from
the existing hepatocyte pool, but the cellular
source of renewing hepatocytes remains un-
clear.
Now, Stanford scientists have identified a
subset of hepatocytes that expresses high lev-
els of telomerase and show that this hepato-
cyte subset repopulates the liver during ho-
meostasis and injury.
“The liver is a very important source of
human disease,” said professor of medicine
Steven Artandi, MD, PhD. “It’s critical to
understand the cellular mechanism by which
the liver renews itself. We’ve found that these
rare, proliferating cells are spread through-
out the organ, and that they are necessary to
enable the liver to replace damaged cells. We
believe that it is also likely that these cells
could give rise to liver cancers when their
regulation goes awry.”
By Shekhar Suman
“These rare cells can be activated to divide
April 17th, 2018.
and form clones throughout the liver,” said
Artandi, who holds the Jerome and Daisy
Low Gilbert Professorship in Biochemistry.
“As mature hepatocytes die off, these clones
replace the liver mass. But they are working
in place; they are not being recruited away
to other places in the liver. This may explain
how the liver can quickly repair damage re-
gardless of where it occurs in the organ.”
In the course of their investigation, the team
found that, in mice, about 3-5 percent of all
liver cells express unusually high levels of
telomerase. During regular cell turnover or
after the liver was damaged, these cells pro-
liferate in place to make clumps of new liver
cells. The fact that these stem cells express
fewer metabolic genes might be one way to
protect the cells from the daily grind faced
by their peers, and to limit the production of
metabolic byproducts that can damage DNA.
“This may be one way to shelter these
important cells and allow them to pass on
a more pristine genome to their daughter
cells,” Artandi said. “They are not doing all
the ‘worker bee’ functions of normal hepat-
ocytes.”
When Lin engineered the telomerase-ex-
pressing hepatocytes to die in response to
a chemical signal and gave the mice with a
liver-damaging chemical, he found that those
animals in which the telomerase cells had
been killed exhibited much more severe liver
scarring than those in which the cells were
functional.
“You could imagine developing drugs that
protect these telomerase-expressing cells, or
ways to use cell therapy approaches to renew
livers,” said Artandi. “On the cancer side, I
think that these cells are very strong candi-
dates for cell of origin. We are finally begin-
ning to understand how this organ works.”
By Disha Padmanabha
3
April 17th, 2018.
Scientists Coax
Oil-Gulping Bacteria into
Cleaning Spills
Bioremediation for degradation of hydro-
carbons is a widely used alternative for the
recovery of contaminated sites. Now, re-
searchers at the INRS in Canada have isolat-
ed the key enzymes that a oil-hungry bacteri-
um, Alcanivorax borkumensis, uses in order
to clean oil samples in lab. These enzymes
give it the special ability to use hydrocarbons
as a source of energy.
This microorganism exists in every ocean
and multiplies quickly where there are high
concentrations of oil. In fact, this bacteria
is likely responsible for some of the natural
degradation of ocean spills, but researchers
want to amplify this effect to speed up the
clean up process. The enzymes in the bacteria
do the work and in particular the hydroxylas-
es are very effective and resistant to chemical
conditions.
Since its remedial potential had not been
assessed, the team characterized the enzymes
produced and revealed thr presence of hy-
droxylases that are resistant to chemical con-
ditions and far more effective in promoting
hydrocarbon degradation than those found in
other species.
When applied to samples of contaminated
STEM CELL DERIVED MINI BRAIN THAT
ENGENDERS BLOOD VESSELS
The human cerebral cortex defines us as
who we are. Its development and function
underlie complex human cognitive behavior,
while its malfunction or degeneration causes
countless neurological and psychiatric dis-
eases. Additionally, shielded by by our thick
skulls and swaddled in layers of protective
tissue, the human brain is extremely difficult
to observe in action.
And in both these cases- emerges a sav-
iour- the mini brain. Lab-grown miniature
brains are poised to shake up drug testing for
everything from Alzheimer’s disease to Zika.
Reported early last year, each bundle of hu-
man brain cells is so tiny that it could fit on
4
soils, purified enzymes from A. borkumensis
effectively degraded over 80 percent of some
hydrocarbon compounds. The degradation
efficiency for different concentrations of pe-
troleum hydrocarbon substrates was signifi-
cant, reaching 73.75 percent for 5000 ppm of
hexadecane, 82.80 percent for 1000 ppm of
motor oil, 64.70 percent for 70 ppm of ben-
zene-toluene-xylene and 88.52 percent for
6000 ppm of contaminated soil.
“The degradation of hydrocarbons using
the crude enzyme extract is really encourag-
ing and reached over 80 percent for various
compounds,” says Satinder Kaur Brar, lead
researcher on the study. “The process is ef-
fective in removing benzene, toluene, and xy-
lene, and has been tested under a number of
different conditions to show that it is a pow-
erful way to clean up polluted land and ma-
rine environments.”
The researchers plan to continue studying
how A. borkumensis metabolizes these hy-
drocarbons, and figure out how they might
be put to work cleaning up real-life oil spills.
By Disha Padmanabha
the head of a pin.
With induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs)
derived from a readily-accessible skin sam-
ple from patients, it’s possible to generate
three-dimensional balls of cells that mimic
particular parts of the brain’s anatomy. But
then, as with any new tech, there is always
room for improvement. One thing that most
mini-brains lack is their own system of blood
vessels, or vasculature.
“The whole idea with these organoids is to
one day be able to develop a brain structure
the patient has lost made with the patient’s
own cells,” UC Davis vascular neurosurgeon
Scientists Grow First
Adult-like Cardiac Tissue
from Patient-Specific Stem
Cells
Cardiac tissues generated from human in-
duced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) can
serve as platforms for patient-specific stud-
ies of physiology and disease. But then, the
predictive power of these models is presently
limited by the immature state of the cells.
Now however, Columbia University re-
searchers have developed a radically new
approach to growing in the lab adult-like hu-
man heart muscle from blood-derived human
induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), over
only four weeks of bioreactor cultivation.
“Many of the ongoing efforts—including
those from our lab—have been biomimetic
in nature, trying to recapitulate the known
events present during native development,”
says the study’s senior author Gordana Vun-
jak-Novakovic, University Professor, The
Mikati Foundation Professor at Columbia
Engineering, and professor of medicine at
Columbia University Vagelos College of Phy-
sicians and Surgeons. “Because these efforts
have been limited in how much maturation
can be achieved, we decided to try something
totally new: to explore the concept of accel-
erated development. It took a lot of creative
thinking and clever engineering by the whole
team across both campuses of Columbia Uni-
versity to develop the model we now have, a
highly matured, patient-specific heart muscle
that can be used for studies of heart develop-
ment, physiology, disease, and responses to
drugs.”
Stem cells are an especially awesome type
of undifferentiated cells that are able to
change into specialized cells. The team got
their hands on some by simply taking a blood
sample. From this, they derived early-stage
cardiac muscle cells, also known as cardio-
myocytes and then cultured them using their
new revolutionary method. This approach al-
lowed the researchers to nurture the cells to
maturity in just four weeks, compared to the
usual nine months.
The results showed that intensity-trained
tissues grown from early-stage hiPS-CMs
matured quickly to display “remarkably or-
ganized ultrastructure,” and structural fea-
Ben Waldau says.
The breakthrough could allow the brains to
survive for longer, thanks to the vital oxygen
and nutrients supplied by the vessels, and
could encourage them to keep growing.
Using brain membrane cells taken from one
of his patients during a routine surgery, the
team coaxed them first into stem cells, then
some of them into the endothelial cells that
line blood vessels’ insides. The stem cells
they grew into brain balls, which they incu-
bated in a gel matrix coated with those en-
dothelial cells.
After incubating for three weeks, they took
Vol. 02 NO 16
tures characteristic of adult heart tissue, the
team states. Such features included the phys-
iological length of the sarcomeres, density
of mitochondria, the presence of transverse
tubules, and the switch to oxidative metab-
olism. “The increasing contractile demands
induced the adult-like cardiac morphology
that is necessary for high force generation
in early-stage intensity-trained tissues,” the
team writes. “The cell size increased (an indi-
cator of physiological hypertrophy) and both
cells and nuclei were elongated (an indicator
of maturation). The sarcomere length reached
2.2 μm, a similar value to that of adult human
ventricular myocytes.”
The team is now extending their study into
broader aspects of disease modeling to get a
better understanding of the mechanistic basis
of cardiac disease and cardiotoxicity induced
by drugs used to treat other organ systems.
Their work could facilitate discovery of new
therapeutic targets and lead to new cardio-
protective or curative treatment modalities.
This ongoing research is part of the “organs
on a chip” project funded by the National
Institutes of Health, which uses multi-tissue
platforms that include the adult heart muscle
referenced in this paper as well as bone, liver,
vasculature, skin, and solid tumors.
“The resulting engineered tissue is truly
unprecedented in its similarity to function-
ing human tissue,” said Seila Selimovic,
director of the NIBIB (National Institute of
Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering)
Tissue Chips program, within the National
Institutes of Health that funded this research.
“The ability to develop mature cardiac tissue
in such a short time is an important step in
moving us closer to having reliable human
tissue models for drug testing.” The better
the engineered tissues emulate the human
heart, the better they can predict the effects
that drugs or environmental factors have on
the actual heart tissue of a patient. Having a
reliable human tissue model would help make
drug development significantly faster, safer,
and cheaper.”
By Disha Padmanabha
a single organoid and transplanted it into a
tiny cavity carefully carved into a mouse’s
brain. Two weeks later the organoid was
alive, well—and, critically, had grown cap-
illaries that penetrated all the way to its inner
layers.
These so-called brain balls are the first to
become vascularised (meaning they’re the
first to sprout vessels), with previous experi-
ments resulting in mouse blood cells infiltrat-
ing the small cerebrums.
However, scientists still aren’t certain if the
blood this network of vessels carries is hu-
man or rodent.
By Disha Padmanabha
Vol. 02 NO 16 April 17th, 2018.

Scientists Unveil New

Bioengineering Tech to
Manufacture Complex
Medicines
Microbial biosynthesis of plant natural prod-
ucts from simple building blocks is a prom-
ising approach toward scalable production
and modification of high-value compounds.
Now, researchers describe a bioengineering
process in which brewer’s yeast, along with
engineered genes from opium poppies and
rats, is used to produce a non-narcotic cough
suppressant with potential anticancer proper-
ties.
Stanford researchers inserted 25 foreign
genes, which came from the opium pop-
py, other plants and even rats, into the one-
celled fungus. All those genes were recipes
for enzymes: protein machines that, working
together, can build complex substances from
simple starting materials.
The researchers also modified some of the
plant, rat and yeast genes, as well as the me-
dium in which the yeast proliferates, to help
everything work better together.
The result was an 18,000-fold improvement
in noscapine output, compared with what
could be obtained by just inserting the plant
and rat genes into yeast.
Stanford University bioengineering profes-
sor Christina Smolke said: “This is a tech-
nology that’s going to change the way we
manufacture essential medicines.”
Noscapine’s cough-suppressing capability
was discovered in 1930. The drug was also
found to be a potential oncology therapy dur-
ing preclinical trials, where it exhibited less
impact on healthy cells than currently availa-
ble chemotherapy.
“Traditionally, we’ve gotten our medi-
cines from the natural world, mainly from
plants,” Smolke told me when I interviewed
her about the study. “But the plants’ molec-
ular assembly lines have evolved to optimize
the plants’ survival, not to churn out buckets
of one substance we humans want to get our
hands on. Plus, we’re putting them into our
yeast strain, which is foreign turf. A yeast cell
and a poppy cell have a lot in common, but
in some respects they’re as different as Earth
and Mars.”
“It’s as if we’re grabbing a couple dozen
soldiers from different units, deploying them
on Mars, and telling each of them, ‘Now, I
want you to get some serious work done
here, and I want you to work with these other
soldiers you haven’t worked with before,’”
Smolke continued. “Good luck with that. We
modified them so they’d get along with one
another better on this new planet.”
The only viable source of noscapine is opi-
um poppies. Many tons of noscapine are ex-
tracted annually from the plant, which takes a
full year to mature.
While noscapine itself is harmless, the pop-
pies’ illicit potential requires costly controls
and restrictive regulations. Additionally, nat-
urally occurring noscapine must be thorough-
ly separated from numerous molecular com-
panions, narcotic and otherwise, that don’t
occur in yeast.
The yeast Smolke’s group bioengineered
By Disha Padmanabha
can spew out substantial amounts of noscap-
ine in three or four days. The investigators
achieved this result by stitching three sepa-
rate sections of the noscapine biosynthesis
pathway into a single yeast strain. They used
CRISPR, a gene-editing tool, to alter insert-
ed genes so that the enzymes for which they
coded would work most efficiently amid the
exotic acidity, osmotic character and chemi-
cal composition of their new home.
They also souped up the yeast’s production
of a chemical whose levels would have other-
wise been too low to sustain robust noscapine
production.
“We’re no longer limited to what nature
can make,” Smolke said. “We’re moving to
an age where we can borrow nature’s med-
icine-manufacturing processes and, using
genetic engineering, build miniature living
factories that make what we want.”

Abundant Giant Virus in

Sea Captured
and Characterized
Viruses are the most abundant biological
entities on the planet and there are typically
millions of virus particles in each milliliter
of marine or fresh waters that are estimated
to kill about 20% of the living biomass each
day in surface marine waters. Most of these
viruses are tiny, often 10 or 100 times smaller
than bacteria. However, a few reach a similar
size and complexity to bacteria, and so stand
out as relative giants.
oplankton. It is found to possess an arsenal
of toxins and DNA cutting enzymes, which
likely interfere with other viruses trying to
replicate inside the host.
During an infection, BsV maneuvers in di-
rection of the rear of the host cell and releases
its viral genome. It seems on observation that
as BsV advanced it stole genetic equipment By Disha Padmanabha
from the host to assist in the an infection
course of. BsV would not carry switch RNA Christoph Deeg and Curtis Suttle isolated Bodo saltans virus in samples from UBC’s Nitobe Memorial Garden.

Relative to other viruses, Giant Viruses have
much more DNA in their genome, which in
turn provides the genetic template to produce
the proteins that allow viruses to reproduce
largely independently of its host.
Typically, more than half of the genes en-
coded by Giant Viruses have no evident sim-
ilarity to genes from other viruses or cellu-
lar life. Sequencing DNA from ocean water
suggests that Giant Viruses are abundant and
ecologically important; yet, few have been
isolated from the microbes that they infect.
Without being able to study Giant Viruses in
the laboratory, little can be known about their
biology, the way they infect their hosts, and
their broader influence on aquatic life.
Motivated by the lack of ecologically rele-
vant giant-virus isolates- Bodo saltans virus,
the first isolated representative of the most
abundant giant viruses in the sea, has now
been unveiled by researchers at the Universi-
ty of British Columbia.
The Bodo saltans virus (BsV), whose ge-
nome weighs in at 1.39 million bases of
DNA, is one of the largest giant viruses ever
isolated, and the largest known to infect zo-
(tRNA), half of the replication equipment
all different big viruses carry. It does, nev-
ertheless, carry tRNA restore genes, making
it doubtless that the virus makes use of the
host’s personal tRNA throughout an infec-
tion.
Again, these genes seem to have been
coopted by the virus straight from the host.
More than 10 per cent of BsV’s genome en-
codes the identical group of proteins which
are doubtless concerned in combating the
host’s antiviral system.
This suggests that the virus is engaged in
an evolutionary arms race with its host, and
could offer on explanation of how the ge-
nomes of giant viruses could reach their im-
pressive complexity.

5
April 17th, 2018.
Double Attack Antibody
Picks on Viruses from Two
Sides
Immunoglobulin A (IgA) plays an important
role in protecting our mucosal surfaces from
viral infection, in maintaining a balance with
the commensal bacterial flora, and in extend-
ing maternal immunity via breast feeding.
Working together with scientists from the
US, researchers at the University of Zurich
have now discovered a new aspect of how the
flu virus interacts with antibodies in the lungs.
“This was a completely unexpected and un-
foreseen finding,” says Lars Hangartner,
former professor at the Institute of Medical
Virology of UZH. “We found that antibod-
ies called IgAs, which are commonly found
on mucosal surfaces, can actually protect us
from infections in two different ways,” adds
the head of the study, who now works at The
Scripps Research Institute in the USA.
The University of Zurich (UZH) team has
discovered a new mechanism that could po-
tentially be used to develop better flu vac-
cines and more effective drugs.
Antigens provide the immune system with
a kind of blueprint that allows it to recognize
flu viruses and start the production of anti-
bodies as soon as it encounters them again.
However, current vaccines stimulate the pro-
duction of another type of antibodies: Immu-
noglobulin G (IgG).
Adhesion Protein that
Helps Bacteria Stick to
Cells Could Help Find
New Antibiotics
Many pathogenic bacteria, including Strep-
tococcus gordonii, possess a pathway for the
cellular export of a single serine-rich-repeat
protein that mediates the adhesion of bacteria
to host cells and the extracellular matrix.
Now, researchers at Harvard Medical
School, the University of California–San
Francisco, and the University of Georgia
have described how the protein that allows
strep and staph bacteria to stick to human
cells is prepared and packaged.
An important class of extracellular mole-
cules produced by pathogenic bacteria are
adhesins, proteins that enable bacteria to ad-
here to host cells. For unknown reasons, the
SRR (serine-rich-repeat) adhesins of Staph-
ylococcus and Streptococcus bacteria- path-
ogens that can be involved in serious infec-
tions such as bacterial meningitis, bacterial
pneumonia and pericarditis- are transported
through a secretion pathway that is similar to
the standard system, but dedicated solely to
adhesin.
Tom Rapoport, a professor at Harvard
Medical School who oversaw the new study,
wanted to understand what exactly these ded-
6
Vol. 02 NO 16
The team studied different kinds of anti-
bodies in cell cultures to find out which ones
were most potent against the flu virus. They
found that a subtype called IgA1, which has
a special tail at one end that contains sialic
acids, was the most effective.
It was found through investigation that this
tail blocks the part of the virus that allows it to
attach to the cells it wants to infect. This sug-
gests that the IgA1 antibody works through
two different types of immune activity.
Firstly, through acquired immunity, which
is traditionally associated with antibodies
that specifically recognize pathogens. And
secondly, through innate immunity via the
sialic acids at the other end of the molecule,
which is more of a non-specific, broad-rang-
ing attack. IgA antibodies thus attach them-
selves to flu viruses in two places at once.
The team believes that this study could help
improve the effectiveness of flu vaccinations
and drugs. Since IgAs are notoriously hard
to work with, Hangartner believes future re- By Disha Padmanabha
search should focus on developing antibodies
that are easier to produce and can be tested Immune cells produce certain antibodies that attack influenza viruses from two sides. (Image: iStock/selvanegra)
in mice.
to handle. “It would combine the best of both very useful when it comes to fighting the flu,”
His idea is to graft the tail of the IgA1 onto worlds and give us a molecule that’s more ef- adds the immunologist.
an IgG-type antibody, which is much easier fective and hardy, and that ultimately may be
icated molecular supply chains were doing.
“I was intrigued by the fact that there is a
second secretion system in some bacteria that
is separate from the canonical secretion sys-
tem and is just dedicated to the secretion of
one protein,” he said. “There is a whole ma-
chinery, and it’s only doing one thing.”
The researchers found that in order to be
transported, the adhesin protein needed to be
modified with specific sugars by three en-
zymes acting in a specific sequence. These
sugar modifications stabilize the protein and
enhance its stickiness to target cells.
The experiments the team carried out indi-
cated that two proteins in the adhesin-specif-
ic pathway, whose function had previously
been mysterious, seemed to be able to bind
to these sugars, presumably enabling them to By Disha Padmanabha
carry the adhesin to the cell membrane where
tered a lot of challenges,” said Yu Chen who to strep and staph bacteria, the new under-
adhesin’s dedicated exit channel is located.
led the investigation. standing of its components could help re-
searchers develop highly targeted antibiotics
“It’s a complicated system because it in-
The reason that these bacteria use this sep- to treat infections caused by these bacteria in
volves protein modification, chaperone activ-
arate export pathway for adhesins remains the future.
ity and membrane targeting, so we encoun-
elusive. But because this pathway is unique
Vol. 02 NO 16
Space Salad: Scientists
Grow Plants in Space-like
Conditions at Antarctica
Gardening in microgravity will lettuce go
into space- probably even make it to Mars
without a worry.
The ability to grow plants in limited condi-
tions is aessential for the future of deep-space
exploration. A critical component of future,
human exploration to worlds unknown, will
be the supply of edible food for crewmem-
bers. To develop innovations in cultivating
food in closed-loop systems becomes integral
to future missions.
Scientists at Germany’s Neumayer Station
III in Antarctica have just harvested a crop
of vegetables grown in the unlikely location
of their Antarctic lab. The haul consisted of
3.6 kg of salad greens, 18 cucumbers, and 70
radishes.
Cucumbers, radishes and lettuce are just
some of the green delights that have been
thriving in the experimental EDEN-ISS
greenhouse in Antarctica. The project follows
in the footsteps of successful US operations
cultivating crops in the harsh climate.
In addition to the veggies they just harvest-
ed, the scientists also planted strawberries,
bell peppers, and a number of herbs. By May,
DLR says they expect to be able to get about
10 pounds of produce per week.
Despite temperatures in Antarctica falling
below -20 degrees Celsius (-4 F) and the sun
barely coming above the horizon, the first
harvest from the project led by the German
Aerospace Center (DLR) demonstrates how
astronauts on the moon and Mars could be
NOVEL RNA VACCINE COULD FREE PLANTS
FROM PESTICIDE USE
Pesticides are the only toxic substances re-
leased intentionally into our environment to
kill living things. This includes substances
that kill weeds (herbicides), insects (insecti-
cides), fungus (fungicides), rodents (rodenti-
cides), and others.
The use of toxic pesticides to manage pest
problems has become a common practice
around the world. It is difficult to find some-
where where pesticides aren’t used- from the
can of bug spray under the kitchen sink to the
airplane crop dusting acres of farmland, our
world is filled with pesticides. In addition,
pesticides can be found in the air we breathe,
the food we eat, and the water we drink.
Now, an international team led by research-
ers from the University of Helsinki and the
French National Centre for Scientific Re-
search has created a new method to produce
a vaccine that triggers RNA interference—an
innate defense mechanism of plants, animals
and other eukaryotic organisms against path-
ogens.
“A new approach to plant protection in-
volves vaccinating plants against pathogens
with double-stranded RNA molecules that
can be sprayed directly on the leaves,” ex-
plains Dr Minna Poranen of the Molecular
and Integrative Biosciences Research Pro-
gramme at the University of Helsinki’s Fac-
ulty of Biological and Environmental Scienc-
es.
“The challenge in developing RNA-based
vaccines to protect plants has involved
supplied with fresh food in the future.
This mission worked to test just how astro-
nauts will be able to sustain themselves while
in space. There will be manned missions to
Mars and the moon that will seek to colonize
both worlds. EDEN ISS is a consortium of
European, American, and Canadian experts
in human spaceflight and CEA.
“It was special to have the first fresh salad
of the Antarctic,” said station manager Bern-
hard Gropp in a statement. “It tasted as if we
had harvested it fresh in the garden.”
Located at the Neumeyer-Station III, the
greenhouse defies the Arctic winter with its
state-of-the-art technology; pipes supply suf-
ficient water, lamps provide the right light,
and filters and nozzles provide the right mix-
ture of air to promote growth.
Large water tanks installed in the floor are
filled with melted, filtered, and purified ice
from the station. Water is then added to a
“special nutrient solution” that is automati-
cally sprayed on the plants every five to 10
minutes, a process called aeroponics. Bottles
of carbon dioxide were shipped along with
the container to provide the plants with ideal
air. The air is then filtered by a UV radiation
system similar to the closed-circuit system
onboard the ISS.
In a land of extreme light cycles, the crew
needed to make sure plants got a “blue and red
light cocktail”. A customized water-cooled
the production of RNA molecules. Dou-
ble-stranded RNA molecules have been pro-
duced through chemical synthesis, both as
drug molecules and for research purposes,
but such production methods are inefficient
and expensive for plant protection,” Poranen
states.
Emerging technologies for crop protection
include the external treatment of plants with
double-stranded (ds) RNA to trigger RNA
interference. However, using this method in
greenhouses and fields depends on the dsR-
NA quality, stability and efficient large-scale
production.
In this particular study, scientists designed a
vaccine that uses RNA interference, which is
an innate defence mechanism of plants, ani-
mals and other eukaryotic organisms against
pathogens.
This vaccine can be targeted to the chosen
pathogen by using RNA molecules which
share sequence identity with the pest’s genes
and prevents their expression; thereby not in-
fluencing the expression of genes in the pro-
tected plant in anyway.
Together with researchers at the CNRS, the
group has demonstrated the efficacy of RNA-
based vaccines produced using the new meth-
od against plant virus infections.
This new method will enable the effective
production of RNA-based vaccines and pro-
mote the development and adoption of RNA-
based plant protection methods.
LED system allows for each light to be indi-
vidually controlled by a computer. Plants are
illuminated for 16 hours and get a standard
eight hours of beauty rest without light.
For researchers living in Antarctica, the
prospect of fresh vegetables will be an excit-
ing change from stations’ usual dependency
on planes to deliver fresh food, and reliance
on frozen or dried food otherwise. For inter-
planetary explorers, the ability to grow food
on others worlds could mean the difference
between life and death.
A DNA PROBE PATCH TO TEST FOR FOOD
CONTAMINATION
Scientists at the McMaster University have
now reported a a transparent, durable, and
flexible sensing surface that generates a flu-
orescence signal in the presence of a specific
target bacterium. And this new tech has the
potential to replace the traditional “best be-
fore” date on food and drinks alike with a de-
finitive indication that it’s time to chuck that
roast or pour out that milk.
The patch can be incorporated directly into
food packaging, and signal E coli and Salmo-
nella contamination as it happens. Dubbed
“Sentinel Wrap,” the patch triggers a molec-
ular signal that a disease-causing agent has
contaminated products like meat, bottled wa-
ter or milk. The triggered signal could be read
by a smartphone or other devices. The patch
does not affect the contents of the package.
“Right now, if you want to know if there’s
any contamination in a food sample, you
need to bring it into a lab … and it takes at
least a day or two to find out if there’s any
pathogen present in that food sample,” said
mechanical-biomedical engineer Tohid Di-
dar, one of the product’s developers.
“In the future, if you go to a store and you
want to be sure the meat you’re buying is safe
at any point before you use it, you’ll have
a much more reliable way than the expira-
tion date,” says lead author Hanie Yousefi,
Immune cells produce certain antibodies that attack influenza viruses from two sides. (Image: iStock/selvanegra)
April 17th, 2018.
By Disha Padmanabha
NASA estimates that a trip to Mars and back
would require thousands of pounds of food;
just four crew members on a three-year mis-
sion would need more than 24,000 pounds
(10,886 kilograms) of food to eat three meals
per day. If those voyages could start an aero-
ponic garden when they landed, and synthe-
size other supplies (like nutrients and water)
from the soil of their new home, they could
extend that food supply for weeks, months,
and even years without bringing the weight
of extra food aboard.
a graduate student and research assistant in
McMaster’s Faculty of Engineering.
The signaling technology for the food test
was developed in the McMaster labs of bio-
chemist Yingfu Li.
“He created the key, and we have built a
lock and a door to go with it,” says Filipe,
who is Chair of McMaster’s Department of
Chemical Engineering.
Mass producing such a patch would be fair-
ly cheap and simple, the researchers say, as
the DNA molecules that detect food patho-
gens can be printed onto the test material.
The researchers are naming the new material
“Sentinel Wrap” in tribute to the McMas-
ter-based Sentinel Bioactive Paper Network,
an interdisciplinary research network that
worked on paper-based detection systems.
That network’s research ultimately gave rise
to the new food-testing technology.
Getting the invention to market would need
a commercial partner and regulatory approv-
als, the researchers say. They point out that
the same technology could also be used in
other applications, such as bandages to indi-
cate if wounds are infected, or for wrapping
surgical instruments to assure they are sterile.
By Disha Padmanabha
7
April 17th, 2018. Vol. 02 NO 16

Atomically Thin Synthetic

Eardrum Offers Cat-Like
“Hearing” Capability
Case Western Reserve University research-
ers are now reportedly designing a wearable
device that can send and receive signals at
radio frequencies even greater than those we
can hear with our natural ear.
Nicknamed the “drumhead”, it is
10,000,000,000,000 times smaller in volume
and 100,000 times thinner than the human
eardrum and can detect a much wider range
of signal than other similar devices.
Their work will likely contribute to making
the next generation of ultralow-power com-
munications and sensory devices smaller and
with greater detection and tuning ranges.
“Sensing and communication are key to a
connected world,” said Philip Feng, an asso-
ciate Professor of electrical engineering and
computer science and corresponding author
on the paper. “In recent decades, we have
been connected with highly miniaturized de-
vices and systems, and we have been pursu-
ing ever-shrinking sizes for those devices.”
The challenge with miniaturization: Also
achieving a broader dynamic range of detec-
tion, for small signals, such as sound, vibra-
tion, and radio waves.
“In the end, we need transducers that can
handle signals without losing or compromis-
ing information at both the ‘signal ceiling’
(the highest level of an undistorted signal)
and the ‘noise floor’ (the lowest detectable
level),” Feng said.
Dynamic range is the ratio between the sig-
nal ceiling over the noise floor and is typically
measured in decibels (dB). Human eardrums
typically have a dynamic range of about 60
to 100 dB in the range of 10 Hz to 10 kHz,
and human hearing rapidly drops outside this
frequency range. Other animals, such as the
beluga whale or common house cat can have
comparable or even broader dynamic ranges
in higher frequency bands.
The vibrating nanoscale drumheads built by
Feng and his team are composed of atomic
layers of semiconductor crystals (single-, bi-,
tri-, and four-layer MoS2 flakes, with a thick-
ness of 0.7, 1.4, 2.1, and 2.8 nm), with diam-
eters only around 1 µm.
In order to duplicate this effect, the re-
searchers needed to construct the ‘eardrums’
on an atomic level. They used a combination
of nanofabrication and micromanipulation to
suspend atomic layers over a silicon wafer.
The team then made electrical contacts to
the devices. Even for all its tiny size, the
resonators show frequency “tunability,” ac-
cording to the researchers, which means that
tones can be manipulated by stretching the
drumhead membranes through electrostatic
forces. It would be similar to tuning a kettle
drum in an orchestra, Feng noted.
“Not only having surprisingly large dynam-
ic range with such tiny volume and mass,
they are also energy-efficient and very ‘quiet’
devices,” Feng said, “We ‘listen’ to them very
carefully and ‘talk’ to them very gently.” By Disha Padmanabha

PANCANCER ATLAS REVEALS UTTERLY FIRST RAPID DIAGNOSTIC PLATFORM FOR

COMPLEX NATURE OF CANCER RESPIRATORY INFECTIONS GETS FDA NOD

Ever since the first draft of the human ge-
nome was published, there has been an ex-
pectation that this genetic code would reveal
the secrets of life, ultimately leading to novel
therapeutic strategies for a multitude of dis-
eases. To effectively identify disease genes,
DNA sequencing has been frequently applied
to study cohorts of individuals afflicted with
the same disease so that important variants
associated with disease risk can be uncov-
ered when compared to healthy individuals.
However, it remains unclear which are the
key driver mutations or dependencies in a
given cancer and how these influence patho-
genesis and response to therapy. Although tu-
mors of similar types and clinical outcomes
can have patterns of mutations that are strik-
ingly different, it is becoming apparent that
these mutations recurrently hijack the same
hallmark molecular pathways and networks.
The Pan-Cancer Initiative launched as part
of an international collaboration has now
completed its comprehensive analysis of the
complete set of tumors in The Cancer Ge-
nome Atlas (TCGA), consisting of approx-
imately 10,000 specimens and representing
33 types of cancer.
The new analysis shows that all 33 cancer
types, based on their cellular and genetic
makeup and independent of their anatom-
ic site of origin, could be reclassified into
28 different molecular types, or “clusters”.
Nearly two-thirds of these clusters were con-
sidered heterogeneous as they contained up
to 25 different histological tumor types that,
traditionally, would all be treated differently.
The PanCancer Atlas, published as a col-
lection of 27 papers across a suite of Cell
journals, sums up the work accomplished
by The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) – a
multi-institution collaboration initiated and
supported by the National Human Genome
Research Institute (NHGRI) and the Nation-
al Cancer Institute (NCI), both part of NIH.
The program, with over $300 million in total
funding, involved upwards of 150 research-
ers at more than two dozen institutions across
North America.
“Insights about how one type of cancer re-
lates to another form of the disease can have
real clinical implications,” said Josh Stuart,
Baskin Professor of Biomolecular Engineer-
ing at UC Santa Cruz and an organizer of
the Pan-Cancer Initiative. “In some cases,
we can borrow clinical practices from bet-
ter-known diseases and apply them to can-
cers for which treatment options are less well
defined.”
The PanCancer Atlas is divided into three
main categories, each anchored by a summa-
ry paper that recaps the core findings for the
topic. The main topics include cell of origin,
oncogenic processes, and oncogenic path-
ways. Multiple companion papers report in-
depth explorations of individual topics within
these categories.
Dutch molecular diagnostics company, Cu-
retis, has now received the FDA approval for
its multiplex assay to detect lower respirato-
ry tract infections, as well as for the firm’s
molecular diagnostic platform, Unyvero. The
assay is the first multiplex lower respiratory
tract infection test to be cleared by the FDA.
“The launch of our Unyvero System and
LRT Application Cartridge in the United
States will address a pressing unmet med-
ical need as it delivers results much faster
than current standard of care microbiology
culture“, said Curetis’ co-founder and Chief
Operating Officer Johannes Bacher.
“We expect that the LRT panel will trans-
form our approach to the diagnosis of lower
respiratory tract infections“, said Dr. Don-
na Mildvan, Infectious Diseases Physician
and Clinical Professor of Medicine at Icahn
School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New
York, NY. “Having the opportunity to char-
acterize pneumonia by knowing the causative
organism as well as relevant antibiotic resist-
ance markers in 4 to 5 hours has great clin-
ical implications – it is game changing and
exciting.”
The sample-to-answer Unyvero System
together with the Unyvero LRT Application
Cartridge provides rapid infectious disease
testing directly from aspirate samples in un-
der five hours. It covers more than 90% of
infection cases of hospitalized patients with
pneumonia and provides clinicians with a
comprehensive overview on genetic antibiot-
ic resistance markers detected.
Data from a clinical trial, which included
more than 2,200 patient samples at nine par-
ticipating U.S. hospitals, were submitted to
the FDA in early 2017. Curetis’ clinical trial
operations team has worked in close collab-
oration with the FDA’s review team to eval-
uate the study data set and develop relevant
statistics and reports, as well as a benefit-risk
analysis which was compiled with input and
support from several renowned U.S. clinical
experts.
Curetis further plans to submit an appli-
cation to the FDA for an expanded label on
its diagnostic system, which would include
clearance for bronchial lavage sample types
and additional diagnostic targets.
“We have assembled a team of high-caliber
talent here at Curetis USA, and we will con-
tinue to expand our commercial organization
in support of the Unyvero product launch in
Q2/2018. We are truly excited to bring the
innovative Unyvero Solution to clinicians,
microbiologists in clinical laboratories, and
above all to patients in the Unites States,”
Chris Bernard, president & CEO of Curetis
USA Inc. and EVP of global sales, said.

8
Vol. 02 NO 16 April 17th, 2018.

Non-Invasive Portable
Device Allows WBC Levels
Estimation in
Chemotherapy Patients
White-blood-cell (WBC) status is used as
one indicator of immunological status in the
diagnosis and treatment of multiple medical
conditions, including cancer, infectious dis-
eases, sepsis, autoimmune disorders, and in
the use of immunosuppressant drugs.
However, all current methods require a
blood sample which involves a visit to a
healthcare center and trained clinical person-
nel, even with finger-prick technologies. This
limitation inherently restricts how frequently
and quickly monitoring can be performed.
MIT Bioengineers have now developed a
noninvasive, portable device that could be
used to monitor patients’ white blood cell
levels at home, without taking blood samples.
The idea is to create a device that can be
used to continuously monitor immunosup-
pressed patients, such as those on chemother-
apy, and to detect serious infections.
Their tabletop prototype records video of
blood cells flowing through capillaries just
below the surface of the skin at the base of
the fingernail. A computer algorithm can ana-
lyze the images to determine if white blood
cell levels are below the threshold that doc-
tors consider dangerous.
“Our vision is that patients will have this
portable device that they can take home,
and they can monitor daily how they are re-
acting to the treatment. If they go below the
threshold, then preventive treatment can be
deployed,” says Carlos Castro-Gonzalez,
a postdoc in MIT’s Research Laboratory of
Electronics (RLE) and the leader of the re-
search team.
The technology does not provide a precise
count of white blood cells, but reveals wheth-
er patients are above or below the threshold
considered dangerous — defined as 500
neutrophils (the most common type of white
blood cell) per microliter of blood. The ap-
proach proved 95 percent accurate for deter-
mining whether a patient’s white cell levels
were above or below the threshold when test-
ed with 11 subjects at different points during
their chemotherapy treatment.
“Based on the feature-set that our human
raters identified, we are now developing an
AI and machine-vision algorithm, with pre-
liminary results that indicate the same accu-
racy as the raters,” says paper’s first author
is Aurélien Bourquard, an RLE postdoc.
The research team has applied for patents
on the technology and has launched a com-
pany called Leuko. To help move the tech-
nology further toward commercialization,
the researchers are building a new automated
prototype. Using this new prototype, the re-
searchers plan to test the device with addi-
By Disha Padmanabha
tional cancer patients. They are also investi-
gating whether they can get accurate results
with shorter lengths of video.
“There is a balancing act that oncologists
must do,” says Sanchez-Ferro. “Normally
doctors want to make chemotherapy as in-
tensive as possible but without getting peo-
ple too immunosuppressed. Current 21-day
cycles are based on statistics of what most
patients can take, but if you are ready ear-
ly, then they can potentially bring you back
early and that can translate into better sur-
vival.”

Scientists Use CRISPR

Gene Editing System to
Perform Parallel Edits
The first use of CRISPR to edit human cells
in a dish was reported in 2013. It’s since been
touted as an easy way to alter people’s DNA,
promising to banish what are currently lethal
or lifelong maladies with a single treatment
that fixes them at the genetic root.
And in a piece Bill Gates wrote for the For-
eign Affairs this week, he put further empha-
sis on how unique this technology is and how
our researches should be taken up a notch
higher to meet growing demand for food and
to improve disease prevention, particularly
for malaria. “It would be a tragedy to pass
up the opportunity,” he writes.
Now, in another exciting advance, research-
ers at the University of California have suc-
cessfully tested speeding up this process of
gene editing.
In terms of understanding the function-
al effects of DNA sequence variants, one
promising avenue is precise editing with the
CRISPR–Cas9 system. Recent studies have
used CRISPR libraries to generate many
frameshift mutations genome wide through
faulty repair of CRISPR-directed breaks by
nonhomologous end joining (NHEJ).
However, it is a tedious process- painstak-
ingly introducing a variant, monitoring the
effect gene by gene. Researchers currently
analyze each edit one at a time, a process that
can take weeks.
The UCLA team has now tweaked the
CRISPR tech so as to allow researchers to
monitor the outcome of tens of thousands
of gene edits in the time it currently takes to
analyze a few. The UCLA investigators in-
vented a method that physically connected
thousands of guides to their partner patches,
allowing a perfectly matched set to be deliv-
ered to each cell.
In their study, the team physically connect-
ed thousands of guides to their partner patch- By Disha Padmanabha
es, forming a perfectly matched set for each
cell. In a test of a class of genetic mutations that died or survived after four days. damaging genetic edits from the harmless.
suspected to be harmful to cells, they used
yeast because cellular changes in response to “We were surprised to find that some genes “We can now edit the genome in thousands
gene alterations happen quickly and are easy believed to be essential for cell function ac- of different ways, while observing positive
to observe. tually aren’t,” said first author Meru Sadhu, or negative effects on cells,” said said lead
Researchers grew millions of cells inside a a postdoctoral researcher in Kruglyak’s lab. author Leonid Kruglyak, chair of human ge-
flask of fluid. CRISPR delivered a custom- “In other genes, only a part of the protein is netics at the David Geffen School of Medi-
ized set of paired guides and patches to each essential, while the rest can be chopped off cine at UCLA. “Our ultimate goal is to help
cell- about 10,000 distinct mutations simul- and the cell will still survive.” scientists zero in on the genetic culprit for a
taneously. The guide and patches instructed disease, leading doctors to a firm diagnosis
CRISPR where to snip the gene and what edit The UCLA team hopes their technique will and allowing patients to obtain the most ef-
to introduce. This process distinguished cells help scientists to rapidly distinguish the most fective treatment.“

9
April 17th, 2018.
Biomarkers Could Help
Predict Recurrence of
Malignant Brain Tumor
Glioblastoma (GBM) is a highly aggressive
brain cancer and accounts for 46.6% of pri-
mary malignant brain tumors with a 5-year
overall survival estimate post-diagnosis of
5.5%. The WHO histomorphology and grad-
ing classification of diffuse gliomas does
not have predictive clinical outcomes after
GBMs have developed.
Treating initially lower-grade glioma (LGG)
that relapses and undergoes malignant trans-
formation to GBM is one of the greatest chal-
lenges in neuro-oncology. To date, despite
the efforts of the neuro-oncology community,
no treatment regimens or bona fide biomark-
ers that significantly translate into a survival
benefit to GBM patients have been identified.
Now, scientists led by the Henry Ford
Health System’s Department of Neuro-
surgery and Department of Public Health
Sciences in Michigan, found that 9.5 percent
had a distinct epigenetic alteration at genom-
ic sites that are active in regulating genes as-
sociated with aggressive tumors that include
glioblastoma.
The group carried out an evaluation of 200
brain tumor samples from 77 patients with
diffuse glioma harboring IDH mutation, the
most important assortment of main and re-
Cardiovascular Risk
Incidence Predicting Blood
Test Developed
Circulating branched-chain amino acids
(BCAAs; isoleucine, leucine, and valine) are
strong predictors of type 2 diabetes mellitus
(T2D), but their association with cardiovas-
cular disease (CVD) is uncertain. Now, in a
new study, researchers of the Brigham and
Women’s Hospital hypothesized that plasma
BCAAs are positively associated with CVD
risk and evaluated whether this was depend-
ent on an intermediate diagnosis of T2D.
“We examined more than 27,000 women
in the Women’s Health Study and found that
a one-time measurement of branched chain
amino acids in the blood stream – a test that
now can be easily done – predicted future
risk of cardiovascular events to the same ex-
tent and independent of LDL cholesterol and
other risk factors,” said corresponding author
Samia Mora, MD, of the Center for Lipid
Metabolomics at BWH. “This was particu-
larly so for women who developed type 2 di-
abetes prior to their cardiovascular disease.”
In the course of their investigation, the team
of researchers measured BCAA levels in
blood samples using NMR spectrometry. Of
10
current gliomas from the identical sufferers
to date. Comparing samples from the suf-
ferers’ preliminary analysis with these from
their illness recurrence, researchers targeted,
particularly, on a definite epigenetic modifi-
cation occurring alongside the DNA phase, a
course of referred to as DNA methylation.
Previously, their analysis confirmed that
when there was no change within the DNA
methylation, sufferers had an excellent med-
ical consequence. When the DNA methyla-
tion was misplaced, sufferers had a poor end
result.
In this newest research, the authors have
been in a position to determine a set of epi-
genetic biomarkers that may predict, at a af-
fected person’s preliminary analysis, which
tumors are probably to recur with a extra ag-
gressive tumor sort.
Houtan Noushmehr, Ph.D., Henry Ford De-
partment of Neurosurgery, Hermelin Brain
Tumor Center, and senior author of the study,
says this discovery could make a huge differ-
ence when a patient is first diagnosed.
“To date, we really don’t have any predic-
tive clinical outcomes once a patient is di-
agnosed with glioma. By pinpointing these
the more than 27,000 women studied, 2,207
experienced a cardiovascular event over the
18 year follow up period.
They noticed an association between BCAA
levels and incident of CVD events. This asso-
ciation was much more pronounced in wom-
en who developed diabetes before experienc-
ing a cardiovascular event.
The researchers then adjusted for other
biomarkers related to diabetes – including
hbA1c – finding evidence that BCAAs may
be tied to downstream biomarkers of type 2
diabetes metabolism.
“Impaired BCAA metabolism may rep-
resent a shared pathway of the metabolic
pathophysiology that links the risks of T2D
and CVD,” the authors conclude.
“There is little known at this time as to what
leads to elevated levels of BCAAs or what
can be done clinically to reduce them, and if
this leads to a reduction in risk, but further re-
search will target these important questions,”
said Tobias.
By Disha Padmanabha
molecular abnormalities, we can begin to
predict how aggressive a patient’s recurrence
will be and that can better inform the treat-
ment path we recommend from the very be-
ginning.”
Of the 200 tissue samples, 10% were found
to have a distinct epigenetic alteration at
genomic sites known to be functionally ac-
tive in regulating genes that are known to be
associated with aggressive tumors such as
glioblastoma.
“This research presents a set of testable
STUDY DISPUTES NEUROGENESIS, FINDS
ADULT BRAIN PRODUCING NEW CELLS
Columbia University researchers have now
identified thousands of immature neurons in
the brain region, countering the popular no-
tion of stagnant brain growth as we age.
There’s been considerable debate about
whether the human brain has the capacity to
make new neurons into adulthood. This re-
cently published study offers some compel-
ling new evidence that’s the case. These find-
ings suggest that a healthy person in his or
her seventies may have about as many young
neurons in a portion of the brain essential for
learning and memory as a teenager does.
To come to this conclusion, lead author Dr.
Maura Boldrini, a research scientist at Co-
lumbia University’s department of psychia-
try, and her colleagues looked at the brains
of 28 deceased people aged 14 to 79. Their
goal was to see whether aging affects neuron
production.
Previous research had shown that neuro-
genesis slows down in aging mice and non-
human primates. Boldrini’s group wanted
to see whether a similar pattern occurred in
humans.
“The exciting part is that the neurons are
there throughout a lifetime,” said Dr Maura
Boldrini. “It seems that indeed humans are
different from mice – where [neuron produc-
tion] goes down with age really fast – and
this could mean that we need these neurons
for our complex learning abilities and cogni-
tive behavioural responses to emotions.”
The brain’s hippocampus, which is respon-
sible for memory and learning, has been a
major focus of studies on neurogenesis and
stem cell biology. Although neuroimag-
ing studies of humans show that continued
Vol. 02 NO 16
By Disha Padmanabha
DNA-methylation biomarkers that may help
clinicians predict if someone’s brain tumor
is heading in a more or less aggressive di-
rection, essentially illustrating the behavior
of a patient’s disease,” says James Snyder,
D.O., study co-author and neuro-oncologist,
Henry Ford Department of Neurosurgery
and Hermelin Brain Tumor Center. “If we
can identify which brain tumors will have a
more aggressive course at the point of initial
diagnosis then hopefully we can change the
disease trajectory and improve care for our
patients.”
growth in this structure occurs in adulthood,
many scientists have argued that this repre-
sents existing neurons growing larger, or an
expansion of blood vessels or other internal
support structures, rather than the addition of
new neurons.
For their analysis, the research team spent
5 years collecting brain tissue from 59 peo-
ple who had died or had such tissue removed
during surgery for epilepsy at different ages,
ranging from before birth to 77 years of age.
They used fluorescent antibodies to label
proteins specific to cells at different states of
maturity. With an electron microscope, they
also looked for the characteristic long, slen-
der, simple shapes of young neurons.
They found that people have large numbers
of neural stem cells and progenitors early in
life—an average of 1618 young neurons per
square millimeter of brain tissue at birth. But
these cells did not go on to form a proliferat-
ing layer of neural stem cells, and production
of new neurons dropped 23-fold between 1
and 7 years of age, the team reports. By
adulthood the supply of young neurons had
petered out entirely.
“It is possible that ongoing hippocampal
neurogenesis sustains human-specific cog-
nitive function throughout life and that de-
clines may be linked to compromised cog-
nitive-emotional resilience,” said Boldrini,
who hopes her research will contribute to
further investigation of age-related condi-
tions such as Alzheimer’s.
By Disha Padmanabha
Vol. 02 NO 16 April 17th, 2018.

New Framework for

Future Alzheimer’s
Research Proposed
Owing to a 15-year record of clinical fail-
ures and pulled by an FDA searching for a
practical new path forward for Alzheimer’s
drug research, a joint committee organized by
the NIH’s National Institute of Aging and the
Alzheimer’s Association is suggesting a bio-
marker-based approach to defining the illness
that can guide new development efforts.
This proposed “biological construct” is
based on measurable changes in the brain and
is expected to facilitate better understanding
of the disease process and the sequence of
events that lead to cognitive impairment and
dementia.
The identification of Alzheimer’s disease
(AD) biomarkers and their ability to measure
pathology antemortem has led to a funda-
mental reconsideration of the pathogenesis of
AD. The importance of biomarkers was al-
ready reflected in revised diagnostic criteria
proposed by the National Institute on Aging
and the Alzheimer’s Association in 2011.
Beginning in 2016, the NIA and AA con-
vened a new workgroup to develop a re-
search framework for AD that embodied the
paradigm shift occurring in the field. Rath-
er than conceptualizing AD primarily as a
clinicopathological entity, biomarkers have
demonstrated that AD pathology exists over
the continuum of the disease–from a stage
preceding overt symptomatology (the “pre-
clinical state”) to the progressively more im-
paired symptomatic states of mild cognitive
impairment (MCI) and dementia. The same By Disha Padmanabha
biomarkers have also shown in greater res-
biologically, with clinical symptoms being populations. Innovative trial approaches that
olution how dementia may occur in people
a … consequence.” They say, “the goal of have been tested in other disease areas such
with both AD and non-AD pathology.
much of medicine is to identify and treat dis- as oncology- platform trials, umbrella and
With this construct, researchers can study
eases prior to overt symptoms. The [NIA-AA basket designs- could be used with stratifica-
Alzheimer’s, from its earliest biological un-
Research] Framework is intended to pro- tion of patients by ATN profiling.
derpinnings to outward signs of memory loss
vide a path forward to … prevention trials of In an accompanying editorial, members of
and other clinical symptoms, which could re-
Alzheimer’s disease among persons who are the NIH who worked on the report empha-
sult in a more precise and faster approach to
clinically asymptomatic.” sized that the framework is still a work in
testing drug and other interventions.
progress. As science advances, even more bi-
The biomarker-based definition relies on omarkers might need to be considered, they
“With the aging of the global population,
three neuropathological measures of beta-am- admit.
and the ever-escalating cost of care for peo-
yloid deposition, abnormal microtubule-as- And though the NIH expects and hopes
ple with dementia, new methods are desper-
sociated protein tau (tau; MAPT; FTDP-17) scientists use the framework in designing
ately needed to improve the process of ther-
and neurodegeneration, collectively called their studies when submitting for grants, they
apy development and increase the likelihood
the “ATN system” that can be measured with won’t shut out those who don’t use these spe-
of success,” said Maria Carrillo, Ph.D.,
imaging technology and analysis of cerebral cific biomarkers in their research.
Alzheimer’s Association chief science officer
fluid samples.
and a co-author of the new article. “This new
“The NIH will consider research applica-
Research Framework is an enormous step in
The authors suggest the ATN framework tions using the Framework as well as propos-
the right direction for Alzheimer’s research.”
can help in the design and execution of ob- als using alternative schemes when design-
servational studies and clinical trials, and can ing experimental approaches,” they wrote.
According to the authors, “This evolution
enable trials to use biologically defined target “The NIH continues to welcome applications
of the previous diagnostic criteria is in line
populations in addition to clinically defined where biomarkers may not be appropriate.”
with most chronic diseases that are defined

See No More of those

Pricks! Non-Invasive
Glucose Monitoring Patch
is Here
Finally, an end to all the pricking and pes-
tering.
It is estimated that around 30.3 million peo-
ple in the United States are living with dia-
betes, and there are around 1.5 million new
cases diagnosed every year. And currently,
there is no available needle-free approach for
diabetics to monitor glucose levels in the in-
terstitial fluid.
Now however, scientists at the Bath Uni-
versity have designed an electronic patch
that non-invasively measure glucose levels
through the skin. It works by drawing out
glucose from fluid between cells across hair
follicles, which are individually accessed via
an array of miniature sensors using a small
electric current. The glucose collects in tiny
reservoirs and is measured.
An important advantage of this device over
others is that each miniature sensor of the ar-
ray can operate on a small area over an indi-
vidual hair follicle – this significantly reduc-
es inter- and intra-skin variability in glucose
extraction and increases the accuracy of the
measurements taken such that calibration via
a blood sample is not required.
Further, the test can be taken as often as
once every 10 to 15 minutes over a period of
several hours. It is hoped that once commer-
cialized, the inexpensive disposable device
could wirelessly transmit those readings to
an app on the user’s smartphone, providing
alerts when necessary.
“A non-invasive – that is, needle-less –
method to monitor blood sugar has proven
a difficult goal to attain,” said professor of
the university’s department of pharmacy and
pharmacology Richard Guy. “The closest
that has been achieved has required either
at least a single-point calibration with a
classic ‘finger-stick’, or the implantation of
a pre-calibrated sensor via a single needle
insertion.”
“The monitor developed at Bath promises a
truly calibration-free approach, an essential
contribution in the fight to combat the ev-
er-increasing global incidence of diabetes,”
he continued.
“The specific architecture of our array per-
mits calibration-free operation, and it has the
further benefit of allowing realization with a
variety of materials in combination,” said Dr.
Adelina Ilie, from the University’s Depart-
ment of Physics. “We utilized graphene as
one of the components as it brings important
advantages: specifically, it is strong, conduc-
tive, flexible, and potentially low-cost and
environmentally friendly. In addition, our de-
By Disha Padmanabha
sign can be implemented using high-through-
put fabrication techniques like screen print-
ing, which we hope will ultimately support a
disposable, widely affordable device.”
In lab tests, the patch has been successful-
ly used to monitor fluctuating blood glucose
levels both in healthy human volunteers, and
on pig skin with glucose levels representing
the range seen in human diabetics. The sci-
entists are now planning on optimizing the
number of sensors in the patch, demonstrat-
ing its functionality over a 24-hour wear pe-
riod, and performing clinical trials.

11
April 17th, 2018.
STAYING FIT COULD HELP STEER CLEAR OF
GENETIC HEART DISEASES
It takes a special person to enjoy every sin-
gle workout every single time. You’re only
human, right? So getting frustrated, angry,
sleepy, teary, competitive and exhausted is
all part of the process. That said, so is feeling
happy, accomplished and proud when you
make it to the end of your workout.
And if you’re the kind that hates exercis-
ing with the fiery passion of a thousand suns,
this piece.. erm, well I hope gets you right on
back track (no pun intended).
A new study indicates exercise may be the
best way to keep off heart disease- even for
those with a genetic pre-disposition.
12
“The main message of this study is that ge-
netic risk isn’t deterministic,” says Erik In-
gelsson, M.D., Ph.D., professor of medicine
at Stanford University School of Medicine
and lead author of the study published in the
American Heart Association journal, Circu-
lation. “Even if your parents died early of
heart disease, you can reduce your risk to the
level of someone with no family history of the
disease by increasing your fitness.”
“This study further buoys what I’ve always
said—that exercise is good for everyone and
everything,” says Consumer Reports’ chief
medical advisor Marvin M. Lipman, M.D.
In one of the largest observational studies
on fitness and heart disease, researchers ex-
amined data collected from nearly a half-mil-
lion people in the UK Biobank database. The
investigators found that people with higher
levels of grip strength, physical activity, and
cardiorespiratory fitness had reduced risks of
heart attacks and stroke, even if they had a
genetic predisposition for heart disease.
For participants deemed at intermediate ge-
netic risk for cardiovascular diseases, those
with the strongest grips were 36 percent less
likely to develop coronary heart disease and
had a 46 percent reduction in their risk for
atrial fibrillation compared with study partic-
Vol. 02 NO 16
By Disha Padmanabha
ipants who had the same genetic risk and the
weakest grips. Researchers determined vari-
ous levels of genetic risk according to meas-
urements based on discoveries from genome-
wide association studies, the most common
study design to discover genetic variation
associated with disease.
The study authors explained that the results
of this research could have important impli-
cations for public health, especially consid-
ering the fact that little is known about the
effects of exercise in individuals who have
genetically inherited a risk of cardiovascular
disease.