15 June 2013 Stressed for Success There’s a lot to learn from watching how life adapts. Myofibroblasts are stretchy cells that help to repair our organs – contracting to bring the edges of a wound together and then self-destructing like tiny dissolvable stiches. These rat myofibroblasts have been grown on differently-sized artificial ‘islands’, putting strain on their criss-crossing stress fibres (highlighted here with multi-coloured fluorescent dyes). Forced to stretch out, the cells adapt and remodel – the cell on the large island (right) has developed more stress fibres than the ‘relaxed’ cell on the smaller island (left, 200 million times smaller than The Isle of Man). Watching how myofibroblasts respond to stress tells us a great deal about how they cope inside our bodies, and what happens when they’re pushed too far – malfunctioning myofibroblasts left behind after a wound has healed can build up into scar tissue, sometimes leading to severe conditions like pulmonary fibrosis. Written by John Ankers — Boris Hinz University of Toronto, Canada Originally published under a Creative Commons Attribution license Published in PLoS ONE 8(5): e64560
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15 June 2013

Stressed for Success

There’s a lot to learn from watching how life adapts. Myofibroblasts are stretchy cells that help to repair our organs – contracting to bring the edges of a wound together and then self-destructing like tiny dissolvable stiches. These rat myofibroblasts have been grown on differently-sized artificial ‘islands’, putting strain on their criss-crossing stress fibres (highlighted here with multi-coloured fluorescent dyes). Forced to stretch out, the cells adapt and remodel – the cell on the large island (right) has developed more stress fibres than the ‘relaxed’ cell on the smaller island (left, 200 million times smaller than The Isle of Man). Watching how myofibroblasts respond to stress tells us a great deal about how they cope inside our bodies, and what happens when they’re pushed too far – malfunctioning myofibroblasts left behind after a wound has healed can build up into scar tissue, sometimes leading to severe conditions like pulmonary fibrosis.

Written by John Ankers

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Source: bpod.mrc.ac.uk

06 June 2013 Miracle Grow Our livers are resilient little machines. They clean our blood and digest our food, and at the same time can repair themselves following toxic damage. However, a liver can be damaged beyond self-repair by certain diseases such as hepatitis, leaving a need for interventions to mend our essential organ. Scientists keen to harness its rejuvenating ability began by searching for liver stem cells, a type of cell with the necessary special powers. By detecting a special marker, a molecular ‘flag’ that other stem cells hold, the liver stem cells were identified. Once isolated these cells were tricked to grow into a liver-like organoid (pictured), a mass of cells that function like a liver. The different colours show the organoid bears the authentic molecular ‘flags’ of a liver. Organoid patches could one day be transplanted into diseased livers, giving them a new lease of life. Written by Georgina Askeland — Meritxell Huch and Hans Clevers Hubrecht Institute for Developmental Biology and Stem Cell Research, Netherlands Reprinted by permission from Macmillan Publishers Ltd: Nature Copyright 2013 Published in Nature 494: 247-250
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06 June 2013

Miracle Grow

Our livers are resilient little machines. They clean our blood and digest our food, and at the same time can repair themselves following toxic damage. However, a liver can be damaged beyond self-repair by certain diseases such as hepatitis, leaving a need for interventions to mend our essential organ. Scientists keen to harness its rejuvenating ability began by searching for liver stem cells, a type of cell with the necessary special powers. By detecting a special marker, a molecular ‘flag’ that other stem cells hold, the liver stem cells were identified. Once isolated these cells were tricked to grow into a liver-like organoid (pictured), a mass of cells that function like a liver. The different colours show the organoid bears the authentic molecular ‘flags’ of a liver. Organoid patches could one day be transplanted into diseased livers, giving them a new lease of life.

Written by Georgina Askeland

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Source: bpod.mrc.ac.uk

02 June 2013 Mind over Machine Right now you are reading from a computer screen. How did you control your computer to browse the internet – click on a link, scroll the page? Perhaps you used a mouse, a keyboard, a stylus or even your finger. Without hands how could you accomplish the same tasks? Human-machine interfaces (HMIs) are often designed to help patients with severe difficulties in mobility or communication. They use novel ways to turn actions or even thoughts into signals – anything from imagining a specific pattern of movement to voice control – to control a machine. The HMI pictured uses surface electromyography to sense muscle activity produced from specific vowel sounds. Used to perhaps move a wheelchair or click a mouse, this system is less invasive than other HMIs and is easy to learn. It could also enable users to multitask in ways many of us take for granted everyday. Written by Mary-Clare Hallsworth — Cara Stepp Boston University, USA Originally published under a Creative Commons Attribution license Published in PLoS ONE 8(3): e59860
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02 June 2013

Mind over Machine

Right now you are reading from a computer screen. How did you control your computer to browse the internet – click on a link, scroll the page? Perhaps you used a mouse, a keyboard, a stylus or even your finger. Without hands how could you accomplish the same tasks? Human-machine interfaces (HMIs) are often designed to help patients with severe difficulties in mobility or communication. They use novel ways to turn actions or even thoughts into signals – anything from imagining a specific pattern of movement to voice control – to control a machine. The HMI pictured uses surface electromyography to sense muscle activity produced from specific vowel sounds. Used to perhaps move a wheelchair or click a mouse, this system is less invasive than other HMIs and is easy to learn. It could also enable users to multitask in ways many of us take for granted everyday.

Written by Mary-Clare Hallsworth

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Source: bpod.mrc.ac.uk

01 June 2013 Bugs Help Out Bacteria might seem unlikely allies when fighting disease, yet they could hold the key to controlling malaria. This deadly tropical illness is caused by Plasmodium parasites, transmitted to humans via mosquito bites. However, mosquitoes can be made somewhat resistant to the parasite, by infecting them with Wolbachia bacteria, which block the parasite’s development. Infected individuals thus carry, and transmit, far fewer parasites. Researchers have recently succeeded in infecting Anopheles stephensi, a species largely responsible for malarial transmission in the Middle East and Asia; the picture reveals the presence of Wolbachia (stained green) in a mosquito’s ovaries. Infected females pass Wolbachia on to their offspring, and infected males only breed successfully with infected females, so parasite resistance quickly spreads within the population. A similar technique, applied to mosquitoes transmitting the virus responsible for dengue fever, has yielded promising results, raising hopes that this approach might provide solutions for malaria too. Written by Emmanuelle Briolat — Zhiyong Xi Michigan State University, USA Reprinted with permission from AAAS. Published in Science 340(6133): 748-751
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01 June 2013

Bugs Help Out

Bacteria might seem unlikely allies when fighting disease, yet they could hold the key to controlling malaria. This deadly tropical illness is caused by Plasmodium parasites, transmitted to humans via mosquito bites. However, mosquitoes can be made somewhat resistant to the parasite, by infecting them with Wolbachia bacteria, which block the parasite’s development. Infected individuals thus carry, and transmit, far fewer parasites. Researchers have recently succeeded in infecting Anopheles stephensi, a species largely responsible for malarial transmission in the Middle East and Asia; the picture reveals the presence of Wolbachia (stained green) in a mosquito’s ovaries. Infected females pass Wolbachia on to their offspring, and infected males only breed successfully with infected females, so parasite resistance quickly spreads within the population. A similar technique, applied to mosquitoes transmitting the virus responsible for dengue fever, has yielded promising results, raising hopes that this approach might provide solutions for malaria too.

Written by Emmanuelle Briolat

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Source: bpod.mrc.ac.uk

30 May 2013 Red Hot Pain Red hot chilli peppers are a must for curry connoisseurs, but leave the mouth burning and eyes watering. The active ingredient is capsaicin that triggers pain receptors in the mouth and skin, sending electrical signals to the brain that register as pain. People with neuropathic pain experience the same prickly burning pain, incessantly. Neuropathic pain has no obvious cause, but is a common side-effect of nerve damage and can cause hypersensitivity to other pain stimuli such as heat. Here, MRI scans of the side (top left), back (bottom left) and top (right) of the head show which brain areas become activated when a heat stimulus is applied to the arm. Heat alone activates areas marked blue, but when capsaicin is first applied briefly to the skin, activation spreads into the red (overlapping areas, purple). Capsaicin-induced pain could provide a new model to test novel pain-killers for neuropathic pain. Written by Caroline Cross — Praveen Anand Imperial College, London, UK Published in Journal of Pain Research 4:365-371
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30 May 2013

Red Hot Pain

Red hot chilli peppers are a must for curry connoisseurs, but leave the mouth burning and eyes watering. The active ingredient is capsaicin that triggers pain receptors in the mouth and skin, sending electrical signals to the brain that register as pain. People with neuropathic pain experience the same prickly burning pain, incessantly. Neuropathic pain has no obvious cause, but is a common side-effect of nerve damage and can cause hypersensitivity to other pain stimuli such as heat. Here, MRI scans of the side (top left), back (bottom left) and top (right) of the head show which brain areas become activated when a heat stimulus is applied to the arm. Heat alone activates areas marked blue, but when capsaicin is first applied briefly to the skin, activation spreads into the red (overlapping areas, purple). Capsaicin-induced pain could provide a new model to test novel pain-killers for neuropathic pain.

Written by Caroline Cross

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Source: bpod.mrc.ac.uk

28 May 2013 Blood Brain Biomarkers Pinpointing changes to brain tissue using scanning technologies can help doctors diagnose brain damage and disease. But being able to diagnose disorders such as schizophrenia or Alzheimer’s disease with a finger prick of blood would be simpler and quicker. Scientists looking for blood biomarkers that signal problems in the brain are homing in on several candidates. One of them, S100B (labelled here in red and yellow), is produced inside brain cells called oligodendrocytes (green), which are found in large numbers in the corpus callosum – an area of white matter that resembles a sandwich filling between the two brain lobes. Tiny amounts of the protein are enough to help nerves grow, but too much, and inflammation can develop. New research shows that high S100B levels in blood can indicate brain damage, offering doctors hope of a new diagnostic tool for brain disorders, to ensure patients get treatment as quickly as possible. Written by Caroline Cross — Daniel-Paolo Streitbürger Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Germany Originally published under a Creative Commons Attribution license Published in PLoS ONE 7(8): e43284
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28 May 2013

Blood Brain Biomarkers

Pinpointing changes to brain tissue using scanning technologies can help doctors diagnose brain damage and disease. But being able to diagnose disorders such as schizophrenia or Alzheimer’s disease with a finger prick of blood would be simpler and quicker. Scientists looking for blood biomarkers that signal problems in the brain are homing in on several candidates. One of them, S100B (labelled here in red and yellow), is produced inside brain cells called oligodendrocytes (green), which are found in large numbers in the corpus callosum – an area of white matter that resembles a sandwich filling between the two brain lobes. Tiny amounts of the protein are enough to help nerves grow, but too much, and inflammation can develop. New research shows that high S100B levels in blood can indicate brain damage, offering doctors hope of a new diagnostic tool for brain disorders, to ensure patients get treatment as quickly as possible.

Written by Caroline Cross

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Source: bpod.mrc.ac.uk

22 May 2013 Keeping in Shape Stretch your skin and it springs back to shape – a property also possessed by the lining of your throat, inner ear, blood vessels and many other body parts. This springy tension is due to each surface cell having a tiny belt, formed by the proteins myosin and actin, wrapped around it, rather like an elastic band. Scientists have discovered that these belts are interlinked so that their stretching and squeezing actions spread like waves through the millions of cells, controlling the shape and movement of the surface (epithelial) tissue. Pictured (bottom) is a normal arrangement of surface cells of a rat’s intestine, with actin stained red and cell boundaries green. When myosin is chemically deactivated, the protein belts stop working, causing the cells to drift apart (top). Written by Mick Warwicker — Hirofumi Sakaguchi, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Japan Bechara Kachar, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, NIH, USA Copyright Elsevier 2013 Published in Current Biology 23(8): 731-736
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22 May 2013

Keeping in Shape

Stretch your skin and it springs back to shape – a property also possessed by the lining of your throat, inner ear, blood vessels and many other body parts. This springy tension is due to each surface cell having a tiny belt, formed by the proteins myosin and actin, wrapped around it, rather like an elastic band. Scientists have discovered that these belts are interlinked so that their stretching and squeezing actions spread like waves through the millions of cells, controlling the shape and movement of the surface (epithelial) tissue. Pictured (bottom) is a normal arrangement of surface cells of a rat’s intestine, with actin stained red and cell boundaries green. When myosin is chemically deactivated, the protein belts stop working, causing the cells to drift apart (top).

Written by Mick Warwicker

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Published in Current Biology 23(8): 731-736

Source: bpod.mrc.ac.uk

21 May 2013 Living Ink This is no ordinary printout. The pattern has been created not by ink, but by living human cells. Two types – stem cells (stained red) and blood vessel wall cells (stained green) – have been positioned on a patch using a device that’s similar to an office inkjet printer. Each cell type is released onto the patch in a set order, just as droplets of ink are printed onto paper. When the patch was applied to a damaged rat heart, the stem cells were able to help the blood vessels regenerate. Cells printed into a grid like this did a better job than those randomly jumbled up on the patch. Scientists now are beginning to print cells in three dimensions, creating made-to-order structures that resemble living tissues. Perhaps one day they will be able to print out whole organs at the touch of a button. Written by Emma Stoye — Wenzhong Li, Gustav Steinhoff Reference and Translation Center for Cardiac Stem Cell Therapy, University of Rostock, Germany Copyright Elsevier 2012 Published in Biomaterials 32(35): 9218-9230
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21 May 2013

Living Ink

This is no ordinary printout. The pattern has been created not by ink, but by living human cells. Two types – stem cells (stained red) and blood vessel wall cells (stained green) – have been positioned on a patch using a device that’s similar to an office inkjet printer. Each cell type is released onto the patch in a set order, just as droplets of ink are printed onto paper. When the patch was applied to a damaged rat heart, the stem cells were able to help the blood vessels regenerate. Cells printed into a grid like this did a better job than those randomly jumbled up on the patch. Scientists now are beginning to print cells in three dimensions, creating made-to-order structures that resemble living tissues. Perhaps one day they will be able to print out whole organs at the touch of a button.

Written by Emma Stoye

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Published in Biomaterials 32(35): 9218-9230

Source: bpod.mrc.ac.uk

20 May 2013 Sweet Discovery Estimated to affect over 170 million people worldwide, diabetes is a major modern-day health concern. Caused by failure to regulate blood sugar, this disease arises because of defects in the production of insulin, a hormone that acts to decrease the levels of glucose in the blood, or in the way other tissues respond to it. Researchers have recently identified a hormone, named betatrophin, which is secreted by liver and fat tissue, and stimulates duplication of insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. Raising the levels of betatrophin makes the pancreatic cells replicate faster, and having more of these cells means that more insulin is made. In the mouse pancreas pictured, the pink spots identify a protein characteristic of replication, thus revealing that some of the cells that produce insulin (stained green) are duplicating. Also found in humans, betatrophin could provide potential alternatives to insulin injections in the treatment of diabetes. Written by Emmanuelle Briolat — Douglas Melton Harvard University, USA Copyright Elsevier 2013 Published in Cell 2013
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20 May 2013

Sweet Discovery

Estimated to affect over 170 million people worldwide, diabetes is a major modern-day health concern. Caused by failure to regulate blood sugar, this disease arises because of defects in the production of insulin, a hormone that acts to decrease the levels of glucose in the blood, or in the way other tissues respond to it. Researchers have recently identified a hormone, named betatrophin, which is secreted by liver and fat tissue, and stimulates duplication of insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. Raising the levels of betatrophin makes the pancreatic cells replicate faster, and having more of these cells means that more insulin is made. In the mouse pancreas pictured, the pink spots identify a protein characteristic of replication, thus revealing that some of the cells that produce insulin (stained green) are duplicating. Also found in humans, betatrophin could provide potential alternatives to insulin injections in the treatment of diabetes.

Written by Emmanuelle Briolat

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Published in Cell 2013

Source: bpod.mrc.ac.uk

17 May 2013 Stuck like Glue These glistening dew-like droplets are a death trap for insects, but could be a symbol of hope for surgery patients. The sundew (Drosera sp.) is an insectivorous plant that entices and then snares its prey with tentacles covered in gluey mucilage. Taking inspiration from nature, researchers believe this natural adhesive might have many medical uses. A complex network of carbohydrate-based nanofibres, sundew’s secretions are super-sticky and extremely stretchy. The most valuable property of this biomaterial is that animal cells can attach to and grow on it. If surgical implants, like hip replacements, were coated in sundew adhesive they might be more quickly integrated into the body, reducing rejection and improving recovery rates. It could even be used for wound dressings – promoting faster healing by encouraging cell growth. As the mucilage is so stretchy a little goes a long way, making it cost effective too. Written by Sarah McLusky — Pelagie Favi Samantha Tracht University of Tennessee, USA
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17 May 2013

Stuck like Glue

These glistening dew-like droplets are a death trap for insects, but could be a symbol of hope for surgery patients. The sundew (Drosera sp.) is an insectivorous plant that entices and then snares its prey with tentacles covered in gluey mucilage. Taking inspiration from nature, researchers believe this natural adhesive might have many medical uses. A complex network of carbohydrate-based nanofibres, sundew’s secretions are super-sticky and extremely stretchy. The most valuable property of this biomaterial is that animal cells can attach to and grow on it. If surgical implants, like hip replacements, were coated in sundew adhesive they might be more quickly integrated into the body, reducing rejection and improving recovery rates. It could even be used for wound dressings – promoting faster healing by encouraging cell growth. As the mucilage is so stretchy a little goes a long way, making it cost effective too.

Written by Sarah McLusky

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