Visualizing fungal infections deep in living host tissue reveals proline metabolism facilitates virulence

An international team of scientists led by researchers from the Department of Molecular Biosciences, The Wenner-Gren Institute, SciLifeLab, Stockholm University has published in PLoS Pathogens the first successful application of 2-photon intravital microscopy (IVM) to image the dynamics of fungal infections in the kidney of a living host.

UC Irvine-led researchers reveal new molecular mechanism for stimulating hair growth

Irvine, Calif., June 21, 2023 — The process by which aged, or senescent, pigment-making cells in the skin cause significant growth of hair inside skin moles, called nevi, has been identified by a research team led by the University of California, Irvine. The discovery may offer a road map for an entirely new generation of molecular therapies for androgenetic alopecia, a common form of hair loss in both women and men.

UCI-led study discovers pre-treatment cognitive impairment in younger cancer patients

Irvine, Calif., Nov. 16, 2022 — A team of researchers led by the University of California, Irvine has discovered that adolescent and young adult cancer patients can experience cancer-related cognitive impairment before chemotherapy or radiation treatment, highlighting the importance of evaluating and managing toxicity at the time of diagnosis to help prevent further deterioration.

UCI’s Oswald Steward to serve as president of Society for Neuroscience

Irvine, Calif., Nov. 15, 2022 — The University of California, Irvine today announced that Oswald Steward, director of the campus’s Reeve-Irvine Research Center, will assume the role of president of the Society for Neuroscience, the world’s largest organization for the study of the brain and nervous system, with more than 36,000 members in 95 countries.

Patient-specific cancer tumours replicated in 3D bioprinting advance

Bowel cancer patients could in future benefit from a new 3D bioprinting technology which would use their own cells to replicate the complex cellular environment of solid tumours in 3D models. The University of Bristol-led advance, published in Biofabrication, would allow clinicians to treat the models, known as spheroids, with chemotherapy drugs and radiation to help them understand an individual patient’s resistance to therapies.

UCI is key member of multi-institutional, $126 million NIH brain mapping project

Irvine, Calif., Sept. 22, 2022 – The University of California, Irvine will participate in a five-year, multi-institutional, $126 million grant from the National Institutes of Health supporting the BRAIN Initiative Cell Atlas Network. The project aims to describe the cells that make up the human brain in unprecedented molecular detail, classifying them into more precise subtypes and pinpointing their location.

UCI-led study finds that cancer immunotherapy may self-limit its efficacy

Irvine, Calif., June 21, 2021 — Cancer immunotherapy involving drugs that inhibit CTLA-4 also activates an unwanted response that may self-limit its efficacy in fighting tumors, according to a new study led by Francesco Marangoni, Ph.D., assistant professor of physiology & biophysics and member of the Institute for Immunology at the University of California, Irvine.

UCI-led team develops transplant biomaterial that doesn’t trigger immune response

Irvine, Calif., June 3, 2021 — A multidisciplinary research team led by Jonathan Lakey, Ph.D., professor of surgery and biomedical engineering at the University of California, Irvine, has developed a biomaterial for pancreatic islet transplants that doesn’t trigger the body’s immune response. Based on stem cell technology, hybrid alginate offers a possible long-term treatment for Type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune reaction that destroys pancreatic islets’ beta cells, which regulate blood glucose levels.

Helping humans heal

In a lab on the upper floors of Engineering Hall, something is growing. It’s not a plant. And it’s not an animal. What Ronke Olabisi is growing in her lab is us. From new skin and retinal tissue to hearts and livers, she’s developing the tools to rebuild and repair the human body. A UCI assistant professor of biomedical engineering, Olabisi has been working with regenerative tissue for the better part of seven years, using a hydrogel based on polyethylene glycol diacrylate.

Injectable Porous Scaffolds Promote Better, Quicker Healing After Spinal Cord Injuries

In APL Bioengineering, researchers have developed materials that can interface with an injured spinal cord and provide a scaffolding to facilitate healing. To do this, scaffolding materials need to mimic the natural spinal cord tissue, so they can be readily populated by native cells in the spinal cord, essentially filling in gaps left by injury. The researchers show how the pores improve efficiency of gene therapies administered locally to the injured tissues, which can further promote tissue regeneration.

UCI researchers eavesdrop on cellular conversations

Irvine, Calif., Feb. 17, 2020 — An interdisciplinary team of biologists and mathematicians at the University of California, Irvine has developed a new tool to help decipher the language cells use to communicate with one another. In a paper published today in Nature Communications, the researchers introduce CellChat, a computational platform that enables the decoding of signaling molecules that transmit information and commands between the cells that come together to form biological tissues and even entire organs.

UCI researchers use deep learning to identify gene regulation at single-cell level

Irvine, Calif., Jan. 5, 2021 — Scientists at the University of California, Irvine have developed a new deep-learning framework that predicts gene regulation at the single-cell level. Deep learning, a family of machine-learning methods based on artificial neural networks, has revolutionized applications such as image interpretation, natural language processing and autonomous driving.

3D-Printed Smart Gel Changes Shape When Exposed to Light

Inspired by the color-changing skin of cuttlefish, octopuses and squids, Rutgers engineers have created a 3D-printed smart gel that changes shape when exposed to light, becomes “artificial muscle” and may lead to new military camouflage, soft robotics and flexible displays. The engineers also developed a 3D-printed stretchy material that can reveal colors when light changes, according to their study in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.

Gut Microbiome Manipulation Could Result from Virus Discovery

Scientists have discovered how a common virus in the human gut infects and takes over bacterial cells – a finding that could be used to control the composition of the gut microbiome, which is important for human health. The Rutgers co-authored research, which could aid efforts to engineer beneficial bacteria that produce medicines and fuels and clean up pollutants, is published in the journal Nature.

UCI biochip innovation combines AI and nanoparticle printing for cancer cell analysis

Irvine, Calif., Oct. 7, 2020 – Electrical engineers, computer scientists and biomedical engineers at the University of California, Irvine have created a new lab-on-a-chip that can help study tumor heterogeneity to reduce resistance to cancer therapies. In a paper published today in Advanced Biosystems, the researchers describe how they combined artificial intelligence, microfluidics and nanoparticle inkjet printing in a device that enables the examination and differentiation of cancers and healthy tissues at the single-cell level.

Ocean Algae Get “Coup de Grace” from Viruses

Scientists have long believed that ocean viruses always quickly kill algae, but Rutgers-led research shows they live in harmony with algae and viruses provide a “coup de grace” only when blooms of algae are already stressed and dying. The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, will likely change how scientists view viral infections of algae, also known as phytoplankton – especially the impact of viruses on ecosystem processes like algal bloom formation (and decline) and the cycling of carbon and other chemicals on Earth.

Mount Sinai Researchers Discover Treatment Option for Rare Genetic Disorder

Researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine used a novel genetic sequencing technology to identify the genetic cause of—and a treatment for—a previously unknown severe auto inflammatory syndrome affecting an 18-year-old girl since infancy.

Seafood Products Made From Cells Should be Labeled Cell-Based

Companies seeking to commercialize seafood products made from the cells of fish or shellfish should use the term “cell-based” on product labels, according to a Rutgers study – the first of its kind – in the Journal of Food Science. Both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and U.S. Department of Agriculture require food products to have a “common or usual name” on their labels so consumers can make informed choices about what they’re purchasing.

Breast Cancer Cells Can Reprogram Immune Cells to Assist in Metastasis

Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center investigators report they have uncovered a new mechanism by which invasive breast cancer cells evade the immune system to metastasize, or spread, to other areas of the body. They propose that therapies targeting this process could be developed to halt or prevent metastasis and reduce breast cancer deaths.

Nanofiber Membranes Transformed Into 3D Scaffolds

Researchers combined gas foaming and 3D molding technologies to quickly transform electrospun membranes into complex 3D shapes for biomedical applications. The new approach demonstrates significant improvements in speed and quality compared with other methods, and is the first successful demonstration of formation of 3D neural tissue constructs with an ordered structure through differentiation of human neural progenitor/stem cells on these transformed 3D nanofiber scaffolds. They discuss their work in this week’s Applied Physics Reviews.

UCI team demonstrates ability to supercharge cells with mitochondrial transplantation

Irvine, Calif., March 23, 2020 – Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have shown that they can give cells a short-term boost of energy through mitochondrial transplantation. The team’s study, published today in the Journal of the American Heart Association, suggests that mitochondrial transplantation could one day be employed to cure various cardiovascular, metabolic and neurodegenerative disorders – and even offer a new approach to the treatment of cancer.

Scientists Have Discovered the Origins of the Building Blocks of Life

Rutgers researchers have discovered the origins of the protein structures responsible for metabolism: simple molecules that powered early life on Earth and serve as chemical signals that NASA could use to search for life on other planets. Their study, which predicts what the earliest proteins looked like 3.5 billion to 2.5 billion years ago, is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Engineers develop skin rejuvenation method using stem cells

BINGHAMTON, NY — Vesicles derived from human stem cells can be used to rejuvenate skin, according to a research team including faculty at Binghamton University, State University of New York. The use of stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) as a cell-free…

Superior “Bio-Ink” for 3D Printing Pioneered

Rutgers biomedical engineers have developed a “bio-ink” for 3D printed materials that could serve as scaffolds for growing human tissues to repair or replace damaged ones in the body. Their study was published in the journal Biointerphases.

New Tool Monitors Real Time Mutations In Flu

A Rutgers-led team has developed a tool to monitor influenza A virus mutations in real time, which could help virologists learn how to stop viruses from replicating. The gold nanoparticle-based probe measures viral RNA in live influenza A cells, according to a study in The Journal of Physical Chemistry C. It is the first time in virology that experts have used imaging tools with gold nanoparticles to monitor mutations in influenza, with unparalleled sensitivity.

New Portable Tool Analyzes Microbes in the Environment

Imagine a device that could swiftly analyze microbes in oceans and other aquatic environments, revealing the health of these organisms – too tiny to be seen by the naked eye – and their response to threats to their ecosystems. Rutgers researchers have created just such a tool, a portable device that could be used to assess microbes, screen for antibiotic-resistant bacteria and analyze algae that live in coral reefs. Their work is published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Life could have emerged from lakes with high phosphorus

Life as we know it requires phosphorus, which is scarce. How did the early Earth supply this key ingredient? A University of Washington study, published Dec. 30 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, finds answers in certain types of carbonate-rich lakes.