July/August 2022- Volume 18, Issue 7
In this Issue
Editor's Focus
From Honeybees to Humans: Imaging gene expression in the brain
From Honeybees to Humans: Imaging gene expression in the brain
Entomologists and computer engineers developed a novel imaging method for analyzing gene expression in live brains.
Menstrual blood holds the key to better diagnostics
Menstrual blood holds the key to better diagnostics
Usually thrown away as waste, menstrual blood may help clinicians non-invasively monitor and diagnose a multitude of health conditions from diabetes and endometriosis to cancer.
Editors Insight
Genetic discrimination and Snapchat
Genetic discrimination and Snapchat
What do 23andMe and Snapchat have in common? They both collect very personal information about their users. Do the benefits outweigh the risks?
Biologics
Sniffing plasma helps COVID-19 patients smell again
Sniffing plasma helps COVID-19 patients smell again
People with COVID-19 sometimes lose their sense of smell. But a clinical researcher has a possible solution: the patient’s own blood.
Bacterial nanosyringes are drug and delivery all in one
Bacterial nanosyringes are drug and delivery all in one
Nanosyringes produced by some bacterial species naturally inject proteins into eukaryotic cells, paving a new frontier for biologic drug delivery.
Biomarkers
Predicting immune responses to vaccination
Predicting immune responses to vaccination
Armed with a machine learning and systems biology approach, John Tsang studies how past infections and vaccinations shape an individual’s immune response to future vaccines.
Epigenetics
A blueprint for a new epigenomic era
A blueprint for a new epigenomic era
A recent effort to sequence the entire human genome also revealed how it can be modified.
Milestone: Pulling down answers to biological mysteries with ChIP
Milestone: Pulling down answers to biological mysteries with ChIP
Through many innovations over the past 40 years, ChIP rapidly evolved to become a powerful tool for understanding the epigenome.
Phenotype Screens
Metabolomics open a window into better cancer treatments
Metabolomics open a window into better cancer treatments
Chemical biologist Stefano Tiziani uses metabolomics to identify new combination cancer treatments and to predict which patients will respond best to chemotherapy.
Patient cells and serum create better Alzheimer’s disease models
Patient cells and serum create better Alzheimer’s disease models
Many potential treatments for Alzheimer’s disease have been found using mouse models, but they often don’t translate well to humans. Will organoids provide the answers that neuroscientists need to develop new treatments?
A nanoengineered heart chamber
A nanoengineered heart chamber
A new heart-on-a-chip gives scientists an up-close look at the beating human heart from the comfort of their lab benches.
