Study Illuminates the Genetic Architecture of Bipolar Disorder

 NIH Study Sheds Light on a Common Mental Disorder

    A very common mental disorder named Bipolar disorder is a chronic mental health conditioned ultimately characterized by extreme fluctuations in mood, energy, and lastly behavior. In the article, it goes ahead and explains many people feeling extremely "up" or irritable and also feeling very "down" or lack of pleasure. This disorder can be treated with medication, but over a long period of time it can get challenging to keep up with. The study suggests "a persons risk for developing bipolar disorder is influenced by many genes but open questions remain about the full range of genes involved and whether they differ for specific subtypes." This study is the largest to date with including 158,036 people with the specific disorder and 2,796,499 total people who do not have the disorder. The participants were of East Asian, African American, Latino, and European. In this study they found almost 300 gene locations and 36 unique genes being linked to this disorder. There were shown to be many overlapping other mental disorders like depression and schizophrenia. This research is a building block and new medications or approaches can be sought out and identified to help individuals suffering from bipolar disorder and even other types.

    My dad suffers from bipolar disorder and I know a few others who do to. It is more common than we know and some people just brush the symptoms off or don't know what to look for, so it gets untreated. It is great that researchers want to know more about the architecture of it and what genes make up the mental disorder. More studies and research can help educate individuals suffering from this specific disorder or even healthcare workers can learn something too. I wonder what research in the future will look like and what advancements in medicines and approaches there will be to help people like my dad. 

Sources:

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/news/science-updates/2025/study-illuminates-the-genetic-architecture-of-bipolar-disorder

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/bipolar-disorder

Organic Life Used to Make A Computer Chip

All living cells use a molecule called ATP to power their systems. ATP is considered the energy currency of the cell due to the fact that it is transformed constantly to provide useful energy to the cell. Researchers used ATPases, molecules able to harness the energy in ATP, to power an electronic chip. This is the first example of a circuit that functions from both and organic and inorganic power source. 

This new research has many functions that can be used in the future. Living systems can be harnessed to power more than just a chip. One day, the same energy storage system that powers every cell in our body could function as a mega energy generator that can power whole cities and possibly the planet. This is very exciting and will have many new and exciting applications in the future. 

The logistics of how the chip works

You may have billions and billions of good reasons for being unfit

Yep that's right, apparently being unfit has many benefits for the human body. Our chromosome are relatively stable for most of our lifetime, but our mitochondria is highly variable across individuals and may impact human health, so say researchers. Genomes are ever changing, not from generation to generations but even within our lifetime. Researchers are first to identify the extent to which the editing processes of RNA code can vary across a large number of individuals. As you know the mitochondria is the power station of our cells and the more power a cell needs, the more mitochondria you'll find in it. Researchers have found a correlation between mitochondrial RNA and our basal metabolic rate, the rate at which we are able to convert food into energy. They looked specifically at mutations in the RNA of the mitochondria. This means that because of this irregularity, the DNA and the level of modification of the mitochondria will result in cellular energy being produced. While this research may give the unfit a slight excuse for not getting in shape, there is still much research to be made about these correlations.

It would be pretty interesting to see exactly how much more energy it would give to an individual. Does have more fat really give us THAT much more where it could be beneficial? For now i'll stick to casually lifting weights and the occasional Pizookie my girlfriend makes, yum.

Accelerating Metabolism could Lead to new Obesity Treatment

A new study is showing that they can use metabolism to treat obesity. By manipulating a biochemical process that underlies cells energy-burning abilities, researchers made a novel discovery that could lead to a new therapy to combat obesity and diabetes. The new findings show that reducing the amount of nicotinamide N-methyltransefrase (NNMT) protein in fat and liver drastically reduces the development of obesity and diabetes in mice. NMMT is an enzyme that processes vitamin B3 and has been linked to specific types of cancer and well as Alzheimer disease. The new findings hinge on the biochemical mechanism known as the futile cycle, in which cellular reactions are sped up, thereby granting more energy.“We all know people who can seemingly eat whatever they want and not gain weight,” explains a researcer. “Part of the reason for this natural weight control owes to basal cellular metabolism – the body’s inherent rate of burning energy. A futile cycle is one way to speed up energy utilization in cells.”

     It is only a matter of time that this advancement can be treated in humans as well. I am always curious to see how studies that are performed within an animal moves on to being tested inside the human body. If it is true that such a simple change in biochemical process can affect obesity and help the enzyme regulate more energy for efficiency weight loss, then count me in for further investigation in the future.

Algae--the new alternative fuel source?

Research at Iowa University has made a remarkable improvement in the production of algal biomass through gene manipulation and expression. There are two genes reponsible for algae's capturing of carbon dioxide for photosynthesis called LCIA and LCIB. When algae is in a region of an abudance of carbon dioxide, the genes will shut down in order to accomodate. Now, researchers have forced this gene to express in the abudance of carbon dioxide and therefore are able to produce even more growth. In fact, the biomass has increased fifty to eighty percent, more than the expected ten percent, by this method and the researchers at Iowa University have suggested continuing this process and utilizing it as an alternative fuel source in the future. By utilizing the biomass,  researchers state that the Energy Independence and Security Act requirement for replacing ten percent of our current petroleum usage could be met in an excess of ten percent by the year 2022.

[caption id="attachment_2776" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="Martin Spalding, a researcher at Iowa State."][/caption]

Scientists Genetically Increase Algae Biomass by More than 50 Percent

The article discusses a recent breakthrough at Iowa State University, involving the discovery of a genetic method to increase the biomass of algae. The team of researchers was lead by Martin Spalding, pofessor in te Department of Geneis, Development, and Cell Biology and associate dean for research and graduate studies in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Spalding explained the process as expressing genes in the algae to  increase the photsynthetic carbon conversion into organic matter when in an environment with enough carbon dioxide. In nature, algae's growth is limited due to a lack of carbon dioxide in the air. In environmets with relativly low levels of carbon dioxide, algae expresses two genes that allow the algae to capture more carbon dioxide from the air, then channel it into its' cells to keep it alive and growing. When in carbon dixiode rich environments, these genes shut down. By turning those genes on at the same time, Spalding was able to increase the amount of photosynthesis in the algae by 50- 80% thus producing more biomass. Excess biomass naturally becomes starch, but by using some existing mutated genes, Spalding can instruct the algae to make oil instead of starch. Therefore, this increase in biomass i useful in that it opens up possibilities for more and better biofuel development.