New method uses DNA barcodes for high throughput RNA and protein detection in deep tissue

    Recent developments in molecular biology have enabled unprecedented detail probing of tissues and cells, but examining deep tissue structures, particularly at the RNA and protein levels, remains a difficulty. Researchers have tried to develop techniques for identifying and measuring these biomolecules in dense, complicated tissue samples. However, a revolutionary new strategy has evolved, promising more efficient and precise detection: utilizing DNA barcodes for high-throughput RNA and protein identification in deep tissue.

    This new approach, which uses DNA barcodes to identify RNA and proteins, promises to transform how scientists examine deep tissues. With its high throughput, sensitivity, and capacity to maintain tissue architecture, it offers up new avenues for studying complex biological systems. This discovery, whether for academic research or clinical applications, represents a tremendous step forward in molecular biology, bringing us closer to solving the mysteries of deep tissue biology and improving human health outcomes.

The Future of Hair: 3D-Bioprinting

The idea of combining hair follicles and 3D printing sounds like the start of a science fiction movie. The craziness of science fiction movies is well known. This experiment held by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute showed an abundance of advantages to their remarkable innovation. By using 3D- bioprinting it offers to build upon the current knowledge obtained from skin grafting. 

Now, we are at the point where skin grafts can't fully mimic human skin without the production of hair. In order to understand why scientists are doing this, it's important to highlight the benefits of hair follicles. Hair follicles are most known for their supportive role. They provide benefits such as hair growth, thermoregulation, and protection with a much needed thank you to our stem cells that aid the skin to heal. 

It's already hard to believe that 3d-bioprinting can be successfully done at a cellular level. The printers can effectively produce skin tissue with working blood cells, which is amazing. It’s almost impossible to comprehend. However, we are still at the start of this sci-fi movie. Scientists are consistently working in order to achieve an even bigger goal. Not only are they working on skin grafts with hair follicles that strangely mimic our skin, they also would like to explore the unknown treatments, hair rejuvenation, tropical drug testing, and dermatological testing that can further expand our current knowledge of the skin.

 This sounds great, but we are nowhere near achieving these goals. it does make sense; the skin is the largest organ of the human body, providing an extra layer of complexity.  The main issue currently is the 3D printed hair follicle lifespan only lasting up to three weeks. Therefore, research on expanding the lifespan of hair follicles is necessary and a top priority. The main objective is to allow the hair shaft and soon enough hair follicles to mature. Once accomplished, it could be safe to say life is a true sci-fi movie. Moreover, it’s wonderful to envision the plethora of innovations that this technology could open the door for. 

Links: 

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/11/231115113440.htm

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8283073/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7Y_gf6DD5E

Associations between genetic variation and gene expression of healthy tissues in humans

GTEx or Genotype tissue Expression is a process that aims to answer  why our DNA can create different tissues, that serve different functions. using expression quantitative trait loci mapping. researchers: Michelle C. Ward and Yoav Gilad to study the phenotype and and genotypes of 44 different tissue samples from 449 humans this lead to a myriad of results ranging from different nucleotide sequences, the abstract of the article states that most differences in nucleotide sequences in affected genes happens very close called cis e-QTLs and some trans-e-QTLs that are farther away from the exon of the gene studied. The variations in the introns of these genes and studying the links between them and tissue formation could have an impact on the future of organ transplants.


I believe that eventually that this will have a profound effect on the way that people receive organ transplants , the better we as a society can understand tissue development, the better people who need organ transplants will receive them , if there is a way to match these variations with a living transplant  there could possibly be an end to immunosuppresion drugs for transplant receivers





link 1

link 2

So, Where do Eye Colors Really Come From?

The colored part of the eye is called the iris, and the dark center is known as the pupil. So, what makes the iris appear as a certain color? Maybe brown, hazel, green or blue? Eye color is pieced together by different portions of certain pigment and the tissue that makes up part of the iris. The pigment expressing cells of the iris are known as melanocytes. They can create two different pigments: eumelanin (brown-black) or pheomelanin (red). You can see here that there is no pigment for blue eyes. Blue eyes are formed due to white collage fibers in the iris tissues. Dark eyes are formed from a large amount of pigment, while the blues and greens form from low amounts of pigment.
An article published on Medical News Today, explained that an eye color is made up of many more than just one gene. In fact, the eye color is made up of about eleven genes! Although we know that eye color is inherited from the parents, eleven genes are involved for this one single traits formation. Researchers at Erasmus University Medical Centre Rotterdam did a study on genetic variants in the eleven genes of over 3,000 people. "When they compared these genetic profiles with a new method of assessing eye color in photographs - which was developed as part of the study - the team could reliably predict eye color in most cases."
There is still ongoing research to determine all genes incorporated in the creation of eye color and pattern, but the information obtained as of now is still fascinating. I really enjoyed reading this article. This is such a neat study because most people believe that eye color is passed on from parent to child through a simple gene. It is interesting to learn that there are actually 11 genes involved in this process! This is also very interesting to me because it is possible for two parents with brown eyes can have a child with blue eyes. It all leads back to science.

Smokers & Non-Smokers Show Different Cancer Mutation Patterns

A study explains that DNA damages offer hints to help find malignancies in different types of tissues. DNA in malignant tissues of smokers shows a mutation pattern that is significantly different from those in the malignant tissues of those that are nonsmokers. This new study explains how smoking has a correlation with various types of cancer which enhances several types of DNA damage. A mutation in our DNA can arise more naturally in someone's lifetime, but some genetic changes --such as those caused by smoking -- significantly increase the risk of certain cancers. Fortunately, scientists have recognized many patterns of DNA mutations that routinely show up the tissues of certain cancers. The identified patterns that appear over and over again in a tumor DNA, can behave as a signature of the underlying mechanism that caused the mutation, which will offer clues to how different cancers can attack.

Ludmil Alexandrov, a cancer geneticist said that although smoking's link to cancer has been known for many years, it was a mystery to him as to why smoking will increase risks of cancer like the bladder or kidney, tissues that were not exposed to smoke. Alexandrov and his team of researchers found many differences in the number of manipulated DNA signatures in the malignancies of smokers compared to those that had the same type of cancer but did not smoke. Smoking can leave permanent mutations, it destroys the genetic material in many cells in the body. Alexandrov collected DNA from more than 5000 people which represented 17 cancer for which smoking was a known risk factor. Almost half of the samples were from smokers. Signature 4 was mostly found in the people who smoked but occurred far less in nonsmokers. Signature 4 showed up in cancers of the oral cavity, but researchers were not sure why these tissue's which are directly exposed to smoke didn't have a heavy mutational load. DNA damage in smokers differed from those that didn't smoke in an another suite of mutation known as signature 5. The cause of signature 5 is still unknown, but researchers did determine that the amount of signature 5 mutations is like a clock, it increases with age. Researchers also took into account the amount of tobacco smoked, they discovered that the number of mutations in some diseases was linked to smoking a pack a day for one year. A pack a day for one year leads to 150 mutations in a lung cell, 97 in a larynx cell, 39 in the pharynx, 23 in the oral cavity, 18 in the bladder and 6 in a liver cell. 

"When someone has cancer, we can only see what is happening right now, we do not know what happened 20 years ago when that cancer was just one cell," says cancer biologist GerdPfeiffer. I completely agree with Pfeiffer on that because these signatures can give us a clear idea of what might have happened years ago.

Smoking is actually giving one benefit, and that is to figure out why it increases the risks of cancer. With this idea, we can make more experiments on how it can decreases the risks too.

Making Cancer Patients Stronger: Tissue by Tissue

Many patients that have cancer begin to fade away as their cancer progresses. The malignant tumor(s) strengthen and eat at tissues bringing patients to their last breaths. The eating away of muscle and mass tissue is known as cachexia.  Cachexia affects 80% of cancer patients. Scientists, Amelia Johnson and Nick Hoogenraad set out to try and understand how a tumor becomes aggressive proposed by an idea from Harold Dvorak about tumors in 1986.  Dvorak proposed that tumors halt the body's healing responses and create a blood supply of it's own; growing and spreading rapidly.  Hoogenraad, in hopes of progressing with aggressiveness of tumors, came across a protein called Fn14. She came up with the idea of "turning off" this protein to see if growth of the tumor would continue. Unknowingly in her research, she had come across information that was relevant to tissue deterioration (cachexia).

Realizing this, Amelia Johnson and Nick Hoogenraad furthered this research and began a trial in mice.  Within this trial, cancer cells lacking the Fn14 protein were injected in some  mice and cancer cells with active Fn14 protein  were injected in others.  Observations concluded that the tumor in the mice lacking the protein had tumor growth, but no signs of emaciation or tissue loss.  The mice injected with the cancer cells with the Fn14 protein, had the same tumor growth and appeared to have tissue damage and was sickened within days.  What this meant for Johnson and Hoogenraad was that the Fn14 protein was the cause of the tissue destruction and cachexia.  With the suppressant of the protein, the cachexia was not evident and the mice had normal muscle and tissue mass.

The trial lasted for 27 days with the mice.  After the month-long experimentation and observations, conclusions were that the mice that had tumor growth with the Fn14 protein blocked were physically healthy, whereas the mice with the Fn14 protein not blocked became so sick that they had to be euthanized. The question remains if this same protein blocker could be used in humans that have diseases such as cancer, HIV, or TB. Antibodies containing the protein blocker are being made for human trials that undergo in a few years.  It is estimated that beyond these trials, if they are successful, doctors can incorporate this into treatment in about six to eight years.

I think if this is successful in human trials this will be a breakthrough in treatment for patients with cancer, HIV, or TB because it will be able to keep their bodies physically healthier to undergo more treatments.  Many people will not have to wither away as their tumors consume their bodies.  They can fight off the diseases and doctors can get a better understanding of the diseases as they progress into late and dangerous stages.