Creative Biomart Blog

Thu, 2015/08/13

In all one’s life, the blood, hair and skin cells can be continuously regenerated, but the heart cells lose proliferative capacity soon after birth. UCLA researchers first clarified the reasons why adult heart can not regenerate. The study, published in a recently Journal of Cell Biology, could help people reprogram the patient's heart, so that Cardiomyocytes cells can regain the ability to repair itself. In the first week after birth, the mammalian heart can be regenerated, but this capability will soon be lost. However, perhaps we can make the heart regain this ability, the senior author of

Wed, 2015/08/12

What’s Your Body Posture During Sleep?

First, question asked. What’s your posture during your sleep? Lying On Side, Lying Flat or Lying On Front? New study results have shown that lying on one’s side may help prevent Alzheimer disease. A report on the Journal of Neuroscience claimed that compared to lying flat and lying on one’s front, lying on one’s side can more efficiently remove the waste of the brain. And this posture was also proven to have the ability to reduce the risk of catching Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson's disease and other Neurodegenerative diseases. For the accumulation of waste in the brain fosters high risk of oc

Tue, 2015/08/11

Dog Sniffs Cancer, Do You Believe It?

Dogs can help sniff cancer, though sounds incredible, this research has made a huge steep forward these years. Today, the “Cancer sniffing dogs project” has been approved by British NHS, entering into the testing phase, in order to further validate this uncanny ability of dogs. Actually, the ability of dogs to smell cancer is well documented. A 1989 report marked the first medical record of this ability. And the following studies have quantified how skilled dogs are at detecting different cancers including lung, breast and bladder cancers. To our surprise, they can do this just by smelling th

Mon, 2015/08/10

Month-end Check: Biotech study topics in Nature-July (Part TWO)

First robust genetic links to depression emerge Jonathan Flint and his team have found the first two genetic makers reproducibly linked to major depressive disorder, one of which is the leading causes of disability worldwide. This study yield two genetic sequences that seemed to have relation with depression: one in a stretch of DNA that codes for an enzyme whose function is not understood thoroughly until now and the other is next to the gene SIRT1, this however, is important for energy-producing structures called mitochondria. Those findings could give scientists guide for new drugs develop

Thu, 2015/07/30

Month-end Check: Biotech study topics in Nature-July (Part One)

At the end of this month, I’d like to make a summary about the biotechnology studies published in Nature, aiming to provide a clear view of the monthly studies’ topics. And the studies were listed chronologically. Moncef Slaoui This is a review. Based on an event that GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) surprised the industry with its decision to trade its oncology business for Novartis' vaccine business last year. This article mainly discussed 7 questions which include: “Why did you trade your oncology business for Novartis' vaccine business?”, “But whereas the oncology market is booming, the vaccine mark

Tue, 2015/07/28

Do you regard GMO-labels as negative warnings?

In the last two posts we have talked about bioengineering. I still want to lay my today’s topic on GMO. First a question, do you regard GMO-labels as negative warnings? A recent new study reveals that most of the people don’t regard GMO labeling as warning meanings and will not be scared away just by the labels. This study was released right after the U.S. House passed a bill that would prevent states from requiring labels on genetically modified foods. This study was presented at the annual conference of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association which was held in San Francisco on Jul

Thu, 2015/07/23

Novel Approach for Identifying Protein Interaction Was Found

Protein interaction refers to intentional physical contacts established between tow or more proteins as a result of biochemical events or electrostatic forces. There are a multitude of methods to detect protein interaction. And the most widely used methods are yeast two-hybrid screening and affinity purification. Each of the approaches has its own strengths and weakness with regard to the sensitivity and specificity of the method, reliably validating these techniques presents a formidable challenge. For instance, the likelihood of non-specific artifacts be observed will be increased while appl

Thu, 2015/07/16

How do you think about bioengineering?

Bioengineering has always been discussed in the community. But for the esoteric knowledge of biology is poorly understood, it is often difficult to understand genetically modified products. According to a survey, only about 37% of Americans believe genetically modified foods are safe, and the scientific community in the United States scientists that believe GM foods are safe accounted for 88%. Recently, a company has developed a kind of flower that can change color, aiming to help people to better understand bioengineering as well as bringing beauty to the public. Nikolai Braun, one of the fo