Science and Health News

New Research Could Help Identify New Drugs to Treat Vitiligo & Perhaps Gray Hair

Scientists are developing a miniature, tissue-engineered artificial lung that mimics the response of the human lung to drugs, toxins and other agents.

Using gene editing technology, researchers at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University have, for the first time, successfully excised a segment of HIV-1 DNA — the virus responsible for AIDS — from the genomes of living animals. The breakthrough, described online this month in the journal Gene Therapy, is a critical step in the development of a potentially curative strategy for HIV infection.

Agene that scientific dogma insists is inactive in adults actually plays a vital role in preventing the underlying cause of most heart attacks and strokes, researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have determined.

Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency have completed thorough and rigorous scientific reviews of AquAdvantage Salmon (a genetically modified [GM] salmon) for food and livestock feed use and determined that it is as safe and nutritious for humans and livestock as conventional salmon. These were the final Government of Canada scientific assessments required to allow AquAdvantage Salmon to be sold in Canada.

A team of artists, scientists and engineers has developed a robotic lab assistant based on a modified 3D printer that can intelligently automate and adapt laboratory processes. By eliminating repetition and errors, aBioBot’s mission is to free up scientists’ energy and resources, potentially shortening the time between major scientific breakthroughs.

Higher levels of leisure-time physical activity were associated with lower risks for 13 types of cancers, according to a new study published online by JAMA Internal Medicine.

Biochemists in Novosibirsk, in Siberia, are looking for agents that are capable of suppressing the development and propagation of orthopoxviruses, a family of pathogenic viruses potentially dangerous to human beings, portal Science in Siberia reported.