News by Subject Medicine & Health

Gel-like materials have a wide range of applications, especially in chemistry and medicine. However, their usefulness is sometimes limited by their inherent random and disordered nature. Researchers from the University of Tokyo's Institute for Solid State Physics have found a way to produce a new kind of gel which overcomes this limitation. It is still malleable and adaptable like existing gels, but it has a more ordered structure, which can open up a new range of possible uses in various fields.

sci-Plex, a new cell-response screening method, pools genetically different cells and shows what happens to individual cells when the sample is treated, such as with cancer drugs. The technology collects information on changes in genetic expression in each labeled cell, providing data useful in exploring mechanisms triggered by drugs or other agents.

A Rutgers-led team of engineers has developed an automated way to produce polymers, making it much easier to create advanced materials aimed at improving human health. The innovation is a critical step in pushing the limits for researchers who want to explore large libraries of polymers, including plastics and fibers, for chemical and biological applications such as drugs and regenerative medicine through tissue engineering.

It's incredibly difficult to make a carbocycle with more than five or six members. However, a research team at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology (TUAT) in Japan has developed a new method that can easily produce seven- and eight-membered carbocycles, which are often found in many pharmaceutical and agricultural chemicals.

Researchers at the University of Eastern Finland have developed two new cell models that can open up new avenues for ocular drug discovery. The new cell models are continuously growing retinal pigment epithelial cells, which have many benefits over the models currently used by researchers and pharmaceutical companies.

An article published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) describes a new pathway in the central nervous system to expel waste substances from the brain through the creation of corpora amylacea (CA), aggregates formed by glucose polymers amassing waste products.