Biomedical Laboratory Science

Friday, May 27, 2016

The PhD journey: A guide to applying, starting and succeeding

To postgraduates, a PhD may seem like an ideal opportunity to improve research skills prior to future work. However, the application process is a competitive and often challenging experience. This article seeks to de-mystify some of the common questions surrounding PhD applications and provide some hints and tips for potential applicants.

1. Is a PhD for you?

An increasing number of postgraduates are applying for PhD study to develop their academic and professional skills. However, before you begin to consider searching for positions, you must be fully aware of what studying for a PhD actually entails. A PhD is the highest degree a person can achieve. It will involve around three years’ full-time (up to six years’ part-time) work, culminating in a thesis of somewhere around 80,000 words. It is research-intensive, with you developing and leading projects and writing papers in your chosen field of study. Although you will have the support of two or more specialist supervisors, a PhD is by-and-large independent work.

Source: academia

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Not unexpectedly, a new drug-resistant ‘superbug’ pops up in the United States

For years, public health experts have warned us that deadly bacteria are developing resistance to all our available antibiotics. This week, researchers reported the first known U.S. case of an Escherichia coli infection resistant to colistin, a harsh drug seen as a last resort to knock out stubborn infections. The finding, described in the American Society for Microbiology journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, is no big surprise to researchers tracking the rise of resistant bacteria. The resistance gene, known as mcr-1, was discovered in E. coli in China last year, and has since cropped up in Europe.

As the United States crosses the same ominous milestone, research to understand resistance and develop new drugs is surging ahead. As Science reported earlier this month, evolutionary biologists have recently revisited old dogma about how best to prescribe antibiotics—revealing that trusted strategies such as using a high dose may not actually help prevent resistance.

E. coli bacteria growing in a dish.

Source: sciencemag

Thursday, May 26, 2016

Down syndrome points to key gene responsible for type 2 diabetes

One of the key genes responsible for the onset of type 2 diabetes has been identified, opening up possibilities to develop a drug to combat the condition.

Key points

Onset of type 2 diabetes caused by failure of beta cells in the pancreas
Failure of beta cells also often seen in people with Down syndrome, who have an extra copy of chromosome 21
Comparison of beta cell genes on chromosome 21 and in people with type 2 diabetes narrows down one common gene called RCAN1

The discovery, published today in PLOS Genetics, was made by comparing genes involved with defects in insulin secretion of people with type 2 diabetes and those with Down syndrome.

Diabetes is the fastest-growing chronic condition in Australia with the preventable type 2 form accounting for 85 per cent of all cases.

Source: cdascher/Getty Images

DNA Purification

DNA purification, DNA extraction and DNA isolation are terms that are often used for the same processes. While DNA isolation aims to get as much of the DNA out of your sample as possible, DNA purification is done to reduce - or even eliminate - the contamination of the isolated DNA. Extraction is just one specific way to achieve isolation and purification. DNA extraction uses a solvent that serves as extractant and can be divided in above stages.

All three terms are often used for the same process which normally combines the DNA isolation and DNA purifcation.

Here at ZAGENO we realized how difficult it is to find the right DNA Purification Kit, DNA Extraction Kit, DNA Isolation Kit or DNA testing Kit. First of all one needs to define what type of DNA is to be extracted. Depending on the specific target ,a huge number of DNA test kits from many different suppliers exist:

Plasmid DNA
Genomic DNA
Viral DNA
cDNA

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Lowering LDL Cholesterol: When Numbers are Not Enough

Clinicians worldwide continue to be challenged by cholesterol management for their patients; specifically, whether to attempt low-density lipoprotein (LDL-C) reduction to previously described targets, or to specific percent reductions (e.g., ≥ 50% or < 50%) based on an individual's risk assessment as advocated by the US Guidelines. Indeed, Canadian and European Guidelines suggest using both strategies. Data addressing whether the high-intensity statin strategy (to achieve ≥ 50% LDL-C reduction) correlates with improved cardiovascular outcomes is limited.

In addition, it is known that LDL-C reduction to the same strength of statin can vary widely in the population4 resulting in a significant number of patients who may continue to be at increased, potentially modifiable risk, for future events. Recently, the Treating to New Targets (TNT) investigators reported in their known coronary artery disease patient population that visit-to-visit variability in LDL-C levels correlated with increased cardiovascular risk, suggesting yet another possible contributor to residual risk, reportedly independent of LDL-C levels.

Source: acc

Monday, May 16, 2016

Plasma Levels Investigated as Alzheimer's Disease Biomarkers

The relationship between plasma levels of two amyloid beta peptides (Aβ1-40 and Aβ1-42), brain volumetrics and cognitive performance has been investigated.

Since amyloid beta (Aβ) peptides are the main component of the amyloid plaques found in Alzheimer patients' brains, changes in levels of Aβ in blood plasma may provide a biomarker for detecting increased risk or early diagnosis of disease.

Scientists at the University of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia) examined 126 age-matched cognitively normal controls, 89 individuals with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI,) from the Center for Healthy Brain Aging (CHeBA) Sydney Memory & Aging Study (Sydney MAS), as well as 39 individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD) recruited from a specialty clinic.

A diagram of the formation of amyloid plaques in the brain of an Alzheimer brain compared
with a normal brain

Source: Junji Takano

Sunday, May 15, 2016

Antibiotic resistance solution proposed

A group of US scientists are confident the key to tackling antibiotic resistant bacteria is already in front of our faces – non-antibiotic therapeutic drugs.

At least 50,000 people die every year in Europe and the US due to antibiotic resistance. In other areas of the world this figure is estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands.

Professor Ashok Chopra, from the University of Texas, said: “There are no new antibiotics which are being developed and nobody really has given much emphasis to this because everyone feels we have enough antibiotics in the market.

“But now the problem is bugs are becoming resistant to multiple antibiotics. That’s why we started thinking about looking at other molecules that could have some effect in killing antibiotic resistant bacteria.”

Source: labnews

Friday, May 13, 2016

Precision Medicine in Oncology

The White House Proposes Increased Funding For a National Precision Medicine Initiative

In his 2015 State of the Union address, President Obama stated his intention to fund a national Precision Medicine Initiative (PMI), defined by the NIH as an emerging approach for disease prevention and treatment that takes into account individual variations in genes, environment, and lifestyle.

The White House said that it will ask Congress for $215 million to fund the assembly of databases. Through the data, from over one million patients, scientists and researchers will be able to individualize care and generate the requisite scientific evidence to move the concept of precision medicine into clinical practice.

The initiative, in the near-term, focuses on cancer, with other disease areas included over the longer term. Of the $215 million, the White House proposed $70 million in increased funding for the NCI to advance the field of precision oncology.

Basically the initiative funds efforts to integrate and apply the explosion of molecular data on humans, particularly data associated with individual patients, and taps into opportunities to use it to improve health outcomes. The “time is right” for the initiative, NIH says, because of the sequencing of the human genome, improved technologies for biomedical analysis, and new tools for using large datasets.

MATCH clinical trials analyze tumors for abnormalities using a targeted sequencing

assay that includes 143 genes selected using the Oncomine Knowledgebase.

Source: Deposit Photos/alexraths

A Laboratory for Empowerment

Though women earn 50 percent of degrees in science and engineering, they only represent 27 percent of the workforce in those fields. The UCSD Guardian investigates women’s representation in STEM at UCSD, as well as the steps the university is taking to increase their presence.

Seventy-seven cents to every man’s dollar. It’s a statistic often thrown around when discussing the oppression of women in the United States, but less often understood. The number does not come from comparing one male engineer’s salary to that of a female engineer’s. Instead, 77 cents to every one male-earned dollar is a statistic that compares the total income generated by men in the U.S. to the total income generated by American women. It’s a statistic that reveals that, on average, women are employed in lower-paying careers than men are. It’s not that female engineers are being paid 23 percent less than their male counterparts. It’s that there aren’t as many female engineers as male engineers to begin with; considering that, according to Payscale.com, the top 14 paying majors in the U.S. are in science, technology, engineering and math, this is a huge missed opportunity.

This is where STEM comes in. It’s a little acronym that represents a big conversation in today’s society. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, in 2011, women held nearly half the jobs in the U.S. economy, but filled less than a quarter of the country’s STEM-related positions. Although women today have far more opportunities in academia than in the past, there are still far more men occupying STEM-related jobs than women. According to a 2013 study compiled by the National Girls Collaborative Project, while women are earning 50 percent of bachelor’s degrees in science and engineering, only 27 percent of the science and engineering workforce is made up of women. With nearly half of science and engineering bachelor’s degrees going to women, one would expect women to be equally represented in the workforce, making these statistics surprising.

Simple At-Home Test Developed To Detect Blood Clots

Researchers have developed a simple paper-based screening method that can help patients with blood clotting disorders perform regular tests from the convenience of their homes.

The screening test created by researchers at the University of Cincinnati (UC) could be a game changer for patients with several life-threatening conditions, researchers said.

Patients with cardiovascular disease, hypertension, atrial fibrillation, congestive heart failure, kidney disease and others who are at risk for blood clotting are especially vulnerable when blood-thinning medication levels get too weak or too strong, they said.

This imbalance can quickly lead to ischemic (clotting) or hemorrhagic (bleeding) strokes if not detected in time.

"We have developed a blood screening device for patients on medications like Coumadin, warfarin or other blood thinners who need to monitor their blood-clotting levels on a regular basis," said Andrew Steckl, UC professor of electrical engineering in the College of Engineering and Applied Science.

The simple technology also help patients who have a known inherited blood clotting disorder detect
concerning levels early. (Representational Image)

Source: ndtv

Biomedical Laboratory Science