Smart Economy

How antiseptic proteins in teardrops, lysozymes annihilate harmful bacteria

UCI team discovers how protein in teardrops annihilates harmful bacteria

Finding that lysozymes have jaws could aid in early diagnosis of cancer

Irvine, Calif. – A disease-fighting protein in our teardrops has been tethered to a tiny transistor, enabling UC Irvine scientists to discover exactly how it destroys dangerous bacteria. The research could prove critical to long-term work aimed at diagnosing cancers and other illnesses in their very early stages.

Ever since Nobel laureate Alexander Fleming found that human tears contain antiseptic proteins called lysozymes about a century ago, scientists have tried to solve the mystery of how they could relentlessly wipe out far larger bacteria. It turns out that lysozymes have jaws that latch on and chomp through rows of cell walls like someone hungrily devouring an ear of corn, according to findings that will be published Jan. 20 in the journal Science.

"Those jaws chew apart the walls of the bacteria that are trying to get into your eyes and infect them," said molecular biologist and chemistry professor Gregory Weiss, who co-led the project with associate professor of physics & astronomy Philip Collins.

The researchers decoded the protein's behavior by building one of the world's smallest transistors – 25 times smaller than similar circuitry in laptop computers or smartphones. Individual lysozymes were glued to the live wire, and its eating activities were monitored.

"Our circuits are molecule-sized microphones," Collins said. "It's just like a stethoscope listening to your heart, except we're listening to a single molecule of protein."

It took years for the UCI scientists to assemble the transistor and attach single-molecule teardrop proteins. The scientists hope the same novel technology can be used to detect cancerous molecules. It could take a decade to figure out, but would be well worth it, said Weiss, who lost his father to lung cancer.

"If we can detect single molecules associated with cancer, then that means we'd be able to detect it very, very early," Weiss said. "That would be very exciting, because we know that if we treat cancer early, it will be much more successful, patients will be cured much faster, and costs will be much less."

 

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The project was sponsored by the National Cancer Institute and the National Science Foundation. Co-authors of the Science paper are Yongki Choi, Issa Moody, Patrick Sims, Steven Hunt, Brad Corso and Israel Perez.

About the University of California, Irvine: Founded in 1965, UCI is a top-ranked university dedicated to research, scholarship and community service. Led by Chancellor Michael Drake since 2005, UCI is among the most dynamic campuses in the University of California system, with nearly 28,000 undergraduate and graduate students, 1,100 faculty and 9,000 staff. Orange County's second-largest employer, UCI contributes an annual economic impact of $4 billion. For more UCI news, visit www.today.uci.edu.

News Radio: UCI maintains on campus an ISDN line for conducting interviews with its faculty and experts. Use of this line is available for a fee to radio news programs/stations that wish to interview UCI faculty and experts. Use of the ISDN line is subject to availability and approval by the university.

UCI maintains an online directory of faculty available as experts to the media. To access, visit www.today.uci.edu/experts. For UCI breaking news, visit www.zotwire.uci.edu.

'Green' chemical production via natural biochemical refineries

Same fungus, different strains

A comparative genomics approach for improved 'green' chemical production

Fungi play key roles in nature and are valued for their great importance in industry. Consider citric acid, a key additive in several foods and pharmaceuticals produced on a large-scale basis for decades with the help of the filamentous fungus Aspergillus niger. While A. niger is an integral player in the carbon cycle, it possesses an arsenal of enzymes that can be deployed in breaking down plant cell walls to free up sugars that can then be fermented and distilled into biofuel, a process being optimized by U.S. Department of Energy researchers.

Published online ahead of print May 4, 2011 in Genome Research, a team led by Scott Baker of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory compared the genome sequences of two Aspergillus niger strains to, among other things, better harness its industrial potential in biofuels applications. As more than a million tons of citric acid are produced annually, the production process involving A. niger is a well understood fungal fermentation process that could inform the development of a biorefinery where organic compounds replace the chemical building blocks normally derived from petroleum. Learning more about the genetic bases of the behaviors and abilities of these two industrially relevant fungal strains, wrote senior author Baker and his colleagues in the paper, will allow researchers to exploit their genomes towards the more efficient production of organic acids and other compounds, including biofuels.

"Aspergillus niger is an industrial workhouse for enzymes and small molecules such as organic acids," said Baker of the fungus selected for sequencing by the DOE JGI in 2005. "Most of the world's citric acid comes from A. niger. "We know that this single organism is used for production of organic acids and for enzymes, and it can degrade plant cell wall matter for sugar production," said Baker. "For biofuels it's a highly relevant organism since it's already been scaled up, shown to be safe, and used for enzyme production. That's why it was such an important organism to further characterize through DNA sequencing."

The DOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI) generated the 35-million base genome of A. niger ATCC 1015, the wild type strain that was used in research that led to the first patented citric acid process. The other A. niger strain used in the study was sequenced by a company in the Netherlands in 2007 and has undergone mutagenesis and selection for enzyme production.

By analyzing the genomes on several levels—DNA, chromosome, gene and protein—Baker and his colleagues found several hundred unique genes in each strain that are key to their predominant characteristics. For example, A. niger ATCC 1015 had a higher expression of traits involved in high citric acid yields. On the other hand, the induced mutant strain had more elements related to efficient enzyme production. The team also noted that the genes involved in boosting enzyme production in the induced mutant strain of A. niger may have come from another Aspergillus strain via horizontal gene transfer, which allows one organism to acquire and use genes from other organisms.

Of the 47 authors on this paper, 30 are from Europe. "This is an excellent example of international collaboration combining genome sequencing with functional genomics, transcriptomics and metabolomics, which led to a system level study and comparative analysis of two A. niger strains," said study co-author Igor Grigoriev, head of the DOE JGI Fungal Genomics Program. "Nearly a dozen additional Aspergillus strains that are used in industry are either being sequenced or in the queue to be at the DOE JGI. A better understanding of genomic content and organization and how rearrangements and mutations lead to desired traits should facilitate further optimization of these strains for different bio-products."

As of 2007, the global market for citric acid was estimated to be approximately $1.2 billion with more than 500,000 tons produced annually by fermentation. "Having the genetic blueprint for a citric acid-producing fungus will increase our understanding of the organism's metabolic pathways that can be fine-tuned to enhance productivity or alter its metabolism to generate other green chemicals and fuels from renewable and sustainable plant-derived sugars," said Randy Berka, Director, Novozymes, Inc., and one of the publication's authors.

"It was thought that if we understood what makes the citric acid process so productive, then we could start to understand how to make other organic acids that could be commodity chemicals," said Baker. "We now have the tools and the foundation of knowledge to be able to ask some additional important questions that we weren't equipped with the genomic resources to answer before."

 Walter Derzko

Smart Economy

Toronto

The role of metabolism in disease

Thematic program focuses on cells' energy currency, communications and cancer

WASHINGTON, April 7, 2011 – Metabolism encompasses the biochemical reactions that sustain life and is usually thought of as two complementary systems: one that breaks down nutrients to generate energy and another that harnesses this energy to produce the building blocks cells need to thrive. Considering the fundamental importance of this chemical give-and-take, it's not surprising that metabolic dysfunctions can lead to serious diseases.

Next week, experts on metabolism will convene for a thematic program, at the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology's annual meeting at the Experimental Biology 2011 conference in Washington, D.C., to discuss scientific advances in understanding the links between metabolic function and the onset of disease. Theme organizers Barbara E. Corkey from the Boston University School of Medicine and Marc Prentki from the University of Montreal have invited an international team of scientists to present their recent findings on this medically important topic in Room 202B of the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.

 

 

 

 

Mitochondrial Function and Disease:

The first platform session will be held from 3:45 p.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday and will focus on mitochondria, the "powerhouses" of cells, which generate ATP, the cell's basic unit of energy currency. In this session, two researchers, one from the University of Miami and another from McGill University, will present their research linking mitochondrial dysfunction to aging. A third presenter from Boston University will discuss studies with mice that have mitochondrial mutations that lead to obesity and hyperglycemia.

Workshop — Measuring Mitochondrial Function and Dysfunction:

In addition to the regular platform sessions, this thematic program also will feature a workshop from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Sunday. Participants can review the principles of measuring mitochondrial function and dysfunction and learn about the newest tools available in the field.

Metabolic Communication:

The second round of talks, to be held from 9:55 a.m. to 12:10 p.m. Monday, will examine the role of communication between cells in age-related diseases as well as obesity and insulin resistance. The three talks will feature researchers from Emory University, the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of Southern California Medical School.

Metabolic Signal Transduction:

The third platform session in the program will be held from 3:45 p.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday and will focus on how cells communicate their energy needs. Insulin acts like a fuel gauge for cells, signaling when the cell has too much or not enough energy, and works in concert with other chemical signals to maintain healthy cellular function. This session will feature research on three different metabolic signaling systems and their roles in obesity, diabetes and metabolic disease. Scientists from the University of Montreal, Boston University School of Medicine and the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland will speak.

Metabolism and Cancer:

The final round of talks, to be held from 9:55 a.m. to 12:10 p.m. Wednesday, will feature recent discoveries concerning metabolism and cancer. Metabolic processes are critical to the survival and growth of cancer cells, and exciting new research is investigating the metabolic functions that can contribute to cancer development and potential mechanisms for prevention. This session will include presentations by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, University of Toronto and McGill University.

 

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About Experimental Biology 2011

Experimental Biology is an annual gathering of six scientific societies that this year is expected to draw 13,000-plus independent scientists and exhibitors. The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) is a co-sponsor of the meeting, along with the American Association of Anatomists (AAA), American Physiological Society (APS), American Society for Investigative Pathology (ASIP), American Society for Nutrition (ASN) and the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET).

More information about EB2011 for the media can be found on the press page: http://experimentalbiology.org/content/PressInformation.aspx.

About the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

The ASBMB is a nonprofit scientific and educational organization with more than 12,000 members worldwide. Most members teach and conduct research at colleges and universities. Others conduct research in various government laboratories, at nonprofit research institutions and in industry. The Society's student members attend undergraduate or graduate institutions. For more information about ASBMB, visit www.asbmb.org.

Scientists create world's first 'super-twisted' light

The research team at the University of Glasgow twisted the light like a corkscrew by using a polarising filter, before shining it onto a specially shaped piece of gold to create the world's first 'super twisting'.

Super twisted light does not exist in nature and, until now, it had only been theorised by scientists, never produced.

Super twisted light can be used to find protein traces in incredibly small samples of biological material  like blood, far less than currently used.

The researchers have already used the light to look at many different proteins and have found that it is particularly sensitive to the structures of proteins which cause degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease.

The findings have been published in Nature Nanotechnology.

Dr Malcolm Kadodwala, senior lecturer in the School of Chemistry, said: “We are very excited by this research. Essentially, this twisted light, which does not exist naturally, allows us to detect biological materials at unprecedented low concentrations.

“Due to the nature of the twisted light, it has been shown to be particularly effective at detecting proteins with a structure characteristic of amyloids – insoluble proteins that can stick together to form plaques within different organs in the body.

“It is these plaques which are thought to play a part in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and CJD – though the reasons for this are unclear.

“We’re now looking to see if this same technique can be adapted to detect a wider range of proteins which are indicative of other diseases. The fact this method requires much less material (just one picogram or million millionth of a gram) for analysis than current techniques and uses a form of light previously unrealised is a big step forward.”

The complex science behind the technique takes advantage of the fact light can be twisted like a corkscrew by passing it through a special polarising filter: in much the same way as polarised sunglasses allow only certain alignments of light waves through.

By shining light onto a specially-shaped piece of metal – in this case gold – the light that is emitted from the metal becomes super-twisted.

Polarised or twisted light is already used in some medical techniques to analyse biomolecules, however the multidisciplinary Glasgow team, have been able to achieve a much more powerful system by twisting the light even tighter.

The team included engineer Dr Nikolaj Gadegaard and life scientist, Dr Sharon Kelly, with a team of physicists at the University of Exeter, led by Dr Euan Hendry.

The use of super-twisted light in spectroscopy – the analysis of materials according to way they absorb and emit light – has numerous potential applications in biosensing and could also be used to detect particular types of viruses which have similar structures.

Provided by University of Glasgow

Semi-synthetic Life; Scientists swap entire natural bacterial genome for artificial man-made genome

Scientist Craig Ventner and his team have inserted an entire synthetic genome into  bacterial cells, that took over the operation of the cell from the natural genome. This follows previous successes in inserting snipets in DNA from species to species and transplanting the entire natural genome from one bacterial species into another.

Significance:

This could be rated as one of top 5 discoveries for 2010.

Proof of concept  that bacterila genomes can be swapped by synthetic versions of entire genomes. Leads to the next stage-interting unique bio-apps in to bacterial, viruses, fungi or algae-.like new apps (applications) for your smart i-phone. Creating semi artificail bacterial or algae that convert C02 in butyl alcohols or higher chain gasoline or gasohol. (ETA 2015-2020)

Will we be seeing basement biologists hacking and tinkering with life? Not very soon. A Science Commentary this week reports:

"The synthetic genome created by Venter's team is almost identical to that of a natural bacterium. It was achieved at great expense, an estimated $40 million, and effort, 20 people working for more than a decade. Despite this success, creating heavily customized genomes, such as ones that make fuels or pharmaceuticals, and getting them to "boot" up the same way in a cell is not yet a reality. "There are great challenges ahead before genetic engineers can mix, match, and fully design an organism's genome from scratch," notes Paul Keim, a molecular geneticist at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff."

Background:

Negatively stained transmission electron micrographs of dividing M. mycoides JCVI-syn1. Electron micrographs were provided by Tom Deerinck and Mark Ellisman of the National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research at the University of California at San Diego.

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have developed the first cell controlled by a synthetic genome. They now hope to use this method to probe the basic machinery of life and to engineer bacteria specially designed to solve environmental or energy problems.

The study will be published online by the journal Science, at the Science Express website, on Thursday, 20 May.

The research team, led by Craig Venter of the J. Craig Venter Institute, has already chemically synthesized a bacterial genome and it has transplanted the genome of one bacterium to another. Now, the scientists have put both methods together, to create what they call a "synthetic cell," although only its genome is synthetic.

"This is the first synthetic cell that's been made, and we call it synthetic because the cell is totally derived from a synthetic chromosome, made with four bottles of chemicals on a chemical synthesizer, starting with information in a computer," said Venter.

"This becomes a very powerful tool for trying to design what we want biology to do. We have a wide range of applications [in mind]," he said.

For example, the researchers are planning to design algae that can capture carbon dioxide and make new hydrocarbons that could go into refineries. They are also working on ways to speed up vaccine production. Making new chemicals or food ingredients and cleaning up water are other possible benefits, according to Venter.

In the Science study, the researchers synthesized the genome of the bacterium M. mycoides and added DNA sequences that "watermark" the genome to distinguish it from a natural one.

Because current machines can only assemble relatively short strings of DNA letters at a time, the researchers inserted the shorter sequences into yeast, whose DNA-repair enzymes linked the strings together. They then transferred the medium-sized strings into E. coli and back into yeast. After three rounds of assembly, the researchers had produced a genome over a million base pairs long.
 

The scientists then transplanted the synthetic M. mycoides genome into another type of bacteria, Mycoplasm capricolum. The new genome "booted up" the recipient cells. Although fourteen genes were deleted or disrupted in the transplant bacteria, they still looked like normal M. mycoides bacteria and produced only M. mycoides proteins, the authors report.

Enlarge

The assembly of a synthetic M. mycoides genome in yeast. Figure from Gibson, D. G., J. I. Glass, et al. 2010. Creation of a bacterial cell controlled by a chemically synthesized genome. Science, Published online May 20 2010.

"This is an important step we think, both scientifically and philosophically. It's certainly changed my views of the definitions of life and how life works," Venter said.

Acknowledging the ethical discussion about synthetic biology research, Venter explained that his team asked for a bioethical review in the late 1990s and has participated in variety of discussions on the topic.

"I think this is the first incidence in science where the extensive bioethical review took place before the experiments were done. It's part of an ongoing process that we've been driving, trying to make sure that the science proceeds in an ethical fashion, that we're being thoughtful about what we do and looking forward to the implications to the future," he said.

More information: 20 May 2010, Science, "Creation of a Bacterial Cell Controlled by a Chemically Synthesized Genome."
J. Craig Venter Institute announcement: http://www.jcvi.org/cms/press/press-releases/full-text/article/first-self-replicating-synthetic-bacterial-cell-constructed-by-j-craig-venter-institute-researcher/

Provided by American Association for the Advancement of Science

Hydrated Fullerenes (C60-HyFn) attack blood clots or deep vein thrombosis (DVT)

UPDATE  Nov 2010: HYFNs have been approved for manufacturing as Fullerene Water Solution (FWS)  drink in Ukraine by the  Ministry of Health  as of Nov 2010. It's the first nanotech based health drink in the world. For information about availability  contact me privately by email.

In June 2008, Ukrainian researchers published a little noticed and rarely cited article in a Ukrainian medical journal called Medical Chemistry  ( Медична Хімія) on research done back in 2007 and earlier.

The intriguing title?  "THE ACCELERATION OF BLOOD PLASMA CLOT LYSIS IN THE PRESENCE OF  HYDRATED C60 FULLERENE NANOSTRUCTURES."

А.О. Тихомиров, Д.Б. Шахнін, О.В.Тронза, С.C. Кошелєва, Г.В. Андрієвський.

ПРИСКОРЕННЯ ЛІЗИСУ ФІБРИНОВИХ ЗГУСТКІВ У ПРИСУТНОСТІ ГІДРАТОВАНИХ НАНОЧАСТОК ФУЛЕРЕНУ С60. Медична Хімія, червень 2008.

The English abstract is cited below.

What's the significance of this discovery? Good news for people suffering with the silent killer...a cure & a potential preventive action against blood clots or deep vein thrombosis (DVT).

ACCELERATION OF FIBRIN CLOT LYSIS IN THE PRESENCE OF HYDRATED NANO-PARTICLES OF FULLERENE C₆₀

  

A.O. Tykhomyrov¹, D.B. Shakhnin², O.V. Tronza³, S.S. Kosheleva¹,  G.V. Andrievsky⁴

  

1 – DNIEPROPETROVSK NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

2 – PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT “UKRAINE”, KYIV

3 – PALLADIN INSTITUTE OF BIOCHEMISTRY, KYIV

4 – STC “INSTITUTE FOR MONOCRYSTALS”, KHARKIV

Summary

    Effect of hydrated fullerene C₆₀ (C₆₀HyFn) onto kinetics parameters of enzymatic hydrolysis of fibrin clot induced by tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) in vitro was studied. Incubation of t-PA in the C₆₀HyFn solution increased rate of clot lysis by 2,7 times and reduced time of half-lysis by 1,6 times. Data obtained suggest that enzyme fibrinolytic activity elevation occurs due to stabilization of enzyme water microenvironment in the presence of C₆₀HyFn. Application of fullerene C₆₀ may be useful for creation of highly efficient thrombolytical drugs.

KEY WORDS: fibrinolysis, tissue plasminogen activator, fullerene.

An English version of the research has been accepted for publication in a prestigious nanotechnology publication and is due to come out Oct 2010.

THE ACCELERATION OF BLOOD PLASMA CLOT LYSIS IN THE PRESENCE OF HYDRATED C60 FULLERENE NANOSTRUCTURES IN SUPER-SMALL CONCENTRATION by G. Andrievsky, D. Shakhnin, A. Tronza, D. Zhernosekov, A. Tykhomyrov.  Fullerenes, Nanotubes and Carbon Nanostructures, Oct 26, 2010.  DOI: 10.1080/15363831003785257.

Walter Derzko, The Opportunity Clinic, Smart Economy, Toronto 

Hydrated Fullerenes (C60-HYFN) stimulate seed germination & improve plant growth by 60%

Ukraine used to be known as the bread basket of Europe in the 19th and 20th century. It could regain and improve that title-the bread & food basket to the world if Ukrainian farmers start micro-watering their crops with Fullerene Water Solutions.

Lab and field trials have shown that fullerene laced water solutions at nano-quanities of ten to the minus nine concentrations of hydrated or water soluble fullerenes can stimulate wheat seed germination and plant growth by upto 60%. (see side by side results in petri dish below)

HHmm, I think I'll try it out on my tomatoes when I plant them next week

Other extensive health benefits of HyFNs are summarised below:

http://www.ipacom.com/index.php/en/fullerenes-and-water-left/74-med-bio-prop-hyfn

Conducting large-scale research, by the end of 2005 we had already known the following main biological properties of hydrated C60 fullerene (C60HyFn).

 

For example, experiments in vitro revealed that C60HyFn, in C60 concentrations up to 100 µM:

 

 

- are not cytotoxic, including non-hepatotoxicity;

- do not suppress, but promote the growth of isolated cell cultures (microbes, fungi, etc.); promote survival rate and enhance viability of spermatozoa in the process of “cryopreservation – thawing”;

- stimulation seed germination and plant growth;

- do not inhibit cell respiration;

- do not inhibit catalytic activity of membrane-bound ATPases;

- have antioxidant properties more significant than ionol (BHT), vitamin E and ß-carotene;

- stabilize cell membranes and enhance their stability in unfavourable conditions;

- do not affect blood coagulation systems;

- enhance the temperature of biomolecules denaturation (DNA, albumin, collagen, etc.) by 5-10 degrees C.

- increase catalytic activity of isolated enzymes (e.g., serine proteinases).

 

 

Simultaneously with research on molecular and cell level, experiments in vivo (with laboratory animals) revealed that C60HyFn in wide scale of C60 total dose (from super small and up to 25 mg/kg of body weight):

 

 

- are non-toxic, non-immunogenic, non-allergenic;

- enhance the resistance of plasma membranes to disturbing factors;

- have positive influence on antioxidant and energetic systems;

- have radioprotective properties due to inhibition of the excessive level of free radicals;

- have strong and long-lasting antihistaminic and antiallergic action, i.e. can act as anti-inflammatory agents;

- have positive influence on the activity of adreno-, GABA-, histamine- and especially, serotonergic systems, and as a result, enhance adaptogenic functions of the organism;

- have potent hepatoprotective activity;

- have expressed neuroprotective (including Alzheimer's disease) and non-specific analgetic action;

- inhibit the development of tumour pathologies without killing cancer cells;

- have antiatherosclerotic (antiatherogenic) properties;

- able to protect organisms against viral infections (e.g., influenza virus) (HyFn do not kill viruses, but prevent their effective penetration into the cell);

- improve and enhance reproductive (genital) functions.

Nowadays on the basis of complex analysis of numerous experimental facts, official bio-medical trials, own observations we arrive to a conclusion tat water solutions of hydrated fullerene C60 have broad and universal spectrum of positive biological activity and, in particular, they:

- are “wise” and long-acting antioxidants that in the organism not only normalize the processes of lipid peroxidation and lipid composition of cell membranes, but also protect and activate its own systems of antioxidant protection;

- enhance resistance of cell membranes to the action of unfavourable factors and restore disturbed energy supply inside the cells;

- promote the processes of cell differentiation and tissue regeneration;

- inhibit cell apoptosis, i.e. so called programmed cell death;

- are non-immunogenic, but have positive immunomodulating properties and protect the immune system against disturbing factors;

- have adaptogenic and antistress properties, which is related to positive influence on the functions of the central nervous system, and also are able to protect nervous tissue against disturbing action of free radicals;

- have long-term antihistaminic and anti-inflammatory action;

- protect cardio-vascular system from the development of pathologies connected with atherosclerosis, and also effectively inhibit the causes of the development of atherosclerosis itself;

- have expressed neuroprotective properties, including protection of brain tissues against disturbances caused by the action of free radicals and other chemical agents and thus can be used in the therapy of different neurodegenerative diseases (e.g. Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, etc.);

- are highly effective hepatoprotectors in therapy and prevention of liver pathologies of different etiology, including liver cirrhosis;

- effective in ulcer diseases of the stomach and duodenum;

- effective in the diseases of gallbladder and urinary bladder, pancreas, including different forms of diabetes;

- have expressed anti-burn, regenerative, antiulcer and wound healing properties (especially in combination with mild antibacterial preparations);

- shorten the period of the recovery of the organism after surgeries;

- protect by natural manner from viral infections, acute respiratory diseases, and is rather effective for ENT-diseases;

- in case of preventive intake, decrease the probability of development of oncological pathologies, and in case if it has already developed, depending on the stage, help the organism inhibit, restrain and control its spreading.  In addition to independent use, they are potent additional agents in combined, rational therapy of oncological states;

- significantly prolong the terms of remission in patients after surgical removal of tumor neoplasm and decrease the risk of backset of active tumor process;

- promote decrease of side effects caused by the use of active antitumor chemotherapy (improve its tolerance);

- have non-specific analgetic action, and, in pain syndrome patients, improve quality of life;

- are radioprotectors and their administration is quite grounded for elimination of side effects caused by radiation therapy;

- have expressed positive influence on human reproductive functions and can be used for treatment of different functional forms of sterility;

- improve by natural manner the sexual potency;

- alleviate alcohol withdrawal syndrome in alcohol excesses;

- effective for chronic fatigue syndrome;

- on the whole, have general positive action as for supporting of normal functioning of the organism and inhibition of development of negative manifestations connected with age-related alterations (aging, climacteric, etc.).

 

Undoubtedly, this list of positive biological activity will grow, basing on already known facts one can assume that in general the action of hydrated fullerene C60 and its water solutions directed to restoration of disturbed functions both on the level of cells, organs and systems, and normalization of numerous biochemical indexes of the whole macroorganism.  All of these are realized owing to improvement of adaptive, immune, metabolic and reparative processes.

All the above health claims are supported by research and clinical studies the following academic publications http://www.ipacom.com/index.php/en/research/48 

Fullerenes and Water http://www.ipacom.com/index.php/en/fullerenes-and-water

Medical and biological properties of Hydrated Fullerenes HyFN’s http://www.ipacom.com/index.php/en/fullerenes-and-water-left/74 (all supported by research papers below)

History of research collaboration: http://www.ipacom.com/index.php/en/-cooperation-left/53

Current and future Research Directions (very extensive and very interesting): http://www.ipacom.com/index.php/en/researches

Published research papers: http://www.ipacom.com/index.php/en/research/48

Biological imaging with 4D ultrafast electron microscopy

Here's another significant microscopy advance, the second one within a single week--Walter Derzko.

Biological imaging with 4D ultrafast electron microscopy, published in PNAS Early Edition for 17 May 2010 by David J. Flannigan, Brett Barwick, and Ahmed H. Zewail1 + Author Affiliations

Physical Biology Center for Ultrafast Science and Technology, Arthur Amos Noyes Laboratory of Chemical Physics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 Contributed by Ahmed H. Zewail, April 26, 2010 (sent for review April 17, 2010)

http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2010/05/13/1005653107.abstract?etoc

Abstract

Advances in the imaging of biological structures with transmission electron microscopy continue to reveal information at the nanometer length scale and below.  The images obtained are static, i.e., time-averaged over seconds, and the weak contrast is usually enhanced through sophisticated specimen preparation techniques and/or improvements in electron optics and methodologies.  Here we report the application of the technique of photon-induced near-field electron microscopy (PINEM) to imaging of biological specimens with femtosecond (fs) temporal resolution.

In PINEM, the biological structure is exposed to single-electron packets and simultaneously irradiated with fs laser pulses that are coincident with the electron pulses in space and time.  By electron energy-filtering those electrons that gained photon energies, the contrast is enhanced only at the surface of the structures involved.  This method is demonstrated here in imaging of protein vesicles and whole cells of Escherichia coli, both are not absorbing the photon energy, and both are of low-Z contrast.  It is also shown that the spatial location of contrast enhancement can be controlled via laser polarization, time resolution, and tomographic tilting.  The high-magnification PINEM imaging provides the nanometer scale and the fs temporal resolution.  The potential of applications is discussed and includes the study of antibodies and immunolabeling within the cell.

Key words Evanescent nanoscale biostructure

Footnotes 1To whom correspondence should be addressed.  E-mail: zewail@caltech.edu. Author contributions: D.J.F., B.B., and A.H.Z. designed research, performed research, contributed new reagents/analytic tools, analyzed data, and wrote the paper.  The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2010/05/13/1005653107.abstract?etoc

Biological Legos build 3-D organs and structures

Tissue engineers create a new way to assemble artificial tissues

New method uses 'biological Legos' -- cells transformed into bricks

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.  -- Tissue engineering has long held promise for building new organs to replace damaged livers, blood vessels and other body parts.  However, one major obstacle is getting cells grown in a lab dish to form 3-D shapes instead of flat layers.

Researchers at the MIT-Harvard Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST) have come up with a new way to overcome that challenge, by encapsulating living cells in cubes and arranging them into 3-D structures, just as a child would construct buildings out of blocks.

The new technique, dubbed "micromasonry," employs a gel-like material that acts like concrete, binding the cell "bricks" together as it hardens.  Ali Khademhosseini, assistant professor of HST, and former HST postdoctoral associate Javier Gomez Fernandez describe the work in a paper published online in the journal Advanced Materials.

The tiny cell bricks hold potential for building artificial tissue or other types of medical devices, says Jennifer Elisseeff, associate professor of biomedical engineering at Johns Hopkins University, who was not involved in the research.  "They're very elegant and have a lot of flexibility in how you grow them," she says.  "It's very creative."

To obtain single cells for tissue engineering, researchers have to first break tissue apart, using enzymes that digest the extracellular material that normally holds cells together.  However, once the cells are free, it's difficult to assemble them into structures that mimic natural tissue microarchitecture.

Some scientists have successfully built simple tissues such as skin, cartilage or bladder on biodegradable foam scaffolds.  "That works, but it often lacks a controlled microarchitecture," says Khademhosseini, who is also an assistant professor at Brigham and Women's Hospital.  "You don't get tissues with the same complexity as normal tissues."

The HST researchers built their "biological Legos" by encapsulating cells within a polymer called polyethylene glycol (PEG), which has many medical uses.  Their version of the polymer is a liquid that becomes a gel when illuminated, so when the PEG-coated cells are exposed to light, the polymer hardens and encases the cells in cubes with side lengths ranging from 100 to 500 millionths of a meter.

Once the cells are in cube form, they can be arranged in specific shapes using templates made of PDMS, a silicon-based polymer used in many medical devices.  Both template and cell cubes are coated again with the PEG polymer, which acts as a glue that holds the cubes together as they pack themselves tightly onto the scaffold surface.

After the cubes are arranged properly, they are illuminated again, and the liquid holding the cubes together solidifies.  When the template is removed, the cubes hold their new structure.

Gomez Fernandez and Khademhosseini used this method to build tubes that could function as capillaries, potentially helping to overcome one of the most persistent problems with engineered organs — lack of an immediate blood supply.  "If you build an organ, but you can't provide nutrients, it is going to die," says Gomez Fernandez, now a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard.  They hope their work could also lead to a new way to make artificial liver or cardiac tissue.

Other researchers have developed a technique called organ printing to create complex 3-D tissues, but that process requires a robotic machine that is not in widespread use.  The new technique does not require any special equipment.  "You can reproduce this in any lab," says Gomez Fernandez.  "It's very simple."

To get to the point where these engineered tissues could become clinically useful, "the short-term next step is really looking at different cell types and the viability of tissue growth," says Elisseeff.  The researchers are now doing that, and they are also exploring the use of different polymers that could replace PEG and offer more control over cell placement.

### Source: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/123410503/abstract

Scope of Hydrated Fullerene (C60- HYFN) Research in Ukraine; Nanomedicine, nanomaterials on demand, sports medicine, cosmetics, pharmacology, agriculture, veterinary medicine etc

UPDATE  Nov 2010: HYFNs have been approved for manufacturing as Fullerene Water Solution (FWS)  drink in Ukraine by the  Ministry of Health  as of Nov 2010. It's the first nanotech based health drink in the world. For information about availability  contact me privately by email.

I received this updated list of research directions and activities surrounding hydrated fullerenes (C60) otherwise known as water soluble bucky balls, from my colleagues in Ukraine,who discovered and patented hydrated fullerenes (HyFn's) in the 1990's. They are looking for business and academic research collaborators around the world.

Scope of Hydrated Fullerene (C60- HYFN) Research in  Ukraine

  

Development of nanomaterials.

•  Synthesis of new nanosized composition on the bases of metal, dielectric and semiconducting materials.

•  Development and research of bio-nanocomposites.

  

Physical and chemical research of nanostructures.

•  Research of physical and chemical properties of nanostructural materials, and in the first place – fullerenes in hydrated state.

•  Research of structural organization of water and water solutions. Cluster nature of water.

•  Research of behaviour peculiarities of physical and chemical processes in heterogeneous media, structured by hydrated fullerenes.

•  Research of behaviour peculiarities in water solutions of substances at their small and super small concentrations.

•  Research of the heat-conduction process in media containing nanostructural materials.

•  Research of photocalytic processes in presence of nanomaterials in different media.

  

Biological research of nanostructures. 

•  Toxicological research of nanomaterials.

•  Development of biocompatible materials on the basis of nanostructural composites.

•  Research of biochemical reactions and biological processes in heterogeneous water media, structured by hydrated fullerenes.

•  Research of the biological role of cluster water structures.

•  Research of the influence of specific cluster organization of water on increasing of biological system stability against unfavourable environmental factors, including action of different electromagnetic fields and ionizing radiation.

•  Research of the use of nanoparticle solutions as components of nutrient medium for microorganisms growth, producers of specific antibiotics, vitamins, proteins, etc.; and as components of biological test-systems for biomedical analyses.

•  Research of the use perspectives of hydrated fullerenes for preservation, including cryoconservation, of different biological material (biomolecules, cells, blood and its components, organs and tissues).

•  Research of the influence of hydrated fullerenes on the processes of aging and their ability to slow down such kind of processes.

  

Nanostructures for pharmacology.

•  Development of medicinal forms of hydrated fullerenes for parenteral, oral, intranasal and other ways of administration.

•  Efficiency enhancement of existing pharmaceuticals due to incorporation of hydrated fullerenes into their composition.

•  Development and creation of new vaccines and serums with decreased allergenic and side effects.

  

Nanostructures for medicine.

•  Research and application of nanostructures as additional agents and components, enhancing efficiency of standard schemas of treatment of human diseases.

•  Research and application of hydrated fullerenes as antioxidative, immunoprotective, anti-inflammatory and antiallergic agents.

•  Research and application of hydrated fullerenes as highly effective radioprotective agents.

•  Research of the efficiency and application of hydrated fullerenes in clinic of cardio-vascular diseases.

•  Research of the efficiency and application of hydrated fullerenes for prevention and treatment of oncological diseases.

•  Research of the efficiency and application of hydrated fullerenes for diabetes and other endocrine and metabolic diseases.

•  Research of the efficiency and application of hydrated fullerenes in clinic of digestive organs’ diseases and kidney and urinary tract diseases.

•  Research of the efficiency and application of hydrated fullerenes in clinic of bronchopulmonary diseases.

•  Research of the efficiency and application of hydrated fullerenes for prevention and treatment of infectious diseases and diseases of ear, throat and nose.

•  Research of the efficiency and application of hydrated fullerenes for children’s diseases.

•  Research and application of hydrated fullerenes in clinic of surgical diseases.

•  Research and application of hydrated fullerenes in clinic of women's diseases.

•  Research and application of hydrated fullerenes for lesions of internal organs in case of alcoholism and toxicomania.

•  Research and application of hydrated fullerenes in geriatric practice.

•  Research and application of hydrated fullerenes in sports medicine.

•  Research and application hydrated fullerenes in balneology.

  

  

Nanostructures in sports.

•  Enhancement of exercise tolerance in sportsmen and their sport results without use of dopes, stimulators, anabolics, etc.

•  Improvement of adaptive abilities in sportsmen under stress conditions.

  

Nanostructures for cosmetics, perfumery and personal hygiene products.

•  Research and application of nanostructures with bioantioxidative and structure-organizing properties as components that significantly improve consumer properties of cosmetic and perfumery products.

•  Protection of “gentle” components of such products and prolongation of their shelf life.

•  Creation of brand new cosmetic and perfumery products and personal hygiene products with health-improving properties.

  

Nanostructures for food.

•  Research and application of nanostructures with bioantioxidative and structure-organizing properties as components that significantly improve consumer properties of food.

•  Protection of “gentle” components of such products and prolongation of their shelf life.

•  Substitution by hydrated fullerenes of hazardous conserving agents and stabilizers for food products.

  

Nanostructures for agriculture.

•  Research and application of hydrated fullerenes in agriculture for accelerated germination and growing of plants.

•  Research and application of hydrated fullerenes for enhanced plant resistance to disease-producing agents.

  

Nanostructures in veterinary medicine.

•  Research and application of hydrated fullerenes for prevention of animal diseases, including viral ones.

•  Research and application of hydrated fullerenes to enhance reproductive qualities, viability and quality of life of elite animals.

•  Research and application of hydrated fullerenes for animals in sports.

Anyone wishing to collaborate in joint academic research, outsource their research or start  contract research, please contact me directly. (from your business email)

Here is the Institute's new web page:  http://ipacom.com/index.php?lang=en.

Walter Derzko