There’s so much going on in the world of science, unfortunately I can not cover it all. Here’s the latest buzz going around in the field.

Stem Cells
Scientists in the UK have developed an artificial heart valve grown from stem cells. Artificial heart valves are usually made from bovine materials, plastic, or metal alloys, however immune rejection of foreign materials in the body becomes a huge problem that can lead to heart disorders. These stem cell heart valves have the potential to prevent risk of endocarditis and stenosis because they act just like natural heart valves.

Nanotechnology
Purdue’s Brick nanotechnology center is utilizing nanopore channels to distinguish specific sequences of DNA. They created channels with diameters between ten and twenty nanometers in silicone and attached a single strand of DNA to each channel. As liquid containing DNA translocates through the nanopores due to a generated voltage difference across the channel, they can differentiate between certain DNA molecules.

Nicotine and Memory
Nicotine has the ability to cross the blood-brain barrier and activates reward pathways in the brain that trigger feelings of euphoria and satisfaction; this is what makes it so addictive. Dutch scientists have taken advantage of this powerful property of nicotine and discovered how it affects memory in the brain. Nicotine influences neural wiring to enhance memory by strengthening the connections between neurons when the brain is accessing memory.

-Amy Shah

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 5th, 2007 at 1:42 pm and is filed under General, Stem Cells. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.