November 12, 2018

Good Morning,

A group of scientists have created a procedure to regenerate severed frog legs, which has the possiblility to help get the medical community even closer to regrowing human limbs. Truly fascinating!

Learn about this and more interesting stories from the scientific community in today's issue.

Until Next Time,
Erin

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*-- Scientists design bioreactor to regrow amputated frog's legs --*

A team of scientists from Tufts University have developed a way to regenerate severed frog legs, which they say is an effort to move one step closer to regrowing human limbs.

The findings were published Tuesday in the journal Cell Reports.

Using a 3D printer, researchers at Tufts produced a bioreactor from silicon, then filled it with hydrogel. After that, they tied hydrating silk proteins to the hydrogel to encourage repair and regeneration. Finally, they added progesterone, which is known to heal nerves, blood vessels and bone tissue.

Researchers then amputated the legs of adult aquatic African clawed frogs, Xenopus laevis, creating experiment treatment, control and sham groups to measure the effects of the bioreactor.

The team then stitched the bioreactor to the area of amputated limbs on frogs in the experimental group, removing it after 24 hours. After nearly 10 months, the scientists observed the bioreactor triggered "paddle-like" formation that looked more fully-formed than with organic regeneration.

"The bioreactor device created a supportive environment for the wound where the tissue could grow as it did during embryogenesis," Michael Levin, a developmental biologist at the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts and senior author of the study, said in a press release. "A very brief application of bioreactor and its payload triggered months of tissue growth and patterning."

The researchers analyzed the RNA sequencing and transcriptome of the frog, concluding the bioreactor changed gene expression within cells at the amputation area. The researchers also said the progesterone in the bioreactor suppressed the frog's immune system and scarring responses, which actually aided the regeneration process.

"At best, adult frogs normally grow back only a featureless, thin, cartilaginous spike," Levin said. "Our procedure induced a regenerative response they normally never have, which resulted in bigger, more structured appendages. The bioreactor device triggered very complex downstream outcomes that bioengineers cannot yet micromanage directly."

Now the team will shift its focus to replicating these results in mammals, along with developing bioelectric processes to induce spinal cord regeneration and tumor reprogramming.

"In both reproduction and its newly discovered role in brain functioning, progesterone's actions are local or tissue-specific," said first author Celia Herrera-Rincon, a neuroscientist in Levin's lab at Tufts University. "What we are demonstrating with this approach is that maybe reproduction, brain processing, and regeneration are closer than we think."

"Maybe they share pathways and elements of a common -- and so far, not completely understood -- bioelectrical code," Herrera-Rincon said.

*-- Scientists built an electricity-producing bionic mushroom --*

Researchers have created an electricity-producing bionic mushroom by augmenting a white button mushroom from the grocery store with cyanobacteria and graphene.

"By integrating cyanobacteria that can produce electricity, with nanoscale materials capable of collecting the current, we were able to better access the unique properties of both, augment them, and create an entirely new functional bionic system," Manu Mannoor, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology, said in a news release.

Cyanobacteria's electricity-production abilities are well-documented, but the microbes can't survive for long when integrated into synthetic materials. Lab tests proved a white button mushroom cap offered the proper nutrients, moisture, pH and temperature to preserve cyanobacteria cells.

"The mushrooms essentially serve as a suitable environmental substrate with advanced functionality of nourishing the energy producing cyanobacteria," said Sudeep Joshi, a postdoctoral fellow in Mannoor's lab. "We showed for the first time that a hybrid system can incorporate an artificial collaboration, or engineered symbiosis, between two different microbiological kingdoms."

Using a 3D printer, scientists decorated the mushroom cap with two inks, one composed of graphene nanoribbons and the other made of cyanobacteria cells. The deposition patterns allowed the bio-ink and electronic ink to intersect, allowing electron transfer.

When scientists shined a light on the mushroom, the photons triggered the cyanobacteria's photosynthesis, generating a current that was picked up by the electronic ink. Experiments in the lab showed different ink deposition patterns yielded varying levels of energy efficiency.

Scientists shared their breakthrough in a new paper published Tuesday in the journal NanoLetters.

"With this work, we can imagine enormous opportunities for next-generation bio-hybrid applications," Mannoor said. "For example, some bacteria can glow, while others sense toxins or produce fuel. By seamlessly integrating these microbes with nanomaterials, we could potentially realize many other amazing designer bio-hybrids for the environment, defense, healthcare and many other fields."


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