Physics & Mathematics in Biomedicine Consortium

Tiny robots made from human cells heal damaged tissue

Scientists have developed tiny robots made of human cells that are able to repair damaged neural tissue1. The ‘anthrobots’ were made using human tracheal cells and might, in future, be used in personalized medicine.

The research “points the way to a ‘tissue engineering 2.0’ that synthetically controls a range of developmental processes”, says Alex Hughes, a bioengineer at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03777-x?utm_source=Live+Audience&utm_campaign=ad0f576696-briefing-dy-20231201&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b27a691814-ad0f576696-49350084

AI under the microscope: the algorithms powering the search for cells

Deep learning is driving the rapid evolution of algorithms that can automatically find and trace cells in a wide range of microscopy experiments.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03722-y?utm_source=Live+Audience&utm_campaign=d65461514b-briefing-dy-20231128&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b27a691814-d65461514b-49350084

How AI is expanding art history

From identifying disputed artworks to reconstructing lost masterpieces, artificial intelligence is enriching how we interpret our cultural heritage.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03604-3?utm_source=Live+Audience&utm_campaign=d09835b021-briefing-dy-20231123&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b27a691814-d09835b021-49350084

How AI could lead to a better understanding of the brain

Early machine-learning systems were inspired by neural networks — now AI might allow neuroscientists to get to grips with the brain’s unique complexities.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03426-3?utm_source=Live+Audience&utm_campaign=1f02197860-briefing-dy-20231107&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b27a691814-1f02197860-49350084

Biophysicists Uncover Powerful Symmetries in Living Tissue

After identifying interlocking symmetries in mammalian cells, scientists can describe some tissues as liquid crystals — an observation that lays the groundwork for a fluid-dynamic theory of how tissues move.

https://www.quantamagazine.org/biophysicists-uncover-powerful-symmetries-in-living-tissue-20231025/

Scientists Made a Quantum Object Called an Alice Ring. What Comes Next Is Much Weirder.

Topological monopoles are a quantum physics phenomenon that can decay into what’s known as “Alice rings.”
Named after Lewis Carroll’s famous heroine, this vortex ring flips the magnetic charge of any monopole that passes through it, creating an anti-monopole.
Although these rings last only 80 or so milliseconds, they could have big implications in the study of cosmology and high-energy physics.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/math/a44943490/alice-rings-quantum-physics/

Placenta forms with aid of mother’s microbiome

The organ that nourishes the developing embryo does not develop properly in mice that lack the usual gut microbes.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03105-3?utm_source=Live+Audience&utm_campaign=114e1a1676-briefing-dy-20231018&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b27a691814-114e1a1676-49350084

Premio Nobel Medicina y Fisiología 2023

Bioelectronic tongue: Current status and perspectives | Physics & Mathematics in Biomedicine Tomasz Wasilewski, Wojciech Kamysz, Jacek Gębicki Biosensors and Bioelectronics Volume 150, 15 February 2020, 111923 DOI: 10.1016/j.bios.2019.111923 In the course of evolution, nature has endowed humans with systems for the recognition of a wide range of tastes with a sensitivity and se...

Multi-scale modeling of drug binding kinetics to predict drug efficacy | Physics & Mathematics in Biomedicine Fabrizio Clarelli, Jingyi Liang, Antal Martinecz, Ines Heiland, Pia Abel zur Wiesch Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences pp 1–14, 25 November 2019 DOI: 10.1007/s00018-019-03376-y Optimizing drug therapies for any disease requires a solid understanding of pharmacokinetics (the drug con...

PennPET Explorer acquires first human images | Physics & Mathematics in Biomedicine By Cynthia E Keen Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have published the first clinical images acquired using the prototype PennPET Explorer, the second of two large axial field-of-view (FOV) whole-body PET imagers developed by the US-based EXPLORER Consortium. The proof-of-concept st...