A compound that’s known to extend life span in fish could also stop cognitive decline.

Physicians can treat the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders, but there is no way to prevent or reverse the underlying degeneration and death of neurons that characterize these diseases. Now research by scientists at Harvard and MIT suggests a potential new therapeutic approach.

The scientists have shown that a gene called SIRT1 and a plant compound found in red wine called resveratrol can protect against neuron degeneration in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The researchers demonstrated that activating SIRT1 and injecting resveratrol, which have both been previously associated with life-span extension in lower organisms, can also prevent cognitive problems in the mice.

Wine therapy

Treatment with resveratrol, a compound found in red wine, prevents neurons from dying and improves cognition in mice with a neurodegenerative disorder. These images are from an in vitro study of resveratrol in degenerating rat neurons. The neuron stained green in the top image was treated with resveratrol and is healthy; the green neuron in the bottom image was not treated and shows signs of fragmentation.
Credit: Dohoon Kim

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The $100 Genome

Forget the $1,000 genome.

Some companies are looking far past that goal in the hope of creating a really inexpensive sequencing technology.

“Cheap sequence: Threading long DNA molecules through nano-sized channels on a specially fabricated chip could provide a cheaper way to sequence DNA. This image shows a wafer developed by BioNanomatrix. Each rectangle is a nanoanalyzer chip lined with 50,000 channels.

Credit: BioNanomatrix”

It currently costs roughly $60,000 to sequence a human genome, and a handful of research groups are hoping to achieve a $1,000 genome within the next three years. But two companies, Complete Genomics and BioNanomatrix, are collaborating to create a novel approach that would sequence your genome for less than the price of a nice pair of jeans–and the technology could read the complete genome in a single workday. “It would have been absolutely impossible to think about this project 10 years ago,” says Radoje Drmanac, chief scientific officer at Complete Genomics, which is based in Mountain View, CA.

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Modality, the leader in transforming and distributing premium, branded learning content to personal handheld media players has all your study needs available for download on your iPod. The innovative, digital learning platform is changing the way students learn and teachers teach.

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