New vaccine design developed against HIV

American scientists have developed a new approach to vaccine design that could be useful against HIV and other viruses which change their structure quickly, says a new study.

The study, which appeared March 28 in Science Express, the early online edition of the journal Science, offers a step toward solving what has been one of the central problems of modern vaccine design: how to stimulate the immune system to produce the right kind of antibody response to protect against a wide range of viral strains, reports Science Daily.

The new technique for vaccine design has been developed by a team of scientists from the Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) and the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI).

Using the technique, the researchers engineered an immunogen (substance that induces immunity) that promises to reliably initiate an otherwise rare response effective against many types of Human Immunodeficiency Virus.

"We're hoping to test this immunogen soon in mice engineered to produce human antibodies, and eventually in humans," said team leader William R. Schief, an associate professor of immunology and member of the IAVI Neutralizing Antibody Centre at TSRI.

Scientists developing blood-cleansing technology

 US scientists are developing a blood-cleansing technology to treat life-threatening blood infections in critically-injured soldiers and patients.

The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University announced Saturday that it has been awarded a $9.25-million contract to further advance the blood-cleansing technology developed with the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) support, reports Science Daily.

The DARPA has also asked the institute to help accelerate the technology's translation to humans as a new type of sepsis therapy.

The device will be used to treat bloodstream infections that are the leading cause of death in critically-ill patients and soldiers injured in combat.

To rapidly cleanse the blood of pathogen, the patient's blood is mixed with magnetic nano-beads coated with a genetically-engineered version of a human blood "opsonin" protein that binds to a wide variety of bacteria, fungi, viruses, parasites, and toxins.

It is then flowed through micro-channels in the device where magnetic forces pull out the bead-bound pathogen without removing human blood cells, proteins, fluids, or electrolytes -- much like a human spleen does. The cleansed blood then flows back to the patient.

"In just a few years we have been able to develop a suite of new technologies, and to integrate them to create a powerful new device that could potentially transform the way we treat sepsis," said Wyss founding director and project leader Don Ingber.

"The continued support from DARPA enables us to advance our device manufacturing capabilities and to obtain validation in large animal models, which is precisely what is required to enable this technology to be moved towards testing in humans," Ingber added.

Changes in food habits can impact genes

Scientists have shown in new research that dietary changes are linked to alterations in gene expressions that could affect overall health and physiology.

Even the most health-conscious eaters find themselves indulging in junk foods from time to time. New research by scientists at the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) raises the striking possibility that even small amounts of these occasional indulgences may produce significant changes in gene expression that could negatively impact physiology and health.

A pair of papers published by A.J. Marian Walhout, Ph.D., co-director of the Program in Systems Biology and professor of molecular medicine at UMMS, describe how metabolism and physiology are connected to diet.

Using C.elegans, a transparent roundworm often used as a model organism in genetic studies, Walhout and colleagues observed how different diets produce differences in gene expression in the worm that can then be linked to crucial physiological changes.