Complex Insight - Understanding our world

The combination of sensors and automated tests in areas of genetics and proteomics enable collection of largescale comprehensive health data for the first time. That data will generate insights into human biology, our bacterial biome and how our health systems work. Advances in large scale data processing, correlation and machine learning will help over the next decade to  radically change our understanding of human biology. As data is collected and in silico experimentation mapped to invitrio understanding data will change our  healthcare systems over the next 30 years.  This BBC article gives a good insight into how and why this is starting to happen now.

If you have ever had to try to make sense of a tissue sectioning slice then you may find this incredible. Nature video on guardian site is very much worth watching. For technical reference see Chung, K., et al. (2013). Structural and molecular interrogation of intact biological systems. Nature, doi:10.1038/nature12107

Wired has a good summary article on the U.K.’s Chief Medical Officer report on microbial resistance in which she calls resistance a “catastrophic threat” which poses a national security risk as serious as terrorism. In an interview published overnight, she warns that unless resistance is curbed, “We will find ourselves in a health system not dissimilar to the early 19th century” in which organ transplants, cancer chemotherapy, joint replacements and even minor surgeries become life-threatening.  Click on the image or title to get the Wired article summarizing the report or read the report in full: http://bit.ly/XCKdXQ ;

Public reaction to news of antibiotic resistance seems to follow a predictable pattern: Instant alarm, followed almost immediately by apathy as the daily routine re-inserts itself. It will be interesting seeing how these announcements are covered and discussed and wether or not consideration of alternate mechanisms, and understanding of adaptation, evolution and bacterial communication enter the discussions more widely. Click on the title or the image to learn more..

Good article on BBC health:Researchers at the University of Surrey analysed the blood of 26 people after they had had plenty of sleep, up to 10 hours each night for a week, and compared the results with samples after a week of fewer than six hours a night. More than 700 genes were altered by the sleep shift. Each contains the instructions for building a protein, so those that became more active produced more proteins - changing body chemistry in response to reduced sleep. These results help indicate the role of sleep in regulating body chemistry and how regular sleep is important to maintain body functions such as replenishing and replacing cells. 

Scientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have recently developed techniques for visualizing the behaviour of biological nanostructures in both space and time, allowing them to directly measure stiffness and map its variation throughout the network. Given that the behaviour of biological materials are partly determined by their structure (the arrangement of atoms in three dimensional space and how the structure changes over time) this type of visualization holds a huge amount of promise for revealing insights into biomaterials that were previously hidden. Knowing the mechanical properties of DNA structures is crucial to building sturdy biological networks and understanding subcellular structural formation. The researchers say that this type of visualization of biomechanics in space and time should be applicable to the study of other biological nanomaterials, including the abnormal protein assemblies that underlie diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.  Click on the image or title to read the full article.

Scientists at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, in collaboration with colleagues in Germany and the Netherlands, have identified a previously unknown group of nerve cells in the brain. The nerve cells regulate cardiovascular functions such as heart rhythm and blood pressure. It is hoped that the discovery, which is published in theJournal of Clinical Investigation, will be significant in the long term in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases in humans

Researchers have developed a platform that compiles all the atomic data, previously stored in diverse databases, on protein structures and protein interactions for eight organisms of relevance. They apply a singular homology-based modelling procedure.The scientists Roberto Mosca, Arnaud Ceol and Patrick Aloy provide the international biomedical community with Interactome3D, an open-access and free web platform developed entirely by the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona). Interactome 3D offers for the first time the possibility to anonymously access and add molecular details of protein interactions and to obtain the information in 3D models. A great article describing the services is available here:  http://www.nanowerk.com/news2/biotech/newsid=28103.php#ixzz2FLF10eRq ; or click on the image or title to explore the service directly.

Mapping molecular motions -- the "magic" of chemistry revealed. Despite the enormous number of possible arrangements of atoms during a structural transition, such as occurs with changes in charge distribution or chemical processes, the interconversion from one structure to another reduces to a few key types of motions. This enormous reduction in dimensionality is what makes chemical concepts transferable from one molecule to another and has enabled chemists to synthesize nearly any molecule desired, for new drugs to infusing new material properties. This is a still image from a movie that gives a direct atomic level view of this enormous reduction in complexity. The specific trajectories along three different coordinates, as highlighted in the movie, are shown as projections (right view) on a cube. The key atomic motions can be mapped on to three highly simplified coordinates -- the magic of chemistry in its full atomic splendor. (Credit: Lai Chung Liu, University of Toronto)

Professor Paul Sharpe, who led the research at King's College London's dental institute, said: "Epithelial cells derived from adult human gum tissue are capable of responding to tooth-inducing signals from embryonic tooth mesenchyme in an appropriate way to contribute to tooth crown and root formation and give rise to relevant differentiated cell types, following in-vitro culture."These easily accessible epithelial cells are thus a realistic source for consideration in human biotooth formation. The next major challenge is to identify a way to culture adult human mesenchymal cells to be tooth-inducing, as at the moment we can only make embryonic mesenchymal cells do this." Previous research has shown that embryonic teeth are capable of developing normally in the adult mouth. "What is required is the identification of adult sources of human epithelial and mesenchymal cells that can be obtained in sufficient numbers to make biotooth formation a viable alternative to dental implants," said Sharpe.

Protein activity is strictly regulated. Incorrect or poor protein regulation can lead to uncontrolled growth and thus cancer or chronic inflammation. Members of the Institute of Veterinary Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Zurich have identified enzymes that can regulate the activity of medically important proteins. Their discovery enables these proteins to be manipulated very selectively, opening up new treatment methods for inflammations and cancer. The work was published online on March 10, 2013 in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology. A related article was also published online at the same time in the same journal. For a healthy organism, it is crucial for proteins to be active or inactive at the right time. The corresponding regulation is often based on a chemical modification of the protein structure: Enzymes attach small molecules to particular sites on a protein or remove them, thereby activating or deactivating the protein. Identification of the enzymes and related mechanisms opens up the possiblity for new related treatments in related processes. Click on the iage or title to learn more.

Excellent article on BBC Science regarding diversity of cancer DNA in a tumour and research at the Cancer Research UK London Research Institute and the University College London. This has been a major problem in finding effective approaches to treating cancers. Prof Swanton told the BBC: "It is like constructing a building without enough bricks or cement for the foundations.

"However, if you can provide the building blocks of DNA you can reduce the replication stress to limit the diversity in tumours, which could be therapeutic."

He admitted that it "just seems wrong" that providing the fuel for a cancer to grow could be therapeutic.However, he said this proved that replication stress was the problem and that new tools could be developed to tackle it.

Future studies will investigate whether the same stress causes diversity in other types of tumour.

Good article from the BBC Future health series. Video is worth watching if you want an insight into how new technologies will impact healthcare.