Bioscience News - GEG Tech top picks

This eye-on-a-chip, complete with a blinking eyelid, is helping scientists and drug developers to improve their understanding and treatment of DED, among other potential uses. The research, published in Nature Medicine, outlines the accuracy of the eye-on-a-chip as an organ stand-in and demonstrates its utility as a drug testing platform.

Researchers from the University of Chicago have described the three-dimensional, atomic structure of an important cell receptor molecule linked to the development of several diseases, including melanoma, acute myeloid leukemia and bilateral frontoparietal polymicrogyria, a debilitating developmental brain disorder. The study, published Sept. 21, in Neuron, also describes an engineered protein molecule that turns off the receptor. The report lays the groundwork for future development of pharmaceutical treatments that target the diseases mediated by these proteins, called adhesion G protein-coupled receptors, or aGPCRs.