Research sheds light on new strategy to treat infertility

OHSU researchers are advancing a strategy based on somatic cell nuclear transfer to treat infertility through in vitro gametogenesis, or IVG. A study published today describes the science behind the technique demonstrated in a mouse model.
Photo Credit: OHSU/Christine Torres Hicks

New research from Oregon Health & Science University describes the science behind a promising technique to treat infertility by turning a skin cell into an egg that is capable of producing viable embryos.

Researchers at OHSU documented the technique, known as in vitro gametogenesis, or IVG, in a mouse model through preliminary steps that rely upon transferring the nucleus of a skin cell into a donated egg in which the nucleus has been removed. Using mice, the investigators coaxed the skin cell’s nucleus into reducing its chromosomes by half, so that it could then be fertilized by a sperm cell to create a viable embryo.

The study was published today in the journal Science Advances.

“The goal is to produce eggs for patients who don’t have their own eggs,” said senior author Shoukhrat Mitalipov, Ph.D., director of the OHSU Center for Embryonic Cell and Gene Therapy, and professor of obstetrics and gynecology, and molecular and cellular biosciences, in the OHSU School of Medicine.

The technique could be used by women of advanced maternal age or those who are unable to produce viable eggs due to previous treatment for cancer or other causes. It also raises the possibility of men in same-sex relationships having children who are genetically related to both parents.

Instead of attempting to differentiate induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPSCs, into sperm or egg cells, OHSU researchers are focused on a technique based on somatic cell nuclear transfer, in which a skin cell nucleus is transplanted into a donor egg stripped of its nucleus. In 1996, researchers famously used this technique to clone a sheep in Scotland named Dolly.

Marine algae implants could boost crop yields

Discovery could lead to more sustainable food supply
Photo Credit: Oktavianus Mulyadi

Scientists have discovered the gene that enables marine algae to make a unique type of chlorophyll. They successfully implanted this gene in a land plant, paving the way for better crop yields on less land. 

Finding the gene solves a long-standing mystery amongst scientists about the molecular pathways that allow the algae to manufacture this chlorophyll and survive. 

“Marine algae produce half of all the oxygen we breathe, even more than plants on land. And they feed huge food webs, fish that get eaten by mammals and humans,” said UC Riverside assistant professor of bioengineering and lead study author Tingting Xiang. “Despite their global significance, we did not understand the genetic basis for the algae’s survival, until now.”

The study, published in Current Biology, also documents another first-of-its-kind achievement: demonstrating that a land plant could produce the marine chlorophyll. Tobacco plants were used for this experiment, but in theory, any land plant may be able to incorporate the marine algae gene, allowing them to absorb a fuller spectrum of light and achieve better growth. 

Gene discovered that can protect against severe muscle disease

The researchers behind the study. Front row from the left: Hanna Nord, Fatima Pedrosa Domellöf, Jingxia Liu. Rear row: Abraha Kahsay, Nils Dennhag, Jonas von Hofsten
Photo Credit: Per Stål

A specific gene may play a key role in new treatments that prevent muscle in the body from breaking down in serious muscle diseases. This is shown in a new study at Umeå University, Sweden. Protein expressed by the gene naturally prevents the muscles around the eye from being affected when other muscles in the body are affected by muscular dystrophies. In the study the gene is expressed in all muscles. The effects were that muscular dystrophy was alleviated throughout the body.

"You could say that the eye muscles function both as an eye-opener for understanding the disease and as a door opener to a treatment for the whole body," says Fatima Pedrosa Domellöf, professor of eye diseases at Umeå University and one of the study's authors.

Muscular dystrophies are a group of congenital genetic diseases that affect muscle tissue and often lead to severe disability and greatly reduced life expectancy. Despite intensive research, there are still no effective treatments for patients suffering from muscular dystrophy.

DNA Aptamer Drug Sensors Can Instantly Detect Cocaine, Heroin and Fentanyl – Even When Combined with Other Drugs

Photo Credit: Nastya Dulhiier

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new generation of high-performance DNA aptamers and highly accurate drug sensors for cocaine and other opioids. The sensors are drug specific and can detect trace amounts of fentanyl, heroin, and cocaine – even when these drugs are mixed with other drugs or with cutting agents and adulterants such as caffeine, sugar, or procaine. The sensors could have far-reaching benefits for health care workers and law enforcement agencies.

“This work can provide needed updates to currently used tests, both in health care and law enforcement settings,” says Yi Xiao, associate professor of chemistry at NC State and corresponding author of two studies describing the work.

“For example, drug field testing currently used by law enforcement still relies on chemical tests developed a century ago that are poorly specific, which means they react to compounds that may not be the drug they’re looking for,” Xiao says.

“And the existing aptamer test for cocaine isn’t sensitive and specific enough to detect clinically relevant amounts of the drug in biological samples, like blood. The sensors we developed can detect cocaine in blood at nanomolar, rather than micromolar, levels, which represents a 1,000-fold improvement in sensitivity.”

An evolutionary mystery 125 million years in the making

A bushel of tomatoes at the CSHL Uplands Farm.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

Plant genomics has come a long way since Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) helped sequence the first plant genome. But engineering the perfect crop is still, in many ways, a game of chance. Making the same DNA mutation in two different plants doesn’t always give us the crop traits we want. The question is why not? CSHL plant biologists just dug up a reason.

CSHL Professor and HHMI Investigator Zachary Lippman and his team discovered that tomato and Arabidopsis thaliana plants can use very different regulatory systems to control the same exact gene. Incredibly, they linked this behavior to extreme genetic makeovers that occurred over 125 million years of evolution.