Biology

A study on puddle frogs suggests underestimated biodiversity in Southeast Asia.

A soft hydrogel could help scientists find treatments for drug-resistant cancer stem cells.

Scientists have developed a model that predicts six tropical fish species will expand into northern parts of Japan as sea temperatures rise.

Researchers discovered the gene expression regulation mechanisms that drive coral transition from a floating larvae to one that sits sedentary in reefs.

Giants in History: Roseli Ocampo-Friedmann (23 November 1937 – 4 September 2005) was a Filipino-American scientist whose research focused on cyanobacteria and microorganisms that inhabit extreme environments.

An analysis method for protein–protein interactions using proximity-dependent biotinylation for next-generation drugs

Tests using a mouse model of Alport syndrome suggests that turning off a cell signalling protein may significantly prolong life by preventing kidney scarring.

Researchers in Malaysia are using the chemistry of natural products for sustainable health and energy solutions.

Scientists from Hokkaido University and colleagues have identified a pathway that accelerates plant flowering in low-nitrogen soils — a finding that could help enhance agricultural production.

A research team led by the National Institute for Physiological Sciences and joined by Hokkaido University explored the role of pain neurons in the regulation of endotoxic death. They found that peptide named Reg3γ acts as a pain neuron-enriched brain-targeted hormone that protects the host from endotoxic death.

Scientists develop a method to genetically label neurons with a single gene of interest in mice by combining the anterograde transsynaptic spread of adeno-associated virus serotype 1 (AAV1) with intersectional gene expression. In two distinct circuits: the retina/primary visual cortex to the superior colliculus and the bilateral motor cortex to the dorsal striatum, injections of AAV1 expressing either Cre or Flpo recombinases and the Cre/Flpo double-dependent AAV into two upstream regions and the downstream region, respectively, were used to label postsynaptic neurons receiving inputs from the two upstream regions.

A team at Japan’s Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI), at Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) is conducting evidence-based outreach to demonstrate why science communication training is so important, with an aim of encouraging other higher education and research institutions to follow its lead.

The Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI) in Tokyo launches a new integrated graduate course exploring the origin and evolution of life and planets.

Giants in History: Gopalasamudram Narayanan Ramachandran (8 October 1922 – 7 April 2001) is best known for developing the Ramachandran plot to understand the structure of short chains of amino acids, known as peptides.

An innovative sample preparation method for cellular proteomics and protein structural analysis

Our visual processing is facilitated by spaces near the hand in a process known as hand proximity attention. Using a visual phenomenon called the flash-lag effect, researchers showed that proprioceptive information of a hand contributed to hand proximity attention.

A Japanese research team created a new way to sort living cells suspended in fluid using an all-in-one operation in a lab-on-chip that required only 30 minutes for the entire separation process.

• Your chances of getting resuscitated by a bystander in Asia if your heart suddenly stops while in a public place depends on whether you’re a man or a woman. • Across nine Asian communities, in public locations, the bystander CPR rates were 31.2 per cent for females and 36.4 per cent for males. • For women, the chances of receiving bystander CPR when suffering a cardiac arrest in a public out-of-hospital setting is lower than for men; in homes or private places, the likelihood is reversed.

Diarrhea is common in calves and causes enormous financial losses to the livestock industry worldwide. Antibiotics are often used to treat this, but it causes harmful side effects. A research group addressed this problem by exploring an alternative method. Feces from healthy donors were analysed before being transplanted into calves suffering from diarrhea in a process called fecal microbiota transplantation.

New research finds the extent of arterial occlusive disease in the popliteal artery correlates with the prognosis of peripheral arterial disease in lower limbs. The study of 31 patients who underwent percutaneous angioplasty of femoropopliteal artery (FPA) proved for the first time that ulcerated plaque observed in the FPA during angioscopy is the source of the thromboembolic mechanism in the popliteal artery.

An international team of researchers respond to criticisms on previous work that demonstrated Mirror Self-Recognition (MSR) in the cleaner fish Labroides dimidiatus, by 1) successfully repeating the mark test with a larger sample size, 2) showing the MSR behaviour to be the visual result of the mark not a physical response to it, and 3) showing that MSR-trained fish do not show aggression to spatially varied mirror images of themselves. Additionally, they further demonstrate potential self-awareness in L. dimidiatus by showing that they do not demonstrate MSR behaviour when visually presented with the mark on other fish and solidify the importance of ecologically relevant marks presented in previous work by showing MSR behaviour of L. dimidiatus with brown marks, meant to resemble a main food source of the fish, as opposed to no such behaviour in fish with green or blue marks.

Giants in History: Barry Paw (29 August 1962 – 28 December 2017) was a biologist and oncologist born in Myanmar who discovered several novel genes and their functions in red blood cells.

This is a novel study that attempted to construct a pH-sensitive delivery system into T cells and their subsets using carboxy-terminal Phe- and CHex-modified dendrimers with different structures, i.e. PAMAM-CHex-Phe and PAMAM-Phe-CHex. The findings contribute to the development of nanoplatforms for direct delivery to T cells to control the functions of T cells, which play key roles in cancer immunotherapy. This is the first report on direct delivery into T cells using pH-sensitive DDS.

Simulations have led to the fabrication of a polymer-DNA gel that could be used in tissue regeneration and robotics.

Researchers at The University of Tokyo demonstrate the theoretically optimal search method for organisms that employ the “run-and-tumble” technique, and find that it conforms with observations of chemotaxis by E. coli, which may help automate drones

Better understanding of regeneration in hemichordates may eventually lead to advances in reparative medicine

Giants in History: Eminent Filipina scientist and educator Clara Lim-Sylianco (18 August 1925 – 23 July 2013) is remembered for her extensive research on mutagens – often-carcinogenic agents that permanently alter genetic materials such as DNA – antimutagens and bioorganic mechanisms.

Rice has long been a staple food for more than half the global population. The United Nations even declared 2004 the International Year of Rice to raise awareness and encourage action to protect and advance the crop for a rapidly growing population. The genetic guidance rice uses to grow and reproduce, however, is still not fully understood. Now, a research team based in Japan is learning more, including how critical one gene is for the plant to develop grains of rice, which serve as both seeds and food.

Wastewater-based epidemiological tracking of COVID-19 in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic village showed that SARS-CoV-2 was present in areas without diagnosed individuals.

Giants in History: Rapee Sagarik (4 December 1922 – 17 February 2018) was Thailand’s renowned expert on orchids. Sagarik dedicated his career to the research of native orchids in Thailand.