Trehalose News and Research

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Dietary sugar may contribute to increasing frequency, severity of bacterial epidemics

The increasing frequency and severity of healthcare-associated outbreaks caused by bacterium Clostridium difficile have been linked to the widely used food additive trehalose.

3 Jan 2018

Scientists develop antibacterial ‘sugar-glass’ coating that uses viruses to destroy bacteria

With antibiotic resistance on the rise, bacterial contamination of food is becoming more problematic. Now in a study appearing in ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering, scientists report that they have developed an antibacterial "sugar-glass" coating in which viruses that destroy bacteria are embedded and are kept stable for up to three months.

8 Nov 2017

Research expands range in dry preservation of mammalian sperm cells

In a paper forthcoming in the November issue of the journal Theriogenology, a team of researchers from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, announced the first successful drying and rehydration of domestic cat spermatozoa using a rapid microwave dehydration method.

12 Oct 2017

Natural sugar may trigger immune system to treat atherosclerosis, study finds

Researchers have long sought ways to harness the body's immune system to treat disease, especially cancer.

7 Jun 2017

Scientists discover treatment that improves symptoms in mouse model of juvenile Batten disease

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine, Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children's Hospital and King's College London have discovered a treatment that improves the neurological symptoms in a mouse model of juvenile Batten disease.

6 Feb 2017

Study shows continuous dehydration kills cells during dry preservation

A new finding in experiments studying the dry preservation of living cells -- a potentially revolutionary alternative to cryopreservation - has defined a clear limit where continuing dehydration kills cells.

17 Jul 2016

Researchers develop novel method to store microfluidic devices for CD4 T cell testing

Providing vital health care services to people in developing countries without reliable electricity, refrigeration and state-of-the-art medical equipment poses a number of challenges. Inspired by pregnancy tests, researchers from Florida Atlantic University, Stanford University, and Baskent University in Turkey, have developed a novel method to store microfluidic devices for CD4 T cell testing in extreme weather conditions for up to six months without refrigeration.

14 Apr 2016

Breakthrough technology could provide new approach for treatment of chronic wounds

A team of researchers led by an NIBIB grantee at Vanderbilt University has created a biodegradable scaffold that enables sustained, local delivery of gene-silencing factors called siRNA to promote tissue regeneration. The team recently used the scaffold to successfully deliver siRNA to mice in order to locally silence a gene normally responsible for inhibiting blood vessel formation.

20 Jan 2014

Microneedle-based measles vaccine can immunize against measles

Measles vaccine given with painless and easy-to-administer microneedle patches can immunize against measles at least as well as vaccine given with conventional hypodermic needles, according to research done by the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

28 Nov 2012

Investigators describe how they synthesized polymers to stabilize proteins

Proteins are widely used as drugs - insulin for diabetics is the best known example - and as reagents in research laboratories, but they react poorly to fluctuations in temperature and are known to degrade in storage.

22 May 2012

Study finds naturally-derived trehalose inhibits fat cell hypertrophy

Hayashibara Biochemical Laboratories, Inc. based in Okayama City, Okayama Prefecture, Japan, has confirmed that the naturally-derived functional saccharide trehalose has the effect of inhibiting fat cell hypertrophy.

29 Sep 2010

Tricking TB into suicidal self-poisoning

Scientists have identified a new class of drug target that tricks tuberculosis bacteria into suicidal self-poisoning. New therapies are urgently required to control the tuberculosis pandemic. Even in the UK cases are on the rise.

22 Mar 2010

Novel ways of killing TB causing bacteria discovered

Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have found two novel ways of killing the bacteria that cause tuberculosis (TB), a disease responsible for an estimated two million deaths each year. The findings, published in the March 21 online issue of Nature Chemical Biology, could lead to a potent TB therapy that would also prevent resistant TB strains from developing.

22 Mar 2010

Researchers develop technology to preserve vaccines in tropical temperatures

A team of British researchers have developed a simple, low-cost method to preserve vaccines in tropical climates, which they say could help to revolutionalize vaccination campaigns in developing countries, Reuters reports.

19 Feb 2010

New improved enzyme could help facilitate spinal cord injuries

Researchers have developed an improved version of an enzyme that degrades the dense scar tissue that forms when the central nervous system is damaged. By digesting the tissue that blocks re-growth of damaged nerves, the improved enzyme - and new system for delivering it - could facilitate recovery from serious central nervous system injuries.

4 Nov 2009

Drugs needed to preserve eggs for reproduction need to be given in stages

Cryoprotectants needed to preserve eggs for reproduction need to be given in stages, albeit rapid ones, say scientists who have developed a mathematical model that predicts optimal time for loading and unloading these drugs.

29 Apr 2009

Researchers to develop a highly sensitive, portable method of detecting bioterror agents like anthrax

Their method uses "Cellular Analysis and Notification of Antigen Risks and Yields" (CANARY) cells, which are immune-system cells engineered to contain a fluorescent protein naturally found in jellyfish. CANARY cells have the immune system's ability to detect specific disease-causing agents, lighting up when they recognize a pathogen.

24 May 2004

Embryonic stem cells attached to a gel matrix instead of suspended in solution

30 Mar 2004

New storage method amplifies cells available for science

Like many other kinds of cells used in biomedical research, human embryonic stem cells are stored and transported in a cryopreserved state, frozen to -320 degrees Fahrenheit, the temperature of their liquid nitrogen storage bath. But when scientists thaw the cells for use in the lab, less than 1 percent awake from their frigid slumber and assume their undifferentiated state. This 'blank slate' form is characteristic of stem cells and essential for the basic science required before the promising cells are ready for the clinic.

30 Mar 2004