Project based on CRISPR genome-editing technology LIVERMORE, Calif. — As headlines highlight the threat of viruses like Ebola and Zika, researchers at Sandia National Laboratories and the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) have teamed up to discover and uncover the viral mechanisms of infection by creating screening libraries based on CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced […]
Category Archives: Bioscience / Medical Research
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Sandia, UCLA develop screening libraries to discover drug targets for viral infections
April 4, 2016 – 11:15 am
Lighting up disease-carrying mosquitoes
March 21, 2016 – 10:30 am
Sandia’s QUASR enables speedy, accurate detection of West Nile and other viruses LIVERMORE, Calif. — Mosquitoes are deadly efficient at spreading disease. Despite vaccines and efforts to eradicate the pesky insects, they continue to infect humans with feared diseases like Zika virus, malaria and West Nile virus. Gaining the upper hand on mosquitoes requires speed. […]
‘Laboratory Biorisk Management’ details safety, security methods for biosciences sites
August 25, 2015 – 5:00 am
Sandia, international experts publish first biorisk management how-to book ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Recent mishaps at laboratories that mishandled potentially dangerous biological substances and the transmission of the Ebola virus in a U.S. hospital are symptoms at bioscience facilities that two Sandia National Laboratories researchers think could be prevented by implementing the practices in a new […]
Biological tools create nerve-like polymer network
August 24, 2015 – 5:00 am
Crowdsurfing motor proteins create possible prosthetic interface ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Using a succession of biological mechanisms, Sandia National Laboratories researchers have created linkages of polymer nanotubes that resemble the structure of a nerve, with many out-thrust filaments poised to gather or send electrical impulses. “This is the first demonstration of naturally occurring proteins assembling chemically […]
Sandia veterinarian helps make the world safer through livestock health and biosecurity
July 28, 2015 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Dr. Melissa Finley’s credibility was on the line as she worked, surrounded by skeptics, to save the life of a dehydrated calf in rural Afghanistan. As a woman and a foreigner she had to earn the trust of the villagers she was trying to help. “They had never given fluids before, so […]
Tracing the evolution of a drug-resistant pathogen
July 15, 2015 – 1:25 pm
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — To fight a pathogen that’s highly resistant to antibiotics, first understand how it gets that way. Klebsiella pneumoniae strains that carry a particular enzyme are known for “their ability to survive any antibiotics you throw at them,” said Corey Hudson of Sandia National Laboratories in California. Using Sandia’s genome sequencing capabilities, Hudson […]
Starving cancer instead of feeding it poison
May 13, 2015 – 5:00 am
Simulation offers hope of killing cancers without sickening patients ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A patent application for a drug that could destroy the deadly childhood disease known as acute lymphoblastic leukemia — and potentially other cancers as well — has been submitted by researchers at Sandia National Laboratories, the University of Maryland and the MD Anderson […]
Sandia showcases biology breakthroughs available for licensing
March 19, 2015 – 5:00 am
LIVERMORE, Calif.—Technologies developed in Sandia National Laboratories’ biosciences program could soon find their way into doctors’ offices — devices like wearable microneedles that continuously analyze electrolyte levels and a lab-on-a-disk that can test a drop of blood for 64 different diseases in minutes. At a recent seminar for potential investors and licensees, part of the […]
Turning biological cells to stone improves cancer and stem cell research
December 8, 2014 – 10:15 am
‘Zombie’ method also hardens biostructures for mass production ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Changing flesh to stone sounds like the work of a witch in a fairy tale. But a new technique to transmute living cells into more permanent materials that defy decay and can endure high-powered probes is widening research opportunities for biologists who are developing […]
A better prosthesis: Sandia invents sensor to learn about fit; system to make fit better
October 14, 2014 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — As an amputee walks on a prosthetic leg during the day, the natural fluid in the leg shifts and the muscles shrink slightly. Now imagine the problem that poses for the fit of the prosthesis. There’s a growing need for a solution. The national Amputee Coalition says nearly 2 million people in […]
Sandia researchers find clues to superbug evolution
September 23, 2014 – 10:05 am
LIVERMORE, Calif. — Imagine going to the hospital with one disease and coming home with something much worse, or not coming home at all. With the emergence and spread of antibiotic-resistance pathogens, healthcare-associated infections have become a serious threat. On any given day about one in 25 hospital patients has at least one such infection […]
Watching neurons fire from a front-row seat
July 28, 2014 – 11:55 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — They are with us every moment of every day, controlling every action we make, from the breath we breathe to the words we speak, and yet there is still a lot we don’t know about the cells that make up our nervous systems. When things go awry and nerve cells don’t communicate […]
Sandia researchers win three R&D 100 awards
July 11, 2014 – 1:30 pm
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories researchers — competing in an international pool of universities, corporations and government labs — captured three R&D 100 Awards in this year’s contest. R&D Magazine presents the awards each year to researchers whom its editors and independent judging panels determine have developed the year’s 100 most outstanding advances in […]
Moly 99 reactor using Sandia design could lead to U.S. supply of isotope to track disease
June 16, 2014 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — An Albuquerque startup company has licensed a Sandia National Laboratories technology that offers a way to make molybdenum-99, a key radioactive isotope needed for diagnostic imaging in nuclear medicine, in the United States. Known as moly 99, it is made in aging nuclear reactors outside the country, and concerns about future shortages […]
Prototype electrolyte sensor provides immediate read-outs
June 3, 2014 – 5:00 am
Painless wearable microneedle device may reduce trips to doctors’ offices ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Patients trying to navigate today’s complex medical system with its costly laboratory analyses might prefer a pain-free home diagnostic device, worn on the wrist, that can analyze, continuously record and immediately remedy low electrolyte levels. Runners, athletes in other strenuous sports and […]