UC Science Today

Technology, biology and medicine now go hand and hand. But state-of-the-art devices are not always available to the most vulnerable hospital patients, often because of insufficient funding. Pediatric surgeon Hanmin Lee of the University of California, San Francisco helps kick-start innovative projects to bring to clinics.

“We organize the engineering children’s heath symposiums to try to bring all the emerging technologies to the benefit of children’s health. ”

UCSF is now developing different types of monitoring sensors, artificial organs and even orthopedic magnets that can correct skeletal deformities – all in the hopes of advancing children’s health.

“Little robots, all sorts of enabling technologies that we will be able to implement into children with a variety of disabilities for their benefit. And that’s including using, for instance, augmented reality and virtual reality.”

The Miracle Babies / Advances in fetal surgery at UCSF's Fetal Treatment Center save twins in a dire situation

Katherine Seligman Published 4:00 am, Sunday, December 11, 2005

LIFE SCIENCE_060_fl.jpg Doctors Robert Ball and Hanmin Lee were Anna Endter high risk obstetrician that work in the Fetal Treatment Center at UCSF. Story is about miracle babies William and James Endter, born in October after living through fetal surgery to correct potentially deadly circulatory problem. Doctors Ball and Hanmin at UCSF used new technology that allowed them to zap veins by threading a tube the size of a piece of spaghetti into the uterus. They had a touch and go gestation, but are now healthy guys living with their relieved parents in SF. Parents are Anna and Brian Endter. 11/5/05 San Francisco CA Frederic Larson San Francisco Chronicle Photo: Frederic Larson

Photo: Frederic Larson

Researchers have discovered a new way to spot brain injuries that arise after a concussion. With advanced, functional MRI scanners, doctors can not only make images of what the brain looks like after the injury, but also how it works.

“To get a better handle of being able to say what’s going wrong in the brain after the concussions, we are actually looking at brain function and connectivity in the brain, how different brain regions connect with each other and talk to each other.”

Pratik Mukherjee, a professor of radiology at the University of California, San Francisco adds that the new technology allows scientists to see what traditional MRI tests failed to detect.

“The typical MRI scan that people get at a hospital or in outpatient clinics are not useful for concussions because they just look at the anatomy of the brain and most people with concussions don’t have big problems anatomically. Few might have tiny little bleeds in the brain, but even that is a minority.”

In the last couple of years, researchers have come a long way in their understanding of the genetic risk factors for autism – from not knowing how to find autism genes to discovering a variety of mutations linked to the disorder. Psychiatrist Stephen Sanders and his colleagues at the University of California, San Francisco recently found a molecule responsible for infantile autism.

“The hope is that this gene gives us insight of what autism is at a fundamental new logical level. So key things we want to find out are – is there an age at which we could fix this gene problem and see if the problem can go away? Or we have to do it early on?”

Basically, the discovery gives scientists hope that autism could possibly be cured not only in children, but in adults, too.

“We also want to see where in the brain and when in the brain which cell types are involved to try to work out what autism is and see if this underlying defect can be repaired or at least changed in an adult.“

This week on Science Today, we learned a lot from University of California researchers. For instance, radiologist Pratik Mukherjee at UCSF told us even though people often don’t pay much attention to small brain injuries – like those suffered in a fall or a minor car collision – these types of traumas should never be ignored.

"There is a significant minority ranging from anywhere between one-fifth to one-third of people who have what’s called persistent post-concussive syndrome where for months or even years after the injury they have continued problems like headaches, dizziness, insomnia, depression, problems with thinking."

These small brain injuries may go undetected by traditional MRI scans, so Mukherjee is using more advanced image capturing technology for diagnosing these concussions and this may allow researchers to predict if injured people will continue experiencing symptoms later in life. On the subject of new technology, researchers at UC Berkeley may have a game changer when it comes to vaccinations. Mechanical and bioengineer Dorian Liepmann developed a proof-of-concept for a needleless technology that’s designed to self-administer vaccines orally.

"What we have is a pill that actually shoots a jet of drug into your cheek without pain. We use a reaction in here just like vinegar and baking soda – once it starts reacting, it makes a gas and builds up pressure inside of the pill and it shoots a jet of the drug into the cheek."

The team is also looking to design a smaller pill form that could be used for diabetics who could swallow a pill instead of administering an insulin injection. These are just some of the discoveries we covered this week. Listen to Science Today episodes on Soundcloud or subscribe to the program on iTunes to catch some more. Thanks for listening, I’m Larissa Branin.

Subscribe to Science Today:

iTunes: apple.co/1TQBewD

Stitcher: www.stitcher.com/podcast/science-today

Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ucsciencetoday

Stories mentioned in this roundup:

https://soundcloud.com/sciencetoday/head_trauma

https://soundcloud.com/sciencetoday/oral_vaccination

Genome sequencing, which is figuring out the order of genetic letters in your DNA code, will most likely become a standard testing procedure in the next decades. This, according scientist Diane Dickel of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. This will help identify diseases you might be prone to.

"We’ll continue to accelerate people getting the whole genome sequencing as a routine type of genetic testing rather than what previously been done which is testing a few genes for mutations.”

Now, doctors mostly perform genetic testing for people with heart problems or a history of breast cancer, since these diseases have a strong genetic component.

“We could use it better for preventative or monitoring types of mechanisms, being able to identify genetically which people should have yearly mammograms vs maybe mammograms every 5 years.”

Dickel hopes in the future, more diseases, like diabetes, which is less understood genetically, can be studied with DNA sequencing.

Do you dread getting vaccinations because of the needle? Well, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley have developed what could be a game-changer for vaccinations. Dorian Liepmann, a professor of mechanical and bioengineering says their needleless technology is called MucoJet, and it’s designed to self-administer vaccines.

"What we have is a pill that actually shoots a jet of drug into your cheek without pain. We use a reaction in here just like vinegar and baking soda. Once that starts reacting, it makes a gas and builds up the pressure inside of the pill. On the end of the nozzle, we have a membrane that holds the pressure in and when it gets to a certain pressure, it releases. This piston pushes down, pushes the drug out and it shoots a jet of the drug into the cheek."

Right now, this is a proof-of-concept study, but Liepmann hopes it will be available within the next five to ten years.

"The next step is actually a smaller pill and this one’s actually designed to be swallowed. One of the target possibilities would be insulin for diabetics – swallow a pill versus having to take an injection."

In what’s being called a genetic ‘Rosetta Stone', researchers at the University of California, San Francisco have discovered molecules that can lead to infantile epilepsy or autism. Specifically, a neuronal protein called NaV1.2 and the gene that produces it, called SCN2A. Both play a crucial role in early brain development, according to the neuroscientist Kevin Bender.

“One of the central functions of the brain cell is to fire something that is called an action potential, which is a way of transmitting information from one cell to the next. And SCN2A and NaV1.2 are at the heart of that process.”

Genetic defects that increase neuronal activity as they transmit signals lead to epilepsy, and when this process abnormally slows down, it may cause autism.

“We now have a roadmap for understanding how different mutations in SCN2A could lead to different diseases and if we understand that, it might uncover new areas for intervention in the future.”

People often don’t pay much attention to small brain injuries suffered in a minor car collision or after accidentally falling and hitting their head. But these types of traumas should not be ignored.

“There is a significant minority ranging from anywhere from 1/5 to 1/3 of people who have what’s called persistent post-concussive syndrome where for months or even years after the injury they have continued problems like headaches, dizziness, insomnia, depression, problems with thinking."

That’s Pratik Mukherjee, a professor of radiology at the University of California, San Francisco. Small brain injuries often go undetected by traditional MRI scans. But Mukherjee may have found a solution.

“We are trying to develop better MRI methods for diagnosing these concussions.”

They’re using more advanced image capturing technology, which may allow researchers to predict if injured people continue experiencing symptoms later in life.

Hi there, thanks for tuning in to Science Today’s weekly roundup. As usual, we covered a range of topics and met with some really great researchers. First, as cool as it is to have a medical device to check up on the health of astronauts in deep space, it’s even better if the same technology can be used here on Earth. That’s just what research scientist Matthew Coleman at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory had in mind when he developed a prototype of a handheld diagnostic device for NASA. In fact, he can see it being used for environmental monitoring, too.

"To look at even just water. I mean, if it works with saliva, it will certainly work with water from the environment. It could work with material isolated from insects and plants and trees. So, we could do all kinds of environmental sensing."

And since the handheld device is rugged enough for space, Coleman says it would be perfect to use in the African desert, too. Meanwhile, over at the Berkeley Lab, researchers are striving to unveil the secrets about ‘dark’ DNA, part of the genome that does not code proteins, but plays an important role in regulating genes. Scientist Diane Dickel has been working on finding all of these non-coding regulators, called enhancers, and is pinning them on a map.

"I mean, it’s kind of like building a road map and adding information onto that to point that particular pairs in the genome act as these enhancer elements to regulate gene expression."

So, why are they doing this? The map will help researchers get a better picture of dark DNA and this, in turn, could shed light on whether mutations in the enhancers cause genetic diseases. This could be the next step towards improving genetic testing. And speaking of improvements – a dentist at UCSF is working to get more prevention in dental care and less use of the drill. Dr. Peter Rechmann found better education about caries risk could especially help low-income patients.

"The income on its own actually doesn’t matter at all. It’s just if someone suffers to survive, he doesn’t have the time to spend ‘x’ minutes of taking care of their teeth."

Hear these and other University of California research stories. Subscribe to Science Today on iTunes or Soundcloud. Until next time, I’m Larissa Branin.

Subscribe to Science Today:

iTunes: apple.co/1TQBewD

Stitcher: www.stitcher.com/podcast/science-today

Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ucsciencetoday

Stories mentioned in this roundup:

https://soundcloud.com/sciencetoday/space_device

https://soundcloud.com/sciencetoday/dark_dna

https://soundcloud.com/sciencetoday/poverty_teeth

Does poverty affect children’s teeth? A study by the University of California, San Francisco found that low-income patients were at higher risk of developing cavities, than those with means. UCSF School of Dentistry professor Peter Rechmann surveyed patients who receive dental care at California’s subsidized clinics.

"If you go with me into the clinics, and we take a look and there are 80-something people sitting. You will be frustrated how much cavities you see, how much teeth, which are destroyed right now."

But Rechmann says we shouldn’t blame income alone for poor dental hygiene.

"The income on its own actually doesn’t matter at all. It’s just if someone suffers to survive, he doesn’t have the time to spend x minutes of taking care of their teeth."

Rechmann believes instead of drilling, dentists should focus more on preventive care and better educating patients about caries risk. He says more than 30 universities across the United States have joined efforts to follow this path of dental care.