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Scientists Use Caffeine To Control Genes (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: A team led by Martin Fussenegger of ETH Zurich in Basel has shown that caffeine can be used as a trigger for synthetic genetic circuitry, which can then in turn do useful things for us -- even correct or treat medical conditions. For a buzz-worthy proof of concept, the team engineered a system to treat type 2 diabetes in mice with sips of coffee, specifically Nespresso Volluto coffee. Essentially, when the animals drink the coffee (or any other caffeinated beverage), a synthetic genetic system in cells implanted in their abdomens switches on. This leads to the production of a hormone that increases insulin production and lowers blood sugar levels -- thus successfully treating their diabetes after a simple morning brew.
The system, published Tuesday in Nature Communications, is just the start, Fussenegger and his colleagues suggest enthusiastically. "We think caffeine is a promising candidate in the quest for the most suitable inducer of gene expression," they write. They note that synthetic biologists like themselves have long been in pursuit of such inducers that can jolt artificial genetics. But earlier options had problems. These included antibiotics that can spur drug-resistance in bacteria and food additives that can have side effects. Caffeine, on the other hand, is non-toxic, cheap to produce, and only present in specific beverages, such as coffee and tea, they write. It's also wildly popular, with more than two billion cups of coffee poured each day worldwide.
The system, published Tuesday in Nature Communications, is just the start, Fussenegger and his colleagues suggest enthusiastically. "We think caffeine is a promising candidate in the quest for the most suitable inducer of gene expression," they write. They note that synthetic biologists like themselves have long been in pursuit of such inducers that can jolt artificial genetics. But earlier options had problems. These included antibiotics that can spur drug-resistance in bacteria and food additives that can have side effects. Caffeine, on the other hand, is non-toxic, cheap to produce, and only present in specific beverages, such as coffee and tea, they write. It's also wildly popular, with more than two billion cups of coffee poured each day worldwide.
the team engineered a system to treat type 2 diabetes in mice with sips of coffee, specifically Nespresso Volluto coffee
Without even being asked to, the mice coded a small but functional operating system for Raspberry Pi. Though it was quickly infested with catware, it did basically run.
No, no, no! We need more journalists. There are only a handful of real journalists left. The ones you're complaining about are really advocates for one side or the other pretending to be journalists.
I think most readers are smart enough to recognize the difference between journalism and advocacy. My main complaint is that very few of them (the pretenders) seem to educated. It's nearly impossible to read an article by one of our local writers without finding multiple misspelled words and a few grammatical errors. Words are their tools and you'd think a "professional" writer would know how to use those tools.
Well,
obviously the proov of concept is about trigerring the expression of a gene via some thing you can acquire and consume easily, it is not about drug delievery per se.
(facepalm)
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.