Cell-type specific manipulation of neural circuits is required for the treatment of neurological disorders such as epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease. Precise control of neural circuits will enable the development of neuromodulation therapies for these debilitating conditions. Existing technologies to control neural activity offer limited possibilities.

Presidents of San Antonio’s four largest research institutions today announced they are providing $800,000, collectively, for a major initiative in precision therapeutics. The process of precision therapeutics ultimately leads to breakthrough treatments that can be individualized to specific patient populations.

Southwest Research Institute has received new funding from the Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium (MTEC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to use an SwRI-developed bioreactor to propagate cells for personalized regenerative medicine applications. A $3 million MTEC program will demonstrate stem cell manufacturing, and a $2.3 FDA contract is funding CAR T-cell production.

The nuclear envelope is a lipid bilayer that encases the genome and provides a physical boundary betweenthe cytoplasm and the nucleoplasm. While the nucleus is typically depicted as a sphere encircled by a smoothsurface of nuclear envelope, the smooth exterior can be interrupted by tubular invaginations of the nuclearenvelope into the deep nuclear interior. Such structures are termed the ?nucleoplasmic reticulum.?

Studies in the model eukaryote Saccharomyces cerevisiae have revealed that homologous recombination (HR) provides a major mechanism for eliminating DNA double-stranded breaks (DSBs) induced by ionizing radiation or are associated with injured DNA replication forks. During the repair process, the ends of the DNA breaks are resected nucleolytically to yield 3' ssDNA tails, which are bound by HR factors. The nucleoprotein complex thus formed then conducts a search to locate an undamaged DNA homolog, and catalyzes the formation of a DNA joint, called D-loop, with the homolog.