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17 января, 2019 11:52

Top RSF-funded research results of 2018

Источник: Izvestia
The brilliant discoveries of RSF-funded teams made in 2018 can change our modern life drastically. One of the highlights is the unconditional breakthrough in medicine as the scientists have developed minimally invasive transcatheter mitral valve replacement that does not require complex cardiac surgery. Notable successes in agriculture is related to the healthy and nutritious purple wheat crop that has been grown in Omsk. In addition, Russian scientists developed the ways to triple human’s attentiveness, printed the fragments of cartilage and thyroid gland in space, and proved that the ancient girl from Denisova cave in Altai region was a fist-to-be-found inter-species love child of a Neanderthal mother and a Denisovan father.
Source: RIA Novosti

Transcatheter mitral valve replacement device

The first domestically developed prosthetic mitral heart valve for implantation without chest surgery and cardiac arrest was produced by the scientists from the Meshalkin National Medical Research Center. Mitral regurgitation is a common pathology of the cardiovascular system, affecting hundreds thousands of Russians. Typically, these defects are cured by an open heart surgery with artificial blood circulation. Such structural heart interventions are not suitable for 30–50% of elderly patients due to the risk of serious complications and death.

The new method allows the minimally invasive operation to wide categories of patients, including the elderly, who used to be denied due to the risk of complications. The valve cage is made of nickel-titanium alloy, and the cusp is made from the pericardium of the calf's heart. Experts believe that such mitral valve replacement device is a real breakthrough in domestic and world surgery (RSF grant: http://rscf.ru/en/enprjcard/?rid=16-15-10315).


Source: Meshalkin National Medical Research Center

Thyroid printed in space

A unique way of 3D printing of living tissue was also developed by the RSF grantees in 2018. The team of researchers from the Joint Institute for High Temperatures, Russian Academy of Sciences, created biological objects without a skeleton. In this case, the cells are sent to the right place using magnetic fields.

The research took place on the International Space Station. At the facility created by scientists, they watched how small charged particles, placed in a magnetic field of a special form, behave in zero gravity. These particles collected in clusters by them selves. Based on the observations, the researchers built a mathematical model of the process.

With this understanding, Russian scientists created a special bioprinter and developed a new way of 3D printing of living tissue. On 20 December 2018, the first six human cartilages and six mouse thyroid glands printed in space returned from the ISS for further analysis (RSF grant: http://rscf.ru/en/enprjcard/?rid=14-50-00124).


Source: 3D Bioprinting Solutions

Mom - Neanderthal, Dad – Denisovan

A new hybrid of the ancient mankind was discovered by the RSF-funded scientists in 2018. The discovery will help fill a number of gaps in the study of the evolutionary process.

In 2012, a group of researchers found in Altai region a piece of bone belonging to a 13-year-old girl who lived 50 thousand years ago. Then a new type of man, Denisovan, was discovered. Now, according to a fragment of this bone, through intensive DNA analysis the researchers found that the girl’s parents belonged to different types of people: the mother was a Neanderthal, and the father was a Denisovan.

The researchers suggest that the reason of such rare inter-species relations is that a large part of the world's population shared large territories, which interfered greatly with their communication with each other. One of the top-cited discoveries in social sciences lately, this study has been recognized and appreciated by the global research community (RSF grant: http://rscf.ru/en/enprjcard/?rid=14-50-00036).


Source: T. Higham/University Of Oxford

Synthetic skin changes color

An international team of researchers including Dmitry Ivanov, the head of laboratory of functional soft-matter systems, MSU, announced the development of a synthetic chameleon skin. Similar to its biological analogue, the synthetic skin reacts to mechanical stimuli by changing its stiffness and color. The scientists see their development as quite promising. The work was published in Science

The newly developed synthetic chameleon skin may have an application in medicine, making it possible to create vascular and intraocular implants, as well as intervertebral disks of a new generation. The artificial skin with new properties will accurately reproduce the mechanical properties of the tissues of each patient. And this, perhaps, will open a new direction in personalized medicine.

The basis of the new material is the so-called plastomers, a special type of polymer. They consist of long polymer chains with unique structure that explains the extraordinary mechanical properties of the material: softness, rapid hardening and shape stability. By changing the size and the distance between the elements of these structures, the researchers can control in flexible manner the material's response to tension and compression, as well as to the change of color (RSF grant: hhttp://rscf.ru/en/enprjcard/?rid=16-13-10369).

Purple Wheat

The new wheat varieties grown by the researchers from the Omsk State Agrarian University is a mixture of wheat crops with wild Aegilops and bluegrass.

Aegilops enriches wheat with a strong root system and resistance to drought and rust. Thanks to Aegilops, the new wheat crop is rich with zinc and iron that can help prevent and treat anemia. The winter species enjoy a better frost resistance so that this crop can be harvested despite the harsh Siberian winters.

The second achievement is related to the purple wheat that is produced after breeding with bluegrass. It is rich in antioxidants, anthocyanin and has a significant nutritional advantage. New perennial grass allows to harvest up to 1 ton of grain per hectare and a huge biomass of excellent feed quality. The root system of the new variety, named "Owl", reaches 2 meters. The purple wheat can be cultivated without reseeding for up to 10 years.


Source: Alexey Morgunov

Upgraded Sheep

The researchers from the Ernst Federal Research Center for Animal Husbandry studied the genome of domestic breeds of cattle, sheep and reindeer. Using DNA chips, the team found tens of thousands of individual mutations in animals, which prompted scientists which components of genetic material remained and which changed as a result of breeding. These findings helped identify the most successful components, since they did not mix with other genes and did not “deteriorate”. Now they can be used to create new breeds.

For example, the Central Asian argali helped breed the new species of sheep that tolerate extreme cold. Because the standard hard wool of sheep is not much in market demand, it was decided to breed a hybrid with wild shorthair relatives. The researchers also breed chickens that have been given a special gene that allows them to carry eggs that can help treat diabetes.


Photo from the open access sources

Tripled Attentiveness

The researchers from Saratov State Technical University together with foreign partners studied how to overcome fatigue when performing routine tasks. The problem is extremely relevant for drivers, pilots and dispatchers as they need to have a high concentration of attention while working. The researchers conducted an experiment with brain-computer interface to understand whether it is possible to reduce the level of fatigue instantly and without training.

The participants needed to see a picture on the screen in less than a second and respond to it by pressing a button. Through the analysis of the electrical brain activity, the effectiveness of this work in the perception and processing of visual information was determined.

It turned out that if a person hears a warning signal that level of attention is low, the time of his attentiveness increases two to three times. According to the researchers, the findings will help develop a device to maintain a high level of concentration.


Source: Alexander Khramov

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