"Researchers have launched a search engine that can quickly sift through the staggering volumes of biological data housed in public repositories. The team integrated data from seven publicly funded data archives, creating 18.8 million unique DNA and RNA sequence sets and 210 billion amino-acid sequence sets that users can search through using text prompts. The search engine, called MetaGraph, can also uncover genetic patterns hidden deep within expansive sequencing data sets without needing those patterns to be explicitly annotated in advance."
"Researchers have discovered a small group of brain cells that play a part in long-lasting pain in mice. The team found that the neurons - in a brain area called the parabrachial nucleus - switched on in response to a painful stimulus and remained active long afterwards. When researchers blocked the activity of these neurons, the animals' persistent pain decreased, but short-term responses to pain remained the same. If a similar pathway exists in humans, it could lead to new treatments for chronic pain conditions."
MetaGraph is a search engine that integrates data from seven publicly funded archives, indexing 18.8 million unique DNA and RNA sequence sets and 210 billion amino-acid sequence sets for text-prompt searches. The tool can uncover genetic patterns hidden within vast sequencing data sets without requiring prior explicit annotations. A small group of neurons in the parabrachial nucleus of mice activates in response to painful stimuli and remains active long afterwards; blocking those neurons reduces persistent pain while leaving short-term pain responses intact, indicating a possible pathway for chronic-pain treatment. Mary Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi won the Nobel Prize for discovering regulatory T cells, and more than 200 clinical trials now explore therapeutic uses for these cells.
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