NIBIB in the News

Scientists are working on a new approach to treating kidney failure that could one day free people from needing dialysis or having to take harsh drugs to suppress their immune system after a transplant. Source: UC San Francisco/Science Daily

Information about a recent variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus including information about the impact on COVID-19 tests. Source: CBS News

A new study has demonstrated the ability for gene therapy to repair neural connections for those with the rare genetic brain disorder known as Hurler syndrome. Source: University of Minnesota Medical School/Science Daily

Scientists have trained a computer to analyze the brain activity of someone listening to music and, based only on those neuronal patterns, recreate the song.

The research produced a recognizable, if muffled version of Pink Floyd’s 1979 song, “Another Brick in the Wall (Part 1).”

Before this, researchers had figured out how to use brain activity to reconstruct music with similar features to the song someone was listening to. Now, “you can actually listen to the brain and restore the music that person heard,” said Gerwin Schalk, a neuroscientist who directs a research lab in Shanghai and collected data for this study. Source: New York Times

The guitar chords echo strangely, as if emanating from the bottom of a well. The singer’s voice is also garbled, his lyrics barely intelligible. Nevertheless, if you know what’s coming, the song is recognizable: “All in all, it was just a brick in the wall.” It’s a snippet of “Another Brick in the Wall (Part 1)” from the album “The Wall,” which was a smash hit in 1979 for the U.K. rock band Pink Floyd. And it was re-created from brain recordings from people who listened to it. The reconstructed tune provides new insights into where in the brain music is processed. Source: Science

PALISADE-X aims to provide the security necessary to study life-threatening medical issues without violating patient privacy.

New study identifies concerning gaps between how human radiologists score the accuracy of AI-generated radiology reports and how automated systems score them. Researchers designed two novel scoring systems that outperform current automated systems that evaluate the accuracy of AI narrative reports. Reliable scoring systems that accurately gauge the performance of AI models are critical for ensuring that AI continues to improve and that clinicians can trust them. Source: Harvard Medical School/Science Daily

The Interagency Modeling and Analysis Group (IMAG) celebrated its 20th year during the two-day annual IMAG Multiscale Modeling Consortium meeting in late June at the Natcher Conference Center and via virtual attendance. Source: NIH Record. 

Established by NIBIB in January, the BETA Center will serve as a hub for expert teams of technology developers at the NIH intramural program and beyond to work together to rapidly address pressing health needs. Source: NIH Catalyst

T cells experience different mechanical signals in different tissues. Researchers have engineered a tissue-mimicking hydrogel model to show that more elastic tissues induce T cells to become effector-like T cells with strong tumor-killing potential, while more viscous tissues induce them to become memory-like T cells. This new concept could help advance adaptive T cell therapies by producing desired patient-specific T cell populations in the dish that could provide stronger effects when infused back into the same patient. Source: Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard/Science Daily