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Category Archives: Wellness Live
Scientists reveal why a popular anti-aging compound may also fuel cancer
Polyamines are naturally produced molecules present in all living cells. They play a vital role in basic biological functions, including cell growth and specialization. In recent years, scientists have focused on these compounds, especially spermidine, for their potential to support healthy aging. Often described as ‘geroprotectors,’ they have been shown to stimulate autophagy, a cellular recycling process that clears out damaged components. This benefit largely depends on a protein called eukaryotic translation initiation factor 5A (eIF5A1).
At the same time, researchers have repeatedly observed high levels of polyamines in many types of cancer, where they are linked to aggressive tumor growth. This contrast has created a scientific puzzle. How can the same molecules that appear to promote longevity also be associated with cancer?
A Molecular Puzzle in Cancer Metabolism
Although the connection between polyamines and cancer has been recognized for years, the detailed mechanisms behind their role in tumor progression have remained unclear. Cancer cells are known to alter their metabolism, relying heavily on aerobic glycolysis to rapidly generate energy. However, exactly how polyamines influence this metabolic shift has not been fully understood.
Adding to the complexity, eIF5A1 has well established functions in normal, healthy cells. A closely related protein, eIF5A2, shares 84% of its amino acid sequence but has been linked to cancer development. Why two nearly identical proteins behave so differently has been a major unanswered question.
Large Scale Proteomic Analysis Reveals Distinct Pathways
To investigate, a team led by Associate Professor Kyohei Higashi from the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Tokyo University of Science in Japan carried out an in-depth study using advanced molecular and proteomic methods. Their results were published in Volume 301, Issue 8 of the Journal of Biological Chemistry. The findings clarify how polyamines stimulate cancer cell growth through biological routes that differ from those involved in healthy aging.
The researchers worked with human cancer cell lines to examine how polyamines affect protein production and metabolism. They first reduced polyamine levels using a drug, then restored them by adding spermidine. This approach allowed them to directly measure the impact of polyamines on cancer cells. Using high-resolution proteomic techniques, they analyzed changes across more than 6,700 proteins.
Their results showed that polyamines primarily boost glycolysis, the process that quickly converts glucose into energy, rather than enhancing mitochondrial respiration, which is more closely tied to healthy aging. The team also found that polyamines increase levels of eIF5A2 and five ribosomal proteins, including RPS 27A, RPL36AL, and RPL22L1, all of which are associated with cancer severity.
eIF5A1 vs eIF5A2 in Normal and Cancer Cells
A side by side comparison of eIF5A1 and eIF5A2 provided critical insight. “The biological activity of polyamines via eIF5A differs between normal and cancer tissues,” explains Dr. Higashi. “In normal tissues, eIF5A1, activated by polyamines, activates mitochondria via autophagy, whereas in cancer tissues, eIF5A2, whose synthesis is promoted by polyamines, controls gene expression at the translational level to facilitate the proliferation of cancer cells.”
In other words, polyamines trigger very different effects depending on which protein they influence. In healthy cells, they support cellular maintenance and energy production. In cancer cells, they help drive rapid growth.
How Polyamines Increase eIF5A2
Further experiments uncovered how polyamines raise eIF5A2 levels. Under typical conditions, production of the eIF5A2 protein is restrained by a small regulatory RNA molecule called miR-6514-5p. The researchers found that polyamines disrupt this natural brake, allowing eIF5A2 to be produced in greater amounts. They also showed that eIF5A2 controls a distinct group of proteins compared to eIF5A1, reinforcing the idea that these two similar proteins carry out separate functions.
Implications for Cancer Therapy and Supplement Safety
These findings carry important implications for both cancer treatment and the use of polyamine supplements. The results highlight how strongly biological context matters. In healthy tissues, polyamines may provide anti-aging benefits through eIF5A1. In tissues that are cancerous or at risk of becoming malignant, the same molecules can stimulate tumor growth through eIF5A2. This dual behavior helps explain why polyamines have been so challenging to interpret in medical research.
The study also identifies a promising new therapeutic target. “Our findings reveal an important role for eIF5A2, regulated by polyamines and miR-6514-5p, in cancer cell proliferation, suggesting that the interaction between eIF5A2 and ribosomes, which regulates cancer progression, is a selective target for cancer treatment,” remarks Dr. Higashi. Targeting eIF5A2 specifically could, in theory, slow cancer growth without interfering with the beneficial effects linked to eIF5A1.
Overall, this research marks a significant advance in understanding the complex and sometimes contradictory roles of polyamines. In the future, scientists may be able to design strategies that preserve their positive effects on healthy aging while reducing their potential to support cancer development.
This study was supported in part by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) (No. 18K06652) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, the Hamaguchi Foundation for the Advancement of Biochemistry, and an Extramural Collaborative Research Grant of the Cancer Research Institute, Kanazawa University, Japan.
A tiny twist creates giant magnetic skyrmions in 2D crystals
In the fast moving field of two dimensional materials, even a slight rotational shift between layers can dramatically change how a material behaves. Scientists previously discovered that when atom thin crystals are stacked with a small angular mismatch, their electronic properties can transform. This approach, known as moiré engineering, has become a key strategy for designing new forms of quantum matter.
Now researchers report in Nature Nanotechnology that magnetism can also behave in surprising ways under these conditions. In twisted antiferromagnetic layers, magnetic spin patterns are not limited to the small repeating moiré unit cell. Instead, they can spread into much larger, topological structures that extend across hundreds of nanometers.
Giant Magnetic Textures Beyond the Moiré Pattern
In most moiré systems, the size of physical effects is determined directly by the interference pattern created when two crystal lattices overlap. Magnetic order in stacked van der Waals magnets was widely expected to follow this same length scale. The new findings challenge that assumption.
The team examined twisted double bilayer chromium triiodide (CrI3) using scanning nitrogen-vacancy magnetometry, a technique that images magnetic fields with nanoscale precision. They observed magnetic textures reaching distances of up to ~300 nm, far exceeding the size of a single moiré cell and roughly ten times larger than the underlying wavelength.
A Counterintuitive Twist Angle Effect
The results reveal an unexpected pattern. When the twist angle becomes smaller, the moiré wavelength increases. However, the magnetic textures do not simply grow along with it. Instead, their size changes in the opposite way, reaching a maximum near 1.1° and disappearing above ~2°.
This reversal shows that magnetism is not just copying the moiré template. Rather, it arises from a balance between several competing forces, including exchange interactions, magnetic anisotropy and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions. All of these are subtly adjusted by how the layers are rotated relative to one another. Large scale spin dynamics simulations back up this interpretation, demonstrating the formation of extended Néel-type antiferromagnetic skyrmions that span multiple moiré cells.
Skyrmions and Low Power Spintronics
These findings matter beyond basic physics. Skyrmions are promising for future information technologies because they are small, stable and protected by their topology. They can also be moved using very little energy. Creating them simply by adjusting the twist angle, without lithography, heavy metals or strong electric currents, provides a clean and geometry driven path toward low power spintronic devices.
The researchers describe this phenomenon as super-moiré spin order, highlighting that twist engineering operates across multiple scales. A change in atomic alignment can generate topological structures on much larger, mesoscale distances. This challenges the long held idea that moiré physics is only a local effect and positions twist angle as a powerful thermodynamic control parameter capable of tuning exchange, anisotropy and chiral interactions to stabilize topological phases.
From a practical standpoint, these large and robust Néel-type skyrmionic textures are well suited for integration into devices. Their larger size makes them easier to detect and manipulate. At the same time, their topological protection and insulating host material suggest extremely low energy loss during operation. As scientists continue to explore how geometry shapes quantum behavior, such emergent magnetic states could play an important role in developing energy efficient, post-CMOS computing technologies.
Dr. Elton Santos, Reader in Theoretical/Computational Condensed Matter Physics, University of Edinburgh, whose team led the modelling aspect of the project, said: “This discovery shows that twisting is not just an electronic knob, but a magnetic one. We’re seeing collective spin order self-organize on scales far larger than the moiré lattice. It opens the door to designing topological magnetic states simply by controlling angle, which is a remarkably simple handle with profound practical consequences.”
‘Doctors said my excruciating period pain was anxiety’
Women with endometriosis say doctors failed to listen to them or take their pain seriously.
BBC investigation finds 50,000 people waited over 24 hours in A&E corridor care
Known as “corridor care”, patients are lining up on trolleys or sitting on chairs due to a lack of beds.
Keir Starmer Gives United States Permission To Use UK Bases To Strike Iran
Keir Starmer has given the United States permission to use UK military bases to attack targets in Iran.
The prime minister said he was “protecting British interests and British lives” after Iran launched missile attacks on countries across the Middle East.
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That came after the US and Israel bombed Iran in a wave of strikes which killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei as well as other senior regime officials.
In a statement from Downing Street, Starmer insisted the UK was not involved in the initial attacks on Iran – and that its actions did not break international law.
He said: “We all remember the mistakes of Iraq. And we have learned those lessons.
“We were not involved in the initial strikes on Iran, and we will not join offensive action now.
“But Iran is pursuing a scorched earth strategy. So we are supporting the collective self-defence of our allies and our people in the region, because that is our duty to the British people.
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“It is the best way to eliminate the urgent threat and prevent the situation spiralling further.
“This is the British government protecting British interests and British lives.”
It is understood the US will use British bases at RAF Fairford and Diego Garcia to carry out their strikes.
Starmer said there are around 200,000 British citizens in the Gulf region, and that Iran’s actions were putting their lives at risk.
“Over the last two days, Iran has launched sustained attacks across the region at countries who did not attack them,” he said.
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“They have hit airports and hotels where British citizens are staying. This is clearly a dangerous situation.”
Iran also hit a military base in Bahrain on Saturday, “narrowly missing British personnel”, the PM said.
British jets are already taking part in “defensive” operations in the region, Starmer said.
But he said the only way to stop the Iranian attacks was to target storage depots and the launchers use to fire missiles.
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The PM said: “The US has requested permission to use British bases for that specific and limited defensive purpose.
“We have taken the decision to accept this request, to prevent Iran firing missiles across the region, killing innocent civilians, putting British lives at risk and hitting countries that have not been involved.
“The basis of our decision is the collective self-defence of longstanding friends and allies, and protecting British lives. This is in line with international law.”
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Green Party leader Zack Polanski criticised Starmer’s decision.
Posting on X, he said: “It took just one phone call from Donald Trump for Starmer to jump into yet another Middle East illegal war, failing to learn the lessons of the tragedies of Iraq, Libya and Syria.”
BBC Expert Demolishes Trump And Netanyahu’s Case For Bombing Iran: ‘A War Of Choice’
A BBC expert has demolished Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu’s case for bombing Iran.
Israel said the attacks were “pre-emptive” to stop Iran acquiring nuclear weapons and firing at them.
In his statement announcing the bombing, Trump said: “Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime.”
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But Jeremy Bowen, the BBC’s international affairs editor, dismissed those arguments.
He said: “Israel used the word ‘pre-emptive’ to justify its attack – the largest in the Israeli Air Force’s history, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
“The evidence is that this is not a response to an imminent threat, which the word pre-emption implies. Instead, it is a war of choice.”
The military action, Bowen said, was “another blow to the tottering system of international law”.
He added: “In their statements, both Trump and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran was a danger to their countries – Trump said it was a global danger.
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“The Islamic regime is certainly their bitter enemy. But it is hard to see how the legal justification of self-defence applies given the huge disparity of power between the US and Israel on one side and Iran on the other.”
Bowen also warned that Trump’s stated objective of regime change in Iran will be far from straightforward – and could lead to a wider conflict in the Middle East.
He said: “There is no precedent for regime change happening just because of air strikes.
“Even if this becomes the first case of air power alone collapsing a regime, the Islamic regime will not be replaced by a liberal democracy that upholds human rights. There is no credible alternative government in exile waiting in the wings.”
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The Middle East expert went on: “Iran’s remaining leaders will now be calculating how to ride out the war, how to survive and how to manage its consequences.
“Their neighbours, led by Saudi Arabia, will be dismayed by the huge uncertainty and potential consequences of today’s events.
“Given the capacity of the Middle East to export trouble, the eruption of renewed and intensified war deepens the instability of a region and wider world that is already turbulent, violent and dangerous.”
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Massive asteroid impact 6.3 million years ago left giant glass field in Brazil
Scientists have identified Brazil’s first known field of tektites, the glassy material created when an asteroid or other extraterrestrial object strikes Earth with extreme force. These newly recognized specimens, called geraisites after the state of Minas Gerais where they were first found, form a previously unknown strewn field. The discovery helps fill gaps in South America’s incomplete record of ancient impact events.
The findings were detailed in the journal Geology by a research team led by Álvaro Penteado Crósta, a geologist and senior professor at the Institute of Geosciences at the State University of Campinas (IG-UNICAMP). The project involved collaborators from Brazil, Europe, the Middle East, and Australia.
Before this discovery, only five major tektite fields were known worldwide, located in Australasia, Central Europe, the Ivory Coast, North America, and Belize. The Brazilian field now joins this rare group.
A 900 Kilometer Strewn Field of Impact Glass
The geraisites were first documented in three municipalities in northern Minas Gerais — Taiobeiras, Curral de Dentro, and São João do Paraíso — across an area about 90 kilometers long. After the study was submitted, additional finds were reported in Bahia and later in Piauí. As a result, the total known distribution now stretches more than 900 kilometers.
“This growth in the area of occurrence is entirely consistent with what is observed in other tektite fields around the world. The size of the field depends directly on the energy of the impact, among other factors,” Crósta explains.
By July 2025, researchers had collected about 500 pieces. With more recent discoveries, that total now exceeds 600. The fragments vary widely in size, from less than 1 gram to 85.4 grams, and can measure up to 5 centimeters along their longest dimension. Their forms match the aerodynamic shapes typical of tektites, including spheres, ellipsoids, droplets, disks, dumbbells, and twisted shapes.
What the Geraisites Look Like
At first glance, the geraisites appear black and opaque. Under strong light, however, they become translucent with a grayish green hue. This shade differs from the brighter green moldavites of Europe, which have been used in jewelry since the Middle Ages. The surfaces of the Brazilian specimens are pitted with small cavities.
“These small cavities are traces of gas bubbles that escaped during the rapid cooling of the molten material as it traveled through the atmosphere, a process also observed in volcanic lava but especially characteristic of tektites,” says Crósta.
Chemical Clues Confirm Impact Origin
Laboratory analysis shows that the geraisites contain high levels of silica (SiO2), ranging from 70.3% to 73.7%. Sodium (Na2O) and potassium (K2O) oxides together account for 5.86% to 8.01%, slightly higher than what is seen in other tektite regions. Trace elements such as chromium (10-48 parts per million) and nickel (9-63 ppm) vary in small amounts, suggesting the original target rock was not uniform. Researchers also detected rare inclusions of lechatelierite, a high temperature glassy silica that forms during extreme heating, further confirming an impact origin.
“One of the decisive criteria for classifying the material as a tektite was its very low water content, as measured by infrared spectroscopy: between 71 and 107 ppm. For comparison, volcanic glasses, such as obsidian, usually contain from 700 ppm to 2% water, whereas tektites are notoriously much drier,” Crósta points out.
Dating the Ancient Asteroid Impact
Argon isotope dating (⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar) indicates the impact occurred around 6.3 million years ago, near the end of the Miocene epoch. Three closely grouped age results were obtained (6.78 ± 0.02 Ma, 6.40 ± 0.02 Ma, and 6.33 ± 0.02 Ma), supporting the conclusion that they came from a single event.
“The age of 6.3 million years should be interpreted as a maximum age since some of the argon may have been inherited from the ancient rocks targeted by the impact,” the researcher comments.
The Search for a Missing Crater
No crater linked to the impact has yet been identified. According to Crósta, this is not unusual. Only three of the six major classical tektite fields have confirmed craters. In the case of the vast Australasia field, the crater is thought to lie beneath the ocean.
Isotopic geochemistry suggests the molten material came from Archean continental crust dating between 3.0 and 3.3 billion years old. That evidence points to the São Francisco craton, one of the oldest and most stable regions of South America’s continental crust.
“The isotopic signature indicates a very ancient continental, granitic source rock. This greatly reduces the universe of candidate areas,” says Crósta.
Future surveys using magnetic and gravimetric techniques could detect circular underground structures that mark a buried or eroded crater.
Estimating the Size of the Impact
Researchers cannot yet determine the exact size of the object that struck Earth, but they believe it was not small. The volume of melted rock and the broad distribution of debris indicate a powerful event, though likely less intense than the impact that created the enormous Australasia field, which spans thousands of kilometers.
The team is developing mathematical models to estimate the impact’s energy, entry speed, trajectory angle, and total volume of melted material. These calculations will become more refined as additional data on the distribution of geraisites are gathered.
The discovery adds an important chapter to South America’s impact history. Only about nine large impact structures are currently known on the continent, most of them much older and located in Brazil. The findings also suggest that tektites may be more widespread than previously recognized, but are sometimes overlooked or mistaken for ordinary glass.
Separating Science From Speculation
To address exaggerated claims about asteroid threats, Crósta works with undergraduate students to manage the Instagram account @defesaplanetaria. The page focuses on science communication and aims to distinguish genuine risks from unfounded speculation about meteorites and asteroids.
Impacts were common in the early solar system, when debris was abundant and planetary orbits were unstable. Large bodies shifted positions, sending smaller objects in many directions. Today, the solar system is far more stable, and major impacts are much less frequent.
“Understanding these processes is essential to separating science from speculation,” the researcher concludes.
Crósta has studied meteorite impact structures since his master’s research project in 1978. Over the years, he has received several grants from FAPESP (08/53588-7, 12/50368-1, and 12/51318-8).
Scientists just created chocolate honey packed with surprising health perks
Researchers at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in São Paulo, Brazil, have created a new product that blends native bee honey with cocoa bean shells. The result can be eaten on its own or added to foods and cosmetic formulations. The findings were published in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, which highlighted the study on its cover.
To make the product, the team used honey from native bees as a natural, edible solvent to draw out beneficial compounds from cocoa shells, a byproduct typically discarded during chocolate production. These compounds include theobromine and caffeine, which are linked to heart health. The ultrasound-assisted process also boosted the honey’s levels of phenolic compounds, known for their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.
Researchers who sampled the mixture report a pronounced chocolate flavor that varies depending on the proportion of honey to cocoa shells. Additional testing is planned to further evaluate taste and other sensory characteristics.
“Of course, the biggest appeal to the public is the flavor, but our analyses have shown that it has a number of bioactive compounds that make it quite interesting from a nutritional and cosmetic point of view,” says Felipe Sanchez Bragagnolo, the study’s first author. He carried out the research during his postdoctoral work at the Faculty of Applied Sciences (FCA) at UNICAMP in Limeira with support from FAPESP.
Working with INOVA UNICAMP, the university’s innovation agency, the team is now seeking a commercial partner to license the patented method and bring the product to market (read more at agencia.fapesp.br/52969).
Native Bee Honey and Biodiversity
Beyond reducing food waste, the project highlights the sustainable use of local biodiversity. Honey from native Brazilian bees was selected because it generally contains more water and is less viscous than honey from European bees (Apis mellifera), making it more effective for extracting compounds.
The researchers tested honey from five Brazilian species: borá (Tetragona clavipes), jataí (Tetragonisca angustula), mandaçaia (Melipona quadrifasciata), mandaguari (Scaptotrigona postica), and moça-branca (Frieseomelitta varia). Cocoa shells were supplied by the São Paulo State Department of Agriculture and Supply’s Comprehensive Technical Assistance Coordination Office (CATI) unit in São José do Rio Preto.
Mandaguari honey was initially used to refine the extraction process because its water content and viscosity were moderate compared to the others. Once optimized, the same procedure was applied to the remaining honey varieties.
Bragagnolo notes that honey is sensitive to environmental factors such as climate, storage, and temperature. “Therefore, it’s possible to adapt the process to locally available honey, not necessarily mandaguari honey,” he says.
Green Chemistry and Ultrasound Extraction
The extraction method relies on ultrasound technology. A probe that resembles a metal pen is inserted into a container holding the honey and cocoa shells. Sound waves generated by the probe help release compounds from the plant material so they dissolve into the honey.
This approach works by forming microscopic bubbles that collapse and briefly raise the temperature, helping break down the shells. In the food industry, ultrasound-assisted extraction is viewed as an environmentally friendly technique because it is faster and more efficient than many conventional methods.
Sustainability was formally evaluated in the study using Path2Green software, developed by a team led by Professor Mauricio Ariel Rostagno of FCA-UNICAMP, who also supervised Bragagnolo’s postdoctoral research and coordinated the project. The analysis measured how well the process aligned with 12 principles of green chemistry, including transportation, post-treatment, purification, and application. The use of a local, edible, ready-to-use solvent was a major advantage. On a scale of -1 to +1, the product received a score of +0.118.
“We believe that with a device like this, in a cooperative or small business that already works with both cocoa and native bee honey, it’d be possible to increase the portfolio with a value-added product, including for haute cuisine,” Rostagno suggests.
Shelf Life and Future Applications
The team is also planning studies to examine how ultrasound affects honey microbiology. Just as it breaks down plant cells, ultrasound can disrupt the cell walls of microorganisms such as bacteria that may spoil the product.
“Honey from native bees usually needs to be refrigerated, matured, dehumidified, or pasteurized, unlike honey from European bees, which can be stored at room temperature. We suspect that, simply by being exposed to ultrasound, the microorganisms contained in the honey are eliminated, increasing the stability and shelf life of the product,” he explains.
Looking ahead, the researchers intend to explore other uses for native bee honey as a solvent in ultrasound-assisted extraction, including processing additional plant residues.
Along with postdoctoral fellowships and an international research internship for Bragagnolo, the project received multiple scholarships and grants from FAPESP (23/02064-8, 23/16744-0, 21/12264-9, 20/08421-9, 19/13496-0, and 18/14582-5.
Beyond amyloid plaques: AI reveals hidden chemical changes across the Alzheimer’s brain
Researchers at Rice University have produced the first comprehensive, label free molecular atlas of the Alzheimer’s brain in an animal model. The work offers a deeper look at how the disease begins and spreads. Alzheimer’s claims more lives each year than breast cancer and prostate cancer combined, underscoring the urgency of understanding what drives it.
Using an advanced light based imaging method combined with machine learning, the team examined brain tissue from both healthy and Alzheimer’s affected animals. Their results, published in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, reveal that chemical changes linked to Alzheimer’s are not confined to amyloid plaques. Instead, these alterations appear throughout the brain in uneven and complex patterns.
Laser Imaging Reveals Brain Chemistry in Detail
To detect these subtle shifts, the scientists turned to hyperspectral Raman imaging. This sophisticated form of Raman spectroscopy uses a laser to detect the unique chemical fingerprints of molecules within tissue.
“Traditional Raman spectroscopy takes one measurement of chemical information per molecular site,” said Ziyang Wang, an electrical and computer engineering doctoral student at Rice who is a first author on the study. “Hyperspectral Raman imaging repeats this measurement thousands of times across an entire tissue slice to build a full map. The result is a detailed picture showing how chemical composition varies across different regions of the brain.”
The researchers scanned entire brains slice by slice, compiling thousands of overlapping measurements to build high resolution molecular maps of both healthy and diseased tissue. Because the imaging was label free, the samples were not treated with dyes, fluorescent proteins or molecular tags.
“This means we observed the brain as is, capturing a complete, unaltered portrait of its chemical makeup,” Wang said. “I think this makes the approach more unbiased and better suited for discovering new disease-related changes that might otherwise be missed.”
Machine Learning Maps Uneven Alzheimer’s Damage
The imaging process generated enormous amounts of data, which the team analyzed using machine learning (ML). They first applied unsupervised ML, allowing algorithms to detect natural patterns in the chemical signals without prior assumptions. These models sorted tissue based entirely on its molecular characteristics. The researchers then used supervised ML, training models to distinguish between Alzheimer’s and non Alzheimer’s samples. This step helped determine how strongly different brain regions reflected Alzheimer’s related chemistry.
“We found that the changes caused by Alzheimer’s disease are not spread evenly across the brain,” Wang said. “Some regions show strong chemical changes, while others are less affected. This uneven pattern helps explain why symptoms appear gradually and why treatments that focus on only one problem have had limited success.”
Metabolic Disruption in Memory Regions
Beyond protein buildup, the study identified broader metabolic differences between healthy and Alzheimer’s brains. Levels of cholesterol and glycogen varied across regions, with the most dramatic contrasts appearing in areas responsible for memory, particularly the hippocampus and cortex.
“Cholesterol is important for maintaining brain cell structure, and glycogen serves as a local energy reserve,” said Shengxi Huang, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and materials science and nanoengineering and corresponding author on the study. “Together, these findings support the idea that Alzheimer’s involves broader disruptions in brain structure and energy balance, not only protein buildup and misfolding,” added Huang, who is also a member of the Ken Kennedy Institute, the Rice Advanced Materials Institute and the Smalley-Curl Institute.
A Broader View of Alzheimer’s Progression
The project grew out of ongoing discussions about new ways to study the Alzheimer’s brain.
“At first, we were measuring only small areas of brain tissue,” Wang said. “Then I thought, what if we could map the entire brain and gain a much broader view? It took several rounds of testing and trial and error before the measurements and analysis worked well together.”
When the complete chemical map finally came together, the impact was immediate.
“Patterns emerged that had not been visible under regular imaging,” Wang said. “Seeing those results was deeply satisfying. It felt like revealing a hidden layer of information that had been there all along, waiting for the right way to be analyzed.”
By delivering the first detailed, dye free chemical maps of the Alzheimer’s brain, this research offers a more comprehensive view of the disease. The team hopes the findings will eventually support earlier diagnosis and more effective strategies to slow progression.
The research was supported by the National Science Foundation (2246564, 1934977), the National Institutes of Health (1R01AG077016) and the Welch Foundation (C2144).
