Sleepless Nights And Flexible Skin: Cool Science

Major research advances often start with a patient.

Sometimes clinical research aimed at helping patients also helps scientists see into the basic workings of the body or brain. This week Shots profiles two studies that are already changing how scientists understand the complex worlds of sleep and healthy skin.   Darren Pryce/Getty Images/Imagezoo A Sleepless Night Leaves Some Brain Cells As Sluggish As You Feel Neurosurgeons at UCLA initially set out to evaluate a dozen patients who had severe epilepsy; the doctors needed to know where exactly in the brain the seizures were starting. So they placed wires in each person that let them monitor the activity of individual brain cells -- often for days. “And because patients with epilepsy are frequently kept awake in order to provoke a seizure, the scientists had an ideal way to study the effects of sleep deprivation,” correspondent Jon Hamilton explains. The result: When people don’t get enough sleep, Hamilton says, “certain brain cells literally slow down.” The findings underscore the risks of driving when drowsy, say the scientists -- as well as the danger of working long hours without a good night’s sleep. As sleep scientist and author Matthew Walker told Fresh Air’s Terry Gross recently, sleep deficiency -- defined as six hours or less -- is associated with problems in concentration, memory and the immune system, and may even shorten lifespan.   Researchers grew sheets of genetically altered skin cells in the lab and used them to treat a boy with life-threatening epidermolysis bullosa. CMR Unimore/Nature Genetically Altered Skin Saves A Boy Dying Of A Rare Disease As clear and nearly as thin as plastic wrap, the sheets of skin that scientists in Italy were able to grow in a lab likely saved the life of a 7-year-old boy in Germany in 2015. NPR’s Richard Harris explains this week that the child has a severe form of  a rare, inherited disease that prevents the outer layer of skin from binding to the inner layer, and the result is painfully fragile skin and excruciating blisters. He’d all but run out of treatment options. In a last ditch effort to help, starting with a small sample of the boy’s own skin cells, the scientists in Italy were able to replace the flawed gene and grow enough healthy skin to cover his wounds – over 80 percent of his body. The experimental treatment had barely been tried before – and only with much smaller areas of skin. Would it work? Two years later, the little boy is healthy, active and back in school with an epidermis that behaves like normal skin, not scar tissue. And eager scientists are already applying the insights gained -- looking into whether genetically modified stem cells from the skin might allow them to bank skin for children with this condition, or help other types of patients. Oh! And you perhaps heard that the EPA this week approved the use of mosquitoes infected with Wolbachia bacteria as a “biopesticide” -- to help stop the spread of viruses like dengue and Zika. NPR’s Joe Palca has the interesting story of Scott O’Neill’s 20 years of scientific struggle to make that idea work. Science moves in spurts, with plenty of stops, starts and tangents that lead to fresh beginnings. At Shots we’re as interested in the twists and turns as the destination. Stay tuned. Your Shots editor -- Deborah Franklin   You received this message because you're subscribed to our Health emails. |  Unsubscribe  |  Privacy Policy | NPR 1111 N. CAPITOL ST. NE WASHINGTON DC 20002