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Boquila trifoliata is a woody vining plant native to the temperate rainforests of southern Chile and Argentina. When it was discovered a mere seven years ago, it was noted that the plant was able to mimic not one of the plants around it but three separate plants. This plant could change the shape of its leaves to match that of the plants around them. The first two theories for this ability were that either that the host plant was releasing chemicals that B. trifoliata was reacting to in order to mimic the host plant or that there was horizontal gene transfer occuring via air borne particles. The airborne aspect comes from the fact that B. trifoliata does not need to be in direct contact with the plant its mimicking.

Recently though a new theory has arisen due to the fact that B. trifoliata has shown the capability to mimic fake plants.

Scientist grew these plants with a shelf separating lower leaves and upper leaves so that the lower leaves had no visible contact with the fake leaves up above. This group was designated the control group and showed no change in their leaf shape. The leaves above the shelf were able to 'see' the artifical plants and did begin to change shape. Firstly, it appears the mimicry aspect is slower in the winter months as opposed to the summer months and that the first leaves to display mimicry play a role in communicating detail and refining the shape of future leaves to better mimic.

Both category of leaves (mimicry and non-mimicry) were divided up into categories based on age (young, middle aged, and old) and it was found that mimicry leaves lost two of the original three lobes that the non-mimicry leaves sported and got thinner and longer to appear more like the artificial leaves.

The new theory is that B. trifoliata is able to see the plant that it is trying to mimic. The idea that plants have some sort of ability to see was first proposed in 1905. The plant ocelli concept maintains that the upper epidermis cells have a convex shape (planoconvex) which acts like a lense and focuses light on to photosensitive subepidermal cells.

I'm sure some of you have already heard of this plant and perhaps the study too but I just find it so incredibly cool. The left photo is of B. trifoliata and its natural leaf shape. The right just shows parts of leaves for reference.

Paper can be found here :

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Pillars of Creation

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Study published 1 November, 2022 published in The New English Journal of Medicine.

A recent trial study conducted by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease has tested the effectiveness of monoclonal antibodies to prevent malaria in regions where it is endemic.

Monoclonal antibodies are antibodies that have been produced by the same cell. In this case, these antibodies were gathered from a cell that was made to think there was a malarial infection.

This study was conduct in Mali, Africa during a six month period of heavy malaria infection starting in July and ending in December. Participants, non-pregnant adults under the age of 55 were given injections of the monoclonal antibodies in different concentrations, either 10mg/kg of body weight, 40mg/kg of body weight or a placebo. After following the participants around for the season, the researchers concluded that firstly, the monoclonal antibodies had no immediate negative side effects, but that they were effective. The 10mg/kg concentration was 75% effective at preventing malaria while the 40mg/kg concentration was 88.2% effective.

Of course there is still a long way to go for this study but against a disease that kills so many yearly, its a hope.

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Study published 27 October, 2022 in Cell

We've all been bit by mosquitos and we either are a 'mosquito magnet' or know someone who is. This recent study has attributed this attractiveness not to blood type but to body odor. Eight participants were asked to wear nylon stalkings for six hours a day for three years, after which these stalkings were offered to misquitos (Aedes Aegypti) where it was found that one participant was particularly attractive to these mosquitoes.

Turns out that the mosquitoes are attracted to an abundance of carboxylic acid produced in the sebum (a moisture barrier in the skin). The more produced, the more you will attact mosquitoes.

There are two olfactory receptors used by mosquitoes to track us, the Orco receptors and the IR receptors. The study created some mutatations to judge how missing one of these receptors would affect mosquito hunting. Missing the Orco receptor made little to no difference, however, missing the IR receptor, the mosquitoes seemed to have a reduced ability to find humans, though this impairment was not enough to affect the mosquito bias towards carboxylic acid heavy individuals.

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Study published 10 November, 2022 in the journal Nature

A study involving sixteen patients with solid cancers has shown promising results after their T-cells were extracted, modified with CRISPR, and then reintroduced back into the patient.

Each patient's cancerous tumor was scanned for any mutated membrane proteins that did not appear in the blood or surrounding tissue. Afterwards, these proteins were run through a computer simulation to identify which of the proteins were most likely to trigger a response from the patient's T-cells (cells within the immune system responsible for finding and destroying abnormal cells). CRISPR was used to modify patient T-cells to have receptors to these abnormal proteins so they could identify the cancer cells better.

The result a month later was a higher concentration of the modified T-cells around the cancerous regions. Five participants were seen to have no growth in their tumors while only two experienced any side effect from the modified T-cells. The efficacy for now is low but the hope is to be improved by modifying more T-cells for the next trials.

The hope for this study is firstly to find an effective personalized cancer treatment that has minimal negative side effects. Other hopes include modifying T-cells to be resistant to immunosuppressive chemicals that some cancers excrete as well as to modify T-cells to more effectively survive the harsher conditions around tumors and better find their energy sources.

Article here: