Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Category: biotech/medical – Page 1017

The world’s first clinical trial of laboratory grown red blood cells transfused into humans has begun at the University of Bristol, UK.

The manufactured blood cells were grown from stem cells from donors. The red cells were then transfused into volunteers, as part of an NHS clinical trial called RESTORE (REcovery and survival of STem cell Originated REd cells).

If proved to be safe and effective, this could revolutionise treatments for people with blood disorders such as sickle cell and rare blood types. It can be difficult to find enough well-matched donated blood for some people with these disorders.

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SAN DIEGO—()— Rejuvenate Bio, today announced the launch of its new office in San Diego, which will help foster and accelerate the discovery and development of gene therapies for human and animal health. The office will support all functions including business development and clinical operations functions.

“San Diego’s life sciences industry is one of the leading biotech hubs in the nation and Rejuvenate exemplifies the spirit of innovation for which the region is known.” Tweet this

“The launch of our new office in this leading biotech hub, allows us to aggressively pursue our business development efforts and leverage the talent and expertise San Diego offers,” said Daniel Oliver, CEO & Co-Founder, Rejuvenate Bio. “This will help with our recruiting efforts, as we launch our first clinical gene therapy trial in humans next year. We look forward to continued development of our pipeline and our team in one of the fastest-growing biotech hubs.”

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Past neuroscience studies have consistently demonstrated that the aging of the mammalian nervous system is liked with a decline in the volume and functioning of white matter, nerve fibers found in deep brain tissues. Although this is now a well-established finding, the mechanisms underpinning the decline of white matter and associated pathologies are poorly understood.

Researchers at Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) of Munich, Technical University of Munich, the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Munich Cluster of Systems Neurology and University Hospital Würzburg have recently carried out a study aimed at better understanding the neural mechanisms that might result in the deterioration of white matter. Their findings, published in Nature Neuroscience, suggest that adaptive immune responses could promote the loss of in aging white matter.

“Among the hallmarks of brain aging is a decline in white matter volume and function which leads to an increase in neurological disorders,” Mikael Simons and Özgün Gökce, two of the researchers who carried out the study, told Medical Xpress. “White matter contains nerve fibers (axons), which are extensions of nerve cells (neurons). Many of these are surrounded by a type of sheath or covering called myelin, which allows our neurons to communicate fast, and gives white matter its color.”

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At first glance, the human body seems to be symmetrical: two arms, two legs, two eyes, two ears, and even the nose and mouth appear to be mirrored on an imaginary axis that divides most people’s faces. Finally, the brain is split into two nearly equal-sized halves, and the furrows and bulges follow a similar pattern. The initial impression, however, is misleading since there are small, functionally relevant differences between the left and right sides of the different brain regions.

The two hemispheres have distinct functional specializations. For instance, most individuals process language mostly in their left hemisphere whereas spatial attention is primarily processed in their right hemisphere. Work can thus be distributed more effectively to both sides, and the overall range of tasks is expanded.

However, this so-called lateralization, or the tendency for brain regions to process certain functions more in the left or right hemisphere, differs between people. And not only in the minority whose brains are mirror-inverted in comparison to the majority. Even people with classically arranged brains have varying degrees of asymmetry. Previous research has indicated that this, in turn, may have an effect on the functions themselves.

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There’s a certain insidiousness to the way glaucoma — a group of eye diseases that damage the optic nerve — can snatch away a person’s vision.

That damage can be so slow that people may never notice until it is too late, and the long term impacts, like loss of peripheral vision, blind spots, and blindness, have set in.

Glaucoma impacts tens of millions of people globally, and is the second leading cause of blindness, after cataracts. Now, Purdue University researchers have developed smart contact lenses that may help save people’s sight.

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Researchers at the University of West Scotland (UWS) believe that groundbreaking artificial intelligence (AI) could help reduce winter stresses and demands on hospitals. The innovative approach, using AI, would automatically diagnose lung diseases, such as pneumonia and tuberculosis.

The research was published in the journal Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine.

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The trial that could transform care for people with blood disorders such as sickle cell and rare blood types.

In what can be called a breakthrough in medical science, red blood cells grown in a laboratory have been transfused into volunteers in a world-first clinical trial.

The manufactured blood cells — grown from donor stem cells — could revolutionize treatments for people with blood disorders such as sickle cell disease if proven to be safe and effective.

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