Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: biotech/medical – Page 1357

Because the herpesvirus sits in neurons forever, there is speculation it is connected to neurodegenerative diseases. The immune system requires inflammation to constantly fight off the virus, and neurons have some degree of damage because of this continuous immune response, according to Dr. Tibor Valyi-Nagy, professor of pathology, director of neuropathology at UIC and research collaborator on the study.

Summary: Researchers discovered mutations of the OPTN gene resulted in increased herpesvirus 1 growth in the brains of mice, leading to the death of local neurons. This resulted in accelerated neurodegeneration. OPTN deficiency was also associated with impairments in immune response. While these findings are specific to the HSV-1 virus, researchers believe the findings may apply to up to eight herpesvirus infections.

Source: University of Illinois at Chicago

A new study by researchers at University of Illinois Chicago suggests that when the protein optineurin, or OPTN, is present in cells it restricts the spread of HSV-1, the herpes simplex virus type 1.

Continue reading “Study Finds Evidence of Possible Link Between Herpes Simplex and Neurogenerative Diseases” | >

Pollution creates particulate matter (tiny floating particles) and aerosols that can be harmful to our health. With missions like the Multi-Angle Imager for Aerosols (MAIA), public health officials can start to map this particulate matter around the world, understand its effect on diseases, and know where the most risk is. In this month’s talk, we’ll chat with the instrument operations systems engineer for MAIA and discuss how vital positions like hers are for mission success and for making sure important data gets back to us on Earth.

Speaker: janelle wellons, instrument operations systems engineer, NASA/JPL

Host: brian white, public services office, NASA/JPL

Co-host: jocelyn argueta, public outreach specialist, NASA/JPL

Continue reading “Instrumental: Engineers Who Make Science Possible (Live Public Talk)” | >

Britain’s young teens will be vaccinated — but with a single dose.

London: Britain’s chief medical officers have said that vaccinating young teenagers against COVID-19 is justified when their mental health and education are taken into account.

Minors aged between 12 and 15 in England will be offered just a single dose of Pfizer or Moderna beginning next week, with more research ordered into whether a second dose should be given, as is currently administered to those aged 16 and above.

The decision by the CMOs brings the UK partly into line with countries like Australia, the United States, Israel and many European nations including France, which are already offering the jab to minors.

Continue reading “Britain’s young teens will be vaccinated” | >

Automation will drag on at the normal pace. 2025 i think will be the key year, where Human Level hands could turn up on the humanoid robots, and an early phase of Human Level AI turns up; if those 2 things happen automation of jobs will really start to move fast.

Ask for a roast beef sandwich at an Arby’s drive-thru east of Los Angeles and you may be talking to Tori — an artificially intelligent voice assistant that will take your order and send it to the line cooks.

“It doesn’t call sick,” says Amir Siddiqi, whose family installed the AI voice at its Arby’s franchise this year in Ontario, California. “It doesn’t get corona. And the reliability of it is great.”

The pandemic didn’t just threaten Americans’ health when it slammed the U.S. in 2020 — it may also have posed a long-term threat to many of their jobs. Faced with worker shortages and higher labor costs, companies are starting to automate service sector jobs that economists once considered safe, assuming that machines couldn’t easily provide the human contact they believed customers would demand.

Continue reading “Do we need humans for that job? Automation booms after COVID” | >

Israeli scientists are harnessing the “destructive” qualities of allergy-causing cells, as part of a bold attempt to pioneer a new immunotherapy for fighting cancer. A research team from Tel Aviv University has found that eosinophils, white blood cells that induce allergies, significantly reduce the growth of human tumors in vitro, and mouse tumors in the body. Nine days after mice were injected with eosinophils, the overall size of tumors per mouse averaged half that of mice who weren’t injected.

Tumors in mice lost half their size when injected with eosinophils, best known for inducing allergies; promising results also seen in human tumor cells in vitro.

Read more | >

Crypto currency, fast grants, publishing sucess and failures, intellectual property, all good.

Around $26 million in grant funding has just been made available for scientific research that can improve our understanding and control of human aging thanks to the donations of supporters such as Vitalik Buterin. Will this launch solve aging? The grants, known as Impetus Grants, are specifically designed to have immediate impact. Scientists can request up to $500,000, and decisions will be made within three weeks.

Impetus Grants exemplify the increasing crossover between the blockchain and cryptocurrency communities and the longevity community. The founding donor was Juan Benet of Filecoin, and he was joined by Mt. Gox creator and Stellar co-founder Jed McCaleb. Well known longevity founder and cryptocurrency pioneer Vitalik Buterin has also donated around $5 million dollars worth of Ethereum, a cryptocurrency which he helped to create.

Continue reading “ Million to Solve Aging? Crypto-boosted Impetus Grants Launch!” | >

BioNTech, the company that partnered with Pfizer to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, is now testing whether mRNA can be used to treat cancer.

Messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines work by tricking our bodies into producing a small part of a virus. For the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, this involved isolating the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19). This protrudes from the outer surface of the virus and is used to latch onto specific cells in your body, infecting them and causing more copies of the virus to be made. Researchers obtained the spike protein’s RNA, then created mRNA based on these molecular instructions.

Once injected, the mRNA vaccine will instruct cells to build spike proteins in large volumes – not the virus itself, just the spike protein. This is enough to kickstart our immune response, training the body to recognise the spike protein, without making us sick. B-cells (also known as lymphocytes) can last for months or years and will “remember” the spike protein, making Y-shaped proteins called antibodies to destroy any SARS-CoV-2 encountered in the future.

Read more | >

While is seems like the majority of the longevity space is currently overly captivated by the Aubrey de Grey/SENS debacle, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, Healthy Longevity Global Innovator Summit is now beginning — Most interestingly, former R&D Head at PepsiCo, Dr. Mehmoud Khan, will be speaking in his new role as CEO of the Hevolution Foundation; a potential multi-billion $$$ initiative with a longevity angle — Everyone should keep their eye on this one…

The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) will hold its inaugural Healthy Longevity Global Innovator Summit in September 2,021 with support from Johnson and Johnson Innovation and The John A. Hartford Foundation. The event will be virtual and held over three days, September 13 14, and 22 and feature an immersive, interactive digital venue with unique opportunities to engage and connect.

The Innovator Summit will honor the 154 international Healthy Longevity Catalyst Awardees from 2020 and bring together industry leaders, academics, researchers, scientists, and entrepreneurs whose work contributes to the field of healthy longevity. Attendees will learn about the early-stage, award-winning innovations, hear from leaders in the field of healthy longevity, and take advantage of various opportunities to interact directly with other attendees, with a view to fostering interdisciplinary and cross-sector collaboration.

The event will feature remarks from the President of the National Academy of Medicine, Dr. Victor Dzau, and Catalyst Award Sponsors, Dr. William Hait, Global Head of Johnson & Johnson External Innovation, and Dr. Terry Fulmer, President of the John A. Hartford Foundation. Visionary keynote speakers will share insights into launching biotechnology start-ups and opportunities for groundbreaking science in the field of longevity. Participants will also be able to enjoy a robust selection of breakout sessions and the chance to network with Catalyst Award winners, researchers, venture capitalists, and more in one-on-one and small group settings.

Continue reading “Healthy Longevity Global Innovator Summit” | >