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Category: biotech/medical – Page 1,460

New research into remote robotic surgery

A literature review by researchers at the School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences fleshes out key issues currently preventing the proliferation of robotic procedures, specifically their use in image-guided interventional procedure in the brain.

Key criteria for future success are also highlighted.

The researchers conducted the systematic review of the literature by looking at applications of robotic systems in interventional neuroradiology—image-guided interventional procedures using devices in the blood vessels to treat diseases in the brain such as the treatment of aneurysms (blisters forming in blood vessels) which can cause catastrophic bleeding if they rupture. Another procedure is clot removal in stroke. Clot removal, known as mechanical thrombectomy, is performed to stop that area of the brain from dying.

Elon Musk nears human testing of brain chip

I wonder if you could use this stuff for brain scans.

Neuralink, the US neurotechnology firm co-founded by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, has begun recruiting key employees to run its clinical trials, signaling that it’s inching closer to starting human testing of its brain implants.

The company has posted advertisements to hire a clinical trial director and a clinical trial coordinator. The ads note that the staffers will “work closely with some of the most innovative doctors and top engineers, as well as working with Neuralink’s first clinical trial participants.” Neuralink said the director will lead and help build its clinical research team and will develop “regulatory interactions that come with a fast-paced and ever-evolving environment.”

Musk, who ranks as the world’s richest person with a fortune estimated at $256 billion, said last month that he expects to have Neuralink brain chips implanted in humans sometime in 2022, pending approval for testing plans by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Kernel Flow: A wearable device for noninvasive optical brain imaging

Recent advances in brain imaging techniques facilitate accurate, high-resolution observations of the brain and its functions. For example, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a widely used noninvasive imaging technique that employs near-infrared light (wavelength 700 nm) to determine the relative concentration of hemoglobin in the brain, via differences in the light absorption patterns of hemoglobin.

Most noninvasive scanning systems use continuous-wave fNIRS, where the tissue is irradiated by a constant stream of photons. However, these systems cannot differentiate between scattered and absorbed photons. A recent advancement to this technique is time-domain (TD)-fNIRS, which uses picosecond pulses of light and fast detectors to estimate photon scattering and absorption in tissues. However, such systems are expensive and complex and have a large form factor, limiting their widespread adoption.

To overcome these challenges, researchers from Kernel, a neurotechnology company, have developed a wearable headset based on TD-fNIRS technology. This device, called “Kernel Flow,” weighs 2.05 kg and contains 52 modules arranged in four plates that fit on either side of the head. The specifications and performance of the Kernel Flow are reported in the Journal of Biomedical Optics (JBO).

Human Brain Signals Recorded in Record-Breaking Resolution

High-resolution recordings of electrical signals from the surface of the brain could improve surgeons’ ability to remove brain tumors and treat epilepsy, and could open up new possibilities for medium-and longer-term brain-computer interfaces.

A team of engineers, surgeons, and medical researchers has published data from both humans and rats demonstrating that a new array of brain sensors can record electrical signals directly from the surface of the human brain in record-breaking detail. The new brain sensors feature densely packed grids of either 1,024 or 2,048 embedded electrocorticography (ECoG) sensors. The paper was published by the journal Science Translational Medicine on January 19, 2022.

These thin, pliable grids of ECoG sensors, if approved for clinical use, would offer surgeons brain-signal information directly from the surface of the brain’s cortex in 100 times higher resolution than what is available today. Access to this highly detailed perspective on which specific areas of the tissue at the brain’s surface, or cerebral cortex, are active, and when, could provide better guidance for planning surgeries to remove brain tumors and surgically treat drug-resistant epilepsy.

What to Expect in Neuroscience, Genetics, Longevity, Biotech, and Psychedelics in 2022

Church points to factors that helped make such a success of three of the top COVID-19 vaccine technologies. For one thing, they all used gene therapy technologies, and each was a new method relative to the past and to each other. For instance, the AstraZeneca vaccine was based on an adenovirus capsid containing double-stranded DNA as opposed to an adeno-associated virus (AAV) of the Johnson & Johnson/Janssen vaccine, while the Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines were based on single-stranded mRNA inside lipid nanoparticles.

“Implementation science is the unsung handmaiden of biomedical discovery!”

Secondly, each of them was approved by the FDA 10 times faster than the vast majority of therapeutic products, and finally, the cost per vaccine has been as low as $2 per dose for the United Nations’ COVAX global access program. That’s about a million times cheaper than Zolgensma, he says, referring to the AAV gene therapy medication used to treat spinal muscular atrophy. So since “any one of these could spark a revolution,” according to Church, imagine what could happen in the next 12 months if all four factors pertain again?

Harnessing noise in optical computing for AI

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are currently affecting our lives in many small but impactful ways. For example, AI and machine learning applications recommend entertainment we might enjoy through streaming services such as Netflix and Spotify.

In the near future, it’s predicted that these technologies will have an even larger impact on society through activities such as driving fully autonomous vehicles, enabling complex scientific research and facilitating medical discoveries.

But the computers used for AI and machine learning demand a lot of energy. Currently, the need for computing power related to these technologies is doubling roughly every three to four months. And cloud computing data centers used by AI and machine learning applications worldwide are already devouring more electrical power per year than some small countries. It’s easy to see that this level of energy consumption is unsustainable.

Anti-aging startup launches with $3bn in funding

“Altos Labs is just the latest in a series of anti-aging research institutes to emerge recently. With so much money being poured into the science of living longer, there is reason to be optimistic for those hoping to reach longevity escape velocity.”

https://www.futuretimeline.net/images/backgrounds/join-our-f…ground.jpg #longevity

Altos Labs, a new biotech startup focused on deep biology of cellular rejuvenation programming, has been launched with $3bn in funding.

Scientists Create Smallest Antenna Ever Out of DNA, But What For?

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Hello and welcome! My name is Anton and in this video, we will talk about the smallest antenna ever made — built from DNA
Links:
https://nouvelles.umontreal.ca/en/article/2022/01/10/chemist…t-antenna/
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41592-021-01355-5

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Scientists Are Sequencing the Genome of Every Complex Species on Earth

The Earth Biogenome Project, a global consortium that aims to sequence the genomes of all complex life on Earth (some 1.8 million described species) in 10 years, is ramping up.

The project’s origins, aims, and progress are detailed in two multi-authored papers published this week. Once complete, it will forever change the way biological research is done.

Specifically, researchers will no longer be limited to a few “model species” and will be able to mine the DNA sequence database of any organism that shows interesting characteristics. This new information will help us understand how complex life evolved, how it functions, and how biodiversity can be protected.

The Cyborg Revolution: Are They Here Yet?

They are.

The cyborgs are upon us. Turns out, they’re more ‘enhanced reality’ and less ‘science fiction.’

In 1998, Professor of Cybernetics Kevin Warwick had a chip implanted in his body that would open electronic doors and turn on lights as he passed. In 2002, he had a 100 electrode array wired into the nervous system of his arm to allow him to remotely control an artificial hand. Today, he’s working on using animal brain cells as a control system for robots.

Performance artist Stelios Arcadiou (whose has changed his name to Stelarc) has spent 10 years growing an artificially-created ear that is surgically attached to his left arm. In 2009, Jerry Jalava, a Finnish computer engineer who lost part of a finger in a motorcycle accident, turned his prosthetic finger into a USB drive. Colorblind artist Neil Harbisson has an antenna that helps him to ‘hear’ colors. Avant-garde artist Moon Ribas had seismic sensors implanted in her feet that detect the vibrations caused by earthquakes, and records the data online. She then transforms that data into dance.

Full Story:

Cyborgs are already here. Ranging from a chip, to antenna and seismic sensors, humans have implanted them and iden.

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