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Category: biotech/medical – Page 1,464

Leveraging 3D printing to make the meat appear more appetizing.

A biotech startup in China recently showcased its lab-grown pork and is aiming for cost-parity with conventionally sourced pork by 2,025 Reuters reported.

Amidst growing concerns of emissions resulting from meat production, countries are looking for protein alternates that can feed their population while also being eco-friendly. Plant-based meats have been around for a while but need further development to stand in as replacements to animal meats. Cultured or lab-grown meats are sourced from animal cells and show a high resemblance to conventional meat but lack production at scale and are expensive to manufacture, making it difficult for consumers to switch. 3D printing to make the meat appear more appetizing.

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Image-guided radiation therapy has evolved to include the ability to track tumors in real time during treatment. It’s improving cure rates and limiting side effects for a growing number of cancer patients.

Think of it like radio making way for television. For more than a century, radiation therapy has been effective in treating cancer. From the first X-rays, to today’s computed tomography (CT) scans, physicians have relied on various imaging techniques to locate tumors and guide their treatment. Enter real-time tumor tracking.

“Magnetic Resonance-guided therapy is really a new paradigm,” said Dr. Rodney Ellis, chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. He notes the leading-edge technology merges MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) with a linear accelerator, making it possible to reshape radiation dosage based on daily changes in a tumor’s shape, size and position and its surrounding healthy anatomy.

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Efforts to study the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic have received help from a surprising source. A biologist in the United States has ‘excavated’ partial SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences from the beginnings of the pandemic’s probable epicentre in Wuhan, China, that were deposited — but later removed — from a US government database.

The partial genome sequences address an evolutionary conundrum about the early genetic diversity of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, although scientists emphasize that they do not shed light on its origins. Nor is it fully clear why researchers at Wuhan University asked for the sequences to be removed from the Sequence Read Archive (SRA), a repository for raw sequencing data maintained by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), part of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Partial SARS-CoV-2 sequences from early outbreaks in Wuhan were removed from a US government database by the scientists who deposited them.

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Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics announced on Friday early result that indicate their experimental oral antiviral drug molnupiravir might halve the risk of death or hospitalization from Covid-19.

In a news release, the company said 7.3% of 385 patients who received the antiviral were either hospitalized or died from Covid-19, compared with 14.1% of the 377 patients who received a placebo, which does nothing.

Full data from the molnupiravir trial has not yet been released, and this data has not yet been peer-reviewed or published. But Merck says it will seek authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration, and if it’s granted, the drug could be the first antiviral treatment available orally to fight Covid-19.

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Designing a society that can adapt to the rise of artificial intelligence and allow everyone to thrive as these changes unfold is likely to be one of our most significant challenges in the coming years and decades. It will require an emphasis on retraining and education for those workers who can realistically undertake the necessary transition, as well as an improved safety net – and perhaps an entirely new social contract – for those who will inevitably be left behind.

From fast food to farming, Covid-19 has accelerated the rise of the worker robots. This in turn will put more jobs at risk and makes the need to reframe society ever more urgent.

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In the spring, a team of University of Virginia and Virginia Tech scientists shared some exciting news: The vaccine they are developing showed promising results in early animal trials not only for COVID-19, but for other coronaviruses.

If that trend continues through further testing, this vaccine could help contain both current and future variants of the COVID-19 virus — including the Delta variant currently plaguing the United States, and other variants that might crop up in the coming months and years. It could even protect against other coronaviruses, including viruses that cause the common cold. And, it could cost as little as $1 a dose.

What if we had a vaccine that would work for any COVID-19 variants that might pop up – and even for some coronaviruses that cause the common cold? UVA and Virginia Tech scientists are working on it.

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Stimulating STEM Innovation & Securing U.S. High-Tech Economy — Kimberly A. Reed, Fmr President and Chairman Export-Import Bank of the United States.

Kimberly A. Reed just finished up a 2-year term as President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM — https://www.exim.gov). She was the first woman to lead EXIM in the agency’s 87-year history, was the first recipient of EXIM’s highest honor, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Award, and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 2019 on a strong bi-partisan basis.

EXIM provides loans, guarantees, and export credit insurance for the export of U.S. goods and services from enterprises ranging from Fortune 100 companies to small businesses in a multitude of sectors including infrastructure, power, agriculture, transportation/aviation, health care, commodities, industrial, and technology.

Ms. Reed was recognized for successfully navigating Congress to re-open EXIM after four years of dormancy and transforming the mission and impact of the 515-person independent federal agency.

Ms. Reed also spearheaded EXIM’s historic, longest-ever Congressional re-authorization of seven years and a significant new mandate, the Program on China and Transformational Exports, which focuses on industries including biomedical sciences, biotechnology, wireless communication (5G), renewable energy, financial technologies, artificial intelligence, and the space industry.

Continue reading “Kimberly A Reed — Fmr EXIM Chairman / President — Stimulating STEM & Securing U.S. High-Tech Economy” | >

#Israel is on the verge of finalizing a #COVID19 vaccine whose creators believe could offer better protection against variants than its international counterparts such as #Pfizer. In an interview with ‘The Jerusalem Post’, the father of Israel’s BriLife coronavirus vaccine, Prof. Shmuel Shapira, predicted that when the country’s #vaccine is ready, “it will be better” than what its citizens have today.

HEALTH AFFAIRS: The father of the BriLife initiative explains Israel’s strategic imperative to have its own vaccine.

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