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Category: biotech/medical – Page 1,589

5G is Poised to Change Everything, from Farming to Surgery

With 5G, apps and services that we can’t even imagine will be possible.

What good is a smart toaster if it can’t connect to the network?

CES 2022 is packed with tech that needs lightning-fast connection to the internet. That’s one reason why so many people at the trade show in Las Vegas are laser-focused on 5G. A handful of industry leaders got together at the conference to discuss the opportunities and challenges of making tech that works with the new global wireless standard.

J. David Grossman, VP Regulatory Affairs Consumer Technology Association, led the discussion. He was joined by John Godfrey, senior VP of Public Policy at Samsung Electronics, Inc; Asad Ramzanali, Legislative Director at the Office of Congresswoman Annna Eshoo; Emily Hebein, Legislative Assistant for Representative Bob Latta; and Deanna Kovar VP, Production & Precision Ag Production Systems at John Deere.

The panel discussedhow 5G is expected to transform tech innovation — and how federal, state, and local policy can create the right conditions for success.

Full Story:

Injectable Gel Reverses Paralysis In Mice With Damaged Spinal Cords

A single injection of a newly developed drug has been shown to reverse paralysis in mice with severe spinal cord injuries. By mimicking the extra-cellular matrix around the spine, the liquified drug promotes the regeneration of severed nerves and the repair of other vital tissues, allowing the rodents to regain the ability to walk within four weeks.

Describing this breakthrough in a new study in the journal Science, researchers explain how they injected synthetic nanofibers into the damaged tissue of mice 24 hours after making a cut in their spinal cords. Consisting of an array of peptides, these nanofibers quickly assemble into a gel around the wound and begin communicating with cells in order to promote healing.

AgeX 2021 Corporate Update

An AgeX update. How iTR works starting at 12:14 and how it may be delivered.

Corporate update presentation from AgeX’s annual stockholder meeting in 2021, presented by Dr. Michael West and Dr. Nafees Malik.

Apologies for the audio issues starting around 20:13, during slides 19–21. I have added accurate subtitles/closed captions, which you can view by pressing the “CC” button on the video.

0:00 — Introduction.
0:56 — Mission of AgeX
1:24 — Cell Therapy update by Dr. Nafees Malik.
7:54 — iTR subsidiary Reverse Bio.
12:12 — How iTR works.
19:02 — Regulating iTR in vivo.
20:32 — iTR delivery technologies.
21:13 — EPRO pan-cancer therapeutic.
25:05 — Product pipeline.
26:00 — iTR intellectual property.
29:51 — Summary

NZ scientists in ‘game-changing’ plant cloning discovery

Kiwi scientists have helped discover a new gene described as a potential game-changer for cloning in global agriculture.

The gene allows natural reproduction by cloning in plants, enabling highly desirable traits to be carried through to the next generation rather than lost when the plants reproduce through pollination.

Named PAR, the new gene has been found to control parthenogenesis, a process whereby plant egg cells spontaneously grow into embryos without fertilisation.

NZ scientists help discover a new gene described as a game-changer for agriculture.

Goldman Sachs asks in biotech research report: ‘Is curing patients a sustainable business model?’

“The potential to deliver ‘one shot cures’ is one of the most attractive aspects of gene therapy, genetically-engineered cell therapy and gene editing. However, such treatments offer a very different outlook with regard to recurring revenue versus chronic therapies,” analyst Salveen Richter wrote in the note to clients Tuesday. “While this proposition carries tremendous value for patients and society, it could represent a challenge for genome medicine developers looking for sustained cash flow.”

🤔

Goldman Sachs warns sales from the most successful disease treatments are difficult to maintain.

New way to alter DNA, affect health circumvents gut bacteria

Our gut microbiome helps us out every day by processing the fiber we can’t digest. The bacteria ferment the fiber into key chemicals known as short-chain fatty acids, or SCFAs, that are essential for human health. SCFAs fight inflammation, help kill dangerous bacteria, protect the lining of the gut, and can even help prevent cancer.

In a new study, the John Denu lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Wisconsin Institute for Discovery has learned that the fatty acids butyrate and propionate also activate p300, a crucial human enzyme that promotes the unspooling of DNA. This unwound DNA allows more genes to become active and expressed, which ultimately affects human health.

A study by Wisconsin Institute for Discovery researchers challenges long-held beliefs, with potential implications for physiological processes and diseases such as propionic acidemia, autism spectrum disorder and Alzheimer’s disease.

Provocative new findings suggest a surprising cause of Down syndrome: cells linked to aging

Down syndrome is the most common genetic disorder, impacting about 1 in 700 newborns around the world. At some point during their first hours and days of embryonic development, their dividing cells fail to properly wriggle a chromosome pair away from each other, leaving an extra copy where it shouldn’t be. Although scientists have known for more than six decades that this extra copy of chromosome 21 causes the cognitive impairment people with Down syndrome experience, exactly how it happens remains a matter of debate.

But in recent years, scientists using new RNA sequencing techniques to study cells from pairs of twins — one with Down syndrome and one without — have repeatedly turned up a curious pattern. It wasn’t just the genes on chromosome 21 that had been cranked way up in individuals with Down syndrome. Across every chromosome, gene expression had gone haywire. Something else was going on.

On Thursday, a team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology reported in Cell Stem Cell that it may have found a surprising culprit: senescent cells, the same types implicated in many diseases of aging. The study was small and preliminary, and some experts want to see it replicated in samples from more individuals before buying into its interpretations. But they are nevertheless intriguing.

Ruby Princess sparks Covid concerns after a dozen passengers reportedly test positive in US

Princess Cruises’ ship was at centre of 2020 outbreak in Sydney which resulted in over 900 cases and 28 deaths.

The Ruby Princess cruise ship sparked concerns about a Covid-19 outbreak in San Francisco after a dozen passengers were reported to test positive.

It is nearly two years since a Covid outbreak when the ship docked in Sydney resulting in over 900 infections and 28 deaths.

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