Lifeboat Foundation

In an effort to scale up the manufacture of biomaterials, researchers at UC Berkeley have combined bioprinting, a robotic arm, and flash freezing in a method that may one day allow living tissue, and even whole organs, to be printed on demand. By printing cells into 2D sheets and then freezing them as assembled, the new technique improves cell survival during both building and storage.

Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory have created the largest simulation to date of an entire gene of DNA, a feat that required one billion atoms to model and will help researchers to better understand and develop cures for diseases like cancer.

“It is important to understand DNA at this level of detail because we want to understand precisely how genes turn on and off,” said Karissa Sanbonmatsu, a structural biologist at Los Alamos. “Knowing how this happens could unlock the secrets to how many diseases occur.”

Continue reading “Scientists create first billion-atom biomolecular simulation” »

A malaria vaccine which is being called the first to give partial protection against the disease, is being rolled out in Malawi. It works by training the immune system to attack the malaria parasite which is spread by mosquito bites. In a few weeks it will be rolled out in Kenya and then Ghana. BBC Newsday’s Lawrence Pollard spoke to Dr David Schellenberg who has been working on the development of the vaccine with the World Health Organisation in Geneva.

(Photo: Malawians going through a medical checkup by a paramedic Credit: MAURICIO FERRETTI/AFP/Getty Images)

Continue reading “The ‘world’s first malaria vaccine’ is being rolled out in Malawi” »

In multiple sclerosis, the body’s immune system attacks and damages myelin, which is the insulating layer on nerves in the spinal cord, brain and optic nerve. This causes the nerves to short-circuit and cease functioning properly. In “a potential game-changer,” scientists have now demonstrated that a synthetic molecule can restore compromised myelin.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been a topic of great interest in the last decade or so due to their ability to improve tissue regeneration merely by their presence and the secreted signals they give out.

Adult MSCs have traditionally been used for regenerative medicine with hit-and-miss results, depending on the quality and age of the harvested MSCs. It has been discovered in recent years that the efficacy of these cells greatly depends on how damaged by aging they are, which explains why MSC therapy sometimes works very well in one person but not so much in another.

However, what about aged cells that are reprogrammed back to pluripotency then guided into becoming mesenchymal stem cells through cellular reprogramming?

Continue reading “Old Cells Reprogrammed into MSCs Are Rejuvenated” »

Earlier this year, we launched a new webinar series where our monthly patrons, the Lifespan Heroes, are given the opportunity to join live discussion panels with the researchers who are working on solving aging.

Our April 8th, 2019 episode saw Dr. Mike Lustgarten, Dr. Amy Proal, and Dr. Cosmo Mielke join hosts Dr. Oliver Medvedik and Steve Hill for a discussion about the microbiome and how it relates to aging.

Continue reading “Microbiome Webinar Released” »

Dental implants can take over a year.

Background: The medical agent #MK615 is produced from #JapaneseApricot and contains a number of cyclic triterpenes. Antitumor activity of MK615 and its additive effect when combined with gemcitabine in pancreatic cancer cell line. MIAPaCa-2 was previously reported by our group. The objective of this phase I trial was to evaluate safety and feasibility of combined MK615 and gemcitabine therapy in patients with advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer.

Conclusions: Combined MK615 and gemcitabine therapy was well-tolerated and showed antitumor activity in patients previously treated without gemcitabine or untreated patients with advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer. Currently, we are planning phase II trials for elderly or frail people.

510

Continue reading “A phase I fixed-dose feasibility study of MK615 and gemcitabine in patients with advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer” »

A scientist from Harvard has used Ai to create a method for successfully predicting the folded shape of any protein. The work could have massive implications for the design and development of life-saving medicine.