Lifeboat Foundation

In the first North American stem cell clinical trial for osteoarthritis of the knee patients, 12 patients were given injections of their own stem cells and followed for 12 months. The results show a significant improvement in pain levels and quality of life.

A new report out Wednesday says some popular fruit juices may contain heavy metal contaminants like lead, arsenic, and cadmium. Consumer Reports tested 45 packaged fruit juices and found measurable levels of heavy metal in every product. Long-term exposure to these metals could cause serious health risks, including kidney disease and certain types of cancer. Anna Werner reports.

David Sinclair is a Professor in the Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and co-Director of the Paul Glenn Centre for the Biological Mechanisms of Ageing.

Today we hear from a scientist at the cutting edge of longevity research as Professor Sinclair gives us a fascinating insight into the world of anti-ageing.

Continue reading “PROFESSOR DAVID SINCLAIR | Can Humans Live For 1000 Years? | Modern Wisdom Podcast #066” »

For some time now, we’ve seen robotic surgical devices that can be remotely guided within the human body. And while they do make surgery more precise and less invasive, they still have to be continuously operated by a surgeon. Recently, however, a robotic catheter successfully navigated beating pig hearts on its own.

An army of tiny robots scuttling about inside your mouth cleaning your teeth. It’s a disquieting thought, and yet it might be one of the most effective ways to deal with the sticky bacterial biofilms that coat our choppers – as well as water pipes, catheters and other tough-to-clean items.

Anyone who’s been laid up for an extended period due to illness or injury will know how difficult it can be to get moving again. Long-term immobility can see a loss of muscle mass that can be hard to regain, especially for the elderly. In research on mice, a team at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have found that the injection of a type of cells known to promote blood vessel growth helps accelerate to restoration of muscle mass lost due to inactivity.

Positive early results from the first phase of human testing for a unique colorectal cancer vaccine are proving promising. A newly published study outlining the Phase I trial results suggests the vaccine is safe, and stimulates immune activation, paving the way for larger human trials.

Biomedical engineers at Duke University, North Carolina, have developed a method for improving the accuracy of CRISPR genome editing by an average of 50-fold. They believe it can be easily translated to any of the technology’s continually expanding formats.

The approach adds a short tail to the guide RNA which is used to identify a sequence of DNA for editing. This added tail folds back and binds onto itself, creating a “lock” that can only be undone by the targeted DNA sequence.

“CRISPR is generally incredibly accurate, but there are examples that have shown off-target activity, so there’s been broad interest across the field in increasing specificity,” said Charles Gersbach, Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Duke. “But the solutions proposed thus far cannot be easily translated between different CRISPR systems.”

Continue reading “CRISPR accuracy increased 50-fold” »

Biomedical pictures for April 2019.