Biotech/medical – Lifeboat News: The Blog

Cheap, portable scanners could transform brain imaging. But how will scientists deliver the data?

Posted by Genevieve Klien in biotech/medical, neuroscience

Apr 16
2019

Q&A with neuroethicist Francis Shen and MRI developer Michael Garwood.

First U.S. Patients Treated With CRISPR As Human Gene-Editing Trials Get Underway

Posted by Genevieve Klien in biotech/medical, genetics, health

Apr 16
2019

CRISPR Research Moves Out Of Labs And Into Clinics Around The World : Shots — Health News This could be a crucial year for the powerful gene-editing technique CRISPR as researchers start testing it in patients to treat diseases such as cancer, blindness and sickle cell disease.

Extending Human Longevity With Regenerative Medicine

Posted by Paul Battista in biotech/medical, life extension

Apr 16
2019

Understandably, the FDA raised concerns about the practice of parabiosis because to date, there is a marked lack of clinical data to support the treatment’s effectiveness.

Elevian

On the other end of the reputability spectrum is a startup called Elevian, spun out of Harvard University. Elevian is approaching longevity with a careful, scientifically validated strategy. (Full Disclosure: I am both an advisor to and investor in Elevian.)

An Interview with Dr. Joan Mannick of resTORbio

Posted by Steve Hill in biotech/medical, life extension

Apr 16
2019

A number of companies are studying and commercializing rapamycin and rapalogs, including resTORbio, a Boston-based company. Tam Hunt got in touch with Dr. Joan Mannick from the company to find out more about this promising anti-aging therapeutic.

Blagoskonny ([3], [4]) has suggested that rapamycin and rapalogs are effective anti-aging therapies today for humans as well as other animals because they arrest “quasi-programmed hypertrophy.” What are your thoughts on Blagoskonny’s theory?

I think Blagoskonny’s theory is very interesting. mTOR stimulates cell growth, and there is data that mTOR becomes hyperactive in some aging tissues. This may explain why TORC1 inhibitors have benefit in aging-related diseases.

A Jeff Bezos-backed startup just inked a deal with $84 billion biotech Gilead to make drugs for a troubling and increasingly common disease

Posted by Genevieve Klien in biotech/medical

Apr 16
2019

Insitro and Gilead are teaming up to create drugs to treat a liver disease affecting millions. The startup is backed by Jeff Bezos, Andreessen Horowitz, and GV.

Drug-resistant bugs discovered in animal hospital prompts health warning

Posted by Genevieve Klien in biotech/medical, health

Apr 16
2019

Pets in a British animal hospital have been found to be harbouring potentially lethal drug-resistant bugs that could be transferred to owners.

Tests by Public Health England (PHE) revealed three cats a dog were colonised by bacteria able to fend off Linezolid, a “last-resort” antibiotic used to treat superbugs such as MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus).

No staff or owners are known to have been taken ill as a result, however the agency last night warned veterinary surgeries to enforce proper cleaning practices after this first discovery of its kind.

Drug-resistant fungus is sprouting worldwide, and it has health researchers worried

Posted by Genevieve Klien in biotech/medical, health

Apr 16
2019

Drug-resistant fungi are appearing around the globe, and some are known to cause illness in humans.

DNA reveals origin of Stonehenge builders

Posted by Genevieve Klien in biotech/medical

Apr 16
2019

The ancestors of the people who built Stonehenge travelled west across the Mediterranean before reaching Britain, a study has shown.

Researchers in London compared DNA extracted from Neolithic human remains found in Britain with that of people alive at the same time in Europe.

The Neolithic inhabitants appear to have travelled from Anatolia (modern Turkey) to Iberia before winding their way north.

90 New Cases of Measles Reported in U.S. as Outbreak Continues Record Pace

Posted by Genevieve Klien in biotech/medical, health

Apr 16
2019

The number of new measles cases in the United States rose again this month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Monday, bringing the total number to 555 in 2019. This year’s outbreak is on course to be the worst since the country eliminated measles as an endemic disease in 2000.

Health authorities reported 90 additional cases as of April 11, with outbreaks in New York, Washington, California, New Jersey and Michigan, up from 78 the week before. Those cases were largely linked to travelers returning from countries seeing outbreaks of their own, including Israel, Ukraine and the Philippines.

The disease then spread through populations in which large numbers of people are unvaccinated, the C.D.C. said.

Paul Greengard, 93, Nobel Prize-Winning Neuroscientist, Is Dead

Posted by Genevieve Klien in biotech/medical, neuroscience

Apr 15
2019

Dr. Greengard’s research described how cells react to dopamine, an important chemical messenger in the brain. His work provided the underlying science for many antipsychotic drugs, which modulate the strength of chemical signals in the brain.

“Our work shows the details of how dopamine produces these effects — in other words, what’s wrong in these diseases and what can be done to correct them,” Dr. Greengard said.