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Archive for the ‘biotech/medical’ category: Page 2442

Feb 7, 2017

Microsoft helps science, open sources their cloud-based tool for biological research

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, computing, quantum physics, science

Off to the races again; hope folks are onboard. Quantum Bio will grow in importance; and you were warned.


Microsoft today announced that they have open sourced Bio Model Analyzer, a cloud-based tool which allows for biologists to model cell interaction and communication. This latest move is one of the many Microsoft Research initiatives which aims to help lab experts use computer science to speed up breakthroughs in cancer research and treatment.

According to the post, the Bio Model Analzyer (BMA) allows for researchers and science to compare the normal processes of healthy cells to the abnormal processes that occur when disease infects the body. Set against more traditional methods, when using computers, researchers can quickly explore many more possibilities than were previously possible. Jasmin Fisher, a Senior researcher in the programming principles and tools group in Microsoft’s Cambridge, U.K explains in the post:

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Feb 7, 2017

Brain-Based Immune Proteins Act as Universal Sensing Mechanism That Regulate Sleep

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

Nice.


Sleep — one of the most basic, yet most mystifying processes of the human body — has confounded physicians, scientists and evolutionary biologists for centuries.

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Feb 7, 2017

Two Brain Networks Crucial To Decision-Making Identified

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

Researchers have found two different neural paths responsible for decision-making processes in humans, related to accuracy and speed. The results of this research could help scientists create better treatment for patients suffering from neurological disorders. ( Oli Scarff | Getty Images )

Two new mechanisms responsible for the balance between speed and accuracy in the humans’ decision-making process have been identified. Researchers have brought new insight on how quickly a decision can be made and on the amount of information necessary to make it.

The research, conducted by scientists from the Medical Research Council Brain Network Dynamics Unit at the University of Oxford, was published in the journal eLife, and it explains in greater detail a type of brain wiring that could be employed in treating neurological disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease.

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Feb 7, 2017

Two factor-based reprogramming of rodent and human fibroblasts into Schwann cells

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Schwann cells (SCs) myelinate peripheral nerve axons and offer opportunities for the treatment of injuries and demyelinating diseases but reliable and renewable sources of these cells are hard to come by.

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Feb 7, 2017

Search for Synthetic-Essential Genes Uncovers Prostate Cancer Treatment Target

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical, genetics

Synbio research at work and discovery.


Study of synthetic essential genes identifies a novel pathway in prostate cancer and suggests a framework for the discovery of targets in cancers harboring tumor-suppressor deficiencies.

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Feb 7, 2017

India to frame policy on synthetic biology

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical, policy

Rules placed on Synbio in India; wonder who is next?


The technology could help produce drugs, vaccines, fuel components and other chemicals.

: India is taking its first steps to evolve a policy on synthetic biology, an emerging science through which new life forms can potentially be made in labs and existing life forms, such as bacteria and other microbes, tweaked to produce specific proteins or chemically useful products.

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Feb 7, 2017

Injection could permanently lower cholesterol

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical, genetics

Some people have mutations that greatly lower their cholesterol. Tests in mice suggest gene editing could give the rest of us the same protection.

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Feb 7, 2017

Scientists Are Developing Flu Shots for Dogs, Which Will Help Protect Us Too

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

In severe cases, a dog can develop pneumonia and even die.

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Feb 7, 2017

New Study Raises Questions About The Anti-Aging Benefits Of Blood Transfusions

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension

New study raises questions over using young blood transfusions as a therapy for aging.


There has been a lot of interest in the potential for transfusions of young blood to rejuvenate the old. However a recent study raises some intriguing questions.

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Feb 7, 2017

Removing the Viral Threat: Two Months to Stop Pandemic X from Taking Hold

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, health

Over the past several years, DARPA-funded researchers have pioneered RNA vaccine technology, a medical countermeasure against infectious diseases that uses coded genetic constructs to stimulate production of viral proteins in the body, which in turn can trigger a protective antibody response. As a follow-on effort, DARPA funded research into genetic constructs that can directly stimulate production of antibodies in the body., DARPA is now launching the Pandemic Prevention Platform (P3) program, aimed at developing that foundational work into an entire system capable of halting the spread of any viral disease outbreak before it can escalate to pandemic status. Such a capability would offer a stark contrast to the state of the art for developing and deploying traditional vaccines—a process that does not deliver treatments to patients until months, years, or even decades after a viral threat emerges.

“DARPA’s goal is to create a technology platform that can place a protective treatment into health providers’ hands within 60 days of a pathogen being identified, and have that treatment induce protection in patients within three days of administration. We need to be able to move at this speed considering how quickly outbreaks can get out of control,” said Matt Hepburn, the P3 Program Manager. “The technology needs to work on any viral disease, whether it’s one humans have faced before or not.”

Recent outbreaks of viral infectious diseases such as Zika, H1N1 influenza, and Ebola have cast into sharp relief the inability of the global health system to rapidly contain the spread of a disease using existing tools and procedures. State-of-the-art medical countermeasures typically take many months or even years to develop, produce, distribute, and administer. These solutions often arrive too late—if at all—and in quantities too small to respond to emerging threats. In contrast, the envisioned P3 platform would cut response time to weeks and stay within the window of relevance for containing an outbreak.

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