Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Category: biotech/medical – Page 2573

Allergic diseases are making one’s life more complicated and almost all treatment is only suppressing the symptoms. Fortunately, Stephen Miller of Northwestern University and Lonnie Shea of the University of Michigan can now mask allergen particles on their way into the body. This teaches the immune system not to attack the allergens in the future.

Their latest research published in the journal PNAS finally introduces a way to actually cure allergies altogether, instead of concealing symptoms with antihistamines such as Benadryl and Claritin…

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Knowing how or why genes are turned on and off during development, as well as understanding how they respond to environmental changes, will prove to be useful in our quest to find ways to prevent diseases. In addition, while the human initiator is responsible for regulating more than half of human genes, there are other sequences that control gene activity. This achievement could lead scientists to discover other sequence signals.

“The solution of the human Initiator code will enable us to explore new frontiers in gene regulation. In the future, it will be possible to use the code to identify other regulatory signals and, in this way, gain a more complete understanding of how human genes are turned on and off,” Kadonaga says.

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Luv this. True Girl Power!

11-year-old Jordan Reeves, who last year made the world a bit jollier with her 3D printed, glitter-shooting prosthetic arm, has become a source of inspiration for many. The young and remarkably ambitious girl, who was born without most of her left arm (it stops just above the elbow), has been showing off her 3D printed glitter prosthetic all around the U.S. for the past several months, was presented with Disney’s Dream Big, Princess award, and was given a 3D printer courtesy of Autodesk and Dremel.

Not only is she receiving recognition, however, but Reeves has continued her steadfast work and is creating more 3D printed prosthetic accessories and assistive tools. Her latest project, for instance, is working on developing a device that combines a medical-grade prosthetic arm with 3D printed, changeable attachments. Though decidedly less sparkly than her first make, the hybrid prosthetic could allow for a variety of 3D printed attachments (like a hand or a pirate hook). Jordan is developing the 3D printed prosthesis with the help of her prosthetist and her Autodesk mentor Sam Hobish.

While many 3D printable prosthetic hand models do already exist, Reeves is one of many people who cannot use them, mainly because they mostly rely on wrist or elbow mobility, which she does not have. As Jordan’s mother Jen Reeves told Fast Company, “She came with the challenge because she and Sam were trying to figure out a way to use those standard 3D printed hands, and it got pretty aggravating. She realized that it was not possible with any of the current 3D-printed design concepts, since she doesn’t have an elbow.”

Continue reading “11-year-old girl who made glitter-shooting prosthetic has more 3D printed projects lined up” | >

How can we turn this into a small handheld device 3D printer so it is portable for doctors without boarders, EMS units, battlefiled surgeons, and eventually part of our own medicine kits for home some day. We can make it happen.

During phase I of AFIRM, WFIRM scientists designed, built and tested a printer designed to print skin cells onto burn wounds. The “ink” is actually different kinds of skin cells. A scanner is used to determine wound size and depth. Different kinds of skin cells are found at different depths. This data guides the printer as it applies layers of the correct type of cells to cover the wound. You only need a patch of skin one-tenth the size of the burn to grow enough skin cells for skin printing.

During Phase II of AFIRM, the WFIRM team will explore whether a type of stem cell found in amniotic fluid and placenta (afterbirth) is effective at healing wounds. The goal of the project is to bring the technology to soldiers who need it within the next 5 years.

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Babies born prematurely don’t use their expectations about the world to shape their brains as babies born at full term do, important evidence that this neural process is important to development.

The findings offer clues to the mystery of why otherwise healthy babies born prematurely face higher risk of developmental delays as they grow, according to researchers at Princeton University, the University of Rochester Medical Center and the University of Rochester.

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A woman was kept alive with no lungs for six days while she waited for a transplant in April last year.

It is thought to be the first operation of its kind in the world and she was kept alive with a small, artificial lung.

Melissa Benoit, who lives in Canada, had developed life-threatening complications as a result of her cystic fibrosis.

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Growing organs in the lab is an enduring sci-fi trope, but as stem cell technology brings it ever closer to reality, scientists are beginning to contemplate the ethics governing disembodied human tissue.

So-called organoids have now been created from gut, kidney, pancreas, liver and even brain tissue. Growing these mini-organs has been made possible by advances in stem cell technology and the development of 3D support matrices that allow cells to develop just like they would in vivo.

Unlike simple tissue cultures, they exhibit important structural and functional properties of organs, and many believe they could dramatically accelerate research into human development and disease.

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This biomedical advance has long been a dream and a quandary for scientists hoping to address a critical shortage of donor organs.

Every ten minutes, a person is added to the national waiting list for organ transplants. And every day, 22 people on that list die without the organ they need. What if, rather than relying on a generous donor, you could grow a custom organ inside an animal instead?

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