Jerome Groopman discusses the results of a trial described in the New England Journal of Medicine, in which twenty-two patients with beta thalassemia, a common and devastating blood disorder, were treated with gene therapy.
Read more
Category: biotech/medical – Page 2,580
WASHINGTON (AP) — Surgeons pack donated organs on ice while racing them to transplant patients but it may be time for a warmer approach. British researchers said Wednesday that keeping at least some livers at body temperature instead may work better.
The livers keep functioning until they’re transplanted thanks to a machine that pumps them full of blood and nutrients. It’s a life-support system for the organs, and similar machines are being explored for lung and heart transplants, too.
The transplant community isn’t ditching affordable ice chests for the far pricier approach just yet. But proponents hope that storing organs in a way that mimics the body might eventually increase the number of transplants — by keeping precious donations usable for longer periods, and allowing use of some that today get thrown away.
Read more
A new open access paper takes a look at the potential of regenerative medicine for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease [1]. The review covers approaches such as spurring the production of new neurons and transplanting new neurons while taking a look at the disease-modeling approaches and techniques that science is now using to refine approaches to treating Alzheimer’s.
The authors here investigate how induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are contributing to the growing knowledge in the field by allowing researchers to create increasingly refined models of Alzheimer’s disease. A current problem we have is that animal models do not emulate the disease closely enough to lead to translational therapies that work in humans; this is why so many new medicines that work in mice fail in clinical trials. The review takes a look at the challenges and how science is working to develop better models.
Introduction
Read more
A man in Paris has become the world’s first to successfully receive two facial transplants.
Jérôme Hamon, 43, underwent his first face transplantation procedure in 2010 to treat neurofibromatosis, a genetic disorder characterized by the growth of tumors along nerves in the skin, brain and other parts of the body. Yet Hamon’s body rejected the original transplant.
In January, a team of surgeons and paramedics at Georges Pompidou European Hospital AP-HP, led by surgeon Dr. Laurent Lantieri, performed Hamon’s second transplant.
Read more
Human stem cells—the biological jack of all trades—have revolutionized modern medicine, with their ability to transform into specialized cell types.
But the current approach, which requires specialized instructive protein molecules known as growth factors, comes with risks, including the potential development of unwanted tissue, i.e., a tumor.
Researchers at Texas A&M University, however, have discovered a gentler approach.
Read more
Many large cities (Seoul, Tokyo, Shenzhen, Singapore, Dubai, London, San Francisco) serve as test beds for autonomous vehicle trials in a competitive race to develop “self-driving” cars. Automated ports and warehouses are also increasingly automated and robotized. Testing of delivery robots and drones is gathering pace beyond the warehouse gates. Automated control systems are monitoring, regulating and optimizing traffic flows. Automated vertical farms are innovating production of food in “non-agricultural” urban areas around the world. New mobile health technologies carry promise of healthcare “beyond the hospital.” Social robots in many guises – from police officers to restaurant waiters – are appearing in urban public and commercial spaces.
Tokyo, Singapore and Dubai are becoming prototype ‘robot cities,’ as governments start to see automation as the key to urban living.
Read more
