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Category: biotech/medical – Page 2,710

An important breakthrough has been made in the eradication of AIDs. Scientists have found they can successfully snip out the HIV virus from mouse cells using CRISPR/Cas9 technology.

Right now patients with the deadly virus must use a toxic concoction of anti-retroviral medications to suppress the virus from replicating. However, CRISPR/Cas9 can be programmed to chop out any genetic code in the body with scissor-like precision, including, possibly, all HIV-1 DNA within the body. And if you cut out the DNA, you stop the virus from being able to make copies of itself.

First published in the journal Molecular Therapy, the team is the first to show HIV can be completely annihilated from the body using CRISPR. And with impressive effect. After just one treatment, scientists were able to show the technique had successfully removed all traces of the infection within mouse organs and tissue.

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“Somewhere something incredible is waiting to be known” — Sagan.

IMPORTANT NEW VIDEO: Mystical experiences induced by psychedelics predict long term positive changes in attitudes, mood, behavior and spirituality in patients. A group of scientists at prestigious research institutions — NYU, Johns Hopkins, MAPS and the Imperial College of London — are conducting studies with psilocybin, MDMA and LSD — which seem to induce mystical-type experiences — to treat end-of-life distress, alcohol and drug addiction, and PTSD. This video explains the nature of The Mystical Experience. Edited by Omid Pakbin music by FluxSeeds / filmed by Jason Goodman, creator of Salt Stage / produced with Ben Jacobson.

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Until now, all artificial retinal research has used only rigid, hard materials. The new research, by Vanessa Restrepo-Schild, a 24 year old Dphil student and researcher at the Oxford University, Department of Chemistry, is the first to successfully use biological, synthetic tissues, developed in a laboratory environment. The study could revolutionise the bionic implant industry and the development of new, less invasive technologies that more closely resemble human body tissues, helping to treat degenerative eye conditions such as retinitis pigmentosa.

Just as photography depends on camera pixels reacting to light, vision relies on the retina performing the same function. The retina sits at the back of the human eye, and contains protein cells that convert light into electrical signals that travel through the nervous system, triggering a response from the brain, ultimately building a picture of the scene being viewed.

Vanessa Restrepo-Schild led the team in the development of a new synthetic, double layered retina which closely mimics the natural human retinal process. The retina replica consists of soft water droplets (hydrogels) and biological cell membrane proteins. Designed like a camera, the cells act as pixels, detecting and reacting to light to create a grey scale image. The Colombian native said: “The synthetic material can generate electrical signals, which stimulate the neurons at the back of our eye just like the original retina.”

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Staff members who die will be put in cold storage until medical science can revive them.

Since congressional Republicans voted in a bill containing the Trump administration’s roll back of the Affordable Care Act, healthcare is once again a topic on everyone’s lips. In the absence of any universal healthcare scheme, employer-provided medical coverage is a crucial benefit for employees, tempting people to stay at jobs they might otherwise have left, or apply for positions they wouldn’t otherwise consider.

In the contest to attract new hires, tech companies often supplement already generous salaries with comprehensive benefit packages, and in this vein one company has hit on a novel idea: A health plan that covers its employees beyond death and into the realms of a speculative future rebirth.

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To create a new drug, researchers have to test tens of thousands of compounds to determine how they interact. And that’s the easy part; after a substance is found to be effective against a disease, it has to perform well in three different phases of clinical trials and be approved by regulatory bodies.

It’s estimated that, on average, one new drug coming to market can take 1,000 people, 12–15 years, and up to $1.6 billion.

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On May 16-19th a longevity research conference is being held in Paris.

On May 16-19th renowned researchers and advocates of healthy life extension will gather in Paris to discuss recent breakthroughs in regenerative medicine. The conference organized by the International Cell Senescence Association (ICSA) “The Ins and Outs of Cellular Senescence: Understanding the Biology to Foster Healthy Aging and Suppression of Disease” will take place in the famous Pasteur Institute in Paris. In addition to the main conference, an open public event will be held on the afternoon of May, 19th: an international panel of experts in aging research under the lead of Eric Gilson (Ircan research institute on cancer and aging in Nice) will reveal what we know about biological aging today and what medicine can do to prevent age-related diseases.

The conference

The main event will feature the latest cutting-edge findings in cell senescence – one of this year’s hottest topics in aging research with a host of guest speakers and discussions taking place over the four days. It will also explore recent findings such as the fact that some kinds of senescent cell appear to have positive effects like suppressing tumour development, or helping with regenerating tissues or wound healing – but seem to be different from those that accumulate in the body damaging health.

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“Members of a Hindu far-right organization called Arogya Bharati say they are working with expectant couples in the country to produce “customized” babies, who, they hope, will be taller, fairer and smarter than other babies, according to a report in the Indian Express newspaper.”

“The group’s health officials claimed that their program — a combination of diet, ayurvedic medicine and other practices — has led to 450 of these babies, and they hope to have “thousands” more by 2020, the report said.”

“The parents may have lower IQ, with a poor educational background, but their baby can be extremely bright. If the proper procedure is followed, babies of dark-skinned parents with lesser height can have fair complexion and grow taller,” Hitesh Jani, the group’s national convener, told the newspaper.”

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