“You can take any anatomical part and show any of it. You can move it around you can make it kind of translucent so you can see through the outside”
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Category: biotech/medical – Page 2,833
Nice — another step forward for all things connected.
Scientists can now talk to and even command living cells–to a limited degree at the moment, but with massive implications for the future. MIT biological engineers have created a computer code that allows them to basically hijack living cells and control them. It works similarly to a translation service, using a programming language to create a function for a cell in the form of a DNA sequence. Once it’s scalable, the invention has major ramifications. Future applications could include designing cells that produce a cancer drug when a tumor is detected or creating yeast cells that halt their own fermentation if too many toxic byproducts build up.
That’s not to imply it isn’t a big deal already. The code allows anyone, even someone without a biology background, to modify a pre-existing cell. All that’s required is knowledge of the programming language, which is based on one commonly used for computer chips called Verilog. “You could be completely naive as to how any of it works,” MIT biological engineering professor Christopher Voigt said in a press release. “That’s what’s really different about this. You could be a student in high school and go onto the Web-based server and type out the program you want, and it spits back the DNA sequence.” To learn more, read the full story here. For more on the confluence of biology and technology, watch this TED Talk below.
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Indeed, if we set ethical and safety objections aside, genetic enhancement has the potential to bring about significant national advantages. Even marginal increases in intelligence via gene editing could have significant effects on a nation’s economic growth. Certain genes could give some athletes an edge in intense international competitions. Other genes may have an effect on violent tendencies, suggesting genetic engineering could reduce crime rates.
We may soon be able to edit people’s DNA to cure diseases like cancer, but will this lead to designer babies? If so, bioethicist G Owen Schaefer argues that China will lead the way.
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“An ultimate goal of stem cell research is to turn on the regenerative potential of one’s own stem cells for tissue and organ repair and disease therapy,” said Dr. Kang Zhang of the UC San Diego School of Medicine.
You’ll soon be able to see the future with eyes grown in petri dishes. Scientists in Japan’s Osaka University have found a new way to turn stem cells into a human eyeball in what is (needless to say) a remarkable breakthrough for the medical community. According to lead biologist Kohji Nishida, a small sample of adult skin is all that would be required in order to grow retinas, corneas, lenses, and other key components of the eye.
To help visualize the process, the video above demonstrates the growth of human iPS cells over several weeks, as they spontaneously form four concentric zones. Each of these zones exhibits the characteristics of a different part of the eye, including the cornea, the lens, and the retina.
During the trial phase of their experiment, the Japanese team managed to culture and grow sheaths of rabbit corneas that actually enabled blind animals to see again. In tests, lab-grown corneas were given to rabbits born without this crucial part of the eye, resulting in restored vision. And while humans have yet to experience the potential benefits of this breakthrough, our species is next.
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As reported today in the journal Nature Nanotechnology*, the IBM team’s results show size-based separation of bioparticles down to 20 nanometers (nm) in diameter, a scale that gives access to important particles such as DNA, viruses and exosomes. Once separated, these particles can be analyzed by physicians to potentially reveal signs of disease even before patients experience any physical symptoms and when the outcome from treatment is most positive. Until now, the smallest bioparticle that could be separated by size with on-chip technologies was about 50 times or larger, for example, separation of circulating tumor cells from other biological components.
IBM is collaborating with a team from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai to continue development of this lab-on-a-chip technology and plans to test it on prostate cancer, the most common cancer in men in the U.S.
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Insulin Pill
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Dr. Aubrey de Grey of the of the SENS Research Foundation explains the OncoSENS approach to curing ALT-Cancer, the corresponding crowdunding campaign (https://www.lifespan.io/campaigns/sens-control-alt-delete-cancer/), and how this is a vital part of overcoming the ill-effects of aging.
This presentation is part of the Designing New Advances conference held by the Institute of Exponential Sciences in the Netherlands, orchestrated by Demian Hoed, and Lotte Van Norte.
ALT-Cancer refers to those cancers which use the Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres mechanism to attain cellular immortality, as opposed to the expression of the enzyme Telomerase.
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California-based startup Ambrosia is starting clinical trials that will see older people pumped with blood from younger donors, in the hopes of rejuvenating their bodies.
Reversing and eliminating aging has always been one of the true Holy Grails of medical science. Like the search for the rumored Grail, the journey to eliminate aging will be a difficult one– and there is some doubt as to whether it is actually achievable.
But one startup seems like it may have cracked the problem, and is now beginning tests. Ambrosia, a startup based in Monterey, California, is starting a clinical trial to rejuvenate people over 35 by injecting them with young people’s blood.
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