Biotech/medical – Lifeboat News: The Blog

Oct 29
2015

Holographic sonic tractor beam lifts and moves objects using soundwaves

More *!* — WOW — *!*
How can anyone NOT love science?!

Holograms (3-D light fields) can be projected from a 2-dimensional surface to control objects. (credit: Asier Marzo, Bruce Drinkwater and Sriram Subramanian)

British researchers have built a working Star-Trek-style “tractor beam” — a device that can attract or repel one object to another from a distance. It uses high-amplitude soundwaves to generate an acoustic hologram that can grasp and move small objects.

The technique, published in an open-access paper in Nature Communications October 27, has a wide range of potential applications, the researchers say. A sonic production line could transport delicate objects and assemble them, all without physical contact. Or a miniature version could grip and transport drug capsules or microsurgical instruments through living tissue.

Oct 28
2015

Bioprinting human body parts: Jemma Redmond and Ouro_botics

What is Ouro_botics?

Ouro_botics started life around four years ago on a kitchen table in Dublin.

Founder Jemma Redmond was working at the time on her masters thesis “An Investigation into Osteoblast Adhesion” and printed copies of finger bones (metacarpals, proximal & distal phalanges) which she then seeded with Osteoblasts and noticed growth was affected by structure.

Oct 28
2015

Let There Be Hair: Blocking These Enzymes May Restore Your Follicles

Losing hair can be a distressing experience for many people, but treatments are often ineffective, expensive or riddled with side effects. Could this development change that?

A study from Colombia University has shown blocking a certain family of enzymes can rapidly restore hair. The enzymes are called the Janus kinase (JAK) family, and two drugs have already been approved for blood diseases (ruxolitinib) and rheumatoid arthritis (tofacitinib), and are also undergoing other clinical trials.

Oct 28
2015

FDA approves first cancer-killing virus — The Boston Globe

Viruses are usually thought of as agents of disease. But for the first time, scientists are poised to bring to the US market a virus that can help thwart cancer, a development that could herald a new age of viral therapies.

Approved by the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday for treating advanced-stage melanoma, the virus — called Imlygic, which was developed in part in a Massachusetts lab — is a modified version of the herpes virus that both attacks the cancer and sparks the immune system into action against tumors.

In clinical trials, it has helped some cancer patients achieve remission with few of the nasty side effects common to existing treatments. And as the first tumor-killing virus to receive the FDA’s blessing, Imlygic could accelerate the development of other viral therapies.

Oct 26
2015

BioViva Presents: Alzheimer’s Disease and Gene Therapy

Adam Alonzi has made another excellent film about the power of gene therapy.

Narrated and produced by Adam Alonzi. Music arranged by Leslee Frost. Sponsored by BioViva Sciences Inc.

Alzheimer’s Disease.
Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive, neurodegenerative disorder. It is the leading cause of dementia. Typically the condition affects short-term memory, but as it advances it can result in disorientation, mood disorders, language difficulties and behavioral issues. Over time, body functions are lost, leading to death.

Current treatment options are extremely limited and the outlook is poor for sufferers with the average life expectancy being 3–9 years from diagnosis. According to RAND Corp, the average annual cost of care for someone with Alzheimer’s disease is $41,689 to $56,290.

BioViva’s Therapy — Telomerase AAV gene therapy.

We are exploring therapies with the gene that creates telomerase to rejuvenate the microglia cells that support the Neurons with the aim of combating Alzheimer’s disease and restoring healthy function to the brain once more. There is mounting evidence to indicate this gene plays an active role in protection from Tau Pathology and various experiments have encouraged us to pursue this therapy with the goal of eliminating the suffering this disease brings.

Continue reading “BioViva Presents: Alzheimer’s Disease and Gene Therapy” | >

Oct 26
2015

How to 3-D print a heart

Coronary artery structure being 3-D bioprinted (credit: Carnegie Mellon University College of Engineering)

Carnegie Mellon scientists are creating cutting-edge technology that could one day solve the shortage of heart transplants, which are currently needed to repair damaged organs.

“We’ve been able to take MRI images of coronary arteries and 3-D images of embryonic hearts and 3-D bioprint them with unprecedented resolution and quality out of very soft materials like collagens, alginates and fibrins,” said Adam Feinberg, an associate professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Biomedical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University.

Oct 25
2015

Image Design by: Dilbert

http://dilbert.com/strip/2015-10-25

Oct 25
2015

Scientists Connect Brain to a Basic Tablet—Paralyzed Patient Googles With Ease

That was the year she learned to control a Nexus tablet with her brain waves, and literally took her life quality from 1980s DOS to modern era Android OS.

A brunette lady in her early 50s, patient T6 suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease), which causes progressive motor neuron damage. Mostly paralyzed from the neck down, T6 retains her sharp wit, love for red lipstick and miraculous green thumb. What she didn’t have, until recently, was the ability to communicate with the outside world.

Oct 25
2015

Fighting Aging With Gene Therapy: An Exclusive Interview With Liz Parrish, The Pioneer Who Wants To Keep You Young

Nice interview by The Longevity Reporter about BioViva Sciences Inc.

Liz Parrish isn’t your average CEO. A passionate advocate for change, her.
company BioViva is leading the fight for healthy longevity with pioneering.
gene therapies targeting Alzheimer’s, sarcopenia and even aging itself.
Parrish dreams big, but she’s a woman of action. She’s even demonstrated.
her commitment by testing cutting-edge therapies on herself. Could her.
efforts change how we think about aging? Is gene therapy the future or are.
we moving too fast? We caught up with the woman herself to find out more.

Oct 24
2015

Male And Female Hearts Don’t Age In The Same Way

After a 10 year study of 3000 people, researchers have made the surprising discovery that hearts age differently in men and women.

We need personalised medicine

We know people age differently, both inside and outside. This is down to a complex interplay of genetics and environment, which leads to significant variation in the aging process for all of us. What we didn’t expect was that such a striking difference would emerge between the genders. So what does this mean? Could there be more we’re missing?