Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: biotech/medical – Page 60

Kevin Warwick: Be/Come the Cy/Borg

In February 2011, IBM’s Watson had just beaten two human champions at Jeopardy, and most people filed it under party trick.

A few days later, I sat down with Prof. Kevin Warwick for the second time. He had already run a wire into the median nerve of his own left arm and sent a signal from his nervous system straight into his wife’s. The press called him an eccentric. A few of his colleagues used a less generous word.

So I asked him where the line between genius and madness actually sits. We also got into the magnetic implants and sensory substitution devices his students were building, the trouble his rat-brain-cell robot kept running into, and why Alan Turing was owed far more than Britain ever gave him.

Fifteen years on, #BCI implants have moved from stunt to clinical trial, #AI writes the code that writes the code, and the open question is no longer whether we merge with our machines. It is on whose terms, and who gets a vote.

Kevin’s answer back in 2011 was three words: be/come the #cyborg.

Prophecy or warning? Watch it and tell me which one you hear.

Continue reading “Kevin Warwick: Be/Come the Cy/Borg” | >

Chemotherapy leaves detectable DNA fingerprints in childhood tumors within 18 months

Nearly half of childhood tumors treated with common types of chemotherapy showed detectable DNA changes linked to treatment within 18 months, according to a new international study led by The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids). Researchers say these changes could eventually help clinicians spot treatment resistance earlier, before cancer returns or spreads, opening the door to more precise use of chemotherapy.

For their study published in Nature, researchers analyzed more than 600 tumors from 544 patients in Canada, Australia and the United States. By combining whole-genome sequencing with detailed medical records and advanced computational methods developed at SickKids, the team found distinct genomic signatures of DNA changes left behind by different chemotherapies. Some of these patterns appeared as early as 91 days after treatment began.

“There’s a long-standing belief that pediatric cancers are genetically quiet because they haven’t had much time to mutate,” says lead author Dr. Adam Shlien, senior scientist, Genetics & Genome Biology, and a lab director in Genome Diagnostics at SickKids. “Instead, it was mind-blowing to see how many mutations found in tumors that had relapsed or spread were linked to the chemotherapy used to treat the cancer in the first place.”

3D-printable material can heal the body, build better robots and recover critical minerals

A new type of 3D-printable material developed by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin mimics human tissue’s ability to sort and filter, allowing certain molecules to pass through while keeping others out. This broad functionality means the material can be used in a variety of applications across medicine, water and robotics.

Current methods for building small tissue-like materials don’t scale to sizes that can make applications possible, the researchers say. The team overcame these issues of speed and scalability by jamming billions of tiny water droplets tightly together using simple mixing and centrifuge techniques to form large, tissue-like materials in just a few minutes. Each droplet is separated by a thin membrane, allowing the membranes to link up, similar to cell organization in human tissue.

“Tissues can separate and transport ions and molecules; that’s how our kidneys or intestines work, taking only what they need and leaving the rest behind,” said Manish Kumar, professor in the Cockrell School of Engineering’s Fariborz Maseeh Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering and the McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering. This work was recently published in Nature Materials.

Viagra may reduce cancer metastasis, study shows

Viagra was originally developed to treat high blood pressure and chest pain caused by reduced blood flow to the heart, but over the past three decades it has become the world’s best-known therapy for erectile dysfunction. In the future, this blockbuster drug may find yet another use. In a study published recently in Cancer Research, scientists in the lab of professor Ayelet Erez at the Weizmann Institute of Science found that sildenafil, Viagra’s active ingredient, may restrict cancer metastasis through a newly discovered biological mechanism.

The researchers, led by Dr. Yarden Ariav in Erez’s lab, showed that sildenafil limits cancer cells’ ability to use cholesterol, an essential component of cellular membranes. Cholesterol is particularly important for cancer cells seeking to break away from the primary tumor, migrate throughout the body and invade distant organs. When their access to cholesterol is disrupted, these cells have a harder time forming metastases.

LKB1 inactivation elicits an NNMTmediated methyl sink and confers dependence on PRMT5 in lung cancer

Mi et al. discover that LKB1 deficiency creates a hypomorphic PRMT5 state in lung cancer via NNMT-mediated “methyl sink.” Targeting PRMT5 triggers senescence in LKB1-deficient cancer cells and confers vulnerability to senolytics such as Navitoclax, representing an effective combination cancer therapy.

AI analyzes surgical technique to improve prostate cancer care

The movements of a surgeon in a procedure—called “surgical gestures”—can be used to predict patient recovery, according to Cedars-Sinai investigators. Their findings, published in npj Digital Medicine, suggest this technology could help surgeons refine their techniques and improve patient outcomes.

The investigators have developed an AI system that analyzes surgeons’ techniques during prostate cancer surgery, helping identify the surgical movements associated with the best patient outcomes while also predicting whether patients are likely to regain sexual function.

The AI system, called Frame-to-Outcome (F2O), analyzes video recorded during the nerve-sparing portion of robot-assisted prostate surgery, when surgeons work to preserve the nerves responsible for sexual function. Rather than relying on experts to manually evaluate each procedure, the system automatically identifies patterns in a surgeon’s movements—called “surgical gestures”—and uses them to predict patient recovery.

CRISPR makes prostate cancer vulnerable to immunotherapy

Keeping the mRNA at its normal, longer length reduced the amount of SPSB1 protein produced by the cancer cells. This allowed the MHC-1 complex to return.

Once the MHC-1 complex was restored, immune checkpoint therapy became much more effective against the prostate tumors. The researchers also performed a detailed analysis of the results and found no detectable off-target effects from the experimental CRISPR treatment.

Engineered probiotic bacteria boost immune attack against pancreatic cancer

Cancer immunotherapies have transformed treatment for many cancers, but pancreatic cancer remains especially difficult to treat. One major reason is that pancreatic tumors often create a “cold” tumor microenvironment, where the tumor prevents immune cells from mounting a strong attack.

In a new study published in Science Advances, researchers at the University of Chicago report a promising new strategy to overcome this barrier using BifidoSumIL-2, an engineered bacterial strain of Bifidobacterium longum, a probiotic bacterium naturally found in the gut, to deliver an immune-stimulating therapy directly inside tumors.

The treatment suppressed pancreatic tumor growth by selectively activating cancer-fighting T cells. The effects were further enhanced when combined with chemotherapy, radiotherapy or immunotherapy. The study highlights BifidoSumIL-2 as a potentially powerful approach for improving treatment response in pancreatic cancer.

Cleveland Clinic study links gut microbe byproduct to heart arrhythmia

A Cleveland Clinic-led study shows a connection between elevated blood levels of TMAO (trimethylamine N-oxide) — a byproduct of gut bacteria digestion of nutrients found in red meat and other animal products — and a higher risk of atrial fibrillation.

The research team, led by Robert Koeth, M.D., Ph.D., analyzed blood samples from more than 5,000 people undergoing heart procedures. The researchers also conducted laboratory studies in cells to better understand how TMAO may influence the heart. They discovered that gut microbe-produced TMAO changes the heart’s electrical environment, increasing susceptibility to abnormal rhythms. Findings were published today in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Atrial fibrillation is the most common type of rhythm disorder that begins in your heart’s upper chambers, with at least 2.7 million Americans living with it. Symptoms include fatigue, heart palpitations, trouble breathing and dizziness. Risk factors include high blood pressure, coronary artery disease and having obesity. Medications and procedures such as an ablation, where scar tissue is created to help the electrical system work better, can lower your risk of a stroke.

/* */