Lifeboat Foundation

T ransplant medicine could take a giant leap forward if donor organs could soak up oxygen for longer and decay delayed. A technology called OrganEx, described in Nature from a team at Yale, promises to do just that. The researchers stopped the hearts of pigs and an hour later used OrganEx, then cataloged the return of bodily functions. The new approach far exceeded the ability of existing technology to prolong organ viability.

Pigs have long been a popular animal model of human disease because they are about our size and their hearts and blood vessels are quite similar. They have also had fictional roles in medicine.

In the Twilight Zone episode Eye of the Beholder, Janet Tyler has undergone multiple procedures to replace the “pitiful twisted lump of flesh” that is her face with something more acceptable. At the end, as the bandages are slowly unrolled from yet another failed procedure, we see that she naturally looks like us, considered hideous in her world where most people, including the nurse and doctor, have pig faces. Janet and others like her are sent to live among themselves.

Scientists have managed to do what many might have thought impossible. According to new research published in the journal Nature, a group of researchers from the Swiss research group NeuroRestore was able to identify neurons that could restore the ability to walk in paralyzed individuals. The researchers published their findings back in September.

The micro-robots consist of a special kind of bacteria.

Scientists have conceived of a new way to deliver cancer-killing compounds, called enterotoxins, to tumors using bionic bacteria that are steered by a magnetic field, according to a report by Inverse.

“Cancer is such a complex disease, it’s hard to combat it with one weapon,” said Simone Schürle-Finke, a micro-roboticist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich, Switzerland, and one of the authors of the new study.

Continue reading “Scientists use magnets to deliver cancer-killing ‘micro-robots’ into the body” »

There may be renewed hope for people with untreatable cancers. According to a report published by the BBC on Friday, patients have had their immune system…

Vaccine rates for COVID-19 show that the majority of adults accept immunization for themselves while hesitant for their children. Why?

In a disgusting move, cybercriminals published the personal medical details of individual patients to the internet this week.

When Courtney “CJ” Johnson pulls up footage from her Ph.D. dissertation, it’s like she’s watching an attempted break-in on a home security camera.

The intruder cases its target without setting a foot inside, looking for a point of entry. But this intruder is not your typical burglar. It’s a virus.

Continue reading “Watch a virus in the moments right before it attacks” »

Babies born with infantile-onset Pompe disease typically have enlarged hearts and weak muscles. But 1-year-old Ayla has a normal heart and walks.

If QPX9003 makes it through Phase II and III clinical trials and onto the market, it will be the first new lipopeptide antibiotic that targets Gram-negative bacteria in over 60 years.

QPX9003, a new antibiotic for Gram-negative bacteria, has achieved success in a Phase I clinical trial.