Researchers with INSERM in Paris have detailed their development of a new vaccine strategy that shows promise for treating inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn’s disease, as well as metabolic conditions like obesity. Key to the vaccine’s potential effectiveness is gut microbiota, abnormalities of which have been linked to a variety of health conditions. The new vaccine works by modifying these bacteria to protect the intestinal wall.

Melanie Matheu is the CEO of Prellis Biologics. As a scientist, entrepreneur and somebody with a huge vision about the future of organ replacement this podcast literally asks what if we could print life from light. Laser-printing organs and vascular systems to give everybody another chance has incredible value. It changes the dynamics of how to handle endemic diseases like diabetes and many other organ issues, liver, kidney and maybe eventually very complex systems like the nervous systems inside our bodies. It’s a two-part podcast because the range of ideas and possibilities this brings up are almost infinite.

What if you could get life from light? Our guest today is doing exactly that. From laser printing of vascular elements to eventual full laser printing of organs from kidneys to livers and maybe eventually nervous systems, the ideas today are well within the grasp of reality in ten years’ time. Just imagine how this will change our medical systems, what doctors focus on and how we solve major global health crisis like diabetes. Imagine how it could give huge numbers of us a second, third or even fourth career as it expands life into the 80s, 90s and beyond.

Everybody who listens to these two podcasts will be affected directly or indirectly by the ideas Melanie is bringing to life. There is a very different to the future of organs, one that is far closer than we might have thought possible. That also means the questions and ideas about how we manage our bodies are going to change, very quickly.

Circa 2014 o.o

The digital health revolution is still stuck.

Tech giants are jumping into the fray with fitness offerings like Apple Health and Google Fit, but there’s still not much in the way of, well, actual medicine. The Fitbits and Jawbones of the world measure users’ steps and heart rate, but they don’t get into the deep diagnostics of, say, biomarkers, the internal indicators that can serve as an early warning sign of a serious ailment. For now, those who want to screen for a disease or measure a medical condition with clinical accuracy still need to go to the doctor.

Dr. Eugene Chan and his colleagues at the DNA Medical Institute (DMI) aim to change that. Chan’s team has created a portable handheld device that can diagnose hundreds of diseases using a single drop of blood with what Chan claims is gold-standard accuracy. Known as rHEALTH, the technology was developed over the course of seven years with grants from NASA, the National Institutes of Health, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. On Monday, the team received yet another nod (and more funding) as the winners of this year’s Nokia Sensing XChallenge, one of several competitions run by the moonshot-seeking XPrize Foundation.

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. winter flu season is off to its earliest start in more than 15 years.

An early barrage of illness in the South has begun to spread more broadly, and there’s a decent chance flu season could peak much earlier than normal, health officials say.

The last flu season to rev up this early was in 2003–2004 — a bad one. Some experts think the early start may mean a lot of suffering is in store, but others say it’s too early to tell.