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Sep 11, 2019

Challenging CRISPR, Trucode Raises $34M for New Gene-Editing System

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics

San Francisco.

Gene-editing technology offers the potential to treat inherited disorders with selective edits and corrections to an afflicted individual’s genetic code. But with such molecular tinkering comes with the risk of unintended changes to the genome.

Biotech startup Trucode Gene Repair is developing technology that it claims can edit genes in a way that reduces the risk of these so-called “off-target effects.” The South San Francisco company is announcing Tuesday that it has raised $34 million to support its research. Trucode disclosed that its investors in the financing include Kleiner Perkins and GV.

Sep 11, 2019

Toward a unified theory of aging and regeneration

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, life extension

Growing evidence supports the antagonistic pleiotropy theory of mammalian aging. Accordingly, changes in gene expression following the pluripotency transition, and subsequent transitions such as the embryonic–fetal transition, while providing tumor suppressive and antiviral survival benefits also result in a loss of regenerative potential leading to age-related fibrosis and degenerative diseases. However, reprogramming somatic cells to pluripotency demonstrates the possibility of restoring telomerase and embryonic regeneration pathways and thus reversing the age-related decline in regenerative capacity. A unified model of aging and loss of regenerative potential is emerging that may ultimately be translated into new therapeutic approaches for establishing induced tissue regeneration and modulation of the embryo-onco phenotype of cancer.

Keywords:

Aging is often defined as a progressive deterioration of an organism over time, wherein the risk of mortality increases exponentially with age in the postreproductive years. Although everyday environmental risks from predation or infectious disease (e.g., stochastic risks) necessarily lead to increased mortality over time, they are not considered core to the definition of the aging process per se [1,2]. Thus, an important criterion of aging is that it encompasses virtually every somatic tissue type, including the gonads (though not necessarily the germ-line cells themselves, given their role in potentially perpetuating the species) [3]. In order to distinguish the aging process from damage that occurs stochastically over time, Benjamin Gompertz described aging as a process leading to an exponential increase in mortality with time, that is, Rm = R0eat where ‘Rm’ represents the probability of mortality between ages ‘t’ and ‘t + 1’.

Sep 11, 2019

With Ebola cases rising, officials launch new infection control steps

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, health

Over the weekend and through today, 12 more Ebola cases were confirmed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), lifting the overall outbreak total to 3,081.

In other developments, the DRC, with support from its global health partners, launched new infection prevention and control (IPC) efforts to curb healthcare-acquired infections.

Sep 11, 2019

Silicon Valley’s final frontier for mobile payments — ‘the neoliberal takeover of the human body’

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, finance, mobile phones, privacy

Biometric mobile wallets — payment technologies using our faces, fingerprints or retinas — already exist. Notable technology companies including Apple AAPL, +2.62% and Amazon AMZN, +0.26% await a day when a critical mass of consumers is sufficiently comfortable walking into a store and paying for goods without a card or device, according to Sinnreich, author of “The Essential Guide to Intellectual Property.”

Removing the last physical barrier — smartphones, watches, smart glasses and credit cards — between our bodies and corporate America is the final frontier in mobile payments. “The deeper the tie between the human body and the financial networks, the fewer intimate spaces will be left unconnected to those networks,” Sinnreich said.

Sep 11, 2019

Finally, scientists have designed a material that repairs damaged tooth enamel by precisely reproducing its complex, fish scale-like structure and mechanical properties

Posted by in category: materials

Sep 11, 2019

Seal Wounds With Glue

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Biomedical engineers have created an elastic glue that can seal wounds in 60 seconds.

Sep 11, 2019

Avoiding Prejudices In The Future World Of Transhumanism

Posted by in categories: computing, cyborgs, transhumanism

It is a solid talk on an important message.


From cyborgs to the Sugababes, IT expert Robert Anderson talks about a world where the line between humans and machines becomes blurred. Drawing on his personal experiences of facing prejudices and bigotry while growing up, he shares his insight on how we can avoid repeating the mistakes of the past in order to create a society where humans and transhumans can live together in an open and equal manner. He urges us to take action now because as he says.

Continue reading “Avoiding Prejudices In The Future World Of Transhumanism” »

Sep 11, 2019

The Strength of Human Bones

Posted by in category: futurism

How strong are your bones?

Sep 11, 2019

The key question for the new economy: who owns the data?

Posted by in category: economics

The essence of the issue is property rights, which now extend to rights over individuals’ personal data. Traditionally, property rights referred to control of tangible assets, such as gold or oil, or control of intangible assets like patents and copyrights. In the digital era, technology can create huge amounts of intangible assets from individuals’ data without their knowledge. How the data is used could bring not only great benefits but also, potentially, great harm. This raises a crucial question: who has the right to control over these new assets?


Recognising and protecting property rights to each individual’s data or all individuals’ data is vital to determining the fate of the new economy.

Sep 11, 2019

Geneticist David Sinclair on the Latest Anti-Aging Studies | Joe Rogan

Posted by in categories: genetics, life extension

Taken from JRE #1349 w/David Sinclair:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGLL77wYxe8