Technology & Society
This is super-interesting and the researchers say they could be testing it in humans within a year. From the press release: “Researchers at UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center created a large, well armed battalion of tumor-seeking immune system cells and
Was a super-interesting discussion. Recordings of the sessions are up on the web already if you missed them.
Here’s my most recent column on DIY bio: Personal computing altered the world forever, and now the digitization of biology is poised to bring about sweeping change. Craig Venter’s recent announcement of the first synthetic genome was a huge milestone,
I’m just catching up on the DIY bio mailing list and saw this video. A great little tune that the scientifically-minded should like.
The J C Venter Institute announced today that they have finally managed to create self-replicating artificial life. Here is the full report. “This is the first time any synthetic DNA has been in complete control of a cell,” Dr Venter
I’m always a bit skeptical of such feel good articles when this is just an announcement about a test, but according to the UK’s Daily Mail, “The treatment, which will be tested on British patients over the next few months,
According to the UK Times: “Scientists have discovered the “Methuselah” genes whose lucky carriers have a much improved chance of living to 100 even if they indulge in an unhealthy lifestyle. The genes appear to protect people against the effects
Professor Nir Barzilai from New York’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine recently said that he thinks a longevity pill will be ready for testing in two years. He told London’s Sun newspaper that “Pharmaceutical companies are developing these drugs now.
This is a great summary article on the newly announced “robots” made out of DNA. Until now, such experiments had yielded molecular novelties, from smiley faces so small that a billion can fit in a teaspoon to molecule-size boxes with
From the Telegraph: The research into how Planarian worms can regrow body parts – including a whole head and brain – could one day make it possible to regenerate old or damaged human organs and tissues, the University of Nottingham
This is a great article on organ printing by Cnet. Organovo is working on blood vessels before attempting to print larger organs since oxygen is an issue.
From the WSJ: “Scientists from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas and others have shown they can keep certain types of cells living forever, including those from the breast, skin, retina and, recently, the colon, by adding
“That’s the conclusion of a study, published online this week in Plant Biotechnology Journal, which sought to determine whether seven diverse human therapeutic proteins could be produced in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, a green alga used widely in biology laboratories as a
The NYT has a great story today about how the genome can be used to identify the cause of disease. Read more here.
From CNET News: “This month, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Applied Materials Research (IFAM) in Bremen, Germany, are unveiling a new type of screw that not only biodegrades within two years but actually encourages bone growth
Scientists have been experimenting with “printing” various types of human tissue for years now, often using their own tricked-out devices. The Economist has a great article on a company that is now making printers specifically for this purpose. In addition,
Great article on the topic from the NYT. This sentence is of interest: Ideally you wouldn’t even need to know anything about DNA to manipulate it, just as a 5-year-old doesn’t need to understand the chemical composition of the plastic
This is an excellent video of Anthony Atala of the Wake Forest Regenerative Medicine center. Regrowing organs is a therapy that has already been done in test cases and isn’t too far away from becoming mainstream.
The Personalized Medicine World Conference in Silicon Valley last week showcased huge opportunities for new advances in medicine and personalized health. What remained unclear was who will take the lead, what techniques or products will win, and whether the medical
NewScientist reports that Jon Vogel and colleagues at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland have come up with a procedure that creates “patches of synthetic skin could deliver gene therapies to patients without the need for injections.” As