Technology & Society
Using nanotech to target cancer cells is an idea that’s been in the works for a while. A team “led by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has just successfully combined an antibody with single-walled nanotubes to create
From the NYT: “The National Institutes of Health said Wednesday that it had approved 13 new human embryonic stem cell lines for use by federally financed researchers, with 96 more under review.” and “Researchers’ interest in human embryonic stem cells
Story in Science Daily and Science Alert, among others. Hat tip to James Clement to posting this on FB. “A major breakthrough study, published 15 October in Nature, has provided a complete roadmap of the human epigenome and has major
A press release today says that “IBM Research Aims to Build Nanoscale DNA Sequencer to Help Drive Down Cost of Personalized Genetic Analysis”. The release goes on to say that “This advanced research effort to demonstrate a silicon-based “DNA Transistor”
14 genomes were sequenced for about $4000. That’s down from the $250,000 that it used to cost. Pretty cool. From the Mercury news: “Complete Genomics, a Mountain View startup, announced Tuesday that it had deciphered 14 full human genomes for
From Science Daily: “When bees sting, they pump poison into their victims. Now the toxin in bee venom has been harnessed to kill tumor cells by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The researchers attached the
From MIT Technology Review: “Lung cancer is a brutal disease, often not caught until it’s too late for treatment to do much good. Now researchers are building an electronic nose that could help physicians detect the disease during its initial
When this hits the market, it is going to be big. “Applying nanosheets with poly-L-lactide (PLLA) to the incisions of mouse stomachs, the team found that these centimeter-long biodegradable nanosheets healed the incisions without scarring or tissue adhesion.”
This is a great video on growing human organs and how such procedures will extend life. Oprah’s Dr. Oz does a good job interviewing the experts at Wake Forest University.
This is a fantastic step towards healing heart damage. “Doctors at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute announced the completion of the first procedure in which a patient’s own heart tissue was used to grow specialized heart stem cells that were then
From The Scientist (registration required): “New York has become the first and only state to opt to pay women for eggs donated for human embryonic stem cell research. The Empire State Stem Cell Board (ESSCB), which oversees New York’s $600
This article from the Singularity Hub is a fabulous roundup of the state of organ growing technology. Great job, Drew!
From the Singularity hub: “Researchers at the University of Twente in the Netherlands have created a prototype device that is capable of detecting viruses and bacterium within the body in a matter of minutes rather than the week or two
From the Independent: “Researchers have developed a technique to create genetically modified monkeys that suffer from human illnesses. … The “transgenic” monkeys were created by inserting a gene from a jellyfish into their embryos to make them glow under ultraviolet
Here’s an informative article from h+ magazine on how the FDA currently argues that culturing adult stem cells amounts to the creation of a new drug. This of course would mean long time lags for getting stem cell procedures approved,
This is an interesting piece in the Economist about the upcoming personalized medicine revolution. Some people are skeptical that medicine really will be personalized, so Clayton Christensen of Harvard Business School has come up with a term that means “customization”,
From the New Scientist: “Yeast cells feeding on the glucose in human blood might one day power implants such as pacemakers. A living source of power that is able to regenerate itself would eliminate the need for regular operations to
Doctors at Duke University Medical Center and Arkansas Children’s Hospital have seemingly cured some children of a severe peanut allergy by slowly feeding them tiny amounts of peanut flour. “”We’re optimistic that they have lost their peanut allergy,” said lead
“Professor George Church and Dr Michael Jewett, of Harvard Medical School, told a synthetic biology conference in Hong Kong that they had synthetically created part of a cell, called a ribosome. The breakthrough offers hope that they could create an
Here’s the White House blog post on it. When lifting the ban on government funding of new stem cell lines, President Obama said, “As a person of faith, I believe we are called to care for each other and work