Good news for biotech funding
Here’s the latest from YC’s Sam Altman: “I’m excited to announce a new experiment we’re going to try: YC Bio. YC Bio is a new way for us to fund early-stage life science companies that are still in the lab
‘Alexa, What’s Wrong With Me?’
Remember how Amazon made shopping so much easier? Well, it won’t be too long (hopefully — as long as regulators don’t put up roadblocks) until AI moves into helping with medical care, an industry that desperately needs a disruption. Below
Old blood can be made young again and it might fight aging
From New Scientist: “BLOOD from the young seems to have healing powers, but how can we harness them without relying on donors? The discovery of a protein that keeps blood stem cells youthful might help.” […] “When Geiger’s team examined
Wearable sensors can tell when you are getting sick
“New research from Stanford shows that fitness monitors and other wearable biosensors can tell when an individual’s heart rate, skin temperature and other measures are abnormal, suggesting possible illness.” Read more here.
Japanese Scientists Conduct Human Stem Cell Trial for Macular Degeneration
“Researchers in Japan who have been developing a cell therapy for macular degeneration received support from health authorities to begin a clinical trial using donor-derived induced pluripotent stem (IPS) cells converted to retinal cells. This will be the first trial
Thanks to AI, Computers Can Now See Your Health Problems
This is a fantastic development, since many of the low hanging problems in healthcare are caused by human error. From Wired: “What had taken Patient Number Two’s doctors 16 years to find took Face2Gene just a few minutes. Face2Gene takes
The World’s First “Artificial Pancreas” Will Be Hitting the Market in 2017
“Good news for people with type 1 diabetes. The first “artificial pancreas” has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Innovative medical technology company Medtronic’s MiniMed 670G is the first device to combine an automated glucose monitor
Gentle cancer treatment using nanoparticles works in mice
News from Copenhagen: “Cancer treatments based on laser irridation of tiny nanoparticles that are injected directly into the cancer tumor are working and can destroy the cancer from within. Researchers from the Niels Bohr Institute and the Faculty of Health
‘Living hip’ grown in lab genetically engineered to stop arthritis
“Arthritis sufferers have been offered new hope after scientists grew a ‘living hip’ in the lab which not only replaces worn cartilage but stops painful joints returning. Researchers in the US have used stem cells to grow cartilage in the
Launching Longevity: Funding the Fountain of Youth — VLAB Event
I’ll be moderating a longevity panel tomorrow at VLAB. VLAB is the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the MIT Enterprise Forum, a global non-profit organization dedicated to connecting Silicon Valley’s entrepreneurs, industry experts, venture capitalists, private investors and technologists
New Class of Drugs Could Dramatically Increase Healthy Lifespan
Here’s some interesting news from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) and the Mayo Clinic. Researchers found that a combination of two drugs — cancer drug dasatinib and quercetin — “dramatically slows the aging process (in animal models)—alleviating symptoms of frailty,
Veritas Genetics Launches $999 Whole Genome Test
Here it is — the $1000 whole genome. Veritas Genetics is co-founded by Harvard Medical School professor and genetics pioneer Dr. George Church. The company first broke the $1,000 genome barrier in 2015 when it made whole genome sequencing available
Obama’s New Cancer Initiative Could Use A Shot Of Silicon Valley Innovation
From TechCrunch: “From Google[x]’s cancer-seeking nanopills to Atomwise, a machine-learning platform working on finding the cure to orphan diseases, the Bay Area offers several startups and organizations coming at the problem in a different way.Incubators such as Y Combinator, IndieBio
Gene editing saves girl dying from leukemia
From New Scientist: “One-year-old Layla was dying from leukaemia after all conventional treatments failed. “We didn’t want to give up on our daughter, though, so we asked the doctors to try anything,” her mother Lisa said in a statement released
Turning cancer back into healthy tissue
This is rather exciting news. If it works in humans, it would be a game changer. A number of media sites wrote about this work by Dr Panos Anastasiadis and his team at the Mayo Clinic. Here’s the BBC’s story.
A 3-D-printed airway splint cures babies, then disappears
From the LAT: “So far, the medical implant has been tested in three children between the ages of 3 months and 16 months. Before getting the implant, the young patients had spent much of their lives in intensive care, where
Craig Venter lecture at the Beckman Symposium
It was a pleasure to meet Dr. Craig Venter at Stanford this week. As you can imagine, he had strong views and a huge amount of energy. I’m super-interested in all of his work, but was surprised to find out
Scientists use stem cells to grow new human hair in the lab
Lots of people I know will be interested in this. Here’s the story from the researchers at Sanford-Burnham. “We have developed a method using human pluripotent stem cells to create new cells capable of initiating human hair growth. The method
Scientists have shown that young blood rejuvenates old tissues. Now, come human tests.
From Nature: “Wyss-Coray formed a start-up company, Alkahest in Menlo Park, California, and in September 2014 it began a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial at Stanford, testing the safety and efficacy of using young plasma to treat Alzheimer’s disease. Six out
Antibiotic Pulled From Dirt Ends 25-Year Drug Drought
Great news! The story from WSJ and Bloomberg: “Scientists have discovered an antibiotic capable of fighting infections that kill hundreds of thousands of people each year, a breakthrough that could lead to the field’s first major new drug in more