Lifeboat Foundation

A number of recent studies have homed in on compelling associations between mental health and the microbiome. These insights into strange gut-brain connections have found links between depression and certain species of gut bacteria, and one study even found symptoms of schizophrenia could be transferred from mouse to mouse via fecal transplants.

But are these microbiome perturbations unique to specific psychiatric conditions, or is there a more common gut bacteria signature shared amongst several conditions?

A clinical trial is beginning tomorrow to discover if it is safe to give radiotherapy in two large doses.

If successful, it would mean treatment for prostate cancer could take days instead of weeks.

With new colon cancer study results, Mirati lays claim to best KRAS-blocking drug.

The results are the strongest yet for a new class of cancer drugs that work by blocking the effects of a type of KRAS alteration called G12C.

This is the video of Harold Katcher’s presentation to the London Futurists. It was a great discussion, be sure to check it out.

#haroldkatcher #antiaging #rejuvenation #futurism

Continue reading “A paradigm shift in aging research?” »

Tamayo Mendez is Cuba’s first and only cosmonaut.

Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez grew up a poor orphan, but in September 1980 he wound up flying to space as Cuba’s first and only Cosmonaut.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk helped achieve the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital fundraising goal of the Inspiration4 spaceflight, just hours after his company returned the crew from orbit.

The main goal of the Inspiration4 mission, which launched on Wednesday and splashed down on Saturday, was to raise $200 million for St. Jude.

Inspiration4 commander Jared Isaacman, a billionaire entrepreneur who purchased the flight from SpaceX, donated $100 million personally to St. Jude. The Inspiration4 mission had raised another $60.2 million in donations, before Musk pledged to contribute $50 million himself – pushing the campaign’s total raised to more than $210 million.

Applying Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning In Drug Discovery & Design — Dr. Ola Engkvist Ph.D., Head, Molecular AI, Discovery Sciences, R&D, AstraZeneca

Dr. Ola Engkvist is Head of Molecular AI in Discovery Sciences, AstraZeneca R&D (https://www.astrazeneca.com/).

Continue reading “Dr. Ola Engkvist, Ph.D. — AstraZeneca — Head, Molecular AI, Discovery Sciences, R&D” »

Thanks to CRISPR, gene therapy and “designer babies” are now a reality. The gene editing Swiss army knife is one of the most impactful biomedical discoveries of the last decade. Now a new study suggests we’ve just begun dipping our toes into the CRISPR pond.

CRISPR-Cas9 comes from lowly origins. It was first discovered as a natural mechanism in bacteria and yeast cells to help fight off invading viruses. This led Dr. Feng Zhang, one of the pioneers of the technology, to ask: where did this system evolve from? Are there any other branches of the CRISPR family tree that we can also harness for gene editing?

In a new paper published last week in Science, Zhang’s team traced the origins of CRISPR to unveil a vast universe of potential gene editing tools. As “cousins” of CRISPR, these new proteins can readily snip targeted genes inside Petri dishes, similar to their famous relative.

Have to admit this nurse has Kahunas. Not sure I would have the guts to put my arm in that hole.

Shanghai’s first intelligent blood collection robot has started operations at Zhongshan Hospital.

The robot can take the place of a nurse to handle blood sample collection, the hospital said.

Continue reading “Blood collection by robot a Shanghai first” »