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Archive for the ‘biotech/medical’ category: Page 1389

Jun 17, 2020

Technological Singularity Will Be Late But Antiaging and Advanced Biotech is Near

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension, Ray Kurzweil, robotics/AI, singularity

A rejuvenation roadmap, and some info on Rejuvenate Bio.


Ray Kurzweil predicted the Technological Singularity will be reached in 2045. This actually means there will be strong AI, something like AGI that is 1 billion times more capable than the human brain in many aspects.

Jun 17, 2020

These Tiny Neutron Generators Could Pave the Way for Fusion

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, nuclear energy

The Madison, Wisconsin-based startup Phoenix has scouted a team of nuclear elites for a new frontier: small reactors that can revolutionize medical imaging, munitions scanning, and even non-destructive testing for quality assurance.

And in the longer term, scientists say training people to run neutron generators helps to familiarize and speed up the future of nuclear fusion.

Jun 17, 2020

CAR T cells beyond cancer: Targeting senescence-related diseases

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

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells have transformed the treatment of refractory blood cancers. These genetically engineered immune cells seek out and destroy cancer cells with precision. Now, scientists at Memorial Sloan Kettering are deploying them against other diseases, including those caused by senescence, a chronic “alarm state” in tissues. The scope of such ailments is vast and includes debilitating conditions, such as fibrotic liver disease, atherosclerosis, and diabetes.

Key to the success of CAR T cell therapy has been finding a good target. The first US Food and Drug Administration-approved CAR T cells target a molecule on the surface of blood cancers called CD19. It is present on but few other , so side effects are limited.

Taking their cue from this prior work, a team of investigators including Scott Lowe, Chair of the Cancer Biology and Genetics Program in the Sloan Kettering Institute, and Michel Sadelain, Director of the Center for Cell Engineering at MSK, along with their trainees Corina Amor, Judith Feucht, and Josef Leibold, sought to identify a target on senescent cells. These cells no longer divide, but they actively send “help me” signals to the immune system.

Jun 17, 2020

A flood of coronavirus apps are tracking us. Now it’s time to keep track of them

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

There’s a deluge of apps that detect your covid-19 exposure, often with little transparency. Our Covid Tracing Tracker project will document them.

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Jun 17, 2020

Regeneron Launches Trials of COVID-19 Antibody “Cocktail”

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

The cocktail, now named REGN-COV2, consists of two antibodies—REGN10933 and REGN10987—that are designed to bind non-competitively to the receptor binding domain of SARS-CoV-2’s spike protein. Regeneron says that such binding diminishes the ability of mutant viruses to escape treatment—with details from preclinical research to be published in upcoming research studies.


Regeneron Pharmaceuticals said today it has launched the first clinical trial of its dual-antibody “cocktail” designed to both prevent and treat COVID-19, as well as prevent viral escape. The cocktail, now named REGN-COV2, consists of two antibodies—REGN10933 and REGN10987—that are designed to bind non-competitively to the receptor binding domain of SARS-CoV-2’s spike protein. [Regeneron].

Jun 17, 2020

Israeli AI firm that offers early COVID-19 detection gets FDA approval

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, health, robotics/AI

CLEW, an Israeli medtech firm specializing in real-time AI analytics platforms, received approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its “Predictive Analytics Platform in Support of COVID-19 Patients,” the company announced Tuesday.

The Intensive Care Unit (ICU) solution was given Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) by the FDA so that it may be implemented within the United States’ health system as soon as possible.

Jun 17, 2020

Coronavirus: Nitric Oxide Eyed as a Possible COVID-19 Cure and Answer to Ventilator Shortages

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

The search for viable coronavirus infection treatments is still ongoing. Many doctors are taking a second look at as many different existing drugs and medication as possible in the hopes of finding a solution. Now, experts are also eyeing to a “little blue pill” or Viagra: nitric oxide.

Coronavirus: Nitric Oxide Eyed as a Possible COVID-19 Cure and Answer to Ventilator Shortages

Jun 16, 2020

COVID-19 is crippling the energy market, with one big exception: renewables

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

It’s not all doom and gloom in the energy markets: renewable energy capacity is expected to grow in 2020.

Jun 16, 2020

Scientists made 1 small edit to human embryos. It had a lot of unintended consequences

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical, genetics

A human embryo editing experiment gone wrong has scientists warning against treading into the field altogether.

To understand the role of a single gene in early human development, a team of scientists at the London-based Francis Crick Institute removed it from a set of 18 donated embryos. Even though the embryos were destroyed after just 14 days, that was enough time for the single edit to transform into “major unintended edits,” OneZero reports.

Human gene editing is a taboo topic — the birth of two genetically modified babies in 2018 proved incredibly controversial, and editing embryos beyond experimentation is not allowed in the U.S. The scientists in London conducted short-term research on a set of 25 donated embryos, using the CRISPR technique to remove a gene from 18 of them. An analysis later revealed 10 of those edited embryos looked normal, but that the other eight revealed “abnormalities across a particular chromosome,” OneZero writes. Of them, “four contained inadvertent deletions or additions of DNA directly adjacent to the edited gene,” OneZero continues.

Jun 16, 2020

Diluting Blood Plasma Rejuvenates Old Mice

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

Back in 2005, Drs. Irina and Michael Conboy showed that joining the circulatory systems of young and old mice together in a procedure called parabiosis could rejuvenate aged tissues and reverse some aspects of aging in old mice.

Following this discovery, many researchers concluded that there must be something special in young blood that was able to spur rejuvenation in aged animals, and various companies have been trying to find out what. Indeed, we recently reported that researchers were apparently successful in halving the epigenetic age of old rats by treating them with Elixir, a proprietary mix of pro-youthful factors normally found in young blood.

However, a question still remains: was the rejuvenation the result of there being something beneficial in the young blood, or is it more a case of dilution of the harmful factors present in old blood?