Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Category: biotech/medical – Page 1,659

Major Funding Announced for Nanobody Research

AgomAb Therapeutics have announced the successful acquisition of a second round of funding ($74M) for research into the applications of antibodies for use in the field of regenerative medicine. Antibodies have already received a large amount of attention for their ability to positively effect numerous conditions such as inflammation, metabolic disorders, and non-healing wounds.

Antibodies are small protein molecules which are used by the body to ‘tag’ foreign pathogens in order for the immune system to identify and destroy them. What is unique about these antibodies is that due to their structure they will only attach themselves to a particular pathogen (at a particular site known as an antigen). In many cases, the binding of an antibody to a pathogen such as a virus is enough to completely inactive the pathogen, making it effectively harmless.

Live streaming is the gig economy of the pandemic era, Uplive says

Livestreaming is a trillion-dollar industry in China, where social networking and entertainment meet marketing and e-commerce. China’s retail economy has become influencer-driven, with almost all online consumers buying products based on recommendations by their idols. That trend has enabled livestreaming and video platforms like Kuaishou and Douyin, which cultivated a roster of hugely popular influencers, to participate in the e-commerce market through partnerships with the online sales platforms.

Many people and businesses would not have survived the pandemic if it were not for the gig economy, says the co-founder of Asia Innovations Group, the start-up behind the live-streaming platform Uplive.

CRISPR gene editing breakthrough could treat many more diseases

CRISPR gene editing already promises to fight diseases that were once thought unassailable, but techniques so far have required injecting the tools directly into affected cells. That’s not very practical for some conditions. However, there’s just been a breakthrough. NPR reports that researchers have published results showing that you can inject CRISPR-Cas9 into the bloodstream to make edits, opening the door to the use of gene editing for treating many common diseases.

The experimental treatment tackled a rare genetic disease, transthyretin amyloidosis. Scientists injected volunteers with CRISPR-loaded nanoparticles that were absorbed by the patients’ livers, editing a gene in the organ to disable production of a harmful protein. Levels of that protein plunged within weeks of the injection, saving patients from an illness that can rapidly destroy nerves and other tissues in their bodies.

The test involved just six people, and the research team still has to conduct long-term studies to check for possible negative effects. If this method proves viable on a large scale, though, it could be used to treat illnesses where existing CRISPR techniques aren’t practical, ranging from Alzheimer’s to heart disease.

The Cryonics Industry Would Like to Give You the Past Year, and Many More, Back

When an 87-year-old Californian man was wheeled into an operating room just outside Phoenix last year, the pandemic was at its height and medical protocols were being upended across the country.

A case like his would normally have required 14 or more bags of fluids to be pumped into him, but now that posed a problem.

Had he been infected with the coronavirus, tiny aerosol droplets could have escaped and infected staff, so the operating team had adopted new procedures that reduced the effectiveness of the treatment but used fewer liquids.

CRISPR injected into the blood treats a genetic disease for first time

Now, in a medical first, researchers have injected a CRISPR drug into the blood of people born with a disease that causes fatal nerve and heart disease and shown that in three of them it nearly shut off production of toxic protein by their livers.

Novel treatment using messenger RNA sharply cuts production of mutant liver protein, although it’s too early to show patients with rare condition benefit.

‘It’s a wow!’: New CRISPR gene-editing success holds promise for treating many genetic diseases with a single dose

👏😄We are rapidly approaching — from multiple directions of attack (pharmaceutical, nanotechnology, gene manipulation, etc) — the end of all forms of cancer, inherited diseases, even aging itself. It’s a great time to be alive IF you can live long enough to live forever(ish)! Which makes EVERY death that occurs in the meantime to be all the more of a punch to the gut and slap to the face. PARTICULARLY the 600 000 + people here in the US alone! It’s also another reason t… See More.

If the gene-editing tool CRISPR/Cas9 continues to show such promise it will herald a new era for the treatment of many genetic diseases.

Are humans on the brink of achieving immortality?

In August last year, Unity released interim results showing that its drug was probably ineffective in treating study patients suffering from osteoarthritis.

Its stock price plummeted as a consequence, but Dr de Grey remains hopeful that “soon we might have drugs that actively cause these cells to die”.

While Dr de Grey is excited to see much of the life extension research he helped develop come to fruition, some thinkers are raising concerns about the implications of an extended human lifespan.

Are MXenes the future of nanotechnology?

Artificial kidneys, powerful batteries and efficient water purification are some of the future applications of a group of ultrathin materials known as MXenes. This opinion is expressed in an article in the journal Science, whose authors include one from Linköping University.

Materials that have a cross-section as thin as one or a few layers of atoms possess unusual properties due to their thickness. These properties may be , or an ability to withstand heat, giving a great potential for use in future technology. The most well-known material is graphene, and the hunt for other ultrathin materials, also known as two-dimensional materials, has increased in intensity since its discovery.

Graphene and many other two-dimensional materials are either semiconductors, semimetals or polarized insulators. The lack of an ultrathin metal conductor is an obstacle in the development of components based exclusively on two-dimensional materials.