Lifeboat Foundation

A brand new type of HIV vaccine will move onto phase II clinical trials in 2017, after phase I trials showed that it was safe to use in humans.

The potential new vaccine will be tested on 600 people in North America, to see how well it can prevent them from getting the virus.

Before we get too excited, the phase I trials were only set up to show that the vaccine was tolerated well by the human body — they didn’t demonstrate if it actually works as a preventative treatment.

Continue reading “A First-of-Its-Kind HIV Vaccine Will Move to Phase II Trials in 2017” »

Scientists hoping to get a glimpse of molecules that control brain activity have devised a new probe that allows them to image these molecules without using any chemical or radioactive labels.

Currently the gold standard approach to imaging molecules in the brain is to tag them with radioactive probes. However, these probes offer low resolution and they can’t easily be used to watch dynamic events, says Alan Jasanoff, an MIT professor of biological engineering.

Jasanoff and his colleagues have developed new sensors consisting of proteins designed to detect a particular target, which causes them to dilate blood vessels in the immediate area. This produces a change in blood flow that can be imaged with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or other imaging techniques.

Continue reading “A radiation-free approach to imaging molecules in the brain” »

Great.

Research published in Acta Neuropathologica, identified alterations in a protein known as ATRX in human brain tumours; researchers might also be able to target microRNAs directly, altering their levels to make cancer cells less likely to form tumours.

A recent study suggests that two recently discovered genetic differences between brain cancer cells and normal tissue cells could offer clues to tumour behaviour and potential new targets for therapy.

Continue reading “Research sets new target for brain cancer therapy” »

A huge discovery has just been made about Parkinson’s disease that scientists may have been looking for answers in the wrong place all along. Scientists have found that there is a strong correlation between symptoms of Parkinson’s and bacteria in the gut, not the brain, based on examinations of mice.

Parkinson’s disease is the second most common debilitating brain disorder in the world after Alzheimer’s. It is a neurodegenerative disease that involves a type of protein that builds up around brain cells and then causes the patient to lose motor function. Naturally, scientists had been looking at the brain for answers in dealing with it, but a new study finds that perhaps the answer was in the gut bacteria all along, according to an Axial Biotherapeutics statement.

The finding could lead to a new generation of probiotics that are far more sophisticated than typical brands currently available to the public.

Continue reading “Massive Parkinson’s discovery could change everything” »

I know this is 2 days old; however, glad I came across it. As Gene Circuitry & Living systems in general are truly advancing more quickly in the recent year than I have seen over the past decade.

The real question is with AI, 3D/ 4D synbio printing, Gene/ Cell Circuitry; which areas of medicine will continue to existing in the next 15 years?

A Brock University research team has created a tool that can potentially be used in a future computer that will be made out of DNA.

Continue reading “Computers with DNA? Brock team working to help make it happen” »

DARPA scientists think they can use insects to deliver genetic changes to crops.

Researchers have connected gut bacteria to the brain changes in Parkinson’s.

That’s the bad news.

The good news is that mental health professionals have smarter tools than ever before, with artificial intelligence-related technology coming to the forefront to help diagnose patients, often with much greater accuracy than humans.

A new study published in the journal Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, for example, showed that machine learning is up to 93 percent accurate in identifying a suicidal person. The research, led by John Pestian, a professor at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, involved 379 teenage patients from three area hospitals.

Continue reading “New AI Mental Health Tools Beat Human Doctors at Assessing Patients” »

An Australian hospital is building a facility dedicated to 3D-Printing organs.