Lifeboat Foundation

Professor Norikazu Ichihashi and his colleagues at the University of Tokyo have successfully induced gene expression from a DNA, characteristic of all life, and evolution through continuous replication extracellularly using cell-free materials alone, such as nucleic acids and proteins for the first time.

The ability to proliferate and evolve is one of the defining characteristics of living organisms. However, no artificial materials with these characteristics have been created. In order to develop an artificial molecular system that can multiply and evolve, the information (genes) coded in DNA must be translated into RNA, proteins must be expressed, and the cycle of DNA replication with those proteins must continue over a long period in the system. To date, it has been impossible to create a reaction system in which the genes necessary for DNA replication are expressed while those genes simultaneously carry out their function.

The group succeeded in translating the genes into proteins and replicating the original circular DNA with the translated proteins by using a circular DNA carrying two genes necessary for DNA replication (artificial genomic DNA) and a cell-free transcription-translation system. Furthermore, they also successfully improved the DNA to evolve to a DNA with a 10-fold increase in replication efficiency by continuing this DNA replication cycle for about 60 days.

Continue reading “Novel artificial genomic DNA can replicate and evolve outside the cell” »

The pandemic brought about a change in the way people look at technology. 2021 proves to be the development of a new era of technology where AI is at the core.

According to McKinsey’s Global Survey on artificial intelligence (AI) 2020, organizations are using AI as a tool for generating value in the form of revenues. Some executives have even observed that implementing AI has brought about a change of 20% in the organizations’ earnings. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the concept of ‘all things digital’, and these companies plan to invest more in AI.

Name: Travis Chen and Brian Femminella

Age: 22 and 21

Location: Seattle, Washington; Los Angeles, California.

Continue reading “Meet the Gen Z founders who created a music app to help combat pandemic-induced anxiety and depression” »

Informed consent not something we hear a lot about these days, which is kind of odd, given all the drugs our government currently insists that we take and how often those very same legal concepts are invoked for aboriginal rights and sexual assault cases.

“Informed consent” is a well understood legal doctrine in healthcare, requiring the healthcare provider (traditionally a doctor) to educate patients about the risks, benefits, and alternatives of any given recommended procedure or intervention, allowing the patient to make informed and “voluntary” decisions about whether to undergo the procedure.

Continue reading “Why is No One Talking About ‘Informed Consent?’” »

Some Drosophila species have cryptic sex-ratio drive systems. Here, the authors show rapid expansion of a driver gene family, Distorter on the X, in three closely related Drosophila species on the X chromosome and suppressors on the autosomes.

No, it’s not from a science fiction movie or from an episode of a popular kid’s television show. It’s real life. Researchers, in a proof-of-concept study, have made fish-shaped microrobots that are guided with magnets to cancer cells, where a pH change triggers them to open their mouths and release their chemotherapy cargo.

Scientists have previously made microscale (smaller than 100 µm) robots that can manipulate tiny objects, but most can’t change their shapes to perform complex tasks, such as releasing drugs. Some groups have made 4D-printed objects (3D-printed devices that change shape in response to certain stimuli), but they typically perform only simple actions, and their motion can’t be controlled remotely.

In a step toward biomedical applications for these devices, Jiawen Li, Li Zhang, Dong Wu and colleagues wanted to develop shape-morphing microrobots that could be guided by magnets to specific sites to deliver treatments. Because tumors exist in acidic microenvironments, the team decided to make the microrobots change shape in response to lowered pH.

The vaccine candidate was originally developed by the Israel Institute for Biological Research (IIBR), which operates under the auspices of the Prime Minister’s Office and works closely with the Defense Ministry.

The institute’s strategic and technical capabilities are shrouded in secrecy, but this week, The Jerusalem Post gained access to new data that show BriLife could be more effective against mutations and confer lasting immunity.

The Israeli vaccine could potentially address COVID better than other technologies, according to the CEO of NeuroRx.

Continue reading “Can Israel’s vaccine end the COVID-19 pandemic?” »

Oramed Pharmaceuticals, the developer of the Oravax oral COVID-19 vaccine candidate, has announced a partnership with Mexico’s Genomma Lab Internacional to help fast-track a Phase II clinical trial and gain emergency use authorization in the Latin American country.

Only about 58% of Mexico’s population has been jabbed with one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, averaging around 4,500 new cases per day.

The Biden administration is expected to announce this week it is purchasing 10 million courses of treatment Pfizer’s covid pill, a multibillion dollar investment in a medication that officials hope will help change the trajectory of the pandemic by staving off many hospitalizations and deaths, according to two people with knowledge of the transaction.

-call me Nostradamus, but I called this.

Officials see Pfizer’s pill, and another by Merck, as potential gamechangers to tame the pandemic.

Continue reading “Biden administration to buy Pfizer antiviral pills for 10 million people, hoping to transform pandemic” »