Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: bioengineering

How a key receptor tells apart two nearly identical drug molecules

G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are one of the largest families of cell surface proteins in the human body that recognize hormones, neurotransmitters, and drugs. These receptors regulate a wide range of physiological processes and are the targets of more than 30% of currently marketed drugs. The histamine H1 receptor (H1R) is one such GPCR subtype that plays a key role in mediating allergic reactions, inflammation, vascular permeability, airway constriction, wakefulness, and cognitive functions in the human body. While antihistamines primarily target H1R, current drugs can exhibit limited therapeutic efficacy, prompting researchers to look at H1R ligands from new perspectives.

Recently, the importance of drug design based not only on the affinity or binding energy between a compound and its target protein, but also on its components, enthalpy, and entropy, has been recognized as crucial for rational drug design. In particular, enthalpy–entropy compensation has emerged as a key concept for understanding ligand selectivity and isomer specificity. However, direct experimental measurement of these thermodynamic parameters has been limited to cell surface proteins, such as GPCRs.

Addressing this gap, a research team led by Professor Mitsunori Shiroishi from the Department of Life System Engineering, Tokyo University of Science (TUS), Japan, systematically investigated the binding thermodynamics of the H1R. The team included Mr. Hiroto Kaneko (first-year doctoral student) and Associate Professor Tadashi Ando from TUS, among others. Their study was published online in ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters on January 26, 2026.

Creating CAR-T Cells Using Current Alzheimer’s Antibodies

A team of researchers has biologically engineered T cells with currently available Alzheimer’s drugs in order to directly attack the characteristic amyloid plaques of Alzheimer’s disease.

Building on the current paradigm

Most Alzheimer’s treatments used in the clinic are-mabs, monoclonal antibodies that are designed to attack the amyloid beta plaques that accumulate in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s. However, while they have been found to have enough meaningful benefits in clinical trials to be approved by the FDA, they are not a cure, and some analyses question their effectiveness [1].

Light-based sensor detects early molecular signs of cancer in the blood

Researchers have developed a highly sensitive light-based sensor that can detect extremely low concentrations of cancer biomarkers in the blood. The new technology could one day make it possible to spot early signs of cancer and other conditions using a simple blood test.

Biomarkers such as proteins, DNA or other molecules can be used to reveal the presence, progression or risk of cancer and other diseases. However, one of the main challenges in early disease diagnosis is the extremely low concentration of biomarkers present at the onset.

“Our sensor combines nanostructures made of DNA with quantum dots and CRISPR gene editing technology to detect faint biomarker signals using a light-based approach known as second harmonic generation (SHG),” said research team leader Han Zhang from Shenzhen University in China.

Using synthetic biology and AI to address global antimicrobial resistance threat

James J. Collins, the Termeer Professor of Medical Engineering and Science at MIT and faculty co-lead of the Abdul Latif Jameel Clinic for Machine Learning in Health, is embarking on a multidisciplinary research project that applies synthetic biology and generative artificial intelligence to the growing global threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

The research project is sponsored by Jameel Research, part of the Abdul Latif Jameel International network. The initial three-year, $3 million research project in MIT’s Department of Biological Engineering and Institute of Medical Engineering and Science focuses on developing and validating programmable antibacterials against key pathogens.

AMR — driven by the overuse and misuse of antibiotics — has accelerated the rise of drug-resistant infections, while the development of new antibacterial tools has slowed. The impact is felt worldwide, especially in low-and middle-income countries, where limited diagnostic infrastructure causes delays or ineffective treatment.

Rocket science? 3D printing soft matter in zero gravity

What happens to soft matter when gravity disappears? To answer this, UvA physicists launched a fluid dynamics experiment on a sounding rocket. The suborbital rocket reached an altitude of 267 km before falling back to Earth, providing six minutes of weightlessness.

In these six minutes, the researchers 3D-printed large droplets of a soft material similar to the inks used for bioprinting —a developing technology that shows huge potential for regenerative and personalized medicine, tissue engineering and cosmetics. Bioprinting involves 3D-printing a mix of cells and bio-inks or bio-materials in a desired shape, often to construct living tissues.

The experiment was called COLORS (COmplex fluids in LOw gravity: directly observing Residual Stresses). Using a special optical set-up, the researchers could see where the printed material experienced internal stresses (forces) as the droplets spread and merged. Stressed regions stand out as bright colors in the experiment. Investigating how and where these stresses emerge is important because they can get frozen in a material as it solidifies, creating weak points where 3D-printed objects are most likely to break.

Why the Future of Intelligence Is Already Here | Alex Wissner-Gross | TEDxBoston

The future of intelligence is rapidly evolving with AI advancements, poised to transform numerous aspects of life, work, and existence, with exponential growth and sweeping changes expected in the near future.

## Questions to inspire discussion.

Strategic Investment & Career Focus.

🎯 Q: Which companies should I prioritize for investment or career opportunities in the AI era?

A: Focus on companies with the strongest AI models and those advancing energy abundance, as these will have the largest marginal impact on enabling the innermost loop of robots building fabs, chips, and AI data centers to accelerate exponentially.

Understanding Market Dynamics.

Continue reading “Why the Future of Intelligence Is Already Here | Alex Wissner-Gross | TEDxBoston” | >

Future Humans: The Coming Diversity of Engineered Bodies and Synthetic Minds

For the first time in Earth’s history, one species can rewrite its own genome, rebuild its own brain, and design entirely new forms of intelligence. That combination makes Homo sapiens look less like evolution’s end point and more like a transitional form: an ancestral species whose descendants may be biological, mechanical, or something in between. The way future humans remember us may depend on how seriously our generation takes its role as the first conscious ancestor.

Imagine a descendant civilization, thousands or millions of years from now, trying to reconstruct its origins. Its members might not have bones or blood. They might be born in free-fall habitats orbiting other stars, or instantiated as software in computational substrates that current engineers can barely imagine. Their analysts would comb through archives from a small blue planet called Earth and conclude that the strange, warlike primates who built the first rockets and the first neural networks were not the culmination of evolution, but an ancestral phase.

That premise — the idea that present-day humans are an ancestral species for future humans and other intelligent beings — is beginning to migrate from science fiction into serious scientific and philosophical discussion. Advances in gene editing, synthetic biology, space medicine, brain–computer interfaces and artificial intelligence all point toward a future in which “intelligent beings” no longer form a single species, or even share a single kind of body. The more that picture comes into focus, the more it forces a rethinking of what “being human” means.

Why the next 25 years could surpass anything in modern memory | Peter Leyden: Full Interview

Become a Big Think member to unlock expert classes, premium print issues, exclusive events and more: https://bigthink.com/membership/?utm_…

“Old systems of the past are collapsing, and new systems of the future are still to be born. I call this moment the great progression.”

Up next, We are living through a slowdown in human progress | Jason Crawford ► • We are living through a slowdown in human…

We are at a tipping point. In the next 25 years, technologies like AI, clean energy, and bioengineering are poised to reshape society on a scale few can imagine.

Peter Leyden draws on decades of observing technological revolutions and historical patterns to show how old systems collapse, new ones rise, and humanity faces both extraordinary risk and unprecedented opportunity.

0:00 We’re on the cusp of an era of progress.

Continue reading “Why the next 25 years could surpass anything in modern memory | Peter Leyden: Full Interview” | >

Brave New Biology: Intelligence Trumps DNA — with Dr. Michael Levin and Dr. John Vervaeke

Dr. Michael Levin is a professor in the Department of Biology at Tufts University and an associate faculty member at the Wyss Institute at Harvard. He directs the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts, where his team integrates biophysics, computational modeling, and behavioral science to study how cellular collectives make decisions during embryogenesis, regeneration, and cancer.

Levin’s research centers on diverse forms of intelligence and unconventional embodied minds, bridging conceptual theory, experimental biology, and translational work aimed at regenerative medicine. His lab also pioneers efforts in artificial intelligence and the bioengineering of novel living machines.

Read more about Dr. Michael Levin’s work: https://drmichaellevin.org/
X: https://twitter.com/drmichaellevin.
YouTube: ‪@drmichaellevin‬

John Vervaeke’s YouTube channel: ‪@johnvervaeke‬

📖 Let’s take our stories back. Check out our latest book in the Tales for Now and Ever series, Rapunzel and the Evil Witch: https://rapunzelbook.com/

Join Fr. Stephen De Young in his Jubilees and the Nephilim course, now streaming live on The Symbolic World: https://www.thesymbolicworld.com/cour… 00:00 — Coming up 01:14 — Intro music 01:40 — Introduction 02:23 — What Michael does 06:19 — Example experiments 07:51 — Memories outside the brain 12:46 — Terminology: memory 13:59 — Communicate to biological cells 15:54 — Limitations? 17:39 — Platonic patterns 34:06 — Incarnation and constraints 39:26 — Causes 49:28 — New beings in new spaces 52:25 — What the Enlightenment dismissed 55:32 — Molecular medicine 57:36 — Subtle bodies 01:00:45 — Ethics 01:03:37 — Medical and meaning applications 01:11:42 — Frightening 01:14:31 — Against the status quo 01:19:03 — Should we dabble in this technology? 💻 Website and blog: http://www.thesymbolicworld.com 🔗 Linktree: https://linktr.ee/jonathanpageau 🔒 BECOME A PATRON: https://thesymbolicworld.com/subscribe Our website designers: https://www.resonancehq.io/ My intro was arranged and recorded by Matthew Wilkinson: https://matthewwilkinson.net/

Continue reading “Brave New Biology: Intelligence Trumps DNA — with Dr. Michael Levin and Dr. John Vervaeke” | >
/* */