Menu

Blog

Archive for the ‘biotech/medical’ category: Page 2664

Dec 8, 2015

Flexible Electronics Used to Make Smart, Temperature Responsive Drug Eluting Patch

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, electronics, health, materials

At MIT, researchers have developed a stretchable bandage-like device capable of sensing skin temperature, delivering drugs transdermally, and containing electronics that include LED lights for displaying information. The various components of the system are designed to work together, for example the drug dispenser activating only when skin temperature is within a certain range and the LEDs lighting up when the drug reservoirs are running low. While this is only a prototype device, it certainly points toward future flexible devices that stay attached to a person’s skin, or even internally, for extended periods of time while providing health data and taking therapeutic actions in an intelligent way.

The device is based on a stretchable hydrogel matrix that reliably holds onto embedded metallic components linked by pliable wires. The hydrogel was made to have a stiffness similar to human soft tissues so that it blends well with the body when attached to it. When wires, drug reservoirs, delivery channels, and electronic components were built-in, the team tested the stretchiness of the final result showing that it maintains functionality even after repeated stress.

Continue reading “Flexible Electronics Used to Make Smart, Temperature Responsive Drug Eluting Patch” »

Dec 8, 2015

Verily, I swear. That’s Google Life Sciences‘ new name

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, health

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Google Life Sciences, the Silicon Valley giant’s new foray into health and medicine, announced a new name Monday that slips easily off the tongue but might sound antiquated to a high-tech, life-sciences ear: Verily.

“Verily, I swear,” as Shakespeare wrote in Henry VIII.

The word means “truly” or “certainly.” It dates back to 13th century Middle English and fell out of common use … well, a while ago. It often pops up, however, in the still very popular King James Bible.

Read more

Dec 8, 2015

Telomerase Therapy to Reverse Cardiovascular Senescence

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension

Exciting news as another group proposes to explore telomerase therapy for the Cardio Vascular system. This no doubt follows on from DePhino et al work on the P53-telomerase-PCG-1 aging axis work which showed the effects of short telomeres on vascular aging (and other organs) and its direct link to Mitochondrial function and Stem cell Decline via the P53-telomerase-PCG-1 aging axis.

Read more

Dec 7, 2015

Gene Editing Progress: Newly Engineered System Slashes Error Rate

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

After recent good news regarding the accuracy of famed CRISPR-Cas9, a new form has been engineered that’s even more accurate than the original.

A string of positive developments

If you’ve been reading the news lately, you may know recent analysis of the gene editing system CRISPR-Cas9 has had a string of positive updates. We found out it’s surprisingly more accurate than we first believed, which bodes well as scientists across the world start thinking about the move into human models.

Read more

Dec 6, 2015

Google files patent for ‘needle-free’ blood-drawing system

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

WATCH: Google has recently filed a patent for a blood drawing system that is completely needle-free. It could be used to test blood glucose levels for diabetics. Jenny Sung explains.

Read more

Dec 6, 2015

Longer Life in a Pill May Already Be Available at Your Local Drug Store

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension

To most of the scientific community, “anti-aging” is a dirty word.

A medical field historically associated with charlatans and quacks, scientists have strictly restricted the quest for a “longevity pill” to basic research. The paradigm is simple and one-toned: working on model organisms by manipulating different genes and proteins, scientists slowly tease out the molecular mechanisms that lead to — and reverse — signs of aging, with no guarantee that they’ll work in humans.

longer-life-in-a-pill-41But it’s been a fruitful search: multiple drug candidates, many already on the market for immune or psychiatric disorders, have consistently delayed age-associated diseases and stretched the lifespan of fruit flies, roundworms and mice. Yet human trials have been far beyond reach — without the FDA acknowledging “aging” as a legitimate target for drug development, researchers have had no way of pitching clinical trials to the regulatory agency.

Read more

Dec 4, 2015

3D Printers Can Now Churn Out “Living” Blood Vessels

Posted by in categories: 3D printing, biotech/medical, materials

In a breakthrough that could lead to printable organs and an enhanced understanding of human physiology, researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Labs have 3D-printed functional blood vessels that look and function like the real thing.

3D bioprinters are similar to conventional 3D printers, but instead of using inert materials, they use “bio-ink:” basic structural building blocks that are compatible with the human body.

Read more

Dec 4, 2015

‘Gene repair’ could be tested on people in 2017

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Human trials of Crispr editing are being proposed by Massachusetts-based start-up Editas Medicine to treat a rare form of blindness knwon as Leber congenital amaurosis.

Read more

Dec 4, 2015

Geneticists Are Concerned Transhumanists Will Use CRISPR on Themselves

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

A informative article by Vice Motherboard:


The biggest debate at the International Summit on Human Genome Editing is where to draw the line between “medical treatment” and “body enhancement.”

Read more

Dec 4, 2015

Human gene editing gets green light

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Gene editing research can move forward, but not for reproductive purposes, international summit committee says.

Read more