Critics of the militarization of marine life say the problem with a new DARPA program is moral, not practical.
Category: genetics – Page 492
Precision cancer treatment effective in treating tumors
Summary: Researchers who just finished a precision cancer treatment trial at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles just reported that three out of four adult and child cancer patients responded favorably to a new precision therapy which targets a gene mutation. [This article first appeared on LongevityFacts. Author: Brady Hartman. ]
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) reports that three-fourths of adults and children with a variety of advanced cancers in different sites of the body responded to a novel therapy called larotrectinib that targets a specific genetic mutation.
The researchers published the results of this phase 1/2 trial on February 22, 2018, in the New England Journal of Medicine.
All-star team of synthetic biologists raise $53 million for cancer therapy startup Senti
A who’s-who from the world of synthetic biological research have come together to launch Senti Biosciences with $53 million in funding from a slew of venture capital investors.
Led by Tim Lu, a longtime researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and one of the founding fathers of synthetic biology, Senti’s aim is nothing less than developing therapies that are tailored to an individual’s unique biology — and their first target is cancer.
Here’s how Lu described a potential cancer treatment using Senti’s technology to me. “We take a cell derived from humans that we can insert our genetic circuits into… we insert the DNA and encoding and deliver those cells via an IV infusion. We have engineered the cells to locate where the tumors are… What we’ve been doing is engineering those cells to selectively trigger an immune response against the tumor.”
New shark species found in Atlantic Ocean
The “Atlantic sixgill shark”, is different than its counterparts in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
: A team of scientists has identified a new shark species residing in the Atlantic Ocean.
Using genetic testing, the study confirmed that the new species, named the “Atlantic sixgill shark”, is different than its counterparts in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
Harvard’s David Sinclair Treats Aging as a Disease and Plans to Launch a Clinical Trial to Prove It
Harvard University’s David Sinclair, world renowned for his anti-aging research, sees no limit on human life span and is collaborating on a clinical trial to evaluate the effectiveness of a new drug aimed at slowing the aging process…
“There is no maximum human life span,” says Sinclair, Ph.D., who is a professor in the Department of Genetics and co-director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for the Biology of Aging at Harvard Medical School. “Anyone who says that doesn’t know what they are talking about.”
Sinclair hopes to demonstrate what he has been researching, – and talking about, for the past 20 years – that aging is a disease, which can be treated.
Tiny Light-Activated Gold-Covered Nanowires Can Make Neurons Fire
Researchers at the University of Chicago have developed light-activated nanowires that can stimulate neurons to fire when they are exposed to light. The researchers hope that the nanowires could help in understanding complex brain circuitry, and they may also be useful in treating brain disorders.
Optogenetics, which involves genetically modifying neurons so that they are sensitive to a light stimulus, has attracted a lot of attention as a research tool and potential therapeutic approach. However, some researchers have misgivings about optogenetics, as it involves inserting a gene into cells, potentially opening the door to unforeseen effects and possibly permanently altering treated cells.
In an effort to develop an alternative, a research team at the University of Chicago has devised a new modality that can enable light activation of neurons without the need for genetic modification. Their technique involves nanowires that are so small that if they were laid side-by-side, hundreds of them would fit on the edge of a sheet of paper. Although initially designed for use in solar cells, their small size also makes them well suited to interacting with cells.