Lifeboat Foundation

Scientists are dusting off their biochemistry textbooks in the hunt for clues to cancer.

BENGALURU: After working for five years, a team of three from department of Biosciences and Bioengineering (BSBE) at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay and IITB-Monash Research Academy has designed smart amyloid based hydrogels that are able to guide stem cell to differentiate to neuron and successfully transplanted these stem cells in the brain of Parkinson’s disease (PD) animal models with unique amyloid hydrogels.

Researchers at Stanford University have demonstrated that it’s possible to send text messages using nothing more than an Arduino and household chemicals.

An Obama advisory group warns that advances in gene engineering have outpaced our ability to contain them.

New biomarkers for aging is good news for researchers!

“Given the high volume of data being generated in the life sciences, there is a huge need for tools that make sense of that data. As such, this new method will have widespread applications in unraveling the molecular basis of age-related diseases and in revealing biomarkers that can be used in research and in clinical settings. In addition, tools that help reduce the complexity of biology and identify important players in disease processes are vital not only to better understand the underlying mechanisms of age-related disease but also to facilitate a personalized medicine approach. The future of medicine is in targeting diseases in a more specific and personalized fashion to improve clinical outcomes, and tools like iPANDA are essential for this emerging paradigm,” said João Pedro de Magalhães, PhD, a trustee of the Biogerontology Research Foundation.

The algorithm, iPANDA, applies deep learning algorithms to complex gene expression data sets and signal pathway activation data for the purposes of analysis and integration, and their proof of concept article demonstrates that the system is capable of significantly reducing noise and dimensionality of transcriptomic data sets and of identifying patient-specific pathway signatures associated with breast cancer patients that characterize their response to Toxicol-based neoadjuvant therapy.

Continue reading “BGRF scientists publish seminal paper and announce project to develop biomarkers of aging” »

SENS makes official comment on the excellent news about Mitochondrial repair from UCLA and Caltech.

So the big news is progress has been made on Mitochondrial repair. Our resident expert at the SENS Research Foundation, Dr. Matthew O’Connor of the MitoSENS project had this to say about the exciting news:

“New work from UCLA and Caltech has shown that a genetic pathway can be harnessed to selectively remove mutant mitochondria from the muscles of fruit flies. This work from Kandul et al is exciting because it raises the possibility of someday finding a way to control this genetic pathway in such a way to selectively delete mutant mitochondria. Further they did it in live flies in a tissue (muscle) where we are especially concerned about the impact of mitochondrial DNA mutations. Our ability to selectively control genetic pathways in non-genetically engineered animals (such as humans) is, however, extremely limited so it may be a long time before any clinical benefits can be realized from this research.” — Dr. Matthew O’Connor SRF

Continue reading “Turning back the aging clock” »

Terahertz (THz) radiation is used today most prominently for security screening at the airport. It’s the machine you stand in with your hands up as it swings its scanning arms in front and behind you. In medicine, terahertz imaging has the potential to help diagnoze certain types of cancer and to monitor a variety of health parameters to aid in assessment of overall health. Because of the extremely short length of terahertz waves, this imaging modality has a lot of limitations, including shallow penetration into tissues, and that prevents it from being used more widely. Yet, since it’s non-ionising, it’s probably safe and may even replace dangerous X-rays for some applications.

Currently, terahertz imaging is very poor at scanning curved surfaces even though it can peer a few millimeters deep into some tissues. To overcome this, researchers at Tokyo Institute of Technology have developed a flexible and even wearable terahertz scanner that can image curved 3D surfaces such as our skin.

Continue reading “Carbon Nanotube Array Opens Door for Terahertz Radiation in Medical Practice” »

In China, there are fewer regulations and ethical quandaries standing in the way of genetic progress.

BOSTON (CBS) – It’s expected to be the hot holiday gift of the season: virtual reality headsets. We know it’s a cool new experience but there’s still a lot we don’t know about the technology, especially when it comes to kids.

The headset completely immerses users in a new 3D virtual world. “I felt like I was actually there.” said one first-time user. “There’s no age limit to this,” said another virtual reality fan.

But there actually is an age limit. Many of the top selling brands warn against kids using the device. Oculus Rift and Samsung VR Gear say it’s not for kids under 13. Sony PlayStation is recommended for kids 12 and up. And the HTC Vive is less specific, just saying it’s not for young children.

Continue reading “Virtual Reality Headsets Concern Doctors” »