Lifeboat Foundation

Gene-based circuits are about to get decidedly more sophisticated. MIT scientists have developed a method for integrating both analog and digital computing into those circuits, turning living cells into complex computers. The centerpiece is a threshold sensor whose gene expression flips DNA, converting analog chemical data into binary output — basically, complex data can trigger simple responses that match the language of regular computers.

The practical applications are huge. Along with general-purpose computing, you could have advanced sensors that trigger different kinds of chemical production depending on levels for other chemicals. You could produce insulin when there’s too much glucose, for instance, or deliver different kinds of cancer therapy. And this isn’t just talk. Clinical trials for a simple gene circuit (which will treat gut diseases) are starting within a year, so you could see these organic machines in action before too long.

Injecting specially prepared human adult stem cells directly into the brains of chronic stroke patients proved safe and effective in restoring motor (muscle) function in a small clinical trial led by Stanford University School of Medicine investigators.

The 18 patients had suffered their first and only stroke between six months and three years before receiving the injections, which involved drilling a small hole through their skulls.

For most patients, at least a full year had passed since their stroke — well past the time when further recovery might be hoped for. In each case, the stroke had taken place beneath the brain’s outermost layer, or cortex, and had severely affected motor function. “Some patients couldn’t walk,” Steinberg said. “Others couldn’t move their arm.”

Continue reading “Chronic stroke patients safely recover after injection of human stem cells” »

What will scientists do with $100 million to mass-produce genes in the lab?

You’ve probably heard of CRISPR — the gene editing tool that essentially lets scientists cut and paste DNA, removing things like HIV and muscular dystrophy from our cells — and now scientists have discovered a way to edit RNA with just as much precision.

RNA is DNA’s close biological cousin, responsible for translating messages from the nucleus to the rest of the cell, and being able to change it could open up all-new disease-fighting possibilities.

Just like CRISPR/Cas9 editing, the new procedure selectively cuts up RNA, which gives us microscopic control over genetic information, and the researchers behind it say it could open up the method could be used to block viruses and halt disease in its tracks.

Continue reading “We can now ‘cut and paste’ RNA in addition to DNA, and it could disable viruses” »

Hmmmm;

Today a group of 25 scientists officially announced their plan to build a human genome from scratch within the next 10 years. The proposal — called the Human Genome Project-Write — would be, as BuzzFeed News put it, to lay “DNA letters like bricks”.

The group also includes experts from Harvard Medical School, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the USA government’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Yale University, the University of Edinburgh, Columbia University, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Washington, Autodesk Bio/Nano Research Group, Bioeconomy Capital and other institutions, and is led by geneticist Jef Boeke of the New York University Langone Medical Center.

Continue reading “Scientists to launch 10-year project for creating human genomes” »

Yes, it’s true that a group of leading geneticists is calling for the construction of a synthetic human genome. That means they want to take 3 billion chemical building blocks and assemble them into one complete package of DNA, encoding all the body parts and life processes that make up a functional human being.”

“But the organizers want to make one thing very clear: ‘We’re not planning to make synthetic people,’ says a somewhat exasperated Jef Boeke, one of the champions of this proposal. ‘We never were.’

The Human Genome Project-Write could bring down the cost of DNA manufacturing.

Continue reading “The Next Genetics Moonshot: Building a Human Genome from Scratch” »

Scientists may have discovered the Fountain of Youth in this anti-aging supplement.

Australian scientists are developing a biocompatible implant that will allow paralyzed patients to control machines with just their thoughts.

Forget Siri and Cortana. Soon, you may be able to give commands to machines just by “thinking” them.

A team of researchers and engineers at Melbourne University are developing a stentrode, a tiny implant to be placed into a blood vessel next to the brain, which can record electric activity from a specific part of the brain. The information will then be decoded and interpreted into thoughts.

Continue reading “New Brain Implant Lets You Control Machines Using Your Thoughts” »

Singapore, Singapore, June 03, 2016 –(PR.com)– Qatari scientists have recently discovered that an unmutated specific gene marker tends to indicate better prognosis for patients of metastatic colorectal cancer undergoing certain regiment of targeted therapies.

In a first published report of its kind on the subject, the study found that metastatic colorectal cancer patients with wild-type Kirsten Ras (KRAS) gene will likely have better survival rate upon receiving anti-epithelial growth factor receptors (EGFR) targeted therapy.

Meanwhile, the mutated-type KRAS metastatic colorectal cancer patients receiving anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) therapy tend to have poorer survival outcomes, according to authors Kakil Ibrahim Rasul, Hind Elmalik, Mini Satheesh and Prem Chandra from National Center for Cancer Care and Research (NCCCR) in Doha, Qatar.