Posts tagged research
3D Printer Makes World’s Smallest Human ‘Livers.’
3D printing technology just keeps getting better and better. This time, scientists at Organovo in San Diego were able to create a 3D printer that prints using liver cells. Layering these cells into a histologically correct lattice, the team plans to model disease processes and medication effects more accurately.
The plan is to eventually be able to print fully functional human livers that are viable for transplantation.
DNA Testing Chip for SNP Identification for Personalized Drug Therapy.
When I was in pharmaceutical sciences, one of the biggest buzzwords was pharmacogenomics. The fast-growing knowledge base of genetic determination and predispositions, coupled with the advent of more efficiency, more affordable genetic testing methods was driving a new market and treatment area: personalized medicine.
The two areas of research and interest were in genetic predispositions to disease and the genetic variability to pharmacological response. Some people are fast metabolizers and others slow; some have the mutation to make a drug effective while others do not.
This DNA chip was designed for rapid sequencing for specific single nucleotide polymorphisms or SNPs, variations in a single DNA base among individuals to find these mutations to best tailor pharmacotherapy.
First “Warmed Liver” Transplant Takes Place in London via OrganOx.
The concept is simple: preserve the function of transplant organs after they are removed from a donor’s body.
The solution: keep the organs functioning as close to physiological conditions as possible.
The challenge: making the solution a reality.
The dynamic duo who made this happen, an engineer and surgeon spent 15 years creating the technologies necessary to get this to work and it would appear that the very first “warm” organ transplant is recovering well. The future outlook of this concept is encouraging.
This is another victory for innovation, science, and medicine.
A High-Resolution Endoscope as Thin as a Human Hair
Engineers at Stanford have developed a prototype single-fiber endoscope that improves the resolution of these much-sought-after instruments fourfold over existing designs. The advance could lead to an era of needle-thin, minimally invasive endoscopes able to view features out of reach of today’s instruments.
Alya Red: A Computational Heart.
I had heard about this simulation before but this is the first time I have seen the computational model in action and it is beautiful. Put together by a team of engineers, doctors, and biotechnologists at the Barcelona Supercomputing Centre, this finely detailed model of the heart uses data from the diffusion tensor imaging via MRI scans, histology and other tools to show the amazingly complex contractions of the heart. The aim is to give doctors and scientists a way to study the heart’s electrical and mechanical function in order to find better ways of treating cardiac conditions.
Bringing Light created by Bert Klasey, Chris Baron & James Allen Smith for Focus Forward Films.
We often draw our inspirations from nature. It allows us to see things differently, to try new approaches, to think outside the box. In this case, researchers are looking to make brain tumours more visible for surgery through the use of fluorescence-labeled scorpion toxin. Read more here.
A Girl Dying from Leukaemia Saved Using Altered T-Cells
Now this is very impressive.
Last summer, Emma, then six was near death from chemo-resistant leukaemia but is now in remission thanks to an experimental cancer treatment method developed by the University of Pennsylvania.
Doctors remove millions of Emma’s T-cells, and inserted new genes that enabled them to combat cancer cells. The kicker is that it involved using disabled HIV virions to deliver the genetic material. HIV particles are excellent genetic vectors and already have specificity towards T-cells. The new genes program the T-cells to attack B-cells.
The treatment very nearly killed her but she has emerged cancer free and still in complete remission.
This is very exciting stuff but make no mistake this is no end-all-be-all. Emma might have done extremely well with her treatment but the experiment has had its share of mixed results. Despite this, the researchers involved and the experts of the field think this approach has tremendous promise.
Cyborg Tissue Monitors Cells
Researchers at Harvard University have constructed a material that merges nanoscale electronics with biological tissues—a literal mesh of transistors and cells. The meshwork, acting as a scaffolding to facilitate improved cell growth, also acts as a monitoring system. Possible applications include monitoring localized pH and pharmacotherapy efficacy.
First it was “smart” sutures and now this. Where will nanotechnology take us next?
Johns Hopkins Researchers Converted Adult Red Blood Cells Back into Human-Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells
Stem cells are paving the way for amazing medical therapies and hold the key to curing some incurable diseases and prolonging human life. Researchers have now found a way to safely and efficiently convert adult red blood cells into clinically useful, human-induced pluripotent stem cells, a stage when a person is just a six-day-old embryo.
Using a plasmid, a loop of self-replicating DNA payload, the researchers were able to deliver four genes, programmed to revert cells back to their primitive state. Read more at the link above, or in the source link below.
Once more, science never ceases to amaze.
Smart Sutures that Detect Infection
Plastic or silk threads covered with temperature sensors and micro-heaters could keep tabs on infections and provide therapy.
What is this new devilry? These sutures are not just a thread of nylon but also contain two temperature sensors to look for signs of infection and a micro-heater to aid in the healing process. The real time monitoring of suture healing is very interesting but something tells me these would be expensive sutures.
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