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Gaming the Future: The Book!

Category: Future Medicine

Fullerenes versus AIDS

from the go-fullerenes dept.
From PR Newswire on Yahoo comes this news from Toronto: "William Multi-Tech Inc., (“Multi-Tech'') (TSE:WIM – news) announced today that C Sixty Inc. (“C Sixty'') a privately held biotechnology company, in which Multi-Tech has a 40% ownership interest, has begun upscale manufacturing of its lead fullerene based drug candidate for treatment of patients with AIDS and AIDS related disease. As a novel anti-HIV drug, C Sixty's product has to date demonstrated potent activity against multiple strains of the HIV virus including drug resistant and de-novo resistant strains of the virus…The potential for widespread applications of C Sixty's technology in medicine, positions the company as a leader in the emerging field of Nanotechnology and its related Biotechnology market. "

Supercharged liver cells for artificial liver

from the now-we-can-abuse-our-livers-with-confidence dept.
University Science News reports: "The first successful demonstration that liver cells can function at an elevated level outside the human body has been achieved…Her [UCSD Prof. Sangeeta Bhatia's] work could lead to the creation of an external artificial liver device able to effectively hold patients over until transplantation. Of the individuals dying from liver disease each year, most are on a waiting list for a new liver. A full-functioning device would also assist patients requiring another transplant due to a second liver failure, keeping them alive in between livers. Finally, according to Bhatia, 'The third application of this technology, which is the real Holy Grail, is to utilize a functional extracorporeal artificial liver to keep patients alive long enough for their liver to recover, thus avoiding an expensive and risky transplant. The liver is one of the only organs in the body that can actually regenerate itself.' " For more on this work, see the researcher's website.

First bionic hand a success

from the early-cyborg dept.
Waldemar Perez writes "The first truly bionic hand was tested at Nottingham Hospital, UK. The development of the hand, that took more than 20 years, created the first 'self-contained' bionic hand. The unit is operated by nerve signals to the brain. The user sends a signal to the muscle where electrodes and sensors pick up the signal to execute the desired motion. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_1035000/1035304.stm"

Using tiny biomotors to deliver drugs

from the you-heard-it-first-at-the-Foresight-conference dept.
Bryan Hall writes "An article in BBC news reports that nanotechnology researchers have created computer simulations of the mini subs and some believe prototypes are less than a year away. The article elaborates: 'As the bacteria swam through the bloodstream they could push or pull a tiny disc, sealed within a liquid-filled cylinder. These discs could be drugs to treat tumours or break down the material lining blocked arteries. Speaking at the Foresight conference on nanotechnology in Maryland, [Eldrid Sequeira of Utah State] said: "Depending on the design we implement and with recent advances in nanoscale fabrication techniques, we could conceivably have micro-organisms power nanomachinery for extended periods of time." Eventually, the Utah team believe they could build biomotors using only the flagella from the bacteria which would mean the biomotors would be even smaller – around 100 nanometres (billionths of a metre).'
The article itself has a graphic of their computer simulation."
CP: Thanks also to coljac, whose submission pointed out that according to the article, prototypes may be only one year away.

Media Lab "Dreaming About Nano Health Care"

from the health-care-as-media dept.
coljac writes "Wired have posted this article about the Health Special Interest Group gathering held by MIT's Media Lab. The article showcases some recent advances, describes the 'wish lists' of the participants, and focusses on the move to home-based health care." An excerpt: "Perhaps the most far-reaching developments on display were found in the interface between wireless communications, biological sensors and nanotechnology [emphasis added]. The Lab's new recruit, Scott Manalis, now leads the nanoscale sensing vanguard — moving toward remote microscopic laboratories that conduct body chemistry and genetic tests from anywhere, including inside a person's body."

Nanomedicine story in Red Herring

from the curing-Martian-cancer dept.
Quite a long story on nanomedicine appears in the "business of technology" magazine Red Herring. The main focus is the collaboration between NASA, the National Cancer Institute, and Caltech: "Nanotechnology–the art and science of the vanishingly small device–used to be easy to dismiss as so much blue sky. It's not so easy anymore, now that three of the nation's biggest scientists have thrown their weight behind a project to create molecule-size medical technologies by 2020, in time for the first manned mission to Mars." CP: Hey, any excuse is fine with us, even Mars. [Errata: Pierluigi Zappacosta wishes to point out that it was Jim Bennett, not himself, who co-founded Foresight Institute, as claimed in their timeline.]

Neuromechanical protheses & lifespan increase via nanotech

from the medical-researchers-getting-excited dept.
From a press release on Yahoo News: William A. Haseltine, Ph.D., chairman and CEO of Human Genome Sciences, Inc., will outline the development of a major new branch of medicine in his keynote speech to The First Annual Conference on Regenerative Medicine on December 4… The fourth phase of regenerative medicine arises from an incipient revolution in materials science. “Living things are engineered to subatomic physical tolerances, and atomic-scale engineering, sometimes called nanotechnology, will soon provide that capability for many artificial materials,'' states Dr. Haseltine. “We should then be able to engineer new components for cells, organs, and tissues that will integrate seamlessly with our natural ones. Neuromechanical prostheses that respond smoothly and precisely to neural impulses are just one likely result. Extrapolations of observable developments imply that if all goes reasonably well, the human life span can be significantly increased.''

UC Berkeley & LBNL attempt to reverse aging

from the hurry-up-some-of-us-are-wrinkling dept.
Not until recently has it been acceptable in the medical research community to attempt to defeat the aging process, per se. (Instead one was supposed to view it as natural, and learn to live with it as healthily as possible.) Now, UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab have teamed up on the Center for Research and Education in Aging, with an endowment from BioTime: "Among the challenges that greet the dawn of this millennium is how can we maintain good health and postpone or reverse old age [emphasis added] along with its debilitating diseases…Research into the process responsible for aging remains seriously neglected…At CREA, innovative research, which too often goes unsupported, will be of prime interest." Donations are being accepted; tell 'em Foresight sent you.

Leaders in medicine look toward nanotech

from the now-here's-some-vision dept.
In a Perspective on "The Next Pharmaceutical Century", Chemical & Engineering News (subscription req'd) gives great quotes on nanotechnology-based medicine from two leaders: William Hazeltine, chairman and CEO of Human Genome Sciences, and Richard Klausner, director of the National Cancer Institute. Hazeltine: "The fusion of atomic-scale engineering technology with our bodies will enormously enhance human performance." Klausner: "Ultimately, what I think is a fantastic challenge is to link molecular sensing technologies with nanotechnology…" Read More for the full quotes.

Big excitement in biotech? Nanotech

from the boggling-profit-potential dept.
In a Morningstar.com item on Yahoo Finance, biotech expert Cynthia Robbins-Roth advises on investing in her sector: "I think that the big excitement will be in two key areas…The second arena of incredible opportunity lies in the so-far untested uses of biotech to create devices that don't yet exist. Nanotechnology, driven by a molecular understanding of how our cells work in sickness and in health, can lead to the creation of new approaches to cell engineering and transplantation. For example, the only real cure for diabetes will require the creation of a device that acts just like a real pancreas, one that would need to respond on a second-by-second basis to changes in blood sugar levels. Imagine an engineered pancreas that sits in the body and responds continually." Yes, and hurry it up please, 'cause some of us need one now. (Or a heart, intact spinal cord, etc.)

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