Lifeboat Foundation

A team led by NCI researchers has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that uses data from individual cells inside tumors to predict whether a person’s cancer will respond to a specific drug. Learn more about how these findings hold promise for optimally matching cancer drugs to patients:

Precision oncology, in which doctors choose cancer treatment options based on the underlying molecular or genetic signature of individual tumors, has come a long way. The Food and Drug Administration has approved a growing number of tests that look for specific genetic changes that drive cancer growth to match patients to targeted treatments. The NCI-MATCH trial, supported by the National Cancer Institute, in which participants with advanced or rare cancer had their tumors sequenced in search of genetic changes that matched them to a treatment, has also suggested benefits for guiding treatment through genetic sequencing. But there remains a need to better predict treatment responses for people with cancer.

A promising approach is to analyze a tumor’s RNA in addition to its DNA. The idea is to not only better understand underlying genetic changes, but also learn how those changes impact gene activity as measured by RNA sequencing data. A recent study introduces an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven tool, dubbed PERCEPTION (PERsonalized single-Cell Expression-based Planning for Treatments In ONcology), developed by an NIH-led team to do just this.¹ This proof-of-concept study, published in Nature Cancer, shows that it’s possible to fine-tune predictions of a patient’s treatment responses from bulk RNA data by zeroing in on what’s happening inside single cells.

Continue reading “AI Tool Using Single-Cell Data Has Promise for Optimally Matching Cancer Drugs to Patients” »

Stanford’s new tiny, cheap laser:

Researchers have achieved a potentially groundbreaking innovation in laser technology by developing a titanium-sapphire (Ti: sapphire) laser on a chip. This new prototype is dramatically smaller, more efficient, and less expensive than its predecessors, marking a significant leap forward with a technology that has broad applications in industry, medicine, and beyond.

Ti: sapphire lasers are known for their unmatched performance in quantum optics, spectroscopy, and neuroscience due to their wide gain bandwidth and ultrafast light pulses. However, their bulky size and high cost have limited their widespread adoption. Traditional Ti: sapphire lasers occupy cubic feet in volume and can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, in addition to requiring high-powered lasers costing $30,000 each to feed it the energy it needs to operate.

Continue reading “Researchers develop tiny, cost-effective Ti laser that fits on a chip” »

This may be about as wildly entertaining, disruptive and philosophically profound as legitimate scientific research gets. Michael Levin’s work in cellular intelligence, bioelectrical communication and embodied minds “is going to overturn everything.”

Second Sight’s Orion system bypasses the eyes to bring artificial vision directly to the brain. Working prototypes are being tested right now in six blind individuals.

#WhatTheFuture #ArtificialVision #MedicalTech.

Continue reading “This machine creates artificial vision for the blind” »

Giorgia Marucci of HORIBA explains how Jennifer Doudna, Emmanuelle Charpentier and their research teams revolutionized genetic engineering with their CRISPR-Cas9 discovery. Their groundbreaking approach to DNA editing elevated these two scientists to Nobel Laureate status when they received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2020.

Read more about this story at: https://www.horiba.com/int/scientific…

Continue reading “CRISPR/Cas9: Big Discovery in Gene Editing” »

An international team led by researchers at the University of Toronto has found a new RNA virus that they believe is hitching a ride with a common human parasite.

The virus, called Apocryptovirus odysseus, along with 18 others that are closely related to it, was discovered through a computational screen of human neuron data — an effort aimed at elucidating the connection between RNA viruses and neuroinflammatory disease. The virus is associated with severe inflammation in humans infected with the parasite Toxoplasma gondii, leading the team to hypothesize that it exacerbates toxoplasmosis disease.

“We discovered A. odysseus in human neurons using the open-science Serratus platform to search through more than 150,000 RNA viruses” said Purav Gupta, first author on the study, recent high school graduate and current undergraduate student at U of T’s Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research. “Serratus identifies RNA viruses from public data by flagging an enzyme called RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, which facilitates replication of viral RNA. This enzyme allows the virus to reproduce itself and for the infection to spread.”

Is this the beginning of the age of bionic humans?

But while medical research facilities are subject to privacy laws, private companies — that are amassing large caches of brain data — are not. Based on a study by The Neurorights Foundation, two-thirds of them are already sharing or selling the data with third parties. The vast majority of them also don’t disclose where the data is stored, how long they keep it, who has access to it, and what happens if there’s a security breach…

This is why Pauzauskie, Medical Director of The Neurorights Foundation, led the passage of a first-in-the-nation law in Colorado. It includes biological or brain data in the State Privacy Act, similar to fingerprints if the data is being used to identify people.

“This is a first step, but we still have a long way to go,” he says.

What You Should Know:

– A glimmer of hope emerged today for rectal cancer patients as a collaborative effort between Case Western Reserve University (CWRU), Cleveland Clinic, and University Hospitals (UH) received a $2.78 million grant over five years from the National Institutes of Health and National Cancer Institute. This grant will fuel research leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to personalize treatment for rectal cancer patients.

– The new research effort signifies a significant step forward in the fight against rectal cancer. By harnessing the power of AI, researchers are on the path to developing more precise treatment strategies, ultimately improving patient outcomes and quality of life.