Lifeboat Foundation

Further progress with telomeres by Maria Blasco which clearly demonstrates the link between telomeres and aging and why they are a primary “clock”.

“These findings suggest that it is the ability of different species to maintain telomeres rather than average telomere length per se that may be determinant of species longevity”

So if we maintain telomeres (either directly or by repairing the cause of that damage) as many biologically immortal creatures do could we expect to see life extension? So far in animals tested that answer is yes! Its not the only thing that needs to be addressed to combat aging but it looks like an important one.

Continue reading “F1000Research Article: Telomeres and telomerase as therapeutic targets to prevent and treat age-related diseases” »

Creative way to treat Cataracts.

What affects 20 million people, robs the global economy of billions of dollars and can be fixed with a five-minute procedure?

The answer is cataract blindness. The disease, which begins with clouding of the eyes and can lead to loss of vision without treatment, will probably afflict 12 million more people by 2020, as a shortage of skilled doctors limits access to care in developing nations, according to the Rand Corporation.

Continue reading “Virtual Reality Could Be The Next Big Thing In Curing Cataract Blindness” »

The “Uber” of healthcare — I can truly see it with AI Healthcare and CRISPR as well as BMI technologies.

Business Insider chatted with CEOs and investors alike to find out what technology and treatment could be the Uber of healthcare.

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“According to many industry observers, we are today on the cusp of a Fourth Industrial Revolution. Developments in previously disjointed fields such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, robotics, nanotechnology, 3D printing and genetics and biotechnology are all building on and amplifying one another…”

The World Economic Forum (WEF) published an analysis today on the technological and sociological drivers of employment.

The report, titled The Future of Jobs, validates the accelerating impact of technology on global employment trends, and also highlights serious concerns that job growth in certain industries is still very much outpaced by large scale declines in other industries.

Continue reading “The World Economic Forum On The Future Of Jobs” »

People with a family history of some inheritable diseases like cystic fibrosis can now be tested to see if they carry the genes for the condition. If neither parent has the disease, but both carry the corresponding gene or genes, the odds of having a child with the condition are higher.

Cambridge diagnostics company Good Start Genetics has partnered with Helix, a startup in California, to bring its genetic tests to a bigger market.

People with a family history of some inheritable diseases like cystic fibrosis can now be tested to see if they carry the genes for the condition. If neither parent has the disease, but both carry the corresponding gene or genes, the odds of having a child with the condition are higher.

Continue reading “Good Start Genetics, Helix partnership could bring affordable genetic tests to parents-to-be” »

Can you say “amazing” — brain tumor removed without surgery.

The Neurosurgery wing of the Local Apollo hospital here successfully conducted a rare, modern at the same time sensitive method of removal of a brain tumor tissue for diagnosis sending a small needle deep in to the brain without opening the skull and anesthesia. This sophisticated and critical process known as ‘Stereotactic Biopsy was conducted on a 50 year old woman Thalari Chinnammayi, without any complications and with hardly two days of hospitalization. Claiming such Biopsy application as the first of its kind in Coastal Andhra region, Dr M V Kiran Kumar senior consultant Neuro surgeon of Apollo hospital, said it would involve less expenditure and almost risk free and not warrant a repeated biopsy. Presenting the patient before the press persons here today, he said, she was suffering from chronic headache for the past one month and during clinical examination it was found she was having small tumor in the brain that too in a very deep lesion.‘ The tumor in size of 1.5x 2cms was located in the left side of the brain at a place called as Caudate Nucleus. A small piece of brain tissue was removed by performing stereotactic biopsy and during examination it was diagnosed as grade-3 Anaplastic Astrocytoma (cancerous growth). She was referred to Oncologist for treatment either by chemo therapy or Radiation he added. Dr C Suryaprakasarao Medical director of the hospital said that the Neurology department was strengthened by acquiring modern sophisticated equipment besides appointing Dr Kamaraju as a Neuro physician. I. V.V Ramana hospital chief administrator said that they were going to introduce the ‘Deep brain stimulation therapy utilising the expertise of Dr Kiran Kumar. UNI XR/DP KVV AK1935.

– (UNI) — C-1–1-DL0415-554045.Xml.

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New process could allow researchers to grow more stem cells in a shorter time for organ transplants, drug trials, and other applications.

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The technique, which also has near-term implications for growing organ-like tissues on a chip, was developed by researchers at MIT and is unveiled in a study published today in the journal Nature Communications.

Growing organs on demand, using stem cells derived from patients themselves, could eliminate the lengthy wait that people in need of a transplant are often forced to endure before one becomes available.

It could also reduce the risk of a patient’s immune system rejecting the transplant, since the tissue would be grown from the patient’s own cells, according to Ron Weiss, professor of biological engineering at MIT, who led the research.

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A new algorithm has been developed that will drastically reduce the time and effort needed to create induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). As a result of this breakthrough, we can expect a dramatic revolution in regenerative medicine in the near future.

What if you could directly reprogram cells to develop into whatever you wished? What if you could take an undifferentiated, incipient cell, full of the unrealized potential to become any one of the many specialized cells in the human body, and nudge it into becoming ocular tissue, or neural cells, even a new heart to replace an old or damaged one?

This is the promise afforded by Mogrify, the result of the application of computational and mathematical science to the problems of medicine and biology. It was developed by an international collaboration of researchers from the Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore, the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom, Monash University in Australia, and RIKEN in Japan. The new research was published online in the journal Nature Genetics.

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