The often-maligned E. coli bacteria has powerhouse potential: in the lab, it has the ability to crank out fuels, pharmaceuticals and other useful products at a rapid rate. A research team has discovered a new way to remove a major stumbling block in the process, and boost biofuel production from E. coli.
In a set of studies in mice bearing human tumors, nanoparticles designed to bind to a protein called P-selectin successfully delivered both chemotherapy drugs and targeted therapies to tumor blood vessels. Targeting the blood vessels improved the delivery of drugs to tumor tissue, causing the tumors to shrink and improving how long the mice lived.
A tumor’s blood vessels can serve as a barrier to engineered drug-delivery systems like nanoparticles, which may not be able to cross the blood vessel wall. However, the same blood vessels may express proteins—such as P-selectin—that researchers can potentially exploit, by engineering their nanoparticles to recognize and latch onto those proteins, which enables them to reach the tumor.
This is a comprehensive and critical write-up on some of my policies by some leading researchers and thinkers. It’s from the magazine website of the IEEE, the world’s largest professional organization devoted to engineering and the applied sciences. Naturally, people in the field of science and engineering are some of the most difficult to please, since they are such critical thinkers (which is precisely why I like them so much):
When a transhumanist runs for president, what does that mean for society?
Extra bits —
Hydrogen molecule falls to quantum computer.
Quantum computer calculates ground state of hydrogen with just two qubits.
Continue reading “Hydrogen molecule falls to quantum computer” »
Keith Comito from LEAF/Lifespan.io talking about the need for a unified call to action and how we have reached a turning point in the life extension movement.
In this talk LEAF President Keith Comito explains how initatives like Lifespan.io (https://www.lifespan.io/campaigns/sens-control-alt-delete-cancer/) fit into the broader goal of building a grassroots movement in support of life extension, with the eventual aim of effecting massive societial change on the issue. If you are looking for a deep dive into the full scope of life extension advocacy, from the dawn of history to current breakthroughs and opportunities, this is it.
This presentation is part of the Designing New Advances conference held by the Institute of Exponential Sciences in the Netherlands, orchestrated by Demian Hoed and Lotte van Noort.
