Lifeboat Foundation

Fortunately, the past decade has experienced a boom, with over 200 startups bringing novel cancer therapies—primarily antibodies, viruses, or cells—into clinical trials aiming to find alternatives to toxic chemotherapy. Despite these innovations, chemotherapy remains an essential yet toxic part of cancer care. In Pittsburgh, a small team of scientist-entrepreneurs and oncologists started meeting every Friday morning before work, collaborating to search for a new chemistry, one that could replace toxic chemotherapies. Their search soon focused on compelling research about novel ultra-small nanomedicine chemistry that carried potent drugs deep into solid tumors while sparing healthy organs.

This new nanomedicine chemistry fascinated Dr. Sam Rothstein, a scientist-entrepreneur with 20+ years of nanomedicine research experience spanning academia and industry. “We could make a real positive impact on patients,” says Rothstein. “We know that nanomedicines, which keep potent therapies out of healthy organs, improve quality of life. But this novel ultrasmall chemistry could go even further, saving lives by reaching remote cancer cells that current therapies can’t touch.”

Dr. Rothstein set to work building a new company, calling on connections made over a 10+-year career as a life science startup CEO and CSO, where he founded and grew two nanomedicine startups from academic discoveries. After months of market, regulatory, and business research, Duo Oncology was born.

Bryan Johnson, a millionaire tech entrepreneur dedicated to reversing ageing, recently took to social media to boast about his “super clean plasma.” In a detailed post on X, he shared that a lab technician couldn’t bring himself to dispose of the plasma after a total plasma exchange (TPE) procedure.

Johnson claims to have reduced his epigenetic age through his comprehensive regimen called Project Blueprint. He follows a strict diet and exercise routine, spends over $2 million annually on a team of doctors and medical equipment, and undergoes both experimental and conventional treatments-including the recent TPE procedure.

TPE, a procedure often used in regenerative medicine and anti-ageing treatments, involves replacing a patient’s plasma with donor plasma or a substitute fluid. In Johnson’s case, his plasma was replaced with albumin.

Micelles are spherical molecular structures usually formed by amphiphilic molecules with block structure, which contain both hydrophilic and hydrophobic parts. The hydrophobic tails of these molecules cluster together to form a core, while the hydrophilic heads face outward, creating a protective shell. This structure allows micelles to encapsulate hydrophobic substances within their core and disperse them in a water-based environment.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has long been a cornerstone of modern medicine, providing highly detailed images of internal organs and tissues. MRI machines, those large, tube-shaped magnets commonly found in hospitals, use powerful magnets to map the densities of water and fat molecules within the body.

Researchers from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have taken a major step forward in using quantum mechanics to enhance sensing devices, a new advancement that could be used in a wide range of areas, including materials characterization, improved imaging and biological and medical applications.

Neural microtissues derived from pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) can replace dopaminergic neurons, the nerve cells that are lost in Parkinson’s disease, and restore motor function when grown into tiny capsules and transplanted into the brains of model rats, a study led by TreeFrog Therapeutics found.

“TreeFrog Therapeutics has overcome the most complex challenges of developing a successful treatment for Parkinson’s disease using our C-Stem platform technology and producing a therapy containing mature dopaminergic neurons with a unique 3D format that promotes cell survival post-graft with proven pre-clinical results,” Jens Schroeder, MD, PhD, TreeFrog’s chief medical officer, said in a company press release.

The study, “Bioreactor-produced iPSCs-derived dopaminergic neuron-containing neural microtissues innervate and normalize rotational bias in a dose-dependent manner in a Parkinson rat model,” was published in Neurotherapeutics.

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A new study has found that the gene therapy COG-201, delivered through a nasal spray, can improve memory and decrease anxiety in animal models, offering a new approach to treating neurological conditions.

Innovative research from Vilnius University sheds light on how DNA methylation impacts cellular aging and healthspan.