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Archive for the ‘genetics’ category: Page 169

Oct 17, 2022

Michael Levin: Intelligence Beyond the Brain

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical, chemistry, ethics, genetics, robotics/AI

*Intelligence Beyond the Brain: morphogenesis as an example of the scaling of basal cognition*

*Description:*
Each of us takes the remarkable journey from physics to mind: we start life as a quiescent oocyte (collection of chemical reactions) and slowly change and acquire an advanced, centralized mind. How does unified complex cognition emerge from the collective intelligence of cells? In this talk, I will use morphogenesis to illustrate how evolution scales cognition across problem spaces. Embryos and regenerating organs produce very complex, robust anatomical structures and stop growth and remodeling when those structures are complete. One of the most remarkable things about morphogenesis is that it is not simply a feed-forward emergent process, but one that has massive plasticity: even when disrupted by manipulations such as damage or changing the sizes of cells, the system often manages to achieve its morphogenetic goal. How do cell collectives know what to build and when to stop? Constructing and repairing anatomies in novel circumstances is a remarkable example of the collective intelligence of a biological swarm. I propose that a multi-scale competency architecture is how evolution exploits physics to achieve robust machines that solve novel problems. I will describe what is known about developmental bioelectricity — a precursor to neurobiology which is used for cognitive binding in biological collectives, that scales their intelligence and the size of the goals they can pursue. I will also discuss the cognitive light cone model, and conclude with examples of synthetic living machines — a new biorobotics platform that uses some of these ideas to build novel primitive intelligences. I will end by speculating about ethics, engineering, and life in a future that integrates deeply across biological and synthetic agents.

Oct 17, 2022

The Switch to Regenerative Medicine

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, life extension

As the 3rd presenter during the morning session of the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery Meeting, “Emerging Concepts,” Saranya Wyles, MD, PhD, assistant professor of dermatology, pharmacology, and regenerative medicine in the department of dermatology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, explored the hallmarks of skin aging, the root cause of aging and why it occurs, and regenerative medicine. Wyles first began with an explanation of how health care is evolving. In 21st-century health care, there has been a shift in how medical professionals think about medicine. Traditionally, the first approach was to fight diseases, such as cancer, inflammatory conditions, or autoimmune disorders. Now, the thought process is changing to a root cause approach with a curative option and how to rebuild health. Considering how to overcome the sequence of the different medications and treatments given to patients is rooted in regenerative medicine principles.

For skin aging, there is a molecular ‘clock’ that bodies follow. Within the clock are periods of genomic instability, telomere attrition, and epigenetic alterations, and Wyles’ lab focuses on cellular senescence.

“We’ve heard a lot at this conference about bio stimulators, aesthetics, and how we can stimulate our internal mechanisms of regeneration. Now, the opposite force of regeneration is the inhibitory aging hallmarks which include cellular senescence. So, what is cell senescence? This is a state that the cell goes into, similar to apoptosis or proliferation, where the cell goes into a cell cycle arrest so instead of dividing apoptosis, leading to cell death, the cell stays in this zombie state,” said Wyles.

Oct 17, 2022

Astrobiologist: We Should Gene-Hack New Traits Into Mars Settlers

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, ethics, genetics

Fellow webinar participant Christopher Mason, a geneticist at Weill Cornell Medicine, argued that gene-hacking astronauts could even be a moral imperative.

“And are we maybe ethically bound to do so?” Mason said. “I think if it’s a long enough mission, you might have to do something, assuming it’s safe, which we can’t say yet.”

Oct 17, 2022

Human Tetrachromacy is Real. Here’s What We Know

Posted by in category: genetics

After decades of exhaustive study, scientists have concluded that human tetrachromacy is real. Some people have a truly superhuman range of color vision. In fact, there are two distinct types of tetrachromacy. In some cases, it’s genetic. But in some rare cases, it can also be an acquired trait. While it’s difficult to test, enough tetrachromats have stepped forward that scientists now have visual and genetic tests for the condition.

One percent of the world’s population is thought to be tetrachromatic. These lucky folks may be able to see a thousand times as many colors as the rest of us trichromats. In order to test that idea, researcher Gabriele Johnson devised an experiment. She used precise amounts of pigment to create shades of paint that could only be distinguished by a machine — or a tetrachromat. In 2010, Johnson found a subject who was able to tell each subtle shade apart, every time — just as fast as trichromats could identify the colors they saw. “When you ask them to discriminate between the two mixtures, a tetrachromat can do it very quickly,” she said. “They don’t hesitate.”

Concetta Antico is a painter and art teacher with genetic tetrachromacy. Growing up in Sydney, she says, she was always “a little bit out of the box,” alone in her own visual dreamland. She always preferred the kaleidoscope of colors she saw when she looked at the natural world. But nobody else seemed to see it quite like she did. So she decided to paint what she saw. “I’m sure people just think I’m high on something all the time,” she said, “but I’m really just high on life and the beauty that’s around us.”

Oct 16, 2022

The neuroscience of human intelligence differences

Posted by in categories: biological, genetics, neuroscience

Neuroscience is contributing to an understanding of the biological bases of human intelligence differences. This work is principally being conducted along two empirical fronts: genetics—quantitative and molecular—and brain imaging. Quantitative genetic studies have established that there are additive genetic contributions to different aspects of cognitive ability—especially general intelligence—and how they change through the lifespan. Molecular genetic studies have yet to identify reliably reproducible contributions from individual genes. Structural and functional brain-imaging studies have identified differences in brain pathways, especially parieto-frontal pathways, that contribute to intelligence differences. There is also evidence that brain efficiency correlates positively with intelligence.

Oct 16, 2022

The Cholesterol-DHEA-S Experiment; A Role For Thyroid Function on DHEA-S And/Or Homocysteine?

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics

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Oct 16, 2022

Scientists Uncover How to Reverse Aging

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, chemistry, genetics, life extension

Scientists have successfully increased the lifespan of animals and there are first studies which describe how we might reverse aging. So how could we one day rever aging?

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Oct 14, 2022

New device can heal with a single touch, and even repair brain injuries

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, computing, genetics, neuroscience

Circa 2017 face_with_colon_three


A new device developed at The Ohio State University can start healing organs in a “fraction of a second,” researchers say.

The technology, known as Tissue Nanotransfection (TNT), has the potential to save the lives of car crash victims and even deployed soldiers injured on site. It’s a dime-sized silicone chip that “injects genetic code into skin cells, turning those skin cells into other types of cells required for treating diseased conditions,” according to a release.

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Oct 14, 2022

Alector initiates Phase 1 clinical trial for treatment of Alzheimer’s

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, life extension, neuroscience

Alector, a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering immuno-neurology and innate immuno-oncology, has announced the initiation of the first-in-human Phase 1 trial of AL044. The study is investigating the safety profile, pharmacokinetics (PK), pharmacodynamics (PD) and target engagement of AL044 in healthy adults.

Longevity. Technology: Headquartered in South San Francisco, California, Alector is aiming to develop an unmatched pipeline of novel potential medicines based on insights into immunology, neurology and human genetics. The company’s therapeutic candidates are intended to harness the body’s innate power to heal itself, and Alector is pioneering immuno-neurology, a novel therapeutic approach for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, and innate immuno-oncology.

Immuno-neurology targets immune dysfunction as a root cause of multiple pathologies that are drivers of degenerative brain disorders. Alector has discovered, and is developing, a broad portfolio of innate immune system programs, designed to functionally repair genetic mutations that cause dysfunction of the brain’s immune system and enable rejuvenated immune cells to counteract emerging brain pathologies. Alector’s immuno-neurology product candidates are supported by biomarkers and target genetically defined patient populations in frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

Oct 12, 2022

What fundamentally sets a human being apart from every other living creature comes down to differences in DNA sequences—

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics

A set of genetically-inherited molecules found in every cell of every organism. These differences have …