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+24 +1
FDA approves a game-changing treatment for blood cancer
he Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved a promising new treatment for a particularly deadly form of cancer, bringing hope to desperate patients while rekindling a global conversation about the escalating cost of new therapies. The treatment, made by Gilead Sciences, is made by extracting patients’ white blood cells and re-engineering them to home in on tumors. Called a CAR-T, the one-time treatment has shown unprecedented results for patients with dire diagnoses.
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+33 +1
Anti-aging stem cell treatment proves successful in early human trials
The results of two human clinical trials into a stem cell therapy that can reverse symptoms of age-associated frailty have been published indicating this landmark treatment is both safe and strikingly effective in tackling key factors in aging.
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+9 +1
A biotech startup is trying to end poaching by flooding the market with fake rhino horns
Rhinos are among the hardest hit by the illegal wildlife trade. The horns fetch high prices on the black market — up to $60,000 per pound, far more than the price of gold. They're used to make elaborate carvings across East Asia and are also believed to have curative properties in some traditional Eastern medicine practices. Pembient, a two-year-old Seattle-based biotech startup, is trying to solve the rhino poaching crisis with a 3D printer and some clever economics.
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+19 +1
Fully Functioning Artificial Human Heart Muscle Developed
Duke University researchers say they have created an artificial human heart muscle large enough to patch over damage seen in patients who have suffered a heart attack. The advance takes a major step toward the end goal of repairing dead heart muscle in human patients, the team adds.
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+17 +1
CRISPR modification overcomes major hurdle to human treatments
Scientists modify CRISPR/Cas9 to treat diabetes, kidney disease, and muscular dystrophy in mice, without cutting DNA. In its five years of existence, CRISPR/Cas9 has revolutionized the field of gene editing, allowing researchers to edit DNA like a piece of text. While it’s potential is unquestionable, ethics and safety concerns have prevented CRISPR from being used to treat human diseases.
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+11 +1
Canadian-backed company's biotech breakthrough: tiny, beating hearts made from stem cells
Beating rhythmically and suspended in a jar, tiny heart-like structures made from stem cells are the latest innovation for drug testing — technology that has the potential to save pharmaceutical companies money. They're developed by Canadian-backed biotech firm Novoheart Ltd., which hopes to revolutionize how drugs make it to market.
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+41 +1
Woman, 26, gives birth to baby who spent 24 years as frozen embryo
Officials hope the story will lead to more couples who have embryos in long-term storage to consider donation to help more families.
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+45 +1
There's Now "Very Strong Evidence" That Alcohol Can Directly Damage DNA
There is an increasing body of evidence linking alcohol consumption to an increased cancer risk - and now scientists in the UK believe they have found a plausible explanation.
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+32 +1
Stanford breakthrough uses stem cells to create possible cancer vaccine
An study from has found that mice injected with induced pluripotent stem cells display immune system responses to a variety of cancers. If replicated in humans this could pave the way for a personalized cancer treatment that essentially vaccinates patients against many types of tumors.
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+11 +1
China’s great leap forward in science
I first met Xiaogang Peng in the summer of 1992 at Jilin University in Changchun, in the remote north-east of China, where he was a postgraduate student in the department of chemistry. He told me that his dream was to get a place at a top American lab. Now, Xiaogang was evidently smart and hard-working – but so, as far as I could see, were most Chinese science students. I wished him well, but couldn’t help thinking he’d set himself a massive challenge.
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+37 +1
World's first human-sheep hybrids pave way for diabetes cure and mass organ transplants
Human-sheep hybrids have been created by scientists for the first time, opening the door to organs being grown inside the farmyard animals for use in transplants or to cure diabetes.
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+3 +1
Bill and Melinda Gates think a weaponized disease may be the biggest threat to humanity — here's how worried you should be
One of the biggest threats out there is still one of the oldest: infectious disease, either natural or human-made.
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+26 +1
Bio-Hackers Figured Out How to Inject Human Eyes With Night Vision, And It's Still Creepy as Hell
Back in 2015, a team of biochemical researchers in the US figured out how to give a human volunteer night vision, allowing him to see across a distance of over 50 metres in total darkness for several hours.
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+18 +1
Humans to be genetically-modified in Europe for the first time this year using gene-splicing therapy
Europe will see its first genetically engineered patients using a groundbreaking gene-splicing therapy this year after regulators approved trials. The biotech company Crispr Therapeutics is hoping to cure the disease beta thalassaemia, a devastating blood disorder which reduces the production of haemoglobin, the protein which carries oxygen to cells. Without sufficient oxygen, sufferers can be left with bone deformities, severe anaemia, slow growth, fatigue and shortness of breath.
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+10 +1
A Stunning Gene-Therapy Cure for Beta Thalassemia, One of the World’s Most Devastating Blood Diseases
In 1976, my final year of medical school, I travelled abroad and spent several months working in the hematology clinic at Hadassah Hospital, in Jerusalem. Every day, I attended to children and teen-agers suffering from a blood disorder called beta thalassemia. They were easy to identify in the clinic waiting room. Their skin was a pale yellow, their skull and facial bones were distorted, and their abdomens bulged from an enlarged liver and spleen. Many were short of breath, with swollen legs and other signs of heart failure.
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+6 +1
Biohacker famous for injecting self with herpes treatment found dead in float therapy tank
The 28-year-old CEO of a controversial biohacking company was found dead in a Washington D.C. spa on Sunday. The body of Aaron Traywick, CEO and founder of Ascendance Biomedical, was discovered in a spa room on Massachusetts Ave. shortly after 11:30 a.m. Sunday, the Metropolitan Police Department told SFGATE. The investigation remains ongoing. No evidence suggests foul play.
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+2 +1
Fasting boosts stem cells’ regenerative capacity
Age-related loss of stem cell function can be reversed by a 24-hour fast, according to a new study from MIT biologists.
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+3 +1
A transplant of CRISPR-edited liver cells could replace lifelong injections for hemophilia B patients
A Salk Institute team transplanted liver cells into mouse models of hemophilia B, finding that the treatment restored their ability to form blood clots for a year. The hope is that this one-and-done treatment could replace the frequent injections of clotting factors that are currently used to treat the inherited blood disorder.
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+20 +1
A stealthy Harvard startup wants to reverse aging in dogs, and humans could be next
The world’s most influential synthetic biologist is behind a new company that plans to rejuvenate dogs using gene therapy. If it works, he plans to try the same approach in people, and he might be one of the first volunteers. The stealth startup Rejuvenate Bio, cofounded by George Church of Harvard Medical School, thinks dogs aren’t just man’s best friend but also the best way to bring age-defeating treatments to market.
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+17 +1
Self-repairing organs could save your life in a heartbeat
What becomes of the broken-hearted? In cardiac medicine, the answer is usually brutally straightforward: they die. Heart disease is the leading cause of death worldwide and there is often precious little we can do about it. Pacemakers bring some relief and transplants work, but there are nowhere near enough donated hearts to go around. And unlike skin and liver cells, heart muscle cells can’t remake themselves. Once they get damaged or die, they are gone forever.
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