Showing posts with label biotech news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label biotech news. Show all posts

Thursday, December 29, 2016

Anti-aging therapies targeting senescent cells: Facts and fiction

Anti-aging therapies targeting senescent cells: Facts and fiction


It's an exciting time to be an elderly mouse. Researchers believe that by removing senescent cells (cells with a persistent damage response), which naturally accumulate with age, senior rodents can regrow hair, run faster, and improve organ function. This strategy may bring us one step closer to the 'fountain of youth,' but it's important to be cautious and not hype, says a researcher of aging. -from sciencedaily, link to full article at source

artificial heart article | medicine tech article




The artificial heart became a media sensation in the 1980s as it both raised hopes and spread controversy. Today, its impact on medical science is still playing out in surprising ways.-full news article at nytimes link

Comment:  Procedures to speed up the surgery need to be developed, such that in case of defibrillator failure to restart the heart, death does not result in the hospital.

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Scientists Create Fully Functional Eggs from Skin Cells | biotech news | reproduction

Using skin cells extracted from mice, researchers in Japan have produced fully functional egg cells that were used to produce healthy mouse pups. Should the method work in humans, it could introduce powerful new ways of treating infertility—and even allow same-sex couples to produce biological offspring.-source gizmodo link

Very interesting news from gizmodo.  Also while it may require genetic screening and probably modification to fix any genetic mistakes that may become more common, it may also hypothetically allow the same lone individual to produce offspring.

In an older article it was seen that sperm cells were also produced from stem cells in other animals.

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

biotech news from past | better regeneration | genetics

The absence of a single gene, called p21, confers a healing potential in mice long thought to be reserved only for creatures like flatworms, sponges, and some species of salamander: regeneration. Researchers demonstrate that mice that lack the gene can regenerate lost or damaged tissue, suggesting that such an ability may be granted to mammals by blocking the effects of p21.-sciencedaily 2010 source