Published in January 13th, 2012
A 30-year old man in Baltimore had his cancerous trachea taken out and replaced with one grown for him in the lab. Now, he has a second chance at life and his 4-year-old daughter will have her father around. Scientists like Dr. Paolo Macchiarini, director of the Advanced Center for Translational Regenerative Medicine at the [...]
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Published in December 12th, 2011
From the NYT: Medical researchers in Britain have successfully treated six patients suffering from the blood-clotting disease known as hemophilia B by injecting them with the correct form of a defective gene, a landmark achievement in the troubled field of gene therapy. It’s worth pointing out that gene therapy hasn’t been “troubled” in the last [...]
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Published in September 22nd, 2011
This is important news: Researchers have shown they can reverse the aging process for human adult stem cells, which are responsible for helping old or damaged tissues regenerate. The findings could lead to medical treatments that may repair a host of ailments that occur because of tissue damage as people age. A research group led [...]
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Published in September 20th, 2011
Aaron Saenz at Singularity Hub writes a thoughtful review of 100+: What would you do with another 75 years on this Earth? Not as a pain wracked wizened elder in a nursing home, but as a vibrant super-centenarian with the energy of a 30 year old? Sonia Arrison is here to tell you it’s not [...]
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Published in September 18th, 2011
This is an excellent article from the NYT about how gene therapy has been used to kill cancer. Dr. Carl June at U Penn is really a leader in this field.
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Published in August 18th, 2011
Researchers funded by the UK-based Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) have discovered a new mechanism controlling ageing in white blood cells. The research, published in the September issue of the Journal of Immunology, opens up the possibility of temporarily reversing the effects of ageing on immunity and could, in the future, allow for [...]
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Published in July 20th, 2011
A Swedish hospital recently announced that a cancer patient was saved after doctors grew him a new windpipe in the lab using a synthetic structure and the man’s own stem cells. That might have sounded like science fiction just a few years ago, but today it is landmark news. Regenerative medicine has the ability to [...]
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Published in July 19th, 2011
Here’s an interview I did with Rick Docksai, assistant editor for THE FUTURIST. We talk about longevity and my upcoming book, 100 Plus.
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Published in July 12th, 2011
Dr. Atala of Wake Forest University is one of the leaders in the field of regenerative medicine — a true hero. Here’s a recent op-ed he wrote for CNN on the topic.
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Published in July 8th, 2011
The headline of this USA Today story is somewhat misleading, since the trachea that was created using an artificial scaffold was made with the patient’s own cells. It’s a sort of artificial/biological mix of a trachea. In any case, the technique worked to cure a man of cancer, so whatever it is called, it is [...]
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Published in July 5th, 2011
From Nature News: Scientists have developed a gene-repair kit that treats the blood-clotting disorder haemophilia in mice. The technique replaces genes in targeted organs without removing cells from the body, simultaneously correcting multiple mutations. It broadens the range of diseases that can be treated with gene therapy.
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Published in May 16th, 2011
This is super-interesting. From the Independent: “The controversial test measures vital structures on the tips of a person’s chromosomes, called telomeres, which scientists believe are one of the most important and accurate indicators of the speed at which a person is ageing.”
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Published in November 8th, 2010
Great work from Canadian-based researchers. See full study here.
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Published in September 10th, 2010
This is a fascinating story about a woman named Deepa Kulkarni who accidentally cut off the top of her pinky finger. After being told by regular doctors that they have to cut even more of it to make her better (yikes!), she finds a doctor who can regrow it instead. Persistence certainly paid off in [...]
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Published in August 6th, 2010
From the WSJ: In a study being published Friday in the journal Cell Stem Cell, scientists at Stanford University describe how they got muscle tissue in mice to regenerate, essentially re-awakening an ability that had been thought lost over evolutionary time. Such mature tissues normally don’t divide and proliferate.
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Published in July 23rd, 2010
This is an amazing article about (70 year old!) Harvard Professor George Whitesides. He’s working to create cheap diagnostics for developing countries and he tells the reporter this: My view of the health care worker of the future is not a doctor, but an 18-year-old, otherwise unemployed, who has two things. He has a backpack [...]
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Published in July 20th, 2010
It’s always annoying to me when I hear people talk about how new advances in medicine are always going to cost more. In many cases the opposite is true. Here’s a well-written article from the NYT explaining why robotic surgery leads to CHEAPER health costs. The reasons are that there are fewer complications and patients [...]
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Published in July 14th, 2010
This is super-interesting and the researchers say they could be testing it in humans within a year. From the press release: “Researchers at UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center created a large, well armed battalion of tumor-seeking immune system cells and watched, in real time using Positron Emission Tomography (PET), as the special forces traveled throughout [...]
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Published in May 17th, 2010
I’m always a bit skeptical of such feel good articles when this is just an announcement about a test, but according to the UK’s Daily Mail, “The treatment, which will be tested on British patients over the next few months, can reverse and even cure malignant melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer. If [...]
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Published in May 17th, 2010
According to the UK Times: “Scientists have discovered the “Methuselah” genes whose lucky carriers have a much improved chance of living to 100 even if they indulge in an unhealthy lifestyle. The genes appear to protect people against the effects of smoking and bad diet and can also delay the onset of age-related illnesses such [...]
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