MAJOR DECISION: US Supreme Court Rules Human Genes Can’t Be Patented. In a major decision that is sure to have enormous effects in the United States and beyond, the US Supreme Court has ruled that human genes are not patentable. The Court rules that the genes are naturally occurring and therefore a discovery, not an invention. This decision does not directly impact artificially inserted or manipulated genes, as in genetically modified organisms, but it is likely to have major impacts on both human and non-human genes in the fields of testing screening for diseases or conditions.
Although the case deals with human genetics, the language of the decision seems to make it apply to all genes that exist in an organism in nature. Although this is only applicable to the US, it is an important precedent that may well effect other countries. If nothing else, it will certainly change how companies go about protecting or attempting to protect their discoveries, if only because the US is such a huge market.
Via the New York Times: 1. 2. View blog reactions. Fat chance: Scientists unexpectedly discover stress-resistant stem cells in adipose tissue. My Medical Choice. MY MOTHER fought cancer for almost a decade and died at 56. She held out long enough to meet the first of her grandchildren and to hold them in her arms. But my other children will never have the chance to know her and experience how loving and gracious she was. We often speak of “Mommy’s mommy,” and I find myself trying to explain the illness that took her away from us. They have asked if the same could happen to me.
My doctors estimated that I had an 87 percent risk of breast cancer and a 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer, although the risk is different in the case of each woman. Only a fraction of breast cancers result from an inherited gene mutation. Once I knew that this was my reality, I decided to be proactive and to minimize the risk as much I could. Photo On April 27, I finished the three months of medical procedures that the mastectomies involved. But I am writing about it now because I hope that other women can benefit from my experience.
Life comes with many challenges. Novel Drug Delivery System Releases Drugs in Response to Compression by the Patient’s Hand. Influenza study: Meet virus’ new enemy. Contact: Masahiro Niikura (Burnaby resident), 778.782.3171, niikura@sfu.ca Nicole Bance (Surrey resident), 778.782.3131, nicole_bance@sfu.ca Carol Thorbes, PAMR, 778.782.3035, cthorbes@sfu.ca Flickr: Simon Fraser University virologist Masahiro Niikura and his doctoral student Nicole Bance are among an international group of scientists that has discovered a new class of molecular compounds capable of killing the influenza virus. The group is led by University of British Columbia chemistry professor Stephen Withers. Working on the premise that too much of a good thing can be a killer, the scientists have advanced previous researchers’ methods of manipulating an enzyme that is key to how influenza replicates and spreads. Their new compounds will lead to a new generation of anti-influenza drugs that the virus’ strains can’t adapt to, and resist, as easily as they do Tamiflu.
This is where the newly discovered compounds come to the still-healthy cells’ rescue. Engineers 3-D print artificial ear. Lindsay France/University Photography Lawrence Bonassar, associate professor of biomedical engineering, and colleagues collaborated with Weill Cornell Medical College physicians to create an artificial ear using 3-D printing and injectable molds. Cornell bioengineers and physicians have created an artificial ear that looks and acts like a natural ear, giving new hope to thousands of children born with a congenital deformity called microtia. In a study published online Feb. 20 in PLOS One, Cornell biomedical engineers and Weill Cornell Medical College physicians described how 3-D printing and injectable gels made of living cells can fashion ears that are practically identical to a human ear.
Over a three-month period, these flexible ears grew cartilage to replace the collagen that was used to mold them. The novel ear may be the solution reconstructive surgeons have long wished for to help children born with ear deformity, said co-lead author Dr. Retinal Implant Alpha IMS Brings Sight to Blind in New Study. 4inShare Retina Implant AG, a German developer of subretinal implants to help restore sight of people with retinitis pigmentosa, has announced publication of results of a new clinical trial of its Alpha IMS system. Nine blind people received the 3×3 mm wireless microchip implants that feature a 1500 pixel resolution. The implants capture light and in turn stimulate the optic nerve, which delivers visual signal data to the brain. A distinct advantage of the Alpha IMS is that, unlike other similar devices such as the recently released Argus II, it does not rely on an external camera.
Instead, light is detected inside the eye, enabling the patient to look around by moving his eyes rather than the head. It also has a much higher resolution grid and is implanted under the retina, allowing the middle layer of the retina to process the input before it is sent to the visual cortex. From Retina Implant AG: Here’s a video of one of the participants recognizing letters placed in front of him: Artificial vision with wirelessly powered subretinal electronic implant alpha-IMS. Abstract This study aims at substituting the essential functions of photoreceptors in patients who are blind owing to untreatable forms of hereditary retinal degenerations. A microelectronic neuroprosthetic device, powered via transdermal inductive transmission, carrying 1500 independent microphotodiode-amplifier-electrode elements on a 9 mm2 chip, was subretinally implanted in nine blind patients. Light perception (8/9), light localization (7/9), motion detection (5/9, angular speed up to 35 deg s−1), grating acuity measurement (6/9, up to 3.3 cycles per degree) and visual acuity measurement with Landolt C-rings (2/9) up to Snellen visual acuity of 20/546 (corresponding to decimal 0.037 or corresponding to 1.43 logMAR (minimum angle of resolution)) were restored via the subretinal implant.
Additionally, the identification, localization and discrimination of objects improved significantly (n = 8; p < 0.05 for each subtest) in repeated tests over a nine-month period. 1. Introduction 2. First ever: UK scientists use 3D printer to print human stem cells. Sure, 3D printing is cool and wonderful, and even can make awesome three-dimensional business cards. But can it save your life? Well, perhaps. Six scientists in the UK and Scotland have successfully printed human stem cells with a “valve-based cell printer” that uses bio-inks to fabricate groups of viable stem cells that retain their ability to become any type of cell in your body. Stem cells are valued by biological scientists for research because they are “pluripotent:” they can develop into almost anything a human body needs such as skin cells, muscle tissue, or internal organs. But collecting and using them has been a controversial process, as one source for stems cells has been embryonic tissue harvested after abortions.
And using them inside the human body has been difficult. Between 70 and 95 percent of the cells survived past 72 hours, and three days after, the cells tested positive for pluripotency, and seemed to be growing: