Biomedicine - MIT Technology Review

Stories from Around the Web (Week Ending May 24, 2013)

Fri, 24 May 2013 17:30:00 +0000

A roundup of the most interesting stories from other sites, collected by the staff at MIT Technology Review.

Inside Google’s Secret Lab
A bit light on detail and insight, but they got more out of Google than anyone else has.
—Tom Simonite, IT editor

Seven Must-Read Stories (Week Ending May 24, 2013)

Fri, 24 May 2013 12:15:00 +0000

Another chance to catch the most interesting, and important, articles from the previous week on MIT Technology Review.

Marketing to the Big Data Inside Us

Fri, 24 May 2013 04:00:00 +0000

In your DNA are clues to your health, your ancestry, and maybe even your purchasing preferences.

Companies market to you according to your shopping habits, your age, your salary, and your social-media activities. In the future, they may be able to advertise to you on the basis of your DNA.

In a Data Deluge, Companies Seek to Fill a New Role

Wed, 22 May 2013 15:05:00 +0000

A job invented in Silicon Valley is going mainstream as more industries try to gain an edge from big data.

The job description “data scientist” didn’t exist five years ago. No one advertised for an expert in data science, and you couldn’t go to school to specialize in the field. Today, companies are fighting to recruit these specialists, courses on how to become one are popping up at many universities, and the Harvard Business Review even proclaimed that data scientist is the “sexiest” job of the 21st century.

Second Life Founder's New Virtual World Uses Body-Tracking Hardware

Mon, 20 May 2013 22:32:42 +0000

Hardware that tracks your head, eyes, and hands will make the follow up to Second Life very different from the pioneering virtual world.

The founder of the once-popular virtual world Second Life, Philip Rosedale, is working on a new 3-D digital world that looks like it will be operated using gestures and body-tracking hardware. Rosedale declined to talk about his new company, called High Fidelity, just yet. But videos and other material posted online by the company suggest it is working on an impressively immersive virtual-reality experience where you control an avatar using head and hand movements.

Brain Training May Help Clear Cognitive Fog Caused by Chemotherapy

Fri, 17 May 2013 04:00:00 +0000

The mental fuzziness induced by cancer treatment could be eased by cognitive exercises performed online, say researchers.

Cancer survivors sometimes suffer from a condition known as “chemo fog”—a cognitive impairment caused by repeated chemotherapy. A study hints at a controversial idea: that brain-training software might help lift this cognitive cloud.

Cheap Magnetic Helmet Detects Some Kinds of Brain Damage

Thu, 16 May 2013 19:45:36 +0000

Prototype spots swelling and bleeding in a pilot study—but the novel technique employed is relatively unproven.

A helmet that sends a magnetic field through the wearer’s head might someday offer a quick way to reveal whether the brain is swelling or bleeding as the result of an injury.

Novel Material Shows Promise for Extracting Uranium from Seawater

Thu, 16 May 2013 04:00:00 +0000

A so-called metal-organic framework could offer a better way to get at the vast uranium resource dissolved in the ocean.

A new material could potentially be used to extract uranium from seawater more efficiently, new research suggests.

Human Embryonic Stem Cells Cloned

Wed, 15 May 2013 21:07:23 +0000

Scientists produced embryonic stem cells from the DNA of one person combined with a human donor egg.

Scientists from Oregon Health and Science University reported on Wednesday in the scientific journal Cell that they had created embryonic stem cells from a cloned human embryo. This is the first time that human stem cells have been produced using nuclear transfer, a cloning technique in which the nucleus of one person’s cell is transferred into an egg that has had its nucleus removed. The technique could be used to create patient-specific human embryonic stem cells, which could be used to study genetic diseases, aid drug development, and for therapeutic transplantation back into a patient.

Synthetic Biology Could Speed Flu Vaccine Production

Tue, 14 May 2013 17:21:58 +0000

Advanced genetic engineering is already changing vaccine development and could make inroads into other branches of medicine.

Synthetic biology is breathing new life into the old-fashioned world of vaccine production, raising hopes that manufacturers could release vaccines much more quickly when outbreaks occur.

Game Theory and the Treatment of Cancer

Tue, 14 May 2013 04:17:59 +0000

Thinking about cancer as an ecosystem is giving biologists access to a new armoury of mathematical tools for tackling it, such as evolutionary game theory

The Algorithm That Automatically Detects Polyps in Images from Camera Pills

Mon, 13 May 2013 04:49:39 +0000

Analyzing the footage from camera pills is a time-consuming task for medical professionals. Now computer scientists are attempting to automate the process.

Bacteria-killing Viruses Could Make Medical Implants Safer

Fri, 10 May 2013 20:49:28 +0000

Researchers attach “viral hitmen” to surfaces to demonstrate a possible antibacterial defense for catheters and other medical devices.

Medical implants like catheters and pacemakers can be a hotspot for bacteria, which grow in hard-to-treat films on the surface of such devices. Scientists and engineers are taking different approaches to changing the surface of implants so bacteria can’t take hold. For example, some groups are developing polymer films with structures that prevent bacterial growth (see “Pillowy Antibacterial Polymers”), while others are developing coatings that slowly release antibiotic compounds over time (see “Safer Joint Replacements” and “Innovators Under 35, 2007: Christopher Loose”). And now, researchers from Clemson University in South Carolina and the University of Southern Mississippi have described how a layer of bacteria-killing viruses could help prevent bacterial infections.

How to Make a Cognitive Neuroprosthetic

Thu, 09 May 2013 13:00:00 +0000

Enhancing the flow of information through the brain could be crucial to making neuroprosthetics practical.

The abilities to learn, remember, evaluate, and decide are central to who we are and how we live. Damage to or dysfunction of the brain circuitry that supports these functions can be devastating, leading to Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia, PTSD, or many other disorders. Current treatments, which are drug-based or behavioral, have limited efficacy in treating these problems. There is a pressing need for something more effective.

First Quantum-Enhanced Images of a Living Cell

Thu, 09 May 2013 09:51:53 +0000

Biologists have used “squeezed light” to create the first images of a living cell that beat the diffraction limit

Can Artificial Retinas Restore Natural Sight?

Thu, 09 May 2013 04:00:00 +0000

Artificial retinas give the blind only the barest sense of what’s visible, but researchers are working hard to improve that.

Elias Konstantopoulos gets spotty glimpses of the world each day for about four hours, or for however long he leaves his Argus II retina prosthesis turned on. The 74-year-old Maryland resident lost his sight from a progressive retinal disease over 30 years ago, but is able to perceive some things when he turns on the bionic vision system.

Yet Another Alzheimer’s Treatment Fails in Large Trial

Wed, 08 May 2013 21:24:42 +0000

A mixed-antibody treatment does not protect patients from cognitive decline.

More bad news from drugmakers trying to develop treatments for Alzheimer’s disease: Yesterday, Baxter announced that its mixed-antibody therapy failed to reduce cognitive decline in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease. As I reported back in July 2012, the company saw positive results in a small four-patient trial of the treatment. None of these patients showed any cognitive decline, leading some experts to hope that the disease can be stopped or slowed (see “Study Suggests Alzheimer’s Disease Can be Stabilized”). But when Baxter tested its potential treatment—a complex mixture of antibodies harvested from healthy donated blood—in nearly 100-times as many Alzheimer’s patients, the company did not find a rate of decline slower than patients given a placebo.

Preventing Migraines with a New Kind of Antibody

Wed, 08 May 2013 20:17:00 +0000

A biopharmaceutical company will know this year whether an antibody produced using a unique technique can prevent chronic migraines.

For many who suffer from chronic migraines, nothing can reliably prevent or dull the debilitating headaches that may strike as often as every other day.

The Cause of High Blood Pressure Revealed By Computer Modelling

Tue, 07 May 2013 10:05:18 +0000

Computer simulations show that high blood pressure can be entirely explained by arterial stiffening as we age, say researchers

NIMH Will Drop Widely Used Psychiatry Manual

Fri, 03 May 2013 19:16:43 +0000

NIMH director says the DSM lacks biological validity in its diagnoses: “Patients with mental disorders deserve better.”

Just weeks before the American Psychiatric Association is expected to publish its new edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM, the director of National Institute of Mental Health’s director announced via blog post that his institution will be “re-orienting its research away from DSM categories.”

Genomic Study Spots Which Tumors Are Deadliest

Wed, 01 May 2013 19:15:00 +0000

Genomics signatures in uterine cancers could offer clues to prognosis.

The first comprehensive genomic analysis of endometrial tumors divides the cancer into four subtypes and suggests potential changes to current treatment paradigms. The study, published on Wednesday in the scientific journal Nature, is the latest result of the Cancer Genome Atlas, a U.S.-funded effort to improve cancer treatment with better diagnoses and targeted drug treatments.

Participants in Personal Genome Project Identified by Privacy Experts

Wed, 01 May 2013 09:58:41 +0000

Privacy experts have identified participants in the Personal Genome Project using “de-identified” data.

Carbon Nanotube Sensor Detects Glucose in Saliva

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 09:52:53 +0000

Painful finger-prick blood tests for diabetics could become a thing of the past, say physicists who have built a sensor that measures glucose in saliva

Cancer Drugs Should Cost Less, Say Doctors

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 16:41:44 +0000

Doctors argue that some drug companies are charging too much for their cancer drugs, to the detriment of patients.

A group of more than 100 cancer experts have called out drug companies for the high prices of cancer drugs. The doctors, all specialists in chronic myelogenous leukemia or CML, published their opinion on what they call “astronomical” prices on Friday in the scientific journal Blood.

Bird Flu: On the Move and Hard to Track

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 19:14:44 +0000

The H7N9 virus is deadly to humans but does not present symptoms in birds, which makes it more difficult to control.

A 53-year-old Taiwanese man has contracted the H7N9 influenza virus, most likely while on a business trip to China, reported the New York Times on Wednesday. This is the first time the virus has been reported outside of China, where that country’s Health and Family Planning Commission says the new strain has infected more than 100 people, 23 fatally, according to CNN.

Nanoscale Pressure Sensors Mimic Human Skin

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 18:00:00 +0000

New research shows how arrays of tiny electronic devices can achieve human-skin-like sensitivity to mechanical force.

Arrays of transistors made of nanowires could form the basis of a new class of devices nearly as sensitive to mechanical force as human skin is, according to research published today in Science.

Questions over Gene Patents Shake Diagnostics Industry

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 04:00:00 +0000

The impending Supreme Court ruling on gene patents is creating uncertainty in the molecular diagnostics sector.

At this week’s Biotechnology Industry Organization show in Chicago, a panel of law experts bemoaned the recent Supreme Court hearings on whether individual genes can be patented, saying there was no sign that anyone involved in the case truly understood the technology or the business implications of their arguments. That’s disturbing, because the decision could have important effects on industries including the developing field of molecular diagnostics.

Regaining Lost Brain Function

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 04:00:00 +0000

How do you make an electronic brain prosthesis that could restore a person’s ability to form long-term memories? Recent experiments by Theodore Berger and his colleagues, including Sam Deadwyler at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and researchers at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, have begun to describe how it might be done.

Introduction to the 10 Breakthrough Technologies of 2013

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 04:00:00 +0000

MIT Technology Review identifies the 10 most important technology milestones of the past year.

Our definition of a breakthrough is simple: an advance that gives people powerful new ways to use technology. It could be an intuitive design that provides a useful interface (see “Smart Watches”) or experimental devices that could allow people who have suffered brain damage to once again form memories (“Memory Implants”). Some could be key to sustainable economic growth (“Additive Manufacturing” and “Supergrids”), while others could change how we communicate (“Temporary Social Media”) or think about the unborn (“Prenatal DNA Sequencing”). Some are brilliant feats of engineering (“Baxter”). Others stem from attempts to rethink longstanding problems in their fields (“Deep Learning” and “Ultra-Efficient Solar Power”). As a whole, we intend this annual list not only to tell you which technologies you need to know about, but also to celebrate the creativity that produced them.

Prenatal DNA Sequencing

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 04:00:00 +0000

Reading the DNA of fetuses is the next frontier of the genome revolution. Do you really want to know the genetic destiny of your unborn child?

Earlier this year Illumina, the maker of the world’s most widely used DNA sequencing machines, agreed to pay nearly half a billion dollars for Verinata, a startup in Redwood City, California, that has hardly any revenues. What Verinata does have is technology that can do something as ethically fraught as it is inevitable: sequence the DNA of a human fetus before birth.

Memory Implants

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 04:00:00 +0000

A maverick neuroscientist believes he has deciphered the code by which the brain forms long-term memories.

Theodore Berger, a biomedical engineer and neuroscientist at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, envisions a day in the not too distant future when a patient with severe memory loss can get help from an electronic implant. In people whose brains have suffered damage from Alzheimer’s, stroke, or injury, disrupted neuronal networks often prevent long-term memories from forming. For more than two decades, Berger has designed silicon chips to mimic the signal processing that those neurons do when they’re functioning properly—the work that allows us to recall experiences and knowledge for more than a minute. Ultimately, Berger wants to restore the ability to create long-term memories by implanting chips like these in the brain.

Multifunctional Drugs May Offer Better-Than-Additive Effects

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 04:00:00 +0000

A startup called Catabasis is developing drugs that hit diseases at multiple targets.

Sometimes a whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The startup Catabasis Pharmaceuticals is hoping that will hold true for the multifunctional drugs it’s developing.

The Enduring Technology of Coal

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 04:00:00 +0000

Despite the need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, the burning of coal has only been accelerating.

Samsung Demos a Tablet Controlled by Your Brain

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 04:00:00 +0000

An easy-to-use EEG cap could expand the number of ways to interact with your mobile devices.

One day, we may be able to check e-mail or call a friend without ever touching a screen or even speaking to a disembodied helper. Samsung is researching how to bring mind control to its mobile devices with the hope of developing ways for people with mobility impairments to connect to the world. The ultimate goal of the project, say researchers in the company’s Emerging Technology Lab, is to broaden the ways in which all people can interact with devices.

uBiome Will Catalog Your Microbes, Again and Again

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 20:05:42 +0000

Your genome may not change, but your microbiome will.

Sequencing startup uBiome marked its next phase today with the launch of its new sales site where customers can order a swab kit for checking on the bacteria living in their gut, mouth, nose, genitals, or behind the ear.

Interview with BRAIN Project Pioneer: Miyoung Chun

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 04:00:00 +0000

 The trickiest thing about the brain mapping project might be that we don’t even know what we’re trying to learn.

The Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) project, which President Obama announced in his State of the Union address in February, will be a decade-long effort to understand the nature of thought (See “Why Obama’s Brain-Mapping Project Matters.”) The project, which inevitably evokes the Human Genome Project, will demand billions in research funding and require the coöperation of many government agencies, universities, and foundations. Miyoung Chun, a molecular geneticist and vice president for science programs at the Kavli Foundation, has been coördinating communication among those involved since planning began 18 months ago.

Nanoparticle Disguised as a Blood Cell Fights Bacterial Infection

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 17:00:00 +0000

Biomimetic nanoparticles could be an effective treatment against antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

A nanoparticle wrapped in a red blood cell membrane can remove toxins from the body and could be used to fight bacterial infections, according to research published today in Nature Nanotechnology.

A Decade of Advances Since the Human Genome Project

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 20:03:56 +0000

Despite breakthroughs in technology and medicine, there’s still a lot of work ahead for understanding and using the human genome.

This Sunday, the National Institutes of Health will celebrate the 10^th anniversary of the completion of the Human Genome Project. Since the end of the 13-year and $3-billion effort to determine the sequence of a human genome (a mosaic of genomes from several people in this case), there have been some impressive advances in technology and biological understanding and the dawn of a new branch of medicine: medical genomics

Wireless Micro LEDs Control Mouse Behavior

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 19:08:42 +0000

Mice tap into their own neural reward circuits with the help of a new optogenetics device.

A microscopic light-emitting diode device that controls the activity of neurons has given researchers wireless control over animal behavior. The tiny device, tested in mice, causes less damage than other methods used to deliver light into the brain, report researchers in Thursday’s issue of Science, and it does not tether mice to a light source, enabling scientists to study behaviors more naturally than is normally possible.

Microbes Can Mass-Produce Malaria Drug

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 20:02:00 +0000

Thanks to extensive genetic engineering, drugmakers can now brew large vats of the malaria drug artemisinin, stabilizing the world supply.

For the first time, researchers have successfully engineered a strain of baker’s yeast capable of spewing out malaria drugs on an industrial scale. The French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi has already begun brewing the microbes and announced plans to generate 70 million doses this year.

Transparent Brains Reveal Hidden Microscopic Details

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 18:05:09 +0000

To study the microscopic structures of the brain researchers have typically had to dissect the organ into amazingly thin slices that can then be viewed on a microscope. Without doing this, any structures more than a couple millimeters deep would be impossible to see. But besides being a pain-staking process, slicing the brain into thin slices can mess with the structure and make it difficult to follow the long paths of axons from one slice to the next.

Brinicles and the Origin of Life

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 11:18:32 +0000

Extraordinary tubes of ice that grow down into the ocean from ice sheets could be as significant for the origin of life as hydrothermal vents, say chemists

Why Obama's Brain-Mapping Project Matters

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 04:00:00 +0000

Obama calls for $100 million to develop new technologies to understand the brain.

Last week, President Obama officially announced $100 million in funding for arguably the most ambitious neuroscience initiative ever proposed.

The Cost of Dementia: Worse Than We Thought

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 19:12:03 +0000

A new study shows that dementia will have a crippling impact on the U.S. economy.

Dementia’s financial impact on the U.S. economy in 2010 was around $109 billion, reported researchers in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday. That figure largely consists of the costs of nursing-home care and home-based care, and it will likely double by 2040 as the population ages, according to the study.

Scientists Use MRI to Glimpse the Dreaming Mind

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 19:10:03 +0000

Scientists use a computer model to predict dream imagery from MRI scans.

MRI scans of a sleeping person’s brain can help predict what’s seen in the land of Nod.

Device Finds Stray Cancer Cells in Patients’ Blood

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 18:15:00 +0000

A microfluidic device that captures circulating tumor cells could give doctors a noninvasive way to diagnose and track cancers.

Doctors typically diagnose cancer via a biopsy, which can be invasive and expensive. A better way to diagnose the disease would be to detect telltale tumor cells floating in the bloodstream, but such a test has proved difficult to develop because stray cancer cells are rare, and it’s difficult to separate them from the mélange of cells in circulation.

Obama Announces First Funding for Brain Mapping Project

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 17:11:23 +0000

A plan to map the activity of entire brain regions down to the level of indvidual neurons got its official nod from the White House on Tuesday when President Obama announced his budget will request $100 million in funding for the project in 2014.

Messenger RNAs Could Create a New Class of Drugs

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 04:00:00 +0000

New partnerships could help bring a novel class of biopharmaceutical to patients.

Messenger RNAs—molecules that carry information between the genome and the protein-building machinery of cells—could become the next big class of biopharmaceutical drug.

Network Theory Approach Reveals Altitude Sickness to be Two Different Diseases

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 04:12:16 +0000

When the symptoms of altitude sickness are treated as a network, two distinct clinical syndromes emerge, say physicians.

How to Make a Computer from a Living Cell

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 20:02:00 +0000

Genetic logic gates will enable biologists to program cells for chemical production and disease detection.

If biologists could put computational controls inside living cells, they could program them to sense and report on the presence of cancer, create drugs on site as they’re needed, or dynamically adjust their activities in fermentation tanks used to make drugs and other chemicals. Now researchers at Stanford University have developed a way to make genetic parts that can perform the logic calculations that might someday control such activities.

A Voice-Analysis App to Diganose Concussions

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 19:41:29 +0000

A voice-analysis program could help coaches recognize concussions ringside or on the side lines, say researchers at the University of Notre Dame.

Gut Microbes Could Help Us Lose Weight

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 21:40:17 +0000

Two studies suggest that microbes play a role in weight loss.

Microbes in the gut may be a key to helping people lose weight, according to two tantalizing new studies.

The Dawn of Genome Trolling

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 19:18:00 +0000

Putting genome data into the public domain advances science, but nearly all of it can be linked to someone.

Last week European scientists were shamed into cutting off public access to a genome sequence. As far as I know, it’s the first instance of a genome pulled from the public record.

Are Your Doctor’s Hands Clean? This Wristband Knows

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 04:00:00 +0000

An RFID-reading, motion-sensing wristband buzzes to tell health-care workers if they are washing their hands properly.

A startup called IntelligentM wants to make hospitals healthier by encouraging workers to clean their hands properly. Its solution is a bracelet that vibrates when the wearer has scrubbed sufficiently, giving employees a way to check their habits and letting employers know who is and isn’t doing things right.

Doctors Should Tell Patients About Some, But Not All, Unexpected Genetic Findings

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 18:50:59 +0000

A professional medical geneticists group recommends that certain genetic risk factors be examined in all medical DNA sequence tests.

On Thursday, the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics recommended that doctors tell patients about certain genetic disease risks if they accidentally find them when exploring a patient’s genome for another reason. However, the group does not recommend that doctors tell patients about all incidental findings.

Nanoparticles Show Which Way the Stem Cells Went

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 22:00:00 +0000

By monitoring the path of stem cells in the body, scientists can better explore experimental therapies, and doctors can better tune treatments in patients.

Giving patients stem cells packaged with silica nanoparticles could help doctors determine the effectiveness of the treatments by revealing where the cells go after they’ve left the injection needle.

A Stealthy De-Extinction Startup

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 17:48:54 +0000

By reviving lost species, a new company could put a warm and fuzzy face on advanced reproductive engineering.

Two of biotechnology’s most prolific and far-sighted researchers say they’re teaming up to start a company that intends to rewrite the rules of animal reproduction.

An Unlikely Plan to Revive the Passenger Pigeon

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 04:00:00 +0000

Advances in genetic engineering have some biologists convinced they’ll re-create extinct species.

Passenger pigeons once darkened the skies over the eastern United States. Huge flocks would roost on chestnut trees, their weight snapping off branches. By 1914, though, humans had hunted the bird to extinction.

A Near-Whole Brain Activity Map in Fish

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 20:28:11 +0000

Neuron-level whole-brain activity maps could one day help explain brain function and disfunction.

Image: Neurons glow red as they fire in this whole zebrafish larva brain. Credit: Misha Ahrens and Philipp Keller

The Rare Disease Search Engine That Outperforms Google

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 10:59:54 +0000

A powerful new search engine designed to help diagnose rare diseases could prove a boon for both medics and the public

A Cancer Gene Therapy Activated by a Pill

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 04:00:00 +0000

Patients can turn off an experimental treatment if side effects get too bad.

A unique new cancer treatment uses gene therapy to induce a cancer-fighting immune response whose intensity can then be controlled with a pill. The combination could help tailor treatment to a patient’s individual response.

Photovoltaic Polymer Lets Damaged Retinas See the Light

Sun, 17 Mar 2013 18:00:00 +0000

A light-sensitive polymer could offer a new way to develop artificial retinas.

A team of neuroscientists and materials scientists has shown that a photovoltaic polymer can restore light-sensing capabilities to damaged retinas, offering hope of a simple way to restore vision to many people with degenerative eye disease.

More Near-Cures for HIV

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 21:18:14 +0000

Early treatment may be key to a drug-free life for a small percentage of patients.

Last week, scientists reported that a baby had been “functionally cured” of HIV (see “A Toddler May Have Been Cured of HIV Infection”). Now, other researchers report in PLoS Pathogens that 14 HIV-infected adults—four women and 10 men—have survived with the virus in check even though they have stopped taking their antiretroviral medications.

MRI Scans Reveal Distinct Brain Injuries After Concussion

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 19:35:10 +0000

Sorting concussion patients based on internal brain injury could help doctors identify those with more severe cases.

Brain scans may be able to detect two distinct kinds of brain injury in patients who have suffered a mild head injury or concussion, say researchers from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Differentiating between the two may help doctors better treat patients.

New Disease Registry Gives Patients Some Privacy

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 04:00:00 +0000

A new venture lets patients choose how their data is used for medical research and offers sophisticated privacy settings.

As advances in genomics, molecular analysis, and data processing have propelled disease research forward, scientists and drug developers still face a formidable challenge: recruiting patients for their studies.

A Wireless Brain-Computer Interface

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 04:00:00 +0000

Broadband communication and custom signal-processing chips power a new brain-recording device that may one day help paralyzed people.

A new wireless brain implant could be an important step toward technology that lets people with mobility problems control a computer or wheelchair with their thoughts.

Electronic Sensors Printed Directly on the Skin

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 04:00:00 +0000

New electronic tattoos could help monitor health during normal daily activities.

Taking advantage of recent advances in flexible electronics, researchers have devised a way to “print” devices directly onto the skin so people can wear them for an extended period while performing normal daily activities. Such systems could be used to track health and monitor healing near the skin’s surface, as in the case of surgical wounds.

DNA Sequencing Giant Illumina Joins Hunt for Autism Blood Test

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 21:37:28 +0000

Illumina will work with SynapDx’s to find a blood-test that could allow treatment to start earlier.

Massachusetts startup SynapDx announced on Wednesday that it will work with DNA sequencer manufacturer Illumina to develop early detection tools for autism spectrum disorders, according to a release.

Authentication System Would Use the Body to Secure Guns and Gadgets

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 20:02:00 +0000

With Microchip’s BodyCom technology, the human body is the medium for short-range authentication.

Leave a gun lying around, and anyone who picks it up could fire it. That could change, though, with newly announced technology from Microchip Technology, which uses the body as part of a secure authentication process.

The Brain Activity Map

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 19:26:00 +0000

Researchers explain the goals and structure of a new brain-mapping project.

A proposed effort to map brain activity on a large scale, expected to be announced by the White House later this month, could help neuroscientists understand the origins of cognition, perception, and other phenomena. These brain activities haven’t been well understood to date, in part because they arise from the interaction of large sets of neurons whose coördinated efforts scientists cannot currently track.

Brain-Boosting Technique Might Help Some Functions While Hurting Others

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 21:39:37 +0000

Electrically stimulating the brain may enhance memory, but impede with a person’s ability to react without thinking.

We would surely all love a way to boost our brain power. But new research suggests that one promising experimental method could come with a cost. Using a noninvasive technique to stimulate the brain, researchers found they could enhance learning when they targeted a certain spot. But that also made people worse at automaticity, or the ability to perform a task without really thinking about it. Stimulating another part of the brain had the reverse effect, on both learning and automaticity.

Researchers Identify States of Unconsciousness with EEG Data

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 20:00:00 +0000

Brain wave patterns show a clear transition to a coma-like state in patients under general anesthesia.

Researchers have identified patterns of brain activity that correlate to the loss and recovery of consciousness while a patient undergoes general anesthesia. Their findings, reported yesterday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences online, could one day help anesthesiologists better monitor consciousness in their patients.

A Toddler May Have Been Cured of HIV Infection

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 16:04:41 +0000

An accidental discovery in pediatric HIV treatment may one day save others born into infection.

Scientists with the National Institutes of Health announced on Sunday that a two-year-old child infected with HIV at birth had no signs of active virus despite being off anti-retroviral medication for nearly a year.

Are Surgical Robots Worth It?

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 21:47:38 +0000

The FDA looks into the safety of the da Vinci system in light of increased adverse incidents.

Surgical robots allow surgeons to perform a variety of less invasive operations because their miniaturized instruments can work through small incisions in the body and are more dexterous than traditional laparoscopic tools (see “The Slow Rise of the Robot Surgeon”). The result is that patients leave the operating room with a smaller surgical wound with the promise of faster recovery and less scarring.

Five Psychiatric Disorders Share Genetic Risk Factors

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 21:01:07 +0000

The results may one day help classify the disorders based on causes rather than symptoms.

Five different psychiatric illnesses share a handful of genetic risk factors, report researchers in The Lancet.

Rats Communicate Through Brain Chips

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 14:00:00 +0000

Researchers show that animals can collaborate via a brain-to-brain interface.

Pairs of rats can communicate through brain chips and collaborate to perform a task, report researchers in today’s Scientific Reports. Brain activity recorded in one rat was translated into a pattern of electrical pulses that were then transmitted to another rat that had been trained to push a particular lever in response to one of two patterns of electrical stimulation in its brain. The rats also worked together, say the researchers. If the second rat chose the wrong lever, then the first rat would change its brain function and behavior in the next trial so that the receiving rodent was more likely to get it right, claim the scientists.

Experiments on Cadavers Settle 100 Year-Old Puzzle Over Human Skin Strength

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 05:32:02 +0000

Langer lines map out the pattern of forces within the skin but nobody knew what caused them. Until now.

Brain Implants Can Reset Misfiring Circuits

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 20:39:00 +0000

Pacemaker-like treatment calms an overactive circuit in the brains of OCD patients.

A study that combined electrical stimulation of the brain with advanced imaging has shown how correcting misfiring neural circuits can lessen the symptoms of a common psychiatric disorder.

Solid-State Sequencer Debuts at Genome Conference

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 22:13:00 +0000

Nabsys’s technology could provide the positional accuracy missing from current DNA sequencing methods.

Nabsys, a DNA technology startup, showed off today its solid-state gene sequencing machine at the Advances in Genome Biology and Technology conference in Marco Island, Florida. The company says that later this year it will begin selling its machine, which will allow researchers to determine the structural organization of long stretches of DNA. This differs from most existing sequencing methods, which read DNA in short snippets that are later stitched together by software. The new system will, at first, complement existing methods, but it could eventually offer cheaper and faster sequencing than other approaches.

Molecule Helps Nanoparticles Sneak Past the Immune System

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 22:11:00 +0000

Researchers have given nanoparticles the ability to tell immune cells not to eat them, a development that could have broad implications for medicine.

Taking a cue from nature, researchers have designed nanoparticles that can avoid being destroyed by the immune system by convincing immune cells that the particles are part of the body. The advance represents a fundamentally new way to address a major obstacle facing nanoparticle-based drug delivery.

Microchip Restores Vision

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 19:18:16 +0000

A device that uses no externally visible gear enables patients to read letters and see faces.

A wirelessly controlled microchip has restored limited vision to patients in a small experimental trial, report researchers in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Yuri Milner Wants to Give Everyone Who Matters Some Money

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 17:25:00 +0000

A Russian mogul uses a science award to spread Internet millions among university biologists. Is he after a cure for cancer?

Russian billionaire Yuri Milner has been making money and friends fast in Silicon Valley. Now he’s doing the same in cancer biology labs.

Carbon Nanotube Transistors Orders of Magnitude Better at Spotting Cancer, Say Bioengineers

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 05:44:21 +0000

Arrays of carbon-nanotube transistors can detect prostate cancer with a much higher sensitivity than conventional techniques.

Tracking Brain Connections in Utero

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 22:23:55 +0000

Researchers use fMRI to detect strengthening brain circuits.

Researchers have mapped how neuronal connections develop in the healthy human fetus. Their results were published online on Wednesday in Science Translational Medicine.

A DIY Bioprinter Is Born

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 16:37:03 +0000

Members of the biohacker movement have created an inexpensive device to print cells. Will they print a leaf next?

Three-dimensional printers have been used to print iPhone cases, gun parts, even chocolate candies. Now a group of biohackers that meets at BioCurious, a community biology laboratory in Sunnyvale, California, has created a do-it-yourself inkjet printer that can print living cells.

50 Disruptive Companies 2013