June 18, 2011
Published by admin at June 18, 2011
Categories
One of the many issues of growing old is the slow deterioration in cartilage. Cartilage provides a “non-stick” surface to lubricate your joints, and while it is a remarkable material (often lasts a lifetime of wear!), it has little if any regenerative power. Hence the osteoarthritis that plagues so many […]
June 11, 2011
Published by admin at June 11, 2011
Categories
A paper in Nature, summarised in The Scientist, reports success in making progenitor cells, that naturally exist in the outer layer of heart tissue, proliferate, migrate into heart muscle and transform into heart muscle cells (cardiomyocytes). The research in mice “suggests that the human heart could be encouraged to repair itself […]
May 22, 2011
Published by admin at May 22, 2011
Categories
While lab-grown skin has been around for a while (relatively speaking!) and artifical bladders have already been used medically, the problem with growing solid organs is that their three-dimensional structure can be important, both in terms of localisation of cells with different specialisations and the blood supply to the organ. […]
May 21, 2011
Published by admin at May 21, 2011
Categories
Telomeres are the “caps” on the ends of chromosomes that keep things functioning smoothly. Normally, each time a cell divides its telomeres get shorter, until eventually the cells can no longer function. The enzyme telomerase can restore the telomeres (that is how many cancer cells achieve their self-destructive “immortality”). By […]
May 21, 2011
Published by admin at May 21, 2011
Categories
In the immortal words of Starship Troopers (originally of a military commander in the 20th century, I believe): “Do you wanna live forever?” A while ago at our monthly philosophy meetings, my talk was life extension: how for the first time in human history, technology was advancing at a sufficient […]
May 5, 2011
Published by admin at May 5, 2011
Categories
An interesting report from The Scientist: Chronic diseases world’s no. 1 killer Chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and heart disease are now the biggest killers around the world, a new report by the World Health Organization found. Accounting for more than 60 percent of the deaths worldwide in 2008, […]