The Latest in Biotech

Continued Support From the Glenn Foundation for Medical Research

In response to the recent progress report from Methuselah Foundation chairman Aubrey de Grey, we are pleased to note that the Glenn Foundation for Medical Research has stepped forward in greater support of Foundation-funded SENS research with the offer of an additional $50,000 donation.

Paul F. Glenn, founder of the Glenn Foundation, said, "We have been following the progress of Aubrey de Grey's ideas with interest, and the Thiel matching pledge allows us to leverage our funds in a highly efficient way."

Filter removes mad cow proteins from blood

A new filtering device can remove dangerous “mad cow disease" proteins from blood. Scientists say the device could prevent the spread of deadly prion diseases via blood transfusions.

At least three people have died in the UK after receiving blood contaminated with variant Creutzfeldt Jakob disease (vCJD) – the human equivalent of mad cow disease. There is currently no test available to screen blood for the misfolded “prion” proteins that cause the illness.

The new “P-Capt” filter designed by Robert Rohwer of the VA Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland, US, and colleagues aims to make blood safer by removing these proteins. Their tests show the filter can prevent infections in hamsters and can remove the vCJD prions from human blood.

Military college to set up stem cell research centre

'Stem cell therapy is the futuristic regenerative or reparative medicine. It will be the futuristic treatment replacing drug therapy and surgery. Through stem cell treatment, heart diseases, diabetes, Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, eye and muscle disease and various other diseases can be cured,' Surgeon Vice Admiral V.K. Singh, the Armed Forces Medical Services director general, told IANS.

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'We are not playing god. Our intention is not to create a super human being but to repair diseased and damaged human tissues and organs,' said Col. Harsh Kumar, head of the Department of Transfusion Medicine, AFMC.

'Stem cell therapy, a futuristic treatment in medicine, is all set to revolutionise and replace drug-based treatment as stem cells have the potential to form parts of the human body. It is absolutely achievable,' he added.