The Daily Scan

Stemming the Tide

The Economist has a really fascinating article about the possibility that stem cells may cause cancer:

CANCER cells are distinguished by the fact that they multiply rapidly and in an uncontrolled manner. Hence, scientists and drug companies have developed drugs that kill cells which divide quickly, while sparing slow-growing—and thus presumably healthy—cells. The catch is that while such therapies often shrink tumours, they rarely cure the underlying disease. Patients often relapse years after an apparently successful treatment. At the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, which took place in Orlando, Florida, in the last few days of March, Michael Clarke, of the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor, discussed why such relapses might occur. Dr Clarke believes that a small population of slow-growing cells in tumours—cancerous stem cells—may be responsible not only for the recurrence of tumours, but for the original cancers as well.

This seems a very promising line of inquiry.

Recently I noted that Fortune magazine ran a cover story about how we're "losing the war on cancer". The gist of that story was that cancer research is focused more on therapy than prevention. This insight - if true - may lead directly to courses of treatment which truly "cure" cancer. Very cool.

Synthetic Life

The headline is a bit sensational, but Scientific American has a new story entitled Synthetic Life:

Biologists are crafting libraries of interchangeable DNA parts and assembling them inside microbes to create programmable, living machines.

The goal isn't necessarily to create organisms, it is to create genetic machines comprised of "BioBricks". This is going to be big - a cool new way to exploit nanotechnology.

First Person: J. Craig Venter

The Scientist has a nice interview with J. Craig Venter, who introduced whole-genome shotgun sequencing and expressed sequence tags (ESTs) to the world. He is best known as the founder of Celera, a company whose effort were central to the successful Human Genome Project.

What's it like to be J. Craig Venter?

My mind is always very active, and I'm always dealing with a lot of continuous, complicated issues. I have the wonderful, fortunate position of being able to work in areas that I find intellectually stimulating. I have to be deeply asleep and unconscious to not be thinking about what I am doing in my life.

Check it out, an interesting look at a remarkable scientist...

John Maynard Smith 1920-2004

The University of Sussex reports:

Professor John Maynard Smith, the internationally renowned evolutionary biologist, 84, died peacefully at home on April 19.Maynard Smith was remarkable for the breadth of his contributions to biology, including his radical application of game theory to understanding evolutionary strategies, and his clear definition of the major transitions in the history of life. Maynard Smith was always enthusiastic about new data sources and continued to be a driving force in the use of molecular data to answer biological questions.

Among many other significant insights, Dr. Smith developed the key evolutionary concept of evolutionarily stable strategy, or ESS. An ESS is a survival strategy that works well when competing against itself.

Medical Mood Ring

Technology Review reports:

MIT mechanical engineers Harry Asada and Phillip Shaltis have developed a “ring sensor” that monitors the wearer’s temperature, heart rate, and blood oxygen level. The battery-powered ring contains a wireless link that can transmit vital signs to a cell phone or computer, allowing a caregiver to determine remotely whether a patient needs assistance.

This is the future - and it's here now...

Brain study indicates location of aesthetic judgement

Scientific American carries an interesting study about where in the brain aesthetic tendancies are located:

"One trait believed to differentiate humans from other primates is the ability to appreciate aesthetics. Scientists have suspected [and these studies show] that such judgement stems from an area of the brain called the prefrontal cortex--one of the last cortical regions to expand dramatically over evolution..."

Fascinating.

The same article reports:

A second brain study, published online today in the journal PLoS Biology, has brought to light the area of the brain that is activated when we experience a flash of insight--the so-called "Eureka!" moment.

The temporal cortex is known to make semantic connections between different kinds of ideas, the researchers report, and putting together known concepts in novel ways might be exactly what defines an insight.

DNA folds into paired pyramids

Noted on the AlwaysOn blog:

Researchers from the Scripps Research Institute have formed strings of DNA that spontaneously fold into a wireframe octahedron, a shape that has eight triangular faces.

The octahedron has two advantages over other artificially-formed three-dimensional DNA shapes, according to the researchers. First, because the structures are triangular, they're relatively strong. Second, like a three-dimensional paper airplane made from a flat piece of paper, the octahedron is made from straight DNA strands. The three-dimensional shape forms when one long DNA strand and five shorter strands are mixed and heated.

Amazing! This is an excerpt from an article in the February 12, 2004 issue of Nature.

I think, therefore I compute

The New York Times reports With Tiny Brain Implants, Just Thinking May Make It So:

Cyberkinetics Inc., a medical device company, plans to implant a tiny chip in the brains of five paralyzed people in an effort to enable them to operate a computer by thought alone. The Food and Drug Administration has given approval for a clinical trial of the implants.

This is amazing. What a great time for biotech, and what a great time to be alive!

I wonder if someday I'll be able to blog just by thinking. Now that's scary :)

ScanScope T2 design

Forgive me for showing off, but I just had to post our latest ScanScope T2 design.

We're pretty excited about this - it is smaller, easier to use for individual slides, and we really like the way it looks. Of course all the cool things "under the hood" remain exactly the same; the line-scan camera, the high-resolution optics, the accurate stages, our patented scanning technology, and the precision 120-slide autoloader.

If you'd like to see one in person, we'd be happy to arrange a demo, please just give us a call at (760) 539-1100.

First person - Leroy Hood

The latest issue of The Scientist features First Person: Leroy Hood:

Leroy Hood is the type of man for whom barriers have rarely, if ever, existed. Metaphorically and even literally speaking, Hood, 65, is a mountain climber who creates his own tools and working environment if those at hand aren't doing the job. The founder of 11 companies and coholder of 14 patents, Hood describes himself as an eternal optimist who foresees the inevitability of scientific progress thwarted by neither humans nor politics.

He was asked by the interviewer to comment on ethical issues in genetic research, and he replied:

My own view is that progress is inevitable. Those trying to block it will be utterly irrelevant. I think it's one of the natural inevitable steps, a consequence of gaining rationality, and the ability to manipulate the most fundamental of all living things, our DNA. I will say, it can be put to good use, or bad use, like any technology. We have to give our citizenry the information, and the inquiry-based tools, to make rational judgments. Our citizenry clearly do not have those tools.

Among his least significant accomplishments, he was my premed advisor at CalTech :)