Biotech+and+Medicine+overview

= Looking backwards... Moving Forwardmedia type="custom" key="7095885" ﻿ media type="youtube" key="Wm6_BBS_KE4?fs=1" height="227" width="290"media type="youtube" key="W6bRDh_G4zE?fs=1" height="233" width="294" align="left"  = --

Cant figure out how to embed videos into the prezi?? if only anyone was up at this hour! CHECK EDMODO.

Treatment of diseases through new medical advances- joe p

10 Promising Biomedical Advances in Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research
Since the isolation of human embryonic stem cells, or hESCs, in 1998 scientists around the country have made significant strides laying the groundwork for clinical treatments. In January, the FDA approved the first clinical trial for a potential therapy, a treatment for [|spinal cord injuries]. And today, President Obama [|lifted the Bush administration’s restrictions] on on federal funding of research involving human embryonic stem cells. The path from discovery to cure is long, as researchers like stem cell pioneer and //Science Progress// adviser John Gearhart [|point out]. But with access to federal competitive grant money for responsible, ethical research projects, scientists can continue the work that will help us fully understand human development and fulfill the promise of regenerative medicine. With today’s change in policy, that can happen here in the United States. As we look forward a bright future of scientific discovery, here’s a glance back at some major advances in human embryonic stem cell research around the world over the past few years: January 20th, 2009: Researchers produced massive volumes of “**universal donor**” type O-negative blood from human embryonic stem cells, potentially making [|blood donation a thing of the past]. December 5th, 2008: Harvard scientists created [|spinal motor neurons] from hESCs, and were able to replicate the **ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease,** process in a Petri dish. September 8th, 2008: [|Neural cells] derived from hESCs showed effectiveness at reducing the clinical systems of **multiple sclerosis** in animals. March 15th, 2008: Scientists developed a way to convert human embryonic stem cells into [|dopamine-producing nerve cells], holding great promise for therapy for **Parkinson’s disease.** February 21st, 2008: Scientists at Novocell, Inc. created [|insulin-producing islet cells] from human embryonic stem cells that effectively controlled insulin levels in **diabetic** mice. January 31st, 2008: Scientists coaxed hESCs into functional hepatocytes ([|liver cells]) that may be used for treatment of **liver diseases**. September 21st, 2006: Vision was improved in rats suffering from a disease similar to age-related **macular degeneration** with the injection of human embryonic stem cells [|into the retina]. July 14th, 2006: UCLA Aids Institute researchers used hESCs to [|create lines of mature T-cells] that could fight viruses like **HIV**, which destroys certain types of T-cells. October 12th, 2005: Scientists used hESCs to create **cancer**-killing [|cells]. September 24th, 2004: Scientists in Israel [|derived fully functional cardiomyocytes] (heart cells) from human embryonic stem cells, paving the way for hESC-derived pacemakers and **heart tissue** repair.

Biomedical Advances: Biomedical Engineering
 * Cell and tissue engineering (genetically modified skin grafts and artificial pancreas for diabetics)
 * Biological Chip technology ( DNA chips)

Biomedical Advances: Molecular Genetics · Human genome project completed in 2001 · Genetic manipulations in model systems · Identification of genes related to diseases (muscular dystrophy, colon cancer) · Production of proteins by gene splicing ( Human growth hormone) · Cloning of plants and animals (Dolly the lamb)

Biomedical Advances: Biophotonics
 * Laser scissors and tweezers in cell biology ( Manipulation of specific chromosomes, vesicles)
 * Laser surgery (eye and cosmetic corrections)
 * Laser dentistry ( Replacement of mechanical drills)

Biomedical Advances: Biological Imaging
 * Digital image analysis and pattern recognition (breast cancer detection on mammogram)
 * Functional MRI, Pet Scan ( Localized brain function)
 * Scanning probe microscopy ( cellular biomechanics)

Biomedical Advances: Molecular Biophysics · Structural Biology (atomic structure of proteins by X-ray, NMR, Electron microscopy) · Molecular interactions and structure-based drug design ( Drug for HIV)

Biomedical Advances: Bioinformatics
 * Functional genomics: prediction of normal and abnormal protein structure and function
 * Rational drug design: predict activity of drugs based on structure of target
 * Multidisciplinary epidemiology: correlation of clinical, behavioral, genetic, anatomical, and molecular profiles (Alzheimer’s breast cancer)

Development of online presi timeline - amanda p Prezi's not up yet..so...MY timeline to supplement Justin's:  1833-The first enzymes are isolated. 1988: Harvard molecular geneticists are awarded the first U.S. patent for a genetically altered animal - a transgenic mouse. AND Congress funds the Human Genome Project, a massive effort to map and sequence the human genetic code as well as the genomes of other species.

[]

Timeline development - Justin

=Stem Cell Experiments Slow Vision Loss in Rats=

By Rick Weiss Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, September 21, 2006
Researchers will report today that cells grown from human embryonic stem cells slowed vision loss when injected into the eyes of rats with a disease similar to macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in people older than 55. The experiments do not prove that the cells, obtained through the destruction of human embryos, will work in people. But by showing that the cells have the potential to fill in for failing cells in the retina, experts said, the work may help justify trying the technique in humans. Raymond D. Lund, then at the University of Utah's John A. Moran Eye Center in Salt Lake City, and Robert Lanza of Advanced Cell Technology Inc. (ACT) in Worcester, Mass., started by developing a reliable method for turning embryonic stem cells into retinal pigment epithelium cells, which nourish the light-sensitive "photoreceptor" cells in the eye. In macular degeneration, the pigment cells gradually disappear. The researchers achieved the transformation in all 18 stem cell lines they worked with -- including some provided by the National Institutes of Health and others developed privately at Harvard University and at ACT -- proving that their approach can consistently produce the crucial pigment cells. Then they injected the cells, about 20,000 per eye, into the retinas of 14 rats with a genetic disease similar to macular degeneration. Eight control rats received eye injections without any cells. Forty days after treatment, the team measured retinal electrical activity in response to flashes of light, and it found that the treated rats were twice as responsive as the untreated ones, which by then were going blind. A separate test -- which tracks eye and head movements in response to a moving display, a measure of an animal's ability to discern fine details -- showed that the treated rats had twice the visual acuity of the untreated rats nearly three months after treatment. Microscopic examination of the retinas at autopsy showed that the treated eyes had healthy photoreceptor layers five to seven cells thick, while the untreated eyes had an average thickness of just one cell. (Healthy rats have layers 10 to 12 cells thick.) None of the cells divided abnormally or grew into tumors, the team reports in today's issue of the journal Cloning and Stem Cells. "It's important and pretty exciting work," said Lucian V. Del Priore, an expert in retinal cell transplants at Columbia University. A steady source of safe, laboratory-cultivated cells for retinal transplants would be a welcome advance, he said. But Del Priore cautioned that the rat disease is not identical to macular degeneration (no animal disease is), and it remains uncertain how long the new cells will survive and work. Immune-system responses, while generally suppressed inside the eye, can eventually lead to rejection, he said.

= __Gene therapy experiment restores sight in a few__ = __By Phil Furey__ __ PHILADELPHIA | Sun Oct 25, 2009 4:52am EDT __ __ PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Nine-year-old Corey Haas can ride his bike alone now, thanks to an experimental gene therapy that has boosted his fading vision with a single treatment. __ __ The gene therapy helped improve worsening eyesight caused by a rare inherited disease called Leber congenital amaurosis, or LCA, which makes most patients blind by age 40. __ __ Twelve treated patients, including Corey, now have better vision, their doctors told a joint meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and Pan-American Association of Ophthalmology in San Francisco on Saturday. __ __ "All 12 patients given gene therapy in one eye showed improvement in retinal function," Dr Katherine High of The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and colleagues wrote in a report to be released at the same time by the Lancet medical journal. __ __ LCA causes the retina to degenerate and the researchers found that the younger the patient treated with the therapy, the better the effects. __ __ "Before, I used to ride my bike just in front of the house and now I just ride around the neighborhood with no one watching," Corey told a news conference. __ __ While the experiment was meant mostly to show the treatment was safe, it showed remarkably strong effects, High and Dr Jean Bennett of the University of Pennsylvania found. __ __ "This study reports dramatic results in restoring vision to patients who previously had no options for treatment," said High. "These findings may expedite development of gene therapy for more common retinal diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration." __ __ They could also help restore the tarnished image of gene therapy, battered by the death of an 18-year-old volunteer in a clinical trial in 1999 and cases of leukemia in a few young children treated in France. __ __- "The study by Bennett and co-workers will further boost gene therapy trials and provide hope for patients with inherite blindness and other genetic disorders," Dr Frans Cremers and Dr Rob Collin of Nijmegen Medical Center in the Netherlands wrote in a commentary.__ __- A faulty gene means patients with LCA start to lose their vision in childhood. There is no treatment.__ __High, Bennett and colleagues worked with 12 volunteers, aged 8 to 44. They reported on three of the adult patients in April of 2008.__ __- They designed a harmless virus, called an adeno-associated virus, to carry corrective DNA directly into the eyes. The gene they used, called RPE65, is mutated in up to about 16 percent of LCA patients and the normal gene restored light-sensitive pigments in the retina at the back of the eye.__ __The treatment did not restore normal eyesight to any of the patients but half are no longer legally blind.__ six part: present day and future [] timeline: past to present [] news broadcast []