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Stem-Cell-Like-Cells Made Using Only Blood?
Adair writes "Newscientist.com is reporting that a UK biotech firm, TriStem has developed a technique to 'turn ordinary blood into cells capable of regenerating damaged or diseased tissues.' Their method transforms anyone's white blood cells into 'stem-cell-like-cells' which can then be coaxed into one of a myriad of healthy cells such as heart, nerve, or brain. Having made these claims for years, TriStem has recently provided proof to their claims, which some scientists who witnessed called 'stunning."' They have some more proving to do, but if the initial results pan out, the applications could be fantastic -- and without the stigma of traditional stem-cell research."
There was a guy on Motel William's show yesterday who had been bitten and had a big hole in his abdomen after debriding the killed flesh. He said a frend of his had used white blood cells 'and sumtin' and he healed in 10 days. Anyone know if this is the same process?
The latest Slashdot meme.
So I could like, inject this stuff into my arm and I'd have a super-arm that could like shoot laser beams and pick up mack trucks full of pianos?
I would check to see if these TriStem people have recently returned from Antarctica or a husky was doing the presentation.
If this is true these guys can make insane amounts of money. They patented their technique in 1996 in the UK and in 2000 in the US so we are left with a monopoly. Hopefully they won't exploit it too much.
-- Cheers!
Since we have some people looking into how sea urchins are practically immortal, I'm curious if there will be some way to mix and cross-reference the two veins of research to come up with a longevity treatment...
=Smidge=
If this is true then we very well may be the last generation to have to die.
Maybe we deserve this world ?
I'd have a super-arm
Many of the subscribers already do...
Do you like German cars?
There's a reason God let mankind have intelligence.
So we can use it.
Ever see a Christian go to the doctor? Then your whole point is invalidated. If we were so picky about things "un-natch-er-ull", we would just pray. And die, as a result of being stupid. And then there would be no more Christians.
Maybe you need to start using your God-given intelligence.
Among other things, it would be interesting to see whether they can actually grow new neuron cells.
Wait until they publish a controlled study in a peer-reviewed journal. Until then, this is all science-by-press-release and not worth the paper on which it's printed.
That said, I hope they're successful and manage to strike a healthy balance between profit and humanity.
-j
No, the fanatical Christians' whole point is invalidated; but the grandparent poster's point is right on the money.
Just about major medical advance in history -- dissection of corpses to learn anatomy, sterilization of instruments, immunization, anesthesia, antibiotics, x-rays, blood transfusions -- has met religious opposition when it first came out*. And over time, as the obvious benefits added up, these advances became part of "just the way things are" and almost everyone** stopped complaining about them. But new advances still set off the same alarm bells in the minds of the Luddites, who don't have the grasp of history to see what fools and hypocrites they are.
Plenty of True Believers will happily go to the doctor, take advantage of whatever the latest technology is that's available at that moment to cure what ails them, and then go home and bitch about Those Damn Scientists Interfering With The Will By Meddling With Things Man Was Not Meant To Know. And because of this behavior, unfortunately, there's no selective pressure for that kind of idiocy to die out.
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* I heartily recommend Jonathan Miller's The Body in Question for an overview of this, as well as other fascinating aspects of medical history.
* With the exception of, e.g., Jehovah's Witnesses and blood transfusions. They may be fanatics, but at least they're consistent fanatics.
The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
That should be "... Interfering With The Will Of God By Meddling ..." above, of course.
The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
They'll want to make their $ back and a handsome profit on top of it; but you're right - companies are not "fair" about it IMHO. A better system to balance that out needs to be tacked on to patent law.
And in 17 years (depending on your country) that technology will become generic and commoditized. Inventors should be compensated for their labour; however, for the next generation the fruits of it should be ubiquitous.
So look at it this way: in a generation, this technology will be patent-free.
I'm as socialist and altruistic as the next guy, but I think there can be some balance with capitalism. If you defang its cannibalistic tendencies and ensure reasonable labor rights then it's not a bad way to live.
Now, IMHO anyone who uses NIH technology or other tech developed at taxpayer expense then the taxpayer should get an even split. So if Liverium, a drug to reverse cirrhosis in alcoholics, were developed and made $50 billion for Merc then the Treasury would get half in the name of the taxpayer. Just like we should be collecting for mineral rights that mining companies get for virtually nothing (e.g. billions in gold extracted for a $30,000 fee on public land).
What to do with this largesse? Well, everyone has their own opinion and I'll leave that to another debate.
Everybody is Peter North!
Mods, if you understand this joke you're just as twisted as me.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
its "pray to God but row away from the rocks"
A Bugg
To be fair, not all of us believers feel that any new technology will help disprove God's existence and send the world into apocalypse. With this article I may point to references in the Bible of an era called the millenium where people will live for extended periods of time (almost a thousand years)
Get me a meat pie floater!
Oh, I'm not saying that all religious believers are Luddites, at all. Simply that most of the Luddism, especially w.r.t. biology and medicine, seems to use religious justifications for its absurd claims.
The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
Clearly it's not a trade secret. But if it's patented, they're the only ones who are legally allowed to *use* the technology; all others must license the process from them.
=== "Some people see the glass as half-empty. Others see it as half-full. I see the glass as too big." -G. Carlin.