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Machine That "Uncooks Eggs" Used To Improve Cancer Treatment

hypnosec writes: An Australian invention that gained attention for being able to "unboil" an egg has now been put to use in the treatment of cancer. The device has boosted the potency of a common cancer treatment drug, carboplatino, as much as four-and-a-half-times. ABC.net reports: "Flinders Centre for Innovation in Cancer director Professor Ross McKinnon said it meant a huge advance for cancer treatment. 'It gives us the promise of offering an alternative where we have more drug being delivered to the tumour and less drug being delivered to the rest of the body,' he said. 'That means less side-effects for the patient and hopefully a much better effect in terms of tumour response. What this group are doing is an example of one drug but we would hope we could extend this to many drugs.' The device can process proteins more efficiently than current methods, with possible big ramifications for the pharmaceuticals industry.

39 comments

  1. arrow of time by turkeydance · · Score: 2

    oh, yeah. that's scrambled eggs or something like that.

    1. Re:arrow of time by Samantha+Wright · · Score: 1

      Extending on this, there is at least one book where time travel is invented following the discovery of a recipe for unscrambling eggs.

      --
      Bio questions? Ask me to start a Q&A journal. Computer analogies available for most topics!
    2. Re:arrow of time by PPH · · Score: 1

      Yes, but will it un-blend?

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
    3. Re: arrow of time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How do you unscramble an egg?

      Feed it to a chicken!

    4. Re:arrow of time by Whiteox · · Score: 1

      Really? Another take on Jane Eyre? I'm sorry but I asked for a terminating pass from my English professor in Romantic Literature as I had an instinctual 'flight or fight' response after reading the genre.
      That doesn't mean that The Eyre Affair won't be on my reading list though but I already have slight nausea thinking about it.
      OTOH I'm thinking of writing a Sci-Fi time travel specific to 17th century Turkey and the Ottoman attempts to conquer Vienna. No eggs though, scrambled or otherwise. Maybe I can put a reference in there somewhen?

      --
      Don't be apathetic. Procrastinate!
    5. Re:arrow of time by Tokolosh · · Score: 1

      That's a Paul McCartney song.

      --
      Prove anything by multiplying Huge Number times Tiny Number
    6. Re:arrow of time by Samantha+Wright · · Score: 1

      It's exhaustingly parodical—and entirely targeted at those who are sick of the book. Jasper Fforde has been hailed as a suitable compatriot to Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett. Judging by covers, etc.

      --
      Bio questions? Ask me to start a Q&A journal. Computer analogies available for most topics!
  2. Hmm by koan · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Wonder if "untangling" proteins could help with Alzheimers and "Mad Cow?.

    --
    "If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
    1. Re:Hmm by rmdingler · · Score: 2
      Sure seems likely. Cataracts and even aging cells, too, one day.

      It's an exciting time to be alive; with quality of life extension, space exploration, and artificial intelligence on the very real scientific horizon.

      If only we can resolve our speciescidal tendencies.

      --
      Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

      Ernest Hemingway

    2. Re:Hmm by Severus+Snape · · Score: 1

      Sure seems likely. Cataracts and even aging cells, too, one day.

      It's an exciting time to be alive; with quality of life extension, space exploration, and artificial intelligence on the very real scientific horizon.

      If only we can resolve our speciescidal tendencies.

      "speciescidal" - unfortunately, that's a word made up out of thin air.

    3. Re:Hmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "speciescidal" - unfortunately, that's a word made up out of thin air.

      As all words are.

    4. Re:Hmm by EvilSS · · Score: 2

      "speciescidal" - unfortunately, that's a word made up out of thin air.

      As all words are.

      Mind blown!

      --
      I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.
    5. Re:Hmm by cjameshuff · · Score: 4, Informative

      The process involves liquefying the protein-containing material and running it through a fluid vortex that applies strong shear forces to the individual molecules, untangling them and allowing them to refold. This process is likely to be somewhat more detrimental to brain function than the mis-folded proteins were.

      In this case, it appears the same shear forces cause the cancer drug to be more likely to get encapsulated in a lipid vesicle, which protects the drug and helps get it past cell membranes. Useful, but not directly applicable to Alzheimer's or prion diseases.

    6. Re:Hmm by koan · · Score: 1

      liquefying the protein-containing material and running it through a fluid vortex

      LOL, OK that answers that.

      --
      "If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
    7. Re:Hmm by ljw1004 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Wonder if "untangling" proteins could help with Alzheimers and "Mad Cow?.

      There are two main theories about Alzheimers. The dominant theory is that it's caused by beta-amyloid protein which forms plaques. The minority theory is that it's caused by tau protein which forms long filaments called "tangles"; these tangles gum up the neuron and eventually cause it to burst. http://taurx.com/tau-tangles-i...

      My father during his PhD discovered that a common dye, methylene blue, causes those filaments to untangle. He formed a small pharmaceutical company to pursue this idea. They tweaked the chemical a bit, including with heavy duty computer number-crunching to simulate its 3d structure and mode of interaction. They had great results in Phase 2 trials, and their Phase 3 trials are currently underway. Fingers crossed.

      That said, Alzheimers disease is a graveyard of pharmaceutical funding. $18+ billion dollars put into drug trials so far (not just "foundational research"), primarily on the beta-amyloid hypothesis, but with nothing yet to show.

    8. Re:Hmm by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      Sure. Except that extracting them and tossing them in a fluidic vortex to untangle them will kill you.

    9. Re:Hmm by koan · · Score: 1

      Yep that was pointed out.

      --
      "If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
    10. Re:Hmm by d'baba · · Score: 1

      No, I don't have Al's hammers. I don't even know who Al is.

    11. Re:Hmm by bayankaran · · Score: 4, Informative

      The latest hypothesis is that beta-amyloid (and the plaques) is a result of Alzheimer's, rather than a cause.
      http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-04-30/do-we-all-have-alzhemers-completely-wrong-man-says-yes/

      --
      Tat Tvam Asi
    12. Re:Hmm by Prune · · Score: 1
      Lest anyone think of investing in parent poster's father's company, consider that methylene blue is neurotoxic: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pu...
      A few choice quotes from this research:

      MB...initiated widespread neuronal apoptosis....rapid suppression of evoked excitatory field potentials by MB...dose-dependent effect of this drug on cell death....exposure to MB at non-cell-death-inducing concentrations could still induce significant retraction of dendritic arbor

      And what's the researchers' conclusion?

      MB exerts neurotoxic effects on the central nervous system

      Thanks, but no thanks. Parent poster, go peddle your pharmascam elsewhere.

      --
      "Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason."
  3. repost of a year ago by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    about a year ago this was posted on /.

    1. Re:repost of a year ago by Eloking · · Score: 1

      about a year ago this was posted on /.

      Are you sure? I remember that in January I saw that news about an egg's white "unboiling" machine that was interesting at most but didn't seem to have any useful purpose at the time. Are you saying that this machine was used for cancer prior been used to "un"make breakfast?

      --
      Elok
    2. Re:repost of a year ago by ColdWetDog · · Score: 1

      Gentleman (and I use the term loosely) - the information you seek is in the fucking summary.

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
  4. Solving the delivery bottleneck by Chikungunya · · Score: 3, Insightful

    There are a lot of medical interventions that are very nice on paper but useless in practice because of the difficulty of delivering something fragile to a specific point in the body. This super-vesicles seem to be still too limited to address this problem perfectly but they seem like a big step forward, a couple of generations later this could very well make gene-therapy, siRNA inhibition, cell-specific drug therapies, etc. practical enough to be used as therapy.

  5. BY "as much as four-and-a-half times"... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    Fucking American idiots. Without the word "by", it means it has boosted the effect FOUR AND A HALF TIMES, not BY four and a half times. And why the fucking hyphens? You Americans are so stupid it's beyond belief.

    1. Re:BY "as much as four-and-a-half times"... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm an American idiot - so this question will probably just make you angrier - but I have to ask: How is it you know the nationality of the author of TFS? I assume you have pretty solid evidence confirming the author's nationality, because if you don't, well...I guess that would make YOU the idiot, wouldn't it?

      Or would it? I don't really know! Help me please, you non-American master of all that is grammatically correct in the English language!

    2. Re:BY "as much as four-and-a-half times"... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Such idiocy is usually from Americans.

    3. Re:BY "as much as four-and-a-half times"... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wolf Bearclaw Hitler II promises to liberate all of non-America and put forth anti-thug pro-grammar initiatives.

      The new Füher has promised to promote a grammar nazi police state where those who don't follow the rules will be carted off with the thugs in Detroit to either work in forced labor or be liquidated as fuel for the new tomorrow.

      Please join the Füher in actions in New York, Missouri, Florida, South Carolina, and the rest of the country.

      Building a better tomorrow.

      Flying Eaglewing
      Chief Propaganda Officer to the Future Fascist States of America

  6. You want to unboil/unscramble an egg? by dwywit · · Score: 1

    Feed it to a chicken.

    --
    They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
    1. Re:You want to unboil/unscramble an egg? by EvilSS · · Score: 1

      Feed it to a chicken.

      Better yet: Feed it to a roasted chicken!

      --
      I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.
  7. The Republicans will never allow... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    this to actually be used. They'll block it like all of the other promising cancer treatments we read about almost weekly.

    1. Re:The Republicans will never allow... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      this to actually be used. They'll block it like all of the other promising cancer treatments we read about almost weekly.

      Guess they blocked you anti-schizophrenia drugs too?

    2. Re:The Republicans will never allow... by Dog-Cow · · Score: 0

      They also blocked his father's condom, his mother's birth control and her abortion :(

  8. A teaspoon of backing soda by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    is also said to cure cancer but ofcourse that doesn't benefit Big Pharma....

  9. speciescide is well within google search parameter by rmdingler · · Score: 1
    I am going to avoid contestation with your description of the word's use as "unfortunate".

    But. My only use of poetic license has been with tense, not an attempt at neologism.

    --
    Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

    Ernest Hemingway

  10. Re:speciescide is well within google search parame by Whiteox · · Score: 2

    There is nothing wrong with Cromulency if used correctly.

    --
    Don't be apathetic. Procrastinate!
  11. Re:speciescide is well within google search parame by jsilver212 · · Score: 2

    There is nothing wrong with Cromulency if used correctly.

    No there's'nt any problem I see with re-tensing and such, only with the misplaced capital letter on "Cromulency".

  12. Lipid formulations of cancer drugs exist by ponos · · Score: 3, Informative

    Lipid formulations of cancer drugs already exist, notably liposomal doxorubicin. Usually these result in better intracellular delivery and less toxicity. The problem is that making stable lipid formulations is quite hard and the resulting product quite expensive. If this, apparently simple, method can create liposomal carboplatin (or whatever other drug), it could allow cheaper and more diverse liposomal anti-cancer drugs. That would be nice. Especially carboplatiin (and cisplatin) are extremely important for many, many different chemotherapy protocols.

  13. Re:speciescide is well within google search parame by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

    > there's'nt

    Your second apostrophe should be between the "n" and the "t".

    --
    (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.