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Study: potentially life-saving blood stem cells regenerate in artificial bone marrow
A team of biochemists has engineered artificial bone marrow capable of hosting hematopoietic stem cells -- the potentially life-saving cells used in the treatment of leukemia -- for regeneration.
The work was carried out at the KIT Institute of Functional Interfaces (IFG), the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Stuttgart and Tübingen University in Germany, where Cornelia Lee-Thedieck led a team in building a scaffold for stem cell regeneration.
Hematopoietic stem cells, which are derived from both blood and bone marrow, are known for their extraordinary regenerative properties -- they can differentiate into a whole series of specialised cells in the body and travel into the blood from the bone marrow. This makes it an excellent treatment for cancers of the blood, including leukemia and lymphoma where underdeveloped white blood cells multiply out of control. In these cases the patient's own supply of hematopoietic cells is destroyed and they are replenished via a bone marrow transplant from a matched donor. These are not in plentiful supply, so for years artificial bone marrow has been in development to help fill the need -- existing hematopoietic stem cells only replenish and thrive within the complex, porous structure of bone marrow and do not survive without it. If researchers could develop a suitable host, they could continually transplant cells onto that host to regenerate cells and meet demand.
"Multiplication of hematopoietic stem cells in vitro with current standard methods is limited and mostly insufficient for clinical applications of these cells," write the team in the journalBiomaterials. "They quickly lose their multipotency in culture because of the fast onset of differentiation. In contrast, HSCs efficiently self-renew in their natural microenvironment (their niche) in the bone marrow."
The team believes it has now created a potentially game-changing host that mimics that niche. They used synthetic polymers to build macroporous hydrogel scaffolds that mimic the spongy texture of bone marrow. Protein building blocks were then introduced, which would encourage introduced stem cells to stick to the scaffold. They had to introduce a number of other cells which importantly also thrive within bone marrow to exchange nutrients and oxygen.
To test the scaffold, stem cells from bone marrow and umbilical cord blood were introduced. It took a few days, but those from the cord blood began to multiply.
The authors concluded: "Co-culture in the pores of the three-dimensional hydrogel scaffold showed that the positive effect of MSCs on preservation of HSPC stemness was more pronounced in 3D than in standard 2D cell culture systems."
This is not the first time that artificial bone marrow has been attempted, however. Back in 2008 a team from the University of Michigan maintained that it had created a replica that could make red and white blood cells, and within which blood stem cells could replicate and produce B cells (important immune cells). In this instance, scaffolds were made from a transparent polymer using tiny spheres that were then dissolved to create pores the nutrients could pass through. It's unclear for how long the stem cells thrived, and Wired.co.uk has contacted the team to try and find out how the research has progressed and if the engineered bone marrow has continued to be effective.
If the research is successful going forward, it could mean the beginning of "blood farming", where artificial bone marrow is used to produce red and white blood cells and platelets to be banked for transfusions.
Source: http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-01/10/artificial-bone-marrow
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Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.
Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.
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