/ News
Bot tech controls drug release when needed
(Tech Xplore)—A study shows that that nanobots can release drugs inside your brain. The nanorobots, reported NewScientist on Thursday, are built out of DNA. Drugs can be tethered to their shell-like shapes.
Helen Thomson had details on how this all works: "The bots also have a gate, which has a lock made from iron oxide nanoparticles. The lock opens when heated using electromagnetic energy, exposing the drug to the environment. Because the drug remains tethered to the DNA parcel, a body's exposure to the drug can be controlled by closing and opening the gate."
Their study has been published in PLOS ONE, as "Thought-Controlled Nanoscale Robots in a Living Host." New Scientist talked about the value of their work, as showing the ability to exercise more precise control over when a drug is active in the body. "Because the bots can open and close when required, the technology should minimize unwanted side effects."
Therein has been the challenge, getting drugs to where they need to be exactly when they are wanted. "Most drugs diffuse through the blood stream over time – and you're stuck with the side effects until the drug wears off," wrote Thomson.
Kate Baggaley in Popular Science said, "This technology could eventually give people more control over when and where a medication is active in their body." Thomson said the technique may be useful for treating brain disorders such as schizophrenia and ADHD.
"The technology released a drug inside cockroaches in response to the man's brain activity. As described in Popular Science: "A man's brain activity prompted nanobots made out of DNA to release drugs inside a cockroach."
The system is from a team at the Interdisciplinary Center, in Herzliya, and Bar Ilan University, in Ramat Gan, Israel. Following their research effort, the question becomes if and when we will see this applied to humans. According to theNew Scientist report, the technology is not ready for use in humans.
They still have to work on the basic setup, including a smaller, more portable way to measure brain activity. New Scientist said they also envision the person wearing an EEG device similar to a small heating aid to monitor brain activity.
What's next? Thomson said that "the technology isn't ready to be used in humans yet. To work, the setup needs a smaller, more portable method of measuring brain activity. The team also envisions a person wearing a small, hearing aid-like EEG device to monitor brain activity and detect when drugs are needed – "for example, when a person with ADHD's concentration begins to lapse. A smart watch would then create the electromagnetic field required to release a dose of Ritalin."
The authors wrote that "so far no interface has been established between a human mind and a therapeutic molecule, which are 10 orders of magnitude apart. The purpose of this study was to show that DNA robots can bridge this gap." They said the robots which they designed can be electronically remote-controlled. "This was done by adding metal nanoparticles to the robotic gates, which could heat in response to an electromagnetic field."
More information: Shachar Arnon et al. Thought-Controlled Nanoscale Robots in a Living Host, PLOS ONE (2016). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0161227
Abstract
We report a new type of brain-machine interface enabling a human operator to control nanometer-size robots inside a living animal by brain activity. Recorded EEG patterns are recognized online by an algorithm, which in turn controls the state of an electromagnetic field. The field induces the local heating of billions of mechanically-actuating DNA origami robots tethered to metal nanoparticles, leading to their reversible activation and subsequent exposure of a bioactive payload. As a proof of principle we demonstrate activation of DNA robots to cause a cellular effect inside the insect Blaberus discoidalis, by a cognitively straining task. This technology enables the online switching of a bioactive molecule on and off in response to a subject's cognitive state, with potential implications to therapeutic control in disorders such as schizophrenia, depression, and attention deficits, which are among the most challenging conditions to diagnose and treat.
Source: https://techxplore.com/news/2016-08-bot-tech-drug.html
/ About us
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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