This week we discover a potential cure for Heart Attacks. Based upon the RNA breakthroughs that gave us Covid vaccines this new approach may bring extended life to many people. We also look at an Australian Brain Computer interface that has beaten Elon Musk to Human Trials. We investigate Robots that can taste the food that they are cooking to ensure that it is just right and finally we examine a plastic eating enzyme that will help us rid the world of unwanted plastic.
Heart Attack Cure
Researchers at King’s College London have developed a vaccine that will help to reverse the damage caused in a heart attack. They were able to use the virus vectors similar to the Oxford Covid-19 vaccine and deliver RNA to damaged pig hearts sparking growth of new cardiac muscles.
The team are now also using the lipid nanoparticles used by the Pfizer and Modern Covid-19 vaccines to deliver their treatment to the heart more safely and effectively. The idea is that the micro RNA delivered to the heart will reach the surviving heart cells and push their proliferation. These new cells would replace the dead cells and instead of forming a scar, the patient has new heart muscle.
The biggest effect of heart attacks is the scar tissue that is left after the attack. The scarring depredates cardiac function and raises the risk of heart failure. We are all born with a set number of muscle cells in our heart and they are the exact same ones that we will die with. The heart has no natural capacity to repair itself.
To develop this cure, the researchers relied on the RNA which delivers instructions for protein creation within cells. Unlike the Covid vaccines which used mRNA (messenger RNA) this treatment uses microRNA. This helps with gene expression in the cells which can trigger heart cells to grow and regenerate the way they do very early in life.
Experiments on pigs, mice and rats showed that they RNA treatment stimulated new heart cells to grow after a heart attach rather than a scar. The team hopes to begin human clinical trials within two years.
Brain Computer Interface
There has been a lot of publicity around Elon Musk’s company Neuralink (everything surrounding Elon is highly publicized). Neuralink is trying to develop a brain computer interface (BCI). These interfaces would be implanted in the brain of patients and would allow direct connection to the brain from a computer.
Despite all of Elon’s progress (and money) he has been beaten by University of Melbourne spinout, Synchron in the race to commence human trials. Synchron is trailing its’ Stentrode implant which aims to allow severely paralyzed patients to control digital devices using their brain. The first patient has been admitted into Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.
Trials have already been successful on 4 patients in Melbourne and additional trials will be held in Pittsburg, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and the Gold Coast in coming weeks. An additional 20 patients will undergo the implant procedure. This is in preparation for a commercial product trial within the next couple of years.
The 4 patients in Melbourne are now able to send text messages, conduct online shopping, manage their finances and access telehealth services using the Stentrode system unsupervised.
Stentrode converts brain activity into a standardized digital language allowing patients to use their computer cursor using thought. Implanting BCI’s to the motor cortex through the blood vessel allows a minimally invasive access to parts of the brain which have historically needed open surgery. The team uses the blood vessels as the natural highway to the brain. There are 5 million potential recipients in the US.
In addition to Stentrode, Synchron has 60 patent applications including treatments for epilepsy, depression, Parkinson’s, pain, addiction and other non-medical applications.
Robots that taste
We have spoken a few times about robotic chefs and how many if not most restaurants will use some sort of robot assistance. We will even find them in the home in a few years. One of the challenges is that robots only follow the recipe. They do that precisely however great chefs will taste what they are cooking to know if it tastes as desired.
Researchers at the University of Cambridge have trained their robot chef to assess the saltiness of a dish at different stages of the chewing process (imitating the process in humans) to understand if what they are cooking is sufficiently seasoned.
As we chew our food we will notice a change in texture and taste. We will release saliva and digestive enzymes and our perception of the flavor of what we are eating will change. The robot chef was trained to to make omelets based upon human tasters feedback. The robot then tasted 9 different variations of scrambled eggs and tomatoes at three different stages of the chewing process to produce a taste map of the dishes.
This taste as you go approach allowed the robot to quickly and accurately assess the saltiness of the food. The process proved to be much more accurate than other electronic tasting technologies. Taste perception in humans is a complex process that has evolved over thousands of years. It is also highly individual. This will allow us to develop robotic chefs that can produce food to suit each individual’s taste preferences. Particularly useful in the home. The researchers are now working on different types of food and other sensing capabilities such as sweet or oily food.
Plastic eating Enzyme
We produce about 359 million tons of plastic waste annually. Roughly 150 to 200 million tons end up in landfills. Globally less than 10% of plastic is recycled. Burning plastic is highly polluting and thermochemical decomposition is very energy intensive.
A team at the University of Texas has identified an enzyme that will degrade polyethylene terephthalate (PET). PET makes up 12% of the world’s plastic waste as most of it is single use plastics.
The enzyme was identified using a machine learning model. A novel mutation to a natural enzyme was then generated. This enzyme, called FAST PETase allows bacteria to degrade PET plastics. The model was able to predict which enzyme would work best at breaking down plastic at low temperatures.
The team tested the enzyme on over 50 types of plastic. They found it would work at less than 50 degrees C and that it could breakdown some plastics in as little as 24 hours. PET can be broken down in a few days.
It is possible that the enzyme could be part of a circular process where plastic is broken down into smaller parts (depolymerization) and then put back together (repolymerization) for new uses. The team is now working on scaling up the process for industrial application.
Paying it Forward
If you have a start-up or know of a start-up that has a product ready for market please let me know. I would be happy to have a look and feature the startup in this newsletter. Also if any startups need introductions please get in touch and I will help where I can.
If you have any questions or comments please comment below.
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Till next week.