Treating Brain Cancer, Food fit for Astronauts and Humanoid Robots
May 25
This week we discover a new way to allow chemotherapy drugs to pass through the blood-brain barrier in order to treat brain cancer. We look at a series of proposals for the food that our future astronauts will eat and we look at one of the many developments in Humanoid robots. Finally we get a quick update on a universal flu vaccine and the commercialization of Fusion Energy.
Brain Cancer Treatment
Brain cancer, glioblastoma, is very difficult to treat using chemotherapy drugs as most of these drugs can not penetrate the blood-brain barrier to reach the tumor. A team at NorthWestern in Chicago have just completed the first human trial of a device that will open the blood-brain barrier and allow these drugs to pass into the brain and attack the tumor.
The small ultrasound device is implanted in the skull whilst the patient is awake. Patients can go home a few hours after the procedure.
The blood-brain barrier is a microscopic structure that shields the brain from the vast majority of circulating drugs. This means that patients with brain cancer can not be treated with the usual repertoire of cancer drugs that are effective elsewhere in the body. Direct injection has been tried in the past however it is associated with toxicity such as brain irritation and meningitis.
The team discovered that the use of ultrasound and micro bubble based opening of the blood brain barrier is transient. That is the opening will close itself. Most of the barrier’s integrity is restored within an hour of the procedure. Additionally by using a skull implantable grid of nine ultrasound emitters (designed by French company Carthera) it allows coverage of a large region of the brain adjacent to the cavity that remains after removal of the tumors.
An ongoing phase 2 clinical trial is underway for patients with recurrent glioblastoma. The device may also open the way for new treatments of other brain diseases.
Space Food
Currently Astronauts live on prepackaged food that they take with them from earth. That food has a shelf life of approximately 18 months. As we start to plan to travel to Mars and eventually further away we need to develop new ways of feeding space travelers. NASA has recently started a competition to develop the next generation of space food.
The competition was launched in January 2021 and 200 companies entered with ideas. That field was whittled down to 11 teams in January 2023. The 8 US teams were given US$20,000 in funding to develop their ideas. The 3 International teams had to fund themselves. This phase of the competition was a kitchen level demonstration of their concepts. The next phase is about proving scalability of technology. In all 8 teams moved to Phase 3 (5 US and 3 International). These include:
Air Company from New York took a very different approach to the task. They developed a system that used the carbon dioxide expelled by the astronauts breath to produce alcohol that was then used to grow edible food. The company already develops alcohol from CO2 for plane fuel and perfume.
It is not alcohol from thin air. The company takes CO2 and combines it with electricity and water to make alcohol. This alcohol is then fed to yeast which produces something that is edible. For the competition the team made a protein shake which they say “tastes pretty good”. In space the system would continually operate to supply food.
Interstellar Lab from Florida used a small set of toaster sized capsules which had their own humidity, temperature and watering system to grow different vegetables. The astronauts would spend 3 to 4 hours per week tending the system. NASA actually wanted Astronauts to be involved in their food generation. The company has designed inflatable “Bio Pods” which are larger self contained environments for growing food on the Moon or elsewhere.
Mycorena from Sweden ferments fungus to produce mycoprotein which is up to 60% protein and rich in fiber, vitamins and other nutrients whilst being low in fat and sugars. Mycoprotein is not tasty by itself however adding spices or flavorings would produce a wide range of foods. A module will then 3D print the fungus into the desired food style be that a chicken fillet or a burger.
It will be some years before the winners products are incorporated in space flights however they do show what is possible.
Humanoid Robots
In 2021 Tesla announced their intention to develop a humanoid robot to help around the house. Since then a plethora of companies have announced similar ambitions. Most are still at a formative stage however Vancouver based, Sanctuary Cognitive Systems (or Sanctuary AI) have just unveiled Phoenix.
Their bipedal robot is 5 feet 7 inches tall and weights 70 kilograms. The robot is able to lift 24 kilos and can move at 5 kilometers per hour. It has its’ own complex hands that have 20 degrees of freedom (similar to human hands) and a fine manipulation capability via a haptic technology that mimics the sense of touch.
In March 2023, the firm deployed Phoenix’s predecessor to Mark’s retail store near Vancouver where it performed 110 retail related tasks such as picking and packing merchandise, cleaning, tagging, labeling and folding. The company sees a time where general purpose robots are as common as cars.
To be a general purpose robot, it needs to be able to do nearly any work task in a similar way to a human in the environment where the work needs to be done (in the case above, inside an operating retail store). Sanctuary AI claims that the real star is their AI control system. So far Sanctuary have raised over US$100 million in funding.
Given the large number of companies working in this space it won’t be too long before we start to see robots in a range of human workplaces. Ideal targets include retail, construction and other industries struggling with labor shortages or cost pressures.
Universal Flu Vaccine Update
In November 2022 we spoke about the potential development of a universal flu vaccine. The vaccine is now in Phase 1 clinical trials. The initial trial is with a group of 50 people. Three groups of 10 people will be given different doses to help determine the correct dosage. This will be followed by 10 people being given the vaccine and 10 in a control group who will receive the standard annual vaccine. Whilst there is still much to do we may be on the way to getting rid of the annual flu vaccine and replacing it with something more long lasting. How much longer lasting is still to be determined.
Fusion Update
There is tons of news in the Fusion space however most of it is overhyped and minor in terms of progress. However there was some interesting commercial news this week. Microsoft have agreed to buy Fusion generated electricity from Helion in 2028. That is less than 5 years away. One or probably both parties must be confident that they can achieve the goal in order to announce it publicly. Time will tell if this is bravado or the start of something big.
Paying it Forward
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Till next week.