Three breakthrough technologies of 2017 according to MIT

Copper news based on the materials of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology: 10 Breakthrough Technologies 2017

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has published its annual list of the most impressive technologies that can change the world in the near future. This year, among ten different discoveries from various fields, three relate to healthcare: they relate to the treatment of paralysis, gene therapy and the cells that make up a person.

The paralysis will become reversible

In 10-15 years, paralyzed people will be able to move again. Specialists from the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne), Switzerland, using implantable electrodes that stimulate the motor area of the cerebral cortex, forced the paralyzed limb of a monkey to move, into which electrodes were also implanted. The brain and limb communicated wirelessly, which actually replaced the damaged nerves.

The first steps towards this technology were made when scientists created mind-controlled prostheses and not only. For example, in Brazil, completely paralyzed people after training using a mind-controlled exoskeleton were able to control their excretory processes, and one of them went on his own. In Germany, they made a robotic arm, which is also controlled by electrodes in the brain and helps patients with partial paralysis to perform some everyday actions. The Federal Polytechnic School itself has already conducted experiments on paralyzed monkeys, which were implanted with electrodes in the brain and spinal cord, and this also helped to restore their mobility.

Now scientists are working on a "neural shunt" – the ability to "bypass trauma" using wireless technologies, thanks to which brain signals are transmitted directly to stimulators installed in the right place inside the body. It has already been proven that the development of Swiss scientists also works on humans – it was tested on a patient who had only his head and shoulder working. They installed about 100 electrodes in his brain and 16 in his arm and hand, and he was able to move this arm and even lift a cup.

Such electrodes will help not only paralyzed patients, but also those who have been diagnosed with other diseases: Alzheimer's disease, deafness, visual pathology.

Gene therapy

Another extremely important technology that is available even now is gene therapy. Scientists are already able to modify genes and deliver them to cells, using viruses to treat some rare hereditary pathologies, and are now working on finding similar therapies for other diseases. Perhaps in the future, with the help of genome changes, they will be able to treat cancer or cardiovascular diseases. Stanford University reported that clinical trials of gene therapy for more than 40 different diseases are currently being conducted. Geneticists say that one day gene therapy will help to cope with diabetes, Alzheimer's disease and even aging, but it will be more difficult, since several genes are involved in these processes, not one.

Cellular Atlas: what man is made of

The cells were first described back in 1665 by a biologist named Robert Hooke. Over the past few centuries, science has stepped far forward, and now the discoverer's colleagues are working on a human cellular atlas. With the help of the latest technologies, they will add to the general catalog all 37.2 billion cells that make up the human body, and when this work is completed, scientists will receive a model that will help, for example, to look for new drugs for various diseases. Specialists from the USA, Great Britain, Israel, Sweden, Japan and the Netherlands will record the molecular signature of each cell and give it a "zip code" that shows exactly where this cell is located in the body.

The creation of a cellular atlas has become possible thanks to three new developments. Cells are separated from others and labeled using cell hydrodynamics technology to study each cell separately. The second development makes it possible to sequence the genome of individual cells cheaply and quickly, identifying the genes that are present in them. Thus, one scientist can process up to 10 thousand cells per day. The third development makes it possible to "label" cells and search for them by type – this allows you to assign them the same "zip code".

The cellular atlas is being created, among other things, thanks to the help of Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan – the Biohub center they own is also involved in research.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru  15.03.2017