I recently came across some research from a team of scientists at Tufts University in Massachusetts, describing their development of ‘anthrobots’. For those like myself, who have never heard of this before, anthrobots are spheres of human tracheal cells that are grown in vitro to form spheroids of a few hundred cells each. The cilia on the outside cells allows the anthrobots to “swim” in patterns, prompting Levin and his team to consider their potential as therapeutic agents.
Anthrobots are spheroids of human tracheal cells (usually a few hundred each) that can be used to deliver therapy.
Levin and his team tested the therapeutic potential of anthrobots to heal a layer of neural tissue that had been damaged by a scratch. They observed that the anthrobots joined together to form a ‘superbot’ – sounds cool, right? What’s even cooler is that after 3 days of incubating the damaged neural tissue with the ‘superbot’, the tissue was completely healed! This surprised the team as this happened without any genetic modification, just the anthrobot’s own functionality. As stated by co-author of the study, Gizem Gumuskaya, it was “not obvious that you’re going to get that kind of response”, prompting the team to think of the wider applications.
Anthrobots come together to form a ‘superbot’, which can then be used therapeutically to repair damaged tissue.
My name is Emily, I am in my second year of studying Biochemistry and I chose ‘Engineering Replacing Body Parts’ module because it sounded really interesting and unique. I love looking into new research and it is very important to keep up to date with the technology which goes along science. For example, I have recently come across Elon Musk’s Neuralink project, this has particular importance at the moment as the first implant has been put into a human patient. The idea of Musk’s project is to enable the human brain to connect to devices such as phones and other devices. Musk said “Initial results show promising neuron spike detection,” He aimed to recruit subjects aged 22 and above with quadriplegia or spinal cord injury patients, in order to help those that can’t move. I think this project Elon Musk has taken on could be revolutionary for the future, so far he has conducted animal trials on terminally ill monkeys and none of which have died. This is why it has moved on to patient testing, however it is still early days which leaves people dubious of whether it will work or not. This is such a clever piece of machinery which has the ability to charge its battery wireless through a conductive charger
Neurolink
Here is a short video explaining in more depth how Neurolink works
Despite the fact that I am completing a degree with the focus on drugs and the human anatomy, I was previously interested in studying Biomedical Engineering. Instead of studying the degree, I decided that taking up the ‘Engineering Replacement Body Parts’ module would suffice. The following images and this video are things I personally relate the engineering module to:
I would say that a movie I watched when I was a child also sparked interest in this area, it is named Astro Boy. An inventor creates a robotic replica of this deceased son from a single strand of his hair. The ‘Perfect Replica’ YouTube video is linked here.
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As someone who is very interested in biological fiction, I am currently reading âThe Bodyâ by Bill Bryson. I came to the chapter, âIn the Dissecting Room: The Skeleton,â and was intrigued to hear that medical cadavers have been the topic of various controversies throughout history. Soon after reading this, I also attended the ethics and law lecture, which led me to delve deeper into the issues and history of acquiring medical cadavers for teaching.
Public opinion of dissection around the 18th and 19th century, even for the benefit of science, was seen as sickening and disrespectful. Fitting with the questionable ethos of the time, only hung criminals were seen to warrant this brutal fate. I was appalled to discover that this was justified by judges who believed murderers deserved further prosecution after their execution, so offered their bodies up for dissection without choice.
Why did this need to change?
Still, there never seemed to be enough cadavers to distribute between medical schools. Bryson mentions in his book that in 1831, London had 900 medical students with only 11 cadavers. This ultimately led doctors to turn to grave robbing. These hellish actions were not a punishable offence at the time, which only encouraged them to continue. I was shocked to hear this, but it made me realise that legal enforcement was the only way forward to put a stop to the clearly desperate thievery. My research led me to find that the Anatomy Act of 1832 was enforced because grave robbing had gotten too out of hand. This allowed medical institutions to also take ownership of the bodies of unclaimed poor persons.
Cadavers are dead human bodies that are preserved and used by medical schools to aid the teaching of anatomy to students. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadaver
While this seemed to fix the shortage and improve standards of anatomy textbooks, I found it shocking to believe that the financial status of a person upon their death should determine the fate of their body. Can the sacrifice of convicts and the poor be justified for the greater good of science? Rather than discarding abandoned bodies, should they be put to better use? I can see balance in this argument, but it is hard to believe doctors had free license to dissect unclaimed bodies. This opinion was shared by many.
âThey tell us it was necessary for science. Science? Why, who is science for? Not for poor people. Then if it is necessary for science, let them have the bodies of the rich, for whose benefit science is cultivated.â â William Cobbett (1763-1835, advocate for English poor and working-class)
Where do medical cadavers come from now?
Under the Human Tissue Act 2004, written and witnessed consent for anatomical examination is required prior to death, it cannot be made by anyone else after a person has died. In the UK, It is illegal to buy and sell human remains, therefore modern medical schools rely entirely on donations of those willing to give their bodies for science. I was even pleasantly surprised to hear that some schools are positively overwhelmed by donations that they must turn away excess offerings.
A current perspective:
I was intrigued to see what current medical students thought about cadavers and the regulations implemented by Southampton University. I consequently conducted a short interview with a student which I found very insightful, as shown below.
Video of the short interview I conducted with a current medical student at the University of Southampton.
A real-life nightmare:
News article describing the incident of a Nigerian medical student that attended an anatomy lesson which used the dead body of his former friend that had been shot, killed and unclaimed. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-57748122
Unfortunately, I was devastated to find that some countries still use unclaimed bodies for teaching. I found a truly awful news article where a student from the University of Calabar in Nigeria was traumatized by an anatomy class that used the dead body of his friend. I discovered that 90% of Nigerian medical cadavers are criminals killed in shootings. Whilst this story truly horrified me, it shows that there is still a global shortage of legitimate cadavers .
I believe there should be tighter universal regulations that limit the distribution of unclaimed bodies for science, but similarly increase international positive awareness to encourage more people to donate their bodies. This may be the only solution to permanently fix shortages without overstepping ethical practice.
Following our lecture on stem cells and the ethics workshop, the topic of embryonic stem cells and surrounding ethics stood out to me. Being the product of IVF my embryonic stem cells were once in a position where they could have either been used for research or been implanted and allowed to develop into me! This has made me consider the possibility of not existing today.
This image represents the basic processes of IVF. Showing how female sex cells are obtained, fertilisation and transfer of the embryo.
IVFÂ (In Vitro Fertilisation) is a technology, which assists women in becoming pregnant. The sex cells (sperm and egg) are collected from the donors, mixed in a test tube and are monitored for fertilisation.
From a fertilised egg cell division begins, the image below shows stages of division. The cells are transferred to the uterus at the blastocyst or cleavage stage. Hopefully implantation occurs resulting in pregnancy!
I am very grateful for IVF, without it I wouldnât be here! It provides an opportunity for couples that could not conceive naturally to become parents. An argument against IVF is the expense of having the procedure through a private clinic. This can be ÂŁ5,000 or more, which could change the perceptions of a child. I somewhat agree, the expense of conceiving a child could place more value on the accomplishments of the child, with the parents âgetting value for moneyâ. Contrary to this, can the expenses of IVF compete with the value of the life created? No one should be disallowed from conceiving due to the lack of money, I feel that this is a natural human right that cannot be denied. IVF is available on the NHS if certain criterion are met, making it more available to a wider range of people and also reducing the impact of commercialisation of the technology.
This image shows the stages of early embryonic development.
Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are a type of stem cells derived from early embryos from the IVF process. ESCs are transient in nature, the cells are pluripotent meaning they can be grown indefinitely and differentiate into all cell types. When these are obtained the embryo is destroyed. The image below shows the process of isolating ESCs.
Stages Required to Isolate Embryonic Stem Cells and grown new cell types.
Stem cells can be used in tissue engineering, developing biological substitutes that restore, maintain, or improve tissue function or a whole organ. Sheets of cultured skin can be used for skin grafts, bladder lining replacement and urethra reconstruction. Using stem cells means that skin doesnât need to be removed from elsewhere on the patient. Using ESCs over adult cells has also been investigated, showing evidence of a reduced immune response.
ESCs can be used to help replace or replenish cell types. Parkinsons disease symptoms could be eased by the replacement of substantia nigra in the brain!
This video discusses the ethics of ESCs with a participant of IVF (my father) and myself.
Have you ever wondered how a computer program could write a blog post? Well, you’re reading one right now! This post was generated by a language model AI developed by OpenAI. The model was trained on a massive corpus of text and can generate human-like writing based on the prompt it receives.
AI Generated image
The advancement of AI in the field of natural language processing (NLP) has opened up new possibilities in writing and content creation. AI-generated content can be used to create articles, reports, and even books, freeing up time for human writers to focus on more creative tasks. AI can also be used to generate new ideas, research information, and even edit existing text.
However, it’s important to note that AI-generated writing is not perfect and still requires human editing and oversight. The language model is only as good as the data it was trained on and may produce content that is incorrect, repetitive, or lacks coherence. Nevertheless, AI-generated content has the potential to revolutionize the way we produce and consume information in the future.
In conclusion, the development of AI in writing and content creation is a testament to the advancements in technology and the possibilities that lie ahead. While it’s still in its early stages, the future of AI-generated content is promising, and it will be exciting to see how it continues to evolve and impact the writing industry.
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Love the Batman GIF :)
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