The University of Southampton

Author: Biancamaria Ambrosio

80 days circumnavigating the world, single-handed

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“Innovation is all about delivering real-life practicality that improves people’s lives” is a quote which I strongly believe, said by the founder of Taska, Mat Jury, and which I think exactly reflects the goal of each scientist in the biomedical field.

Damien Seguin, born and raised in France, is 43 years old and was the first disabled navigator to finish in the top 10 in the VendĂŠe Globe. It is a non-stop and unassisted solo regatta around the world, thanks to which Damien has launched an important message: disability is not a limit, it resides only in the eyes of the beholder, but not in the heart of those who fight against it.
Damien was born with a pathology that prevented the physiological development of his left hand. He has always lived with his handicap, but he has been denied participation in sporting events several times until he was not able to found a team willing to support him in his greatest dream.The boats taking part in the Vendeè globe are IMOCA 60s, 60 feet long and extremely avant-garde. they are built specifically for solo racing and to be able to face the ocean without ever having to call for help from land. Despite his handicap, Damien hasn’t made any particular modifications to his boat “Group Apicil” except for having adapted the so-called “coffee grinder”, the winch column with which the sails are hoisted, retrieved and adjusted: he has a sleeve for hand prosthesis so that the left arm can also be used, but otherwise has the same equipment as the other skippers.

coffee grinder prosthesis

The sleeve was made of carbon, a high-performance material widely used in the nautical industry due to its extreme strength and lightness.
Thanks to Damien’s story, we can appreciate how, through advanced biomedical engineering, it is possible to tear apart the architectural barriers in sports and regain one’s own autonomy and strength. Sport is everyone’s right and that is why research and innovation must be supported and financed.
Prostheses in the sports field vary from the most rudimentary and least expensive like Damien’s to the most complex which can cost up to 60,000 pounds.
But what are the most recent advances in the field of sports prosthesis, and how much innovation has played a significant role in the performance of disabled athletes? In fact, each activity necessitates precise motions, a particular weight balance, and the usage of distinct muscles. As a result, unique prostheses for each activity have been researched in order to favor the athlete’s movements and enhance the comfort.
In the case of water sports such as sailing but also swimming, canoeing, fishing and many others, there is a need to have a support that is waterproof. TASK company is the first in the world to have developed a robust and waterproof hand. Highly technological, all fingers and the tip of the thumb are capacitive and can be used on any common touch screen. In the case of a sailor like Damien, it can be used to use all the on-board technological equipment mainly composed of screens for routing and weather.

This prosthesis can also be used outside sport, for all daily actions, but I believe that in the case of an athlete it can guarantee precision especially in gripping movements which must be quick and stable.
Certainly great strides have been made in the field of prostheses but in my opinion, in the future it will be necessary to achieve a level of comfort and accessibility such as to feel the prosthesis as an integral part of one’s body.

“the world’s first water-resistant prosthetic hand”

Umbilical cord stem cell donation is a gesture of love and that’s why you should’t pay for it.

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A biotechnologist displays a mock cord blood sample at a Singapore laboratory August 26, 2005.

“the thing that struck me about the story of Manuel is how each of us is designed to help the other. Despite the differences, biology teaches us that even more than a thousand kilometers away you can find a match that can save your life.”

Manuel is only four-year-old when he is diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. Manuel is an Italian boy who survived cancer thanks to a stem cell transfusion from a Spanish donor and ten years after the transplantation, his family decided to visit the center where the stem cells that gave Manuel a second life originated. A moving moment for Mother Simona, who received a token of love in the form of a contribution that she, too, decided to make in 2007, with the birth of her second child.

Manuel’s mother Simona

For about 35 years now, in a completely non-invasive and safe way, it has been possible to donate mother’s umbilical cord from which special cells are taken, stored, and used to treat diseases of people from anywhere in the world. These “special cells” are called Hematopoietic stem cells and can change into any sort of blood cell and can be utilized for transplants that help cure diseases such as blood problems, immunological deficiencies, metabolic diseases, and some forms of malignancies. At the end of the birth, after the cut, about 1 liter of blood is taken through a puncture to the umbilical cord. The sample obtained is sent to the collection bank, assessed if suitable and then frozen pending use. Banking cord blood has been compared to a “biological insurance policy” and there are two types of banks to go to: private and public, but which is the best solution to ensure safety for your child?

The choice should always lean towards donation and the reason is primarily scientific as there is no scientific evidence that private conservation is useful in the treatment of various diseases treatable through transplantation (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1601996/). When a mother decides to donate to a private bank, the treatment is carried out for a fee and the cells are kept for a period of about 20 years, after which, by paying a further amount, the storage time can be extended. The cells are accessible only to the patient from whom they were taken or from a family member, with the intention of treating a possible future disease. The point is that in the case of oncological or genetic diseases, one’s cord blood cells could already be carriers of those genetic “defects” that have led to the disease. In these cases, the persistence of diseased cells in the product which is reinfused involves the risk of the disease reappearing. The only justified case for turning to private banks could be the presence of a hereditary risk, which can be treated with autologous stem cells. On the other side, donating to a public institution is free and guarantees a second life to a patient with a match who really needs it. If every mother decided to turn to public bodies, the material kept in the banks would increase and there would be much more chances that every applicant could find a compatible donor.

Donate is life, love and a responsible gesture towards the world and everyone should be aware of it.

The video below shows the process of how to harvest stem cells from umbilical cord blood and keep them in the bank