cross-posted from: lemm.ee/post/43470228
That is so fucking cool. With all the terrible shit, hearing that there’s still progress on stuff like that is fantastic.
Stem cells reverse woman’s diabetes — a world first
Submitted 3 months ago by schizoidman@lemm.ee to technology@lemmy.world
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03129-3#ref-CR1
Comments
2ugly2live@lemmy.world 3 months ago
HairyHarry@lemmy.world 3 months ago
OK, next step would be stopping your stupid immune system attacking your β-cells.
Corno@lemm.ee 3 months ago
The whole field of stem cell research really excites me because it has so many potential applications. This is amazing news and makes me all the more excited for similar breakthroughs in the future!
andrewrgross@slrpnk.net 3 months ago
This is so exciting. I worked in a lab where we were trying to do this, and so I was very aware what a gold rush we were in. I’m so glad to see that it’s actually happening.
This is truly a watershed moment in science. This is going to mark a major turning point in cellular medicine from theory to commonplace. Eventually, this will end the pharma industry’s insulin cash cow.
But it’s even bigger than that. Because once we can engineer cells that produce a natural product, the next step is to engineer cells that produce synthetic medicines. Antidepressants, birth control, hormones, weight loss drugs, boner pills… The frontier is huge, lucrative, financially disruptive for pharma companies and life changing for patients. This is a big moment in history, and we all need to be fighting harder than ever to end for-profit healthcare. Otherwise we’re going to end up with subscription licenses to our own bodies.
BallsandBayonets@lemmings.world 3 months ago
I dream of the day I can get my own brain to actually create normal levels of dopamine that I don’t get addicted, then tolerant, to.
voracitude@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Like the custom endocrine systems of combat sleeves in Richard Morgan’s Altered Carbon! Need to be strong or fast? Just give yourself a little squirt of adrenaline! Time for slow heart rate and low energy use? Slow-release a skoche of acetylcholine.
You make a good point about subscriptions. The repo when you stop paying would be pretty grim.
9bananas@lemmy.world 2 months ago
i mean you weren’t actually off on the altered carbon, it just isn’t described in as much detail, but is effectively the same thing ;)
Thirteen, also by richard morgan, features similar themes as well!
AlecSadler@sh.itjust.works 3 months ago
I agree this is amazing and huge, but for my own sanity, what stops someone from engineering cells that do bad?
sunbeam60@lemmy.one 3 months ago
Ethics.
Which is to say not a lot.
But it’s not really a practical attack vector, if you’re worried about weaponisation. Simpler to just dump VX into the air.
j4yt33@feddit.org 3 months ago
That do bad in which way? Cells tend to die pretty quickly if you don’t look after them properly. Which costs a shit ton of money depending on the type of cell. So not the best weapon overall