There’s so much going on in the world of science, unfortunately I can not cover it all. Here’s the latest buzz going around in the field.

Alzheimer’s Disease Cure on the Way
Purdue University has discovered the first step in a cascade of events leading to amyloid plaque formation in the brain. This is the beginning of finding a cure to Alzheimer’s Disease. A vital enzyme, called memapsin 2, was discovered to be what seems like the cause of plaque formation in the brain. Further research into this area delves into creating a memapsin 2 inhibitor protein to block the function of the enzyme before it causes plaque to build up.

Immune System Activation
Scientists at the University of Michigan have discovered a bacteria that inserts itself into the body and evokes a strong immune response. These bacteria attach onto receptors on the surface of immune cells and hyperactivate them. Think of the possibilities for victims with weak immune systems and post-traumatic surgery patients!

Dr. Heart Robot
HeartLander, a 20 millimeter long robot, has been invented to deliver drugs to the heart in a minimally invasive manner. Surgeons can monitor this robot’s crawling motion across a beating heart with an X-ray video and control its movement by using a joystick. Scientists are continuously developing this robot to become more eclectic so that they may be able to utilize it for the treatment of a plethora of heart conditions.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 19th, 2007 at 1:19 pm and is filed under Alzheimer's Disease, Biomedical Electronics, General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.