Scientific MOOCs follower. Author of Airpocalypse, a techno-medical thriller (Out Summer 2017)


Welcome to the digital era of biology (and to this modest blog I started in early 2005).

To cure many diseases, like cancer or cystic fibrosis, we will need to target genes (mutations, for ex.), not organs! I am convinced that the future of replacement medicine (organ transplant) is genomics (the science of the human genome). In 10 years we will be replacing (modifying) genes; not organs!


Anticipating the $100 genome era and the P4™ medicine revolution. P4 Medicine (Predictive, Personalized, Preventive, & Participatory): Catalyzing a Revolution from Reactive to Proactive Medicine.


I am an early adopter of scientific MOOCs. I've earned myself four MIT digital diplomas: 7.00x, 7.28x1, 7.28.x2 and 7QBWx. Instructor of 7.00x: Eric Lander PhD.

Upcoming books: Airpocalypse, a medical thriller (action taking place in Beijing) 2017; Jesus CRISPR Superstar, a sci-fi -- French title: La Passion du CRISPR (2018).

I love Genomics. Would you rather donate your data, or... your vital organs? Imagine all the people sharing their data...

Audio files on this blog are Windows files ; if you have a Mac, you might want to use VLC (http://www.videolan.org) to read them.

Concernant les fichiers son ou audio (audio files) sur ce blog : ce sont des fichiers Windows ; pour les lire sur Mac, il faut les ouvrir avec VLC (http://www.videolan.org).


Digitizing creativity

#Exosomes researchers discuss what interested them in science in 4th episode of @LIFECorporation’s doc series

HealClick: "We connect patients in a smarter way using medical details they have in common"

Society for Participatory Medicine: "We're still on the paternalism train. Driven by a 150YO steam locomotive"


Casey Quinlan  
"There's been a firestorm of discussion on the Society for Participatory Medicine email boards - we're ranging from 'FDA are idiots' to '23andMe acted like they were above regulation,' and everything in between.

My personal opinion is that the FDA is attempting to nail the barn door shut when the horse is two counties over, and running fast. I agree that DNA testing, and medical products that grow from that, need to be scientifically rigorous and subject to clear regulations. However, and I have to say typically, the FDA's language seems to parse into 'consumers are too stupid to understand the data you deliver, 'cause they're not MDs.'

We're still on the paternalism train. Driven by a 150YO steam locomotive ... "
Source: LinkedIn  

Society for Participatory Medicine

Exciting #NIH work on robots changing how we search for #treatments

Indian life sciences attracts interest as KKR invests $200m in India pharma group

"Advancements in High-Speed DNA Synthesis to Drive Growth in the Global Synthetic Biology Market"

3D-Printed Hearts From Human Fat Cells? Scientist Says ‘Bioprinting’ Organs Possible ‘In 10 Years’

A Scientist Predicts the Future



Metagenomics késako??

NextGenSeek: "Making Sense of Next-Gen Sequencing Revolution. Well... Trying Hard."

Eventually #DNA will be democratized

"Make a touch screen desk that allows students to bring their own personal genome data into the classroom"

Now this truly is (would be) Creative Destruction of Medicine (#CDoM). Found this very moving. Thank you Jason...
 
Chief Social Media Officer at Flex-Plan Services, Inc.

http://ilearntechnology.com/?tag=teaching
"I want to revolutionize the Traditional Public School Desk. I have been on this journey for some time. I will make sure to read the article you shared above when my busy season slows down, but here's my point, and I'm willing to share it with anyone that wants to jump on the band wagon:

Make a touch screen desk that allows students to bring their own personal genome data into the classroom. Once students are able to have a science class that is specific to them, they will pay better attention and will share it with their family. While working as a part time private school science teacher, I discovered that 5th graders are probably the best place to start introducing high concept biotech classes mingled with personal health class.

The technology is simple enough for them to understand what they are made of; making the class personalized, preventative, predictive, and participatory (P4 Medicine - Institute of Systems Biology Seattle). If students can see the genome for what it is and what it currently LACKS, it could give these students a goal for their high school and college studies. It also compounds the interest for Crowd Sourcing Data. The generation that shares the most will benefit the most. Forget the potential scare tactics. Tell the students aging is a disease we can cure and you will have their attention. That conversation will lead to the Ethics topics on over population and renewable resources. It's a win win if people STOP WELCOMING THE RAPTURE.

Let's care for ourselves and our planet. Let's get on the bandwagon to make people believe that they can live a healthy life, not a cookie cutter life. I don't want to make everyone look the same, I want to give everyone a healthy immune system that functions correctly. If I can give my friends and family members with Parkinson's, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Cancer and MS a better quality of life, I will. But we need to share our information to get there. We all hold the keys to this destination, and the map has already been created. This is what 23&me is doing - and they will get it right, hopefully."

Source: LinkedIn

BREAKING: FDA orders 23andMe to halt sales of DNA test kit Manager's Choice.
 
Head of Digital Health Strategy at Popper and Company, Founder, 21,000+ member Digital Health group on LinkedIn.

Genomics. What does that tell us??

http://tx.english-ch.com/teacher/bien/others/family-genomics-links-dna-to-disease/
There are now 93 regions of the human genome that have been associated with schizophrenia...

"You might say, what is this telling us?
The answer is, we don't always know, but I'll tell you one thing-- four of those genes encode different subunits of exactly the same multi-protein complex that is a certain calcium channel in neurons.
That's not an accident.
That tells you in a way you would have never guessed.
And only genetics can tell you that particular L-type calcium channel-- four subunits there-- carry mutations, all of which are associated." 7.00x Intro to Biology- The Secret of Life


"It is up to about 47 genes that have been associated with hereditary risk of breast cancer. Some of them have weak effects.
They explain, oh, I don't know, about a 1/6 of the inheritance.
There are a bunch of strong mutations-- Mendelian-like forms-- they explain about a 1/6 so far. Together, they might explain about 1/3 so far. It's by no means done. But this is what's going on."


"A polygenic disease is a disease that is associated with mutations in more than one gene. For many polygenic diseases, the mutations associated with the disease do not directly result in a disease phenotype but are, instead, correlated with an increase in the risk of having the disease phenotype. " 

Eric Lander PhD, "Intro to Biology, the Secret of Life", MOOC MITx , June 2013.

Repo! The Genetic Opera



A bit ambitious--edit illness out of the genome?

New company Editas Medicine performing ‘molecular surgery’ on disease-causing genes

Follow the author of this blog on Facebook and Twitter

https://www.facebook.com/catherine.coste

https://www.facebook.com/possessus

Blog Marketing Web 2.0 & Techno

Predicting how a drug will work in the body just by knowing its structure

Report on the DIY Bio movement (7 Myths)

The @US_FDA v @23andMe ongoing blitz of opinions nicely summed up

Next-Gen Gene Sequencing: The End of The Big BAM (binary format for storing sequence data) Theory

"Remarkable coverage of Israeli breast cancer genetic testing, Angelina effect"

Competition: Win a medical masterpiece!


"I will participate. This is gonna be fun!!", says Operetta.
"The Wellcome Collection in London is hosting an exhibition called Foreign Bodies, Common Ground. It brings together the work of artists resident in medical research centres in six countries: Kenya, Vietnam, Malawi, South Africa, Thailand and the UK.
To mark this event, New Scientist CultureLab invites you to send in your own work of art. We are looking for an original creation that depicts your view of modern medicine and why it matters. It might be inspired by an encounter with a doctor, a scan of your brain or the impact of a treatment you've received. It can be a song, poem, painting, video, sculpture, short story or photograph… the sky's the limit."

https://www.facebook.com/possessus

23andMe: "My Dead Disease Was Just A Bug"

Editas Medicine gets $43M round to edit illness out of the genome

"The Next Frontier in Heart Care"

23andMe, the FDA and The Big Bang Theory


"23andMe: Here's how I got diagnosed with some terminal illness but was able to debug this diagnosis and got my health back"

23andMe case: should medical information (data) be kept by specialists or is it up to the patient to learn how to decode his own data/information? MOOCs in genomics will give the tools to patients if they want to do their own (genomic) risk management, instead of trusting blindly -- which can be the biggest risk of all...
Interesting

http://mntmn.com/pages/23andme.html

Remember it took 24 years to the FDA to approve HIV tests outside of hospital. How many avoidable and unnecessary HIV infections during those 24 years?

http://features.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2012/07/09/oraquick-hiv-test/

Intéressant cas avec 23andMe : Faut-il réserver l'information médicale aux spécialistes ou le patient doit-il apprendre à la décoder lui même ?
Traduction en anglais : http://mntmn.com/pages/23andme.html

Une autre histoire à mettre en balance : la FDA a mis 24 ans pour approuver les tests HIV en dehors du circuit hospitalier ; combien de contaminations supplémentaires cela a causé ?

http://features.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2012/07/09/oraquick-hiv-test/

The Singular Waste of America's Healthcare System in 1 Remarkable Chart


Singularity (NBIC convergence) in US health? We're far from that! Collectively, the US as a country invests in healthcare just as much as Switzerland, to get results (life expectancy) like the one you would find in... Czech Republic (and why not Rwanda).

42 human genomes sequenced in 24H

Stopping @23andMe Will Only Delay The Revolution Medicine Needs

Wow!! FDA shuts down 23andme activity as they are now considering their home-kits as medical devices! I'll be very curious to see where this is going. What a blast! Please email Alberto.gutierrez@fda.hhs.gov to show your support of 23andme.




The Anatomy of Health Care in the United States

"There are 21,000 protein-coding genes in the genome"

From the When-Homo-PatentUS-Meets-With-Homo Possessus Department:
  
https://www.facebook.com/possessus

Eric Lander PhD: " (...) we found a shockingly interesting thing. How many protein-coding genes are there in the genome? Well we know it's about 21,000.
 

But in fact, the official number in the textbooks was 100,000.
 

If you would have taken introductory biology about the year 1998, your textbook would have said-- or even the year 2000 or so-- your textbook would have said there were 100,000 genes in the genome.
 

When the various companies were racing to sequence the human genome, they were just salivating over being able to patent another 80,000 genes. It was really exciting."

Register for MOOC "Intro to Biology - The Secret of Life" and visit their Facebook fanpage here:

 7.00x Intro to Biology- The Secret of Life

Scanderia Launches a kickstarter campain for its new Game Quark: "We want people to be proud to play"


Cutting-Edge Medical Researchers Say Their Projects Break Big Data Ceiling

4-D printing at the MIT Self-Assembly Lab: The future will build itself

6 Technology Trends That Will Change Your Family’s Health Forever

Google’s New Smartphone Will Be 3D Printed by 3D Systems

Imp't med innovations by outsiders: aorta repair-engineer and delivery of babies-auto mechanic

TEDMED Great Challenges: Genomics and Medicine: Where promise meets clinical practice

The most common reportable error in surgery - forgetting sponges in patients - has a simple ignored fix

Coming out Jan. 14,2014: "Cell", by Robin Cook

http://robincook.com/book-display.php?isbn13=9780399166303
http://www.amazon.fr/Cell-Robin-Cook-ebook/dp/B00DGZKZ7E/ref=sr_1_3?s=english-books&ie=UTF8&qid=1385228783&sr=1-3&keywords=robin+cook

Can't wait!!

Digitizing smells: "electronic nose"-hot area for sensors in #cancer

"This is how you read 600 billion letters of DNA"

MIT 7.00x "Intro to Biology. The secret of life." - Eric Lander PhD

Meet 1st Surgeon to YouTube Livestream an Operation with #GoogleGlass

Since when can't a doctor care for patients of the opposite gender?

"About two months ago, Dr. Elizabeth Stier was shocked to learn that she would lose a vital credential, board certification as a gynecologist, unless she gave up an important part of her medical practice and her research: taking care of men at high risk for anal cancer. "

Meet with the author of this blog



"It took 10 years to land on the moon. This team aims to 3-D print 'bioficial' heart in that time"

Breast cancer: a more personalized treatment approach

http://breast-cancer.oncotypedx.com/

High-Speed DNA Sequencing Test Approved by FDA for First Time

AJ Jacobs: "I do not approve of the word 'Glasshole.' I prefer 'Glasswipe.' Here, my Google Glass Experiment for Esquire"

Dive into how Google @Helpouts is bringing telemedicine to the mainstream


"Dieu, ADN et dépression"

Will Buddhism be the religion of the NBIC era? I guess France will become a Muslim Republic in 30 years or so...

The future (present) of how we treat cancer

The latest on "Chimerica"

Eric Lander PhD: "A must read: brilliant analysis of social return on basic science research."

"Is this the future of personalized diagnostic devices? Nanobiosym clinches Nokia prize"

Kudos to 2 medical students for their efforts to advance #openaccess

Genomics Technology Races to Save Newborns

China could play a huge role in "turning Bitcoin into the first trillion dollar non-fiat currency"

"The largest Bitcoin exchange in the world is located securely inside China, and one of the world's largest Internet companies, Baidu (BIDU), is integrating and using Bitcoin. It seems highly unlikely that Baidu would be able to integrate Bitcoin payments across its vast network of users without some sort of complicit nod from higher authorities. Chinese interest could play a huge role in turning Bitcoin into the first trillion dollar non-fiat currency."

Jean-Michel Billaut : "Lancement de ma WebTW : aidez les startups française à l'international"

The Statin Drug Scandal

Doctors can visit patients' bedsides remotely thanks to new robots

IBM Launches a Watson API That Puts Cognitive Supercomputing In the Hands of Developers

Apple reportedly purchases PrimeSense, the Israeli 3D body sensor firm behind Microsoft Kinect

10 times more robots than (human) employees in 2033?

Statin Side Story

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2012/07/08/opinion/sunday/the-strip.html?ref=opinion&_r=0#1

8 Incredible Facts You May Not Know About Human Evolution

Convergence of DNA sequencing <-> #cloud

Un sexagénaire se voit prescrire par son médecin et délivrer par son pharmacien 14 Lexomil au coucher

Pharmacien est une profession réglementée car il est indispensable d'avoir un conseil au moment de la délivrance d'un médicament ...

À Angoulême, un sexagénaire a consulté son médecin pour une petite déprime. Ce dernier lui a prescrit 14 Lexomil au coucher.

Charente Libre relaye une information assez incroyable et cette histoire concerne Christian, un sexagénaire. "Ce dernier avait une bronchite et un coup de blues. Il a donc décidé de consulter son médecin qui lui a prescrit 14 Lexomil à prendre au moment du coucher. Cette dose est anormale, car elle aurait causé la mort du sexagénaire. Toutefois, le médecin ne s’est pas rendu compte de son erreur et il a contresigné l’ordonnance."

Problème de logiciel

"Christian est allé ensuite à la pharmacie pour prendre son traitement. Il a reçu ses médicaments et une boîte de Lexomil. Le pharmacien avait donc relevé l’erreur des 14 Lexomil, mais il n’en a pas fait part au patient qui est retourné à son domicile avec sa consulte. Le soir venu, Christian a eu un doute en regardant les prescriptions, il estime que c’est une dose trop forte. Le sexagénaire décide de ne pas prendre le traitement et le lendemain, il est retourné chez le pharmacien. Ce dernier a corrigé la consulte, car il s’agissait en réalité de ¼ de Lexomil à prendre au coucher et non 14 Lexomil." Un médecin a révélé à Charente Libre que « c’est une prescription bien adaptée à une tentative de suicide. Vous vous rendez compte si c’était quelqu’un qui suivait aveuglément la prescription ? Il n’aurait même pas passé la première nuit ».

Joindre le médecin

"L’erreur serait donc venue du logiciel, le médecin aurait voulu entrer ¼, mais c’est 14 qui a été inscrit sur la consulte. Le président régional du conseil de l’Ordre des pharmaciens, Jean-Marc Glémot a tout de même déclaré que le pharmacien aurait dû joindre le médecin lorsqu’il a constaté l’erreur sur la consulte."

Source :

http://www.24matins.fr/angouleme-un-medecin-prescrit-14-lexomil-son-patient-au-coucher-67468

What "logistical challenges" are being posed by death row inmates willing to give their organs?

"A condemned child killer will not be allowed to donate organs to his ailing mother and sister before or during his execution this week, Ohio prisons officials said Tuesday after determining the process would pose significant security and logistical challenges.

The request from Ronald Phillips to donate a kidney and his heart came Monday, less than 72 hours before he is scheduled to die by lethal injection.

Phillips has said through his attorneys that the request was not a delay tactic, but rather an attempt to make a final gesture for good.

Prison officials scrambled to review Phillips’ last-minute request, which they called unprecedented, but ultimately could not figure out a way to get the 40-year-old to and from an offsite hospital while following security procedures leading up to an execution. Phillips is scheduled to die Thursday by an injection of a sedative and painkiller that has never been used in a U.S. execution.

The department says it will be up to his family whether the organs are donated after his death. It is unclear whether they would be viable when Phillips’ body is turned over to his family." (Source: http://chronicle.northcoastnow.com/2013/11/12/ohio-death-row-inmate-denied-wish-to-donate-organs/)


On the "logistical challenges":

"It is unclear whether they [Phillips' vital organs] would be viable when Phillips’ body is turned over to his family." Well, they won't. Ask the Chinese army. They know how to execute people so that they will get (and sell) fresh organs for transplant...

Truth being: transplant surgeons ain't like magicians. They need to retrieve living organs for transplant - from a "dead" body. Ahem. Yes, it's a bit gory and creepy and maybe a tiny bit transgressive...

Solution to this problem: death row inmate has been cleared to give a non vital organ before the execution of his death sentence: a kidney. Then he'll be brought back to prison where he will be executed in July. Chinese army shoot prisonners in the head so they can be brain dead (but organs still living) and sell the organs for transplant. 10,000 transplants in China each year (guess how: executions, plus poor people selling a kidney...)

We read everyday in the press that this is about to change... Seriously? 

This will change... when artificial organs will be available for transplant... Can't wait for 3D bioprinting... and preventive medicine thanks to genomics, the science of the human genome...

11 Disturbing Cakes That Look Like Body Parts

Read the full text here: http://mentalfloss.com/article/12748/11-disturbing-cakes-look-body-parts#ixzz2khYSAHVp
--brought to you by mental_floss!

 

$100M gift to Broad Institute: Launching next decade of biomedical research

Conversation between a MIT student in Boston and a beautiful Geisha in Japan

==> English version audio file: download it here.

Audio files on this blog are Windows files ; if you have a Mac, you might want to use VLC (http://www.videolan.org) to read them.

Catherine, auteur de ce blog: Ben ma vie c'est l'histoire d'une fille qui ne trouve pas de boulot intéressant dans son pays médiocre, la France. Elle a des ambitions. Alors elle se bat ... et part travailler ailleurs. Et en plus, elle a même l'ambition d'écrire un musical "genomic entertainment hitting Broadway", une commande de Steve Jobs qu'elle a rencontré (à cause de son blog !!) alors qu'il était à quelques mois de mourir ... Comme co-scénariste pour écrire cette comédie musicale, elle a son professeur au MIT, un Professeur qui attend son prix Nobel, et qui est à l'origine du mondialement connu Human Genome Project. Il se bat lui aussi pour que les gens dans le monde entier apprennent la science du gène humain, il a créé le premier cours en ligne diplômant (MOOC), ouvert à tous. Un diplôme du MIT gratuit !! Une chance pour tous les pauvres Indiens et Chinois (et Français)... mais ils doivent travailler dur...
"Keiko", mon amie Japonaise, Geisha dans un très grand hôtel dans une mégalopole au Japon. Elle tient à protéger son anonymat (et elle a raison). "Ma vie, c'est l'histoire d'une jolie Geisha qui se bat pour qu'on reconnaisse ses talents musicaux. Tout le monde me dit toujours que je suis très belle. Depuis quand la beauté doit-elle être prison ? La beauté, cela devrait être porteur de bonne nouvelle ... Pourtant, dans mon pays et dans mon métier, il en va autrement. La beauté, c'est une lourde responsabilité, un fardeau à porter - et surtout, un fardeau choisi par d'autres ... Je ne veux pas juste servir le thé et faire la conversation à des politiques dans un pays rigide et fermé, étouffé par des traditions ... Je veux être une femme moderne : faire un mariage d'amour, être artiste et heureuse ... C'est un combat difficile, mais la liberté est à ce prix ... Mon métier de Geisha me plonge dans un monde plein de compétition, de jalousies, de mesquinerie et de petites méchancetés et rivalités. Mais moi, je suis tout le contraire. Tout cela au quotidien m'étouffe, je suis avant tout une artiste qui cherche à se libérer et à libérer les autres par sa musique."

Twitter + Facebook = Welcome to the WeChat revolution (made in China, hitting California)



http://www.wechat.com/en 

India. China. Indonesia. Korea. Malaysia.UK. Australia. New-Zealand. US. Europe. Etc.

They've got your language.  

Convergence of @IBMWatson <-> #cloud

God, DNA and Depression: Is Religion In Our Genes?

Can #Genomics Blow Up the Clinical Trial? "This is the future of doing trials"

New models of low cost concierge medicine: check out prices vs usual!

Vinod Khosla says technology will replace 80 percent of doctors — sparks indignation

$99 Does Not "Eliminate the Mystery of Pandora's Genetic Box"