Neurotechnology and Society

Thu, 05 Dec 2002 23:16:05 GMT

Computers:

I'm having problems.

Thu, 05 Dec 2002 02:07:26 GMT

Biomedical Breakthroughs: The Answer is in the Blood

Human blood plasma contains many proteins from different origins, some of which can be used to diagnose diseases. Apart from the normal plasma proteins, it also contains all of the proteins that are leaked by tissues, as well as hormones, immunoglobulins (antibodies) and marker proteins of disease or infection. As protein chip technology matures and routine plasma protein diagnostics become standard there will be a great leap forward in predicting physical and mental health problems.

Tue, 03 Dec 2002 23:55:54 GMT

The Law of Control: Bioinnovation Supported by Government

As with previous waves of development government agencies are playing a critically important role in creating an environment that spurs innovation. For example, the national resource for molecular biology information, NCBI's mission is to develop new information technologies to aid in the understanding of fundamental molecular and genetic processes that control health and disease. More specifically, the NCBI has been charged with creating automated systems for storing and analyzing knowledge about molecular biology, biochemistry, and genetics; facilitating the use of such databases and software by the research and medical community; coordinating efforts to gather biotechnology information both nationally and internationally; and performing research into advanced methods of computer-based information processing for analyzing the structure and function of biologically important molecules. Macro-databases like this will be critical in creating population level biosimulations which will accelerate innovation and development.

Tue, 03 Dec 2002 02:35:51 GMT

The Whole Biochip: Why?

The practical result of this technology will include: personalized medicines that are tailored directly to an individuals needs; the treatment of diseases at the molecular level, long before external symptoms appear; and the development of multi-factor drugs that regulate both the protein process in question as well as their regulators. The cost savings for health care organizations, the potential for huge blockbuster treatments, and whole new areas of profit accumulation will mean the power of capital to fund innovation and research in this area will help the underlying technologies of the whole biochip to become a reality in the next 15-20 years. The results for life and health expectancy should be tremendous. The first part of the biochip that has moved into the mass production phase is the DNA microarray. Think: transistor, microprocessor, semiconductor, computer, network.

Fri, 29 Nov 2002 23:31:34 GMT

Biomedical Breakthroughs: Drug Pipelines with Biosimulation Power

Biosimulation will begin to transform the entire pharmaceutical value chain and the way governments determine the safety and efficacy of new drugs in years come. In silico biology is a logical compliment to traditional "wet lab" studies in test tubes (in vitro) and living organisms (in vivo). Currently companies are using biosimulation to narrow potential compounds down more quickly. As data generated from the Whole Biochip becomes available doctors will be able to simulate different compounds in real-time to see their potential effects in patients. As biosimulation becomes more robust, the FDA will begin to mandate simulation-based screening of therapeutic agents, just as plans for all high-rise buildings are required to undergo structural dynamics analysis to confirm earthquake resistance today. Biosimulation has the potential to cut years off the development and approval process.

Thu, 28 Nov 2002 21:07:04 GMT

Happy Thanksgiving: A Mood Enhancing Holiday

Why is that people are so happy at Thanksgiving? Is it day off, the time with family and friends, or the tryptophan in the turkey? Probably a little bit of each. Tryptophan in turkey is known to elevate people's moods, but so is time off and the joy of time with others. Gobble, gobble.

Wed, 27 Nov 2002 23:05:16 GMT

The Whole Biochip: Your Genome for Less than $1

Just as the microprocessor enabled the cost of computation to drop from $75 to less than a billionth of a cent for a million computations between 1970 and 2002, so too will the cost of sequencing an individual's genotype drop through the floor over the next twenty years. With the completion of the Human Genome Project just three years behind us, the cost has already fallen from approximately $3 Billion to sequence an individual's genome to several hundred thousand dollars today. Recent claims have been made that a $1000 genotyping system could be possible in the next 5-10 years.

Looking ahead further it is possible to imagine sub-$1 genotyping systems as the market for such services grows extremely large (i.e. all of humanity and beyond), driving competitive pressures up and prices down. This type of cost decrease will need to happen in proteomics as well for the Whole Biochip to emerge.

I wonder when genotyping will become all the rage as a Holiday gift? 2014?

Tue, 26 Nov 2002 21:48:18 GMT

Neurotechnology: Emotional Control

One of the areas where the biological revolution will make an indelible impact on society is in the area of emotional control. But what are emotions? Today there still exists broad contention among scientists from various disciplines about what emotions really are. For example, some physiological and cognitive psychologists view emotions as existing within the individual, whereas more interpersonally oriented social psychologists and cultural anthropologists view emotions as being created among people. Within the field of neuroscience there is even debate about the biochemical nature of emotions and location of emotions in the brain. Without diving into too much detail here, emotions at the most simplistic level refer to “feelings.” That is, if asked how I am feeling, my response might include a description of my physical well-being, that my back aches, and/or my emotional state, that I am happy or sad.

I assert that each of us exists among the emotional experiences of the world in which we interact. An emotional experience is an extremely complex construction around which the endless search for the fulfillment of human needs and desires occurs.

Tue, 26 Nov 2002 00:31:51 GMT

Biomedical Breakthroughs: The Current Drug Development Process

Pharmaceutical research and development can be divided into three major tasks: discovery comes up with chemicals that show promise in changing something about the problem under study. Preclinical development refines them into compounds that might actually work. Clinical trials test the compounds on humans to see if they work. Then the compound needs to receive government regulatory approval.

Discovery current happens in two steps. First biologists study how a disease functions at multiple levels. Then, chemists try to find compounds that stop the disease from occurring. Different compounds are then tested in animals to determine if they work without side effects. The primary killer of lead compounds occurs when the compound binds to many proteins not just the single protein causing the problem.

FDA regulations mandate the structure of clinical trials. Phase I examines safety in a small population, usually 20 to 100 people for one year. Phase II established that the drug has some beneficial effects, determines the dosage needed for that effect and confirms safety in larger numbers. Phase II enrolls 100 to 300 people for two years. Phase III proves the beneficial side effect is real and not a fluke by testing it in hundreds or thousands of patients over two years or more.

Fri, 22 Nov 2002 18:21:37 GMT

Law of Control: A Human Medical Information Agency

Last year, the drug industry in the US spent $9 billion on behind-the-scenes-marketing to doctors and $2.8 billion direct to consumers.

Pharmaceuticals sales are being driven by helpful, yet spurious educational "workshops" developed by advertising agencies and provided to doctors in support of newly approved drugs. Under current guidelines, the FDA will not allow advertising of any drug until it is approved and once approved it can then only be advertised for the purpose it is purported to help. Once on the market though, any doctor can legally supply any drug for any purpose as they see fit. Ad agenceies are currently "educating" doctors on the other benefits drugs can provide, enrolling other doctors for money to support their "extended" conclusions. Clearly physicians need education, clearly pharmaceutical companies and their ad agencies want to achieve their total available profit. So what should be done?

As biomedical technology progresses there will need to be an independent medical information agency separate from the FDA to provide oversight of the clinical trial process and post education regime that both doctors and their patients can look to for unbiased information. Other likely functions of this agency could include running the Human Biosimulation Project which would collect and cross correlate all information coming from the Human Genome Project, the Human Proteome Project, the Human Brain Project, etc.

Each new technological wave eventually oversteps the regulatory capacity of historically legislated entities. The Interstate Commerce Commission was developed late in the railroadization wave as a result of mounting public indignation in the 1880s against railroad malpractices and abuses. The FDA was created in 1937 after 107 people died as a result of untested sulfanilamide elixir, which later was determined to contain the poison ethyl glycol. The neurotechnology wave will be no different. This time we should use history as our guide and begin discussing now what an agency like this might look like.

Thu, 21 Nov 2002 18:34:05 GMT

Biomedical Breakthroughs: 30 year old Technology Helps Create Cervical Cancer Vaccine

Utilizing recombinant DNA technology developed in the 1970s a group of researchers funded by Merck have reported that they developed a vaccine for certain forms of the human papilloma virus which causes many types of cervical cancer. As many as 225,000 lives could be saved globally each year.

"In trying to develop a vaccine, the researchers chose as their target HPV-16, the leading cause of cervical cancer. They made the vaccine by splicing a viral gene into yeast so that the yeast would produce a protein normally found in the outer shell of the virus. The protein, also called a virus-like particle, is the vaccine. It cannot cause infection, but it sparks the patient's immune system to make antibodies that fight off HPV-16."

It takes time for technologies to be adopted and utilized, especially in the medical industry. However, if this is what is possible using techniques developed 30 years ago, what will be the potential set of solutions brought forth by the Whole Biochip.

Wed, 20 Nov 2002 23:00:12 GMT

Neuroceuticals: Relative Brain Pain

Just as people experience physical pain differently, so too do people experience emotional pain differently. Today, relative physical pain indexes are being developed to help people understand who feels pain more or less than others. In a similar fashion, it would be helpful to have a relative emotional gauge to help people better understand the depth of their depression or height of their joy relative to other people's experiences. An emotional pain gauge would use information about a person's neural circuitry and neurotransmitters levels to help determine a person's relative emotional state. Technologies will need to move far beyond current fMRI (function Magnetic Resonance Imaging) scans to determine locational excitement of neurons, as well as a way to determine real-time in vivo (in a live person) the amount of particular neurotransmitters. The information generated from a Relative Emotional Gauge meter (REG) could then be use to help one another empathize with each other from a perspective that makes sense. So how happy are you today? I'm an 8!

Wed, 20 Nov 2002 01:39:51 GMT

The Power of Capital: The Coming Information Revolution Buildout

Appreciate this insight:

"The information revolution is not radically different from previous revolutions. The Internet has had its boom and crash, and there is no reason to suppose that history will be negated: Full use of the technology will arrive eventually. It always has. But this will require that the technology become workable for the user, and that businesses re-architect themselves to make use of it. This will happen gradually during the next 10 to 20 years as the missing components of the technology's use structure are put in place. In this buildout, the technologies that will matter most, that will determine the pace, are the ones I am calling arrangements-of-use. If there is one difference with this revolution, however, it is that it won't end when we have blanketed the country with optical cable or have teraflop processors. Information technology morphs every 10 years or so, so that what we thought defined the information revolution -- batch processing, desktop computing, Web-based interconnection -- is continually superceded by something new. What lies ahead can never be fully foreseen. This means that we can expect more innovation in this buildout phase than with previous revolutions. But during the next few years, at least, what will drive the buildout is something at once silent and unremarkable: the quiet, inexorable interconnection of business and the slow appearance of Web-based services that digitization provides.

How fast can the information technology economy come back? I don't know. The economy is quiet now, gestating a new phase. What I do know is that when that new phase comes forth, it will be a giant.

--W. Brian Arthur is Citibank Professor at the Santa Fe Institute. His website is www.santafe.edu/arthur.

Tue, 19 Nov 2002 01:53:08 GMT

The Law of Control: Political and Social Power

New technologies always evolve within a set of regulatory frameworks and social norms that have been historically defined. The extent to which new technologies become dominant depends to a considerable extent on the new infrastructures required for their diffusion. Infrastructures includes both hard physical infrastructures for their manufacture and distribution, and just as important, soft infrastructures, in the form of: education and training systems; industrial relations systems; prevailing management styles; and legal and political frameworks at the regional, national, and global levels. Neurotechnologies can substantially shift individual perception suggesting broad adoption may impact soft infrastructures in profound ways.

Sat, 16 Nov 2002 00:49:46 GMT

Emotional Economics: Neuroeconomists Have First Meeting

Recently economists have begun to go beyond behavioral economics to look at the neurological underpinnings of human behavior. Still in it's infancy, specialists researching neuroeconomics number less than one hundred, but the field is bound to grow in importance as we advance our understanding of our brain's neural circuitry. Perhaps most importantly, this will be the discipline that will focus on the impacts of how emerging neurotechnologies (emoticeuticals and cogniceuticals) will not only impact micro-economic decisions but also macro-economic trends. Next stop neuropolitics.

Fri, 15 Nov 2002 00:25:56 GMT

Nutriceuticals: Fishing Depression Away

You are what you eat, or perhaps more accurately, you feel what you eat. Recent research has shown that a specific nutrient contained in fish can decrease depression if taken daily. The nutrient is an omega-3 fatty acid called EPA.

Healthy brains and nerve cells depend on omega-3s because the nervous system is made mostly of fat. The fats that you eat literally determine the composition of your brain cells. Unlike many nutrients omega-3 fatty acids are not produced by our bodies. We can only get it from very specific parts of our diets. And if you don't like fish, you can also get your fill from walnuts or flaxseed.

Wed, 13 Nov 2002 23:15:21 GMT

The Human Brain Project: A Lesson in Complexity

There are about 100 billion nerve cells in the human brain. On average each of these cells communicates directly with 1000 others using special molecules called neurotransmitters. There are at least 300 known neurotransmitters which are released at nerve endings (synapses) and travel short distances to attach themselves to other neurons at specific receiving sites called receptors. There are hundreds of different types of receptors, and more are being discovered each day. Once neurotransmitter attaches itself to a receptor on another neuron, it induces that cell to make a response. Many sets of communicating neurons make up our neural circuitry.

The Human Brain Project evolved from the concept of a National Neural Circuitry Database and is now entering it's second decade. In the long term, the Human Brain Project will provide more than just a sophisticated array of information technologies to help scientists understand how various aspects of brain function fit together. It will also make available to researchers powerful models of neural functions, and facilitate the development of highly targeted treatments for each individuals needs.

Tue, 12 Nov 2002 18:43:02 GMT

Emoticeuticals: Qwelling Anger and Reducing Crime

Anger is hardwired into our brain. Evolutionarily the anger response has been a successful part of our behaviorial repretoire, enabling us to react swiftly to potentially harmful situations. In today's growing global society anger is less a successful trait and much more of a danger to us all.

By 2050 our global human society will grow to 10 billion people, 80% of who will live in urbanized settings. In such a densely populated, highly connected world, anger does not provide the advantage it once did. In fact, many of those who are quick to anger will find themselves in jail, as they do today. But chnage is on the way.

Emerging emoticeuticals (emotion-specific pharmaceuticals) will enable each of us to have fine-tune control over our emotional response systems. Recently, researchers have found that impulsive aggressive behavior can be linked to low levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin in the brain. This is why tools that help us increase serotonin levels in the brain like Prozac and Zoloft have an anti-aggressive effect when treating violent criminals. As we continue to understand the finer aspects of neural regulation we can help reduce crime and create a more human society.

Mon, 11 Nov 2002 23:17:15 GMT

The Whole BioChip

The Information Revolution has been driven by increasingly powerful semiconductors containing transistors, capacitors, wires and resistors. The Biological Revolution will be driven by a whole biochip that enables consistent control over biological analysis and production. This whole biochip will contain currently disparate and still developing technologies, making possible the interactive analysis of DNA, RNA and proteins in real-time. Many techniques being pioneered in electronics such as 3-D semiconductor technologies will be transferrable to the development of a whole biochip accelerating its emergence. More to come on this key development.

Fri, 08 Nov 2002 15:57:07 GMT

Emotional Economics: Kahneman's Nobel in Economics

After almost a century of mathematical obsession, economics as a discipline has finally started to accept its emotional roots. Dr. Kahneman 's work revealed that emotions drive many decisions made under conditions of risk or uncertainty. So, what decisions are made with total certainty? Clearly emotions play a major role in economic decision making, and in fact this goes back hundreds of years.

The Philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) first described pain and pleasure as primary drivers of economic life back in the mid-1600s. Throughout his writings Hobbes often stressed the role of pleasure as the prime mover in human action, describing the “future hunger” for pleasure as the primary determinant in human behavior. Many other philosophers soon joined Hobbes in examining how emotions impact the political economy.

Taking the view that pain, not pleasure, is the prime motivator of human action, the influential political economist John Locke (1632-1704) spent many years describing and discussing how pain drove individuals and states to action. Starting with his second edition of the Essay on Human Understanding (1694), Locke described an “uneasiness” that spurs humans and governments to action.

Kahneman's work gave birth, or really re-birth, to the field of behavioral economics. The interesting question going forward is how will new neurotechnologies that enable humans to change their emotional states impact economic decision making?

Fri, 08 Nov 2002 02:22:56 GMT

Pleasure

Fri, 08 Nov 2002 01:40:15 GMT

A Biological Limit to Aging

Researchers cannot seem to accurately determine the biological barriers to human longevity. In a famous 1928 study on the US population, the ultimate human life span was predicted to be 65 years. Clearly that hypothesis was incorrect. More recent studies haven't performed much better. A study conducted in 1990, asserted that life expectancy “should not exceed…35 years at age 50 unless major breakthroughs occur in controlling the fundamental rate of aging.” This limit was surpassed six years later. Clearly we are gaining new control over the aging process

For over 150 years, life expectancy has continued to rise at the steady pace of an additional 3 months per year. To put this into perspective, the average woman in 1840 lived about 45 years, while life expectancy for today’s woman has reached 85 years in some countries. This incredible increase in duration of life has greatly enhanced the length and quality of people’s lives. A basic straight-line extrapolation of this trend shows that life expectancy will reach at least 100 in the next 50 years, meaning the number of centenarians is about to explode. And this is likely a very conservative, middle of the road scenario, as we will see.