三種生物科技大趨勢將塑造2018及未來以後
生物學正在以指數形式加速，甚至超越摩爾定律。 這是在我們知道它之前，仍然在很大程度上隱藏著地震大小的波浪，它們會影響我們的生活。
我們選擇了一些我們通過我們的創業加速器注意到的關鍵趨勢，我們認為這些趨勢在2018年會有所發展。
趨勢1：實時遺傳學
在2016年11月，有。 在成都華西醫院的一個中國研究人員和醫生團隊期待著一股空氣，因為他們準備向一位未命名的患者註射來自化膿鏈球菌的CRISPR-CAS9基因編輯複合物作為臨床試驗的一部分，試圖治療該患者的侵略性肺癌。 四川大學腫瘤專家呂友監督說，審判“順利”
據報導，一年前，生物收集者Josiah Zayner一直在註射含有肌肉生長抑制素敲除的CRISPR-CAS9質粒複合體。 他為什麼要那樣做？ 那麼，為人類基因編輯活動做宣傳。 他有可能會被扯裂，就像這些狗中服用了一種Myostatin抑製藥物一樣。
毫無疑問，生物技術已經民主化，以至於任何人都可以接受。 當然，顯然存在風險並涉及極端的學習曲線。 同樣清楚的是，有人願意並且已經能夠對自己進行複雜的基因實驗，並且這導致我們得出這樣的結論，即在這裡停留。
在Josiah的自我修改嘗試公開後不久，一名名叫Brian Madeux的患有Hunter綜合徵的44歲患者接受了旨在編輯他的肝細胞基因組的治療。 他的血液中註入了另一種CRISPR構建物，其靶向細胞中的突變，阻止它們產生分解某些糖分的關鍵酶。 CRISPR被用來插入基因的替代拷貝，以將他的肝細胞修改成工廠，用於製造他缺失的酶。
所有這些加起來就是實時對活體人類進行基因改造的藥物內外的試驗的潛在爆炸性增長，而且我們可以看到，這不僅僅是治療疾病。 想要藍色的眼睛和金色的頭髮？ 這項技術改變人們 美容形象的潛力並不止於更多的肌肉，嚴重的一面是，人們患有目前無法治療的疾病，並且一定程度的專業知識會試圖將事情掌握在自己手中。 藥品公司也應該注意到，如果你能夠實時修復遺傳疾病，那麼該藥物可能會停止銷售。
我們預測到2018年，實時遺傳學將成為一件大事。
這導致下一個大趨勢...
趨勢2：後院生物
要做先進的生物技術很困難，原因很多，而最大的問題之一就是與生物體如致病菌一起工作的監管費用。 如果你改變說一個鏈球菌，然後你把它衝下廁所，你很可能會向世界釋放一個自我複制的問題。
儘管開源實驗室設備在降低生物技術成本方面取得瞭如此多的進展，但是如果有任何顯著的成本增加符合新的監管標準。 這本身阻止了很多後院生物技術的發生......直到現在。 無細胞技術公司已經開發出一種低成本的平台來進行基因實驗而無需活細胞， 您可以在Kickstarter上購買它 。 這個平台與像Bento實驗室這樣的丟失成本設備結合在一起，實際上為任何人提供了在自己的後院進行有意義的生物技術工程的工具，並且完全不需要監管費用，因為實際上沒有任何生活被玩弄。
有越來越多的組件，工具和部件供應給了大量的修補和試驗，以開發可能而且可能會改變世界的新技術和產品（我們覺得可能會更好）。 正如70年代計算機行業的開拓者奠定了現代信息時代的基礎，後院生物技術先驅們也將引領我們進入生物技術時代。 另一個例子是Prospective Research，它從地下室開始，開發了一種低成本的解決方案，使用常用的零件和工具，在污垢中發現新的抗生素...是污垢，就像您在後院找到的一樣！
如上所述，我們現在可以從您的後院'生活'挖掘微生物，但直到我們侵入自己的身體只是一個時間問題。 事實上，它已經開始了。
一些自己動手的生物學項目甚至成為初創公司，如NuLeaf Tech ，因此它是一個充滿潛力的領域。
這種基因組黑客套件使您能夠編輯家中的基因組。 聽起來很瘋狂，對吧？只有細菌和酵母 - 到目前為止。 但它的創始人是少數編輯自己基因的科學家之一。
雖然這已經引發了爭論，並促使美國食品及藥物管理局在地下室生物黑客中崩潰，但許多障礙仍有待克服。 但趨勢很明顯。 未來，侵入我們自己的基因組可能變得更便宜，更快，而不是支付醫療保險費。
而且已經有了一個真實的案例，可能還有更多的案例需要關注。 畢竟，這可能是一個生死攸關的問題。 特里斯坦羅伯茨是一名感染艾滋病毒的年輕人。與生物技術公司Ascension Biomedical一起，他目前正在為自己實施一項實驗性艾滋病毒基因治療 ，並且還忙於記錄旅程。
在接下來的十年中，我們可能會獲得一些經濟實惠的基因治療療法，這些療法將被普遍的基礎醫療保健所覆蓋（也許就像混沌基因盒來修復我的科幻故事中的細胞算法一樣 ）。
今天這些工具變得越來越易於使用和便宜的事實改變了一切。 這導致我們的最終大趨勢在2018年開始 - 數字化生活本身。
趨勢3：數字化生活
當生物學成為信息技術時，解決死亡就成為一個編程挑戰。 那麼這給我們帶來了什麼，生活本身呢？
人類增強
技術越來越接近身體：進入身體！ 大科技已經進入了健康的行列，它隨著數據和用戶群的湧入我們的身體。
腦 - 機接口就是一個例子。 他們激起了人們對於黑客入侵的擔憂，以及對未來的狂熱希望，使我們能夠與AI競爭（根據Elon Musk）或者與AI合併。 他的新公司Neuralink是該領域開拓者之一。 如果你很好奇，看看這些令人難以置信的（雙關語） 工作描述如何建立未來的計算機大腦。
與此同時，Facebook越來越接近閱讀你的想法。 社交網絡有一大批工程師在自己的腦機接口上工作。 在未來的幾年中，我們的第一個人將用我們的大腦在Facebook上輸入第一篇文章 。
但是人類的增強比我們的大腦更進一步 - 對於我們身體的整個操作系統來說。 蘋果最近的合作將iPhone連接的人工耳蝸植入了聽力障礙。 該機器人技術允許用戶將聲音，通話和音樂直接傳送到他們的耳朵。 我們口袋裡攜帶的集中計算能力甚至可以挽救生命：Siri通過給患有心髒病發作的人呼叫救護車，挽救了生命，Apple手錶也是如此。 隨著Google的Verily開始研究葡萄糖測量智能接觸鏡和亞馬遜進軍藥房供應鏈，我們的健康和能力正在發生一波轉變。
我們的細胞，機體和我們的生物學正在成為可以用技術來衡量，維護和修復的生物機器，甚至可以像Profusa的生物傳感器一樣建立一個“健康谷歌”。
歡呼，也許用虛擬現實雞尾酒 ？
數字生物
生物是自我複制的細胞算法。 也許你曾經遇到過杜威哈格堡的藝術展覽 ，這是一個有趣的展覽，展示了陌生人的幽靈般的面部表情，他們從街上發現的DNA樣本中再生出來。 這表明了這種遺傳藍圖的力量，正如我們在第一種趨勢中所討論的那樣。 也許你想檢查你的臉是否在他們之中？
那麼，如果我們使用生活的軟件和技術來融合兩者之間的界限，會發生什麼？
它引發了新的數字生活形式，如比特幣吃飯機器人或開源數字蠕蟲 。 後者是為了研究目的而從桌面創建數字線蟲的努力。 與此同時，J.Craig Venter研究所（JCVI）的先驅研究人員正在開發一種生物數字轉換器 。 我們已經可以生物印刷材料，但是在某些時候，我們會印刷整個有機體 - 並且可能將它們發送到太空。
那農業部門呢？ 農業也正在變得日益以數據為導向和自動化。 一些例子是奶牛和奶牛的互聯網 。 數字生物能幫助我們解決我們的能源需求嗎？ 你決定：這些數字打印的藍藻可以產生電力和電力裝置。
Mushtari不僅是令人驚嘆的下一代時尚產品，而且還是可穿戴設備，合成生物學和微流體技術的共生 。 想像一下，把發電細菌和Mushtari放在一起：將來你可能會穿著自己的發電生物工廠！
最後，我們將能夠將世界上的數據存儲在我們掌握的DNA數據存儲中。 啟動Helixworks是先驅者之一。 他們正在開發一種分子機器，將您的數字數據轉換為DNA，避免網絡攻擊，確保長期存儲。
有了今天可用的技術，問題是：我們想要如何成為數字化的？
Bill Liao是 SOSV的 普通合夥 人和RebelBio的 董事總經理 。
本文由Bill Liao和Elsa Sotiriadis撰寫。
通過遵循我們的中型出版物，緊跟最新的技術趨勢： SOSV：來自加速的靈感 。
韓正 台灣 「兒科神藥」匹多莫德被要求啓動有效性試驗
Biology is accelerating exponentially, even outpacing Moore’s law. This is generating, still largely hidden, seismic sized waves that will impact our lives before we know it.
We have selected some key trends that we have noticed through our startup accelerators that we think have legs in 2018.
Trend 1: Real Time Genetics
In November 2016, there was. an air of anticipation amongst a team of Chinese researchers and doctors at West China Hospital in Chengdu as they prepared to inject an unnamed patient with a CRISPR-CAS9 gene editing complex from Streptococcus pyogenes as part of a clinical trial to attempt to treat that patient’s aggressive lung cancer. Supervising Oncologist Lu You at Sichuan University said the trial “went smoothly,”
Roll forward a year, and biohacker Josiah Zayner has reportedly been injecting himself with a CRISPR-CAS9 plasmid complex that contains a Myostatin Knock-Out. Why would he do that? Well, publicity for the cause of live human gene editing. There is a slim to none chance that he might become ripped just like one of these dogs which were dosed with a Myostatin inhibiting drug.
While this puppy looks pretty scary, the fact is that more lean muscle mass is pretty heavily correlated with longevity, and in a human that could be pretty desirable. Although the efficiency of Josiah’s experiments on himself remain to be seen, the reality is that with home based cheap tools Josiah is completely able to do this work on himself right now and he is inspiring others to try the same.
There can be no doubt that biotechnology has democratized to the point where literally anyone can have a go at it. Of course there are clearly risks and an extreme learning curve involved. Just as clearly there are people willing and able already to do complex genetic experiments on themselves, and this leads us to the conclusion that this kind of thing is here to stay.
Shortly after Josiah’s self modification attempt went public, a 44 year old patient named Brian Madeux, who has Hunter syndrome, received a treatment aimed at editing the genome of his liver cells. His blood was infused with another CRISPR construct that targeted a mutation in his cells that stops them producing a key enzyme that breaks down certain sugars. CRISPR was used to insert a replacement copy of the gene to modify his liver cells into a factory for making the enzyme he is missing.
What all this adds up to is a potential explosion of trials both inside and outside of medicine of genetic modification of living humans in real time, and it won’t just be to cure diseases as we can see. Want blue eyes and blond hair? The potential for this technology to alter the cosmetic images of people does not stop at more muscles, and on the serious side, it is a certainty people with currently untreatable illnesses and a level of expertise will be tempted to take matters into their own hands. Drug companies should also take note that if you can fix an ailment genetically in real time, then the drug for that condition is likely to stop selling.
We predict that in 2018, real time genetics is going to be a thing.
This leads on to the next mega trend…
Trend 2: Backyard Bio
To do advanced biotechnology is difficult for many reasons, and one of the biggest problems is the regulatory overhead of working with living organisms such as pathogenic bacteria. If you make an alteration to say a streptococcus and then you flush it down a toilet, you may very well be releasing a self replicating problem into the world.
While there have been so many advances in reduced cost in open source lab equipment to do biotechnology, there has been if anything a significant cost increase in conforming to new regulatory standards. This has in and of itself prevented a lot of backyard biotech from happening… until now. Cell-Free Tech have developed a low cost platform to do genetic experiments without living cells, and you can buy it already on Kickstarter. This platform combined with lost cost equipment like Bento labs provides literally anyone with the tools to do meaningful biotechnology engineering in their own backyard, and completely without the need for regulatory expenses, because nothing actually living is being toyed with.
There is a growing supply of components, tools, and parts to fuel a massive wave of tinkering and experimenting to develop new technologies and products that could, and likely will, change the world (and we feel likely for the better). Just as the tinkerers of the computer industry in the 70s laid the foundations for the modern information age, so too the backyard biotech pioneers are going to lead us into the biotechnology age. Another example of this is Prospective Research which literally started in a basement and has developed a low cost solution, using commonly available parts and tools, to discovering new antibiotics in dirt… Yes dirt, just like you find in a backyard!
While we can now ‘life-mine’ microbes from your backyard, as mentioned above, it’s only a matter of time until we’re hacking our own bodies. In fact, it has already started.
Some Do-It-Yourself biology projects even become startups, like NuLeaf Tech, so it’s an area brimming with potential.
This genome-hacking kit enables you to edit genomes in your home. Sounds wild, right? It’s only for bacteria and yeast – so far. But its founder is one of a few scientists working on editing his own genes.
While this has already sparked debates and prompted the FDA to come crashing down on basement biohackers, many hurdles remain to be overcome. However, the trend is clear. In the future, it could become cheaper and faster to hack our own genomes than to pay health care premiums.
And there’s already a real case, with potentially many more to follow. After all, it could be a matter of life and death. Tristan Roberts is a young man with HIV. Together with biotech company Ascension Biomedical, he’s currently administering an experimental HIV gene therapy to himself and is also keeping busy documenting the journey.
In the next decade, we will likely have access to some types of affordable genome-fixing therapies that will be covered by universal basic healthcare (perhaps like the ChaosGene Boxes to fix a cellular algorithm in my sci-fi story).
The fact that these tools becoming increasingly accessible and cheaply available today changes everything. This leads up to our final megatrend kicking off in 2018 – digitizing life itself.
Trend 3: Digitizing Life
When biology becomes an information technology, solving death becomes a programming challenge. So where does this bring us, and life itself?
Human Augmentation
Technology is moving closer and closer to the body: right into the body! Big tech has made its move into health, and it’s coming to our bodies along with the data and user base that comes with it.
Brain-computer interfaces are one example. They’ve stirred up concerns about brain hacking as also wild hopes for the future to enable us to ‘compete with AI’ (according to Elon Musk) or merge with AI. His new company Neuralink is one of the movers pioneering the field. If you’re curious, have a look at these mind-boggling (pun intended) job descriptions of how to build the computer-brains of the future.
Facebook, meanwhile, is getting closer to reading your thoughts. The social network has a large team of engineers working on its own brain-computer interface. In the coming years, the first of us will type the first texts on Facebook with our brains.
But human augmentation goes further than our brains – to the entire operating system that is our body. Apple’s recent collaboration brings an iPhone-connected cochlear implant to the hard-of-hearing. This cyborg-tech allows users to stream sounds, calls, and music directly into their ears. The concentrated computing power we carry in our pockets can even save lives: Siri has saved lives and so did an Apple watch, by calling an ambulance to a man suffering a heart attack. With Google’s Verily working on with their glucose-measuring smart contact lense and Amazon’s move into the pharmacy supply chain, a wave of transformation is coming to our health and capabilities.
Our cells, bodies, and our biology are becoming biological machines that can be measured, maintained, and fixed with technology, maybe even building a “Google of Health”, like with Profusa’s biosensor.
Cheers to that, perhaps with a virtual reality cocktail?
Digital Organisms
Biological beings are self-replicating cellular algorithms. Perhaps you’ve come across the art exhibition by Dewey-Hagborg, a fascinating exhibition of the ghostly faces of strangers recreated from nothing but DNA samples found in the streets. This shows the power of this genetic blueprint, as we discussed in our first trend. Perhaps you want to check if your face is among them?
So what happens if we use life’s software and technology to merge the boundaries between the two?
It gives rise to new digital life-forms, like this bitcoin eating-plant robot or an open-source digital worm. The latter is an effort to create a digital nematode from the desktop for research purposes. Meanwhile, a biological-to-digital converter is in the works by pioneering researchers around the J.Craig Venter Institute (JCVI). We can already bio-print materials, but at some point, we will print entire organisms – and send them through space, potentially.
What about the agriculture sector? Farming, too, is becoming increasingly data-driven and automated. Some examples are connected-cows and the internet of cows. Could digital organisms help us solve our energy needs? You decide: These digitally printed cyanobacteria can generate electricity and power devices.
The Mushtari is not only an astounding piece of next-generation fashion, but it’s also a symbiosis of wearables, synthetic biology, and microfluidics. Imagine putting the power-generating bacteria and the Mushtari together: In the future, you could be wearing your own power-generating bio-factory!
Lastly, we will be able to store the world’s data in the palm of our hands with DNA data storage. Startup Helixworks is one of the pioneers. They are developing a molecular machine to convert your digital data into DNA, safe from cyberattacks, secure for long-term storage.
With the technologies available today, the question is: How digital do we want to become?
source: https://medium.com/sosv-accelerator-vc/3-biotech-megatrends-that-will-shape-2018-beyond-fcbdbb6cbd
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