Science & Technology > Body and mind sciences >
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Technology for the Body and Mind |
| Paper ID: |
283 |
Last updated: 31/01/2012 09:08:31
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Where: Global |
When: 11-20yrs |
How Fast: Years |
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person thought this paper expanded their thinking
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| Keywords: |
nanotechnology, medicine, drug delivery, health care, biotechnology, regeneration, bioengineering, genotyping, transhumanism, intentional biology |
Summary  |
| Combinations of computation, genetics, molecular biology, imaging and nanotechnology look likely to transform our understanding of the body and ability to intervene. Increasing knowledge of the human genome will open up new ways to repair and enhance the body. Drugs may be produced that are cheaper, safer, better tailored to the individual and better targeted within the body. [1] Drugs may also target an increasing number of applications that stretch current definitions of 'disease'. We are likely to see more and more drugs aiming to treat social or lifestyle conditions [2] and more treatments to enhance existing human abilities. |
Discussion |
Genetic data is complicated and hard to manage, but the emergence of computational biology is accelerating genomic science. Pharmacogenomics is a new science which promises individualised drugs that are more effective than current, chemically-produced "blockbusters", but it demands fundamental changes to models of pharmaceutical research and delivery. Enhanced genetic understanding is also leading to spectacular progress in the detection and treatment of cancer. [3] The goal articulated by the US National Cancer Institute, of mitigating the effects of all cancers by 2015, [4] is increasingly seen as feasible. Another consequence of this greater genetic understanding could be potentially revolutionary developments in "synthetic biology". Biological physicists and engineers have already begun to treat cells as tools that can be mechanically reworked for environmental and biomedical purposes, such as churning out cheap pharmaceuticals.
Brain imaging techniques, such as functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), are flourishing, allowing greater understanding of the brain and opening up the possibility of new neurological technologies. In the next 20 years we are likely to map the human brain and develop a good understanding of how it functions. [5] The results of this will be manifold, for example better understanding of brain diseases, improved diagnosis and treatments. As understanding of the mechanisms of memory, sleep and other phenomena improves; smart drugs that enhance capabilities such as memory and alertness could become commonplace. Furthermore, the understanding of the interplay between the environment and the developing brain may lead to better and more tailored learning techniques.
Research on active biomaterials is beginning to flourish, providing an alternative to surgery. A new generation of materials are in development which, once implanted, stimulate specific cellular responses, thereby activating genes to stimulate the regeneration of live tissue. [6] Tissue regeneration shows the greatest promise with the use of stem cells, although the harvesting of these cells from human embryos is controversial. [7] Meanwhile, rapid-prototyping machines -- in effect three-dimensional printers -- could produce replacement body parts and, ultimately, entire organs.
Developments in nanotechnology are expected to affect almost every route by which drugs are delivered into the human body, with improvements ranging from incremental to revolutionary. Nanoscale engineering for example will make the science of drug delivery far more precise - possibly through the use of drug delivery systems so small that they could cross the blood-brain barrier. |
Implications |
Biology seems likely to be increasingly treated as an engineering science rather than a descriptive science, and new research categories such as computational biology and bioinformatics could dominate the field. To meet the multi-specialist demands of these new categories, there may be an increased number of university and industry collaborative research centres. As the ability to change aspects of an organism's biology develop, ethical questions will have to be faced. Concerns around privacy and property rights may also arise if databases of individual genetic records are created.
As technologies that vastly enhance the human body's ability to repair itself become available it may become possible to reverse organ damage resulting from disease - reducing the need for surgery or organ donation. This has the potential to change attitudes towards healthy living and reduce a sense of personal responsibility (in terms of, for example, alcohol consumption, diet and exercise).
A new approach to drug discovery could emerge, where scientists and clinicians design and synthesise 'designer drugs' to suit an individual's genetic code. This development, plus 'in-silico' computer drug trials, has the potential to reduce research and development costs and shorten development schedules for new drugs. It will produce new types of drugs and challenge systems of regulation and access as each drug will be a new chemical entity.
There may be a cultural shift in the boundaries of what is regarded as 'normal' as more and more 'conditions' (such as ageing, or those that lead to bad behaviour in the classroom) become treatable, with an accompanying social imperative to submit to medication. Technologies to boost physical and cognitive performance may be initially justified in terms of treating people with deficiencies, but they are likely to rapidly find applications in healthy people. The transition from therapy to 'enhancement' will raise fundamental questions for the practice and funding of medicine and society in general. [8] Social inequalities are likely to be exacerbated as affluent patients gain access to new drugs and reap the economic and social benefits of enhanced performance.
Some observers such as Ray Kurzweil see far deeper change in coming decades, including a possible merger between homo sapiens and advanced computers and robots. [9] |
Early indicators |
* Johnson & Johnson's reformulation of an injectable schizophrenia drug to smaller than 200nm under the Elan NanoCrystal brand. Work by pSvidia of Perth, Australia, on developing a biosilicon implantable delivery system to treat inoperable liver cancer.
* Employment of biomaterials for skin regeneration in acute wounds such as burns and as scaffolds for guided nerve regeneration at the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University. Successful application of research by Stephan Heller (Harvard/Stanford) on using adult and embryonic stem cells to regenerate hearing tissues, leading to improvement of hearing loss due to ageing.
*Introduction of fluoxetine to treat social anxiety disorder, finasteride for male pattern baldness, sildenafil ("Viagra") for male erectile dysfunction, and orlistat for obesity. Deutsche Bank's forecast that lifestyle drug sales will rise 10% each year until 2010.
*Recent announcement by IBM and EPFL in Switzerland of the Blue Brain Project to create a detailed computer-based model of the entire brain. Recent estimate by NeuroInsights, a San Francisco research firm, that 300 companies worldwide are developing brain-related products for everything from sleep and anxiety disorders to multiple sclerosis and stroke. The use of fMRI by scientists at University College London to predict what patients are perceiving when they watch gestalt images (optical illusions that can jump back and forth between two interpretations).
* US military interest in organ regeneration [10] |
Drivers & Inhibitors |
Drivers:
* Development of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) mapping technologies, which are likely to drive the precise customisation of drug formulas, treatment duration, and dosing for individuals;
* Better understanding of the basic mechanisms involved in cell growth and differentiation into different types of tissue;
* Ethical consensus on the use of embryonic stem cells; new generations of imaging technologies;
* Advances in computation and processing power; significant research into new drug delivery technologies, spurred by the challenge of delivering biologic medicines with their relatively large molecular structure; massive reductions in the cost of genotyping; increasing acceptance of direct-to-consumer (DTC) marketing strategies;
* Increase in disposable income for certain population segments.
Inhibitors:
* Rapid ageing of the population in Western societies, outpacing medicine's ability to perform invasive surgeries and the human and financial resources to do so;
* Public opposition to certain technologies;
* Complexity of the interactions between genetics and environment and the difficulty in establishing links and patterns of causation. |
Parallels & Precedents |
* Evolution of genomics research and resulting advances in decoding the human genome.
* Development of the first and second generations of manufactured biomaterials. |
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Sources |
| Ref. | Publisher | Date | Title | Category |
| 1 | Foresight | 2005 | Brain Science, Addiction and Drugs project | Tech |
| 2 | Other | | Too much medicine? Almost certainly, BMJ, 13th April 2002 2002;324:859-860 | Tech |
| 3 | Other | | Senker, J., and Mahdi, S (2003) 'Human Tissue Engineered Products - Today's Markets and Future Prospects'. Brighton: SPRU, 46 p. | Tech |
| 4 | Other | | The Royal Society & The Royal Academy of Engineering (2004) 'Nanoscience and Nanotechnologies: Opportunities and Uncertainties' | Tech |
| 5 | Other | | Halligan, Peter W., Kevin Ochsner and Neil Macrae (2005) 'Social Neuroscience Will Shed New Light on Human Behaviour,' Economic and Social Research Council, April | Tech |
| 6 | Newsweek | | Golan, D. (2005) 'The Future of Medicine', Newsweek Special Edition | Tech |
| 7 | Other | | Ball, P. (2004) Synthetic Biology: Starting from Scratch. Nature 431, no. 7009 p 624-6. | Tech |
| 8 | Other | | Beyond Therapy: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness, The President's Council on Bioethics, October 2003, Washington D.C. | Tech |
| 9 | Other | | Ray Kurzweil | Tech |
| 10 | Other | | Synthetic Biology | Tech |
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| The contents of this paper were provided by the Outsights-Ipsos MORI Partnership. Any views expressed are independent of government and do not constitute government policy. |
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