Highlights from Lift Basel 2015
“Technology is culture” -Lift team
CRISPR in a capsule? CRISPR technology has been making a big splash in the gene editing world, but this startup has different plans for the CRISPR/Cas system. Antibiotics are “weapons of mass destruction” when it comes to the human microbiome (the collection of symbiotic bacteria that cohabitate human bodies) and it would be far better if antibiotics could kill only the harmful bacteria, while leaving the good ones unharmed. This company proposes to create targeted antibiotic therapies by tailoring the gene-snipping capability of CRISPR/Cas to kill only harmful bacteria.
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Bionic prosthetics are becoming a reality, but how does one make sure that their new arm doesn’t get hacked? – Rob Carlson (paraphrased)
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Explosions and biohazards aren’t so bad in this virtual lab. Labster is a combined effort to bring the excitement of working in a lab to everyone with a computer and an internet connection. From forensics to marine biology, Labster offers the curious a chance to learn about science while running simulated experiments.
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“Laser surgery can cut bone so precisely that the bone barely realizes it’s been blown away from the bone next to it!” – Philippe C. Cattin
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A doctor’s guide to modern med tech. Doctors just don’t have enough time. On top of their already demanding schedules, there is an ever-increasing flood of new studies, treatments, and technologies and keeping up-to-date is a superhuman task. Thanks to the internet, patients are also more knowledgeable than ever and the patient-physician relationship is evolving to reflect this shifting dynamic. The French NGO Eppocrate aims to provide a resource to help doctors keep up with this rapidly changing medical landscape.
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Paro, the robotic seal companion, and the lifting assistant RoBear are part of a vision of the future, but with the impending disproportionate number of workers supporting future retirees, will “the stories we tell ourselves about how we’ll handle the future” be fact or fantasy? – Scott Smith
Images courtesy of liftconferencephotos, https://www.flickr.com/photos/liftconference/
CC BY 2.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/