A robot surgeon is headed to the ISS to dissect simulated astronaut tissue – Space.com

Very soon, a robot surgeon may begin its orbit around our planet and though it won't quite be a metallic, humanoid machine wearing a white coat and holding a scalpel, its mission is fascinating nonetheless.

On Tuesday (Jan. 30), scientists will be sending a slew of innovative experiments to the International Space Station via Northrop Grumman's Cygnus spacecraft. It's scheduled to launch no earlier than 12:07 p.m. ET (1707 GMT) and, if all goes to plan, arrive at the ISS a few days later on Feb. 1.

Indeed one of the experiments onboard is a two-pound (0.9-kilogram) robotic device, about as long as your forearm, with two controllable arms that respectively hold a grasper and a pair of scissors. Developed by a company named Virtual Incision, this doctor robot of sorts is built to someday be able to communicate with human doctors on the ground while inserting itself into an astronaut patient to conduct medical procedures with high accuracy.

"The more advanced part of our experiment will control the device from here in Lincoln, Nebraska, and dissect simulated surgical tissue on orbit," Shane Farritor, co-founder of Virtual Incision, said during a presentation about Cygnus on Friday.

For now, as it's in preliminary stages, it's going to be tested on rubber bands but the team has high hopes for the future as missions to the moon, Mars and beyond start rolling down the space exploration pipeline. Remote space medicine has become a hot topic during the last few years as space agencies and private space companies lay plans for a variety of future crewed space missions.

Related: International Space Station will host a surgical robot in 2024

NASA's Artemis Program, for instance, hopes to have boots on the moon in 2026 plus, that's supposed to pave the way for a day on which humanity can say they've reached the Red Planet. And together, those missions are expected to pave the way for a far future in which humanity embarks on deeper space travel, perhaps to Venus or, if we're really dreaming, beyond the solar system. So to make sure astronauts remain safe in space an environment they're literally not made to survive in scientists want to make sure space-based medical treatment sees advancement in tandem with the rockets that'll take those astronauts wherever they're going.

A quick example that comes to mind is how, in 2021, NASA flight surgeon Josef Schmid was "holoported" to the ISS via HoloLens technology. It's sort of like virtual reality meets FaceTime meets augmented reality, if that makes sense.

However, as the team explains, not only could this robotic surgery mission benefit people exploring the void of space, but also those living right here on Earth. "If you have a specialist who's a very good surgeon, that specialist could dial into different locations and help with telesurgery or remote surgery," Farritor said. "Only about 10% of operating rooms today are robotic, but we don't see any reason that shouldn't be 100%."

This would be a particularly crucial advantage for hospitals in rural areas where fewer specialists are available, and where operating rooms are limited. In fact, as Farritor explained, not only is Virtual Incision funded by NASA but also by the military. "Both groups want to do surgery in crazy places," he said, "and our small robots kind of lend themselves to mobility like that."

The little robot doctor will be far from alone on the Cygnus spacecraft as it heads to the ISS; during the same presentation in which Farritor discussed Virtual Incision, other experts talked about what they'll be sending up come Monday.

For one, it'll have a robot friend joining it in the orbital laboratory a robotic arm. This arm has already been tested within the station's constraints before, but with this new mission the team hopes to test it in fully unpressurized conditions.

"Unplugging, replugging, moving objects, that's the kind of stuff that we did with the first investigation," said May Murphy, the director of programs at company NanoRacks. "We're kind of stepping up the complexity ... we're going to switch off which tools we're using, we'll be able to use screwdriver analogs and things like that; that will enable us to do even more work."

"We can look at even beyond just taking away something that the crew would have to spend time working on," she continued. "Now, we also have the capacity to do additional work in harsher environments we don't necessarily want to expose the crew to."

The European Space Agency, meanwhile, will be sending a 3D-printer that can create small metal parts. The goal here is to see how the structure of 3D-printed metal fares in space when compared to Earth-based 3D-printed metal. 3D-printed semiconductors, key components of most electronic devices, will be tested as well for a similar reason.

"When we talk about having vehicles in space for longer periods of time without being able to bring supplies up and down, we need to be able to print some of these smaller parts in space, to help the integrity of the vehicle over time," said Meghan Everett, NASA's ISS program deputy scientist.

Per Everett, this could also help scientists learn whether some sorts of materials that aren't 3D-printable on Earth can be 3D-printed in space. "Some preliminary data suggests that we can actually produce better products in space compared to Earth which would directly translate to better electronics in energy producing capabilities," she said.

Another experiment getting launched on Monday looks at the effects of microgravity on bone loss. Known as MABL-A, it will look at the role of what're known as mesenchymal cells (associated with bone marrow) and how that might change when exposed to the space environment. This could offer insight into astronaut bone loss a well-documented, major issue for space explorers as well as into the dynamics of human aging. "We will also look at the genes that are involved in bone formation and how gravity affected them," said Abba Zubair, a professor of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at Mayo Clinic.

Lisa Carnell, division director for NASA's Biological and Physical Sciences Division, spoke about the Apex-10 mission headed up, which will see how plant microbes interact in space. This could help decode how to increase plant productivity on Earth, too.

Two of the other key experiments discussed during the presentation include a space computer and an artificial eye well, an artificial retina, to be exact. We'll start with the latter.

Nicole Wagner, CEO of a company named LambdaVision, has a staggering goal: To restore vision to the millions of patients that are blinded by end stage retinal degenerative diseases like macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa.

To do this, she and her team are trying to develop a protein-based artificial retina that's built through a process known as "electrostatic layer-by-layer deposition." In short, this consists of depositing multiple layers of a special kind of protein onto a scaffold. "Think of the scaffold almost like a tightly woven piece of gauze," Wagner said.

However, as she explains, this process on Earth can be impeded by the effects of gravity. And any imperfections in the layers can pretty much ruin the artificial retina's performance. So what about in microgravity? To date, LambdaVision has flown more than eight missions to the ISS, she says, and the experiments have shown that microgravity does indeed generate more homogenous layers and therefore better thin films for the retina.

"In this mission," she said, "we're looking at sending a powdered form of bacteriorhodopsin to the ISS that will then be resuspended into a solution, and we will be using special instruments, in this case spectrometers, to look at the protein quality and purity on the International Space Station, as well as to validate this process used to get the protein into solution."

Could you imagine if doctors would be able to commission a few artificial retinas to be developed in space someday, then delivered to the ground for implantation into a patient. And that this whole process could give someone their sight back?

As for the space computer, Mark Fernandez, principal investigator for the Spaceborne Computer-2 project, posed a hypothetical. "Astronauts go on a spacewalk, and after their work day, the gloves are examined for wear-and-tear,' he said. "This must be done by every astronaut, after every spacewalk, before the gloves can be used again."

Normally, Fernandez explains, the team takes a bunch of high-resolution photographs of the potentially contaminated gloves, then sends those images out for analysis.

This analysis, he says, typically takes something like five days to finish and return. So, hoping to solve the problem, the team developed an AI model in collaboration with NASA and Microsoft that can do the analysis straight on the station and flag areas of concern. Each takes about 45 seconds to complete. "We're gonna go on from five days to just a few minutes," he said, adding that the team also did DNA analysis typically conducted on the space station in about 12 minutes. Normally, he emphasized, that'd take months.

But, the team wants to make sure Spaceborne Computer-2's servers will function properly while on the ISS, hence the Cygnus payload. This will mark the company's third ISS mission.

"The ISS National Lab has so many benefits that it's attributing to our nation," Carnell said. "It creates a universe of new possibilities for the next generation of scientists and engineers."

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A robot surgeon is headed to the ISS to dissect simulated astronaut tissue - Space.com

James Shapiro, MD: Insulin Production In T1D Patients After Stem Cell Therapy – MD Magazine

Recently, data from studies developing novel cell replacement therapies to address significant unmet needs in severe disease, including type 1 diabetes (T1D).

The study in question is an ongoing, first-in-human Phase study that reported that its stem-cell therapy produced insulin in people with severe T1D. A total of 17 patients were implanted with the ViaCyte PEC-Direct device at 6 different centers, with the device comprising pancreatic cells (PEC-01) contained within pouches for subcutaneous placement.

In an interview with HCPLive, James Shapiro MD PhD, Canada Research Chair and Director of the Islet Transplant Program at the University of Alberta and lead author of the Cell Reports Medicine report, discussed the findings of the study and what they ultimately represent.

It was a very successful trial in terms of demonstrating the safety, it was absolutely safe for patients, while they were, you know, many different potential side effects on the anti rejection drugs and the minor surgeries that the patients went through, they tolerated the placement and the removal of the devices exceedingly well, Shapiro said.

The trial results indicated 34% of patients had evidence of C-peptide production, while 63% of patients had evidence of surviving insulin producing cells at different time points when the devices were taken out and examined under a microscope.

Shapiro went on to describe the next wave of trials using gene-edited products that will not require anti-rejection drugs, called PEC-QT. He noted the difference between a treatment and a cure is the limitless source of cells and lack of need for rejection drugs.

I think if that happened, then we really would have a therapy that could be given to children just diagnosed with diabetes, they could be given to patients with all forms of diabetes, not just patients with T1D, he said. So, I think this does herald a big step forward for for stem cell based therapists in the cure potential curative treatment for all forms of diabetes.

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James Shapiro, MD: Insulin Production In T1D Patients After Stem Cell Therapy - MD Magazine

First supercomputer that simulates entire human brain switching on in 2024 – Study Finds

PENRITH, Australia DeepSouth, the worlds first supercomputer designed to simulate the entire human brain, is now just months away from activation. Developed by researchers at the International Centre for Neuromorphic Systems (ICNS) at Western Sydney University, DeepSouth boasts the capability to mimic brain networks on the scale of an actual human mind.

DeepSouth employs a neuromorphic system, which replicates human biological processes. By utilizing hardware, it efficiently simulates large networks of spiking neurons, achieving an impressive 228 trillion synaptic operations per second. This rate is comparable to what scientists believe the human brain could achieve. The researchers at ICNS are optimistic that by replicating brain functions, they can gain a deeper understanding of its workings and subsequently design more effective AI systems.

Professor Andr van Schaik, the Director of ICNS, highlights that DeepSouth is distinct from other supercomputers due to its unique design. Specifically engineered to function like networks of neurons (brain cells), it requires less power and achieves greater efficiencies. This approach stands in stark contrast to traditional supercomputers, which, optimized for conventional computing tasks, consume a considerable amount of power.

Progress in our understanding of how brains compute using neurons is hampered by our inability to simulate brain like networks at scale. Simulating spiking neural networks on standard computers using Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) and multicore Central Processing Units (CPUs) is just too slow and power intensive. Our system will change that, Prof. van Schaik says in a media release.

This platform will progress our understanding of the brain and develop brain-scale computing applications in diverse fields including sensing, biomedical, robotics, space, and large-scale AI applications.

Prof. van Schaik believes that the DeepSouth system will pave the way for advancements in smart devices, such as mobile phones and sensors used in manufacturing and agriculture. Moreover, it is expected to contribute to the development of AI applications that are both less power-intensive and more intelligent. Additionally, the system will enhance our understanding of the workings of the human brain, both in healthy and diseased states.

The ICNS team at Western Sydney University has been instrumental in the development of this groundbreaking project, working in collaboration with experts across the neuromorphic field. This includes partnerships with researchers from the University of Sydney, the University of Melbourne, and the University of Aachen in Germany.

The name DeepSouth was thoughtfully chosen, serving as a tribute to IBMs TrueNorth system, which spearheaded the effort to create machines that simulate large networks of spiking neurons. It also honors Deep Blue, the first computer to win a world chess championship. Additionally, the name reflects its geographic location, down under in Australia.

DeepSouth is scheduled to become operational by April 2024.

Artificial Intelligence: By mimicking the brain, we will be able to create more efficient ways of undertaking AI processes than our current models.

Super-fast, large scale parallel processing using far less power: Our brains are able to process the equivalent of an exaflop a billion-billion (1 followed by 18 zeros) mathematical operations per second with just 20 watts of power. Using neuromorphic engineering that simulates the way our brain works, DeepSouth can process massive amounts of data quickly, using much less power, while being much smaller than other supercomputers.

Scalability: This systems design allows easy expansion by adding more hardware for larger systems or downsizing for portable or cost-effective applications.

Reconfigurable Design: Leveraging Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) allows hardware reprogramming, enabling the addition of new neuron models, connectivity schemes, and learning rules. DeepSouths remote accessibility through a Python-based front end simplifies usage without intricate hardware knowledge.

Commercial Availability: DeepSouth relies on off-the-shelf hardware, ensuring continual enhancements and easy replication at global data centers. This approach overcomes challenges associated with custom-designed hardware, which is time-consuming and costly.

South West News Service writer Dean Murray contributed to this report.

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First supercomputer that simulates entire human brain switching on in 2024 - Study Finds