She is the first person with type 1 diabetes to receive this kind of transplant.
  • AndyEnglish
    58•8 months ago

    This is so exciting. I worked in a lab where we were trying to do this, and so I was very aware what a gold rush we were in. I’m so glad to see that it’s actually happening.

    This is truly a watershed moment in science. This is going to mark a major turning point in cellular medicine from theory to commonplace care. Eventually, this will end the pharma industry’s insulin cash cow.

    But it’s even bigger than that. Because once we can engineer cells that produce a natural product, the next step is to engineer cells that produce synthetic medicines. Antidepressants, birth control, hormones, weight loss drugs, boner pills… The frontier is huge, lucrative, financially disruptive for pharma companies and life changing for patients. This is a big moment in history, and we all need to be fighting harder than ever to end for-profit healthcare. Otherwise we’re going to end up with subscription licenses to our own bodies.

    • @voracitude@lemmy.worldEnglish
      8•8 months ago

      Like the custom endocrine systems of combat sleeves in Richard Morgan’s Altered Carbon edit: I think I was thinking of Iain M Banks’ “Culture” series actually, but both are worth a read! Need to be strong or fast? Just give yourself a little squirt of adrenaline! Time for slow heart rate and low energy use? Slow-release a skoche of acetylcholine.

      You make a good point about subscriptions. The repo when you stop paying would be pretty grim.

      • @9bananas@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1•8 months ago

        i mean you weren’t actually off on the altered carbon, it just isn’t described in as much detail, but is effectively the same thing ;)

        Thirteen, also by richard morgan, features similar themes as well!

  • 2ugly2liveEnglish
    23•8 months ago

    That is so fucking cool. With all the terrible shit, hearing that there’s still progress on stuff like that is fantastic.

  • Elaine CortezEnglish
    5•8 months ago

    The whole field of stem cell research really excites me because it has so many potential applications. This is amazing news and makes me all the more excited for similar breakthroughs in the future!