Medical Research Advances

We expect that molecular manufacturing will have major effects on medical research, diagnosis, and treatment. Current and near-future developments in medicine are of interest, because we can project beyond them to see what will be possible once inexpensive nanoscale manufacturing of highly functional products becomes a reality.

One of the things we expect is much broader monitoring of biological parameters such as gene expression. Knowing what genes are turned on at any given time, combined with massive data-mining and statistical correlation, should provide enough information to diagnose almost any condition. After all, cells are exquisite sensors, and gene expression is their readout.

A recent story in LA Times shows how gene expression is already being used on a large scale--not for diagnosis, but for research. Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) has been a puzzle for decades. After identifying 227 people with the disease, the researchers studied them closely--including scanning for the activity of 20,000 genes.

Four teams of researchers came up with very similar findings: that CFS is caused by mutations that impair the brain's ability to respond to stress. This is cool; now pharmaceutical companies can start working on treatments--and no one can tell CFS sufferers that their disease is imaginary.

Here's an idea for a valuable research project: Monitor a comparable number of gene expressions, in a single person, every five minutes for a full day. This could gain a lot of information about the body's cycles. And it should be combined with full-time videotape of the person's activities, to better understand the impact of day-to-day activities on health.

Now, think forward a few years to the time when this gene monitoring will become cheap enough for personal use. Each person would be able to monitor their own state of health in great detail. It would be almost impossible for a medical condition to sneak up on anyone. The quasi-superstitions that we have today about the kind of diet, exercise, activity, and so on that will produce optimum health... will be replaced by objective measurements to figure out what environmental inputs are especially good or bad for each person's mental and physical health.

New technologies will also be developed, of course, which will make even more futuristic kinds of medicine possible. But today's cutting edge shows a lower bound of what will be possible with truly advanced manufacturing.

Tags: nanotechnology nanotech nano science technology ethics weblog blog

Comments

[DT]

Actually a personal tiny implanted chip is being developed that can monitor your health and send info to your doctor by email if anything unsual occurs. In the not so distant future rather than waiting for the disease to develop and then treat it the disease will be diagnosed and prevented before it even becomes a tumour or lesion, pharma/biotech companies are already working on prenvetive medicine than treatment medicines, 2 new vaccines for cervical cancer will be out in 2007, the second most deadly cancer in women. I'm pretty sure we'll see new cancer vaccines by 2020 for almost all sorts of cancers, or atleast preventive medicine and no more treatment medicine.

But I also fear that people will let themselves go when there is new miracle drugs that would fix everything, I mean who would want to excercise when you could take a drug for 2 weeks and you'll lose all the weight, or eat anything you want and lower your cholestrol in a week, I know I wouldn't and I excercise quite alot to be in shape, I believe people will get much lazier with new life style drugs just like how people got lazier when cars,internet,fast food and other such things were invented, thats why we're fatter than ever.

[Matt]

People don't turn lazy because of technology. Technology only allows people that already ARE lazy to BEHAVE lazy. It kind of brings the laziness to daylight. This is a difference that actually matters.

Remember that being lazy sort of means that you only do what is necessary for survival, like preparing a meal and eating it, otherwise you would of course starve to death. However, if someone prepares it for you, then you can save time and energy, which is desirable evolution-wise and, in a globalized world, desirable employer-wise. Of course, the fast-food kind of laziness brings other issues with it that might be worse in the long run, but that's another story.

Almost all people are lazy to a certain degree. Or what was the last time you assembled your own car, with materials you mined and refined yourself, after blue prints you developed totally independent? Since you probably can't do it, do you generally consider buying a car a luxury? If you could do it, would you consider it lazy to not do it?

It's just a matter of how much of your life you "outsource" to technology and/or other people, and your standards. One man's sluggard might be another man's Duracell bunny.

I'm sure that even in a world of body-fat burning pills that actually work and without side effects at that, there will be a significant number of people that will work out nonetheless, because there is a lot more to going to a gym and working out than just shaping one's body. Fast-Food didn't kill the profession or the hobby of cooking. The Internet won't kill TV, printed books, or social interaction. Cars didn't kill bikes or walking, at least not outside the USA I guess.

But I really can't think of a reason why a cure-all pill (for directly life-threatening diseases of body, not fashion-dependant/life-style nuisances) would be a terribly bad idea, except if it is abused to blackmail individuals or groups or whole nations. Power/technology abuse is a way bigger problem than the apparent laziness of some people or other people's moral indignation.

By the way, obesity has a lot more factors contributing to it than the ones you named. Not the least of the real reasons is relative poverty. Studies have found a strong inverse correlation between obesity and income/social status in the USA and other countries. The Wikipedia article is pretty comprehensive IMHO. Naming "The car/Internet/whatever has been invented" as a single reason is oversimplifying and probably can't be shown.