Harvard scientists have invented a new artificial
spleen that is able to clear toxins, fungi, deadly
pathogens and viruses such as Ebola from human blood, which could potentially save millions of lives. When antibiotics are used to kill them, dying bacteria
release toxins in the blood that begin to multiply
quickly, causing sepsis, a life-threatening condition whereby the immune system overreacts, causing
blood clotting, organ damage and inflammation. To
overcome this, researchers have invented a
" biospleen ", a device similar to a dialysis machine
that makes use of magnetic nanobeads measuring
128 nanometres in diameter (one-five hundredths
the width of a single human hair) coated with
mannose-binding lectin (MBL), a type of
genetically engineered human blood protein.


The device uses a modified version of mannose-
binding lectin (MBL), a protein found in humans
that binds to sugar molecules on the surfaces of
more than 90 different bacteria, viruses and fungi,
as well as to the toxins released by dead bacteria
that trigger the immune overreaction in sepsis.
The researchers coated magnetic nanobeads with
MBL. As blood enters the biospleen device, passes
by the MBL-equipped nanobeads, which bind to
most pathogens. A magnet on the biospleen device
then pulls the beads and their quarry out of the
blood, which can then be routed back into the patient.
According to researchers, the biospleen could also help to
treat viral diseases such as HIV and Ebola, in
which survival depends on lowering the amount of
virus in the blood to a negligible level. His group is
now testing the biospleen on pigs.


http://www.nature.com/news/artificial-spleen-cleans-up-blood-1.15917

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Yawning.. Abeg no Ban me ooo

Nice piece of technology. Good to see innovative researchers putting out new devices to aid mankind. Sadly they never seem to be Africans.