In this week’s edition of The Prototype, we look at quantum computing for image recognition, a gene therapy using a patient’s own skin cells, electricity-generating bacteria, using physics to cook perfect pasta and more. You can sign up to get The Prototype in your inbox here.
Bacteria living in deep sea vents use electricity to breath instead of oxygen
Years ago, scientists found that certain kinds of bacteria appear to breathe by generating electricity, rather than taking in oxygen, but how they did so was a mystery. A new study published in the journal Cell identifies how this happens: the microbes are using a group of chemicals called naphthoquinones in a manner similar to the way a battery discharges electricity. This is what enables bacteria to thrive in oxygen-deprived areas like deep sea vents.
Armed with this knowledge, it may be possible for scientists to adapt these bacteria for use in a wide variety of applications, such as wastewater treatment or developing bioelectronic sensors. It could even be used as a method to turn atmospheric carbon dioxide into useful chemicals–a sustainability twofer.
Stay tuned.
New Approved Gene Therapy Uses Patients’ Own Skin Cells To Heal
CEO Vishwas Seshdari
Around 750 people in the United States have a rare genetic condition called recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB). People with this disease aren’t able to correctly produce a particular type of collagen essential for the skin, causing excessive blistering and slowing the healing of wounds dramatically–if they heal at all.
Earlier this week, the FDA approved a new treatment for this condition called Zevaskyn, which was developed by gene therapy company Abeona Therapeutics. The product is manufactured using a patient’s own skin cells, which have been genetically modified to produce the right kind of collagen. Those cells are then formed into sheets that can be grafted to a patient at the site of a wound.
In a clinical trial, 81% of the wounds treated with Zevaskyn showed significant healing after six months, compared to just 16% in patients using current therapies. What’s more, the healing appears to be durable, showing long term improvements at follow-ups conducted years later. Patients getting the therapy also reported significantly less pain.
Abeona’s CEO Vishwas Seshdari told me that with the approval, the company should be ready to start treating patients by July, starting with a manufacturing cadence of being able to treat about six patients a month. The price per treatment is $3.1 million, with patients expected to receive one or two in their lifetime, and Seshdari said that it’s already working on reimbursement arrangements with payers to ensure those who need it can get it.
The company is also expanding its manufacturing capability with an eye to being able to treat 10 patients a month by the first half of next year. “We can’t wait to bring this therapy to patients,” he said.
DISCOVERY OF THE WEEK: QUANTUM IMAGE RECOGNITION
Quantum software company BlueQubit has figured out how to use quantum computing to power image-classifying AI. Working with the Honda Research Institute, it developed three different ways to encode images so they can be manipulated by quantum computing hardware. They were then used both by regular computers using quantum algorithms as well as quantum computers manufactured by IBM. The company found that one of the encoding methods enabled quantum-powered AI to classify images with about 94% accuracy, which is comparable to what can be achieved by classical computers. That said, current methods of classifying images are still faster. But by developing a way to do image classifying on quantum hardware, this research sets the stage for this type of application to be used when quantum computers have scaled to the point where they’re regularly out-performing regular computers.
FINAL FRONTIER: PROJECT KUPIER TAKES OFF
On Monday morning, 27 satellites for Amazon’s Project Kuiper were launched into orbit. CEO Andy Jassy confirmed on social media that day that all of them were operational. The company intends to eventually have over 3,200 satellites in orbit, with a goal of providing broadband internet access around the globe.
WHAT ELSE I WROTE THIS WEEK
In my other newsletter, InnovationRx, Amy Feldman and I looked at a patent fight over the world’s top-selling drug, new breakthroughs from the American Association for Cancer Research, a dataset to better understand Parkinson’s, the relationship between microplastics and heart disease and more.
SCIENCE AND TECH TIDBITS
Waymo is partnering with Toyota to design a new platform for autonomous cars and trucks with an aim to develop them for personal use.
Scientists have discovered a massive, glowing molecular cloud just 300 light years from our solar system. This vast cloud of gas and dust, which has been dubbed Eos, is primarily composed of hydrogen and will evaporate in around 6 million years.
A team of researchers has developed a soft exoskeleton called the MyoStep, which is made of lightweight materials and can help kids with cerebral palsy walk and play.
Starbucks has 3D-printed its latest store, a 1400 square foot, drive-thru only facility in Brownsville, Texas.
A genetically modified probiotic could remove mercury from seafood after you eat it. The gut microbe was developed by researchers at UCLA and UC San Diego, and was shown to reduce the amount of mercury passing into the brain and fetuses of mice who were fed a diet of fish.
PRO SCIENCE TIP: USE PHYSICS TO PERFECT YOUR CACIO E PEPE
Cacio e pepe is a deceptively simple Italian dish with only three ingredients – pasta, black pepper and pecorino romano cheese, which combined make a rich and creamy dish. Or, if you’re like me, a clumpy mess. But a team of physicists have figured out how to do it flawlessly every time, and published their results in the journal Physics of Fluids. The key is to add powdered starch to the water before cooking the pasta, which ensures there’s enough of it to allow the cheese to blend. It’s also important to make sure the water cools before you add the cheese, blending it in, then heating the resulting sauce slowly to avoid clumps. If you’re looking for a dish to make this weekend, give it a try.
WHAT’S ENTERTAINING ME THIS WEEK
I’ve been greatly enjoying Guy Ritchie’s series MobLand on Paramount+. It’s an organized crime drama set in London that primarily follows Tom Hardy’s Harra Da Souza, who works as chief enforcer for his boss, played by Pierce Brosnan. The show itself is well-executed and entertaining, but it’s elevated by Helen Mirren clearly having a ball playing a Lady MacBeth-esque crime boss’s wife. I definitely recommend it.