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[Sowelu]

We cured leukemia: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44090512/

Tweak some white blood cells, re-inject them, cancer is gone in weeks and you feel kinda like you're getting over some random infection.  Treatment over.

Even better, though, we cured every virus.  All the viruses.  All of them.  http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2011/antiviral-0810.html

"In a paper published July 27 in the journal PLoS One, the researchers tested their drug against 15 viruses, and found it was effective against all of them — including rhinoviruses that cause the common cold, H1N1 influenza, a stomach virus, a polio virus, dengue fever and several other types of hemorrhagic fever.

The drug works by targeting a type of RNA produced only in cells that have been infected by viruses. “In theory, it should work against all viruses,” says Todd Rider, a senior staff scientist in Lincoln Laboratory’s Chemical, Biological, and Nanoscale Technologies Group who invented the new technology.

Because the technology is so broad-spectrum, it could potentially also be used to combat outbreaks of new viruses, such as the 2003 SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) outbreak, Rider says."

So yeah.  We just cured cancer and the common cold.   And maybe HIV.  What's next, bitches?

[Svarte Troner]

Hooray science!

[Max White]

Cool! I mean the fall of the hippie movement was basically the rapid spread of STI's, so cure AIDS and we go back to calling each other 'starchild'

[Jacob/Lee]

The wonders of medicine and science!

[ChairmanPoo]

We cured leukemia: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44090512/

Tweak some white blood cells, re-inject them, cancer is gone in weeks and you feel kinda like you're getting over some random infection.  Treatment over.

Immunotherapy has been around for a while. There was a somewhat publiciced case a few years back (2008?) in which a guy with a phase IV melanoma had a full remission.

It's not exactly simple and/or fully polished, though. In particular, IIRC, adoptive T Cell therapy's main problem comes from the biodisponibility of the injected cells (they tend to last for very short times, because of some regulatory signal which I can't recall right now). To counter this there's undergoing work in getting bigger numbers of cells, and on increasing their inbody survival (I know that one method that was being tried with the latter was to remove the circulating T Cells through apheresis. Apparently this helped the injected ones to remain for longer).

But yeah, it's quite interesting. In fact, last year was kind of big in immunotherapy because the first cell-based immunotherapy product (Provenge) was approved for the market by the FDA. It was a different approach than this one (they used dendritic cells presenting tumor antigens), and the results were not as amazing (by far). But hey, it's a start. And the fact that it was approved will likely result in related technologies getting more investments.

[Sowelu]

Cool! I mean the fall of the hippie movement was basically the rapid spread of STI's, so cure AIDS and we go back to calling each other 'starchild'

Yeah an awful lot of those ARE viruses, aren't they...

I wonder what the antiviral side effects are like for people who have no significant infections.  Sure would be interesting if you could take a pill the day before, or somesuch.  Or if they were cheap, even daily/weekly like multivitamins.

Of course this might be horribly time-consuming and expensive to produce...dunno.

[Eagleon]

There was some research a while back on putting in artifical amino acids into the genome to basically make us into aliens. If the virus one doesn't work, that might - we'd have to take supplements, but hell. Panimmunity in exchange for a few more additives to food? Sign me up.

Of course, that would put the nail in the coffin if the apocalypse did come along, since the only source at that point for a vital nutritional element would be each other. What the hell, science? What the hell.

[Bdthemag]

Hold on, gotta go barricade my home.

[ChairmanPoo]

And maybe resistance inducing. I think it's important to prevent risk factors.
Also bear in mind that according to that press note all tests so far have been in vitro.

Edit, no. Apparently it was tested in mice.

[Max White]

Hold on, gotta go barricade my home.

Nobody keeps hungry zombie Max from tasty Bd! Nom nom nom!

[Bdthemag]

Hold on, gotta go barricade my home.

Nobody keeps hungry zombie Max from tasty Bd! Nom nom nom!

No, you wouldn't like eating me. Im all thin and frail, barely any meat on my bones.

[Max White]

Hold on, gotta go barricade my home.

Nobody keeps hungry zombie Max from tasty Bd! Nom nom nom!

No, you wouldn't like eating me. Im all thin and frail, barely any meat on my bones.

TASTY BONES!

[ChairmanPoo]

Hold on, gotta go barricade my home.

Nobody keeps hungry zombie Max from tasty Bd! Nom nom nom!

No, you wouldn't like eating me. Im all thin and frail, barely any meat on my bones.

That doesn't matter, we dont want you for your body, we want you for your brain.

[Darvi]

But we're not unreasonable. I mean...

[Bdthemag]

But we're not unreasonable. I mean...

...it's not like we're going to eat your eyes.