First FDA-Approved Fecal Transplant Therapy - Shareables Hope & Optimism #19

This week: shapeshifting robots and mastering your gut [View this email in your browser]( Shareables Hope & Optimism #19 Welcome back to Hope & Optimism, a weekly newsletter that reminds us to look at life's big pictures and remain optimistic in the full potential of humans. If it's your first time reading or a friend sent this to you, you can [subscribe here](. This Week's Updates: - Quote: Going with the wind - Optimistic Updates: - Shape-shifting Humanoid Robot That Can Liquefy And Reform - U.S. FDA Gives First-Ever Approval to Fecal Transplant Therapy - Blood Pressure Reduced by Engineered Fiber Supplements Quote of the Week: “I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” - Jimmy Dean Optimistic Updates [:newspaper:] Image courtesy of (Wang et al., Matter, 2023) [Shape-shifting Humanoid Robot That Can Liquefy And Reform]( If you haven't kept up with the rapid pace of robotics development, you may jump at how far researchers have come. One of the most popular videos that just recently came out is of the Atlas robot, built by Boston Dynamics, [problem-solving to navigate multi-level terrain and ending the routine with a twisting flip](. Meanwhile, scientists have innovated on another plane and successfully created shape-shifting robots that switch between liquid and solid states. By switching between the two states, this robot has the best of both worlds, overcoming many of the shortcomings that exist for exclusively "soft" or "hard" robots. To create it, researchers drew inspiration from nature - sea cucumbers and octopuses, to be specific. Sea cucumbers grow stiff to strengthen tissue to reduce damage while increasing load capacity, while the octopus controls arm rigidity to camouflage, manipulate objects, and move. The metal they selected to mimic this trait was gallium, which has a melting point of 29.76 Celsius (85.57 degrees Fahrenheit). Magnetic particles were then combined with the gallium to allow for heat control and enhanced mobility. Our jaws dropped when we saw what this robot could do. By liquifying and resolidifying, the robot could navigate moats, climb obstacles, and split up to cooperate on tasks. One test involved a little Lego figure that melted itself to escape from its jail cell, only to reform completely on the other side. They also sent the robot into models of the human stomach to test more practical applications such as drug delivery. "Future work should further explore how these robots could be used within a biomedical context. What we're showing are just one-off demonstrations, proofs of concept, but much more study will be required to delve into how this could actually be used for drug delivery or for removing foreign objects," the researchers say. [(Click here to watch the full story)]( Image courtesy of Monstera / Pexels [U.S. FDA Gives First-Ever Approval to Fecal Transplant Therapy]( Ferring Pharmaceuticals' has made history by developing the first fecal transplant-based therapy, Rebyota, to be cleared by the FDA. It targets Clostridium difficile (C. diff), a superbug that can cause life-threatening diarrhea and contributes to an estimated 15,000–30,000 deaths per year in America alone. Studies increasingly suggest that intestine-based diseases (such as IBS, Crohn's, rectal/colon cancer, etc.) are caused by imbalances in gut flora. Rebyota is an important step in figuring out how to permanently cure these diseases. Although this is the first therapy of its kind to be approved by the FDA, fecal microbiota transplants have been the standard of care for these types of conditions for a while now. Now, how exactly does it work? Don't worry, we all know what you're wondering. If you're a patient, you'll never come in contact with feces. Instead, healthy individuals with flourishing gut flora donate their feces which researchers then distill to extract microbes. Those microbes are delivered through an enema (fluid injection to flush out the colon) to replenish the bacteria in your gut. There's still a lot to prove out, but we're hoping and optimistic that the cures are permanent and that the treatment is widely available to the masses. [(Click here to read the full story)]( Image courtesy of Dose Juice / Unsplash [Blood Pressure Reduced by Engineered Fiber Supplements]( When it comes to hypertension, doctors always default to recommending dietary changes first. It's effective, but people are still understanding why. One researcher, Francine Marques from the Monash University School of Biological Sciences, is cracking that mystery. She observed that acetate and butyrate (short-chain fatty acids, or SCFAs) lowered the blood pressure in mice. Unfortunately, that specific methodology couldn't be applied to humans as it would require 24/7 ingestion. As a result, they attempted to engineer fibers that could deliver the levels of SCFAs needed. They settled on a fiber called high-amylose maize starch which could be engineered to include acetate and butyrate. Clinical trials showed very positive results. As the gut ferments this engineered fiber, acetate and butyrate are released in quantities that exceed what can be achieved through standard dietary changes. They also noticed that there was an increase in the bacteria that produce acetate and butyrate, suggesting the potential for long-term and maybe even permanently sustainable cures. The trials were run on a small cohort of humans, so there's a lot more to be tested before this can be rolled out to the world, but the early signs are promising. [(Click here to read the full story)]( If you enjoyed today's newsletter, share it with someone by clicking one of the buttons below, or simply forward the email directly! [Share]( [Share]( [Tweet]( [Tweet]( [Forward]( [Forward]( Thanks for reading! [:heart:][:wave:] [Facebook]( [Instagram]( [About Shareably Media]( [Email](mailto:newsletter@shareably.net) Have feedback? Email us at newsletter@shareably.net! Did a friend forward this to you? 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