session 6

Technological advancement is constantly bringing standards of living to greater heights each time. The session's focus on BioBusiness has enlightened me on how this area of life sciences encompasses a wide spectrum of activities from the environment, biomedical and agri-veterinary aspects and how it is always improving these areas.

Zooming in more on healthcare, I would think the need to improve health care is very vital because we're more exposed to new illnesses, diseases and health issues than before comapred to the past. Things like the recent H1N1 that never existing before has striked fear in the hearts of many due to our vulnerability to the germ or GM food and how it may have effects on our health in the long run that we curently do not know of. With advancement in technology, we are better able to understand these problems and its amazing how humans can come up with new technology to counter these health hazards and save lifes.

For example, nanotechnology, a rising technology these days, potentially offers a cure for cancer.

In March 2007, researchers from the University of California announced their development of an optic device called nanoprobes, capable of killing cancerous cells. These nanoprobes that are made from iron oxide seeks out the cancerous cells and attach themselves to it. A magnetic field is applied to these cancerous areas, causing the iron oxide to heat up and kill the cells without destroying our body tissues. Lab tests performed has proven these nanoprobes to effective in slowing the growth of cancer or even eradicating it totally. Such developments give humans a ray of hope in prolonging or even saving the lives of their loved ones and it though its still in its experimental phase, I would say that this technology is worth being optimistic about and it would definitely change the lives of people.

Touching in on the guest speakers of the day, I would say that Guo Jun's presentation was a notable one because it was an interesting topic that has been brought forth in a manner that caught everyone's attention. It was basically about being able to grow organs by simply taking a small sample of a tissue or organ from the injured area, extract the cells from the tissue and grow them afterwhich. I would personally feel that on one hand its good because we wont have the fear of having a lack of organ donors if we ever needed it. On the other hand, some in class mentioned that people may get complacent with the technology and take their health for granted. i would personally not be the latter because I always feel that the original organ would always be better and can perform its function better than what technology may offer me if I took care of it. Plus, there are still those chances, no matter how slim, that the body may reject these organs. At the end of the day, we may just end up wasting more money and wasting our health for nothing.

Session rating: 9/10