Emerging Biomedical Treatments: Vaccines, Antibodies, and Stem Cell Therapies

biomedical sciences

scientific disciplines whose primary focus is the biology of human health and disease

biotechnology

the use of living systems and organisms to develop or make products

biomedical scientist

develops new treatments, vaccine, and drugs for human illnesses and diseases

Biopharmaceuticals

drugs produced using biotechnology methods

Vaccines

teaches your body how to defend itself when viruses or bacteria invade it

mRNA vaccines

inject mRNA to make virus protein fragment inside immune cells

live virus vaccines

uses a weakened form of the virus

killed (inactivated) vaccines

made from a protein or small pieces from a virus or bacteria

toxoid vaccines

contain a toxin or chemical made by the bacteria or virus

biosynthetic vaccines

contain manmade substances that are very similar to pieces of the virus or bacteria

Monoclonal antibodies

involve using antibodies, proteins produced by the immune system, to target and fight specific diseases

antibody

protein that fights infections

blood transfusion

whole blood

packed red blood cells

used for blood loss; anemia

platelet transfusions

used for clotting

fresh frozen plasma

used for clotting and other plasma proteins

bone marrow transplant

the first cell and stem cell therapy

Hematopoietic Stem Cells Therapy

therapy involving stem cells that can differentiate into blood cells

embryonic stem cells

cells require the destruction of an embryo and can form any kind of cell in the organism

induced pluripotent stem cells

reprogramming adult cells into pluripotent stem cells giving them the ability to differentiate into any cell type

adult stem cells

cell 'fate' already committed and hard to extract and culture