International Society

• DALLAS, Feb. 12, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Spectral AI, Inc. (Nasdaq: MDAI) (“Spectral AI” or the “Company”), an artificial intelligence (AI) company focused on the unmet need for improved medical diagnostics to allow faster and more accurate treatment decisions in wound care, today announces the appointment of Dr. J. Michael DiMaio to its Board of Directors, effective February 7, 2024.
• Dr. DiMaio joins the Board as a non-executive member to fill the vacancy left by the departure of Mr. Michael Murphy.
• Dr. Michael DiMaio is one of the Company’s founders and previously served as the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors from 2011 to 2020.
• "I am pleased to welcome back Dr. Michael DiMaio to Spectral AI’s Board of Directors," said Richard Cotton, Chairman of the Board of Directors.

• DENVER, Feb. 9, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The first World Lidar Day, which will celebrate lidar and its expanding applications each year on Feb. 12, will be held this Monday.
• Its debut will coincide with Geo Week , one of the world's largest geospatial conferences, which starts Sunday in Denver, Colo.
  World Lidar Day was founded by a group of public agency and private industry representatives working collaboratively to raise awareness about the value of lidar.
• Lidar data are collected via air, land, and sea vessels, and the capability is available on some smartphones.
• The founding members' intention with World Lidar Day is to promote awareness of the technology and to develop an annual platform for learning and collaboration.

• ANAHEIM, CA, Feb. 08, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NewMediaWire – BioCorRx Inc. (OTCQB: BICX) (the “Company”), a developer and provider of innovative treatment programs for substance abuse and related disorders, announced that its subsidiary BioCorRx Pharmaceuticals Inc., has appointed Kate Beebe DeVarney, Ph.D. to its Board of Directors.
• Dr. DeVarney is the President, Chief Operating Officer, and a Director of Titan Pharmaceuticals, Inc.  She was previously Titan’s Chief Scientific Officer and has been with the company since 2007.
• Lourdes Felix, CEO, CFO, and Director of BioCorRx Inc., commented, “We are honored and excited to welcome Dr. DeVarney to the BioCorRx Pharmaceuticals board.
• I look forward to working closely with the management team to bring BICX104 to market.”

• This has made it difficult for scientists to understand early human development.
• By offering new tools to explore the enigmatic earliest stages of human development, synthetic embryology can help researchers overcome the challenges of using real human embryos.
• With these new models, researchers can also better understand conditions that affect human reproduction and development as well as maternal-fetal health, potentially leading to new therapies.

Making human embryos from stem cells

• This triggers the egg to rapidly divide into embryonic cells that soon form an inner cell mass that eventually develops into the fetus and a outer layer of cells that will give rise to the placenta.
• Synthetic embryology artificially recreates these developmental stages using human pluripotent stem cells derived from human embryos or induced from adult human cells.
• Like early embryonic cells, these cells have the ability to develop into any type of cell in the human body.

• Researchers created the first human embryo model from embryonic stem cells in 2014.
• This pioneering model, also called a gastruloid, captured key aspects of early human development and showed that scientists can drive pluripotent stem cells to form patterned layers echoing the three germ layers and the outer layers of the embryo.

Advancements in human embryo models

• Over the years, various models have been able to replicate different facets of human embryogenesis, such as amniotic sac development, germ layer formation and body plan organization.
• However, none of these models fully captures the entire process of a single cell type developing into the complete structure of a whole embryo.
• Blastoids form in a similar way to human embryos, starting from just a few cells that proliferate and organize themselves.
• Recently, researchers have successfully created more complex models in the lab that mimic what happens after embryos attach to the womb.

Choosing the right models

• This goal underscores the importance of carefully choosing the model best suited to the specific research objectives at hand.
• Creating embryo models from a patient’s own cells could also allow researchers to study the genetics of development and aid in personalizing treatments.
• The International Society for Stem Cell Research strictly prohibits transferring these embryo models into the uterus of a human or an animal.
• Although these models mimic certain features of early developmental stages, they cannot and will not develop into the equivalent of a human baby after birth.

Min (Mia) Yang receives funding from University of Washington