Originally posted by Ptah:
It may also be in the future there will be yeast, cell lines, bacteria, etc. that can be readily genetically engineered to express the biologic (e.g., protein) or small molecule drug given food.
We are quite close to this today - that is, some drugs (especially hormones) are already manufactured by gengineered bacteria or yeast in industrial-sized bioreactors; I've seen small bioreactors as well, and technically speaking, if you have a bio-reactor (fermentor), nescery nutrients and a sample of the gengineered bacteria/yeast (capable of reproducing), you could produce the molecule in a small bio-reactor. The main problems will be having the correct organism (that is, finding the gene and inserting it to a bacteria or a yeast), start-up times (bacteria and yeast take some time - from a few hours to a few days - to grow before you have a large amount of them) and extracting and purifying the needed molecule from the bio-reactor's mix (which contains water, microorganisms, nutrients and other materials). A higher-TL, computerized system that does most of the labwork and extraction/purification would probably be able to produce a drug given a sample of the relevant gengineered bacteria strain.
More higher-TL items:
1) Synthetic plasma, which would be manufacturable in mass quantities as opposed to today's need for donors; it would possibly also be far easier to preserve than natural plasma and with no risk of carrying nasty virii (such as AIDS or hepatitis) from a donor.
2) Compact and accurate laser-scalpels, which will save the need for sterylization between uses, and could probably have variable strength (from skin-tattooing to cutting bones).
3) Biological glue (healing-stimulating at higher TLs) to replace stitching; or, atleast, bio-degradable stiching material which removes the need to remove the stitches (whih is painful) and reduce the chance of infections.
4) Another thing that could be possible to manufacture on-site at a high-enough TL are antibodies (using monoclonal techniques); with a wide enough library of hybridomas (modified white blood cells that manufacture monocloal antibodies and multiply without regulation; used today in immunological research and industry) and the needed (automated) cell-culture and antobody-extraction equipment, you coukld create various anti-toxin and anti-infectant serums (such as against snake venom). I'm not sure that I remember the science behind this correctly, though, but this seems possible IIRC.
5) Compact, computerized and automated blood-analysis systems would be very useful; while specific-test kits exist today and are quite compact, doing a full analysis requires a lab. A system (preferrably suitcase-sized, maybe smaller at higher TLs ) which would accept a blood sample and does a wide spectrum of analysis (various indicators, plus toxins or other infectants if present) would allow a doctor to make informed decisions on spot; if the system could also analyze the DNA of infecting bacteria or virii this would also make identifying drug resistant organisms (and their weaknesses) far easier.