Category Archives: Gene Medicine

THE FAMILY of an African American woman whose cervical cells were taken from her seventy years ago without her knowledge or consent, are to sue a pharmaceutical company it alleges profited from her stolen tissue.

HenriettaLackswasa young motherwhodiedin 1951after being diagnosed with cervical cancer.

During surgery, a sample of her cells was taken from the tumour and sent to a laboratory where they were found to be thefirst living human cells ever to survive and multiply outside the human body.

The cells taken from Lacks are known as HeLa cells and have been reproduced ever since, used in scientific and medical innovations including the development of the polio vaccine and gene mapping.

The HeLa cell line became the first human cells successfully cloned and have since been used for research in nearly every area of modern medicine including the development of the polio vaccine, chemotherapy, gene-mapping, IVF and cloning.

The Lacks family have publicly announced their intention to sue biotechnology company Thermo Fisher Scientific.

They say the company commercially exploited Henrietta Lacks cells which were taken by doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1951 where she was being treated for cervical cancer without her knowledge or consent as part of a racially unjust medical system.

The lawsuit alleges that In the last several years Thermo Fisher Scientific has made staggering profits in the tens of millions of dollars by using the HeLa cell line all while Ms Lacks estate and family havent seen a dime of it.

The family is being represented by civil rights lawyer Ben Crump who also represented the families of George Floyd, Michael Brown after their deaths.

It is outrageous that this company would think that they have intellectual rights property to their grandmothers cells Crump said during a news conference. Why is it they have intellectual rights to her cells and can benefit billions of dollars when her family, her flesh and blood, her black children, get nothing?

Lacks cells were harvested and developed long before the advent of consent procedures used in medicine and scientific research today, but lawyers for her family say Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., of Waltham, Massachusetts, has continued to commercialize the results well after the origins of the HeLa cell line became well known.

While acknowledging the concerns of the family in a statement Johns Hopkins said that at the time there was no established practice for informing or obtaining consent from cell or tissue donors.

One of Henrietta Lacks grandsons, Lawrence Lacks Jr., said the family is united behind the case.

Its about time, said another grandson, Ron Lacks. Seventy years later, we mourn Henrietta Lacks, and we will celebrate taking back control of Henrietta Lacks legacy. This will not be passed on to another generation of Lackses.

News of the lawsuit comes as a life-size bronze statue of Henrietta Lacks was unveiled in Bristol last week.

The statue, commissioned by the University of Bristol earlier this year,is thework of Bristol artist HelenWilson-Roe. It is the first public statue of a black woman made by a black woman to be permanently installed in the UK.

It follows the exhibiting of two of Helens portraits ofHenriettaLacksand Cllr Cleo Lake, Bristols first black female Lord Mayor, which have been on display in the Wills Memorial Buildingsince October2020.

This year marks the 70thanniversary since Lacks untimely death in October 1951.

The university is collaborating with theLacks family-ledHELA 100: TheHenriettaLacksInitiative, which began during her centennial year and features aworldwide education and advocacy tour.

Her sonLawrenceLacks, who was 17 when his mother passed away was present for the unveiling. He was joined by her grandson Alan Wilks and his wife Pam, granddaughter JeriLacks-Whye and great-granddaughters Victoria Baptiste and Veronica Robinson.

Jeri Lacks-Whye said:As the worldcommemorates 70 years sinceHenriettaLacks HeLa cells changed the world,we also reflect on my grandmothers untimely passing. It is only fitting that she be memorialised to educate future generations on her legacy and the importance of advancing health equity and social justice for all.TheLacksFamily is honoured to begin our HELA100 worldwide tour with the University of Bristol and Helen Wilson Roe for the unveiling of this historic statue.

Wilson-Roe said: Henriettas statue will be the first public statue of a black woman made by a black woman in the UK and will be installed permanently on the University of Bristol campus. May our ancestors continue to show us the way to walk.

As a child growing up in Bristol there were no statues of black women that I could identify with.So,knowing that my children and their grandchildren and great grandchildren will be able to seeHenriettas statue, is just fantastic, especially at this time when Bristol is starting to address its past.

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Family of black woman hailed as 'mother of modern medicine' to sue company for 'stealing her cells' - The Voice Online

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 8, 2021) A recently released paper from the Department of Physiology and Sanders-Brown Center on Aging (SBCoA) at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine suggests that your genetics can influence your response to Alzheimers disease pathology.

The laboratory of Donna Wilcock, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Physiology and SBCoA associate director, investigated inflammation in human brain tissue from UKs Alzheimers Disease Research Center. Brain tissue was analyzed from individuals with different forms of the genetic risk factor, apolipoprotein E (ApoE).

ApoE comes in various forms including ApoE2, ApoE3 and ApoE4. ApoE2 is typically thought of as protective and reduces the risk of developing Alzheimers disease. ApoE3 is the most common form of the gene, while ApoE4 increases the risk and severity of Alzheimers disease.

This work, led by graduate student Courtney Kloske, found that individuals with ApoE4 had a reduced inflammatory response to Alzheimers disease pathology compared to individuals with ApoE3.

This finding contradicts data found from mouse work, highlighting the need to always confirm studies in both mouse and then human tissue, Wilcock said.

Because of the differing response depending on genotype, targeting inflammation in ApoE4 patients may not be the best approach according to our research, said Kloske. This work shows that your genetic makeup may influence your response to certain types of treatment for Alzheimers disease.

The Wilcock lab hopes this work will help contribute to moving treatments closer toward precision medicine.

This work was supported by the 1F31AG069372-01, 1RF1AG057754-01, and P30-AG028383 from the National Institute of Aging. None of this work would have been possible without the research volunteers and clinical investigators at the University of Kentucky Alzheimers Disease Research Center. This work is only the responsibility of the authors and does not reflect the official views of the National Institute of Aging.

Continue reading here:
UK Study Suggests Personalized Medicine May be the Future of Alzheimer's Disease Treatment - UKNow

Young children with the life-threatening muscle disease, spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) can receive the medicine Zolgensma from November 1 as part of the basic healthcare package.

The drug has not yet been reimbursed due to the high price of around two million euros per treatment, making it the most expensive medication in the world. The Netherlands together with Ireland and Belgium have forced a reduction from manufacturer Novartis.

Through this collaboration, the medicine will become more affordable and accessible and this is wonderful news for the patients, Health State Secretary Paul Blokhuis said. The minister wants to bring down prices of other expensive medication in the future.

SMA is a serious illness that usually manifests shortly after birth and progressively affects muscles and the nervous system. Half of SMA patients die in the first year of their life. The disease is caused by a missing gene as a result of which an important protein is insufficiently produced.

It is incredibly special that for the first time there is a drug that tackles the cause of this serious condition and does not just fight the symptoms, directors of Muscle Disease Netherlands Marcel Timmen said.

Zolgensma is a one-off gene therapy that tackles SMA at the root by inserting the missing gene. This can be done even before children develop symptoms because the illness will be included next year in the initial blood screening of children after they are born. A baby can be treated before symptoms show. Unnecessary, irreparable damage can then be prevented, Timmen said. Zolgensma offers children with SMA and their parents a whole new perspective on life.

Between ten to twenty children were predicted to be healed every year in the Netherlands through this therapy.

The financial details of the deal were not revealed. The National Health Care Institute has previously announced that the drug will only be included in the basic health insurance package if the price would at least be reduced by half.

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Most expensive medicine in the world soon to be covered in basic health insurance package - NL Times

It is more than 150 years since scientists proved that invisible germs could cause contagious illnesses such as cholera, typhoid, and tuberculosis. The role of microbes in these diseases was soon widely accepted, but "Germ Theory" has continued to surprise ever since with huge implications for many apparently unrelated areas of medicine.

It was only in the 1980s, after all, that two Australian scientists found that Helicobacter Pylori triggers stomach ulcers. Before that, doctors had blamed the condition on stress, cigarettes and booze. Contemporary scientists considered the idea to be "preposterous", yet it eventually earned the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 2005.

The discovery that the human papillomavirus can cause cervical cancer proved to be similarly controversial, but vaccines against the infection are now saving thousands of lives. Scientists today estimate that around 12% of all human cancers are caused by viruses.

We may be witnessing a similar revolution in our understanding of Alzheimer's disease. Lifestyle and genetic factors certainly play a role in the development of the illness. But it looks increasingly possible that some common viruses and bacteria the kinds that give us cold sores and gum disease may, over the long term, trigger the death of neural tissue and a steady cognitive decline. If so, infections may be one of the leading causes of the dementia.

Like the germ theories of ulcers and cancers, this hypothesis was once considered a kind of heresy yet a string of compelling findings has sparked renewed interest in microbes' contributions to dementia. "There's a huge amount of work being done now, compared to even five years ago," says Ruth Itzhaki, an emeritus professor at the University of Manchester in the UK, who has spent three decades investigating the role of infection in Alzheimer's.

The hypothesis has inspired a clinical trial of a drug that could target the infection before it decimates the brain, radically reducing the risk of senility in old age. And there may soon be many other exciting new treatments in the pipeline.

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A new understanding of Alzheimer's disease could not come soon enough. While there are many forms of dementia, Alzheimer's causes around 60-70% of cases. Globally, that amounts to around seven million people who have been newly diagnosed every year, who desperately need new treatments to slow their decline.

The disease takes its name from the German doctor Alois Alzheimer. In 1906, he noted the build-up of plaques in the brain of a 55-year-old woman, Auguste Deter, who had been suffering from memory decline, language problems and unpredictable behaviour. We now know that these plaques are made from a protein called amyloid beta, and they are thought to be toxic to brain cells and impair the synaptic connections that are important for neural signalling. The accumulation of amyloid beta plaques may also cause tangles of another protein, tau, to build within cells, which can itself lead to neuronal death, and it appears to be accompanied by widespread inflammation in the brain, which adds to the damage.

Continued here:
Alzheimer's: The heretical and hopeful role of infection - BBC News

October 11, 2021 | CRISPR unicorn, pan-coronavirus vaccine research, chemical and biological weapons protection for warfighters, new methods for live cell research, seed round for a new drug discovery platform, and more.

$195M for CRISPR Toolkit

Mammoth Biosciences has secured $195 million in financing, joining the select ranks of unicorn startups with a valuation of more than $1 billion. The funds will enable the company to broaden its toolkit of next-generation CRISPR systems with a focus on building permanent genetic cures through in vivo gene-editing therapeutics and democratizing disease detection with on-demand diagnostics. The financing comprises a $150 million Series D led by Redmile Group, with participation from Foresite Capital, Senator Investment Group, Sixth Street, Greenspring Associates, Mayfield, Decheng Capital, NFX and Plum Alley, among others. It follows a $45 million Series C in late 2020, which was led by Redmile Group and Foresite Capital, and included participation from Amazon as well as existing investors.

$124M Buyout for Protein Detection, Acquisitions

Vector Laboratories has closed a $124 million cash buyout, backed by private equity firm Thompson Street Capital Partners, to accelerate its expansion into protein detection. This new funding enables Vector Laboratories to embark upon an acquisition strategy, while also accelerating the commercialization of innovative labeling and detection technologies for immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, glycobiology, and bioconjugation. Through this buyout, Vector Laboratories has gained the flexibility of a well-funded startup combined with a market-tested product portfolio driving innovative research by academic, industrial, and clinical researchers around the world. The buyout was led by Lisa V. Sellers, Ph.D., now appointed Chief Executive Officer. Prior to taking the helm at Vector Laboratories, Dr. Sellers served as Chief Operating Officer at the company. Previously, she served as VP of Marketing at 10x Genomics, having led marketing during the company's hyper-growth phase. In addition, she has held leadership roles overseeing the global reagent and instrumentation businesses for Applied Biosystems, Life Technologies, and ThermoFisher Scientific.

$109M for COVID-19 Consumables Supply Chain

OraSure Technologies has been awarded a $109 million contract from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), in coordination with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), to build additional manufacturing capacity in the United States for InteliSwab COVID-19 rapid tests as part of the nations pandemic preparedness plan. InteliSwab is a remarkably simple test that rapidly detects active COVID-19 infection. It was granted three Emergency Use Authorizations (EUAs) by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in June for professional point-of-care use, prescription (Rx) home use, and over-the-counter (OTC) use. The federal funding will expand OraSures production capacity by 100 million tests annually, by March 2024. An existing OraSure location in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, will be retrofitted to accommodate increased manufacturing and an additional new facility will be added in another U.S. location to be determined. In addition to this contract, OraSure also has internally funded expansion plans to achieve 120 million tests annually by the second quarter of 2022.

$105M FDA Review Voucher Sale

Albireo Pharma has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its Priority Review Voucher (PRV) for $105 million. The PRV was granted to Albireo under a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) provision that encourages the development of treatments for rare pediatric diseases. The Company received the voucher with the approval of Bylvay for the treatment of pruritus in all types of progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis (PFIC). Albireo will receive a payment of $105 million upon the closing of the transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to occur following expiration of the applicable U.S. antitrust clearance requirements.

$45M Series B for Virtual Care

eVisit, the leading Virtual Care platform for large healthcare providers, has closed a $45 million Series B financing round led by the Growth Equity business within Goldman Sachs Asset Management (Goldman Sachs), with participation from Texas Health Resources, Tom Burton and Steve Barlow (Co-founders of Health Catalyst), and existing insiders. eVisit will invest the capital to drive growth by building out its Virtual Care platform and scaling up its sales and marketing efforts. The fundraise comes in the midst of eVisits rapid operational growth and staff expansion, driven by enterprise demand for its Virtual Care capabilities from large-scale Healthcare Organization (HCO) customers including Banner Health, Texas Health Resources Group, and Concentra.

$40M for Diversity in Decentralized Clinical Trials

Lightship has raised $40 million to create access to clinical research for all patients, and improving diversity among patient groups taking part in clinical trials around the world. The funding round has been led by Define Ventures and Brook Byers, with participation from Khosla Ventures, McKesson Ventures and Marc Benioffs TIME Ventures. The new funds will be used to help drive the firms expansion, including internationally, with a new office opening in the Fall in London, United Kingdom. With its end-to-end model, Lightship brings operational excellence to running decentralized clinical trials at scale. Founded in 2018, the firm is continuing to add new pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to its client base, in new therapeutic areas, and has continued to expand with the addition of over 100 new employees so far in 2021. To underpin the continued expansion of the firm, Lightship has bolstered its senior team with several senior hires. This includes the appointment of Robert P. Jones as Chief Financial Officer following nearly 14 years with Goldman Sachs as a Managing Director leading the firm's coverage of Healthcare Services & Technology within Global Investment Research.

$36.3M for Pan-Coronavirus Vaccines

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded approximately $36.3 million to three academic institutions to conduct research to develop vaccines to protect against multiple types of coronaviruses and viral variants. The awards are intended to fuel vaccine research for a diverse family of coronaviruses, with a primary focus on potential pandemic-causing coronaviruses, such as SARS-CoV-2. The awards are designed to fund multidisciplinary teams at University of Wisconsin, Madison; Brigham and Womens Hospital, Boston; and Duke University, Durham, North Carolina to conduct research focused on incorporating understanding of coronavirus virology and immunology, immunogen design, and innovative vaccine and adjuvant platforms and technologies to discover, design, and develop pan-coronavirus vaccine candidates that provide broad protective immunity to multiple coronavirus strains.

$22.8M Series A for Next-Gen Neuroscience

Rune Labs, a brain data company empowering the development and delivery of precision neuroscience therapeutics, has announced a $22.8 million Series A financing led by Eclipse Ventures with participation from current investors including DigiTx and Moment Ventures. Justin Butler, Partner at Eclipse, will join the Rune Labs Board of Directors. Rune Labs was founded to fill the gap in software and data support for next-generation neuroscience therapeutics, and to expand the benefits of precision medicine to the millions of patients with neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases. Runes first-in-class precision brain data software platform integrates electrophysiology, brain imaging, and device data together with wearable data and clinical labels. The combination will provide researchers, drug developers, and clinicians with the tools to guide treatment, uncover hidden disease phenotypes, and design better-targeted therapies.

$22M Series C, Acquisition for Imaging Data Management, Analytics

Flywheel has announced a $22 million Series C funding round and a subsequent acquisition. The funding round is being led by 8VC, which is focused on building technology platforms that create long-term economic and societal value. Other investors include iSelect, Argonautic Ventures, Beringea, DrX/Novartis, HPE Pathfinder, Spike Ventures, Key Investments, Seraph, Great North Labs and others. The acquisition is of St. Louis-based Radiologics. The two organizations combined capabilities in imaging research data management and analytics provide the medical research community unrivaled end-to-end research workflow solutionsfrom open source to global enterprise. Together, the two companies, now operating as Flywheel, offer the only biomedical research platform that can connect any organization or data set across academia, life sciences, clinical, and medical AI.

$20M Series A for Protein-Protein Interactions

A-Alpha Bio has closed a $20M Series A Financing Round to dramatically expand capabilities and throughput. The round was led by Madrona Venture Group with participation from Perceptive Advisors Perceptive Xontogeny Venture Fund (PXV Fund) and Lux Capital. Madrona Venture Groups Matt McIlwain and Xontogenys Ben Askew, Ph.D. have joined A-Alpha Bios Board of Directors as part of the financing. A-Alpha Bio is building a high-resolution model of biology by measuring millions of protein-protein interactions, leveraging the intersection of synthetic biology, protein engineering, and machine learning. Compared to traditional technologies for screening protein interactions, including biophysical and display platforms, A-Alpha Bios proprietary AlphaSeq platform can measure protein interactions at a scale and to a degree of precision that is otherwise inaccessible. The quantity and quality of AlphaSeq data is ideal for drug discovery and also critical for training highly predictive ML-models for protein-protein binding.

$20M for Personalized Medicine Plans

Tesis Labs, a leader in targeted genetic sequencing, announced $20 million of growth equity financing at a post-money valuation of $520 million. The round was led by Xcellerant 1 TLC, LLC, an investment group headed by John Shufeldt, M.D. This is the first external financing for Tesis Labs since it initiated operations in early 2020. Prior to this funding, the Company raised approximately $15 million. Tesis Labs offers healthcare providers and physicians access to unique genetic testing and precision medicine, enabling them to create personalized care plans for treating chronic diseases individually and across generations. The Tesis mission is to change medicine by providing physicians, hospitals, and researchers with treatment tools to help patients overcome major chronic conditions such as heart disease, lung disease, and cancer through advanced genetic testing.

$17.1M to Study Drugs for Pregnant Women, Children

A new, five-year $17.1 million grant awarded to The Ohio State University College of Medicine will fund the creation of a knowledge bank to support the study of drugs and medical treatments for pregnant and lactating women and children. The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development grant to the departments of Biomedical Informatics, Obstetrics and Gynecology and Pediatrics will help establish the Maternal and Pediatric Precision in Therapeutics Data, Model, Knowledge and Research Coordination Center. This newly created center will serve as a national resource for multidisciplinary expertise and knowledge in maternal and pediatric therapeutics.

$16M for Chemical, Biological Weapons Protection

Charles River Analytics announced it was awarded a contract by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to lead a team of research organizations seeking to develop a novel biosystem solution to protect warfighters from chemical and biological threats. The five-year, $16M contract will focus on neutralizing threats at vulnerable internal tissue barriers (including skin, airway, and ocular barriers) using a configurable biological countermeasure.Charles River Analytics will lead a team of partners as they collaborate on DARPAs Personalized Protective Biosystem (PPB) program. PPB aims to develop technology that reduces the need for burdensome protective equipment while increasing individual protection against biological attacks. The program will explore the use of new transgenic commensal organismsspecifically hookworms and schistosomesto secrete therapeutics specifically targeting chemical and biological threats, including neurotoxins (such as organophosphates) and microbial pathogens.

$13.6M for COVID-19 Testing Consumables

OraSure Technologies has announced that the Biomedical Advanced Research Development Authority (BARDA), part of the office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), will provide up to $13.6 million in funding for the Company to obtain 510(k) clearance and Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) waiver for OraSures InteliSwab COVID-19 rapid test from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). InteliSwab is a simple swab, swirl, and see test that uses an integrated swab to self-collect a sample from the lower nostrils. The result appears right on the test stick within 30 minutes. It has three Emergency Use Authorizations from the Food and Drug Administration for professional point-of-care use, prescription (Rx) home use, and over-the-counter (OTC) use.

$13.5M for New Experimental Methods for Live Cell Research

A new Center for Live Cell Genomics, funded by a five-year, $13.5-million grant from the National Institutes of Health, will bring together researchers at the UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute to develop new methods and experimental platforms for biomedical research using live cells and tissues. The center will deploy this new biotechnology to study neurodevelopmental diseases and cancer. UC Santa Cruz has built an international reputation as a leader in bioinformatics and genomics, working at the forefront of efforts to use genomics in precision medicine and biomedical research. With the new center, the Genomics Institute is spearheading transformational innovations in experimental platform design for large-scale, long-term genomic studies of disease processes in living cells and complex tissues. Advanced methods for growing three-dimensional cultures of human cells and tissues in the lab will be combined with lab-on-a-chip technologies and connected to the internet to create an inexpensive and scalable system with internet-based remote control and analysis capabilities.

$10.89M Wellcome Funding For COVID-19 Therapeutics

The COVID Moonshot, a non-profit, open-science consortium of scientists from around the world dedicated to the discovery of globally affordable and easily-manufactured antiviral drugs against COVID-19 and future viral pandemics has received key funding of 8 million from Wellcome, on behalf of the Covid-19 Therapeutics Accelerator. The Moonshot started as a spontaneous virtual collaboration in March 2020. As countries locked down, a group of scientists, academics, pharmaceutical research teams and students began a worldwide, twitter-fuelled race against the clock to identify new molecules that could block SARS-CoV-2 infection and develop pills that would be readily available to the most vulnerable communities. All the generated discovery scientific data and the general learnings of the project will be put in the public domain. Moonshot data is already available online to enable others to freely build on its work the project has already generated over 50% of known structural information on the main protease, a key protein in SARS-CoV-2. The first clinical trials are expected in 2022.

$9M Seed Funding for Drug Discovery Platform

Fauna Bio, a biotechnology company leveraging animal genomics to improve human health, today announced it has raised $9 million in Seed funding led by LifeForce Capital, with participation from True Ventures, Boom Capital, Pacific 8 Ventures, BioMed Ventures, Vibe Capital and Arcadia Science. Fauna Bio will use the new funds to expand its drug discovery platform Convergence while accelerating the discovery of new therapeutic targets for human diseases across a broad range of indications. Fauna Bio harnesses the power of comparative and functional genomics to find better therapies for human disease, including neurologic, metabolic, fibrotic, and cardiovascular disorders. The initial version of Convergence uses gene expression data from hibernating mammals due to their extreme biology and their remarkable ability to reverse disease-causing traits. The platform has so far identified two compounds and four novel genetic targets currently undergoing evaluation for heart disease and related disorders. The company also collaborates with Novo Nordisk on a target discovery program for obesity. Additionally, Fauna Bio has identified seven novel genetic targets to reduce fibrosis, which is a core component of many chronic and debilitating diseases, including NASH and cardiovascular disease secondary to chronic kidney disease and diabetic cardiomyopathy.

$6.8M Swedish IPO for Simultaneous Analysis of Gut Microbiota

Microbiome DX company Genetic Analysis AS closed up 50% over the first two days of trading on the Swedish Spotlight Stock Market following completion of a share issue. The issue of units was oversubscribed to a total of approximately NOK 99 million, corresponding to a subscription ratio of approximately 165 percent, and the Company received approximately NOK 60 million before issue costs. Through the issue of units, approximately 1,200 new shareholders were added to GA including several leading Nordic and international private and institutional investors. The company now plans to use the funds to accelerate commercialization of its proprietary GA-map diagnostic platform for simultaneous analysis of gut microbiota.

$5M Seed Round for Web-Based CRISPR Data Analysis

Latch Bio, a company building data infrastructure for the biocomputing revolution, today announced the closing of a $5 million seed funding round led by Lux Capital with participation from General Catalyst, Haystack, Fifty Years, and Asimov co-founder and CEO, Alec Nielsen, Ph.D. The company has also announced the launch of its first-of-a-kind web-based platform which enables any biologist to analyze CRISPR data without any code or cloud infrastructure setup. Latch Bio was founded in 2021 by Alfredo Andere, Kyle Giffin, and Kenny Workman who met as undergraduates at the University of California, Berkeley. Using the Latch platform, any researcher can now create a centralized one-stop-shop for storing, transforming and visualizing their data without writing any code. Through the Latch plugins, users can import files from their existing data stack including Amazon S3, Benchling, and Illuminas BaseSpace. Biologists have access to dozens of popular workflows including CRISPResso, MAGeCK, CasTLE, Cas.py, MultiQC, and CasOffinder, among others. After performing a specific workflow, users can further interrogate the results using the built-in genomic visualizer and quality controls. The Latch platform is offered free to academic research users.

$4M in NIH Funding for Early Career Researchers at Mount Sinai

Two Mount Sinai cancer researchers will be awarded $4 million in total costs from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Common Fund, which supports exceptionally high-impact programs and research by junior scientists around the country. Deborah Marshall, MD, MAS, Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology at The Tisch Cancer Institute and The Blavatnik Family Womens Health Research Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Jalal Ahmed Khan, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology at the Precision Immunology Institute and The Tisch Cancer Institute, each received an Early Independence Award worth $2 million given out over five years. Dr. Marshalls study seeks to define novel predictors of female sexual dysfunction and to identify quantitative imaging and microbiome-based biomarker indices associated with damage to specific sexual organs from radiation oncology treatments. Dr. Ahmed Khans study seeks to advance the cancer therapy known as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy for solid tumors by manipulating CAR T cell interactions with the immune tumor microenvironment.

$1.99M Seed Round for Medical Genetics Software

Genetics software startup PhenoTips announced today that it has raised CAD $2.5 million in an oversubscribed seed fundraising round led by the GreenSky Accelerator Fund IV. This round includes the support of the Toronto Innovation Acceleration Partners, Thin Air Labs, Yorkville Partners, and angel investors including members of the GreenSky Presidents Club. PhenoTips empowers healthcare providers to deliver precision medicine with the most complete and interoperable software solution for medical genetics. PhenoTips technology is used by leading genetic care providers in four countries, across four NHS Trusts and two provincial Canadian health systems, currently serving over 200,000 patients with tools that enable deep phenotyping, family history, and genomic analysis. With the additional funds from this seed round, the company plans to double the size of its twelve-person Canada-based team and expand its cloud-based product offerings.

$1M to Engage Diverse Researchers in the All of Us Dataset

Baylor College of Medicine has received more than $1 million from the National Institutes of Health to engage researchers from diverse backgrounds, including those from underrepresented groups, in utilizing the All of Us Research Programs data resources to advance precision medicine. As part of the effort to engage researchers from diverse backgrounds, including those from underrepresented groups, in using All of Us data, Baylor will host All of Us Evenings with Genetics seminars, modeled after the Evenings with Genetics seminars hosted by the Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, at universities across the country. The seminar series will introduce the All of Us Research Program to biomedical researchers and students from diverse backgrounds, including those from underrepresented groups, and show them how to use the data in a variety of fields, including medicine, psychology, nutrition, and education.

Excerpt from:
Follow the Money: CRISPR, Next-Gen Neuroscience, Protein Platforms - Bio-IT World

Two abstracts, highlighting clinical results that showed improved glycemic control following treatment with Diamyd (GAD-alum) as well as the design of the precision medicine Phase III trial DIAGNODE-3, have been elected for oral poster presentations at the International Diabetes Federation Congress (IDF) to be held as a digital event on December 6-11, 2021. The abstracts will be presented by Professor Johnny Ludvigsson, Linkping University, and Ulf Hannelius, CEO of Diamyd Medical.

"It is a great honor and a testament to the importance of our work that the therapeutic diabetes vaccine Diamyd is attracting more and more interest and receives this level of attention at such a prestigious international conference", says Ulf Hannelius, CEO of Diamyd Medical.

The first presentation is titled "Intralymphatic GAD-Alum (Diamyd) improves glycemic control in Type 1 diabetes patients carrying HLA DR3-DQ2", and will be presented by Professor Johnny Ludvigsson. The presentation summarizes results from the Phase IIb trial DIAGNODE-2 where individuals with type 1 diabetes who carry the gene HLA DR3-DQ2, 15 months after study start, measured significantly shorter time with elevated blood glucose level (unadjusted p-value 0.0043) and significantly more time with normal blood glucose level (unadjusted p-value 0.0075) after treatment with Diamyd than subjects treated with placebo.

The second presentation is titled "Design of a precision medicine GAD-alum immunotherapy Phase III clinical trial in Type 1 Diabetes", and will be presented by Ulf Hannelius. As previously communicated, the best effect of the therapeutic diabetes vaccine Diamyd is seen in individuals that are positive for the HLA DR3-DQ2 gene and simultaneously negative for the HLA DR4-DQ8 gene, the so-called Super-responder group. The Phase III trial, DIAGNODE-3, is designed to formally assess, with high statistical power, the treatment effect in both the full patient population of individuals that carry the DR3-DQ2 gene as well as in the Super-responder subgroup (about half of the full patient population in the trial).

In addition to the oral presentations at IDF 2021 (https://idf2021.org/), the abstracts will also be published in the official journal of the International Diabetes Federation; "Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice".

The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) is an umbrella organization of over 230 national diabetes associations in 170 countries and territories. It represents the interests of the growing number of people with diabetes and those at risk. The Federation has been leading the global diabetes community since 1950.

About Diamyd MedicalDiamyd Medical develops precision medicine therapies for type 1 diabetes. The diabetes vaccine Diamyd is an antigen-specific immunotherapy for the preservation of endogenous insulin production. Significant results have been shown in a large genetically predefined patient group in a large-scale meta-analysis as well as in the Company's European Phase IIb trial DIAGNODE-2, where the diabetes vaccine was administered directly into a lymph node in children and young adults with recently diagnosed type 1 diabetes. Preparations for a confirmatory Phase III trial in the US and Europe are on-going, to start recruting patients later in 2021. A vaccine manufacturing facility is being set up in Ume for the manufacture of recombinant GAD65, the active ingredient in the therapeutic diabetes vaccine Diamyd. Diamyd Medical also develops the GABA-based investigational drug Remygen as a therapy for regeneration of endogenous insulin production and to improve hormonal response to hypoglycaemia. An investigator-initiated Remygen trial in patients living with type 1 diabetes for more than five years is ongoing at Uppsala University Hospital. Diamyd Medical is one of the major shareholders in the stem cell company NextCell Pharma AB.

Diamyd Medical's B-share is traded on Nasdaq First North Growth Market under the ticker DMYD B. FNCA Sweden AB is the Company's Certified Adviser; phone: +46 8-528 00 399, e-mail: info@fnca.se

For further information, please contact:Ulf Hannelius, President and CEOPhone: +46 736 35 42 41E-mail: ulf.hannelius@diamyd.com

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The information was provided by the contact person above, for publication on October 11, 2021, 09.15 CET.

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Diamyd Medical : The diabetes vaccine Diamyd to be featured in two oral presentations at the International Diabetes Federation Congress -...

DALLAS Oct. 5, 2021 A UT Southwestern research team has received the National Institutes of Healths prestigious Transformative Research Award to further their study of zebra finches to investigate the genetic basis of vocal imitation abilities.

Todd Roberts, Ph.D.

The award grants $4.4 million over five years to Todd Roberts, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Neuroscience, Joseph Takahashi, Ph.D., Professor and Chair of Neuroscience, and Kent Hamra, Ph.D., a Senior Research Associate in Obstetrics and Gynecology. Drs. Roberts and Takahashi are members of the Peter ODonnell Jr. Brain Institute.

TheTransformative Research Award is part of nearly$9 millionin prestigious NIH Directors Awards received by UT Southwestern researchers today from the NIH Common Funds High-Risk, High-Reward Program, which supports scientists pursuing highly innovative research with the potential to have a broad impact on biomedical, behavioral, or social sciences.

Joseph Takahashi, Ph.D.

Zebra finches are a vocal learning species that provide the only practical platform for systematically identifying the genes involved in this important social behavior. Like speech, zebra finch song is a culturally transmitted behavior learned via imitation, said Dr. Roberts, the principal investigator on this award. We think a forward genetic screen for mutations that affect vocal imitation, followed by the detailed genetic mapping and manipulations developed through this proposal, will identify genetic signatures for this polygenic trait.

The scientists are seeking to establish the first mutagenesis screen in a vocal learning species and the genetic tools to independently test the function of identified genes by developing novel transgenic zebra finches using germline gene targeting technologies. The research may shed new light on speech and language deficits associated with autism spectrum disorder.

Kent Hamra, Ph.D.

Previous research by Dr. Roberts, published in Science Advances, found that inactivating a gene closely associated with autism prevents songbirds from replicating their fathers songs.

UTSouthwestern ratesNo. 1 among global institutions in the health care sectorin the2021NatureIndexfor its published research, as well as among thetop 20 U.S. institutions overall for published research in life sciences journals.

Dr. Roberts is the Thomas O. Hicks Scholar in Medical Research. Dr. Takahashi holds the Loyd B. Sands Distinguished Chair in Neuroscience.

About UTSouthwestern Medical Center

UT Southwestern, one of the nations premier academic medical centers, integrates pioneering biomedical research with exceptional clinical care and education. The institutions faculty has received six Nobel Prizes, and includes 25 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 16 members of the National Academy of Medicine, and 14 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigators. The full-time faculty of more than 2,800 is responsible for groundbreaking medical advances and is committed to translating science-driven research quickly to new clinical treatments. UTSouthwestern physicians provide care in about 80 specialties to more than 117,000 hospitalized patients, more than 360,000 emergency room cases, and oversee nearly 3 million outpatient visits a year.

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NIH awards UT Southwestern researchers $4.4 million to study the genetic basis of vocal learning - UT Southwestern

Cancer Profiling Market: Introduction

Cancer profiling is an alternative to all traditional approaches to cancer treatment. It uses a focused personalized approach to a treatment that specifically targets an individual patient's tumor. Laboratory tests are carried to identify certain genes or gene mutations (changes), proteins, or other biomarkers in a sample of tumor tissue in order to provide a better, personalized treatment to the cancer patient.

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The global cancer profiling market was highly fragmented in 2019. Key manufacturers operating in the global market are:

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Healthcare Facilities Management Market:

The demand within the healthcare facilities management market is increasing at a boisterous pace in recent times. The healthcare industry has gradually shifted from being an absolutist focused on medical procedures to a more diverse industry that prioritises patient safety, utility, and wellness. For this reason, healthcare facilities do not just focus on inducting the latest medical device or technology, going an extra mile to ensure state-of-the-art rooms, beds, and storage systems. Healthcare facilities management is a broad area that covers several services provided across hospitals wards, waiting areas, and other zones. In this context, the growth of the global healthcare facilities management market is expected to attract huge-scale revenues.

Prosthetics Market:

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Cancer Profiling Market: Rising cancer cases boost the demand for early diagnosis to drive the market - BioSpace

A NEW state-of-the-art cell and gene therapy manufacturing facility in Edinburgh has been formally opened by Ian McCubbin CBE on behalf of Sir Patrick Vallance, the Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK government.

The building which is called the BioCube is an additional home to RoslinCT, one of the worlds leading manufacturers of human cell and gene therapies, which works with clients to develop and manufacture life-changing therapies and cures for patients suffering from some of the most debilitating medical conditions.

Scotland is one of Europes foremost locations for the development ofstem cell technologies andRoslinCTs pioneeringwork and cutting-edgesciencehas been at the forefront of that effort, achieving several global firsts in the field of human cell and gene therapies.

RoslinCT has hired 60 people in the past year and intends to add another 30 full-time employees before the end of 2021, taking headcount to 150 people in order to satisfy demand for its services. The firm has its headquarters at Little France in an area known as the Edinburgh BioQuarter, a leading global destination for healthcare delivery, ground-breaking medical research and life sciences innovation and entrepreneurship.

RoslinCTs new, additional 1,600 square-metre facility includes five clean rooms and a dedicated teaching laboratory that will be home to its Training Academy, where the firms employees and scientists from external organisations will be able to learn and develop their skills and expertise in this important and growing field.

In May 2021, the company was confirmed as one of three National Training Centres within the Advanced Therapies Skills Training Network (ATSTN), a UK government-backed initiative set up by the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult in collaboration with industry and designed to deliver training in high impact advanced therapy and vaccine manufacturing. RoslinCT will collaborate with the Scottish Universities Life Sciences Alliance (SULSA) and other academic institutions to deliver both theory and practical courses on sterile manufacturing.

Sir Patrick Vallance, Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government, said: Cell therapies and genetically-modified cell therapies are huge advances for medicine which are already making a profound difference to the lives of patients, many of them children. The ability to genetically manipulate cells and let them do the work to become the therapy themselves is going to transform medicine in a number of areas and in a number of different ways, providing life-changing opportunities for the treatment of genetic and other disorders.

I couldnt be more excited about the prospect of this new facility and its ability to enhance the potential of the UK as a manufacturing base for these high-tech therapies that will change everything from how we approach cancer treatments to how we deal with rare genetic diseases. The BioCube is an important new part of the overall UK landscape and I offer my congratulations to RoslinCT on this significant step in what is a very important mission.

RoslinCT was established in 2006 as a spin-out from the Roslin Institute, which became famous internationally in 1996 for its pioneering work in cloning Dolly the sheep. RoslinCT is chaired by Ian McCubbin CBE, who has more than 30 years experience of pharmaceutical manufacturing and supply, most recently as a member of the UK governments vaccine taskforce, established in response to the coronavirus in 2020.

Ian McCubbin CBE, Chairman of RoslinCT and a member of the UK Governments Vaccine Taskforce, said: RoslinCThas a proven track-record in hiring many talented scientists to do some of the most ground-breaking manufacturing work in the cell and gene therapies space, pushing the boundaries in this field while developing deep partnerships with clients. That world-class team now has a world-class facility in which it can both work and learn, ensuring we continue to invest in developing our people and their knowledgeandexpertise to the benefit of our clients and, ultimately, patients living with a range of conditions.

RoslinCT is a cell and gene therapy Contract Development and Manufacturing Organisation (CDMO), which means it translates and develops cell and gene therapy research into robust processes which it then progresses to manufacturing. All processes are developed to adhere to Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP), enabling clients to deliver safe therapies to patients. GMP is a globally recognised system designed to ensure pharmaceutical products are created and controlled according to the highest quality standards.

Janet Downie, Chief Executive of RoslinCT, said: It has been my vision to create a world leading CDMO here in Edinburgh and the opening of the BioCube is just the first step in the significant expansion of the already thriving business, both here in Edinburgh and internationally. We have doubled in size within the last 12 months and it is a great pleasure to lead such a talented and inspirational team. I am proud of what we have achieved to date and excited to see the life changing therapies that will be produced from the BioCube in the coming years with our clients, and the positive impact that will have on patients.

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State-of-the-art manufacturing facility opens in Scottish capital - Scottish Business News

David Julius, one of todays winners of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, was a standout even as a graduate student at UC Berkeley in the 1970s and 80s, according to one of his mentors, 2013 Nobel laureate Randy Schekman.

Among our most talented Ph.D. students over many decades, David stands out for his originality, focus and determination, said Schekman, a Berkeley professor of molecular and cell biology, adding that, Unlike many people of his level of accomplishment, David is personally sweet and charming and generous in his treatment of others.

Julius, now professor and chair of the Department of Physiology at UC San Francisco and the Morris Herzstein Chair in Molecular Biology and Medicine, shared the prize with Ardem Patapoutian, professor in the Department of Neuroscience at Scripps Research and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch, according to the Nobel Committee 2021in Stockholm, Sweden.

Research on receptors for touch and temperature could lead to better pain killers and, potentially, new treatments for chronic pain. One of Juliuss former postdoctoral students, Diana Bautista, a Berkeley professor of molecular and cell biology and a member of the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, has extended this work to look in detail at itch, which is common in such disorders as eczema, and at the impact of chronic inflammation, in general, on the nervous and immune systems.

David is an incredible scientist and mentor, Bautista said. He mentored many students and postdocs and trained us how to approach science using unbiased approaches, to ask the tough questions, and to give back to the scientific community. I am so lucky to have worked with him and am thrilled he received this well-deserved honor.

Julius came to Berkeley in 1977 after graduating from MIT with a B.S. in life sciences and worked with both Schekman and Jeremy Thorner, now a professor emeritus of molecular and cell biology. His thesis focused on the mechanisms of peptide hormone processing and secretion in yeast,Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Schekmans 2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was for work on the secretion process in yeast.

Thorner, with whom Julius primarily worked, is well known for his studies of transmembrane and intracellular signal transduction mechanisms, especially the understanding of how extracellular stimuli control cell growth and division, cell morphology and gene expression work at the biochemical level.

I am just delighted and proud of all that David has accomplished, Thorner said.

According to Schekman, Julius was the first to clone a gene responsible for endoproteolytic cleavage of a pro-hormone precursor, a gene that became the prototype for other proteases that are responsible for processing human hormones, including proinsulin.

After leaving Berkeley in 1984 for a postdoctoral position at Columbia University, Julius cloned the serotonin receptor gene a multi-year struggle, but he eventually succeeded with results that matched his brilliant Ph.D work, Schekman said.

Julius work on serotonin receptors led, after his move to UCSF in 1989, to a focus on the receptors for touch and pain. He subsequently discovered temperature-sensitive ion channel receptors so-called transient receptor potential (TRP), or trip, channels that enable sensory nerve fibers to detect hot or cold temperatures.

Davids work is never derivative, said Allan Basbaum, a frequent scientific collaborator with Julius and the chair of UCSFs Department of Anatomy. Its always groundbreaking, seminal.

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New Nobelist David Julius was a standout from the start - University of California