Category Archives: Genetic Engineering

14-Jul-2021

Design and Build | Pharmaceuticals

Poseida Therapeutics has agreed to provide insight into autologous and allogeneic CAR-T workflows, as well as emerging programs that include TCR-T, genetically modified NK cells, and other cell therapy manufacturing workflows for Cellares Corporation

Cellares Corporation, a life sciences technology company pioneering a revolutionary automated approach to cell therapy manufacturing, has announced that Poseida Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company utilising proprietary genetic engineering platform technologies to create cell and gene therapeutics with the capacity to cure, has joined its Early Access Partnership Program (EAPP).

Poseida is the third organisation to participate in Cellares' EAPP, following industry partner PACT Pharma and academic partner Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

Cellares initiated the EAPP in 2020 to provide participants with visibility and early access to Cellares' Cell Shuttle, a next generation cell therapy manufacturing platform enabling closed, automated, and scalable production of cell therapies.

By entering the programme, Poseida is helping advance the Cell Shuttle's development, range of use, and applicability via insight and experience with respect to manufacturing workflows for a variety of autologous and allogeneic cell therapies.

The Cell Shuttle is an automated and closed end-to-end manufacturing solution that enables running the exact processes specified for each cell therapy

"We're thrilled to have Poseida Therapeutics on board to help broaden the possibilities for our Cell Shuttle platform," said Cellares co-founder and chief executive officer Fabian Gerlinghaus. "Poseida's tremendous expertise in the cell therapy space, especially spanning a diverse range of therapeutic modalities, is a huge boon to our developmental efforts. We anticipate our work with Poseida to demonstrate the Cell Shuttle's adaptability for multiple cell therapy modalities, particularly CAR-T cells."

Poseida currently has two autologous CAR-T product candidates in the clinic, including P-BCMA-101, for patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma, and P-PSMA-101, for patients with metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer. The company, which completed an initial public offering in July 2020, also has off-the-shelf versions of both therapies in development, and is exploring TCR-T, anti-c-kit CAR-T, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), and genetically modified hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and NK cells. Immunotherapy pioneer and distinguished oncologist Carl June, M.D., an advisor to Cellares who helped guide the development of the Cell Shuttle, recently joined Poseida's Immuno-Oncology Scientific Advisory Board.

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"The flexibility of the Cell Shuttle matches the breadth of approaches we are developing at Poseida," said Kerry Ingalls, Chief Operating Officer at Poseida. "To work across our cell therapy portfolio, an automated manufacturing system should be capable of reliably producing a range of therapies autologous and allogeneic CAR-T and in both solid and hematological cancers, for research and at scale for clinical trials and, ultimately, commercial applications. By joining forces with Cellares, we believe we can leverage the Cell Shuttle's capabilities to help support our overall manufacturing strategy, further advancing cell therapy manufacturing."

As part of Cellares' EAPP, Poseida will evaluate the Cell Shuttle prototypes and provide data and written feedback relevant to its function and performance. This will include user studies that assess the Cell Shuttle's hardware and software, product requirements, release criteria, and process workflows to help ensure product-market fit.

The Cell Shuttle is an automated and closed end-to-end manufacturing solution that is flexible and scalable, enabling customers to run the exact processes specified for their cell therapy.

Compared with currently available cell therapy manufacturing methods, this next-generation platform enables a three-fold reduction in process failure rates and is capable of producing 10+ patient doses in parallel, which increases manufacturing scalability by an order of magnitude. This will reduce the per-patient manufacturing cost by up to 70% for most processes.

Read more from the original source:
Cellares closed automated cell therapy system gets new industry partner - Cleanroom Technology

The Roslin Institute has responded to the UK Governments public consultation on the regulation of gene-editing technologies.

Our response is focused on our experience of fundamental and applied research using gene editing, and its potential applications to improve livestock and aquaculture production and sustainability.

Selective breeding practices have significantly improved the productivity of farmed animals, particularly in the past century, reducing the feed required per animal and consequently the carbon footprint of each animal raised.

Modern selective breeding programs are both effective and sustainable, and their applications have been expanded to include a focus on improving animal welfare.

However, some characteristics of farmed animals are not easily improved by genetic selection. Gene-editing technologies offer new opportunities to improve traits of relevance to sustainable farmed animal production, including improving animal health and welfare, and reducing environmental impact.

These new technologies have the advantages of being specific by introducing a single, planned genetic change, with reduced potential for unplanned negative effects compared to other genetic engineering technologies.

A major challenge for conventional breeding is genetic improvement for disease resistance, an important target for improving animal welfare and reducing environmental impact.

Roslin research has a major focus on using our knowledge of the fundamental biological mechanisms in major infectious diseases of farmed animals to make precise, specific genetic changes that block or otherwise mitigate infection.

This can be achieved by using gene-editing technologies, as we have shown by the production of pigs that are genetically fully resistant to infection by porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) virus.

These pigs have a very small genetic change, are healthy, and cannot be infected by PRRS virus.

Our response outlines our reasons for proposing that gene-editing applications in animal breeding should not fall under genetically modified organism (GMO) regulations.

We recommend that any new regulations are proportionate, assess the outcomes of the genetic change in terms of animal welfare and any potential environmental impacts, but are not driven by the use of gene editing technology itself.

The Roslin Institute is in Scotland, where regulatory changes on gene editing introduced by the UK Government may not be implemented.

There is substantial industry and academic research and development into the application of gene editing, for example, to improve sustainable aquaculture production, a major Scottish industry, and we hope to discuss these opportunities further with the Scottish Government.

"Gene-editing technology offers the potential to efficiently enable beneficial changes in DNA. Within animal agriculture, genetic engineering technologies hold great potential in mitigating disease, improving the welfare and productivity of animals, and addressing a demand for animal products driven by population growth and climate change," said Professor Bruce Whitelaw, the chair of Animal Biotechnology at the Roslin Institute.

Excerpt from:
Response to UK Government's gene editing consultation - The Pig Site

Company Already Operating With Expert Alkaloid-Based Plant Breeders, Critical to Scaling Up New, Disruptive Plant LinesExpands Companys Operating Network in the Northern Hemisphere to Provide Indoor and Outdoor Alkaloid-Based Plant Line Breeding, Scale-Up, and Cultivation ProgramFolium Botanical Is In Close Proximity to and Allows for Vertical Integration of Breeding Expertise With Needle Rock FarmsNew Lines Already Completing the Initial Two-Year Development Cycle and Emerging From Companys Vast Portfolio of Hemp/Cannabis Lines Poised to Be Monetized in the Fourth QuarterCollaborations Key to Development of New, Commercially Valuable Plant Lines and Related IP in Two-Year Cycles, A Fraction of the Time Typically Required to Develop New PlantsAddition of Southern Hemisphere Breeder to Be Announced Shortly Will Provide 22nd Century with Year-Round Growing Capabilities

BUFFALO, N.Y., July 14, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 22nd Century Group, Inc. (NYSE American: XXII ), a leading plant-based biotechnology company focused on tobacco harm reduction, reduced nicotine tobacco, and hemp/cannabis research, today announced that it has added strategic partnerships with expert commercial-scale plant breeders Sawatch Agriculture and Folium Botanical. The partnerships with these two northern hemisphere breeders add to the breeding capabilities that 22nd Century already has through its close partnership with Aurora Cannabis, and another southern hemisphere-based breeder that will be announced shortly, providing 22nd Century year-round growing capabilities.

With decades of combined specialized alkaloid plant breeding and plant biotechnology experience, these expert breeders have proven next-generation technologies and innovations on breeding, commercial scale-up, and cultivation, many of which are far beyond those of independent competitive breeders or in-house breeding in consumer product companies. Under 22nd Centurys direction, proprietary plants will be developed with optimum levels of cannabinoids that meet high-quality standards when grown at commercial scale.

We are thrilled to announce the addition of these world-class alkaloid-based plant breeding specialists to complement 22nd Centurys capabilities in our upstream value chain. Our four breeding partnerships complete our portfolio of comprehensive plant science capabilities, enabling the rapid creation and scale-up of stable, tailored, highly disruptive plant lines with predictable yields critical to the mass cultivation of hemp/cannabis, which will be absolutely necessary to meet the rapidly growing market demand for improved, stable genetics. We are giving growers a competitive advantage by substantially improving crop yield and optimizing the time that it takes to develop new lines to a two-year cycle, a reduction from the 7 to 10 years that would typically be necessary to create new lines using our proprietary capabilities, said James A. Mish, chief executive officer of 22nd Century Group. Along with new lines progressing in development, we have lines emerging from our vast portfolio of hemp/cannabis lines that are completing the initial two-year development cycle. We look forward to the monetization of these lines and our current hemp/cannabis IP portfolio, with our first revenue from our hemp/cannabis franchise expected in the second half of 2021. Our complete upstream hemp/cannabis capabilities enable us to rapidly offer additional disruptive, commercially valuable hemp/cannabis plant lines at large scale and with increased, stable yields to very attractive end-use markets.

Strategic Partnerships Maximize 22nd Centurys Cannabinoid Value Chain

With todays announcement of these expert breeding partnerships, 22nd Century has secured all key partnerships needed to maximize and support each of the segments of its cannabinoid value chain: plant profiling (CannaMetrix), plant biotechnology (KeyGene), plant breeding, commercial-scale plant cultivation, and ingredient extraction/purification (Sawatch Agriculture, Folium Botanical, Aurora Cannabis, Needle Rock Farms, and Panacea).

22nd Centurys plant science mission and expertise serve as the crucial link between these partner companies to create the specific traits needed to optimize hemp/cannabis products at commercial scale. Mass cultivation is quickly becoming a critical challenge in the hemp/cannabis industry. Most existing plant lines do not exhibit the stable genetics, predictable yield, or specific composition of cannabinoids required to fully unlock the value of the hemp/cannabis industry. 22nd Centurys upstream capabilities provide for optimized plant products and scale-up as the industry evolves toward mass production.

The Companys goal is to provide leading brands in the life science, consumer product, and pharmaceutical end-use markets a license to utilize the new lines or ingredients (flower, distillate, isolate, etc.) derived from the most stable, predictable, and reliable hemp/cannabis lines with differentiated traits. These licenses or ingredients will serve to enhance their respective products, consumers experience, and commercial success. Using its genetically engineered hemp/cannabis plants and ability to scale, 22nd Century can accelerate development and speed to market of products with desired end-user benefits based on specific cannabinoid and terpene profiles at scale in a fraction of the time of competitors.

Multiple Hemp/Cannabis Revenue Streams in 2021 anda Long Growth Runway

The Company is actively pursuing multiple hemp/cannabis revenue streams in 2021 and beyond. These include monetization of a portion of the Companys valuable hemp/cannabis intellectual property, including through its recently announced strategic partnership with Aurora Cannabis, and offtake commitments for the Companys high CBD and CBG plant lines currently growing in its prime Colorado hemp/cannabis growing location, 22nd Centurys world-class Needle Rock Farms, for commercialization in the forms of flower, distillate, and isolate. Additional new plant lines coming through the development pipeline will expand revenue generation opportunities for years to come creating a long growth runway.

About 22nd Century Group, Inc. 22nd Century Group, Inc. (NYSE American: XXII) is a leading plant biotechnology company focused on technologies that alter the level of nicotine in tobacco plants and the level of cannabinoids in hemp/cannabis plants through genetic engineering, gene-editing, and modern plant breeding. 22nd Centurys primary mission in tobacco is to reduce the harm caused by smoking through the Companys reduced nicotine content tobacco cigarettes containing 95% less nicotine than conventional cigarettes. The Companys primary mission in hemp/cannabis is to develop and commercialize proprietary hemp/cannabis plants with valuable cannabinoid profiles and desirable agronomic traits.

Learn more at xxiicentury.com, on Twitter @xxiicentury, and on LinkedIn.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements Except for historical information, all of the statements, expectations, and assumptions contained in this press release are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements typically contain terms such as anticipate, believe, consider, continue, could, estimate, expect, explore, foresee, goal, guidance, intend, likely, may, plan, potential, predict, preliminary, probable, project, promising, seek, should, will, would, and similar expressions. Actual results might differ materially from those explicit or implicit in forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially are set forth in Risk Factors in the Companys Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on March 11, 2021. All information provided in this release is as of the date hereof, and the Company assumes no obligation to and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of any offer to buy the securities discussed herein, nor shall there be any offer, solicitation, or sale of the securities in any state in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state.

Investor Relations & Media Contact: Mei Kuo Director, Communications & Investor Relations 22nd Century Group, Inc. (716) 300-1221 mkuo@xxiicentury.com

See more here:
22nd Century Group Adds Strategic Partnerships With Sawatch Agriculture and Folium Botanical ... - The Bakersfield Californian

London, July 14, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Roots Analysis has announced the addition of Cell Line Development and Characterization Services Market, 2020- 2030 report to its list of offerings.

The development and characterization of cell lines is both technically challenging and financially demanding; as a result, drug developers and academic institutions are becoming increasingly reliant on contract service providers, which have the necessary infrastructure and the adequate skillset to carry out advanced genetic engineering and routine analytical procedures in minimum time with reduced chances of failure.

To order this 400+ page report, which features 150+ figures and 200+ tables, please visit https://www.rootsanalysis.com/reports/cell-line-development-and-characterization-services.html

Key Market Insights

Presently, more than 220 players claim to offer services for the development of cell linesNearly 90% of the aforementioned players provide services for the development of mammalian cell lines, while more than half the companies mentioned in the report (55%) have the necessary expertise to develop microbial expression systems.

Over 80 companies presently offer different types of cell line characterization services

Close to 83% of the abovementioned players are capable of assessing cell line identity / stability. Among available bioanalytical assays, DNA fingerprinting / profiling is currently the most widely used technique in this field. For biosafety testing, majority (37%) of the firms claim to offer tests for the detection of mycoplasma; of these, nearly 25% also offer mycoplasma clearance services.

There are 60+ non-industry players with cell line characterization capabilities

Nearly 90% of these entities offer STR-based cell line authentication services, with majority (43%) of them using Promegas GenePrint 10 System to create human genetic profiles.

Partnership activity in this domain has grown at a CAGR of 18%, between 2015 and 2020More than 330 partnership deals have been signed between industry stakeholders and sponsors in the given time period; majority of the deals were licensing agreements (23%), followed by mergers and acquisitions (18%). In 2020, nearly 30% of the established agreements were focused on R&D, manufacturing, licensing, commercialization, and distribution and supply of vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 viral strain.

The cell line development services market is anticipated to be worth over USD 5.3 billion by 2030At present, the highest share of service revenues (82%) is estimated to be generated from development projects involving mammalian cell lines; this trend is unlikely to change in the foreseen future as well. Further, majority of the market opportunity (80%) in 2030 is expected to be generated from GMP projects, focused on biotherapeutic production.

The cell line characterization services market is projected to grow at a CAGR of ~25% till 2030

In 2030, the highest share of the market (in terms of service revenues) is anticipated to be captured by North America (50%), followed by Europe (26%). In is worth mentioning that the service revenues in the Middle East and North Africa, and Latin America, are expected to grow at a relatively higher rate (CAGR >15%) between 2020 and 2030.

To request a sample copy / brochure of this report, please visithttps://www.rootsanalysis.com/reports/cell-line-development-and-characterization services/request-sample.html

Key Questions Answered

The USD 5.3 billion (by 2030) financial opportunity within the cell line development services market has been analyzed across the following segments:

The USD 7.0 billion (by 2030) financial opportunity within the cell line characterization market has been analysed across the following segments:

The report features inputs from eminent industry stakeholders, according to whom, the competition within the cell line-related services market is expected to grow significantly, resulting in a corresponding increase in overall market value in the foreseen future. The report includes detailed transcripts of discussions (in reverse chronological order) held with the following individuals:

The report includes detailed profiles of key players (listed below), each featuring an overview of the company, its financial information (if available), a description of the service(s) offered, details of recent developments related to cell line development and characterization offerings, along with an informed future outlook.

For additional details, please visithttps://www.rootsanalysis.com/reports/cell-line-development-and-characterization-services.htmlor emailsales@rootsanalysis.com

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The cell line development and characterization services markets are projected to be worth over USD 12 - GlobeNewswire

Antibody levels in people fully vaccinated with the Sinovac vaccine decline by half every 40 days, according to findings from a joint study between Thammasat University's faculty of medicine and the National Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (Biotec).

The findings were revealed by Anan Jongkaewwattana, director of Veterinary Health Innovation and Management Research Group of Biotec.

Mr Anan wrote on Facebook that their study of 500 people, who received two doses of Sinovac, indicated that the level of antibodies drops by 50% every 40 days. The level of antibodies in people who received a second jab more than 60 days after the first was on average lower than that of those who got the second dose in less than 60 days, he said.

Mr Anan said the vaccine potency within 60 days of the second shot is between 60%-70% against the original strain. The potency against the original strain declines to about 50% in those receiving the second shot for over 60 days.

However, no data is available about the potency of two doses of Sinovac against variants, especially the highly contagious Alpha and Delta strains.

The overall level of immunisation is likely to drop in older people, he said, adding those aged over 40 showed lower antibody levels than those younger.

Meanwhile, Chalermchai Boonyaleepun, deputy chairman of the Senate committee on public health, posted on Blockdit that vaccines have done their job in lowering Covid-19 infections and fatalities in healthcare workers despite reports that some of them who had received the vaccines still caught the virus.

He did not mention the vaccine types but most medical workers received two doses of Sinovac.

Citing information from the Department of Disease Control, he said of the 700,000 who were fully vaccinated, 707 became infected, a ratio of 101:100,000. Of the 21,000 not vaccinated, 173 were infected, a ratio of 823:100,000. The rate among medical workers not vaccinated is eight times higher, he said.

Seven medical workers have died from Covid-19, two of whom were vaccinated. The death rate in the vaccinated group was 0.28% while in the non-vaccinated group it was 2.89%.

View original post here:
Sinovac-produced antibodies 'halve every 40 days' - Bangkok Post

Double infections also do not affect the patients condition, even if the variants are different. (Picture courtesy: IE)

A Belgian nonagenarian has been revealed as the first documented case of a person infected with two different SARS-CoV-2 variants at the same time. The 90-year-old woman was carrying both the Alpha variant, first detected in the UK, and the Beta variant, identified in South Africa. She died in hospital five days after being infected in March.

The annual European Congress on Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases discussed her unique case, according to reports. While cases of double infection are rare, it is not surprising, experts toldThe Indian Express. They said a person contracting infections from several persons over a short period is not impossible and has happened before. V.S Chauhan, former chief of the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology based in Delhi said if someone is exposed to multiple infected persons, they can be infected by any or all of them. He added that the virus takes time to multiply and affect all cells. Till then, some cells remain available to host the virus from other sources. Chauhan said such double infection cases were common among HIV patients.

However, the probability of double infections is low because it is not passed on every time an infected person interacts with someone. Shahid Jameel, director at Ashoka Universitys Trivedi School of Biosciences, said the Belgian womans case was only the first one to be detected. But he is certain that such cases have happened across the world, adding that a genome analysis of a sample from the infected person would be the only way to tell. Despite that, the differences in genome sequences in cases of multiple infections are very minor, and are easily overlooked.

Double infections also do not affect the patients condition, even if the variants are different. All variants of the virus affect the patient in a similar way and it is irrelevant if the virus comes from one source or multiple sources. Chauhan said the diseases severity depends on the persons health, immunity, and the virus lethality and not on the number of sources of infection. Jameel said while the Belgian womans case was an interesting revelation, it is not a cause for concern.

Additionally, the current vaccines are nearly equally effective against the virus different variants as well. Chauhan said for all the variants, the medicines and treatment are the same. He added that none of the variants that have emerged are truly escape mutants. If a mutation happens that can escape the human immunity in the future, then there might be some cause for concern.

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Can someone be infected by two coronavirus variants at the same time? Heres what studies say - The Financial Express

Ethan Hawke in Gattaca, left, and the cover of Octavia Butlers Parable of the Sower, right. (Getty Images)

A little less than halfway through the 1997 film Gattaca, Irene (Uma Thurman) steals a strand of hair from the desk of a coworker she knows as Jerome (Ethan Hawke), and takes it to an all-night DNA testing booth, passing a woman who is having her lips swabbed just five minutes after kissing her date. A few seconds later, the technician gives Irene her answer: Nine-point-threequite a catch. But 9.3 of what? How does her printout of amino acids translate to a scale of 1 to 10, a genetic quotient that leads the technician to think her boyfriend is a catch?1

After nearly a quarter century, Gattaca has aged disturbingly well. The New Zealand writer and director Andrew Niccol crafted a noir dystopian thriller of a society trapped by eugenic ideology and ubiquitous biometric surveillance. Those with poor GQ are deemed in-valid and condemned to a life of poverty, drudgery, and crime. But those with good GQ also measure themselves against impossible standards, believing that their DNA determines what they should be able to do, and they plunge into depression, suicidality, and self-sabotage when theyre unable to meet expectations. Today, as we charge into an age of biotechnology, the film feels especially prescient, providing a benchmark against which to compare our trajectory. Our capacity for both genetic manipulation and biometric assessment is advancing, but we have not improved our ability to hold conversations about genetics, disability, or even abstractions like the relationship between probability and outcomes. I worry that our Gattaca future is nigh.2

The hair fiber may have scored a 9.3 GQ, but it doesnt come from Hawkes character, whose real name is Vincent. Vincent is an invalid, a child conceived in the back seat of a Buick and allowed to develop as nature sees fit. Hes got a 99 percent chance of developing a heart condition, and his life expectancy is 30 years. Hes also brilliant and wants to be an astronaut, but he has no chance of passing the genetic screening for a space gig at the Gattaca Aerospace Corporation. So he engages in a criminal conspiracy with the real Jerome (Jude Law). Jerome was genetically engineered to near perfection, becoming a champion swimmer and a silver medalist in the Olympics before suffering a spinal injury in a car crash. (Later we find out that Jerome, unable to tolerate being second best, had stepped in front of the car. Its the rare disability-suicide plot point that places the blame on society rather than on disability.) Jerome makes a deal to provide Vincent with hair, blood, urine, and skin samples in exchange for a portion of Vincents salary. The fraud works. Vincent becomes a navigator, but before he can launch into space, the mission director at Gattaca is murdered. A manhunt ensues, the cops find an eyelash from Vincent himself, and the movie rolls forward.3

Its a pretty good plot. Vincent has a genetically engineered younger brother, Anton, against whom the naturally conceived in-valid measures himself, a tension that plays out in adulthood. Vincent helps Irene realize that even if shes not perfect according to the charts (shes valid, but no 9.3), she can do more than she realizes. But its not the plot thats made the story endure; rather, its the films vision of the world.4

The premises of Gattaca feel real not just because its characters espouse long-held eugenic principles in the development of prenatal testing and genetic engineering technologies but because the movie pairs those ideologies with surveillance. Its one thing to have an ableist viewpoint about the value of people, another to have the technology for genetic engineering, and yet a third to build a society around the routine penetration of the body to extract blood, urine, and saliva and measure it against a universal database.5Current Issue

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The film isnt perfect. Aside from the presence of a Black geneticist and a few extras, its world is extremely white, and I dont think thats an accident. As we watch Vincent embark on his early career as a janitor, he provides narration about the times, saying, I belong to a new underclass, no longer determined by social status or the color of your skin. No, we now have discrimination down to a science. Thats nonsense. Ableism and eugenics intersect with racism, classism, and other forms of discrimination. Inventing new forms of discrimination does not erase the old ones.6

Still, a single film, like a single essay, doesnt have to do everything. Make no mistake, our Gattaca future is coming; the technology cant be held back. What we must do now is work to undermine the eugenicist ideologies that will lead those technologies to cause increasingly greater harm. And thats where this movie comes in. When I talk to people about designing babies, I often get assurances that discrimination against kids like minemy son has Down syndrome and is autisticis bad, but wheres the problem in trying to create advantages, to alleviate burdens? Gattaca, however, makes the case that you cannot design your way to happiness and that trying to do so will build a world ever less freeeven for those who achieve high marks in GQ, IQ, or whatever other rubric we use to mismeasure potential.7

David M. Perry8

The events in Octavia E. Butlers 1993 novel Parable of the Sower presage this moment of mass shootings, global warming, en masse migration from California, a pandemic that throws into relief rampant structural inequities, widespread drug abuse, and a presidential candidate who campaigned on returning the country to a sense of so-called normalcy. (In the books sequel, 1998s Parable of the Talents, one politician promises to Make America Great Again.) When the novel was published, it was set 31 years in the future. The gap between the version of life Butler imagined and the one were living in is closing.9

Parable of the Sower tells the story of activist Lauren Oya Olamina, who is 15 when the book begins and lives in an increasingly destabilized Southern California with her minister father, her stepmother, and her four brothers. Like other micro-communities in their Los Angeles County town, the Olaminas and a handful of other families live behind a wall to escape looting, murder, sexual assault, drug abuse, arson, and corporate slavery. Responding to her environment, Lauren has already started to develop Earthseed, the spiritual philosophy she creates based on the notion that God is change. She lives with a condition called hyperempathy, which causes her to become ill when she vicariously experiences the suffering of others. It is perhaps this hyperempathy that makes Lauren so attuned to the impending doom around the corner (literally, for her and her compound). She seems to be the most worried person in her community and suggests that people refine their emergency preparedness for a series of catastrophic events. She reads history books to fortify herself; in a conversation with a friend, Lauren underscores the significance of the Black Death in the 14th century, saying, It took a plague to make some of the people realize that things could change. Eventually her suspicions come true, and Lauren leads a band of travelers to Northern California in search of freedom, paying jobs, and affordable water.10

In a present-day America thats reeling from the toll of the pandemic, the War on Drugs, the prison-industrial complex, reproductive oppression, and weakened labor unions and that is constantly threatened by white supremacy, the cowardice of career politicians, and the avarice of the wealthy, the lessons of Parable of the Sower have practical application. The principles of Martine and Bina Aspen Rothblatts Terasem Movement (founded in 2002), which focuses on nanotechnology and cyber-consciousness, were inspired by the books Earthseed philosophy. adrienne maree browns 2017 manual Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds was also influenced by Earthseed. Since last spring, Tananarive Due and Monica Coleman have hosted a series of webinars called Octavia Tried to Tell Us: Parable for Todays Pandemic, in which Butler scholars explore the context and imaginative implications of the books predictions. In an October 2020 interview in The Believer, writer and housing attorney Rasheedah Phillips advised people interested in envisioning survival to start with Butler. She is the person who prepared me, to the extent that I am prepared for this, Phillips said.11

Yet it is not only because of its pragmatism that Parable of the Sower should be considered the more prescient dystopia; it also ingeniously foresaw movements in todays culture to recenter marginalized groups, including young Black girls and women; Indigenous communities, whose botanical and nutritional insights are crucial to the survival of Lauren and her band; and youth, of which the Earthseed collective is mainly composed. Lauren is a fictional forerunner to courageous young people like Darnella Frazier, X Gonzlez, Greta Thunberg, and the late Erica Garner.12

Perhaps the biggest indication of Parable of the Sowers foresight is its understanding that as powerful as empathy is, its not enough (Namwali Serpells New York Review of Books essay The Banality of Empathy is also useful in articulating this idea). When Laurens lover suggests that it might benefit society if most people had her hyperempathy, Lauren calls the notion a bad idea. You must know how disabling real pain can be, she insists. Just as hyperempathy is not enough to save Lauren, it wont be enough to save us. Empathy takes courage, compassion, and an interest in alterity, and many people in her world and ours lack those qualities. But art, at least, can prompt us to think critically. Like empathy, critical thinking requires compassion and a desire to move past pretense toward truth.13

Here again, Parable of the Sower is telling. Use your imagination, Lauren tells a friend. Any kind of survival information from encyclopedias, biographies, anything that helps you learn to live off the land and defend ourselves. Even some fiction might be useful. And the novel has been. But as Lauren learns, reading is only the first step. Explaining her impetus to move beyond studying, Lauren tells someone from her old neighborhood, I thought something would happen someday. I didnt know how bad it would be or when it would come. But everything was getting worse: the climate, the economy, crime, drugs, you know. Yeah, I do knowand all of that requires thoughtful action now.14

Niela Orr15

Link:
Which Is the More Prescient Dystopia? 'Gattaca' or 'Parable of the Sower' - The Nation

Ask any neuroscientist 20 years ago if gut bug excrement could slow down an untreatable brain disease, and theyd brush off the idea without a second thought.

Yet the gut-brain connection has emerged as one of the most tantalizing advances in neuroscience, a true paradigm shift, said Dr. Eran Blacher at Stanford University, who recently published a provocative and award-winning essay in Science.

The crux? For devastating disorders in which the brain or its nerve connections gradually disintegrate, maybe its time to look south of the necktowards the gut.

Youve heard of this class of neurodegenerative disorders. Alzheimers, which slowly eats away at ones memories. Parkinsons, which wreaks havoc on motor control centers. ALS (amytrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrigs disease), which gradually robs a person of motor abilities by killing off their motor neurons. Despite decades of research, treatment options are limited.

Perhaps, argues Blacher, our dogmatic focus on the brain is whats been hindering progress. Neuroscience is moving towards a holistic conception of health that considers the brains functions in concert with our other spongy, slippery organs, rather than as a separate entity studied alone in a jar.

What if we could tap into the gut-brain connection, and treat the brain through a remote phone line of sorts through the gut? And even weirder, what if a powerful way to slow down neurodegeneration is genetically-designed yogurt?

Were host to millions of microbes that live in harmony on our skin or inside our organs. Together, they weigh more than the human brain. Normally, its a great symbiosis. Our gut bugs, for example, eat up leftovers and pump out chemicalsmetabolitesthat can help break down toxic food compounds and synthesize critical vitamins that our bodies absorb. Its a zoo in there: thousands of species have already been discovered, and like any ecosystem, their composition can dramatically alter their nearby environment.

Over a decade ago, a slew of studies suddenly transformed the gut into a neuroscientists new favorite organ. In mice, Dr. John Cryan and psychiatrist Dr. Ted Dinan at the University College Cork found that tweaking gut bugs altered a mices behavior. Some became more anxious; others depressed. Yet others showed signs of autism and insomnia.

Wiping out a mouses gut microbiome with antibiotics, for example, can severely impact the brains ability to generate new neurons in the hippocampusa region thats critical for learning and memory. Other studies found that probiotic treatments can help restore depression or anxiety in mice, leading to a gold rush to start treating the brain with carefully-engineered yogurt slushies.

The gut microbiota are considered so necessary and so integrated into host function that some describe this population as an overlooked organ, wrote Dr. M Elizabeth Sublette and colleagues at Columbia University in a previous commentary.

Further studies found that the gut talks extensively to the brain through multiple microbiome phone lines. Gut bugs can pump out chemicals directly into the blood for a straight shot at the brain. Or they can interact with neuropod cells that line the gut, tapping into a direct electrical highway called the vagus nerve to send information up to certain neural circuits in the brain, altering their function.

But what especially caught Blachers eye was another channel: that gut bugs can tweak our immune system, which impacts the trajectory of multiple neurodegenerative diseases, including ALS. While ALS has a genetic basis, its impact only accounts for a measly 19 percent or so of cases, suggesting there are other factors that could be a guide towards better treatments.

I believe that some answers may lie in the gut and that studying the biological processes occurring outside the brain might shed a new light on some old questions in the field and maybe even revolutionize neuroscience, Blacher said.

Blacher and colleagues began with a transgenic mouse engineered with a mutation, Sod-1, that causes a genetic form of ALS.

Within a month, the mice began showing more severe motor symptoms. When placed on top of a rotating beam they fell more often, and were unable to grab onto a hanging wire compared to their litter counterparts with an intact microbiome. Peeking into the structure of the mices spinal cord, the team also found that antibiotics-treated mice had far more cell death in their motor neuronsa symptom of ALS progression.

Because the gut microbiome is sensitive to the environmentwere surrounded by microbes all the timethe team next moved the mice into a sterile facility. There, they were able to compare the gut microbiome between a Sod-1 ALS mouse type and completely normal mice by collecting and genetically sequencing their poop.

Together, they found roughly ten strains of bacteria that rapidly differed between ALS and normal mice. Digging deeper, in a series of painstaking experiments, they then one-by-one reintroduced a strain of bacteria back to the ALS mice, pretreated with antibiotics, to see how they behaved.

We adopted a probiotic approach, said Blacher. The bacteria was mixed inside the mices drinking water, like those in yogurt.

One strain, A. muciniphila, particularly stood out. When given to mice once weekly, their ability to perform on the rotating beam dramatically improvedso much so that they rivaled normal mice up to 80 days after the onset of the experiment, or more than half of their lifespan. They also lived longer on average compared to non-treated ALS mice or those given unrelated gut bacteria. Even more incredible, their brains showed less damage at 140 days old, when the lifespan of ALS mice is only 20 days longer on average.

It seems crazy that eating healthy bacteria can slow down a neurodegenerative disease. The team next used a big data approach to hunt down a source for the improvement. They screened all of the metaboliteschemicals that gut bugs pump out into the bodyand honed in on nicotinamide, a form of Vitamin B thats been a darling for combating aging in the longevity sphere.

Skipping gut bugs altogether, the team next pumped nicotinamide directly into ALS mice. Similar to A. muciniphila, the nutrient triggered hundreds of genetic changes related to brain function, with the most impact on the brains ability to remove superoxide radicalsa type of chemical that tends to bombard and rip up the cells fragile membranes.

While these results are promising, mice and men are very different, and most treatments dont make the leap. The team next took stool samples from over three dozen ALS patients and 29 healthy family members who share the same environment, and genetically sequenced their microbiomes. While the abundance of different gut bug species were marginally significant, the team found changes in several genes related to nicotinamide. Lower levels of the chemical also correlated with worse ALS symptoms.

This suggests a potential involvement of AM [A. muciniphila] that merits larger studies in the future, the authors said.

The field of treating ALS or another neurodegenerative disorder with healthy bacteria is still very young. But whats increasingly clear is that what happens in our gut may have massive, yet undiscovered effects on the brain. Blachers results will have to be tested in humans (some similar clinical trials are on the way).

But with new tools in genetic sequencing, which sometimes allow scientists to dip into the genetic pattern of every cellhuman or bacteriawere entering a new age to rethink treatments for the brain. Add in a dose of CRISPR or other genetic engineering tools, and we could then imagine tailored gut bug treatments, altered to produce chemicals such as nicotinamide, as living pharmacies that live harmoniously inside our guts to delay or even prevent age-related diseases.

Image Credit:Anatomy Insider/Shutterstock.com

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Treating the Brain Through the Stomach: Tweaking the Gut Microbiome Slowed ALS in Mice - Singularity Hub

In the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation, Starfleet officer Geordi La Forge is blindbut his VISOR (Visual Instrument and Sensory Organ Replacement) and later ocular implants negate his disability. (Alamy)

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Imagining better worlds can help us improve our own, but literary and cinematic utopias often exclude those who dont fit into what are usually racially and culturally homogeneous societies. And whether its 1516 or 2016, utopian thinkers are especially prone to leaving out one group whose experiences and insights should enrich our dreams of the future: the disability community.

For centuries, utopias have presented disability as a personal shortcoming to be remedied, not as an identity to be supported and celebrated. A disability in a utopia is socially undesirablea cause of suffering that does not belong in a place where wholeness of body and spirit is prized. The disability community, however, has a very different view of itself. And understanding what a more inclusive utopia entails shouldnt just inform attitudes about what constitutes an ideal society; it should shape the way communities approach disability in the real world.

The exclusion of disability from utopias reflects long-standing social attitudes. Throughout much of Western history, disabled people were sequestered, either in institutions or at home. Disability wasnt a topic of discussion in polite society, except in the context of charitable activities. When characters with a disability or an illness do appear in utopian worlds, as in Thomas Mores Utopia (1516), they serve as plot devices that help develop the nondisabled characters around them. Mores denizens find pleasure and fulfillment in caring for the sick, of whom we learn nothing. Rarely, as in a text like Sarah Scotts A Description of Millenium Hall and the Country Adjacent (1762), the authors deal directly with disability and its policy implications. Scott proposes that disabled people should be treated with dignity and respect, not exploited and housed in workhouses, a sentiment that is unfortunately still radical.

The mere nonexistence of disabled people wasnt enough for writers like H.G. Wells and Edward Bellamy; for them, that absence was a desirable consequence of eugenics, a movement they enthusiastically supported. Bellamys Looking Backward (1888) positioned crime as an illness, at one point stating that all cases of atavism are treated in the hospitals, reflecting the belief that genetics determined criminality. Wells revisited eugenic and utopian themes over and over in his work, writing in 1901 that society should check the procreation of base and servile types, of fear-driven and cowardly souls, of all that is mean and ugly and bestial. He also noted that people with impairments and mental illnesses should be killed or not permitted to propagate. Many feminists of the era were also proponents: Charlotte Perkins Gilmans Herland (1915) envisioned a harmonious society without men, where eugenics could hone the women of Herland to perfection.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, utopian fiction advertised the idea that it was possible to mold better people through the judicious application of breeding, sterilization, and euthanasia. Popularized by texts like Wellss The Time Machine (1895), which imagined humans evolving into a twisted and vile race called the Morlocks, eugenics took hold in England and the United States. But the ideas didnt stay there. American works on eugenics influenced the Nazis, who deployed utopian thinking with tragic consequences.

The visible man: H.G. Wells popularized eugenics in his utopian-themed science fiction books. (Historical Picture Archive / Corbis via Getty Images)

Utopian erasure of disability takes many forms beyond crude eugenics. In Star Trek: The Next Generation, Starfleet officer Geordi La Forge is blindbut his VISOR (an acronym for Visual Instrument and Sensory Organ Replacement) and later ocular implants negate his disability. He, in fact, has better vision than his sighted colleagues. Even then, La Forge is one of the few disabled characters in the franchise, a reminder that in this longed-for future, disability is no longer a problem, whether genetic, the result of an accident, or the cost of war. Thats seen to striking effect with Captain Christopher Pike, who first appears in the Star Trek universe as a wheelchair user but, in a forthcoming spin-off that begins before he is injured, is able-bodied. Star Trek has had diverse casts, but it has largely failed to include disability within that diversity.

Science fiction also raises the prospect of using technologies like CRISPR to edit the human genome and thereby eliminate genetic disabilities. The dystopian film Gattaca (1997)whose name is derived from the four nucleotide bases of DNA: guanine, adenine, thymine, and cytosineillustrates the dangers of humanitys hunger for genetic engineering. The film is set in a society with widespread prenatal gene editing, but Vincent Freeman (Ethan Hawke) was conceived naturally and faces discrimination. As an in-valid, he chases his dream of going to the stars. Gattaca asks the viewer to consider the costs of a eugenic utopia, challenging rhetoric about the promise of genetic modification by taking it to a logical extreme.Current Issue

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The world of Gattaca isnt necessarily far off. Some advocates fear genetic testing and editing may make Down syndrome, dwarfism, autism (which hasnt been decisively linked to any specific genes), and numerous other impairments and identities things of the past. In a sense, the goal of some nondisabled-led disability organizations is ostensibly utopian: building a better world by eradicating disability. For example, Autism Speaks, an organization that purports to represent the interests of the autistic community, still foregrounds solutions for autism, despite the fact that most autistic people are not interested in being cured and view their autism as a sociocultural identity and experience, not a disease. The vision of groups like Autism Speaks is arguably dystopic, imagining a world where a swath of humanity has been eliminated for its own goodan argument that weve seen play out before. In 1927, Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. concluded that the state has a compelling interest in forcibly sterilizing disabled people, infamously writing in Buck v. Bell that three generations of idiots are enough. Devaluing disabled lives did not stop there. During the coronavirus pandemic, care rationing of ventilators and some kinds of treatment targeted disabled peoplesome of whom, like Sarah McSweeney in Oregon, died because of it. Additionally, euthanasia continues to be pushed on the disability community by some proponents of right to die legislation who imply that disability alone is grounds for physician-assisted suicide.

To conceptualize what disability in utopia might look like, its critical to understand disability as an identity rather than an adverse life experience, as the noted science fiction author and visionary MacArthur Fellowship recipient Octavia Butler did with hyper-empathy syndrome in Parable of the Sower (1993). Sower is the first in a two-book series that presciently takes on climate change and economic inequality, featuring a young woman, Lauren, who feels the emotions of those around her, such as pain or fear. She escapes into the world of her mind, developing the beginnings of a religion, Earthseed. While her disability is only one element of Laurens intense experiences, its an important part of who she is and how she relates to the world.

Are you fit?: A movie poster for the 1934 film Tomorrows Children, which criticized the legal eugenic practices of the era. (IMPC via Getty Images)

Disabled people can and do lead fulfilling, rewarding livessometimes because of the disability, not in spite of it. Their experiences are diverse: Not all disabled people feel the same waymany do want to be cured or do not view disability as something to celebrate. Its a big community: About 26 percent of Americans live with an impairment that affects the way they interact with the world, and with long Covid and PTSD originating in traumatic climate events, those ranks are swelling.

Disability culture is lively, complex, and integral to society. But even talented writers and filmmakers struggle to envision how disability might manifest itself in a utopian society. Utopia, they reason, should have ramps and elevators, way-finding tools for blind and low-vision people, and interpreters for the Deaf community. This future is much like the present, but with broader doorways. It is the kind of policy-centric utopia seen in Adolf Ratzkas 1998 short story Crip Utopia, which depicts a world in which everything is accessible and no one needs to fight for elevators or file repeated insurance appeals.

Focusing on accommodations, however, leaves out more visionary possibilities. In addition to physical access, one might consider emotional access, or what Mia Mingus terms access intimacy, which she defines as that elusive, hard to describe feeling when someone else gets your access needs. It is a much deeper approach than merely adding ramps. It recognizes access as a complicated, evolving need that may interact with other aspects of someones identity and experience; for example, a Black woman who develops PTSD after witnessing police violence may experience triggers in ways that vary depending on where she is, feeling safer in Black spaces than white ones or needing more support in environments that remind her of her traumatic experience. It is a fundamental element of cripspace: spaces curated by and for the disability community, with the needs of disabled visitors emphasized.

A utopian cripspace captivated viewers of Nicole Newnham and James LeBrechts Oscar-nominated Crip Camp (Netflix, 2020), which provided a lively, intimate, and disability-centric glimpse into the independent-living movement. The film revolves around Camp Jened, a summer camp for disabled youth where disability is embraced, welcomed, and honored rather than simply being accommodated, a revolutionary experience for people who may have spent their whole lives feeling shut out. Such spaces can be intimidating for nondisabled people, who are not accustomed to being in environments that do not cater to their needs and expectations, let alone those that celebrate disability instead of hiding from it. This is a striking reversal of the usual narrative, and thus, in its own way, is a utopia for disabled people who want to be the heroes of their own narratives, not plot devices in others.

A cripspace is an environment that pushes back on cultural attitudes about disability; it is a room where disability is at the center of the conversation, one where all participants strive to make sure everyone is included. That may involve making way for a wheelchair or ensuring that someone can see the sign language interpreter, but it also includes honoring differing lived experiences of disability and holding space for one another. Cripspaces do not just respect disability identity. Race, gender, sexuality, class, parenting status, adoptee experience, and more are considered in a cripspace, and their interactions with disability are acknowledged.

The cripspace engages with difference in a way that can and should inform utopias, which typically function by eliminating difference. The consequences of things like colorblind ideology are both painful and obvious in the present moment but are ignored in visions of the future. The cripspace knows what society struggles to understand: Pretending that differences do not exist does not eliminate them; it just shuts people out.

In a culture where disability is unwelcome, its presence in utopia may be unsettling to some, but society can benefit from conjuring worlds that model diversity and inclusion, where differences are celebrated rather than flattened.

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Disabling Utopia to Save It - The Nation

Heart muscle regeneration researchers (left to right) Naoto Muraoka, Elaheh Karbassi, and Chuck Murry. (University of Washington Photo)

Human stem cell scientists have long dreamed of repairing damaged hearts, but have been stymied by researchshowing that the cells yield irregular heartbeats in laboratory animals. A new genetic engineering approach overcomes this barrier, according to a report at the annual meeting of the International Society for Stem Cell Research by scientists at the University of Washington and Sana Biotechnology, a Seattle-based company.

A heart attack typically kills about one billion cells, said Charles Murry, director of the Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine at the UW, who presented the data Monday. Such massive cell death can lead to downstream effects such as heart failure, an often-debilitating condition that affects about 6.2 million people in the U.S. Using stem cells to repair the damage after a heart attack has long been a goal in his lab.

One major challenge in the field is that implanting cells into the hearts of laboratory animals can nudge the whole heart into beating rapidly, a condition called engraftment arrhythmia, said Murry, who is also a senior vice president and head of cardiometabolic cell therapy at Sana, which went public earlier this year.

This engraftment arrhythmia, where the heart races too quickly, has been one of the major hurdles weve been trying to overcome en route to clinical trials, said Murry in a press release.

In their study, Murry and his colleagues quelled engraftment arrhythmia using a genetic engineering strategy in cells implanted into pig hearts. Their next step is to see if the cells can repair heart damage in macaques if those studies work, the researchers will initiate clinical trials in people, he said.

To quell the arrhythmia, Murry and his colleagues turned to CRISPR, the Nobel Prize-winning technique to knock out genes. They knocked out three genes in stem cells encoding different ion channels, molecules embedded in the cell membrane that mediate impulses that propagate heart beats. They also added DNA for another ion channel, KCNJ2, which mediates the movement of potassium across the membrane, Its a chill out channel, Murry told GeekWire, It tells the heart cell not to be so excitable.

The engineered stem cells, derived from human embryonic stem cells, were coaxed in a petri dish to produce heart muscle cells, which were then implanted into pigs via open heart surgery or a catheter. The result was an even heartbeat the genetically altered cells did not cause engraftment arrhythmia.

The researchers landed on this strategy after years of effort, assessing which channels were present in the cells during arrhythmia, and knocking out multiple types of channels until they hit the right combination.

In their next set of experiments in macaques, We want to make sure these cells are still effective, said Murry, They look good beating in culture, so I think they are going to be OK. Moving forward, the researchers will also use induced human pluripotent stem cells, obtainable from adults and more amenable longer-term for clinical use.

In another recent study, published in Cell Systems, scientists at the Allen Institute for Cell Science took a close look at cardiac muscle cells derived from stem cells. They found that they could classify the state of the cells, such as how mature they were, by assessing both cell structure and which genes were turned on.

This paints a broader picture of our cells. If someone wants to really understand and characterize a cells state, we found that having both of these types of information can be complementary, said Kaytlyn Gerbin, a scientist at the Allen Institute for Cell Science in a statement. The findings provide a fine-tooth analysis of cell state, which may guide future experiments on cardiac muscle and other cell types.

Murrys research was conducted primarily at the UW, with financial support from Sana. In addition to its cardiac program, Sana has cell and gene therapy programs in diabetes, blood disorders, immunotherapy and other areas.

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Univ. of Washington and Sana researchers use gene editing to prep stem cells for heart repair - GeekWire