Category Archives: Genetic Engineering

With the rising acreage of hybrid tolerant Bt cotton (HT Bt cotton) threatening to cut into the revenues of seed firms and yields for farmers, seed industry associations have appealed to the Union government to take measures to curb HT Bt cultivation.

The National Seed Association of India (NSAI) and the Federation of Seed Industry of India (FSII), have alleged that the sale of HT Bt cotton seeds has suddenly shot up this year, posing a serious threat to the environment, farmers, legitimate seed companies and government revenue. It cautioned that consequences of allowing the illegal technology could be disastrous.

Also read: Highest HTBT cotton sowing in coming kharif: Shetkari Sanghatana

The two associations have written a letter to the Union Ministry of Agriculture, the government of India and the GEAC (Genetic Engineering Approval Committee) to initiate steps to curb the sale of the illegal seeds and take action against the offenders.

Besides causing harm to the environment and losses to the industry, the HT Bt seeds could contaminate the production of legitimate seeds.

The sale of HT Bt cotton is illegal in the country as the GEAC has not given permission to the technology yet.

The HT Bt cotton, the third generation biotechnology in cotton, gives the plant an ability to survive specific herbicides. It works on the premise that when a specific herbicide is sprayed on the crop variety/hybrid modified to resist that herbicide survives and all others are killed. The genetically modified plant has strength to withstand the effect of weedicide.

Though the farmers in some States have been growing HT Bt cotton for the last few years, the extent was limited to some pockets.

The industry associations alleged that there is a sudden surge in the acreage. Quoting a Department of Biotechnology (DBT) survey, they said about 15 per cent of the cotton acreage in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Gujarat was under HT Bt cotton.

The area under cultivation of illegal HT cotton has been increasing over the years. However, this year there is a big jump in such illegal cultivation especially in the major cotton States, M Ramasami, Chairman of FSII, said.

From an estimated 35 lakh packets last year, the area is likely to go up to about 70 lakh packets this year, Ramasami, who is also the Chairman of the Rasi Seeds, said.

The fact that the total size of the cottonseed packets is five crore packets (of 450 gm each) shows how alarming the situation is.

He said that the illegal seed packets indicate the presence of several technologies in the seeds. This could pose a very serious challenges to the environment.

If it is not controlled immediately by the government, it will spell disaster for the industry and farmers, he said.

NSAI President Prabhakar Rao cautioned that the proliferation of illegal seeds could decimate small cotton seed companies, while posing a major threat to the entire legal cotton seed market in the country.

To make matters worse, the illegal seeds are sold using the brand name of prominent companies. While the illegal seeds are polluting the environment, the industry is losing legitimate seed sale. There is a dent in tax collections too, Prabhakara Rao, who is also the Managing Director of Nuziveedu Seeds Limited, said.

He lamented that the regulators were focusing only on licensed dealers and seed companies, while unscrupulous players continued to sell the HT seeds without any hindrance.

The focus must be shifted to catching them and taking exemplary and strong punitive action, he said.

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Seed industry raises a flag on surge in HT Bt cotton acreage - BusinessLine

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Admit it at some point in our childhoods, weve all wondered if we had a long-lost twin or a celebrity relative. Perhaps weve gone so far as to perform a genetic test through a company such as 23AndMe, and learned more about our ancestry and distant relatives. Though we often pursue genetic testing for personal purposes, finding out individuals that share DNA could have grand implications for our understanding of the health and structure of human populations at large.

This process of examining genetic connections has been streamlined by the introduction of iLASH (IBD by LocAlity-Sensitive Hashing), an algorithm that efficiently identifies relevant genetic connections among large sets of people, which then inform important advancements in population genetics and personalized medicine, among other fields.

What is iLASH?

iLASH came to be when Ruhollah Shemirani, Ph.D. student at USC, teamed up with Jose-Luis Ambite, Research Team Leader at USCs Information Sciences Institute (ISI) and Associate Research Professor of Computer Science at USC Viterbi, to study how genetic connections among individuals can shed light on genetic causes of diseases and the genetic structure of populations. In addition, iLASH can also be used for other purposes such as finding distant relatives through services like 23AndMe. This project was made possible by collaborating with experts from the University of Colorado, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Establishing genetic connections can make the world feel smaller than you think. Ambites experience, among those of many others who have used similar services, serve as interesting examples.

According to 23andMe, I share 0.07% of my genome with Greg Ver Steeg, another researcher at ISI, mentioned Ambite. Greg is American (from Dutch descent, many generations ago). Im from Spain. Nonetheless, we share a bit of DNA from a common ancestor.

Essentially, iLASH is a method for IBD, or Identity-By-Descent, estimation. IBD estimation is the process of finding out where, and how much, each pair of individuals in a genetic dataset share their DNA due to shared ancestry, explained Shemirani.

IBD estimation is the first step of IBD Mapping, a novel process to identify the genetic basis of disease. This process is broken down into three steps, each to be published independently in a paper. The first step, published as a featured article in the Editors Highlights in Nature Communications on June 10th, involves estimating genetic segments that are shared between pairs of individuals using iLASH. Next, this genetic pairing information is used to create groups of distant families using network clustering methods. The last paper will focus on statistical methods to show whether these distant families reveal elevated rates of diseases or other traits.

A Pioneer in IBD Estimation

So what sets iLASH apart from other genetic algorithms? Scalability and accuracy.With the ability to perform IBD estimation on a large-scale, biobanks, or storages of biological samples for research, that were previously unfeasible can now be analyzed for genetic connections at an unprecedented speed.

Before iLASH, finding genetic connections in a dataset of 50,000 individuals would take more than a week (~6 days per chromosome), said Shemirani. The same dataset is analyzed by iLASH in an hour!

To achieve this, iLASH employs Locality Sensitive Hashing (LSH), which eliminates unrelated pairs of genetic samples, leaving remaining pairs that have a high probability of shared DNA. This complex algorithm has been facilitated by parallel computing, which allows multiple processes to be carried out simultaneously, creating an efficient approach to IBD estimation.

As a crucial step, Shemirani and Ambite collaborated with geneticists and researchers from various institutions to ensure iLASH is compatible with common formats used by bioinformaticians, who apply information generated from the algorithm to biological and medical research.

Without such feedback from real geneticists at the University of Colorado Medical Campus and Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, we could not have achieved this, Shemirani said.

Revolutionizing Population Genetics

iLASH has significant real-world applications in both population genetics and personalized medicine.

In the population genetics field, iLASHs efficiency and accuracy as an IBD estimation method has been unprecedented by other types of analyses and has already been implemented by experts across the country.

We can use iLASH in very large datasets to extract patterns of migration and recent fine-scale ancestry structures for the first time, said Shemirani.

In fact, Dr. Gillian Belbin, an iLASH co-author and researcher at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, used iLASH to analyze the UK Biobank, a genetic dataset of 500,000 people in the UK. Among other findings, the study showed patterns of common ancestry with Nordic populations who inhabited areas that are historically contact points for Viking populations.

Incorporating Diversity into the Conversation

In the field of medicine, iLASH is not only an effective tool for studying the genetic origins of rare diseases, but also a promising way to better our understanding of diversity in genetics.

Helping with the discovery of these rare genetic origins for various diseases is just one of the utilities of such studies, Ambite noted. For example, they can also help geneticists with calibrating genetic disease risk calculations for diverse non-European populations.

By building upon previous analyses that were limited to white European populations, iLASH enables researchers to expand existing results to cover a broader range of population groups.

Including iLASH in genetic study pipelines, such as polygenic risk scores or disease mapping studies, will help to account for population structure and hidden relatedness in the datasets, explained Shemirani. This will help partially address the problems that arise from the imbalance, or lack of diversity, of the datasets and studies in terms of population demographics.

Another upside of iLASH is that its more cost-friendly when compared to many other alternatives in medicine, therefore making it a much more accessible option.

Going Forward

Though iLASH has proven to be highly promising in various applications, there is still work to be done. Shemirani named three particular improvements that they are currently working on.

The primary challenge is to create a distributed version of iLASH to meet increasing scalability demands. As datasets grow larger by the day, iLASH needs the resources required to cover a sizable amount of data accurately and efficiently.

In addition, Shemirani and Ambite are also looking to create a cloud service for iLASH, though ethical and security issues surrounding sensitive genetic data pose a problem for this goal.

Finally, adding an incremental analysis would allow iLASH to be adopted in commercial settings where new customers are constantly being added and need to be incorporated into the existing dataset.

Though not all of us are going to find a lost-long twin or celebrity relative, iLASH can help researchers extract crucial genetic information that will inform relevant research in the fields of population genetics and medicine, benefiting us all in the long term.

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Find Your Genetic Relatives Quickly and Accurately with USC ISI's iLASH Algorithm - USC Viterbi | School of Engineering - USC Viterbi School of...

DUBLIN, June 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Biohacking Market (2021-2026) by Product, Application, Type, End-User, Geography, Competitive Analysis and the Impact of Covid-19 with Ansoff Analysis" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

Key factors, such as the innovative trends of neuro-nutrition & growing biohacking in the health & wellness space, are likely to contribute to the growth of the market. Penetration of the Internet of Things in healthcare, fitness, and consumer electronics such as fitness bands also boosts the market growth. Rising demand for smart devices and effective drugs to meet the daily healthcare needs amongst the population and the prevalence of chronic disorders are factors driving the market growth. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a surge in market growth for the pharma industries engaged in biohacking.

However, strict government regulations governing the genetic engineering experiments, lack of funds required for research, and lack of expertise are likely to hinder the market growth. Cybersecurity practices are expected to pose a challenge for the biohacking market.

Market Segmentation

The Global Biohacking Market is segmented further based on Product, Application, Type, End-User, and Geography.

Recent Developments1. Fitbit Collaborates with Scripps Research and Stanford Medicine to Study the Role of Wearables to Detect, Track and Contain Infectious Diseases like COVID-19. - 4th April 20202. InteraXon announced a new product launch - Muse S, a Meditation Sleep Headband. - 9th January 2020

Company Profiles

Some of the companies covered in this report are Apple, THE ODIN, Thync Global, Fitbit, Synbiota, Moodmetric, HVMN, InteraXon Inc, etc.

Competitive Quadrant

The report includes a Competitive Quadrant, a proprietary tool to analyze and evaluate the position of companies based on their Industry Position score and Market Performance score. The tool uses various factors for categorizing the players into four categories. Some of these factors considered for analysis are financial performance over the last 3 years, growth strategies, innovation score, new product launches, investments, growth in market share, etc.

Why buy this report?

Report Highlights:

Key Topics Covered:

1 Report Description

2 Research Methodology

3 Executive Summary

4 Market Overview4.1 Introduction 4.2 Market Dynamics4.2.1 Drivers4.2.1.1 Innovative Trends of Neuro-Nutrition and Biohacking in The Wellness Space 4.2.1.2 Increase in The Use of Radiofrequency Identification (RFID) Technology in Medical Devices 4.2.1.3 Rising Demand for Smart Devices and Drugs 4.2.1.4 Penetration of Internet of Things (IoT) In Healthcare, Fitness, and Consumer Electronics 4.2.2 Restraints4.2.2.1 Stringent Government Regulations Governing the Genetic Engineering Experiments4.2.2.2 Lack of Funds Required for Research 4.2.2.3 Lack of Expertise 4.2.3 Opportunities4.2.3.1 Lab Experiments with The Use of Medical, Nutritional, and Electronic Technique 4.2.3.2 Advancement in Technologies4.2.3.3 The Sharp Rise in Chronic Diseases Coupled with The Growing Geriatric Population4.2.4 Challenges4.2.4.1 Cyber Security Concerns4.3 Trends

5 Market Analysis5.1 Porter's Five Forces Analysis5.2 Impact of COVID-195.3 Ansoff Matrix Analysis

6 Global Biohacking Market, By Product6.1 Introduction6.2 Smart Drugs6.3 Sensors6.4 Strains6.5 Others

7 Global Biohacking Market, By Application7.1 Introduction 7.2 Synthetic Biology7.3 Genetic Engineering7.4 Forensic Science7.5 Diagnosis & Treatment7.6 Drug Testing

8 Global Biohacking Market, By Type8.1 Introduction8.2 Inside8.3 Outside

9 Global Biohacking Market, By End User9.1 Introduction9.2 Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology Companies9.3 Forensic Laboratories9.4 Others

10 Global Biohacking Market, By Geography10.1 Introduction10.2 North America10.2.1 US10.2.2 Canada10.2.3 Mexico10.3 South America10.3.1 Brazil10.3.2 Argentina10.4 Europe10.4.1 UK10.4.2 France10.4.3 Germany10.4.4 Italy10.4.5 Spain10.4.6 Rest of Europe10.5 Asia-Pacific10.5.1 China10.5.2 Japan10.5.3 India10.5.4 Indonesia10.5.5 Malaysia10.5.6 South Korea10.5.7 Australia10.5.8 Russia10.5.9 Rest of APAC10.6 Rest of the World10.6.1 Qatar10.6.2 Saudi Arabia10.6.3 South Africa10.6.4 United Arab Emirates10.6.5 Latin America

11 Competitive Landscape11.1 Competitive Quadrant11.2 Market Share Analysis11.3 Competitive Scenario11.3.1 Mergers & Acquisitions11.3.2 Agreement, Collaborations, & Partnerships11.3.3 New Product Launches & Enhancements11.3.4 Investments & funding

12 Company Profiles12.1 Apple12.2 THE ODIN 12.3 Thync Global 12.4 Fitbit 12.5 Synbiota 12.6 Moodmetric 12.7 HVMN 12.8 InteraXon 12.9 Modern AlkaMe12.10 Behavioral Tech

13 Appendix

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/25qr1p

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Worldwide Biohacking Industry to 2026 - Competitive Analysis and the Impact of COVID-19 - PRNewswire

In-vivo data in disease model further supports development of Eligo's CRISPR-Cas antimicrobial strategies and itsEligobiotics platform

Phase 1 trial for EB003 lead candidate expected to commence in Q2'22; Orphan Drug Designation granted by the EMA

PARIS, June 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Eligo Bioscience SA, a Paris, France-based microbiome engineering company, today announced that the Company presented preclinical data on its lead drug candidate, EB003, for the treatment of severe diarrhea induced by shiga-toxin (Stx) producing E. coli (STEC, leading to Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome), at the 14thAnnual CRISPR 2021 meeting held June 1-10, 2021. The data presented further supports development of CRISPR-Cas antimicrobial strategies against STEC and other microbiome bacterial targets utilizing Eligo's proprietary Eligobiotics platform. Eligo's proprietary technology is protected by over 20 patent families, including the 2013 foundational IP on CRISPR antimicrobials.EB003 has been granted Orphan Drug Designation by the EMA.

"The data presented virtually this year at the CRISPR meeting continues to support the potential of our lead candidate EB003 and the use of the Eligobioticsplatform to modulate bacterial populations of the microbiome with unprecedented precision," said Xavier Duportet, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Eligo Bioscience. "EB003 demonstrated efficacy across multiple in vitro and in vivo models. Moreover, we observed significantly reduced STEC colonization and alleviated symptoms in 100% of treated animals in a disease model representative of the intended patient population.We are very excited about these findings, how they support progression of EB003, and the clear demonstration of effective application of our proprietary platform."

Dr. Duportet continued, "This is indeed the first time that symptom alleviation has been achieved via the delivery of exogenous nuclease in a gut infection model, building on the foundational invention of this technology. Even more exciting is the fact that bacterial killing is solely achieved by the nuclease activity as opposed to the lytic cycle of the phage, therefore enabling a true modulation at the strain level based on the sole presence of a deleterious gene in bacteria.We are looking forward to advancing EB003 into the clinic next year."

The virtual presentation describes efficacy data in in vitro collections of epidemiologically relevant STEC strains, and in two animal models. Efficiency was first demonstrated in vitro on a collection of epidemiology relevant STEC strains where EB003 was able to efficiently kill E. coli strains harboring Stx genes. The EB003 CRISPR-based killing mechanism also abolished Shiga-toxin production, compared to antibiotic treatment, which can on the contrary lead to Shiga-toxin overproduction. Additionally, EB003 was able to reduce STEC colonization by multiple orders of magnitude in both a mouse gut colonization model and an infant rabbit disease model. In the latter model that recapitulates STEC infection associated symptoms, treatment with EB003 demonstrated statistically significant symptom alleviation.

The results provide strong support for further development of the company's CRISPR-Cas antimicrobial strategy and Eligobioticsplatform. Eligo is planning to initiate its first clinical trial for EB003 for the treatment of STEC in the second quarter of 2022.

About EB003

EB003, Eligo's lead drug candidate, was developed using the Company's proprietary Sequence-Specific Anti-Microbials (SSAM) platform. SSAM relies on the delivery of a non-replicative DNA payload encoding an exogenous Cas nuclease,guided towards specific genomic sequences. This modality leads to targeted lethal DNA double strand-breaks only if such sequences are present in the bacterial genome. This strategy enables precise engineering of the microbiome by killing only the strains harboring genomic sequences targeted by the nuclease.EB003 is being developed for the treatment of severe diarrhea induced by shiga-toxin (Stx) producing E. coli (STEC, leading to Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome) and is expected to enter Phase 1 in the second quarter of 2022. EB003 has been granted Orphan Drug Designation by the EMA.

About Eligobiotics

Eligobioticsis a first in class microbiome gene therapy that can change the microbiome composition and function with unprecedented precision.Eligobioticscan be designed, built, and optimized to target the microbiome species of choice with the automated proprietary platform that leverages Eligo's unique expertise in synthetic biology, phage biology, genetic engineering, and bioinformatics. Eligobioticscan be used to precisely and selectively remove unwanted bacterial strains carrying deleterious genes while leaving beneficial bacterial strains intact through the targeted delivery of a payload encoding an RNA-guided CRISPR-Cas nuclease. Alternatively, Eligobioticscan deliver to target bacteria the necessary genetic instructions to produce, display or secrete therapeutic proteins of interest in close proximity to the host's cells.Eligo is utilizing its Eligobioticsplatform to build a pipeline of drug candidates in inflammation, autoimmunity, and oncology.

About EligoBioscience

Eligo Bioscience is the world leader in microbiome gene therapy to address microbiome-associated diseases. Eligo was founded by scientists from The Rockefeller University, where CRISPR-based antimicrobials were invented, and by scientists from MIT. Eligo was named a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum in 2017. With venture capital funding from Khosla Ventures and Seventure Partners, and non-dilutive funding from the GlaxoSmithKline, European Commission, CARB-X, and Bpifrance, Eligo has built an extensive pipeline of drug candidates using its Eligobioticsplatform.

Through its novel technology platform and robust intellectual property positions, Eligo is poised to be a catalyst for the growth anticipated across the microbiome-associated diseases industry.

For more information about Eligo visithttps://www.eligo.bio/.

Follow us athttps://www.twitter.com/EligoBioandhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/eligo-bio.

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Eligo Contact:

Argot PartnersKevin Murphy / Troy Neubeckereligo@argotpartners.com+1-212-600-1902

SOURCE Eligo Bioscience SA

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Eligo Presents Preclinical Data Demonstrating for the First Time that Gut Microbiome Modulation via Delivery of CRISPR Nuclease Impacts Disease...

The growing application of genetic engineering across wide array of fields is driving the demand for DNA/RNA extraction kits. Botany is witnessing increasing use of genetic engineering for creating modified plant species. Researchers and agricultural companies are extracting desirable DNA from organisms which is then transplanted into the plants genome. Genetic engineering is also being used to create personalized medicines or precision medicine by analyzing an individuals genetic data. General Electric, in partnership with Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, launched a joint venture in 2016 to accelerate personalized therapies based on genetic engineering. DNA/RNA extraction is an integral part of the genetic engineering process for extraction and purification of DNA or RNA from the sample. Thus, the growing applications of genetic engineering is driving the growth of global DNA/RNA extraction kit market.

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The recent outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic has hit multiple countries around the world with a total tally of 31.42 million reported cases. This growing number of COVID-19 patients has inflated the demand for RNA extraction kits to perform polymerise chain reaction (PCR) testing. For instance, the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh placed a demand for for 1.16 lakh RNA extraction kits in April 2020. This rise in demand has attracted new players to enter the market. For instance, Kilpest India Ltd. got approval of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration agency for its real-time PCR test kits in June 2020 and in the same month the company received an order of 500,000 for these kits from Government of India. Thus, the rapidly spreading COVID-19 infection and emergence of new companies is anticipated to propel the growth of global DNA/RNA extraction kit market.

In terms of revenue, global DNA/RNA extraction kit market was valued at US$ 586.56 Mn in 2018 and is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 6.8% over the forecast period. The study analyses the market in terms of revenue across all the major regions, which have been bifurcated into countries.

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The detailed research study provides qualitative and quantitative analysis of DNA/RNA extraction kit market. The market has been analyzed from demand as well as supply side. The demand side analysis covers market revenue across regions and further across all the major countries. The supply side analysis covers the major market players and their regional and global presence and strategies. The geographical analysis done emphasizes on each of the major countries across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa and Latin America.

Key Findings of the Report:

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Global DNA/RNA Extraction Kit Market:

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Global DNA/RNA Extraction Kit Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.8% over the Forecast Period, Owing to Rise in Demand from the field of Genetic...

Security personnel stand guard outside the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan as members of the ... [+] World Health Organization (WHO) team investigating the origins of the COVID-19 coronavirus make a visit to the institute in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province on February 3, 2021. (Photo by Hector RETAMAL / AFP) (Photo by HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP via Getty Images)

The lab leak hypothesis about the origin of Covid-19 has been getting a lot of attention lately, and deservedly so. This is the idea that the SARS-CoV-2 virus accidentally escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan, China, that conducts research on coronaviruses. Just a few weeks ago, a group of highly respected virologists and epidemiologists published a letter in the journal Science calling for a more thorough investigation, stating that the lab leak hypothesis was not taken seriously enough in earlier investigations.

The coincidence of having a major virus research facility, the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), just a short distance from the live animal food market that was originally believed to be the source of the outbreak is too great to ignore. Even more curious is that WIV was actively doing research on coronaviruses in bats, including the bats that carry a strain of SARS-CoV-2 that is the closest known relative to the Covid-19 virus itself.

From the beginning of the outbreak, attention was focused on WIV, and various conspiracy theorists suggested, without any evidence, that the Covid-19 virus was either intentionally engineered, intentionally released, or both. Let me just say right off the bat that I dont believe either of those claims.

However, I do think the lab leak hypothesis is credible, and its also possible that gain of function research (more about this below) might be responsible.

In arguing against (unsupported) claims that the Chinese released the virus on purpose, a group of virologists published a paper very early in the pandemic, in March 2020, which looked at the genome sequence of the virus and concluded that SARS-CoV-2 is not a laboratory construct or a purposefully manipulated virus. Other studies since then have come to similar conclusions: the virus is very similar to naturally-occurring coronaviruses, and it is possible that it simply evolved naturally in the wild, probably in bats.

Even so, the lab leak hypothesis remains highly credible, regardless of whether or not the virus was genetically engineered. Heres why. First, we know that lab accidents can happen and viruses can escape, even if these accidents are rare. We also know that the Wuhan Institute of Virology had thousands of viruses, including coronaviruses, in its facility. And despite claims that viruses couldnt possibly have escaped accidentally, a 2017 Nature article describing the then-new Wuhan Institute reported, perhaps prophetically, that worries surround the [Wuhan Institute of Virology], too. The SARS virus has escaped from high-level containment facilities in Beijing multiple times.

The secrecy of the Chinese government, which has not yet allowed independent, outside scientists full access to WIV to investigate, hasnt helped matters. We need to know if any viruses in WIV are similar to the Covid-19 virus, and at this point we cant trust the Chinese governments assurances on this question. Of course, even if they allow outsiders to investigate now, we cannot know that they have preserved all the viruses that were present in the lab in the winter of 2019-2020.

Now lets talk about gain-of-function research. Gain of function, or GoF, refers to research that tries to make viruses or bacteria more harmful, by making them more infectious. This seems crazy, right? And yet its been going on for years, despite the efforts of many scientists to stop it. In the past, GoF research focused on the influenza virus, and in particular on a small number of scientists (highly irresponsible ones, in my view) who were trying to give avian influenzabird fluthe ability to jump from birds into humans. I wrote about this in 2013, and in 2017, and again in 2019, each time calling on the US government to stop funding this extremely dangerous work. The NIH did put a pause on gain-of-function research for a few years, but the work resumed in 2019.

Now, let me explain why GoF research does not require artificially engineering a virus. Viruses mutate very rapidly all by themselves, and RNA viruses like influenza and SARS-CoV-2 mutate even more rapidly than DNA viruses. So a GoF experiment doesnt need to engineer a virus to make it more infectious: instead, scientists can simply grow a few trillion viral particles, which is easy, and design experiments to select the ones that are more infectious. For example, some GoF research on bird flu simply sprays an aerosol mixture of viruses into a ferrets nose (influenza research often uses ferrets, since you cant ethically do this with people), and waits to see if the ferret comes down with the flu. If it does (and this has been done, successfully), the strain that succeeds now has a new function, because it can infect mammals. The viruses that are artificially selected (as opposed to natural selection) in these experiments will appear completely natural; no genetic engineering required.

We know that WIV was conducting gain-of-function experiments, and we know that its work included coronaviruses. Was the Wuhan Institute of Virology running GoF experiments on SARS-CoV-2 viruses from bats? Possibly. And if it was, these experiments could easily have produced a strain that infected humans. If a lab employee was accidentally infected with such a strain, that could have started the pandemic. And even if SARS-CoV-2 wasnt the subject of GoF experiments, a naturally-occurring strain being studied at WIV could still have infected one of their scientists and thereby leaked out into the population.

Im not saying that any of these events is likely. I am, however, agreeing with the scientists who, in their recent letter to Science, called for a deeper investigation into the cause of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Finally, let me echo a sentiment they expressed in their letter, which is best said by simply quoting them: in this time of unfortunate anti-Asian sentiment in some countries, we note that at the beginning of the pandemic, it was Chinese doctors, scientists, journalists, and citizens who shared with the world crucial information about the spread of the virusoften at great personal cost. Rather than seeking to cast blame, we need to uncover the origin of the Covid-19 pandemic, and any behaviors that led to it, as a means to help all societies prevent future pandemics.

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Lab Leaks And Covid-19: Why The Lab Leak Hypothesis Doesnt Mean The Virus Was Engineered - Forbes

A new project led by researchers at MUSC Hollings Cancer Centercould significantly decrease the side effects associated with CAR-T-cell therapy and make the treatment available to more patients who could benefit.

Led by Hollings hematologist and oncologist Brian Hess, M.D., and Shikhar Mehrotra, Ph.D., co-leader of Hollings Cancer Immunology Program, the project involves manufacturing a purified version of the CAR-T-cells that are currently used to treat patients with certain types of lymphoma and leukemia to reduce the side effects associated with treatment and potentially make the treatment more effective. The therapy will be given to patients as part of a clinical trial, including lymphoma and leukemia patients who dont currently have approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to receive CAR-T.

The project is supported in part by a new $50,000 grant from LOWVELO, Hollings annual community event that rallies everyone together to raise money for lifesaving cancer research. The CAR-T-cell program is one of the first programs to benefit from the fund.

The grant weve received from LOWVELO is a really great start to help us to get this project off the ground and to help us to treat our first patient, Hess said.

CAR-T-cell therapy works by collecting a patients T-cells, genetically modifying these cells to identify specific targets (CD19) on cancer cells and then infusing them back into patients to fight their disease.

CD19 directed CAR-T-cell therapy is currently approved for B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) patients age 25 or younger and adult patients with specific subtypes of CD19 expressing non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The clinical trial at Hollings will be open to adult patients with B-ALL up to any age and certain patients with CD19 expressing non-Hodgkin lymphoma both who are and are not currently eligible to receive the FDA-approved products.

As part of this trial, researchers at Hollings are collaborating with Loyola University Chicago researchers to build on their existing technology by utilizing a specific cytokine (protein) IL-12 in the manufacturing process of the CAR-T-cell product. In September 2018, Loyola and Loyola Medicine received a $250,000 grant from the Leukemia Research Foundation to develop purer, less toxic CAR-T-cells to treat leukemia and lymphoma.

Mehrotra, who also is the scientific director of MUSCs FACT-accredited Clean Cell Therapy Unit, said the MUSC project for developing CD19 CAR-T was initiated through a collaboration with Michael Nishimura, Ph.D., at Loyola, who worked with the researchers to generate CD19 CAR-T-cells at MUSCs clean-cell facility.

Our clinical partnership with Brian will not only help to treat patients, but we are excited to gain more understanding of the complex biology of patient responses as we track these adoptively transferred CAR-engineered T-cells. This will be an important advance for Hollings, where we strive to bring cutting-edge treatment for cancer patients, Mehrotra said. As they say, It takes a village. The different basic science and clinical expertises that we have developed over many years at Hollings are all coming together to implement new strategies for cancer care. It is a great testimony to a big team effort and institutional leadership and vision.

Hess agreed and hopes the treatment will not only improve patients outcomes but their quality of life during treatment. This new approach will hopefully improve the toxicity profile related to CAR-T-cell infusion as well as make the CAR-T-cells more effective in fighting the lymphoma or leukemia, he said. We also hope that this trial improves the availability of this dynamic therapy to patients throughout South Carolina.

Patients often are referred for CAR-T-cell therapy when they have relapsed multiple times and have few or any standard therapy options left available to them. While there are associated risks, CAR-T-cell therapy provides hope to these patients.

CAR-T-cell therapy has been able to provide durable remissions and hopefully a cure to patients who otherwise have an extremely poor prognosis, said Hess. FDA-approved CAR-T-cell therapy, as well as this upcoming trial, helps in the hope of offering cures to patients who otherwise would have very poor outcomes.

Hollings first introduced CAR-T-cell therapy to South Carolina in 2019, and it is the only center in the state with both an adult and a pediatric CAR-T-cell program. In 2020, the therapy was used to treat 14 patients. In 2021, Hollings physicians expect to treat between 40 and 50 patients, with continued growth on the horizon, thanks to new approvals to use the therapy in additional cancer types.

Nationwide, CAR-T-cell therapy currently is being tested as a possible treatment for blood, brain, breast, gastrointestinal, lung, ovarian, pancreatic and skin cancers. On March 5, it was approved by the FDA for a common type of lymphoma called follicular lymphoma, and on March 27, it was approved for multiple myeloma.

Hess said Hollings is fortunate to have access to a clean-cell facility that is necessary to manufacture these cells and the benefit of a multidisciplinary team to oversee a program of this scope.

A patients journey from evaluation for CAR-T, to infusion of cells, to the post CAR-T therapy care requires multidisciplinary expertise throughout Hollings, including cellular therapy coordinators, apheresis/cryopreservation nurses, clinic nurses, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, quality coordinators, physicians, etc., all of whom specialize in cellular therapy. We also rely on the expertise of other departments outside of Hollings, such as a partnership with the emergency department and the medical intensive care unit, which help to manage side effects of CAR-T.

By doing this work at Hollings and taking advantage of the centers multidisciplinary team of researchers, Hess hopes to learn more about the science behind CAR-T-cell therapy to determine how to make it safer, more effective and applicable to additional cancer types, including solid tumors.

Just like we need physicians to see patients and administer CAR-T-cell therapy, we need researchers to be able to manufacture the best possible CAR-T-cell product. They are a vital partner in making this clinical trial available to patients, said Hess. Theyre also the team with whom we will collaborate to perform the science related to this study to advance the field and inform future studies.

Mehrotra sees this as the beginning of an array of promising trials. Generally, most patients T-cells are collected and sent off to commercial labs for genetic engineering. This new in-house approach involving the creation of purer CAR-T-cells could help patients to avoid serious side effects and lower the cost of treatment, making it available for more cancer patients.

These are exciting times for cellular therapies and engineering autologous T-cells with CARs to recognize tumor antigen puts us at the forefront of treating cancers, said Mehrotra. We are excited to partner with Brian and to be able to treat patients in the next six to eight months with the first in-house generated CAR-T therapy. I am sure that once we get off the ground, similar strategies can be used for targeting other cancers.

Learn how you can get involved with LOWVELO to support lifesaving research projects at Hollings by visiting the LOWVELO website. Registration is open for 2021.

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Research project aims to make CAR-T-cell therapy safer and more effective - Medical University of South Carolina

Dr V K Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog, has highlighted the need for due scientific process in arriving at such decisions

The UK government has reduced the gap between two doses of COVID-19 vaccines from 12 weeks to 8 weeks for the people who are in the top 9 priority groups who are yet to receive both doses. This latest development was announced on June 11, 2021 as a recent study by Public Health England (PHE) showed that two doses of the COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective against the Delta (B.1.617.2) variant.

It may be noted that the Delta variant, which was first detected in India, is spreading rapidly in the United Kingdom and has quickly become the dominant strain there, and causing surges of COVID-19 in some parts of England.

While India which is just taking control of the second wave of COVID-19 and preparing for the third wave, it is looking at what the UK government has taken to control spreading of the B.1.617.2 variant.

On June 12, 2021, India has reported 84,332 Daily New Cases in the last 24 hours. The country has recorded less than 1 lakh Daily New Cases for 5 continuous days now. Out of the people infected since the beginning of the pandemic, 2,79,11,384 people have already recovered from COVID-19 & 1,21,311 patients have recovered in the last 24 hours. This constitutes an overall recovery rate of 95.07 per cent, which is showing a sustained increasing trend.

However briefing media on June 11, Dr V K Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog has assured that there is no need for panic on the need for an immediate change in the dosage interval.

Dr Paul has highlighted the need for due scientific process in arriving at such decisions. He has appealed to the public to respect the decision taken by National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI), where there are quite a few people who have been a part of World Health Organisation (WHO) panels and committees and are globally renowned and recognized for their eminence.

Let the decision regarding dose interval be examined by NTAGI, as per due process. The United Kingdom must have adopted due process and examined data scientifically, to revise their previous decision regarding the gap. The UK had earlier kept the gap at 12 weeks, but as per data available to us, we did not consider it safe at that point. So, let us entrust this to our scientific fora, they must be addressing it already. They will review it based on the pandemic situation in our country, depending on the extent of prevalence of the delta variant in our country and then take a comprehensive view. Whichever decision is taken by our scientific community, we will honour it.

It may be noted that India had extended the gap between two doses of COVISHIELD vaccine from 6-8 weeks to 12-16 weeks based on recommendation of COVID Working Group on May 12, 2021.

The COVID Working Group chaired by Dr N K Arora has recommended extension of the gap between the first and second doses of COVISHIELD vaccine to 12-16 weeks. Based on the available real-life evidences, particularly from UK, the COVID-19 Working Group agreed for increasing the dosing interval to 12-16 weeks between two doses of COVISHIELD vaccine. No change in interval of COVAXIN vaccine doses was recommended.

The COVID Working Group comprises of the following members: Dr N K Arora- Director, INCLEN Trust; Dr Rakesh Agarwal, Director and dean, JIPMER, Puducherry; Dr Gagandeep Kang, professor, Christian Medical College, Vellore; Dr J P Mulliyal, Retd professor, Christian Medical College, Vellore; Dr Naveen Khanna, Group Leader, International Centre For Genetic Engineering And Biotechnology (ICGEB), JNU, New Delhi; Dr Amulya Panda, Director, National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi; Dr V G Somani, Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), Government of India; The recommendation of the COVID Working Group was accepted by the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for Covid-19 (NEGVAC), headed by Dr Paul, Member (Health) Niti Aayog in its meeting on May 12, 2021.

On June 11, Dr Paul has pointed out that We must remember that when we increased the gap, we had to consider the risk posed by the virus to those who have received only one dose. But the counterpoint was that more people will then be able to get the first dose, thereby giving a reasonable degree of immunity to more people.

Dr Paul further added that We need to balance these concerns. So, please remember, that we need to necessarily have this debate and discourse in the public domain; however, the decision has to be taken by appropriate fora comprising eminent people who are knowledgeable about this.

Let the COVID Working Group take an appropriate and quick stand regarding the gap between two doses so that it will be a win-win situation for all.

Narayan Kulkarni

(narayan.kulkarni@mmactiv.com)

Excerpt from:
Can India re-visit UK's stand on gap between two COVID-19 jabs? - BSI bureau

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Humans have been tinkering with the genetics of food for millennia, but modern genetic engineering techniques have proven controversial

Author of the article:

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats.

Otherwise known as CRISPR, it is a term many people know is associated with genetic engineering particularly of food. But, what exactly is genetic engineering?

The science of adjusting the genetic makeup of plants has been in process for thousands of years. From the time humans transitioned from hunter-gatherers to farmers, weve been tinkering with food. This plant has those characteristics and if we wed them to this one, will it grow better in this environment? Will it taste better? Will it be drought-resistant? Will it be disease tolerant? And so on.

By the middle of the last century, scientists were rapidly moving toward sequencing the genomes of everything, including people. Genetics now play a vitally important role in innovations in medicine, trees, food, etc.

Somewhere along the way, genetic engineering of food got a bad rap and, now, many people are openly campaigning against bioengineering of plants.

I wanted to ask someone who actually does this type of work, what they do, why they do it, and can we trust them and the foods they produce. Larry Gilbertson of Bayer Crop Sciences joined a Conversation That Matters about innovations in plant biotechnology.

Please become a Patreon subscriber and support the production of this program, with a $1 pledge here

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Conversations That Matter: Talk GMO with a GMO scientist - Vancouver Sun

More than 10% of the worlds crop land grow Genetically Modified crops or GM crops. Scientists around the world have been asserting that GM crops can solve the worlds hunger problem. Still concerns about health and environment prevail. What are GM crops and what are their merits and demerits? Lets find out...

As the name suggests, GM food involves the editing of genes of a crop in such a way that it incorporates beneficial traits from another crop or organism. This could mean changing the way the plant grows, or making it resistant to a particular disease. Food produced using the edited crop is called GM food. This is done using the tools of genetic engineering.

Let us assume that scientists want to produce wheat with high protein content and they decide to incorporate the high protein quality of beans into wheat. To make this possible, a specific sequence of DNA with protein-making trait is isolated from the bean (which is called the donor organism) and is inserted into the gene structure of wheat, in a laboratory process. The new gene or the transgene thus produced is transferred into the recipient cells (wheat cells). The cells are then grown in tissue culture where they develop into plants. The seeds produced by these plants will inherit the new DNA structure.

Traditional cultivation of these seeds will then be undertaken and we will have genetically modified wheat with high protein content. The trait can be anything. A DNA from a plant that has high resistance to pests can be introduced into another so that the second plant variety will have the pest-resistant trait. A DNA of blueberry could be inserted into that of a banana to get a blue banana. The exchange could be effected between two or more organisms. One can even introduce a gene of a fish into a plant. You dont believe it? Consider this fact. Genes from an Arctic fish were inserted into tomatoes to make it tolerant to frost. This tomato gained the moniker fish tomato. But it never reached the market.

GM crops are perceived to offer benefits to both producers and consumers. Some of them are listed below...

Genetic engineering can improve crop protection. Crops with better resistance to pest and diseases can be created. The use of herbicides and pesticides can be reduced or even eliminated.

Farmers can achieve high yield, and thereby get more income.

Nutritional content can be improved.

Shelf life of foods can be extended.

Food with better taste and texture can be achieved.

Crops can be engineered to withstand extreme weather

Genetically engineered foods often present unintended side effects. Genetic engineering is a new field, and long-term results are unclear. Very little testing has been done on GM food.

Some crops have been engineered to create their own toxins against pests. This may harm non-targets such as farm animals that ingest them. The toxins can also cause allergy and affect digestion in humans.

Further, GM crops are modified to include antibiotics to kill germs and pests. And when we eat them, these antibiotic markers will persist in our body and will render actual antibiotic medications less effective over a period of time, leading to superbug threats. This means illnesses will become more difficult to cure.

Besides health and environmental concerns, activists point to social and economic issues. They have voiced serious concern about multinational agribusiness companies taking over farming from the hands of small farmers. Dependence on GM seed companies could prove to be a financial burden for farmers.

Farmers are reluctant because they will have limited rights to retain and reuse seeds.

Their concern also includes finding a market that would accept GM food.

People in general are wary of GM crops as they are engineered in a lab and do not occur in Nature

Excerpt from:
The science behind GM crops - The Hindu