Category Archives: Genetic Engineering

Wow.

Thats the word Candace Johnson, the president and chief executive officer of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, uses early in Cubas Cancer Hope. It airs as part of the PBS series Nova at 9 p.m. Wednesday.

She added the words, in Cuba, jeez, referring to the small communist countrys work on a vaccine for the treatment for certain forms of cancer.

But the word can also be applied to the positive national publicity Roswell Park is receiving in the program.

"Wow," indeed.

It certainly could use some good publicity after Roswell Park fired a top executive over the weekend for things she wrote on her Facebook page that bashed President Trump's response to the Covid-19 outbreak.

The Nova documentary plays like a promotion for Roswell Parks partnership with Cuba in search of a treatment. Roswell Park is especially highlighted in the second half of the hourlong program.

Several Roswell Park doctors, including Dr. Kelvin Lee, Dr. Kunle Odunsi, Dr. Mary Reid, Dr. Grace K. Dy and Dr. Joseph Tario, appear. The program centers around how Roswell became involved with scientists in a small Communist country where American citizens go to receive treatment illegally because of a United States trade embargo that complicates the relationship between the countries.

Dr. Kelvin Lee (Photo courtesy of Roswell Park)

I think everyone here thought that Cuba was stuck in I Love Lucy days, the 1950s, old cars, there cant possibly be good science going on, Lee says early in the program.

The beautifully filmed hour also may appeal to supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who was criticized for old comments about Fidel Castros regime in Cuba expanding education and health care.

Cubas Cancer Hope acknowledges Castro's dictatorial sins that led to half its doctors leaving the country early in his reign. But it also credits the dictator for emphasizing science and giving Cubans something not available to all Americans free health care.

Lee and other doctors give a basic understanding of immunotherapy, genetic engineering, checkpoints and what Cuban scientists have discovered in the treatment of cancer that has resulted in some Americans going there to extend their lives.

"Cubas Cancer Hope humanizes the story by following some people who have been given the treatment and lived beyond expectations.

The question of how Roswell Park was chosen as a partner is raised, but not as thoroughly as I hoped. Odunsi explained that he was told Roswell Park was approached because it was one of the few institutions where discoveries in Cuba could be taken to the next level.

The relationship began in 2011 when Cuban doctors made a presentation at Roswell Park before a standing room audience.

Scientists, were a little crazy, Johnson explained. We all want to hear something really interesting. It sparked curiosity of how it came to be ... Wow, in Cuba. Jeez.

The bigger question is whether all the challenges of bringing the potential life-extending drug to Buffalo and across the United States will ever be conquered.

If it does, wow will be an understatement.

Dr. Candace Johnson (Photo courtesy of Roswell Park)

In a telephone interview, Johnson made aspects of the development of the partnership between Roswell Park and the Cuba doctors sound even more dramatic than portrayed in the documentary.

She noted that the April 2015 trade mission led by Gov. Andrew Cuomo that resulted in Roswell Park signing an agreement with Cubas Center for Molecular Immunology to set up a clinical trial for a lung cancer vaccine CimaVax was done under unusual circumstances.

At the time that (Cuomo) did that, that was pretty bold because no one had really gone there, she said. I was asked to go with Kelvin Lee and they had to charter a plane that left from JFK (Airport in New York City). The CEO of JetBlue was on the plane. They had to carry their own mechanics because there were no mechanics in Havana, there was no way to pay them. There was no way to pay rent. They refueled and left and refueled at Fort Lauderdale.

It was precedent-setting to say the least, she added. And then for us to come out of that trip with an agreement with the CIM to be able to work with, test and work toward doing a clinical trial was really exciting. When we first came back from Cuba from that trade mission, the world was abuzz because at that time really no one was going to Cuba.

I think for the whole world it was, 'what's going on here? I mean we did interviews from that very first trip from places all around the world. I guess the thing that I'm most proud of is that it wasn't just a flash in the pan where we got in the spotlight at the Havana airport with the governor. But we actually did something and we worked hard to be able to use this vaccine approach in a clinical trial that is ongoing.

Johnson hasnt seen the documentary, but she views it as a really intriguing story that gave Cuban doctors the respect they have sought and deserved.

When we first started talking about Cuba and this has changed the Cuban scientists and this vaccine, the arrogance that you would hear from people, she recalled. Why are they smarter than we are? They are just a third world country. How could they possibly be doing anything that's maybe better than we have? So I think it's a combination of sort of a little guy doing well that also makes this story pretty interesting.

She had a more thorough answer to why the Cuban scientists chose to partner with Roswell instead of cancer centers that are bigger, more famous or have more money.

I think the one thing that really contributed to that is Dr. Lee is a very engaging guy, she said. Youve got to look Cubans in the eye. They have to know you to trust you. And I think part of the reason we were successful is we developed a trust between our two institutions even though the politics between our two countries is very tense and sometimes controversial."

If the vaccine eventually passes the clinical trials, Johnson expects the Food and Drug Administration would approve its use in the U.S. so patients would no longer need to go to Cuba.

I know everything that we do with Cuba can be a challenge because of the relationship between our two countries, Johnson said. Were very hopeful. It seems to me it would be very difficult from the FDA's perspective, if this drug has a role, that it wouldn't be available in this country.

email: apergament@buffnews.com

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Column: Roswell Park's alliance with Cuba gets the 'wow' treatment from PBS' 'Nova' - Buffalo News

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New Delhi:A leading scientist at the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) in New Delhi has found that valproic acid, an anti-epilepsy drug, can be repurposed and used for acute cases of Covid-19.

The scientist, Neel Sarovar Bhavesh, has written to the director general of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the apex body in the field, to test valproic acid at the National Institute of Virology in Pune or any ICMR lab to find a quick solution to the coronavirus crisis.

The ICGEB is part of the research consortium working to find a cure and vaccine for Covid-19.

Valproic acid is an approved drug, whose patent expired recently. It is sold under brand names such as Depacon and Stavzor to treat epilepsy. The University of California has also validated the ICGEBs research findings it lists valproic acid as one of the molecules for repurposing and testing for use against the Covid-19 virus.

Also read: AI identifies potential drugs and a DNA vaccine in the works latest on Covid-19

Bhavesh, the head of transcriptional regulation at ICGEB, told ThePrint: We have performed high-throughput virtual screening (HTVS) of 1.2 million small molecules from the four databases, and later performed Energy calculation and molecular binding simulation. We found that valproic acid CoA may be repurposed to inhibit the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase of the virus.

We have written to the DG ICMR to test this molecule on cell culture and animal testing facilities, in combination with potent binding blocking molecules. Currently no one in India outside the NIV and ICMR has access to the Covid-19 virus, Bhavesh said.

About 1,100 strains of the novel coronavirus have been sequenced from around the world. We (in India) have around 700 confirmed positive cases, but only two virus sequences are available at the NIV. These sequences are different from each other, he explained.

Bhavesh revealed that after the publication of the ICGEB research, multinational pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline contacted them.

However, Bhavesh said theres an urgent need for cooperation from government bodies like the ICMR and the NIV in terms of giving researchers access to the virus strains in India to test on.

There should be synchronisation in testing and developing. If NIV or any another research institution finds success, lots of patients can be cured and saved. The need of the hour is to find the solution. The NIV must cooperate with other institutions more generously, he said.

A day before, Union Biotechnology Secretary Renu Swarup also said in an interview that early solutions for the novel coronavirus can be found from repurposed drugs, and that developing new drugs would take time.

Also read: Old drugs, new trials hopes pinned on HIV, malaria, ebola, TB vaccines to fight Covid-19

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Scientist says anti-epilepsy drug can be repurposed for Covid-19, writes to ICMR to test it - ThePrint

Research by a University of Southern Denmark team has found that the cannabis compound cannabidiol (CBD) may act as a helper compound to boost the effectiveness of antibiotics against drug-resistant Gram-positive bacteria. A study headed by Janne Kudsk Klitgaard, PhD, associate professor, clinical microbiology, found that combining CBD with the antibiotic bacitracin (BAC) had a more powerful effect against bacteria including Staphylococcus aureus, than BAC alone. Based on these observations, the combination of CBD and BAC is suggested to be a putative novel treatment in clinical settings for treatment of infections with antibiotic-resistant Gram-positive bacteria, the researchers stated in their published paper in Scientific Reports, titled, Cannabidiol is an effective helper compound in combination with bacitracin to kill Gram-positive bacteria.

Since the discovery of penicillin by Sir Alexander Fleming in 1928, antibiotics have saved millions of lives from fatal infections worldwide, the authors wrote. However, over time, bacteria have developed mechanisms to escape the effects of one or more antibioticsmultidrug resistance (MDR)leading to an increasing global health threat. With fewer antibiotics available to treat MDR bacterial infections, the possibility of entering a pre-antibiotic era is looming ahead, the team stated.

Among alternative strategies that are being explored to help address antibiotic resistance, helper compounds, also known as antibiotic potentiators or resistant breakers, are gaining attention. Such helper compounds are non-antibiotic compounds that act as adjuvants for antibiotics, operating synergistically through mechanisms including efflux pump inhibition, enzyme inhibition, or changing membrane permeability, which can contribute to improving antibiotic efficacy.

Given that overuse of antibiotics is the main cause of antibiotic resistance, the combination of an antibiotic with a helper compound could reduce the amount of antibiotic needed to achieve bacterial growth inhibition or killing than if the antibiotic was used alone. This strategy may, therefore, decrease the likelihood of resistance development, and investigations to identify efficient helper compounds are thus important, the investigators suggested.

CBD, from the cannabis plant Cannabis sativa, acts as an antagonist of both the cannabinoid type 1 and 2 (CB1 and CB2) receptors, and has been shown to have anti-sedative, anti-psychotic, and anxiolytic effects, the team noted. The compound has also been linked with a variety of effects, including inhibiting cancer cell growth, neuroprotection in neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinsons disease, and post-ischemia, and anti-inflammatory effects, as in type 1 diabetes.

CBD has also been observed to inhibit bacterial growth, but the use of cannabidiol as an antibiotic adjuvant hasnt yet been investigated, the team continued. Not much is known regarding antimicrobial effects of cannabinoids and even less on the mechanism of action the use of cannabidiol as an antibiotic adjuvant has not been studied so far.

For their reported study, the researchers evaluated whether CBD could act as a potential helper compound to increase the effectiveness of the antibiotic bacitracin, which is a mixture of cyclic peptides that interfere with the bacterial cell wall and interrupt biosynthesis of peptidoglycan, leading to cell lysis. The team first validated the antimicrobial effect of cannabidiol against the Gram-positive bacteria methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and also against Enterococcus faecalis, Listeria monocytogenes, and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis (MRSE). They then tested the effects of combining CBD and BAC against different Gram-positive bacteria, providing initial indication that CBD could potentiate the antimicrobial effects of the antibiotic.

Further tests with the combination of CBD and BAC against S. aureus showed that dual treatment caused morphological changes in the bacterial cells that affected cell division, so that the bacteria could no longer divide normally. the combination of CBD and BAC affects the cell envelope causing irregular cell division visualized by multiple septa formations and irregular cell membrane. These effects werent seen with either treatment on its own; CBD and BAC alone caused no morphological changes, they wrote.

The combined treatment was also found to decrease autolysis in S. aureus, while CBD was shown to cause depolarization of the cytoplasmic membrane. Gene expression analysis confirmed that treatment using CBD in combination with BAC resulted in reduced expression of key cell division and autolysis genes in the bacteria. The combination of BAC and CBD was, however, and as expected, not effective in Gram-negative bacteria. As a mixture of cyclic peptides that interrupt cell wall synthesis in Gram-positive bacteria, the antibiotic is probably unable to cross the outer membrane in Gram-negative bacteria, the researchers pointed out.

In this study, we found that the antibacterial effects of BAC against S. aureus as well as other Gram-positive bacteria can be enhanced by cannabidiol originating from the cannabis plant, the scientists concluded. They acknowledged that further work will be needed to understand the mechanisms of action of combined CBD and BAC treatment on Gram-positive bacteria. Changes observed in morphology were not caused by compositional changes in the cell wall muropeptide composition. Membrane potential changes for the combination of CBD and BAC compared to either CBD or BAC treatment alone did not reveal the mechanism of action for the combination of CBD and BAC, they wrote. Future studies are therefore focused on the cell division and cell envelope to identify the mechanism of action.

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Cannabis Compound CBD Acts as Helper to Boost Antibiotic Effectiveness - Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News

At least five patients, including some doctors, have overcome the critical state of health in which they had fallen due to the coronavirus and been moved from the Intensive Care units to normal hospital wards, after undergoing an expensive treatment that is producing good results.

Of the patients who have responded adequately to treatment, there are four from Santiago: Dr. Daniel Rivera, president of the Board of Directors of the Unin Mdica Clinic, urologist Fausto Hernndez, ex-governor Jos Izquierdo and patient Juan Ramn. In Santo Domingo, the political leader of San Pedro de Macors, Senator Jos Hazim, while Dr. Felix Antonio Cruz Jiminin has presented significant improvement, although he is still in intensive care with mechanical respiration, admitted to the General Hospital of the Plaza de health.

The details were offered by the Minister of Public Health, Rafael Snchez Crdenas, on the eighth day of the virtual press conference to report the updates to the Covid-19.He said it is a non-over-the-counter medicine that is applied intravenously and is applied to critically ill patients with complicated pneumonia.

A drug used in the treatment of arthritis patients has been applied to these patients.It is tocilizumab, a biological medicine, which is supplied through the High-Cost Medicines Program of the Ministry of Public Health.

Tocilizumab (Actemra) is a biologic medication approved to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in adults, polyarticular juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA), and the systemic form of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) in children. It isused to suppress the immune system in autoimmune diseases.

Biological drugs are artificial and manufactured using genetic engineering techniques and are closely related to a protein that the body produces naturally.

Dr. Snchez Crdenas reported that there are nine doctors registered with the virus, of whom four were in the process of their work, and others were infected on a cruise or airplane trip, and about three nurses.

He recalled that the highest risk of death is in people over 60 years old and people with co-morbidities, so he called people to take more extreme care of older adults.

Cross-testsThe Minister of Public Health, Rafael Snchez Crdenas, announced that from yesterday the trial would begin with cross-tests at the Dr. Defill National Laboratory, in order to speed up the confirmation of Covid-19 cases.

THE PROCESSSnchez Crdenas revealed that starting today, Saturday, rapid tests of up to 15 minutes will be made, through blood collection obtained from the pulpejo, with patients who have tested positive for other types of tests, to confirm their effectiveness, and then put them into service.

The testsThe effectiveness of rapid tests can be as high as 95%, and the PCR tests, which are being applied in the laboratory, are a specific test with 95% effectiveness, said Crdenas.Those 15-minute rapid tests, of which there are already samples in the country, will be tested today with patients.

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Treatment gets five out of Intensive Care - Dominican Today

As conspiracy theories started spreading like wildfire on the Internet, several misguided rumours about the connection between 5G and coronavirus surfaced online. COVID-19, is believed to have originated from a wet market in Wuhan, China, in November. Coincidentally, China also turned on some of its 5G networks in November.

Rumours gained steam when Keri Hilson, popular American singer, with 4.2 million followers on Twitter, sent out tweets last week about the alleged connection between 5G and COVID-19, writing, "People have been trying to warn us about 5G for YEARS. Petitions, organizations, studies... what we're going through is the affects [sic] of radiation. 5G launched in CHINA. Nov 1, 2019. People dropped dead."

Several conspiracy theorists also alleged that the viral videos of people dropping on the ground and fainting in China, were a result of 5G radio waves messing with the oxygen levels in blood of the general public.

Soon, a UK based fact checking website, FullFact, debunked the claims and argued that there is no evidence that 5G is harmful to peoples health.

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A Bioweapon Or Effects Of 5G? 7 Conspiracy Theories Around Coronavirus That Will Shock You - The Biggest Humanitarian Crisis - Economic Times

COVID-19 has not only caused a worldwide disruption but has also infected large numbers of people around the world. While scientists are trying their best to find a cure or vaccine to the disease, a report on the study of the COVID-19 (SARS-CoV2) strain is doing rounds on Twitter. Dr. Subramanian Swamy, Rajya Sabha MP recently tweeted that his US based friends have informed him that the COVID-19 strain in India is a less virulent mutation. The tweet also stated that the Indian immune system can more effectively target it. Here is his tweet: After this a lot of people questioned the authenticity of the tweet and also trolled him for the same. In response to the trolls, many people tweeted the link to the report which is a Comparative analyses of SAR-CoV2 genomes from different geographical locations. Link to the report:

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.21.001586v1.full.pdf

Disclaimer: The below given findings are from a preliminary report which has not been peer-reviewed. These abstracts are directly taken from the report.

The ongoing pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2). Various researchers from Translational Bioinformatics Group, International Center for Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology (ICGEB) and Department of Biochemistry, Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi, performed an integrated sequence-based analysis of SARS-CoV2 (2019 virus) genomes from different geographical locations in order to identify its unique features absent in SARS-CoV (2003 virus) and other related coronavirus family genomes, conferring unique infection, facilitation of transmission, virulence and immunogenic features to the virus.

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Is the Indian COVID-19 strain weaker? - Times of India

In uncertain times, we are witnessing one of the greatest moments in the history of science.

A projected timeline for treatment and prevention of the novel coronavirus. Although we are living ... [+] through uncertain times, we are also witnessing one of the greatest moments in science history.

Scientists are breaking speed records in their race to develop treatments for the new coronavirus. Some are panning through old molecules hoping to find effective drugs. Others are applying the latest breakthroughs in synthetic biology to engineer sophisticated treatments and vaccines.

Ive previously talked about some synthetic biology companies are racing to create treatments. Others like Mammoth Biosciences are developing much-needed testing. Every day brings additional reports of the latest breakthroughs from around the world. But how can we make sense of all this information?

To provide a big-picture perspective, SynBioBeta and Leaps by Bayer have partnered to help visualize the overall progress of the research community. At the heart of the project is an infographic showing the timeline to the various treatments and preventions (click here to download it). Its based on data from The Milken Institute, which recently released a detailed tracker to monitor the progress of each of the more than 60 known COVID-19 treatments and preventions currently in development.

One takeaway: the progress to develop coronavirus treatments and preventions is moving at an unprecedented pace, with historic records being broken nearly every week.

The crisis response from the global biotech community has been truly inspiring, says Juergen Eckhardt, SVP and Head of Leaps by Bayer, a unit of Bayer AG that leads impact investments into solutions to some of todays biggest challenges in health and agriculture. We are excited to partner on this visual timeline to help a broader audience understand how and when scientific innovation may bring us through this deeply challenging time.

COVID19: Projected timeline for treatment and prevention. Three paths: pre-existing drugs, antibody ... [+] therapies, and vaccines.

There are standard stages to getting a drug approved. In Phase 1 trials, a drugs safety is assessed in a small group of healthy subjects. In later stages (Phase II & III), efficacy is measured in a larger number of people, often versus a placebo. The situation with COVID-19 is predicted to become so dire so quickly, however, that many are looking to fast-track testing. This could include granting experimental drugs expanded access, for compassionate use, which would allow physicians to give them to patients who are critically ill before testing is complete.

The fastest way to safely stop COVID-19 would be to discover that an already-approved medication works against it. Repurposed drugs do not require the same extensive testing as novel medicines and may already be available in large quantities. The Milken Institutes tracker identifies 7 candidate drugs in this category.

One is the malarial medicine chloroquine, which in recent days has been touted by some as a possible miracle drug against the coronavirus. German pharmaceutical company Bayer last week donated three million tablets of chloroquine to the U.S. The FDA and academics are together investigating whether it can provide relief to COVID-19 patients.

There are hundreds if not thousands of other FDA-approved drugs on the market that are already proven safe in humans and that may have treatment potential against COVID-19, so many scientists are rapidly screening the known drug arsenal in hopes of discovering an effective compound.

Antibodies are proteins that are a natural part of the human immune system. They work around the clock in blood to block viruses and more. The problem at the moment is that because the novel coronavirus (known as SARS-CoV-2) is new, no one has had time to develop antibodies against it.No one, that is, except those who have recovered from COVID-19.

Antibodies taken from those people could help patients who are still infected. Such patient-to-patient transfers can be performed without extensive testing or lengthy approval processes so long as standard protocols are followed. It is yet unknown whether this treatment option will work for COVID-19, nor whether there will be enough recovered donors to deal with the infection at scale.

To improve this process, companies like Vancouver, WA-based AbCellera are applying new biotechnologies.

AbCellera is using proprietary tools and machine learning to rapidly screen through millions of B cells from patients who recovered from COVID-19. B cells are responsible for producing antibodies. The company has announced a partnership with Eli Lilly on this project and aims to bring its hottest antibodies those that neutralize the virus to the clinic.

AbCellera's platform has delivered, with unprecedented speed, by far the world's largest panel of anti-SAR-CoV-2 antibodies," said Carl Hansen, Ph.D., CEO of AbCellera, in a statement. "In 11 days, we've discovered hundreds of antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for the current outbreak, moved into functional testing with global experts in virology, and signed a co-development agreement with one of the world's leading biopharmaceutical companies. We're deeply impressed with the speed and agility of Lilly's response to this global challenge. Together, our teams are committed to delivering a countermeasure to stop the outbreak."

James Crowe at Vanderbilt University is also sifting through the blood of recovered patients. Using a new instrument called Beacon from a company called Berkeley Lights. Crowes team has been scouring through B cells to find antibodies that neutralize SARS-CoV-2. The technology behind this project was developed in recent years with funds from the Department of Defense.

Normally this would be a five year program, Crowe told me. But in the rapid process his team is following, animal studies could be done in as fast as two months.

This morning, Berkeley Lights announced a Global Emerging Pathogen Antibody Discovery Consortium (GEPAD) to attack COVID-19 and other viruses. It is partnering with Vanderbilt University, La Jolla Institute for Immunology, and Emory University to accelerate the work above to the broader research community.

This collaboration also included commercial partners, including Twist Bioscience, who synthesized DNA for the project.

Our mission is to provide the raw material needed for biologists to make breakthroughs, said Twists CEO Emily Leproust. If DNA is needed, we want to make it, quickly and perfectly

Another company that specializes in DNA synthesis, SGI-DNA, is offering its tools at much reduced cost to researchers developing COVID-19 treatments. The company said that people from around the world are coming to them for help.

"There is zero time to waste," said Todd R. Nelson, Ph.D., CEO of SGI-DNA. He said that researchers need synthetic DNA and RNA, which its Bio-XP machine can provide in as little as eight hours.

Nelson continued, "In a matter of a day or two, we have built the genes thought to be critical to the development of successful vaccines against SARS-CoV-2. SGI-DNA has made them available in the form of different genetic libraries, which researchers can use to find druggable targets in a matter of hours, dramatically accelerating the time to market for therapeutics and vaccines.

Beyond searching for antibodies in recovered patients, biotechnologists have other tricks up their sleeves.

One approach involves genetically engineering laboratory mice to mimic the human immune system. These animals can then be presented with the virus or parts of the virus and allowed to recover. The hope is that their B cells would then produce effective antibodies. Because this happens in a controlled setting, biologists can better understand and engineer the process.

A company called GenScript was pursuing this strategy as early as February 4, when police escorted 8 transgenic mice immunized with the 2019 nCoV antigen to research labs in China. In 12 hours, its researchers successfully found specific antibodies in the mice that could recognize the novel virus and potentially block it from binding to cells. In less than 24 hoursagain using Berkeley Lights new Beacon instrument for working with thousands of individual, live cellsGenScript completed a series of steps that would have taken three months using previous technology.

Yet another approach involves computational approaches and artificial intelligence. Firms like Distributed Bio are using computers to reengineer antibodies to better target SARS-CoV-2. The company is optimizing antibodies that are known to target SARS-CoV-1, the virus behind the 2003 outbreak of SARS.

We believe broadly neutralizing antibodies with engineered biophysical properties will become key weapons to win the war against all coronaviruses said Jake Glanville, CEO of Distributed Bio.

Vaccines work by simulating infection, which allows the body to mount its own defense against a virus. Effective vaccines take time to develop, and they can take even longer to test. But recent progress in biotechnology is again accelerating these efforts.

Notably, Moderna has launched a Phase 1 vaccine trial against COVID-19 in record time. Patients in Seattle have already begun receiving injections of an experimental mRNA vaccine. Moderna cranked out doses of this and won approval from the FDA for testing in just 44 days an all-time record.

These programs show a massive focus on a common enemy, and a coming together of disparate firms.

Ginkgo Bioworks, a giant in the emerging field of synthetic biology, has announced a $25 million fund to help spur even more collaboration. The company is offering its laboratory equipment and know-how to anyone with a good idea of how to stop COVID-19. We dont want any scientists to have to wait. The pandemic has already arrived, so the time for rapid prototyping and scale-up is right now, said Jason Kelly, CEO of Ginkgo.

These effortsand the infographic aboveshould give you hope. Although we are all now living in uncertain times, we are also witnessing one of the greatest moments in the history of science.

It's a terrible time, and simultaneously a fantastic time to see the global science community working together to conquer this very hard and challenging disease, said Berkeley Lights CEO Eric Hobbs. We are also learning and developing the tools and technologies to ensure that we can react faster to the next threat, so that we don't get to this point again in the future.

Follow me on twitter at @johncumbers and @synbiobeta. Subscribe to my weekly newsletters in synthetic biology.

Thank you to Ian Haydon and Kevin Costa for additional research and reporting in this article. Im the founder of SynBioBeta, and some of the companies that I write aboutincluding Leaps by Bayer, Mammoth Biosciences, Distributed Bio, Twist Bioscience, SGI-DNA, Genscript, Berkeley Lights, and Ginkgo Bioworksare sponsors of the SynBioBeta conference and weekly digest heres the full list of SynBioBeta sponsors.

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Timeline Shows 3 Paths To COVID-19 Treatment And Prevention (INFOGRAPHIC) - Forbes

Studying a laminated poster of a human cell diagram on the wall of his fifth-grade classroom, with its kaleidoscope-colored blobs and globules the names and functions of which he barely understood, a young Jake Potts found his gaze wandering to the image of the endoplasmic reticulum.

He remembered observing from a birds-eye view the circular grooves of the membrane system bore a striking resemblance to an orchestra. Only later in life did Potts come to understand how pivotal the moment was, epiphanizing, A seed of synesthesia between biology and music took root in my soul.

That was nearly a decade ago. Today, Potts is a bioengineering student at Northeastern on the path to earning a doctoral degree in genetics. He plays solo and chamber violin in chamber ensembles at Northeastern, and teaches violin to the Roxbury Youth Orchestra.

In his third year of genetics research and eleventh playing violin, Potts continues to feel the harmony of these dual identities coalesce. In the lab, he is a composer, wielding his creativity to write new phrases in genetic code. And in a string ensemble, he recalls the memory of a cell diagram. The conductor becomes the nucleus who commands the musicians on the periphery to translate his gestures, similar to the function of ribosomes.

As a researcher at Northeastern, Potts has applied his analytical and engineering mindset to the study of genetics and disease in the classroom and in the lab, helping to develop better cancer detection methods from improved computational image processing. Along the way, he has cultivated strong chemistry and biology skills required to work in gene editing.

Potts participated in a Dialogue of Civilizations program in Chile, where he acquired and analyzed samples of microbes from the Atacama Desert to discover new mechanisms of antibiotics. He also completed a semester abroad at Sorbonne University in Paris, where he applied bioengineering concepts to optimize a protocol to study DNA repair in tardigrades.

Potts has been awarded a Fulbright scholarship, a prestigious award that provides grants for research projects or English teaching assistant programs. He says he will use the scholarship to return to the Sorbonne to try to determine how certain cancerous mutations happen as DNA is misrepaired, a process that occurs when, say, radiation or harsh chemicals break the two strands of our DNA, and our cells respond by trying to repair this damage. His research could result in therapeutic strategies to prevent or slow the progression of cancer.

I really took to not only all the fascinating gene-editing work they were doing there [at the Sorbonne], but the sense of camaraderie and candor I felt with them, and thats what I have to look forward to, Potts says.

Timothy Lannin, an assistant teaching professor of bioengineering at Northeastern who has taught three of Pottss courses, including his capstone, where Potts is helping to develop a tool to investigate the mechanical properties of lung tissue, lauded Potts as a superlative student and researcher.

I must admit that conversations with Jacob have been so stimulating that Ive missed my train to continue talking, Lannin says. He has synthesized knowledge from his other courses to teach me things I didnt know about cellular engineering.

Potts says he was proud and elated to have been chosen for the Fulbright. Past winners have included former United States Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, author Jonathan Franzen, and soprano Renee Fleming.

It felt like validation of how I chose to approach genetics research, he says. I decided early on here at Northeastern that by working in various labs and thus putting myself into more environments where I have to learn, Id gain a broader exposure to techniques and ideas, and challenge myself to be more creative. The result of that is the project proposal, which I used concepts from different lab experiences to come up with. Now that the idea is there, I get to see if it works.

For media inquiries, please contact media@northeastern.edu.

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This Fulbright scholar wants to find ways to prevent or slow the spread of cancer - News@Northeastern

The Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation, Dr Nnimo Bassey has called for sober consideration on the development and use of Biodiversity following the virtual shut down of global economy.

Dr Bassey gave the charge in his welcome remarks at a stakeholders conference which held in Abuja on Monday, March 23, 2020 with the theme Agricultural Technofixes and the state of Biosafety in Nigeria.

In his words The world is virtually shut down due to the ravages of a virus. This is no time for grandstanding or for anyone to claim that they have got anything under control.

He said addressing the issues of agricultural technofixes and the state of our Biosafety gives us the template to consider the current situation in our world and the unpredictability of what could happen next. Noting that while scenario planners may have foreseen a pandemic of the scale that Corona virus has provoked, it comes as a total surprise to the average person.

The Activist emphasised that they had had on several occasions warned that things could go deeply wrong and out of hands if humans persist in toying with the genetic make up of living organisms for the consideration of power in a few moguls and for profit, adding that when humans engineer crops to make them act as pesticides, nature offers super pest or super bugs.

In any case humans get trapped in needless and unwinnable battles against nature he said

Recently, mainstream genetic engineering has progressed to the level of editing genetic makeup of organisms and not necessarily having to engage in trans-species transfer of genetic materials.This has focussed on becoming extinction technologies

He maintained that while modern biotechnology promoters like the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA) and the regulatory National Biosafety Management Agency(NBMA) feel confident that they can handle any sort of technicalities in both the mainstream and newfields of extreme technofixes We are deeply concerned that their grandstanding would not stop the purveyors of these technologies from weaponising them.

Giving the opening remarks, Minister of state for Environment, Barrister Sharon Ikeazor, stated that, With Nigerias population projected to exceed 400 million by 2050, an immediate priority for agricultural is to maximize crop productivity in a manner that is environmentally friendly, sustainable and cost effective.

The Minister who was represented by the Director General/CEO, National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA), Dr. Rufus Ebegba said Government efforts to ensure food security have been challenged by climate change effects such as droughts and floods, erratic weather conditions and declining soil fertility among others.

The Minister said to address these challenges, Nigeria has adopted several technologies including modern agricultural biotechnology to ensure food security in the country.

She maintained that to protect biological diversity from the potential risks posed by products arising from modern biotechnology such as Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and ensure international best practices in the application of modern biotechnology, Nigeria has put in place the necessary legal and policy instruments to guide its development and safe use.

The Minister however noted that Biodiversity in Nigeria is under enormous pressure and highly threatened due to land use changes from agriculture and over grazing,over exploitation of natural resources, environmental pollution and climate change.

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Covid 19: HOMEF Cautions On Use of Biodiversity - Leadership Newspaper

From genetics to material to behavior

Introducing new genes into an organism can endow new biochemical functions or change the patterns of existing functions, but extending these manipulations to structure at the tissue level is challenging. Combining genetic engineering and polymer chemistry, Liu et al. directly leveraged complex cellular architectures of living organisms to synthesize, fabricate, and assemble bioelectronic materials (see the Perspective by Otto and Schmidt). An engineered enzyme expressed in genetically targeted neurons synthesized conductive polymers in tissues of freely moving animals. These polymers enabled modulation of membrane properties in specific neuron populations and manipulation of behavior in living animals.

Science, this issue p. 1372; see also p. 1303

The structural and functional complexity of multicellular biological systems, such as the brain, are beyond the reach of human design or assembly capabilities. Cells in living organisms may be recruited to construct synthetic materials or structures if treated as anatomically defined compartments for specific chemistry, harnessing biology for the assembly of complex functional structures. By integrating engineered-enzyme targeting and polymer chemistry, we genetically instructed specific living neurons to guide chemical synthesis of electrically functional (conductive or insulating) polymers at the plasma membrane. Electrophysiological and behavioral analyses confirmed that rationally designed, genetically targeted assembly of functional polymers not only preserved neuronal viability but also achieved remodeling of membrane properties and modulated cell typespecific behaviors in freely moving animals. This approach may enable the creation of diverse, complex, and functional structures and materials within living systems.

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Genetically targeted chemical assembly of functional materials in living cells, tissues, and animals - Science Magazine