Category Archives: Transhuman News

Scientists have successfully wiped out a population of malaria-transmitting mosquitoes by using a radical form of genetic engineering to render the females infertile in the most advanced and largest ever test of use of the technology to fight the disease.

As well as bringing fresh hope in the fight against one of the worlds biggest killers, the study lays the foundations for further trials of gene-drive technology, which could mean self-destroying mosquitoes being released into the wild within 10 years.

This is a very exciting development, said Dr Thomas Price, a senior lecturer in evolution, ecology and behaviour at the University of Liverpool, who was not involved in the research. There are still lots of ethical and regulatory questions that need answering. But none of those really matter if it is impossible to build gene drives that are effective in the field. This is a major step towards achieving that.

Despite the reduction in malaria over recent decades there were still 229m cases of the disease in 2019, and 409,000 deaths.

Dr Drew Hammond, at Imperial College London, who led the new research, said: Gene drive is a self sustaining and fast acting technology that can work alongside existing tools such as bed nets, insecticides and vaccines, and could be a game changer in bringing about malaria elimination.

The development aims to bypass natural selection by plugging in a set of genetic instructions that will rapidly spread through a population and pass on a particular trait in this case infertility far faster than could be achieved through conventional selective breeding.

The idea was first mooted in 2003 but hit a roadblock when scientists discovered that their gene drives disappeared after several generations because they introduced mutations that prevented them from spreading further. Rather than giving up, Hammond and his colleagues began searching for a better target to insert their gene drive into.

Some areas of DNA are highly conserved, meaning that any mutation is likely to seriously damage their owner. Picking one of these areas could enable gene drives to survive longer.

The scientists identified a crucial sex determination gene called doublesex, which is identical across individual Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes, a species responsible for most of the malaria transmission in sub-Saharan Africa. Females mosquitoes carrying the gene drive in this gene are unable to produce offspring.

In 2018 Hammonds team used the doublesex gene drive to crash a population of about 600 A gambiae mosquitoes housed in a small cage. Within seven to 11 generations no more offspring were produced.

The same year field trials were launched in Burkina Faso by the Target Malaria research consortium, which includes the Imperial team. This involved releasing genetically modified, sterile, male mosquitoes into the wild, to test whether they could survive, and continue to be tracked an essential step towards eventual field trials of gene-drive organisms, which have not yet taken place.

The new research, published in Nature Communications, is another stepping stone towards that goal. Hammond and his colleagues tested whether the same gene drive they trialled in 2018 would spread and cause the same population collapse in closer to real-world conditions. Such testing has been flagged by the World Health Organization as a critical step before gene drive technologies can be tested in the wild.

The scientists released relatively small numbers of modified mosquitoes into much larger indoor cages housing hundreds of wild-type mosquitoes of different ages, at a research facility near Siena, central Italy. The cages were designed to entice the mosquitoes into complex mating, resting, foraging and egg-laying behaviours that would be impossible in small cages.

The researchers tracked how quickly the gene drive spread, and looked at its impact on female fertility and population decline.

This is something that has never been achieved before a single release of gene drive into a simulated field population, which brought about a crash of that entire population within a year, with no further human input. It is entirely self sustaining, said Hammond, who is also employed by the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute, in Baltimore.

However, Hammond stressed that more comprehensive gene drive testing and environmental risk assessments were needed before larger field trials could take place. These could involve the release of non-sterile genetically modified mosquitoes to investigate whether they would mate with wild mosquitoes, and to what extent.

Such field trials could start within the next few years. Assuming they were successful, Hammond said he could imagine that within 10 years we would have a limited release of gene-drive mosquitoes at our field testing site, probably in Burkina Faso.

More:
Genetic engineering test with mosquitoes may be game changer in eliminating malaria - The Guardian

Cassava is a staple for one in ten people on earth, grown mostly by small farmers tending a few acres. One of the challenges is insect-vectored virus Cassava Brown-Streak Virus that destroys the root.

Scientists from Africa and the Danforth Center in St. Louis MO, USA have collaborated to create a cassava line that is genetically engineered to suppress the virus.

Follow the latest news and policy debates on agricultural biotech and biomedicine? Subscribe to our newsletter.

The approach is similar to what was done to save the papaya in Hawaii, essentially using a portion of the virus sequence to shut down viral infection.

In this weeks podcast Dr. Douglas Miano, Professor at the University of Nairobi, describes the problem and the solution. as well as how the technology may serve farmers in Kenya and the entire African continent.

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Podcast: Deploying genetic engineering to save the staple cassava vegetable in Kenya - Genetic Literacy Project

By inserting a gene found in humans and animals into potato and rice plants, an international team of scientists increased the amount of food they grew by 50% in real world tests and it also boosted photosynthesis and made them more resistant to drought.

The change really is dramatic, study co-leader Chuan He said in a press release. Whats more, it worked with almost every type of plant we tried it with so far, and its a very simple modification to make.

The challenge: About 9% of the world already doesnt have access to enough food, and climate change threatens to make the problem of food insecurity worse, causing droughts and higher temperatures that affect crop yields.

[R]eductions to agricultural productivity or sudden losses of crops or livestock will likely have ripple effects, including increased food prices and greater food insecurity, the Union of Concerned Scientists wrote in 2019.

Genetic engineering can help plants grow under hotter, drier conditions.

If we dont find ways to grow more food on less land, well have to clear more forests and plough under more and more land to feed the world.

Engineering crops: Researchers are already demonstrating ways that genetic engineering can be used to give plants characteristics that help them grow under hotter, drier conditions.

However, those approaches are often complicated, limited to one type of plant, or result in only small increases in crop yields. This new breakthrough appears to overcome all of those limitations.

Designing better rice plants: DNA contains an organisms genetic code, which is essentially an instruction manual determining what it looks like and how it functions. RNA reads those instructions and makes the proteins needed to carry them out.

But cells also place chemical tags on RNA, which affect how much protein gets made. This helps them regulate how fast they grow.

Hes team knew from previous research that a protein called FTO could erase the chemical markers on RNA potentially affecting their growth.

The study: When the scientists inserted a version of the FTO gene from animals into rice plants, the plants grew 300% more rice in the lab and 50% more under field conditions. The modified rice plants were also more resistant to drought stress, more efficient at photosynthesis, and had deeper roots.

The results were the same for potato plants.

As for how the FTO gene was able to do this, the researchers believe it affects a process called m6A, which tells plants to grow slower and stop growing sooner.

Looking ahead: The researchers are now exploring ways to trigger these same qualities in potato and rice plants without inserting another organisms gene.

It seems that plants already have this layer of regulation, and all we did is tap into it, He said. So the next step would be to discover how to do it using the plants existing genetics.

If the researchers are successful, their technique could impact more than just food insecurity.

We rely on plants for many, many things everything from wood, food, and medicine, to flowers and oil, He said, and this potentially offers a way to increase the stock material we can get from most plants.

Wed love to hear from you! If you have a comment about this article or if you have a tip for a future Freethink story, please email us at tips@freethink.com.

Continued here:
Adding one gene to rice and potatoes increased yields by 50% - Freethink

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Gene therapies were once touted as a lifetime cure for crippling, costly inherited disorders. But clinical trials of the treatments are showing signs that some may lose effectiveness after five or six years. If that happens, patients could find themselves unable to receive the treatment again because they have developed antibodies to the engineered viruses that deliver most gene therapies.

Ring Therapeutics hopes it can provide gene therapies with a second act.

The privately held start-up in Cambridge, Mass., published a study Tuesday in the science journal Cell Host & Microbe about a family of viruses that Ring has engineered to deliver genetic medical treatments repeatedly because they dont provoke immune defenses. Called anelloviruses, this diverse family of viruses appears to have lived inside us, without causing disease, for as long as humans have existedsimilar to the many innocuous bacteria in our guts microbiome. Rings customized versions of these viruses could safely solve gene therapys inability to repeat dosing.

This could be a completely transformative approach to gene therapy, Ring chief executive Tuyen Ong told Barrons. Ring has protected its anellovirus technology with a moat of patent applications.

With just one peer-reviewed publication on Rings work, its still early days. The start-up has tested what it calls its Anellogy engineered-virus technology in test tubes and lab animals. It has yet to plan clinical trials in humans. If other gene therapy trials are any guides, those trials will last several years.

To bring its anellovirus technology into clinical trials, Ring said Wednesday that it has raised $117 million in a second round of funding led by its founding venture backers at Flagship Pioneering. More than an investment firm, Flagship has created and incubated dozens of biotech firms, including Covid-19 vaccine innovator Moderna (ticker: MRNA).

Ring chairman and Flagship partner Avak Kahvejian said that the growing scientific interest in the health implications of our bacterial microbiome inspired Flagship in 2017 to start searching for viruses that might also lurk harmlessly in our cells. A few anelloviruses has been discovered in the 1990s. The Flagship researchers found an unexpected variety of these viruses in different tissues of our bodies. No ones shown that these viruses cause disease. Because anelloviruses have a circle of DNA, the new venture was called Ring Therapeutics.

Most gene therapies on the marketor in clinical trialsget their therapeutic genes into a patients cells by packing a DNA cargo into hollowed-out versions of another kind of virus known as adeno-associated viruses, or AAV. Companies likeRegenxbio(RGNX) have specialized in engineering AAVs as vectors for carrying gene therapies.

But AAV vectors trigger an immune response, so they can be administered just once in a patients lifetime. If AAV gene therapy results change with time, as some clinical trials hint, they couldnt be re-administered. Because they have thrived in humans for millennia, anellovirus vectors dont seem to have that problemand Ring says that immune responses havent been seen in lab animals.

Ring CEO Ong said the company has been able to engineer anelloviruses that can carry gene therapy cargoes of similar size to the carrying capacities of AAV vectors. Ring can make vectors that target different parts of the body. And most important, its anellovirus vectors can be potentially dosed repeatedly.

Mother Nature handed us this amazing set of aces, said Ong, which have a natural advantage over other forms of viral delivery.

Corrections & amplifications: Ring Therapeutics raised $117 million in its recent private funding round. An earlier version of this article incorrectly reported the amount as $112 million.

Write to Bill Alpert at william.alpert@barrons.com

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Biotech Start-Up Ring Therapeutics Hopes to Fix a Key Shortcoming of Gene Therapies - Barron's

[Baric is referring to a 2015 collaboration with Zhengli Shi of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, or WIV, in China, which created a so-called chimera by combining the spike gene from a new bat virus with the backbone of a second virus. The spike gene determines how well a virus attaches to human cells. A detailed discussion of the research to test novel spike genes appears here.]

However, the sequence was repeatedly requested after the covid-19 pandemic emerged, and so after discussion with the NIH and the journal, it was provided to the community. Those who analyzed these sequences stated that it was very different from SARS-CoV-2.

Around 2012 or 2013, I heard Dr. Shi present at a meeting. [Shis team had recently discovered two new coronaviruses in a bat cave, which they named SHC014 and WIV1.] We talked after the meeting. I asked her whether shed be willing to make the sequences to either the SHC014 or the WIV1 spike available after she published.

And she was gracious enough to send us those sequences almost immediatelyin fact, before shed published. That was her major contribution to the paper. And when a colleague gives you sequences beforehand, coauthorship on the paper is appropriate.

That was the basis of that collaboration. We never provided the chimeric virus sequence, clones, or viruses to researchers at the WIV; and Dr. Shi, or members of her research team, never worked in our laboratory at UNC. No one from my group has worked in WIV laboratories.

Yes, but at the time, DNA synthesis costs were expensivearound a dollar per base [one letter of DNA]. So synthesizing a coronavirus genome could cost $30,000. And we only had the spike sequence. Synthesizing just the 4,000-nucleotide spike gene cost $4,000. So we introduced the authentic SHC014 spike into a replication-competent backbone: a mouse-adapted strain of SARS. The virus was viable, and we discovered that it could replicate in human cells.

So is that gain-of-function research? Well, the SARS coronavirus parental strain could replicate quite efficiently in primary human cells. The chimera could also program infection of human cells, but not better than the parental virus. So we didnt gain any functionrather, we retained function. Moreover, the chimera was attenuated in mice as compared to the parental mouse-adapted virus, so this would be considered a loss of function.

Well, by 2016, using chimeras and reverse genetics, we had identified enough high-risk SARS-like coronaviruses to be able to test and identify drugs that have broad-based activity against coronaviruses. We identified remdesivir as the first broad-based antiviral drug that worked against all known coronaviruses, and published on it in 2017. It immediately was entered into human trials and became the first FDA-approved drug for treating covid-19 infections globally. A second drug, called EIDD-2801, or molnupiravir, was also shown to be effective against all known coronaviruses prior to the 2020 pandemic, and then shown to work against SARS-CoV-2 by March 2020.

Consequently, I disagree. I would ask critics if they had identified any broad-spectrum coronavirus drugs prior to the pandemic. Can they point to papers from their laboratories documenting a strategic approach to develop effective pan-coronavirus drugs that turned out to be effective against an unknown emerging pandemic virus?

Unfortunately, remdesivir could only be delivered by intravenous injection. We were moving toward an oral-based delivery formulation, but the covid-19 pandemic emerged. I really wish wed had an oral-based drug early on. Thats the game-changer that would help people infected in the developing world, as well as citizens in the US.

Molnupiravir is an oral medication, and phase 3 trials demonstrate rapid control of viral infection. Its been considered for emergency-use authorization in India.

Finally, the work also supported federal policy decisions that prioritized basic and applied research on coronaviruses.

Around 2018 to 2019, the Vaccine Research Center at NIH contacted us to begin testing a messenger-RNA-based vaccine against MERS-CoV [a coronavirus that sometimes spreads from camels to humans]. MERS-CoV has been an ongoing problem since 2012, with a 35% mortality rate, so it has real global-health-threat potential.

By early 2020, we had a tremendous amount of data showing that in the mouse model that we had developed, these mRNA spike vaccines were really efficacious in protecting against lethal MERS-CoV infection. If designed against the original 2003 SARS strain, it was also very effective. So I think it was a no-brainer for NIH to consider mRNA-based vaccines as a safe and robust platform against SARS-CoV-2 and to give them a high priority moving forward.

Most recently, we published a paper showing that multiplexed, chimeric spike mRNA vaccines protect against all known SARS-like virus infections in mice. Global efforts to develop pan-sarbecoronavirus vaccines [sarbecoronavirus is the subgenus to which SARS and SARS-CoV-2 belong] will require us to make viruses like those described in the 2015 paper.

So I would argue that anyone saying there was no justification to do the work in 2015 is simply not acknowledging the infrastructure that contributed to therapeutics and vaccines for covid-19 and future coronaviruses.

Certainly. We do everything at BSL-3 plus. The minimum requirements at BSL-3 would be an N95 mask, eye protection, gloves, and a lab coat, but we actually wear impervious Tyvek suits, aprons, and booties and are double-gloved. Our personnel wear hoods with PAPRs [powered air-purifying respirators] that supply HEPA-filtered air to the worker. So not only are we doing all research in a biological safety cabinet, but we also perform the research in a negative-pressure containment facility, which has lots of redundant features and backups, and each worker is encased in their own private personal containment suit.

Another thing we do is to run emergency drills with local first responders. We also work with the local hospital. With many laboratory infections, theres actually no known event that caused that infection to occur. And people get sick, right? You have to have medical surveillance plans in place to rapidly quarantine people at home, to make sure they have masks and communicate regularly with a doctor on campus.

No, I dont think so. Different places have different levels of BSL-3 containment operations, standard operating procedures, and protective gear. Some of it is dependent on how deep your pockets are and the pathogens studied in the facility. An N95 is a lot cheaper than a PAPR.

Internationally, the US has no say over what biological safety conditions are used in China or any other sovereign nation to conduct research on viruses, be they coronaviruses or Nipah, Hendra, or Ebola.

Let me make it clear that we never sent any of our molecular clones or any chimeric viruses to China. They developed their own molecular clone, based on WIV1, which is a bat coronavirus. And into that backbone they shuffled in the spike genes of other bat coronaviruses, to learn how well the spike genes of these strains can promote infection in human cells.

A committee at NIH makes determinations of gain-of-function research. The gain-of-function rules are focused on viruses of pandemic potential and experiments that intend to enhance the transmissibility or pathogenesis of SARS, MERS, and avian flu strains in humans. WIV1 is approximately 10% different from SARS. Some argue that SARS coronavirus by definition covers anything in the sarbecoronavirus genus. By this definition, the Chinese might be doing gain-of-function experiments, depending on how the chimera behaves. Others argue that SARS and WIV1 are different, and as such the experiments would be exempt. Certainly, the CDC considers SARS and WIV1 to be different viruses. Only the SARS coronavirus from 2003 is a select agent. Ultimately, a committee at the NIH is the final arbiter and makes the decision about what is or is not a gain-of-function experiment.

Historically, the Chinese have done a lot of their bat coronavirus research under BSL-2 conditions. Obviously, the safety standards of BSL-2 are different than BSL-3, and lab-acquired infections occur much more frequently at BSL-2. There is also much less oversight at BSL-2.

One of the reasons I signed the letter in Science was that the WHO report didnt really discuss how work was done in the WIV laboratory, or what data the expert panel reviewed to come to the conclusion that it was very unlikely that a laboratory escape or infection was the cause of the pandemic.

There must be some recognition that a laboratory infection could have occurred under BSL-2 operating conditions. Some unknown viruses pooled from guano or oral swabs might replicate or recombine with others, so you could get new strains with unique and unpredictable biological features.

And if all this research is being performed at BSL-2, then there are questions that need to be addressed. What are the standard operating procedures in the BSL-2? What are the training records of the staff? What is the history of potential exposure events in the lab, and how were they reviewed and resolved? What are the biosafety procedures designed to prevent potential exposure events?

More:
We never created a supervirus. Ralph Baric explains gain-of-function research. - MIT Technology Review

Advances in technology, robotics, genetic engineering, quantum computing will blur the boundaries ... [+] between the digital, physical, and biological worlds, and usher in a whole new set of complex challenges for business leaders.

by Lisa Chau

Current smart technology has ushered in theFourth Industrial Revolution, a new era integrating communications with automating industrial practices and traditional manufacturing.

Through this improved communication, smart devices make human intervention unnecessary as machines communicate, self-diagnose and solve problems. While these new products and services may increase efficiency, analysts say they should be as ethical as possible, given their impact on our lives.

Advances in AI, theinternet of things(IoT), 3-D printing, robotics, genetic engineering, quantum computing will blur the boundaries between the digital, physical, and biological worlds, and with them usher in a whole new set of complex challenges for business leaders to negotiate.

For more than 20 years, technology has become ingrained in our lives. Email is mobile. Slack, Discord, Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex are commonplace.

Consumers love technology because it makes their lives easier.Companies love technology because it makes money.However, consumers are weary of intrusive technology that oversteps its role, and companies falter if ethics and inclusivity are disregarded.

Modern tech users are more aware of the misuse of personal data, the spread of false information and manipulation.They don't want retailers selling personal details without their consent; social media influencing the news they read; or corporate algorithms favoring some groups other others.

Industry observers argue Fourth Industrial Technology Revolution must use ethics and inclusiveness ... [+] as guiding principles.

According to Harvard's Christina Pazzanese, Big Tech firms and other large organizations have exposed themselves as data is collected, social media is manipulated and algorithms favor some over others. She believes future technology must be married with ethics.

Ultimately, whether stocking the field with designers, technicians, executives, investors, and policymakers will bring about a more responsible and ethical era of technology remains to be seen. But leaving the industry to self-police or wait for market forces to guide reforms clearly hasnt worked so far,Pazzanese writes.

Her Harvard colleague, research professor Barbara Grosz, said, You need to think about what information youre collecting when youre designing what youre going to collect, not collect everything and then say I shouldnt have this information.

The question is not whether technology is good nor bad, but how it's designed and used.

To navigate the Fourth Industrial Revolution, companies should apply the following four strategies:

1. Design with frameworks that implement product, policy, law and ethics to ensure basic human rights are protected for every user.

2. Maintain diverse teams within the organization to generate insights, provide feedback, and oversee products and services before they go to market.

3. Engage stakeholders and established leaders quarterly to guide company core principles and values.

4. Leverage data-driven research on emerging trends to assess risk and support a movement towards industry-wide applications of ethics while including all segments of society.

Two computer programmers write code.

Penn State University doctoral student Christen Buckley argues data collection and its use must be done carefully sophisticated data analysis can identify discrimination in voting, housing, education and other necessary areas of society, but it can also have negative consequences.

More often the way data is collected and used reinforces socioeconomic divisions and power hierarchies. Generally, governments and corporate entities alike are startlingly bad at protecting vulnerable communities and their data.Problematic collection and use of such data is only made worse by a collect first, consider ethics later mentality, Buckley wrote. The possibility of profiling or inadvertently revealing individuals membership to certain groups may be acknowledged, but addressing them is not prioritized.

Grace Barkhuff, a former product manager, is trying to understand as a Georgia Tech graduate student the rights a person has online. These include: the right to access the internet, the digital divide, the right against harassment online and cyberattacks, the right to free speech, equality in access and treatment online, the right to data ownership, the right to personal IP, and the requirement to consider environmental impacts of digital use.

Analysts say future technology will be stronger and better by including diverse viewpoints.

She wants to see General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, adopted in the United States across industries.

Did you know that if you've ever used [dating app]Tinder, the company has what would be a binder-full of data on you? Your preferences, times you logged in, every conversation you've ever had, said Barkhuff.They know when you're lonely. They know when you're dating or not dating. Tinder has no interest in deleting this information, that is, until GDPR came around and forced them to at least allow European users to request their information be deleted.

An executive with cognitive AI technology company Supercharge Lab said businesses are currently in a transitional phase, and companies are being forced to re-evaluate their past practices.

For organizations to compete in an evolving landscape of 'rage against the corporate machine', building ethical applications of their solutions is critical and this can be accomplished by first ensuring we build technology that does no harm, then by continuously auditing outcomes against a strong moral compass., company founder Anne Cheng said.Generation Z and the generations that come after will lead the change to ensure that only the good will survive.

Excerpt from:
Forward Motion: The Fourth Industrial Revolution Is Happening Now - Forbes

Nasal vaccines, which are under trial across the world, are believed to be more effective than intramuscular vaccines as nasal vaccines are supposed to provide mucosal immunity in the nose -- one of the entry points of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The current vaccines are intramuscular vaccines and that is why they do not guarantee that the virus will not enter the body. What they assure is that the disease will not become severe after vaccination. While the arrival of nasal vaccines is being seen as a landmark, a combination of an intramuscular vaccine and a nasal vaccine can be a gamechanger, experts believe.

The subject expert committee of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation has recommended a trial of combining Bharat Biotech's Covaxin and an intranasal vaccine where the subjects will be provided with the first shot of Covaxin and the second shot of a nasal vaccine.

There are seven intranasal Covid-19 vaccines under clinical trial across the world. Bharat Biotech is one of them. The other nasal vaccines under trial are by Oxford University, Altimmune, University of Hong Kong, Meissa Vaccines, Codagenix and Cuba's Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology.

Sharing a study of the intranasal vaccines under clinical trials, Bharat Biotech's Dr Raches Ella recently said that nasal vaccines may overcome the shortfalls in intramuscular vaccines. "Perhaps the ideal mode of protection (against disease and infection) might require IgA (mucosal) + IgG (systemic) + Memory B/T cells. If achieved, we may limit transmission," Dr Ella tweeted.

A nasal vaccine evokes all these three kinds of responses in the human body, while intramuscular vaccines can't stop the infection from entering the body.

Bharat Biotech founder Krishna Ella has said the company is expecting significant data about nasal vaccines in the next two and half months.

Why nasal vaccines can be the gamechanger

As vaccination is going on and cases of breakthrough infections are also being reported, it is now clear that intramuscular vaccines (all present vaccines in the world) prevent the severity of Covid-19. These vaccines do not guarantee future protection from infection and that's why vaccinated people are also supposed to adhere to Covid-appropriate behaviour. The nasal vaccine, as experts said, can actually block the infection from entering.

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Will nasal vaccines offer maximum protection against Covid-19? What we know - Hindustan Times

Biopharma and life science companies strengthen their leadership teams and boards with these Movers & Shakers. Here's a look!

GSK Brian McNamara has been named the chief executive officer of GSK Consumer Healthcare, a joint venture between GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer. The consumer division will spin off from GSKs pharma division when the company undergoes a demerger in 2022. McNamara joined GSK in 2015 after serving as head of the Over the Counter division at Novartis. Since he joined GSK, he has helped guide the company through two joint ventures, one with Novartis and the recent one with Pfizer. McNamara began his career at Proctor & Gamble.

Metrion Biosciences Nick Foster was named Chief Commercial Officer and Head of Global Business Development. Following his early career as a laboratory scientist, Foster transitioned into business development, holding positions as Associate Director, Business Development Europe for BioFocus Limited, now Charles River Laboratories. He also served as Head of Commercial Operations at Optibrium Limited, and Director, Business Development for WuXi AppTec.

Viridian Therapeutics Kristian Humer was named Chief Financial Officer and Chief Business Officer of Colorado-based Viridian. Humer spent 20 years on Wall Street, where he most recently served as Managing Director of Banking, Capital Markets & Advisory for the Global Healthcare team at Citigroup, Inc. Prior to Citigroup, Humer served as Vice President of the Investment Banking Division for the Global Healthcare team at Lehman Brothers, Inc.

eTheRNA Immunotherapies Belgium-based eTheRNA immunotherapies NV tapped Mathieu Lane as president and CFO of eTheRNA Inc., its newly established U.S. subsidiary company. He was most recently at Guggenheim Securities and, prior to this, at Bear Stearns. An organic chemist by training, Mathieu has also worked in lipid-based gene therapy research at Genzyme and in venture capital at SR One.

Umoja Biopharma Seattles Umoja expanded its leadership team with three new hires. Bruce Kerwin was named Senior Vice President of Process and Product Development; Ryan Larson was named Vice President and Head of Translational Science; and Mike Fitzpatrick was named as Vice President of Business Development and Operations.Kerwin joins Umoja from Just Biotherapeutics where he founded the biophysics and drug product design department. Larson joins Umoja after leading the Cell Therapy Product and Analytical team at Bristol-Myers Squibb. He also served as an early member of the Translational Research team at Juno Therapeutics and before that, Thermo Fisher Scientific.Prior to Umoja, Fitzpatrick was managing partner at NINE75. Before that, he was at Bristol-Myers Squibb and ZymoGenetics.

Prokarium Londons Prokarium named Kristin Albright as its new CEO. She replaces Ted Fjllman, who will continue to support the company as a member of the Board of Directors. Albright joined Prokarium in 2018, most recently serving as Chief Operating Officer. Prior to Prokarium, Albright was an investor at Osage University Partners, where she led several investments into life sciences companies. Earlier in her career, she worked within business development at Emergent BioSolutions and Cangene Corporation. Additionally, Uz Stammberger was named Chief Medical Officer. Stammberger will lead the advancement of Prokariums oncology pipeline into the clinic. He joins Prokariumfrom the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research. Prior to his role at Novartis, Dr. Stammberger was a Clinical Lead at Merck KGaA. Earlier in his career, he held various positions at Roche and Boehringer Ingelheim.

SpringWorks Therapeutics-- James Cassidy has been appointed CMO of SpringWorks. Cassidy succeeds Jens Renstrup who is leaving the company. Cassidy joins SpringWorks from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, where he was Vice President of Oncology Strategic Program Direction. Prior to Regeneron, Cassidy was Corporate Vice President of Translational Development at Celgene. Before that, he was Vice President of Oncology at Bristol-Myers Squibb. Prior to BMS Cassidy held several roles of increasing responsibility at Hoffmann La-Roche, including Global Head of Translational Research for Oncology and Acting Head of the Oncology Therapy Area.

Attralus, Inc. Jake Bauer was appointed to the board of directors of Attralus as an independent director. Bauer most recently served as Chief Business Officer of MyoKardia, Inc., prior to MyoKardia, Inc.s acquisition by Bristol Meyers Squibb in November 2020. He also served as Senior Vice President, Finance and Corporate Development and Principal Financial Officer of MyoKardia, Inc. Prior to joining MyoKardia, Inc., Bauer served as Vice President, Business Operations and Head of Corporate Development at Ablexis, LLC. Earlier in his career, Bauer served as a principal at Third Rock Ventures. Bauer currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors for Enliven Therapeutics, Phoenix Tissue Repair, Inc. and Arya Sciences Acquisition Corp V.

Alkahest, Inc. Csar Cerezo was named CMO of Alkahest. He will be responsible for leading and providing strategic direction to the clinical development and medical teams. Prior to joining Alkahest, Cerezo served as Vice President and Therapeutic Area Head of Global Medical Affairs General Medicine at Amgen. Before his time at Amgen, Cerezo held numerous roles of increasing responsibility at Pfizer, where he was the Senior Director of Global Medical Affairs for the Bococizumab program before becoming Global Medical Team Leader for Eliquis.

SalioGen Therapeutics Cambridge, Mass.-based SalioGen bolstered its management team with multiple employments. Sung You will join as Chief Business and Strategy Officer; Nancy L. Craig, will join as Senior Vice President of Genetic Engineering; and Sandeep Nema will join as Senior Vice President of Technical Operations. You currently serves as Managing Partner at PBM Capital. Prior to joining PBM, she served as Vice President in the Healthcare Investment Banking group at Morgan Stanley. In her position at SalioGen, You will guide corporate and clinical strategy, focusing the companys broadly applicable technology platform toward opportunities where it can offer significant impact as a new tool in the field of genetic medicine. Craig currently serves as Professor Emerita in the Department of Molecular Biology & Genetics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where she has directed a research group focused on identifying mobile elements and studied their molecular mechanisms since 1992. She was also an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute from 1992-2015.In addition to her role as Senior Vice President of Genetic Engineering and Mobile Elements, Craig will continue to serve as the Chairman of SalioGens scientific advisory board. Nema joins SalioGen after a tenure of more than 20 years at Pfizer, where he most recently served as Executive Director of Biotherapeutics Pharmaceutical Science.

Abata Therapeutics Nagesh Mahanthappa and Valerie Odegard were appointed to the board of directors at Abata Therapeutics. Mahanthappa was most recently the founding employee, president, and CEO of Scholar Rock, Inc., a Cambridge biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of a novel class of medicines that modulate signaling by protein growth factors to treat musculoskeletal, fibrotic diseases, and cancer. Prior to Scholar Rock, he was the founding employee and VP of Corporate Development at Avila Therapeutics, Inc. and was previously a founding employee of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals where he rose to the position of VP, Scientific & Strategic Development. He also served as Manager, Business Development at Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Odegard is the president and chief scientific officer of Silverback Therapeutics. Prior to Silverback, Odegard served as vice president of research at Juno Therapeutics, where she was responsible for the development of novel cellular immunotherapies. Before her time at Juno, she held research leadership positions at Novo Nordisk and Trubion.

Phase 4 Services Jonathan Wani of MCR Labs has been tapped as the Vice President of Business Development at Phase 4. He will assist Phase 4 clients with establishing footholds in new and expanding markets.

Caravan Health Fred Wallisch was named Medical Director of ACO Programs at Caravan Health. Prior to joining Caravan, Wallisch served as a Medical Director at Evolent Health. Earlier in his career, Wallisch served as Executive Director of Population Health at Deaconess Medical Center.

Peptilogics Nikhil Bhide was named CBO, Marc Lesnick was named senior vice president of Regulatory and Quality, Jodie Gillon was named head of Corporate Affairs and Advocacy, Albert Fonticiella was named head of People and Steve Kulp was named head of Operations at Peptilogics. Most recently, Bhide was a member of the Business Development team at Merck Research Laboratories. Previously, he was at Allergan in a variety of business development positions of increasing responsibility. Earlier, Bhide worked at Novartis, Genzyme, and RBC Capital Markets in finance and corporate development roles. Lesnick co-founded and served as the Chief Development Officer of Park Therapeutics, where he guided development of their novel pain drug until its acquisition in 2021 by Tris Pharma. Prior to Tris, he served as SVP of Quality and Regulatory Affairs at Spruce Therapeutics, Cascadian Therapeutics, and at Shionogi, Inc. Gillon recently served as Chief Patient Officer and Head of Corporate and Medical Affairs at Abeona Therapeutics. She held similar roles at Novartis, Pfizer, and AstraZeneca, where she served as the head of the Chief Medical Office. Fonticiella was the Vice President of Corporate Services for specialty food company Edwards Marc Brands. Most recently Kulp was the head of corporate operations at Idera Pharmaceuticals. Prior to Idera, Kulp served as Head of Business Systems and Service Strategy at ViroPharma and led the information technology integration with Shire post acquisition.

Excision BioTherapeutics Lisa Danzig was appointed CMO of Excision. Most recently, she worked with Pandefense Advisory helping various institutions, non-profits, companies, and governments around the world on COVID-19 responses and protocols. In July 2021, Dr. Danzig was awarded Perus Order of Merit for Distinguished Services at the rank of Grand Official. Danzig previously served as EVP and CMO at infectious disease and travel vaccine developer, PaxVax. Prior to PaxVax, she held senior global roles at Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics, Inc. Danzig began her industry career at Chiron Corporation, leading the clinical meningococcal franchise team.

Vizgen Bob Kohsgarian was named vice president of Operations. Koshgarian will be developing and managing Vizgens Manufacturing and Supply Chain strategies as part of the market introduction of the companys highly anticipated MERSCOPE platform.

Valneva SE Peter Buhler was named CFO of Frances Valneva. He currently serves as CFO of Swiss diagnostics company Quotient. Prior to Quotient, Buhler served as Group CFO of Zaluvida AG and as Group CFO of Stallergenes Greer Plc. Prior to this, he held senior finance roles at Eli Lilly, Merck Serono and Logitech.

CTMA Arnaud Marcel has been appointed Chief Technology Officer of France-based CTMA. Prior to joining CTMA, Marcel spent a decade working at Capsule Technologies in positions of increasing responsibilities. Most recently, he served as Head of Software Engineering for Capsule, where he was responsible for the delivery and quality of all software developments.

MedianTechnologies Christophe Montigny was named CFO of Frances Median. Montigny succeeds Bernard Reymann, who is stepping down after more than eight years with the company. He previously served as financial director and deputy managing director of Biophytis SA.

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Movers & Shakers, July 30, 2021 | BioSpace - BioSpace

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Photo credit, Valeria Neccio

Franco Fubini, founder of fruit and vegetable supplier Natura

As Franco Fubini, founder of fruit and vegetable supplier Natura, notes, Taste is undoubtedly a recurring trend.

You may be surprised that the taste is not in fashion.

But it can be hard to find really tasty fruits and vegetables due to the demands of supermarkets, he explains.

They needed longer-lasting varieties. For example, for a tomato, it had to have a thicker skin so it would not split easily; ripening tomatoes could be faster, which is more absorbent to water.

Over time you choose your varieties for properties other than taste. The taste characteristic begins to lose its relevance, and if you select other properties as desired by nature, the taste will disappear.

Mr. Fubinis company specializes in seasonal products selected for their taste and sells its products to high quality restaurants and stores around the world.

Part of this renaissance comes from restaurants because chefs have great influence, he says. Both that and the trip sparked this renaissance of taste, the search for taste.

Growers and researchers are at the forefront of this research, using sophisticated techniques to produce fruits and vegetables with all the flavors of traditional varieties all of which delight supermarkets.

Photo credit, H. Glee

Harry Glee uses tomatoes to understand the chemical and genetic makeup of fruits and vegetables.

Harry Glee, a professor of horticultural science at the University of Florida, focuses on tomatoes and works to understand the chemical and genetic makeup of fruit and vegetable flavors.

Tomato is a long-term model system for fruit growth. It has a short generation time, large genetic resources and [est] The most important economic crop in the world.

Only the second plant species to receive a complete sequence of its genes a great aid to studying the genetics of an organism.

The taste of plants is a complex phenomenon. In the case of tomatoes, it is the result of interactions between a dozen volatile compounds derived from sugars, acids and amino acids, fatty acids and carotenoids.

Professor Glee wants to identify genes that control the synthesis of volatile compounds and use them to produce tasty tomatoes.

We are not yet in the final stages of combining advanced taste properties in a single line, but we hope to get there within a year, he says.

Genetic modification (GM) can be used to improve taste by importing genes from other species, but products made in this way are banned in most countries of the world.

Photo credit, Paired

Uses Pairwise gene-editing technology to create new crop varieties such as raspberries.

However, other genetic manipulations are more widely accepted. American company Pairwise works on new varieties of fruits and vegetables using CRISPR gene-editing technology licensed from Harvard, Brad and Massachusetts General Hospital.

Like GMOs, CRISPR involves the mutation of genes within a plant, rather than taking them from other organisms.

We make very small changes in one or two pieces of DNA, says Heaven Baker, co-founder of FireWire.

Such genetic modification is considered non-genetic in most countries in North America, South America and Japan. However, in Europe, where genetic modification is highly controversial, it is considered genetically modified and is subject to strict control.

After leaving the EU, the UK consulted on the use of genetic editing to change livestock and food crops in the UK.

Even in the United States, where feedback is low, some farmers are wary of genetic modification.

Were not fans of it. Although sometimes well conducted innovation can work, we believe in tradition, not necessarily touching things and returning to nature and nature. The way it works, says Fubini.

But some findings can be very difficult without intervention at the genetic level.

One of Pairwises first products, in a couple of years, will be seedless blackberry, which the company says will give it a more consistent taste than traditional varieties. The company works on cherry without a stone.

All of these can be achieved through traditional breeding techniques, but since fruit trees take many years to ripen, this can be a very long-term plan.

Some of the fruits we are interested in, cherry without cherry-like stone, can theoretically be obtained by choice, but it takes 100 to 150 years, says Baker.

The products we want to produce and the consumers want cannot reach the regular selection in our lifetime. It is very slow.

Photo credit, Row 7

Seed Supplier Series 7 has 150 cooks and chefs who advise on crops such as badger flame beet.

Some players in the field of agriculture combine old and new techniques. Row 7, an American company that specializes in organic seeds, carries out breeding projects to create new and tasty products.

Its seed suppliers use traditional cross-pollination techniques and genetic selection the ability to study molecular genetic markers in the entire plant genome to predict taste-like traits with reasonable accuracy.

In addition, she has a network of 150 chefs and farmers who evaluate her work.

This community evaluates the types that are still in development, giving their feedback about their capabilities in the fields and kitchens, explains Charlotte Douglas, COO.

One of its primary products is badger flame beet, which was chosen to be eaten raw and sweet without soil.

This category would have been lost if cooks and farmers had not stood by it. It expands our understanding of what a beat is and opens up new possibilities for research, Ms Douglas said.

Photo credit, Getty Images

The strong taste of kale is too strong for some: the cabbage may soon taste like lettuce.

Some plants may have an inappropriate taste. Take kale, for example, although this green leaf is nutritious, its strong flavor can be put off.

Mr. Baker and his team work at a sweet, pleasant factory in Pairwise.

Kale is very nutritious, but people dont like to eat it. So we used genetic engineering to produce more nutritious leafy green vegetables, but they taste just like the old spinach varieties we used to have, he explains.

For kale, strong taste is seen as a negative, but in general, the taste goes hand in hand with nutrition.

The choice of taste means the choice of pleasure; the choice of nutrition means, for the most part, when you choose a complex taste, you also choose the concentration of nutrients, says Ms Douglas.

This means choosing organic systems the type of agriculture that produces the most delicious plants; choosing for the most diversity. Nt.

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Nutrition: How farmers and scientists think about our food. - The Press Stories