StemCell Therapy

SALT LAKE CITY, June 04, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Myriad Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ: MYGN, Myriad or the Company), a global leader in molecular diagnostics and precision medicine, today announced the publication of a prospective study demonstrating that the EndoPredict test predicts which patients with ER+, HER2- early-stage breast cancer will benefit from neoadjuvant therapy. The article titled, The EndoPredict score predicts response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy and neoendocrine therapy in hormone receptor-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative breast cancer patients from the ABCSG-34 trial, appeared online in theEuropean Journal of Cancer.

This study demonstrated that the EndoPredict (EP) test predicted response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy or neoadjuvant endocrine therapy in women with ER+, HER2 negative early-stage breast cancer, said Peter Dubsky, M.D., lead author, speaking on behalf of the Austrian Breast and Colorectal Cancer Study Group (ABCSG). Based on these findings and prior studies, we are confident the EndoPredict test can add valuable information to aid in personalized treatment selection in neoadjuvant therapy and provides an important basis for future design of neoadjuvant clinical trials.

The primary objective of this prospective study was to test the predictive value of the EndoPredict test regarding tumor response after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NaCT) or neoadjuvant endocrine therapy (NET) within the ABCSG-34 trial. The analysis included data from 217 women with HR+ breast cancer. Of these, 134 patients were assigned to receive NaCT (eight cycles of anthracycline/taxane) according to aggressive clinico-pathologic tumor features. The remaining 83 patients were clinically identified as having luminal A-like types of breast cancer and were assigned to receive NET (six months of letrozole). The primary endpoint was residual cancer burden RCB0/I (i.e., good tumor response) vs. RCB II/III (i.e., poor tumor response) at time of surgery.

In the neoadjuvant chemotherapy group, 125 patients had high EP scores and nine had a low EP score. The results show that 26.4 percent of those with a high score showed a good tumor response (RCB0/I) to neoadjuvant chemotherapy, while all patients with a low score showed only a poor tumor response (Table 1). In the luminal A group receiving neoendocrine therapy, 39 patients had a high EP score and 44 had a low EP score. The results show that 27.3 percent of those with a low EndoPredict score and 7.7 percent with a high score achieved excellent tumor response (RCB0/I) to neoendocrine therapy (Table 1).

EndoPredict Low Score

EndoPredict High Score

0.0

%

26.4

%

p=0.0001

In this prospective study, we demonstrated that the EndoPredict test is a useful tool pre-operatively, said Ralf Kronenwett, M.D., director of International Medical Affairs at Myriad. In two distinct ER-positive, HER2-negative cohorts selected by clinicians to receive neoadjuvant chemotherapy or neoadjuvant endocrine therapy, EndoPredict identified patients with poor neoadjuvant treatment response. Clinicians can use information to determine who might forgo these therapies prior to surgery.

About EndoPredictEndoPredict is a second-generation, 12-gene molecular prognostic test for patients diagnosed with breast cancer. The test provides vital information that helps clinicians devise personalized treatment plans for their patients. EndoPredict has been validated in more than 4,000 patients with node-negative and node-positive cancer and has been used clinically in more than 20,000 patients. In contrast to first-generation multigene prognostic tests, EndoPredict detects the likelihood of late metastases (i.e., metastasis formation after more than five years) and, therefore, can guide treatment decisions regarding the need for chemotherapy, as well as extended anti-hormonal therapy. Accordingly, therapy decisions backed by EndoPredict confer a high level of diagnostic safety. For more information, please visit: http://www.endopredict.com.

About Myriad GeneticsMyriad Genetics Inc., is a leading personalized medicine company dedicated to being a trusted advisor transforming patient lives worldwide with pioneering molecular diagnostics. Myriad discovers and commercializes molecular diagnostic tests that: determine the risk of developing disease, accurately diagnose disease, assess the risk of disease progression, and guide treatment decisions across six major medical specialties where molecular diagnostics can significantly improve patient care and lower healthcare costs. Myriad is focused on three strategic imperatives: transitioning and expanding its hereditary cancer testing markets, diversifying its product portfolio through the introduction of new products and increasing the revenue contribution from international markets. For more information on how Myriad is making a difference, please visit the Company's website: http://www.myriad.com.

Myriad, the Myriad logo, BART, BRACAnalysis, Colaris, Colaris AP, myPath, myRisk, Myriad myRisk, myRisk Hereditary Cancer, myChoice, myPlan, BRACAnalysis CDx, Tumor BRACAnalysis CDx, myChoice CDx, Vectra, Prequel, Foresight, GeneSight, riskScore and Prolaris are trademarks or registered trademarks of Myriad Genetics, Inc. or its wholly owned subsidiaries in the United States and foreign countries. MYGN-F, MYGN-G.

Safe Harbor StatementThis press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements related to the EndoPredict test adding valuable information to aid in personalized treatment selection in neoadjuvant therapy and providing an important basis for future design of neoadjuvant clinical trials; and the Company's strategic directives under the caption "About Myriad Genetics." These "forward-looking statements" are based on management's current expectations of future events and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those set forth in or implied by forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: uncertainties associated with COVID-19, including its possible effects on our operations and the demand for our products and services; our ability to efficiently and flexibly manage our business amid uncertainties related to COVID-19; the risk that sales and profit margins of our molecular diagnostic tests and pharmaceutical and clinical services may decline; risks related to our ability to transition from our existing product portfolio to our new tests, including unexpected costs and delays; risks related to decisions or changes in governmental or private insurers reimbursement levels for our tests or our ability to obtain reimbursement for our new tests at comparable levels to our existing tests; risks related to increased competition and the development of new competing tests and services; the risk that we may be unable to develop or achieve commercial success for additional molecular diagnostic tests and pharmaceutical and clinical services in a timely manner, or at all; the risk that we may not successfully develop new markets for our molecular diagnostic tests and pharmaceutical and clinical services, including our ability to successfully generate revenue outside the United States; the risk that licenses to the technology underlying our molecular diagnostic tests and pharmaceutical and clinical services and any future tests and services are terminated or cannot be maintained on satisfactory terms; risks related to delays or other problems with operating our laboratory testing facilities and our healthcare clinic; risks related to public concern over genetic testing in general or our tests in particular; risks related to regulatory requirements or enforcement in the United States and foreign countries and changes in the structure of the healthcare system or healthcare payment systems; risks related to our ability to obtain new corporate collaborations or licenses and acquire new technologies or businesses on satisfactory terms, if at all; risks related to our ability to successfully integrate and derive benefits from any technologies or businesses that we license or acquire; risks related to our projections about our business, results of operations and financial condition; risks related to the potential market opportunity for our products and services; the risk that we or our licensors may be unable to protect or that third parties will infringe the proprietary technologies underlying our tests; the risk of patent-infringement claims or challenges to the validity of our patents or other intellectual property; risks related to changes in intellectual property laws covering our molecular diagnostic tests and pharmaceutical and clinical services and patents or enforcement in the United States and foreign countries, such as the Supreme Court decisions in Mayo Collab. Servs. v. Prometheus Labs., Inc., 566 U.S. 66 (2012), Assn for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc., 569 U.S. 576 (2013), and Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank Intl, 573 U.S. 208 (2014); risks of new, changing and competitive technologies and regulations in the United States and internationally; the risk that we may be unable to comply with financial operating covenants under our credit or lending agreements; the risk that we will be unable to pay, when due, amounts due under our credit or lending agreements; and other factors discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" contained in Item 1A of our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019, which has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as any updates to those risk factors filed from time to time in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q or Current Reports on Form 8-K. All information in this press release is as of the date of the release, and Myriad undertakes no duty to update this information unless required by law.

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Myriad Genetics Announces Publication of a Prospective Clinical Study of the EndoPredict Test in Women with Early-Stage Breast Cancer - GlobeNewswire

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Chemical compound restores tetracycline's effectiveness by blocking bacterial resistance

Shown above are two different 3D views of TetX7 (green), a tetracycline-destroying enzyme that causes resistance to all tetracycline antibiotics (the small multicolored molecule in the center). Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have found that genes that confer the power to destroy tetracyclines are widespread in bacteria that live in the soil and on people.

The latest generation of tetracyclines a class of powerful, first-line antibiotics was designed to thwart the two most common ways bacteria resist such drugs. But a new study from researchers at Washington University in St. Louis and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has found that genes representing yet another method of resistance are widespread in bacteria that live in the soil and on people. Some of these genes confer the power to destroy all tetracyclines, including the latest generation of these antibiotics.

However, the researchers have created a chemical compound that shields tetracyclines from destruction. When the chemical compound was given in combination with tetracyclines as part of the new study, the antibiotics lethal effects were restored.

The findings, available online in Communications Biology, indicate an emerging threat to one of the most widely used classes of antibiotics but also a promising way to protect against that threat.

We first found tetracycline-destroying genes five years ago in harmless environmental bacteria, and we said at the time that there was a risk the genes could get into bacteria that cause disease, leading to infections that would be very difficult to treat, said co-senior author Gautam Dantas, PhD, a professor of pathology and immunology and of molecular microbiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Once we started looking for these genes in clinical samples, we found them immediately. The fact that we were able to find them so rapidly tells me that these genes are more widespread than we thought. Its no longer a theoretical risk that this will be a problem in the clinic. Its already a problem.

In 2015, Dantas, also a professor of biomedical engineering, and Timothy Wencewicz, PhD, an associate professor of chemistry in Arts & Sciences at Washington University, discovered 10 different genes that each gave bacteria the ability to dice up the toxic part of the tetracycline molecule, thereby inactivating the drug. These genes code for proteins the researchers dubbed tetracycline destructases.

But they didnt know how widespread such genes were. To find out, Dantas and first author Andrew Gasparrini, PhD then a graduate student in Dantas lab screened 53 soil, 176 human stool, two animal feces, and 13 latrine samples for genes similar to the 10 theyd already found. The survey yielded 69 additional possible tetracycline-destructase genes.

Then they cloned some of the genes into E. coli bacteria that had no resistance to tetracyclines and tested whether the genetically modified bacteria survived exposure to the drugs. E. coli that had received supposed destructase genes from soil bacteria inactivated some of the tetracyclines. E. coli that had received genes from bacteria associated with people destroyed all 11 tetracyclines.

The scary thing is that one of the tetracycline destructases we found in human-associated bacteria Tet(X7) may have evolved from an ancestral destructase in soil bacteria, but it has a broader range and enhanced efficiency, said Wencewicz, who is a co-senior author on the new study. Usually theres a trade-off between how broad an enzyme is and how efficient it is. But Tet(X7) manages to be broad and efficient, and thats a potentially deadly combination.

In the first screen, the researchers had found tetracycline-destructase genes only in bacteria not known to cause disease in people. To find out whether disease-causing species also carried such genes, the scientists scanned the genetic sequences of clinical samples Dantas had collected over the years. They found Tet(X7) in a bacterium that had caused a lung infection and sent a man to intensive care in Pakistan in 2016.

Tetracyclines have been around since the 1940s. They are one of the most widely used classes of antibiotics, used for diseases ranging from pneumonia, to skin or urinary tract infections, to stomach ulcers, as well as in agriculture and aquaculture. In recent decades, mounting antibiotic resistance has driven pharmaceutical companies to spend hundreds of millions of dollars developing a new generation of tetracyclines that is impervious to the two most common resistance strategies: expelling drugs from the bacterial cell before they can do harm, and fortifying vulnerable parts of the bacterial cell.

The emergence of a third method of antibiotic resistance in disease-causing bacteria could be disastrous for public health. To better understand how Tet(X7) works, co-senior author Niraj Tolia, PhD, a senior investigator at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the NIH, and co-author Hirdesh Kumar, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher in Tolias lab, solved the structure of the protein.

I established that Tet(X7) is very similar to known structures but way more active, and we dont really know why because the part that interacts with the tetracycline rings is the same, Kumar said. Im now taking a molecular dynamics approach so we can see the protein in action. If we can understand why it is so efficient, we can design even better inhibitors.

Wencewicz and colleagues previously designed a chemical compound that preserves the potency of tetracyclines by preventing destructases from chewing up the antibiotics. In the most recent study, co-author Jana L. Markley, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher in Wencewiczs lab, evaluated that inhibitor against the bacterium from the patient in Pakistan and its powerful Tet(X7) destructase. Adding the compound made the bacteria two to four times more sensitive to all three of the latest generation of tetracyclines.

Our team has a motto extending the wise words of Benjamin Franklin: In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death, taxes and antibiotic resistance, Wencewicz said. Antibiotic resistance is going to happen. We need to get ahead of it and design inhibitors now to protect our antibiotics, because if we wait until it becomes a crisis, its too late.

Gasparrini AJ, Markley JL, Kumar H, Wang B, Fang L, Irum S, Symister C, Wallace M, Burnham CAD, Andleeb S, Tolia NH, Wencewicz TA, Dantas G. Tetracycline-inactivating enzymes from environmental, human commensal, and pathogenic bacteria cause broad-spectrum tetracycline resistance. Communications Biology. May 15, 2020. DOI: 10.1038/s42003-020-0966-5

This work is supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), grant number R01 AI123394; the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, training grant number T32 GM007067; the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, training grant number T32 DK077653; and Washington University, W.M. Keck Postdoctoral Program in Molecular Medicine and the Chancellors Graduate Fellowship Program.

Washington University School of Medicines 1,500 faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Childrens hospitals. The School of Medicine is a leader in medical research, teaching and patient care, ranking among the top 10 medical schools in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Childrens hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.

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Antibiotic-destroying genes widespread in bacteria in soil and on people - Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis

What happened

Shares of Intellia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NTLA) rose as much as 18% today after the company announced an expansion of its partnership with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:REGN).

The pair will jointly develop drug candidates to treat hereditary blood disorders hemophilia A and hemophilia B. Additionally, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals will gain rights to develop drug candidates using both in vivo (inside the body) and ex vivo (outside the body) drug candidates and delivery tools developed by Intellia Therapeutics.

The gene editing pioneer will earn a combined up-front payment of $100 million in cash and equity. It ended March 2020 with roughly $250 million in cash. As of 11:05 a.m. EDT, the pharma stock had settled to a 12.1% gain.

Image source: Getty Images.

Investors have punished Intellia Therapeutics for falling behind peers CRISPR Therapeutics and Editas Medicine in clinical development. The company will be the last of the trio of CRISPR gene editing companies to enter clinical trials. While it told investors the delay was largely due to work on delivery technologies -- one of the most important components of a genetic medicine -- Wall Street didn't have much patience.

As a result, Intellia Therapeutics boasts a market valuation of $1 billion, which is far behind the $3.9 billion valuation of CRISPR Therapeutics and the $1.5 billion market cap of Editas Medicine.

Today's news might not completely remove doubt from the minds of investors, but it serves as a reminder that Regeneron Pharmaceuticals remains a committed development partner. If other CRISPR gene editing platforms stumble in the clinic because of a lack of attention to delivery technologies, Intellia Therapeutics might be rewarded for its slow-and-steady approach.

Things are finally heating up for Intellia Therapeutics. In addition to the expanded partnership with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals announced today, the gene editing pioneer announced in March that a sickle cell disease drug candidate being developed with Novartis had earned the green light for clinical trials from regulators.

Meanwhile, the company's lead drug candidate is expected to begin a phase 1 clinical trial in the second half of 2020. Multiple other drug candidates are expected to earn regulatory permission in 2021 for clinical trials. There's a long way to go for Intellia Therapeutics, but investors will finally have tangible milestones to look forward to in the coming quarters.

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Here's Why Intellia Therapeutics Gained as Much as 18.0% Today - Motley Fool

The Forest Service is proposing to remove the prohibition against logging trees larger than 21 inches that grow in national forests on the eastside of the Cascades in Oregon. The probation was put into place when ecological studies demonstrated the critical importance of large-diameter old-growth trees to overall forest ecosystem function.

The Forest Service argues that it needs the flexibility to cut larger fir and other tree species competing with ponderosa pine to restore forest health. The agency suggests thinning the forests will enhance the resilience of the forest against the ravages of wildfire, bark beetles, and other sources of tree mortality.

The so-called need for restoration to what ails the forest by chainsaws medicine reflects the agencys Industrial Forestry Paradigm. By happy coincidence, such restoration happens to provide wood fiber to the timber industry, and typically at a loss to taxpayers.

One might assume that green and fast-growing trees are more desirable than dead or slow-growing trees. What the agency doesnt acknowledge due to its inherent Industrial Forestry bias is that healthy forest ecosystems require significant sources of tree mortality. The healthy forest that the Forest Service promotes is a degraded forest ecosystem.

Dead trees provide food and shelter to many plants and animals. By some estimates, more species depend on dead trees than live trees. These species live in mortal fear of green forests, which is the ultimate expression of the Industrial Forestry Paradigm.

Indeed, the second-highest biodiversity in forest ecosystems occurs after high severity wildfires kill most of all living trees.

However, due to the Industrial Forestry worldview bias of foresters and the Forest Service, that views any source of tree mortality as antithetical to forest health. Forest health is not the same as forest ecosystem health.

Logging does not restore forest ecosystems. It removes the snags and down wood that is critical wildlife habitat for many species of animals and plants. It removes carbon that is stored in those trees. It compacts soils and spread weeds. Logging roads fragment forest habitat and provide access for ORVs, hunters, and just more human disturbance for wildlife.

Worse for our forest ecosystems, thinning/logging can reduce the genetic diversity of our forest, eliminating, rather than enhancing, forest resilience. We know that some individual trees possess genetic traits that allow them to endure drought or resist bark beetles, and even some ability to survive some wildfires.

If foresters were concerned about forest ecosystem health, not just whether trees remained green until they were cut for lumber, they would welcome the wildfires, bark beetles, drought, and all the other sources of mortality that maintain healthy functioning forest ecosystems.

Yet the Forest Service continuously justifies timber cutting to restore forest health and resilience to the forest by trying to limit or exclude the very ecological processes like high severity wildfire, bark beetles, mistletoe, and other agents that sustain healthy forest ecosystems.

Allowing natural processes to thin the forest or select which trees have the best attributes to survive is how you preserve healthy forest ecosystems. Chainsaw medicine, the favored response of the timber industry for restoration, is not the solution; it is the problem.

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The Problem With Chainsaw Medicine: the Forest Service's Move to Cut Oregon's Big Trees - CounterPunch

Based on market cap,CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP)ranks as the top biotech focused on developing CRISPR gene-editing therapies. It's more than 2 1/2 times the size ofEditas Medicine (NASDAQ:EDIT) and nearly four times larger thanIntellia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NTLA).

But based on stock performance so far in 2020, Intellia wins the prize as the hottest CRISPR biotech stock. Its shares have soared more than 40%, thanks in large part to the expansion of its partnership with Regeneron.

While CRISPR Therapeutics and Intellia have captured investors' attention lately, Editas Medicine could now be the CRISPR stock to really watch. There are both near-term and long-term reasons why investors should keep their eyes on this company.

Image source: Getty Images.

In March, Editas and its partner Allerganannounced the dosing of the first patient in a phase 1/2 clinical study evaluating EDIT-101 in treating Leber congenital amaurosis type 10 (LCA10), an inherited form of blindness. Editas CEO Cynthia Collins called it "a truly historic event," as it wasthe world's first human study of anin vivo (inside the body) CRISPR gene-editing therapy.

Editas' Chief Scientific Officer Charlie Albright stated in the company's Q1 conference calllast month that the study "has been cleared to continue based on a review of safety data on the first patient." That's great news, especially considering the pioneering nature of the LCA10 therapy.

I don't necessarily look for this clinical trial to provide a big catalyst for Editas over the next few months, at least not directly. But it could give the biotech an indirect catalyst.

Editas Medicine's experience with EDIT-101 in targeting LCA10 has enabled it to move forward with EDIT-102, a CRISPR therapy targeting another genetic eye disease, Usher syndrome 2A. Allergan is currently reviewing a preclinical data package for the potential licensing of EDIT-102. Editas expects a decision from Allergan on exercising its option for EDIT-102 by the third quarter of 2020.

My hunch is that Allergan will decide to license EDIT-102 unless some safety issue emerges in the phase 1/2 study for EDIT-101. A positive decision would likely cause Editas' shares to jump.

CRISPR Therapeutics is the leader in developing a CRISPR therapy for treating rare blood diseases sickle cell disease and beta-thalassemia. The company and its partner, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, expect to report additional data from two phase 1/2 studies in progress evaluating CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing therapy CTX001 later this year.

Editas is behind CRISPR Therapeutics right now. But I won't be surprised if Editas emerges as a winner in sickle cell disease and beta-thalassemia over the long term.

The company plans to file for FDA approval by the end of 2020 to begin clinical testing of EDIT-301 in treating sickle cell disease. EDIT-301 uses its proprietary enzyme Cas12a (also known as Cpf1) instead of Cas9, the enzyme most commonly used in CRISPR gene-editing therapies.

Editas thinks that EDIT-301 could be the best-in-class CRISPR therapy for treating both sickle cell disease and beta-thalassemia. One reason behind the biotech's confidence is that the therapy edits the HBG1 and HBG2 genes rather than theBCL11Ae gene targeted by CRISPR Therapeutics' CTX001. Editas believes that this difference will give EDIT-301 a better safety profile than CTX001 will have. The company also thinks that using Cas12a will lead to sustained higher fetal hemoglobin levels than using the Cas9 enzyme will.

There's another intriguing possibility for Editas Medicine. Its partner on EDIT-101, Allergan, was recently acquired by AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV). The primary reason for this deal was for AbbVie to reduce its dependence on Humira, which faces biosimilar competition in the U.S. beginning in 2023.

AbbVie has other arrows in its quiver for offsetting the inevitable loss of revenue from Humira -- notably including its new immunology drugs Rinvoq and Skyrizi. However, the closer the date approaches for Humira's U.S. sales decline, the more I suspect that AbbVie will be interested in making additional smaller deals to boost its top line.

If EDIT-101 is successful in phase 1 testing and advances to phase 2, Editas Medicine could very well be on AbbVie's acquisition radar. The biotech wouldn't be so expensive that it would require AbbVie to take on a lot of additional debt. Buying Editas could also boost AbbVie's oncology program since Editas has several preclinical programs that use CRISPR gene editing in cancer cell therapies.

To be sure, Editas Medicine is a speculative play. For that matter, so are CRISPR Therapeutics and Intellia Therapeutics. All of these biotech stocks face significant risks that their gene-editing therapies won't work or won't be safe. But the possibility of near-term catalysts and the tremendous long-term potential for Editas make this CRISPR biotech one for investors to closely watch.

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Why Editas Medicine Is Now the CRISPR Stock to Really Watch - Motley Fool

The former Walter Reed Army Medical Center, now known as The Parks at Walter Reed, is adding a new development. A partnership of Hines, Urban Atlantic and Triden Development Group recently closed on a 1.5-acre site for the construction of The Hartley, a 323-unit luxury community. The team has two other communities underway: The Brooks, an 89-unit condominium building, and the 301-unit The Vale. All these projects are set to add much-needed supply to the upper northwest part of Washington, D.C., which has seen limited multifamily construction in the past decades.

Katie Wiacek, managing director with Hines, shared details about the upcoming residential projects and revealed the companys plans within the $1 billion master development. Wiacek expects the live-work-play destination to add a total of more than 2,000 affordable, market-rate and luxury units, as well as senior housing apartments.

READ ALSO: Whos Still Investing in DCs Multifamily Market?

How will The Hartley differ from the other two residential developments that are currently underway at The Parks at Walter Reed?

Wiacek: The Hartley will differentiate from The Vale when it comes to its location within the Parks, design, as well as scale. The Hartley is situated within the retail center and active plaza at the north end of the site, while The Vale is adjacent to the bucolic Great Lawn and the historic Arts Park district. Both projects offer high-quality unit finishes and great building amenity packages, but with different interior design aesthetics. The Hartley has more of a nature-inspired, modern look, while The Vale has an artistic, contemporary vibe.

The Hartley is expected to include 58,000 square feet of retail space, whereas The Vale will have only 18,000 square feet. Moreover, units at The Hartley will be slightly larger. The other residential development, The Brooks, encompasses 89 condominiums with a different unit mix, unit sizing and amenity package.

What features set The Hartley apart from other multifamily projects?

Wiacek: The Hartley will have a Whole Foods store on the ground floor. At the same time, the project is designed to feature an indoor-outdoor connection, something that is also at the heart of the master plan. The ground-floor lobby connects through a staircase to the second-floor amenity space, which includes a double-height club room with views to the Parks plaza, and a coworking lounge and game lounge with access to two courtyards. These include a pool, an outdoor fitness area, grilling and dining areas, as well as a Zen garden. A gym and fitness studio space connects directly to the courtyards outdoor fitness zone. The penthouse level includes a more intimate party lounge and roof deck.

How will sustainability and technology be integrated in The Hartley?

Wiacek: Sustainability and energy efficiency are very important to The Parks project. The Hartley is designed to a LEED Silver standard and will include elements like a green roof, energy-efficient HVAC system, lighting and appliances. The site is an infill development, being constructed atop an existing ground-level parking garage, much of which will be reused.

The project is a short walk to the metro station as well as several bus routes, and multiple bike share stations will be added within The Parks. The technology part will include features such as smart thermostats, an intercom entry system and a package management system.

The Parks at Walter Reed will also include ambulatory care. Tell us a bit more about how your project is approaching resident health and wellness.

Wiacek: Access to health care will be found on the site, with a planned ambulatory care facility by Howard University. Childrens National Medical Center is constructing a pediatric research and innovation campus within the historic Walter Reed site, anchored by its Center for Genetic Medicine Research and Rare Disease Institute, as well as Johnson & Johnson JLABS @ Washington, D.C., Virginia Tech and The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority. A clinic will house comprehensive primary-care services that will provide more convenient access to expert care for new and existing patients in northwest Washington, D.C.

We are fortunate to build on the legacy of the historic Walter Reed Army Medical Center, which was a place of healing for over a century. That legacy will be physically represented via the adaptive reuse of historic buildings and open spaces as we recognize that the built and natural environments have a tremendous impact on human health and wellness.

Plans for the development also include the creation of outdoor spaces, ranging from the historic Great Lawn and rose garden to a new playground and the retail-oriented central plaza. The site offers recreational opportunities for an active lifestyle, linking directly to Rock Creek Park and to healthy dining in the retail offerings. Whats also great about The Parks outdoor amenities is that they will be open to the wider community.

What can you share about financing the development?

Wiacek: Each project at The Parks at Walter Reed was separately financed. The Hartley project was financed with equity from a qualified opportunity fund through Bridge Investment Group and development partners Hines, Urban Atlantic and Triden Development Group. Santander Bank and EagleBank provided a construction loan.

What is the timeline for these projects?

Wiacek: Three projects are currently underway, including The Brooks, The Vale and The Hartley.The Brooks and The Vale are currently scheduled to open by the end of 2020 and early 2021, respectively.

What is the status of the other components of The Parks at Walter Reed?

Wiacek: We are in design now for two mixed-use, residential-over-retail projects. These projects will both be built above an existing parking garage that is being renovated under The Hartley contract. Our goal is to get these new projects underway by spring 2021, to align with The Hartley.

READ ALSO: Coronavirus Dents Multifamily Development

What impact do you expect The Parks at Walter Reed to have on D.C.s real estate market?

Wiacek: We think The Parks beautiful green spaces, unique historic buildings and walk-to retail opportunities will make it the Districts next mixed-use, live-work-play destination.

What about the impact on D.C.s multifamily sector in particular?

Wiacek: The District has a significant amount of multifamily in the pipeline. However, upper northwest D.C., where The Parks is located, has had limited new construction in the past decades. This project will provide an opportunity for new and existing residents to live and stay within this well-established area of northwest D.C., with great access to downtown and Maryland. The Parks offers an ideal blend of urban, walkable retail and amenities, with significant parks and open space.

Do you think the demand for luxury units in Washington, D.C., will shift in upcoming quarters, considering the economic slowdown caused by the pandemic?

Wiacek: COVID-19s resulting job losses may affect apartment demand in the D.C. area, though it is too early to forecast the exact impacts and duration. D.C.s economy has historically been bolstered by the stability of the federal government, which, in the wake of COVID-19, may add jobs that help offset job losses in the hospitality and service industries.

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Washington, DCs The Parks at Walter Reed Makes Headway - Multi-Housing News

Scientists at the Hotchkiss Brain Institute (HBI), Alberta Childrens Hospital Research Institute (ACHRI), and Owerko Centre at UCalgarys Cumming School of Medicine (CSM) have made a breakthrough discovery that could lead to treatment of Fragile X syndrome (FXS), the leading genetic cause of Autism Spectrum Disorder. The study, involving mouse models, shows promise of translating to treatment for people diagnosed with FXS.

FXS causes intellectual disabilities and hyperactive behaviour, usually more commonly seen in males than females. Children and adults with FXS are missing a protein vital to brain development called FMRP. Among other functions, FMRP helps develop synapses between neurons in the brain.

Dr. Raymond W. Turner, PhD, and members of his study team including Drs. Xiaoqin Zhan, PhD, Hadhimulya Asmara, PhD, and Ning Cheng, PhD, made the discovery while studying ion channels in the brain special proteins that conduct currents through cells, enabling communication within the brain.

If I had to make an analogy, it might be akin to insulin and diabetes. With FXS, individuals are missing this protein lets try putting it back in, says Turner, study lead, and professor in the departments of Cell Biology and Anatomy, and Physiology and Pharmacology at the CSM. In 30 minutes, the protein distributed throughout the brainand accomplished what its supposed to do at the single-cell level.

Unlike injected insulin, which helps someone with diabetes control their blood sugar for a few hours, the FMRP injection helps restore protein levels in the cerebellum and brain for up to one day after the injection. Hyperactivity was reduced for almost 24 hours, says Zhan, a postdoctoral scholar in the Turner lab.

We did one injection and we tested for it one day later, and three key proteins that are known to be in Fragile X were still at restored normal levels.

In other, unsuccessful attempts to inject mouse models with FMRP to mitigate FXS, scientists used the entire molecule. But Turner and his colleagues used a fragment of FMRP which was able to cross the blood-brain barrier.

Its not a full FMRP molecule at all but rather a fragment with important structural features and functional components that are active in doing things like controlling ion channels or the levels of other proteins, says Cheng, a research associate in the Turner lab.

Extensive FMRP expression in normal brain (A) is missing in FMRP knockout mice (B) but restored one hour after tat-FMRP injection (C).

Turner lab

In the next phase, the researchers will investigate using other parts of the FMRP molecule to mitigate cognitive disorders associated with FXS. Unlike a lot of drug therapies where you hope you can get your drug to one specific group of cells, FMRP is expressed in just about every cell in the brain, so an all-encompassing wide-based application is what you want, says Turner.

Beyond potential treatments for FXS, the research could help develop treatments to offset behavioural symptoms characteristic of other Autism Spectrum Disorders.

The findings are published in Nature Communications.

Funding for the study was provided by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Alberta Children's Hospital Foundation through ACHRI, Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI) Explorer grant, and fellowship support from FRAXA and Fragile X Research Foundation of Canada, the HBI and CSM Postdoctoral Fellowship programs.

This technology has a patent through Innovate Calgary, the universitys knowledge transfer and business incubator centre, which continues to develop its commercial path through partnership/investment to advance this discovery as a viable treatment for patients.

The Turner lab works on the role of an ion channel complex they discovered that controls multiple functions in the cerebellum that led them to look at the effects of losing FMRP in the knockout mouse model. The reason replacing FMRP was so effective is that it turns out to be part of the very ion channel complex the lab has been studying for 10 years.

Led by theHotchkiss Brain Institute,Brain and Mental Healthis one of six research strategies guiding the University of Calgary toward itsEyes Highgoals. The strategy provides a unifying direction for brain and mental health research at the university.

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Scientists discover breakthrough toward treatment of Fragile X syndrome the leading genetic cause of autism - UCalgary News

CARLSBAD, Calif., June 2, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Prescient Metabiomics, a subsidiary of Prescient Medicine Holdings, Inc., announced today a research collaboration with the Harvard Chan Microbiome in Public Health Center (HCMPH Center), a group at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health dedicated to expanding research on the microbiome to improve public health. The aim of the collaboration is to study microbial biomarkers to identify the presence of precancerous adenomas and carcinomas in the colon. The initial collaboration will investigate prevalent gut microbial biomarkers for colorectal cancer (CRC) by analyzing known, recent CRC cases across populations with which the HCMPH Center works and applying cutting-edge statistical and bioinformatic techniques for microbiome meta-analysis.

"The ongoing research collaboration will further enhance diagnostic screening for colon cancer," said Keri Donaldson, M.D, chief executive officer at Prescient Medicine. "Offering a non-invasive alternative to colonoscopies that screen for colorectal adenomas and carcinomas could represent a paradigm shift in CRC screening driven by the microbiome. Therefore, research to better understand the microbiome's role in CRC is needed at this time."

Curtis Huttenhower, Ph.D., professor of computational biology at Harvard Chan School and co-director of the HCMPH Center, said, "The mission of the HCMPH Center is to improve population health via microbiome science, and there are few chronic disease conditions as well-positioned to benefit from microbiome screening as colorectal cancer. It is one of the most common causes of cancer deaths, but also one of the most preventable cancers if detected early. It's exciting to embark on this collaboration to advance the latest science and, I hope, eventually deploy our findings to the clinic."

The past decade has seen a dramatic expansion of research on the human microbiome, including investigation into the role of microbes and microbiota in the gastrointestinal track in the origin and development of CRC. The advancements in this field parallel the preceding decade's growth in personalized genetic medicine, with the microbiome offering opportunities for both therapeutic and diagnostic biomarker discovery.

According to the American Cancer Society, colorectal cancer is the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths in both men and in women. The U.S. spends approximately $14 billion each year for the diagnosis and treatment of CRC with costs largely due to delayed detection. There is a lack of non-invasive screening tests that can accurately detect precancerous polyps as effectively as a colonoscopy, the current standard of care. Screening recommendations currently suggest a colonoscopy for average-risk patients starting at age 45 every 10 years and earlier for high-risk patients, but approximately one in three patients are not in compliance with these recommendations. Research indicates that early detection of precancerous adenomas and carcinomas could lead to significantly better patient outcomes.

About Prescient Metabiomics Prescient Metabiomics LLC, a privately held company and subsidiary of Prescient Medicine Holdings, Inc., is an early stage molecular diagnostics company developing in-vitro diagnostics that leverage breakthroughs in next-generation DNA sequencing, computational systems biology, and human microbiome sciences. To learn more, visit http://www.metabiomics.com.

About Prescient Medicine Holdings Prescient Medicine Holdings, Inc. is a privately held company focused on developing diagnostic tools that advance the precision healthcare movement. Prescient Medicine's mission is to accelerate the development, commercialization and deployment of advanced clinical diagnostics to address the most pressing public health issues in the U.S. Prescient Medicine designs powerful tests and analytic solutions to offer deep predictive insights so doctors and patients have the data they need to make more informed clinical decisions and achieve the best possible patient outcomes. Prescient Medicine technologies include LifeKit® Prevent designed to detect colon cancer and precancerous adenomas and LifeKit® Predict, an in vitro diagnostic test commercialized in partnership with its subsidiary AutoGenomics, used for the identification of patients who may be at risk for opioid dependency. To learn more, visit http://www.prescientmedicine.com.

View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/prescient-metabiomics-and-the-harvard-chan-microbiome-in-public-health-center-collaborate-to-advance-research-in-colon-cancer-screening-301068742.html

SOURCE Prescient Medicine; Prescient Metabiomics

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Prescient Metabiomics and the Harvard Chan Microbiome in Public Health Center Collaborate to Advance Research in Colon Cancer Screening - Stockhouse

New York, June 04, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Global Tumor Genomics Market: Focus on Products, Techniques, Applications, End User, Cancer Type, 14 Countries Data, Industry Insights and Competitive Landscape - Analysis and Forecast, 2019-2028" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p05903975/?utm_source=GNW By Technique: Next Generation Sequencing Technique (NGS), Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), Microarray, In-Situ Hybridization (ISH), Immunohistochemistry (ICH), Others (Mass Spectrometry and Flow Cytometry) By Application: Diagnostics and Monitoring, Drug Discovery and Development, and Biomarker Discovery By End User: Academics and Research Organizations, Hospitals and Ambulatory Clinics, Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratories, and Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Company By Cancer Type: Leukemia, Breast Cancer, Melanoma, Colon Cancer, Lung Cancer, Prostate Cancer, Head and Neck Cancer, and Others (Ovarian, Pancreatic, and Testicular)

Regional Segmentation

North America U.S., Canada Europe Germany, U.K., France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Rest-of-Europe Asia-Pacific Japan, China, Australia, India, Rest-of-Asia-Pacific Rest-of-the-World Latin America and Middle East & Africa

Growth Drivers

Rising Government Initiatives and Projects Increasing Incidence of Cancer Increasing Number of Product Approvals and Launches Ever Expanding Application Areas for Genomics Increasing Use of Biomarkers in Cancer Profiling

Market Challenges

High Cost of Genomic Equipment Lack of Unified Framework for Data Integration

Market Opportunities

Growing Prominence for Precision Medicine Increasing Demand for Point-of-Care Diagnostics

Key Companies Profiled

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., Illumina, Inc., QIAGEN, Agilent Technologies, Inc., Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc., F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, Merck KGaA, Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc., Myriad Genetics, Inc., and PerkinElmer.

Key Questions Answered: What is tumor genomics? How the different tumor genomic techniques have evolved over the years? What are the major market drivers, challenges, and opportunities in the global tumor genomics market? What was the global tumor genomics market size in terms of revenue in 2019? How is the market expected to evolve in the upcoming years? What is the market size expected to be in 2028? How is each segment of the global tumor genomics market expected to grow during the forecast period between 2020 to 2028 and what is the revenue expected to be generated by each of the segments by the end of 2028? What are the developmental strategies implemented by the key players to sustain in the competitive market? What is the growth potential of the tumor genomics market in each region, namely, North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Rest-of-the-World? Which product among the two (assays and kits & instrument) are offered by key players such as Thermo Fisher Scientific, Illumina Inc., Qiagen N.V., and F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd.? Which technique is leading the market in 2018 and expected to dominate the market in 2028 and why? Which application and end user type are leading the market in 2019 and are expected to dominate the market in 2028 and why? Which region dominated the global tumor genomics market in 2019 and what are the expected trends from each of the regions in the forecast period 2020-2028?

Market Overview

In order to meet the growing product demand and need, companies are investing in the assays, kits, and instruments used in tumor genomics.Nowadays, large number of kits and reagents are used to test the profiling of mutated genes.

For instance, companies such as Thermo Fisher Scientific, Illumina, Inc., and QIAGEN N.V. have focused on the development of variety of kits for the detection of rare genetic diseases due to cost-effectiveness of the kit as compared to instrument and software, which in turn is causing widespread utilization of kits globally.

The market is also witnessing the launches of various products by receiving FDA approvals such as assay for the study of genes and molecular characterization of DNA. For instance, on, January 16, 2019, QIAGEN received approval from Japanese Pharmaceuticals and Medical Device Agency (PMDA) on therascreen EGFR RGQ PCR Kit which is used as a companion diagnostic for lung cancer patients on treatment with Dacomitinib.

Similarly, several manufacturers are also launching innovative products to expand their offerings in the market. For instance, on November 6, 2019, Thermo Fisher Scientific launched Ion Torrent Genexus System, which is a fully integrated next generation sequencing platform used for profiling of genomes.

The market is favored by multiple factors, which include rising government initiatives, increasing incidence of cancer, therefore increasing the utilization of sequencing to identify the mutant DNA segments, increasing number of product approvals and launches pertaining to genomics market. Moreover, increasing use of biomarkers in cancer profiling is also one of the key driving factors for tumor genomics market.

Government funding is also one of the major growth factors for tumor genomics market, because increasing funding by the government help the research institutes to develop sequencing systems useful for the diagnosis of genetic diseases.Increasing funding shall lead to liquidity of the genomics market and thus companies shall develop various sequencing systems to identify the mutation in the segments of DNA.

All these factors are thus expected to contribute to the market growth during the forecast period.

Within the research report, the market is segmented on the basis of product type, techniques, application, end user, cancer type, and region, which highlight value propositions and business models useful for industry leaders and stakeholders. The research also comprises country-level analysis, go-to-market strategies of leading players, future opportunities, among others, to detail the scope and provide a 360-coverage of the domain.

Competitive Landscape

Major players including QIAGEN N.V., Illumina, Inc., Abbott Laboratories, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. Thermo Fisher Scientific, and BGI, among others, led the number of synergistic developments (partnerships and alliances) witnessed by the market. On the basis of region, North America is expected to retain a leading position throughout the forecast period 2019-2029, followed by Europe. This is a result of the presence of leading industry players in these regions, and a higher adoption rate of sequencing system to detect the mutation in genes and DNA segments. Moreover, growing research in the field of sequencing technologies including next-generation sequencing technologies (NGS) is one of the drivers that promote the growth of the tumor genomics market.

Countries Covered North America U.S. Canada Europe Germany U.K. France Italy Spain Netherlands Rest-of-Europe Asia-Pacific (APAC) China Japan Australia India Rest-of-Asia-Pacific Rest-of-the-World Latin America Middle East & AfricaRead the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05903975/?utm_source=GNW

About ReportlinkerReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.

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Global Tumor Genomics Market: Focus on Products, Techniques, Applications, End User, Cancer Type, 14 Countries Data, Industry Insights and Competitive...

Have a question about coronavirus, also known as COVID-19?

We will ask the experts.

Send questions to tribdem@tribdem.com.

A reader of The Tribune-Democrat asked:

After much concentration with social distancing and staying at home I inadvertently drank from a soda my granddaughter had been drinking from. She is from a family of four with no apparent symptoms. I am 70 years old with Type 2 diabetes. Is there testing we should have done following this incident or any additional measures? Im nervous that after all my efforts the past 2 1/2 months that I will contract the virus.

The answer:

I congratulate you on all your efforts and safe practices. In my opinion, no testing is indicated unless you develop any symptoms or fever, and no additional measures are needed.

I believe your risk is very low concerning the one incident which you described, and I would not worry. I do recommend that you continue social distancing, good hand washing hygiene, and wearing a face mask. Youre doing a great job!

Dr. David Csikos, chief medical officer, Chan Soon-Shiong Medical Center at Windber.

My employer has required me to havetwo negative tests before returning to work. How long do I have to wait after my first negative test before I can get my second test?

The answer:

The CDC has placed guidelines concerning returning to work after recovery from COVID-19.

These guidelines state that an individual should havetwo consecutive negative results of an FDA-approved COVID-19 molecular assay for detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA from at least two consecutive respiratory specimens collected greater than 24 hours apart.

Therefore, the least amount of time between testing that can occur is 25 hours.

It is important to point out that an individual must havetwo consecutive negative tests, and results for these tests can take several days to be returned to the individual.

Jill D. Henning, associate professor of biology, University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown.

I am a personal trainer who has had an 89-year-old client request that I come to her home to train her. Besides being a trainer, I also have a part-time job at a regional airport near my home where I handle bagsand check in passengers, as well as cleaning the plane. I am very careful when I work about wearing a mask, gloves, using social distancing and washing my hands. Is it safe for my client if I train her?

The answer:

Im glad that you are using personal protective equipment (PPE) and practicing good hand-washing hygiene. The question of risk exposure for an 89-year-old individual is not insignificant, even though you are taking appropriate precautions.

In the United States, the highest incidence of severe outcomes with COVID-19 were in patients older than 85. Therefore, visitors other than caregivers are not recommended.

Dr. David Csikos, chief medical officer, Chan Soon-Shiong Medical Center at Windber.

I am 75 and have Post Polio Syndrome, chronic bronchitis and shingles. My husband is going back to work at an auto glass manufacturer. How can I isolate in my home? We also have three dogs. Could they carry the virus to me if he gets sick?

The answer:

Self-isolate in a private room and use a private bathroom, if possible. Wear a mask when you enter general living areas. Follow other Pennsylvania Department of Health and CDC recommendations and precautions including good hand-washing hygiene and frequently clean with a sanitizer common surfaces you may both touch.

CDC is aware of a small number of pets worldwide, including cats and dogs, reported to be infected with the virus that causes COVID-19, mostly after close contact with people with COVID-19. Based on the limited information available to date, the risk of animals spreading COVID-19 to people is considered to be low.

Dr. David Csikos, chief medical officer, Chan Soon-Shiong Medical Center at Windber.

I have symptoms of COVID-19 and am scheduled to do my test this morning. It will taketwo days to get results. Is it safe to use my inhaler and nasal spray? And if my test is positive, is it safe to use my inhaler and nasal spray?

The answer:

Im not aware of any inhaler and/or nasal spray contraindications with SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19). I recommend that you follow-up with your primary care physician.

Dr. David Csikos, chief medical officer, Chan Soon-Shiong Medical Center at Windber.

If the virus has a very short life in/on non-living environments, why is it so important to deep clean spaces that have been vacated for several months?

Wouldnt routine cleaning suffice before the space is occupied again?

The answer:

Cleaning spaces that have been vacant for several months with a deep cleaning is a good idea in general. Many microbes could be present on these surfaces (Staphyloccous and Streptococcus species for example).

There have been news stories circulating that the CDC has changed their guidelines on how SARS CoV-2 spreads. This is untrue. The CDC merely placed the contaminated surfaces under a subcategory stating that the virus does not easily spread via contaminated surfaces. Both the old and new versions of the recommendations state that it is known that the virus can survive on contaminated surfaces for hours to days depending on the surface.

The best way to reduce risk of infection is to wash your hands regularly and clean surfaces with soap and water followed by a disinfectant.

Jill D. Henning, associate professor of biology, University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown.

My husband had COVID-19 symptoms, a sore throat,and because he is 63 years old, we wanted to check to see if he is OK. His results came back positive and he is on a 14-day quarantine. We have now all been tested in the family. So far my youngest daughters results came back negative. Should she move out to be safe?

The answer:

I am assuming the test that all of you received was the genome test. If your husband was positive for the genome, that is indicative of an active infection. This means he is contagious. He needs to quarantine himself and limit the exposure to other family members. It is recommended that high-touch surfaces be cleaned multiple times a day as well.

It is prudent for your daughter (and any other family member who tested negative) to self-isolate in a separate part of the home. Since she is currently living in your home and your husband tested positive, there may have been exposure to SARS CoV-2 since the testing. Testing gives us a snapshot of what is occurring, and since you are all in the same household, there could have been exposure after testing.

If she has a place to go to for 14 days where she is not risking exposure to others, you may want to consider having her go there.

Jill D. Henning, associate professor of biology, University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown.

If I pick up the virus from someone at noon, how soon do I start infecting others?

The answer:

A small number of studies suggest that some people can be contagious during the incubation period, the time between exposure to the virus and the onset of symptoms. The incubation period for SARS-CoV-2 (also known as the COVID-19 virus) is estimated to be between two and 14 days, with a median of five to seven days (possibly longer in children). Greater than 95% of patients develop symptoms within 10-12 days of infection.

Dr. David Csikos, chief medical officer, Chan Soon-Shiong Medical Center at Windber.

My ex and I have shared custody. She just called to say shes in quarantine waiting for COVID-19 test results. I have the children now, but she had them last week before her quarantine.

Do we need to quarantine now until we hear her results? From a concerned father.

The answer:

Yes, self-isolate to your home while you wait for her results. Whoever else lives in your home should also stay at home. Close contacts are people who have been withinsix feet of you for a period of 10 minutes or more. If you or the children develop symptoms, notify your health-care provider for instructions and testing.

Dr. David Csikos, chief medical officer, Chan Soon-Shiong Medical Center at Windber.

How can I keep COVID-19 from spreading in my home once I turn on my whole-house air conditioning? My husband works and I am doing my best to isolate him in his room and a bathroom across the hall.

The answer:

There have been two studies that show the airborne droplets containing SARS-CoV2 can spread farther than six feet when the airflow in a room is increased (either from an air conditioner or a heating system). These systems often draw air in from a room and cool it, sending the cool air throughout the home and the heat outside. This type of system has the potential to circulate the virus in a home if someone is infected.

A study out of the University of Oregon together with the University of California-Davis says the best way to reduce the spread of the virus and still ventilate a room is to open a window. Opening a window in the home will reduce the possible virus concentration by increasing the concentration of air from the outside.

If you cant open the window (allergies, asthma, 95-degree heat) and there is concern that someone in the home is infected (showing symptoms, asymptomatic or exposed), you could block the intake vent in the room(s) that individual is isolating in.

Duct tape can cover the vent and help to reduce the spread of the virus through the home.

Jill D. Henning, associate professor of biology, University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown.

Is there a COVID-19 test my 3-year-old grandson can take that would allow him to stay with us for a day or two if he tests negative? I am 71, and would do anything to see him again.

The answer:

Molecular (Polymerase Chain Reaction PCR) swab test detects RNA from SARS-CoV-2, also known as the COVID-19 virus. If the PCR is positive, the patient is considered infected with the COVID-19 virus and presumed to be contagious.

You mention testing your grandson, but also consider testing the grandparents as well. However, it is important to emphasize that a negative PCR does not exclude COVID-19.

Also, realize that the mean incubation period for COVID-19 is five days, and the range can be two to 14 days. This means that a negative result does not rule out infection.

Dr. David Csikos, chief medical officer, Chan Soon-Shiong Medical Center at Windber.

If a persons antibody IgGand IgM came back positive, are they able to spread the virus because of the IGM result?

The answer:

Testing shows us a snapshot of what is happening with a person andhis/her course of disease. The two types of antibody tests are looking for a particular type of immune response.

When we are exposed to a pathogenic microbe, our immune system has two ways to defeat it.

The first is called the innate response. This response is encoded in our DNA as a human.

It is nearly the same for all of us (with minor differences). This response causes inflammation. It is non-specific and only reacts to each pathogen based on its particular type.

For example, all bacteria are treated the same. It cannot distinguish Streptococcus pyogenes from Staphylococcus aureus. It doesnt distinguish an adenovirus from the Ebola virus.

Most of the time, this innate response kills the invading microbe. When it doesnt, that is when we see symptoms of a disease.

When the innate response cant destroy all of the microbes, then we see the adaptive response.

The adaptive response is specific. This response is different in every individual.

We have a complex immune genetic system to take gene segments and piece them together to create an entirely new gene. Its called somatic recombination. Our germline DNA is pieced together to give us a new never before seen gene to fight a specific pathogen.

That gene is then turned into a protein and made into an antibody for the specific pathogen.

The first antibody made when fighting that response is IgM. If this is found in a test, it indicates the person is in the early stages of the specific response to the virus. IgG is made later, about 14 days into the infection, in the specific response and is often the antibody that allows our immune response to remember the infection (it is made for a few months to years afteran infection).

If a person tests positive for IgG, thatwould suggest theindividual was infected sometime in the past. Ifhe or she is symptomatic, theperson would still be able to transmit the SARS CoV-2 to others, but in most cases the IgG test would be positive after the disease has run its course.

Jill D. Henning, associate professor of biology, University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown.

If a person had COVID-19 in the past, lets say in February, and takes the testagain in May, is the test going to show negative? In other words you could have hadcoronavirus in the past and it would test negative now?

So, the only way to find out if you had it in the past would be the antibody test, correct?

The answer:

Great questions, and it all comes back to testing and more frequent testing. Theres some very recent positive data out of South Korea which Ill discuss below.

Your questions refer to the different types of tests. One test is the molecular swab (Polymerase Chain Reaction PCR), which detects genetic RNA from SARS-CoV-2, also known as the COVID-19 virus. The other test is a blood IgG antibody, which determines if someone was previously infected, or was recently exposed to the virus 10-21 days ago.

If you had COVID-19 infection in February, the PCR swab test would probably be negative now, and the blood IgG antibody test would probably be positive (indicating prior infection). Recent data out of South Korea suggest that if the repeat PCR swab test is positive, that may be detecting dead virus, rather than indicating reinfection. And the positive IgG antibodies may provide some protection.

Because the pandemic is only a few months old, there is no data on long-term immune response.

Read the original:
Experts answer your COVID-19 questions: 'Is there testing we should have done when drinking from my granddaughter's soda or any additional measures?'...

REHOVOT, Israel, June 3, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Evogene Ltd. (NASDAQ: EVGN) (TASE: EVGN.TA), a leading computational biology company targeting to revolutionize life-science product development across several market segments, announced today its participation in the CRISPR-IL consortium. The goal is to develop "Go-Genome", an artificial intelligence (AI) based, end-to-end system for genome-editing to be used in multi-species for pharma, agriculture, and aquaculture. Evogene's CSO, Dr. Eyal Emmanuel will serve as the Chairman of the consortium.

The CRISPR-IL consortium has been approved for 1.5 years by the Israeli Innovation Authority and may be extended to an additional 1.5 years. The consortium's total budget (for the first period) is approximately ILS 36 million (roughly $10 million), partially funded by a grant from the Israeli Innovation Authority. CRISPR-IL participants include leading companies, medical institutions, and academic institutions. Apart from Evogene, key participants include BTG Bio-technology General Israel, Colors Farm, Hazera Seeds, NRGene, Pluristem, Rahan Meristem Ltd., TargetGene; medical institutions: Sheba Medical Center, Schneider Children's Medical Center; and academia: Bar-Ilan University, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, IDC Herzliya, Tel-Aviv University and the Weizmann Institute.

CRISPR is a genome-editing technology for detecting and modifying DNA sequences. It is used as a tool to enable precise genetic alterations without the introduction of foreign DNA. The technology enables the development of unique bio-based products and novel therapeutics while reducing the time and cost of development. Current CRISPR-based workflows target precise areas within the DNA, however, these workflows still face several challenges, which prevent more extensive use of this tool, including: (i) accidental off-target modification, (ii) inefficient modifications and (iii) inaccurate measuring tools to ascertain that the modification was effective as intended.

The CRISPR-IL consortium intends to develop an artificial intelligence-based system, "Go-Genome", providing users improved genome-editing workflows. The system aims to provide end-to-end solutions, from user interface to an accurate measurement tool. The system is expected to include the computational design of on-target DNA modification, with minimal accidental, off-target modifications, improve modification efficiency and provide an accurate measuring tool to ensure the desired modification was made. This system intends be designed to be effective in multi-species, including human, plant, and certain animal DNA applicable to market segments in pharma, agriculture and aquaculture.

Evogene's work in the consortium is expected to include the broadening of its artificial intelligence capabilities that are expected to extend the range of itsGENErator AIsolution (part of Evogene's CPB platform). Evogene'sGENErator AIsolution already includes computational capabilities directing "which"edit should be made to achieve a specific trait; and the capabilities developed within the framework of the consortium aim to improve"how"these edits are made.

Dr. Eyal Emmanuel, Chairman of the CRISPR-IL consortium and CSO of Evogene commented: "Our mission is to position Israel as a top technological hub for the use of AI in genome editing. The all-encompassing system the consortium aims to develop, is expected to expand the scope of Evogene's discovery and development offerings for genetic elements, including for its subsidiaries. We believe this is a unique opportunity for applying computational biology and artificial intelligence to genome editing. We are excited to be leading this effort through decoding biology."

Prof. Avraham A. Levy, Chairman of Evogene's Scientific Advisory Board and Dean of the Biochemistry faculty at the Weizmann Institute of Science commented:"The workplan proposed by Evogene within the CRISPIL consortium addresses important gaps in our scientific understanding of the CRISPR technology. Evogene's unique computational analytical tools, together with the data produced by the consortium, have the potential to enable a more effective utilization of genome editing in medicine and agriculture, paving the road for novel products and treatments."

About Evogene Ltd.:

Evogene (NASDAQ: EVGN, TASE: EVGN.TA) is a leading computational biology company targeting to revolutionize product development for life-science based industries, including human health, agriculture, and industrial applications. Incorporating a deep understanding of biology and leveraging Big Data and Artificial Intelligence, Evogene established its unique technology, the Computational Predictive Biology(CPB)platform. The CPB platform is designed to computationally discover and develop life-science products based on microbes, small molecules and genetic elements as the core components for such products. Evogene holds a number of subsidiaries utilizing theCPBplatform, for the development ofhuman microbiome-based therapeutics, medical cannabis, ag-biologicals, ag-chemicals, seed traits and ag-solutions for castor oil production.

For more information, please visitwww.evogene.com

Forward Looking Statements:

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" relating to future events. These statements may be identified by words such as "may", "could", "expects", "intends", "anticipates", "plans", "believes", "scheduled", "estimates" or words of similar meaning.For example, Evogene is using forward-looking statements in this press release when it discusses the end-to-end solutions provided by the system to be developed and the expansion of the Company's artificial intelligence capabilities and solutions.Such statements are based on current expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions, describe opinions about future events, involve certain risks and uncertainties which are difficult to predict and are not guarantees of future performance. Therefore, actual future results, performance or achievements of Evogene and its subsidiaries may differ materially from what is expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors, many of which are beyond the control of Evogene and its subsidiaries, including, without limitation, the global spread of COVID-19, or the Coronavirus, the various restrictions deriving therefrom and those risk factors contained in Evogene's reports filed with the applicable securities authorities. In addition, Evogene and its subsidiaries rely, and expect to continue to rely, on third parties to conduct certain activities, such as their field-trials and pre-clinical studies, and if these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties, comply with regulatory requirements or meet expected deadlines (including as a result of the effect of the Coronavirus), Evogene and its subsidiaries may experience significant delays in the conduct of their activities. Evogene and its subsidiaries disclaim any obligation or commitment to update these forward-looking statements to reflect future events or developments or changes in expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions.

Evogene Investor Contact:

US Investor Relations:

Rivka Neufeld

Joseph Green

Investor Relations and Public Relations Manager

Edison Group

E: [emailprotected]

E: [emailprotected]

T: +972-8-931-1940

T: +1 646-653-7030

Laine Yonker

Edison Group

E: [emailprotected]

T: +1 646-653-7035

SOURCE Evogene

Homepage

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Evogene to Participate in CRISPR-IL Consortium to Provide End-to-End Artificial Intelligence System for Genome-Editing - PRNewswire

"There are so many unanswered questions, so many puzzles we are yet to solve," she said.

Dr Bart should have been on a plane on Monday, bound for Harvard University and the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Massachusetts for her 10-month Fulbright exchange placement, collaborating with fellow bright minds to unravel the complexities of cardiac genetics.

The Fulbright Program is a highly coveted US foreign exchange scholarship program, aimed at increasing bi-national research collaboration, cultural understanding and the exchange of ideas.

The COVID-19 pandemic has waylaid Dr Bart's travel plans and diverted her attention to the effects of the virus on cardiac patients. But she is continuing her research into the genetic roots of cardiac disease, in particular cardiac amyloidosis, where abnormal protein deposits amyloid fibrils build up in heart tissue, causing heart failure.

Amyloid heart disease used to be a death sentence, Dr Bart said.

"By the time we see patients and diagnose them, it's often too late. We had no treatment we could offer these patients until very recently," she said. "Now that we have those treatments we have a clinical imperative to diagnose early [using genetic testing].

"We are on this cusp of a genetics and genomic revolution where patients can be offered treatment based on their individual genetic make-up," Dr Bart said. "It's hugely exciting".

Being on the cusp of scientific breakthroughs seems like a fitting spot for the expert mountaineer. Dr Bart and her mother, Cheryl Bart, were first mother-daughter team to summit Everest and complete the "Seven Summits" challenge climbing the highest mountains on each continent.

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"I appreciate what it feel like to push your body to the extreme," she said.

"The thing about being in high altitudes, up about 8000 metres, you have to focus on the next step and breath. There's a mindfulness to that focus, and not worrying about the bigger problem. You have a plan in place and you just keep taking that next step."

It's an ethos she brings to her research in the male-dominated field. Women account for just 15 per cent of cardiologists in Australia.

"There is still a huge gender gap, and this is likely affecting outcomes in research," she said. "The fascinating thing about women's hearts is that they behave different to men's. The signs and symptoms are different. Women don't have that thumping elephant-on-the-chest pain. They have more subtle symptoms.

"It's imperative that we have more female specialists and we utilise our different ways of thinking. We need more people to think laterally and collaborate."

Associate Professor Anthony Schembri, chief executive officer at St Vincent's Hospital, described Dr Bart as "a compassionate specialist who cares deeply for each of her patients, at the same time as undertaking research from the bench to the bedside with the aim of achieving long-term improved outcomes in her field of cardiac genetics".

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Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute executive director Professor Jason Kovacic said Dr Bart was "one of the many inspiring women in science, a trailblazer, pushing the boundaries and paving the way for hopefully more women considering a career as a researcher".

"It is a great honour to be awarded a Fulbright scholarship, and it is a reflection of Dr Bart's dedication to be at the forefront of medical research and ensure that studies are not undertaken in isolation but rather in collaboration with global partners to truly make a difference for patients suffering from heart disease," he said.

Kate Aubusson is Health Editor of The Sydney Morning Herald.

Read more from the original source:
Sydney cardiologist honoured with Fulbright scholarship - Sydney Morning Herald

Global Personalized Cancer Drugs Market: Snapshot

Genetic sequencing has proven that no two cancer cases are absolutely identical, heavily depending on genetic profiles of the patients, which defines their immunity power. But frequently, several promising pipeline drugs fail to reach the market for not being commonly useful for the masses. In this scenario, a small but increasing number of personalized cancer drugs are allowed by the FDA for the treatment of particular mutations. Nearly one third of cancer drugs are prescribed off-label, as it provides help to the patients immediately. These targeted agents are directed at specific molecular feature of the cancer cells and hence produce greater effectiveness with significantly less toxicity.

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The global market for personalized cancer drugs market is gaining traction from increased government support for precision-medicine. For example, in June 2016, the U.S. National Cancer Institutes revealed its plans to enroll thousand patients in a trial called NCI-MATCH, which is aimed at matching patients to twenty possible compounds on the basis of their genetic abnormalities. Along the similar lines, The American Society of Clinical Oncology has also announced a registry termed as TAPUR, collecting data on the fate of patients who receive personalized cancer drugs off-label.

Another factor driving the global personalized cancer drugs market is the falling cost of genetic sequencing, which is enabling the quick approval of drugs for off-label clinical trials on patients in need across the world.

Personalized Cancer Drugs Market: Overview

Personalized drugs, or customized drugs, are tailored to suit the needs of individual patients. Earlier, various patients suffering from the same type of disease were given the similar treatment plan. However, it became evident to physicians that a particular treatment worked differently for different patients, mainly owing to a varied genetic makeup. The concept of personalized medicine is based on the analysis of etiology of disease in individual patients and offers treatment that is more efficient, predictable, and precise.

Cancer is a common chronic disease and a major cause of fatality around the globe. The development of personalized cancer drugs has gained pace as they have relatively fewer side effects compared to standard drugs. Personalized cancer drugs target a specific protein or gene responsible for the growth and survival of a cancer type.

Personalized Cancer Drugs Market: Trends and Opportunities

The personalized cancer drugs market is primarily fueled by the rising prevalence of various cancer types such as lung cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, melanoma and leukemia, and colorectal cancer. According to the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), an estimated 13,397,159 people in the United States were affected with various cancer types in 2011. Moreover, in 2014, around 1,666,540 new cancer cases were diagnosed in the country, with nearly 585,720 deaths resulting from cancer. The personalized cancer drugs market is also driven by several advantages associated with this new treatment therapy and ongoing developments in the field of genetic science.

On the flip side, high cost associated with the genetic testing of patients and tumor samples may serve as a growth restraint on the market for personalized cancer drugs. In addition to this, the lack of insurance plans to cover these tests in developing nations of Asia Pacific and Rest of the World hampers the market to some extent. This can be attributed to low per capita income and poor reimbursement scenario.

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Personalized Cancer Drugs Market: Geographical Assessment

From a geographical perspective, the personalized cancer drugs market has been broadly segmented into Europe, Asia Pacific, North America, and Rest of the World (RoW). The market for personalized cancer drugs is led by North America. The chief factors responsible for the regions lead position are aggressive research and development activities, technical advancements, higher affordability for expensive treatments and therapies, and greater healthcare awareness. Europe is also a key market for personalized cancer drugs owing to significant funding from several governments and the growing penetration by U.S.-based companies.

Asia Pacific holds immense promise for players in the personalized cancer drugs market, powered mainly by Japan. The regional market is likely to be fueled by the presence of a large pool of cancer patients and improving healthcare infrastructure. The growth of the APAC personalized cancer market can also be attributed to the rapidly evolving medical tourism industry. In the RoW segment, Mexico, Brazil, Russia, and South Africa represent potential markets.

Personalized Cancer Drugs Market: Competitive Landscape

Some of the key players competing in the personalized cancer drugs market are F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Pfizer Ltd., Cell Therapeutics, Inc., H3 Biomedicine, Inc., bioTheranostics, GlaxoSmithKline, and Abbott Laboratories. Zelboraf (vemurafenib) by F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. and Xalkori (crizotinib) by Pfizer Ltd. are some notable targeted drugs for the treatment of cancer.

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TMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.

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Personalized Cancer Drugs Market Key Companies and Analysis Top Trends by 2025 - Cole of Duty

THE ultimate warrior would be unable feel fear or pain, capable of running at Olympic speeds, and even immune to modern weapons.

Their existence was once only possible in the realm of science fiction but a new worldwide arms race is pitting nation states against each other to be the first to successfully create real genetically modified super soldiers.

Militaries have a long history of using powerful drugs to temporarily turn their troops into transcendant Terminator-style killers.

Nazis took methamphetamine or "crystal meth" during the Second World War to stay alert and awake for superhuman stretches of time.

And even the British military bought thousands of Modafinil pills which boost brain-power ahead of the Iraq War.

In China, it is reasonable to assume that they are enhancing their battlefield soldiers on all these fronts.

But with advances in technology, it could now be possible to alter soldiers' DNA to give them godlike powers all the time, from Herculean strength to lizard-like limb regeneration.

GM technology is proven with plants, it could absolutely be applied to the person, said Professor John Louth, an expert at defence think tank Rusi.

In China, it is reasonable to assume that they are enhancing their battlefield soldiers on all these fronts.

China's armed forces are the largest in the world, consisting of a staggering 2.2million personnel.

This year alone, Beijing is spending $178.16billion on its defence budget.

But as the country's international relations flare up, they could be looking to be the first army to have genetically modified super soldiers to get ahead of adversaries.

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These combatants would be stronger, faster and even smarter than their battlefield opponents.

Their DNA could also be adapted to help them recover more quickly from injuries or give them superior hearing and night vision.

The threat is obvious and real. Chinese money could be stealing a march on western armed forces and that is deeply concerning," Prof Louth said.

Concerns about China's super soldier plans came after a Chinese scientist, He Jiankui, claimed to have successfully created genetically modified babies using gene editing technology.

5

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China jailed Dr Jiankui for illegal medical practices over his claims to have made three babies immune to HIV.

But it's now suspected that Chinese military chiefs are backing trials into human gene editing.

But they're not alone.

The US has also conducted some strange super-soldier research projects.

They've already publicly unveiled a 5million Iron Man-style exoskeleton which gives fighters incredible muscle-power.

5

And the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) developed ways for warfighters to scale walls by studying the skin of geckos.

Novelist Simon Conway, who was granted behind-the-scenes access at the secretive Pentagon agency, revealed a string of other super soldier programmes underway there in 2012.

He claims scientists were working on gene modification that would allow soldiers' bodies to convert fat into energy more efficiently, allowing them to go days without eating.

What is gene editing?

"It's all about improving the efficiency of energy creation in the body," Conway told the Sunday Express.

"Soldiers would be able to run at Olympic speeds, carry large weights and go without sleep and without food."

But the US isn't just looking at how biotechnology can give their soldiers the upper-hand on the battlefield.

They're also carrying out research into medical regeneration, allowing severely injured soldiers who've lost limbs or suffered extensive burns to heal organically.

This is already a reality in the animal kingdom, where lizards can regrow amputated tails and salamanders can restore entire severed limbs.

"We would like it to be as restorative as possible, resist infection and be durable," said Army Lt. Col. David Saunders, extremity repair product manager for the U.S. Army Medical Materiel Development Activity.

"[There are] many wonderful things emerging in the field of regenerative medicine to restore form and function to our wounded warfighters."

As recently as January 2020, the US military was unveiling incredible advances in warzone genetics.

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Army researchers developed a gene therapy that allowed mice to create proteins that would protect them against nerve agents deadly chemical weapons that attack the nervous system, like the Russian Novichok used in the Salisbury poisonings in 2018.

The same gene therapy given to the mice that made them chemical weapon-proof could theoretically be used in soldiers entering hazardous environments.

Before Russia's nerve agents were used with terrible effect, president Vladimir Putin had warned of an even more terrifying weapon.

Speaking at a 2017 youth festival in Sochi, Putin spoke openly about the destructive possible consequences of gene-editing.

"A man has the opportunity to get into the genetic code created by either nature, or as religious people would say, by the God," he said, The Express reports.

"He can be a genius mathematician, a brilliant musician or a soldier, a man who can fight without fear, compassion, regret or pain.

"As you understand, humanity can enter, and most likely it will in the near future, a very difficult and very responsible period of its existence.

"What I have just described might be worse than a nuclear bomb."

But instead of this being something in the "near future", Russia is already factoring genetics into its military strategy.

Alexander Sergeyev, the head of the country's Academy of Sciences, revealed the armed forces were researching "genetic passports" in 2019, Forbes reports.

The passports would predict a soldier's "resistance to stress, ability to perform physical and mental operations under the conditions of this stress, and so on."

Sergeyev added that they could be used to sort which branch of the armed forces personnel would be sent to.

"There are already serious developments in this area," he said.

"It is about understanding at the genetic level who is more prone to, for example, to service in the fleet, who may be more prepared to become a paratrooper or a tankman."

What I have just described might be worse than a nuclear bomb.

And unlike other world leaders, Putin has a very close interest in genetic editing.

That's because his eldest daughter, Maria Vorontsova, is a scientist who specialises in genetic engineering and acts as his adviser on the matter.

In 2018, before He Jiankui revealed his HIV-immune babies in China, Putin had already allotted $2billion for genetic research, Bloomberg reports.

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He even put Vorontsova in charge of the 30-person panel overseeing the experiments.

Watching world superpowers will undoubtedly be paying attention to Putin's potential to weaponise the research.

After all, as Putin says, genetic editing is an area of science which will "determine the future of the whole world".

Read more:
Inside the super-soldier arms race to create genetically modified killing machines unable to feel pain or fe - The Sun

The National Human Genome Research Institute definesgenomic medicine asan emerging medical discipline that involves using genomic information about an individual as part of their clinical care (e.g., fordiagnostic or therapeutic decision-making) and the health outcomes and policy implications of that clinical use. Genomic medicine is a type of precision medicine in which genomics, epigenomics and other related data is used to accurately aid in individual disease diagnosis. Genomic medicine has novel applications in the fields of oncology, pharmacology, rare and undiagnosed diseases, and infectious disease.Genomic medicine paves way for personalized medicine into clinics and has immense potential to reach the physicians and patients. Genomic medicine has been used for advanced sequencing in cancer pharmacogenomics, rare disorder diagnosis and for tracking of outbreaks of infectious diseases.

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Genomic Medicine Market: Drivers & Restraints

Backed by government investments in precision medicine initiatives such as a multimillion dollar investment by President Obama in January 2015 which aims to improve how to treat and prevent a disease by laying emphasis on its genetic makeup is expected to boost the market growth. Clinical validity and utility of genomic medicine tests is a major issue witnessed in the global market. Also, lack of awareness among healthcare professionals, sluggish adoption of genome medicine, fluctuating regulatory landscape are the factors which could hamper growth of the global genomic medicine market.

Genomic Medicine Market: Segmentation

The global genomic medicine market is classified on the basis of application type, end use and region.

Based on application, the global genomic medicine market is segmented into the following:

Based on end use, the global genomic medicine market is segmented into the following:

Genomic Medicine Market: Overview

Genomic medicine is gaining momentum with expanding applications ranging from risk assessment and diagnosis in healthy individuals to genome-based treatment for patients with complicated disorders. Oncology is a major application of genomics medicine during cancer screening process as diagnostics for genetic and genomic markers. Oncology segment is expected to account for a major share in the global genomic medicine market. Genomic medicine is increasingly being used not only for research purpose but also in clinical applications. In clinical applications, genomic medicine will potentially enhance patient care.

Genomic Medicine Market: Region wise Overview

Geographically, global Genomic Medicine market is classified into regions viz. North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ), Japan, Middle East and Africa (MEA). Owing to the presence of large number of academic as well as research institutions in the U.S. which are working on genomic medicine to discover next-generation genomic medicines, North America region is projected to lead the global genomic market in terms of value during the forecast period. Also, the presence of several universities offering educational programs coupled with opportunities in scientific research of genomic medicine in the North America and Europe is expected to have positive impact on the regional markets. The genomic medicine concept still in its nascent stage is yet to receive an impetus from the emerging market which are anticipated to hold smaller shares in the global market.

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Genomic Medicine Market: Key Players

The key research institutes in global genomic medicine market are BioMed Central Ltd., Cleveland Clinic, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, The Manchester Centre for Genomic Medicine, Center for Genomic Medicine to name a few. The focus of the top players will be on the identification of effective drug candidates particularly in cancer treatment based on the molecular structure of tumors.

The research report presents a comprehensive assessment of the market and contains thoughtful insights, facts, historical data, and statistically supported and industry-validated market data. It also contains projections using a suitable set of assumptions and methodologies. The research report provides analysis and information according to categories such as market segments, geographies, accessories and applications.

Link:
Growth in Sales of Genomic Medicine Market to be Largely Driven by Rising Consumer Adoption - Cole of Duty

Precision medicine (PM) is an approach to patient care that allows doctors to select treatments that are most likely to help patients based on a genetic understanding of their disease. Personalized nanomedicine involving individualized drug selection and dosage profiling in combination with clinical and molecular biomarkers can ensure the maximal efficacy and safety of the treatment. The major hindrance toward the development of such therapies is the handling of the Big Data, to keep the databases updated. Robust automated data mining tools are being developed to extract information regarding genes, variations, and their association with diseases. Phenotyping, an integral part of PM, is aimed at translating the data generated at cellular and molecular levels into clinically relevant information.Precision Medicine Moves Care from Population-Based Protocols to Truly Individualized Medicine as President of the US announced the Precision Medicine Initiative in his 2015 State of the Union address. Under the initiative, medical care would transition from a one-size-fits-all approach to an individualized approach, in which data on each patients genomic makeup, environment, and lifestyle (the exposome) helps medical professionals tailor treatment and prevention strategies. To achieve the Precision Medicine Initiative mission statement, to enable a new era of medicine through research, technology, and policies that empower patients, researchers, and providers to work together toward development of individualized care, researchers and clinicians need vast and varied amounts of data and the technology to ensure that data is widely accessible and usable.

Browse Complete Report with TOC https://univdatos.com/report/precision-medicine-market-current-analysis-and-forecast-2020-2026

Insights Presented in the Report

Based on technology type, the market is fragmented into big data analytics, bioinformatics, gene sequencing, drug discovery, companion diagnostics, and others.Recent technological and analytical advances in genomics, have now made it possible to rapidly identify and interpret the genetic variation underlying a single patients disease, thereby providing a window into patient-specific mechanisms that cause or contribute to disease, which could ultimately enable the precise targeting of these mechanisms

Based on the market segment by application type, the market is segmented into oncology, respiratory diseases, central nervous system disorders, immunology, genetic diseases and others. With the advent of precision medicine, cancer treatment is moving from a paradigm in which treatment decision isprimarily based on tumor location and histology followed by molecular information to a new paradigm whereby treatment decisions will be primarily based on molecular information followed by histology and tumor location

Based on the market segment by end-user, the market is fragmented into hospitals & clinics, pharmaceuticals, diagnostic companies, Healthcare-IT firms and others. The precision medicine suppliers that understand technology and the goals of value-based healthcare can create value in the precision medicine value-chain by offering value-based solutions and platforms to interpret and connect data points. There are a number of technology companies who work in the field of precision medicine and more will be founded in the years to come

For better understanding on the market dynamics of Precision Medicine market, detailed analysis was conducted for different countries in the region including North America (United States, Canada, Mexico and Rest of North America), Europe (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Spain and Rest of Europe), Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Australia, India and Rest of APAC), and Rest of World

Some of the major players operating in the market includeHoffmann-La Roche, Medtronic, Qiagen, Illumina, Abbott Laboratories, GE Healthcare, NanoString Technologies, bioMrieux SA, Danaher Corporation, and AstraZeneca

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The report covers in-depth analysis of prominent industry peers with a primary focus on key business financials, product portfolio, expansion strategies, and recent developments

Detailed examination of drivers, restraints, key trends and opportunities prevailing in the industry.

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COVID-19 Impact on Precision Medicine Market: Outlook, Growth, Key Driving Players and Industry Analysis Report 2026 - Cole of Duty

Authors: Bamba; Golden Jackson, PhD; Cristina Hernandez; Delroy Daley; and David Rodda, PhD, Associate Professor of Molecular Cell Biology of the AUC School of Medicine.

Hey friends! Its Bamba here and I cant wait to talk to you about some exciting, cool science today! This self-quarantine gave me a lot of time to think and I wondered, How do humans get the colour of their eyes?

Genetic expert, Dr. Rodda of AUC School of Medicine helped me explore this eye-opening mystery get it? Eye-opening? Ha-ha! Well, the answer to that question is in your genes not the ones you wear!

Did you know that humans are born with pre-made instructions? Yes, thats right! Humans and all other organisms have DNA that holds instructions, like a users manual, for how our bodies grow and develop!

DNA is a tiny, little molecule found inside every cell of our bodies and the instructions in the DNA are called genes. Genes determine how tall you will be, the texture of your hair, the colour of your eyes, and much more.

You have two copies of all your genes, one copy you received from your mother, the other copy you received from your father. Next, your genes in DNA are wrapped up in chromosomes the bundle that packages your genes together.

So, how do your genes determine your eye colour? According to experts, there are eight genes that control the colour of your eyes. You have two sets of these genes that came from each of your parents. Sometimes you might receive different versions of these genes from your parents.

For example, you may receive a gene that makes blue eyes from your father, and a gene that makes brown eyes from your mother. So, what colour would your eyes be then? That depends on what scientists call the dominance of the genes.

With eye colour, brown eyes are dominant, so if you have genes for both brown and blue eyes, your eyes will be brown. You can only have blue eyes if you don't have a gene for brown eyes. What about people who have green or hazel eyes? A different gene makes those colours, but still brown eyes are dominant, so just like with blue eyes, a person can only have green or hazel eyes if they dont have a gene for brown eyes.

Did you know you can have different coloured eyes than your parents? If a child is born to parents who both have brown eyes, there is a greater chance of their child having brown eyes, but there is also a chance their child can have blue or green eyes. The chart shows the likelihood (chance) of a child having eyes of a particular colour based on the colour of their parents eyes.

Did you know the amount of melanin you have in your eyes is another factor that helps determine eye colour? Melanin is a pigment that people have that normally determines how dark or light their features are. For example, a darker skinned person has more melanin in their skin than a lighter skinned person.

This is also true in eye colour. If your melanin gene is turned on high, then your eyes will be darker and browner. The less melanin in your eyes, then the lighter your eyes will be, resulting in green or blue eyes. No matter the size, shape, or shade of your skin, the colour of your eyes is based on genetics and chance!

Well there you have it! Another fun science exploration with you guys! Until next time, stay safe!

~Bamba out!

View post:
Why do you have that eye colour?: Exploring Health with Bamba - The Daily Herald

Amir Nashat has spent nearly two decades building biotechnology companies. The first he worked on, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, pioneered a new way to make genetic medicine. He's since helped advise and nurture at least 16 others, several of which were acquired for hundreds of millions of dollars.

Despite this track record, Nashat, a partner at the venture firm Polaris Partners, says most of his career in venture capital took place under "really crappy circumstances" that made it challenging to invest in young drug companies. Only in the last five or so years did things really start to change.

It was during this period that public markets came to love young biotechs, buying into record stock offerings. Large drugmakers, starved for innovation, also turned to them for their next drugs. This created a "hyper-compressed, hyper-intense environment," according to Nashat, where venture firms had much clearer and quicker paths to earn returns on their investments. For venture capitalists, there had never been a better time to invest in drug startups and, coming into 2020, many expected another big year.

Their predictions were quickly upended by the spread of the new coronavirus, which has infected millions and brought the global economy to a halt. In the past, economic downturns shaped how venture firms fund and incubate drug companies. Now, a pandemic threatens to do the same.

BioPharma Dive spoke with half a dozen venture capitalists who grow drug companies, as well as legal and financial advisors who work with healthcare venture firms. Almost all said the spread of the new coronavirus is affecting to some degree how they manage existing investments or think about new ones.

"It used to be that we had a lot of chaos, but the rest of the world was predictable," said Noubar Afeyan, CEO of Flagship Pioneering, the biotech incubator which founded coronavirus vaccine developer Moderna along with more than 25 other companies. "Now, we have chaos and the rest of the world has chaos, and so there are some adjustments being done."

As venture capitalists assess the damage caused by the pandemic, they appear to be treading lightly financial data provider Pitchbook found biopharma venture deals are down roughly 16% compared to last year. Some firms told BioPharma Dive that, in the current environment, they'd be apprehensive to invest in certain kinds of drug companies.

Even small adjustments could have a lasting impact on the drug industry, given the vital role venture firms play in it. Many biotechs wouldn't exist without venture money and support, making these investors a powerful force over the drugs that could become available in the future.

After the recession in the early 2000s, scientific breakthroughs led to a surge in biotech investments, many of which would ultimately disappoint. When the financial crisis hit in 2008, healthcare-focused venture firms found it extremely difficult to raise money from their investors, who viewed biotech as a risky bet.

Their attitude didn't start to change until about 2013, by which time the recession was over and advances in drug research had made biotech more attractive to a wider group of investors and potential buyers. Biopharma acquisitions and initial public offerings, typically the two main ways venture firms receive returns, would hit record highs in the following years, giving these firms and their backers the confidence to keep putting in money.

Indeed, since 2013 there's been an annual uptick in the number of funding deals venture firms are doing, with almost every year having about 70 more than the one prior, according to Pitchbook. By 2019, the deal count had hit 941.

The collective value of these deals, which range from small angel investments to the larger funding rounds that follow, has grown too. In four of the last five years it surpassed $10 billion.

The favorable conditions also made it so that venture firms could go back to their investors for more money. Polaris Partners, 5AM Ventures, Third Rock Ventures and Versant Ventures, among others, each secured hundreds of millions of dollars across 2018 and 2019, while Flagship, Arch Venture Partners and venBio closed new funds this spring worth almost $3 billion combined.

Deerfield, a type of investor known as a "crossover" because it invests in both private and publicly traded companies, also just completed raising $840 million to put into healthcare companies.

While money has been plentiful, the economic disruption caused by the coronavirus raises doubts about whether that will continue.

Bob Nelsen, managing director at Arch, said he'd be surprised if any new, first-time funds can raise cash at all this year. Firms with existing networks of investor relationships may be able to pull off follow-on funds, he added, but they'd likely take longer to complete.

If a slowdown persists, young biotechs could find it difficult to close their next rounds of financing. Already, the pace of biopharma venture deals appears to be lagging, as Pitchbook counted 228 deals between early February and mid-May this year, down from the 271 seen in a similar time frame in 2019.

One top concern is that crossover investors, who often come in later and supply a substantial amount of the funding that props up a company until it goes public, will back away from biotech startups. Without those investors, early-stage venture backers might have to dig deeper in their pockets to push their companies forward.

"It can take $1 billion to get a drug to market," said Kristopher Brown, a partner in the life sciences group at law firm Goodwin. "There are few venture capitalists who can afford to fund that."

Nelsen predicts some crossover investors will take a break from biotech startups and focus on public stocks that are now cheaper because of a turbulent market. But Jon Norris, a managing director at Silicon Valley Bank who works on deals with healthcare venture firms, isn't so sure.

Biotech stocks have held up relatively well this year compared to the rest of the market, which Norris said bodes well for continued crossover interest. What's more, the number of biotechs that have gone public this year 14 as of May 26 is just a tick down from the 17 IPOs completed by the same date in 2019.

"It just means to me that people continue to see this sector as one that's worthy of investing," Norris said. "If you see good returns, people are not going to be quick to exit the market."

After dip, biotech stocks have outperformed the market

XBI vs S&P; 500, values indexed to Jan. 2, 2020=100

Still, much is unknown about how the pandemic will further unfold.

For drug companies, the impact of social distancing and its ripple effects on the economy are expected to be more dramatic in the second and third quarters. In a possibly foreboding sign, industry bellwethers Merck & Co. and Johnson & Johnson have lowered their revenue forecasts for the year by billions of dollars.

"I do worry about the delays that are inherent to having this whole economy come to a stop and hospital systems being overwhelmed," Norris said. "To me, that's a big deal over the next quarter."

In the meantime, venture firms need to put the money they've already raised to work.

Early-stage investors who spoke to BioPharma Dive said their core strategies are still intact in spite of the coronavirus. Flagship and Arch prefer companies with technology platforms that, in theory, can give rise to multiple drugs. Polaris, as it has in the past, works its close relationships with academic institutions to find new startup opportunities. Atlas Venture remains fairly agnostic, while San Francisco-based venBio looks for companies on track to hit a meaningful milestone in the next three to five years.

And yet, the pandemic does weigh on their thinking.

To attract new investors, development partners and potential acquirers, biotech startups need to hit goals like moving a drug into and through human testing. But they've found a new obstacle in the coronavirus. By late May, nearly 100 drug companies of all sizes had reported impacts to their clinical trials related to the pandemic.

"There could be significant dollars lost and significantly extended timelines" for biotechs on the verge of, or already in, clinical testing, said James Flynn, managing partner at Deerfield.

As such, some firms are investing more selectively. Aaron Royston, a managing partner at venBio, said his team will be "very cautious" when putting money into any drug company that's close to starting an important trial or launching a new product.

Funding also might be harder to come by for biotechs built around a single drug program, as there's not much cushioning if that program runs into complications.

"Companies that are purely based on single assets with a clinical readout are in deep shit," Nelsen said.

By contrast, companies at the earliest stages of research may benefit. Investors assume that, by the time these companies reach human trials, some of the challenges and uncertainties surrounding the coronavirus will have been ironed out.

Royston, for instance, said he has little apprehension investing in biotechs that will be working on early research for the next 12 to 18 months.

"Preclinical investment is almost a safe place to hide while everybody else is on the later-stage side, trying to figure out how to deal with delays in clinical trials," SVB's Norris said.

For now, venture firms say they've been more frequently checking in with companies that could face setbacks because of the disruption and, if needed, helping devise plans to conserve cash.

"At the end of the day, data is the currency of how we value our progress," said Atlas Venture partner Bruce Booth. "So, as long as the biotech has enough capital to get it through those data collections and can get out from some of those R&D delays, then I think we'll be in an OK place coming out of this crisis."

In responding to the disruption brought by the pandemic, venture capitalists may revisit approaches honed after the last big economic downturn in 2008.

Then, a dried up IPO market alongside difficulties raising money led some venture firms to leave life sciences investing altogether. Others doubled down on their existing strategies or adopted new ways to build companies.

Versant, for example, was known to start companies with a prearranged buyer in place. Atlas gave some companies, like Nimbus Therapeutics, a limited liability structure that made it easier to sell individual drugs to buyers, though more complicated to go public. Such tools are "less critical now than they were during that challenging period" because biotechs can still conduct IPOs, Booth says.

At Polaris, hard economic times reinforced the firm's trust in a type of group investing called syndicates, which can spread risk between firms. Flagship, on the other hand, backed away from forming biotechs with other investors because the process felt too restrictive.

"What we found was that, when people were traumatized through financing risks and through uncertainty, a syndicate was only as strong as its weakest link," Afeyan said. "In other words, if you had five investors sitting around a board table, the weakest one was the one that got to decide what you did."

Flagship has since shifted resources to focus almost exclusively on creating startups in its own labs. And it isn't alone. Firms such as Third Rock have become known for an intensely hands-on approach, incubating companies and ultimately owning significant stakes when those biotechs go public.

Another popular strategy has been to stagger, or tranche, investments to limit risk. Typically, this means firms give smaller chunks of cash early on and larger chunks later, once a startup has provided more evidence that its medicines might pan out.

And yet, despite the unprecedented challenges posed by the pandemic, venBio and others appear optimistic that a 2008-like shakeout isn't coming, and that they won't have to rely on unorthodox strategies to navigate the future. Royston's view on 2020 opportunities hasn't changed; Nelsen doesn't foresee the pandemic preventing Arch from investing right now; and Flagship is still on track to spin around 10 projects into full companies over the next year and a half, Afeyan said.

There's a key difference this time around, several firms and advisors said, and that's the money which has so far stayed readily available to healthcare investors. Cowen Healthcare Investments just last week finished raising nearly half a billion dollars, adding to the string of recent hauls from other firms.

"We've seen these things come and go, and frankly we've done some of our best companies in the down cycles," Nelsen said.

A pandemic, however, isn't just another down cycle.

Past downturns didn't threaten to overwhelm the healthcare system, as the outbreak of the coronavirus has. Hundreds of thousands of Americans have been sickened by coronavirus infections. And for millions of people with diseases other than COVID-19, how they seek and receive care changed overnight.

The widespread shutdown of businesses across the country, meanwhile, has created economic hardship not seen since the Great Depression, and it's unlikely a stop-and-start reopening will quickly heal those wounds.

"No one fully can comprehend, even in a world as smart as the biotech scientific world, the trajectory and the impact of the current situation," said Amy Schulman, a managing partner at Polaris.

Whether the pandemic persists into next year or lingers much longer, venture capitalists do acknowledge it will have profound effects on society and, by extension, the drug industry.

Nashat envisions that "new kinds of entrepreneurs" will rise amid the chaos, while others will be "scared off." Nelsen predicts big changes in how healthcare is delivered, which will "shock" the system and create new opportunities.

That means investors will need to adapt too.

"It would be incredible, to me," Afeyan said, "if people just forgot this and resumed their old normal."

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Venture capital found its footing in biotech. Then came the virus. - BioPharma Dive

Since the emergence of the new coronavirus, called SARS-CoV-2, several researchers have proposed that there is more than one strain, and that mutations have led to changes in how infectious and deadly it is. However, opinions are divided.

Genetic mutations are a natural, everyday phenomenon. They can occur every time genetic material is copied.

When a virus replicates inside the cell it has infected, the myriad of new copies will have small differences. Why is this important?

When mutations lead to changes in how a virus behaves, it can have significant consequences. These do not necessarily have to be detrimental to the host, but in the case of vaccines or drugs that target specified viral proteins, mutations may weaken these interactions.

Since the emergence of SARS-CoV-2, several research studies have highlighted variations in the viruss genetic sequence. This has prompted discussion about whether or not there are several strains, if this has an impact on how easily the virus can infect a host, and whether or not this affects how many more people are likely to die.

Many scientists have called for caution. In this Special Feature, we summarize what researchers currently know about SARS-CoV-2 mutations and hear from experts about their views on what these mean for the pandemic.

SARS-CoV-2 is an enveloped RNA virus, which means that its genetic material is encoded in single-stranded RNA. Inside a host cell, it makes its own replication machinery.

RNA viruses have exceptionally high mutations rates because their replications enzymes are prone to errors when making new virus copies.

Virologist Prof. Jonathan Stoye, a senior group leader at the Francis Crick Institute in London in the United Kingdom, told Medical News Today what makes virus mutations significant.

A mutation is a change in a genetic sequence, he said. The fact of a mutational change is not of primary importance, but the functional consequences are.

If a particular genetic alteration changes the target of a drug or antibody that acts against the virus, those viral particles with the mutation will outgrow the ones that do not have it.

A change in a protein to allow virus entry into a cell that carries very low amounts of receptor protein could also provide a growth advantage for the virus, Prof. Stoye added.

However, it should be stressed that only a fraction [of] all mutations will be advantageous; most will be neutral or harmful to the virus and will not persist.

Mutations in viruses clearly do matter, as evidenced by the need to prepare new vaccines against [the] influenza virus every year for the effective prevention of seasonal flu and the need to treat HIV-1 simultaneously with several drugs to [prevent the] emergence of resistant virus.

Prof. Jonathan Stoye

MNT recently featured a research study by a team from Arizona State University in Tempe. The paper described a mutation that mimics a similar event that occurred during the SARS epidemic in 2003.

The team studied five nasal swab samples that had a positive SARS-CoV-2 test result. They found that one of these had a deletion, which means that a part of the viral genome was missing. To be precise, 81 nucleotides in the viral genetic code were gone.

Previous research indicated that similar mutations lowered the ability of the SARS virus to replicate.

Another study, this time in the Journal of Translational Medicine, proposed that SARS-CoV-2 had picked up specific mutation patterns in distinct geographical regions.

The researchers, from the University of Maryland in Baltimore and Italian biotech company Ulisse Biomed in Trieste, analyzed eight recurrent mutations in 220 COVID-19 patient samples.

They found three of these exclusively in European samples and another three exclusively in samples from North America.

Another study, which has not yet been through the peer review process, suggests that SARS-CoV-2 mutations have made the virus more transmissible in some cases.

In the paper, Bette Korber from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and collaborators describe 13 mutations in the region of the viral genome that encodes the spike protein.

This protein is crucial for infection, as it helps the virus bind to the host cell.

The researchers note that one particular mutation, which changes an amino acid in the spike protein, may have originated either in China or Europe, but [began] to spread rapidly first in Europe, and then in other parts of the world, and which is now the dominant pandemic form in many countries.

Prof. Stoye commented that the results of this study are, in some ways, not surprising.

Viruses are typically finely tuned to their host species. If they jump species, e.g., from bat to human, a degree of retuning is inevitable both to avoid natural host defenses and for optimum interaction with the cells of the new host, he said.

Random mutations will occur, and the most fit viruses will come to predominate, he added. Therefore, it does not seem surprising that SARS-CoV-2 is evolving following its jump to, and spread through, the human population. Clearly, such changes are currently taking place, as evidenced by the apparent spread of the [mutation] observed by Korber [and colleagues].

However, Prof. Stoye does not think that it is clear at this point how mutations will drive the behavior of SARS-CoV-2 in the long term.

Fears about SARS-CoV-2 evolution to resist still-to-be-developed vaccines and drugs are not unreasonable, he explained. Nevertheless, it is also possible that we will see evolution to a less harmful version of the virus, as may well have occurred following initial human colonization by the so-called seasonal coronaviruses.

Earlier this year, researchers from Peking University in Beijing, China, published a paper in National Science Review describing two distinct lineages of SARS-CoV-2, which they termed S and L.

They analyzed 103 virus sequence samples and wrote that around 70% were of the L lineage.

However, a team at the Center for Virus Research at the University of Glasgow in the U.K. disagreed with the findings and published their critique of the data in the journal Virus Evolution.

Given the repercussions of these claims and the intense media coverage of these types of articles, we have examined in detail the data presented [] and show that the major conclusions of that paper cannot be substantiated, the authors write.

Prof. David Robertson, head of Viral Genomics and Bioinformatics at the Centre for Virus Research, was part of the team. MNT asked his views on the possibility of there being more than one strain of SARS-CoV-2.

Until there is some evidence of a change in virus biology, we cannot say that there are new strains of the virus. Its important to appreciate that mutations are a normal byproduct of virus replication and that most mutations we observe wont have any impact on virus biology or function, he said.

Some of the reports of, for example, amino acid changes in the spike protein are interesting, but at the moment, these are at best a hypothesis. Their potential impact is currently being tested in a number of labs.

Prof. Stoye thinks that it is more a case of semantics rather than anything else at the moment.

If we have different sequences, we have different strains. Only when we have a greater understanding of the functional consequences of the evolutionary changes observed does it make sense to reclassify the different isolates, he said.

At that point, we can seek to correlate sequence variation with prognostic or therapeutic implications. This may take a number of years.

So, what kind of evidence are skeptical scientists looking for in the debate around multiple SARS-CoV-2 strains?

MNT asked Prof. Martin Hibberd, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in the U.K., to weigh in on the debate.

For virologists, strain is rather a subjective word that does not always have a clear specific meaning, he commented.

More useful in the SARS-CoV-2 situation would be the idea of serotype, which is used to describe strains that can be distinguished by the human immune response an immune response to one serotype will not usually protect against a different serotype. For SARS-CoV-2, there is no conclusive evidence that this has happened yet.

To show that the virus has genetically changed sufficiently to create a different immune response, we would need to characterize the immune protection and show that it worked for one serotype and not for another, he continued.

Prof. Hibberd, who has been researching SARS-CoV-2 mutations, explained that scientists are studying neutralizing antibodies to help them define a serotype for SARS-CoV-2. These antibodies can prevent the virus from infecting a host cell, but they may not be effective against a new strain.

Several groups around the world have identified a specific mutation in the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, and they are concerned that this mutation might alter this type of binding, but we cannot be sure it does that at the moment. More likely, this mutation will likely affect the virus binding to its receptor [], which might affect transmissibility.

Prof. Martin Hibberd

We ideally need experimental evidence, [such as a] demonstration of a mutation leading to a functional change in the virus in the first instance, and secondly a demonstration that this change will have an impact in [people with the infection], Prof. Robertson suggested.

He pointed to lessons that experts learned during the 20142018 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, where several research groups had suggested that a mutation had resulted in the virus becoming more easily passed between people and more deadly.

Cell culture experiments showed that the mutated virus was able to replicate more rapidly. However, when scientists subsequently studied this in animal models, they found that it did not behave any differently than stains without the mutation.

Scientists around the world continue to search for answers to the many outstanding questions around SARS-CoV-2. No doubt, we will see more research emerge in the coming months and years that will assess the impact of SARS-CoV-2 mutations on the COVID-19 pandemic and the future of this new coronavirus.

For live updates on the latest developments regarding the novel coronavirus and COVID-19, click here.

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COVID-19: How many strains of the new coronavirus are there? - Medical News Today

The immune system response triggered by Covid-19, causing an overproduction of cytokines, has been big news during the pandemic.

While Covid-19 deaths are usually caused by acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), especially in older adults and those with co-morbidities, some younger Covid-19 patients have suffered severe symptoms because of an overreaction by their immune systems, rather than the virus itself.

Now, a new clinical trial will test a treatment that targets this immune response, according to a press release from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

The mechanism behind the cytokine storm

According to leading immunologists in Japan, a molecular mechanism could lead to possible ways to treat this overreaction by the immune system. The research was published in the journal Immunity.

The immune system response to the coronavirus may lead to ARDS, causing patients to struggle for oxygen in their inflamed, fluid-filled lungs.

"To rescue the patients from this condition, it is vital to understand how SARS-CoV-2 triggers the cytokine storm that leads to ARDS," stated Masaaki Murakami, the head of the immunology laboratory at Hokkaido University's Institute for Genetic Medicine.

His study suggested that the novel coronavirusenters human cells by attaching to the ACE2 surface receptor. Then, a human enzyme called TMPRSS2 is utilised.

"Drugs that block the ACE2 receptor or that inhibit the enzyme could help treat the initial stages of the disease," says Murakami. "However, ARDS with cytokine storm starts to appear in the later phase of infection even when the numbers of the virus decrease. So, there must be another pathway that causes the cytokine storm, Murakami explained in a news statement.

Closer to a treatment?

The treatment that will be tested in a clinical trial by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute involves a common type of alpha-blocker. Through mouse studies, the team determined that this drug might break the hyperinflammation before it causes the severe symptoms seen in Covid-19 patients.

"The approach we're advocating involves treating people who are at high risk early in the course of the disease, when you know they're infected but before they have severe symptoms. If the trial's results suggest the drug is safe and effective against Covid-19, it could potentially help many people recover safely at home and lessen the strain on hospital resources, stated Howard Hughes Medical Investigator Bert Vogelstein.

Together with his team at the John Hopkins University School of Medicine, Vogelstein is currently recruiting patients aged 45 to 85 at the John Hopkins Hospital to participate in the trial. The prerequisites are that they have to be hospitalised, but not ventilated or in ICU.

How will an alpha blocker stop the cytokine storm?

A hyperactive immune system isnt a new response solely seen in Covid-19. Usually, this type of response is seen in people already suffering from autoimmune diseases or cancer.

What happens during a cytokine storm is that cells called macrophages, which are either found in the tissues or in the blood as white blood cells, are activated to detect and fight the pathogen. As soon as this happens, cytokines are released to help the body fight off the intruder.

Unfortunately, the macrophages dont only release cytokines, but also molecules called catecholamines, which trigger the immune system to release even more cytokines.

According to the news release, Vogelsteins team was already investigating how this reaction in cancer patients could be halted with immunotherapy.

They then looked at alpha-blockers which are usually prescribed for prostate conditions and high blood pressure. This medication is meant to help curb the cells that trigger cytokine storms.

The initial research in mice was published in the journal Nature in 2018.

How likely is this method to be successful?

While alpha-blockers were already approved for human use, Vogelsteins team needed to look at medical claims data to see how patients with pneumonia and ARDS responded to alpha-blockers for unrelated conditions.

The conclusion was that the use of alpha-blockers were correlated to lower death risk, but this simply wasnt enough evidence for a new condition such as Covid-19.

Now, the patients on trial will take increasing doses of an alpha-blocker over six days. The team will then evaluate whether those patients had lower risk of ICU admission and being placed on ventilators.

A second trial will be needed to establish whether this approach is safe and effective. According to Vogelstein, this method may be great for helping to mitigate symptoms before they become severe and deadly.

"Eventually, hopefully, a vaccine will be produced, and that will be the essence of prevention," he stated. "But until vaccines are available, secondary prevention makes a lot of sense."

Image credit: Getty Images

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More insight into the cytokine storm caused by Covid-19 could lead to a treatment - Health24