StemCell Therapy

AP Photo/Crime Stoppers via Houston Chronicle, File

The case almost went cold for good.

On Jan. 15, 2012, Gelareh Bagherzadeh was sitting in the driver's seat of her silver Nissan Altima when she was shot twice in the head, point blank, from the passenger side of her car. She had been talking to a friend, who heard her scream, then silence, and called 911. Gelareh's cell phone was found at her feet. The car had smashed into the garage of a townhouse, one in a row behind The Galleria, an upscale mall in Houston, and the acrid smell of burnt tire rubber was thick in the air.

Her purse and wallet were there, seemingly intact, so it didn't appear to be a robbery. There were no signs of sexual assault.

It was a mystery, one thathad enough twists and turnsto end up the subject ofDateline and NBC News' latest true crime podcast, Motive for Murder.

"I'm no stranger to mystery, to secrets people are desperately trying to hide, and the things those people are willing to do to get what they want," Motive for Murderhost and longtimeDateline correspondent Josh Mankiewiczexplained as episode one got underway.

**This is documented real life, and Dateline covered the case in 2019,sothis isn't exactly a SPOILERalert, but there are major revelations about the case ahead.

An early theory that turned the story into national news was that perhaps Gelareh's outspoken political views had gotten her killed. Perhaps the Iranian government was involved.

The 30-year-old had moved to Houston from her native Iran for school and was studying molecular genetics at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center when she was killed. But she remained plugged in to the troubles at home andshe took part in protests in Houston supporting theIranian Green Movement, which disputed the legitimacyof then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election in 2009 and was demanding regime change.

Her activism certainly worried her parents, Ebrahim Bagherzadeh and Monireh Zangeneh, but they remembered their daughter being unafraid of any potential consequencesthough, according to the Houston Chronicle, she had asked that her name not be used when the paper posted a video from a 2010 protest on its website.

Friends in Gelareh's inner circle were skeptical, however, that the Iranian government would "waste their energy and time" by orchestrating the death of a student activist all the way in Texas. Though "if they had...they would take credit for it" to warn off other dissidents, observed Gelareh's close friend, Kathy Soltis.

Local police said early on that they didn't suspect either apoliticalmotive or that she was targeted because of her ethnicity.

Fingerprints found on the car, the bullets recovered at the scene, a cigarette butt on the ground outside the car doorall were sent to the lab for forensic testing.

Dead ends, the lot.

In the meantime, detectives started probing the possibility that the motive had something to do with one of three overarching motives for so many murders: love, money or pride.

Houston PD homicide investigator DetectiveRichard Bolton, now retired, recalled to Mankiewicz the inevitable part of the probe when they looked into the men in Gelareh's life, including her fairly new boyfriend, Cory Beavers, and the friend who said he heard a scream on the phone seemingly seconds before she was shot,Robeen Bandarwho also was her ex-boyfriend.

Bandar explained (to police and Mankiewicz) thatthey had had an amicable breakup and had mutually decided they would be better off just being friends.

Police asked why heheard a scream but didn't recallhearinga gun shot or screeching tires. Bandar said it was probably shock or denial of what he may indeed have heard.

Onto Gelareh's current boyfriend, Cory, the last known person to see her alive.

He told police that she had surprised him by showing up at his house, but he had a test to study for so they only hung out for awhile. When sheleft, he told her to text him when she got home to let him know she had arrived safely. He never heard from or saw her again.

Cory said he didn't know Gelareh was dead until he drove up to her house the next day and a reporter approached him and asked if he knew anything about "the girl who lived here."

He knocked on the door and Ibrahim answered, and he was the one to tell Cory that Gelareh was dead.

Police also looked intocrimes with similar M.O.s in the area, wondering if she was the victim of a carjacking gone wrong. They looked at a lawsuit her father was embroiled in at the time with a former employer.

More dead ends.

Four months after the murder, police announced that the family was offering a $200,000 reward for information that led to justice for Gelareh, the largest Crime Stoppers reward on offer in the country at the time.

The dozen or so tips that merited follow-up also led nowhere. But then there was another shooting that November.

The victim was Cory Beavers' identical twin brother, Coty. And homicide detectives don't put much stock in coincidences.

Coty Beavers' wife, Nesreen Irsan,had called 911 to report that her boyfriend had been shot. "Why did God do this to me?"she's heard wailing on the call.

She had found her husband's body in their apartment when she returned home from work. She told police she last saw Coty that morning, when he walked her down to her car to see her off, as he usually did. When police responded to her 911 call, it was apparent he had been dead for awhile. It was later determined that his wedding ring had been moved from his ring finger to the middle finger of his left hand.

Coty and Nesreen were newlyweds. According to Cory, Nesreenalso a student at MD Anderson, like Cory and Gelarehwas originally interested in him, but Cory was determined to keep his mind on his studies and introduced Nesreen to Coty. Nesreen was friends withGelareh, meanwhile, and she's the one who introduced her to Cory after he saw the two of them walking together at school. He was smitten immediatelyand after talkingto her more at a party not long after, they started dating.

By the time his newlywed brother was killed, Corystill reeling from the murder of his girlfriendwas fed up with what he felt was time wasted by the police looking at him as a suspect and any other activity that didn't get them any closer to finding Gelareh's killer.

Nesreen, meanwhile, had her own traumatic past. In the summer of 2011 she had run away from her strict Muslim household and her controlling father, whom she described as "violent and abusive," with only the clothes she was wearing. She climbed out of a window and went to a neighbor's house and asked for a rideto Coty and Cory's mom Shirley Beavers' house in Spring, Texas.

Nesreen had been dating Coty and keeping it a secret from her father, Ali Irsan, with the help of her sister Nadiawho would simultaneously cover for Nesreen but also threaten to tell on her.

When Ali Irsan found out about Nesreen and Coty, he barred his 23-year-old daughter from leaving the house.

Mayra Beltran/Houston Chronicle via AP

Police had no recourse to bring Ali's adult daughter back to their house if she didn't want to be there, so Ali showed up at Shirley's house himself (how he found out where they lived,whether the address was online or Nadia told him, or whatever, they didn't know). Ali knocked on their neighbors' doors, offering $100 for information on Coty's whereabouts. In the ensuing days, the Beavers would go outside in the morning to find that the air had been let out of their tires, so they had to start moving their cars. An order of protection Nesreen obtained against her father didn't stop himbut that at least paved the way for police to obtain a warrant to search the Irsan family's home, as well as two other properties Ali owned. They found a dismantled hand gun.

Cory recalled to Mankiewicz a fight he witnessed between Nadia and Nesreen during college, ostensibly over a petty issue,in which Nadia told her sister, "'I can't wait until my dad puts a bullet in your head.'"

"I believed her," Cory said.

Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle via AP, File

Going through boxes of documents they'd confiscated, police found paperwork that indicated Ali Irsan was committing multiple acts of fraud, such as falsely claiming disability benefits and opening credit cards in his kids' names.

Sothe Harris County Sheriff's Department brought in theFBI, and ultimately a task force thatcame to includethe Montgomery and Harris County sheriff offices, the FBI, the Houston Police Department, the Social Security Administration Office and Homeland Security got to work.

According to authorities, Irsan, a naturalized citizen, had first come to the U.S. from Jordan in 1978 and proceeded to marry a blind woman whom he physically and sexually abused, and had four children with. While still married, he brought a teenage bride, Shmou, over from Jordan, and they had eight more children, including Nesreen and Nadia.

In 2014, Irsan was chargedin federal court with conspiracy to defraud the United States, theft of public money and benefits fraud, and Shmou and Nadia were arrested, too. In April 2015, he pleaded guiltyto conspiracy to defraud and was sentenced to 45 months in prison; his wife and daughterwere convicted of providing false statements as part of the fraud schemeand were each sentenced to two years in prison.

But back to the double murder investigation.

Yet another thing discovered in the course of the investigation into Irsan was the revelation that he had been pulled over by a Texas State Trooper on the day of Gelareh's murder. His wife and one of his sons were also in the cara silver Toyota Camry.

Which, incidentally, matched the description given by a witness back in 2012 who told police she saw what looked to be a silver Camry speeding away from the site of the shooting. Nothing had ever come of it.

The location and timing of the traffic stop put Irsan's car exactly where it would have been had he driven away from the crime scene after the shooting. Dash-cam footage showed Ali barely able to stand, and he told the trooper hewas diabetic and suffering from low blood sugar, so he had been speeding on his way to find sugar.

There was no evidence that he was a diabetic.

It was almost a fluke that the trooper still had the dash-cam footage after two years. According to Mankiewiecz, the officer just had a funny feeling about the guy...

Furthermore, per authorities and Cory Beavers, it turned out that Gelareh and Alihad crossed pathstheir seeming lack of interaction having been a nagging issue when trying to connect Ali to both her murder and that of his son-in-law.

AfterNesreen fled her family's home in 2011, Ali started calling her classmates under the guise of simply being a concerned dad.

Gelareh wasn't having it, and told him she saw right through what he was trying to do.

Toward the end of the year, he called again. Gelareh called back and first talked to Nadia, who then passed the phone to her father, who asked (according to Cory), "Is this that Iranian bitch?" Gelareh proceeded to tell him off in Farsi. He hung up. A few weeks later she was dead.

In May 2014, Ali Irsan was charged with Gelareh's murder. That charge would be dropped for tactical reasons, because once authorities had connected him to both killings, Irsan was charged in 2015 with capital murder, for what has since been characterized as two so-called "honor killings."

Or make that three. In 1999, Irsan fatally shot his 29-year-old son-in-law Amjad Alidam. He told police Alidam had been abusing his daughter, and he killed him in self-defense. Authorities later said they couldn't build a case to prove otherwise.

In 2018, jurors spent 35 minutes deliberating before convicting him of themurders of Gelareh Bagherzadeh and Coty Beavers.

During the penalty phase of the trial, a former neighborsaidthat Ali Irsan hadbragged to him that he "got away with murder" inthe death of his other son-in-law."He said he invited his son-in-law to his house and shot him," the witness, Randy Wilkinson, testified. "He said he shot him with a 12-gauge shotgun and planted a gun on him."

His sonNasim Irsan, the one who was in the Camry with him, pleaded guilty in both murders as well and was sentenced last August to 40 years in prison. Ali Irsan iscurrently on death row in Texas.

The finale ofMotive for Murderwill be outThursday, June 4, wherever you get your podcasts.

(E! and NBC News are both members of the NBCUniversal family.)

Link:
All About the Twisted Story Behind Motive for Murder - E! NEWS

NEW YORK Employing tumor-normal sequencing, researchers have demonstrated that a significant number of advanced cancer patients learned germline findings that informed the treatment they received.

In one study, involving 12,000 patients treated at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, researchers identified nearly 600 patients with recurrent or metastatic cancer who had actionable germline mutations, and 44 percent of them received targeted drugs either as part of the standard of care or as part of a research protocol.

Presenting the findings at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's virtual annual meeting, MSK's Zsofia Stadler said her group's study represents the most comprehensive assessment of the clinical utility of germline variants for guiding targeted therapy decisions in advanced cancer patients. This study, she said, demonstrates the "the importance of germline analysis for cancer treatment."

In another study, presented at the same meeting, researchers from the University of Michigan investigated the prevalence of actionable germline mutations in a cohort of around 1,000 patients, and found that 49 patients, or close to 5 percent, had therapeutically targetable germline mutations.

The findings from these two studies are timely given that cancer patients are increasingly having their tumors sequenced in the hopes of identifying precision therapy options. Studies have shown that after tumor profiling, approximately 10 percent of patients received results based on which they can receive precision drugs. Patients' tumors are often profiled using next-generation sequencing (NGS) panels that gauge hundreds of genes and also pick up clinically significant germline mutations, but often these findings are censored and not reported back to or discussed with the patient. This is likely because there is a perception that germline genetic mutations, which have been historically important for inherited cancer risk assessment, don't really impact the immediate care of patients.

"We know the identification of germline alterations has important implications for our cancer patients, including implementation of appropriate cancer surveillance measures, potential risk-reducing measures, and of course predictive genetic testing for at-risk relatives," said Stadler. "However, less is known about the clinical impact of germline findings on targeted cancer treatment."

At MSK, cancer patients can have their tumors profiled with the MSK-IMPACT NGS panel which gauges more than 400 genes. The goal of this testing, Stadler said, is to identify genetic mutations in the tumor that can be targeted with treatments. To do this, the cancer center sequences a patient's tumor tissue and normal blood sample, compares the detected mutations, and subtracts out the germline variants that occur in every cell in the body, not just the tumor. At the end of this process, only the somatic mutations found in the tumor are reported.

Starting in 2015, patients at MSK who received testing with MSK-IMPACT could provide consent under an institutional review board-approved protocol to receive separate germline testing for 88 genes associated with increased cancer risk. Between 2015 and 2019, nearly 12,000 patients agreed to this additional testing to learn if they harbored likely pathogenic or pathogenic mutations in any of these genes. If patients had pathogenic findings, this was noted in their medical record, which investigators then reviewed to assess whether the mutations could inform treatment.

Around half of these 12,000 tested patients had breast, prostate, pancreatic, or colorectal cancers, while the rest of the patients had a variety of rarer tumor types. Approximately 2,000 patients, or 17 percent, had likely pathogenic or pathogenic mutations, 682 of whom had mutations in high- or moderate-penetrance genes.

In terms of therapeutic actionability, Stadler and colleagues identified targetable mutations in 849 patients, or 7 percent. Since PARP inhibitors now can be given to patients with BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations with certain types of cancers, mutations in these genes comprised more than half of the actionable findings. Nearly 20 percent of mutations were in Lynch syndrome genes, which can guide immunotherapy use.

MSK classifies the actionability of somatic variants detected by MSK-IMPACT using a three-tier system that emerged in the process of garnering FDA authorization for the panel. In authorizing that test, the FDA released a three-tier framework to help labs determine what information they could accurately communicate in test reports based on the evidence underlying detected biomarkers. The same system can also help oncologists prioritize which findings are most informative for their patient's care from the long list of genetic mutations often identified by these tests.

In the FDA's framework, tier 1 biomarkers are those that the agency has given companion diagnostic status based on evidence showing that they can determine which patients will or will not respond to a drug. Tier 2 biomarkers are "cancer mutations with evidence of clinical significance" that doctors can use in the care of cancer patients in line with guidelines and other information. Tier 3 biomarkers are "cancer mutations with potential clinical significance," which can help direct patients to clinical trials.

Since germline variations don't have a widely accepted system of classification for therapeutic actionability, Stadler and colleagues adapted this three-tier system for somatic variants to weigh the evidence on the 88 cancer risk genes. While 849 patients, or 7 percent, had targetable germline mutations in tier 1 and 2 genes, using all three tiers, around 1,000 patients, or nearly 9 percent, had germline mutations with therapeutic significance.

The researchers used the more stringent criteria germline mutations in tier 1 and 2 genes to try to guide treatment decisions for nearly 600 patients with recurrent or metastatic cancer. Ultimately, 44 percent received targeted drugs either as part of the standard of care or as part of a research protocol. Patients who received treatment had germline mutations in a variety of genes, though alterations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 drove a lot of the therapeutic decisions in the study.

As such, researchers explored this subset of patients in more detail. Of the 175 patients with BRCA1/2 germline mutations, 57 percent were classified as tier 1 mutations because patients had breast or ovarian cancer and were able to receive PARP inhibitors that had been FDA approved for their molecularly defined indication. More than 40 percent including 21 percent of pancreatic cancer patients and 11 percent of prostate cancer patients received PARP inhibitors under a research protocol. Since this study, however, the FDA has approved PARP inhibitors for BRCA-mutated pancreatic and prostate cancer.

"With the emergence of novel targeted treatments with new FDA indications, the therapeutic actionability of germline variants is likely to increase over time," Stadler said.

Germline testing for all advanced cancer patients?

The study led by Erin Cobain from the University of Michigan similarly demonstrated the clinical utility of germline findings from tumor testing, though on a smaller scale. The researchers conducted targeted exome sequencing for 1,700 genes and transcriptome sequencing on tumor and normal samples from approximately 1,000 patients with advanced solid tumors. Pathogenic germline variants were identified in 160 patients, or 16 percent. Of the deleterious cancer risk mutations identified during this process, 92 percent were not known before patients were tested as part of this protocol, "which indicates that current clinical criteria may not identify all patients at risk for cancer predisposition," Cobain said.

Close to 5 percent of patients had biomarkers that could inform their treatment, such as defects in DNA repair genes, which can be treated with PARP inhibitors, and mutations in mismatch repair gene defects that can be used to prescribe immunotherapy. Significant proportions of patients with rare tumors had pathogenic variants, such as 20 percent of sarcomas, 17 percent of hepatobiliary cancers, and 16 percent of cancers of unknown primary. Cobain highlighted that some of these patients with these rare tumors had germline mutations that could potentially be therapeutically targeted, which is important given the limited treatment options in these settings.

Ultimately, 11 patients received PARP inhibitors and immunotherapies based on germline findings. Two patients had a complete response, one had a partial response, and five had stable disease. Of the three patients who had progressive disease, two were breast cancer patients with germline ATM mutations treated with PARP inhibitors, and the third was a pancreatic cancer patient with a BRCA1 mutation who received a PARP inhibitor.

The results of this study "support consideration of directed germline testing in all patients with metastatic solid tumors to identify defects in DNA repair with therapeutic targets," Cobain said.

Needs infrastructure

To Funda Meric-Bernstam from MD Anderson Cancer Center, both of these studies demonstrate that if cancer centers are doing tumor/normal sequencing and looking for germline variants of clinical significance, they may not have to look too hard. However, she clarified that its also not "easy" to identify and report germline variants in this context. "This requires a lab to both analyze the normal [samples] and call pathogenic and likely pathogenic variants," she said.

Currently, there isn't a standardized method among tumor sequencing labs when it comes to dealing with germline findings. Some labs conduct only tumor testing, others conduct tumor-normal analysis but subtract germline findings, and still others perform tumor-normal testing and report only a subset of germline findings. Even if a lab sequencing only tumor tissue, tests will identify mutations in genes that are more likely to have occurred in the germline.

Meric-Bernstam noted that although the studies at MSK and the University of Michigan were done under IRB-approved protocols, in the real world when tumor sequencing is done, most patients aren't asked if they want to learn germline findings. "You really need infrastructure to return [results], to counsel, and to offer cascade testing," she said. "You need to facilitate the analysis of normal [samples] so you can ensure findings can be acted upon in a timely fashion, especially in patients with advanced disease. You need to have infrastructure in place for treatment matching and treatments available."

Though there are technical and infrastructural challenges to reporting out germline findings in the context of cancer tumor sequencing, genetics experts are increasingly of the opinion that it is no longer ethical to mask these findings, particularly given their increasingly important role in therapy selection as demonstrated by the ASCO studies. The American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics last month published a set of points that clinicians and genomics labs should consider when presumed germline variants are flagged during tumor sequencing.

Recognizing the varying practices in the field in this regard, the ACMG in its publication told genetic testing labs to be transparent about their ability to detect germline variants from tumor testing, as well as their reporting practices. Additionally, the ACMG told clinicians to take the opportunity when ordering tumor testing to evaluate the patient for clinical signs of an underlying hereditary cancer syndrome that may require germline testing.

According to Douglas Stewart, who is lead author of the ACMG paper and is a senior investigator within the National Cancer Institutes' Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, Clinical Genetics Branch, the aim of the association is to promote best practices. But it is also the association's hope, he recently said in an interview, that the issues laid out in the paper will start a discussion in the field about how "to capitalize on this huge opportunity of identifying germline variation in tumor sequencing so that it benefits as many people as possible."

Excerpt from:
Germline Results From Tumor-Normal Sequencing Guides Precision Therapy in Advanced Cancer Patients - Precision Oncology News

Cheetahs are majestic cats found in parts of Asia and Africa. Centuries ago, these magnificent runners roamed the Indian subcontinent, before they were forced into extinction by humans. They were hunted, kept captive and used by the Maharajas for hunting other animals, and by the mid-twentieth century, they became locally extinct. Today, in parts of Africa and Asia where these cats are found, the destruction of their habitatgrasslandsare threatening the surviving populations of wild cheetahs. In Iran, for example, the wild population of Asiatic cheetahs are struggling.

In a bid to reintroduce cheetahs in India, suggestions were made to bring in African cheetahs from Namibia to Indian forests. After a prolonged legal battle, in January 2020, the Supreme Court allowed the reintroduction of these foreign cheetahs. This move is thought to bolster conservation and tourism. But such decisions cannot be based on the rule of the land alone. One needs to have sufficient information and understanding of several aspects, including the evolution and genetics of cheetahs in a region, to succeed in such efforts.

Previous studies have shown that the now-extinct Indian cheetah was an Asiatic subspecies. However, we do not know how closely the Asiatic and African cheetahs are related. Now, a study published in the journal Scientific Reports has probed the evolutionary relationship between cheetahs. The study, consisting of a team of international researchers, included those from the Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology (CCMB) Hyderabad, the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow, and the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), Kolkata.

The researchers started by sequencing the mitochondrial DNA fragments, present outside the nucleus of a cell in an organelle called mitochondria, of an Indian cheetah and two African cheetahs. The African cheetah samples came from Southeast Africa and Northeasteast Africa, which were imported to India at different times. These three sequences were then compared against 118 published cheetah mitochondrial DNA sequences from various regions of Africa and Asia.

Based on previous studies, it was believed that the Asiatic subspecies of cheetahs diverged from the African subspecies only 5000 years ago. However, the genetic analysis of the current study found that this divergence is older than thought, and may have happened about 72,200 years ago. As a result, the populations today are genetically very different from each other, say the researchers, explaining the genetic uniqueness of Asiatic cheetahs. The study also found that the Asiatic cheetah and the Southeast African are more closely related to one another than to Northeast African cheetah.

The current study also sheds some insights into the origin of all cheetahs using the genetic analysis. It suggests that the common ancestor of all cheetahs is approximately 1,38,900 years olda number that is twice the previous estimate of 67,000 years.

The findings not only inform us about the evolutionary history of the cheetahs but also provides grounds on making an informed choice for their conservation. Phylogenetics, the study of evolutionary relationships, shows the differences in the genetic traits and characters and evolutionary history among species. The unique genetic makeup seen in these subspecies of cheetah not only help differentiate the populations from each other but also help determine their capacity to adapt to changing conditions.

In India, the results of the study have implications on what subspecies of cheetahs should be reintroduced. Some argue that reintroducing cheetahs could be a misplaced priority right now since Indias lions and tigers are in greater peril. Others opine that with the reintroduction, the countrys grasslands may be saved. The debate is still wide open, and science may soon help resolve it.

More here:
New insights on the evolution of cheetahs may help decide the best move on reintroduction - Research Matters

Point of Care Molecular Diagnostic Device Market was valued at USD635.5 million in 2018 and is estimated to grow at a CAGR of XX% from 2018 to 2026.Point of Care Molecular Diagnostics Device Market, By RegionA point-of-care (POC) test is performed at or near the site where a patient initially encounters the health care system. It has a rapid turnaround time (approximately 15 min) and provides actionable information that can lead to better patient management.

REQUEST FOR FREE SAMPLE REPORT:https://www.maximizemarketresearch.com/request-sample/10995/

Some of the key market drivers include the increasing technological advancements, ability to diagnose infectious diseases at sites with a limited infrastructure, availability of clinical evidence for the safety and efficacy procedures, patients awareness about better healthcare options and readiness for rising healthcare expenditures, changing technology and innovation, changing demographics and lifestyles leading to an increased prevalence of peripheral vascular diseases, adoption of new products, rising demand for advanced medical instruments, geriatric population.

Point of Care Molecular Diagnostics Device Market is segmented by product & service, technology, application, end user, and region. Point of Care Molecular Diagnostics Device Market has the largest usage in Physician Offices, Hospital Emergency Departments & Intensive Care Units, and Research Institutes

Geographically, global point of care molecular diagnostics device market is classified into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), and the Rest of the World (RoW). In 2018, North America is anticipated to have the largest share in the global adhesion barrier market. The largest ratio of the North American market can mostly be attributed to the high prevalence of technologically advanced medical framework, sophisticated insurance & co-payment system & high R&D investment by governments and private funding organizations for the development of POC MDx tests are major factors responsible for the regions dominant market position. Availability of clinical evidence for the safety and efficacy of point of care molecular diagnostics procedures, transmuting technology and innovation.

Asia Pacific market is expected to grow at the fastest rate during the forecast period owing to the increasing demand for POC test. Many minuscule players are looking forward to investment in the Asia Pacific market due to sizable patient pool and incremental utilization of global adhesion barrier market devices.

DO INQUIRY BEFORE PURCHASING REPORT HERE:https://www.maximizemarketresearch.com/inquiry-before-buying/10995/

The key players in the Point of Care Molecular Diagnostics Device Market include Roche Diagnostics (Switzerland), Biomerieux (France), Danaher (US), Abbott Laboratories (US), Quidel (US) and Meridian Bioscience (US).

The years that have been considered for the study are:

Base year 2017 Estimated year 2018 Forecast period 2018 to 2026

Target Audience: POC Molecular Diagnostics Manufacturers Physicians Research Institutes Diagnostics Suppliers Market Research and Consulting Firms Regulatory Bodies Venture CapitalistsPoint of Care Molecular Diagnostics Device Market- Key Segment:

Point of Care Molecular Diagnostics Device Market, By Product & Service:

o Assays & Kitso Instruments/Analyserso Services & SoftwarePoint of Care Molecular Diagnostics Device Market, By Application:

o Respiratory diseaseso STDso HAIso Oncologyo HepatitisPoint of Care Molecular Diagnostics Device Market, By Technology:

o RT-PCRo INAATo Others Technologies Point of Care Molecular Diagnostics Device Market, By End User:

o Physician Officeso Hospital Emergency Departments & Intensive Care Unitso Research Instituteso Other End User

Company Profiles:

Abacus Diagnostica Advanced Liquid Logic (Illumina) Ahram Biosystems Akonni Biosystems Alere (Abbott) Amplino Analytik Jena Aquila Diagnostic Systems Atlas Genetics Axxin Becton, Dickinson & Co. (BD) Biocartis Biomeme bioMrieux Canon BioMedical Cepheid Coris BioConcept Coyote Bioscience Curetis DestiNA Genomics Diagnostics For All Diagnostics for the Real World DiaSorin DiAssess DNA Electronics DxNAPoint of Care Molecular Diagnostics Device Market, By Region

North America U.S Canada

Europe Germany France UK Italy Spain Russia Rest of Europe

Asia Pacific Japan China India South Korea Australia Rest of Asia Pacific

Rest of the World (ROW): Middle-East Africa Latin America

MAJOR TOC OF THE REPORT

Chapter One: Point of Care Molecular Diagnostics Device Market Overview

Chapter Two: Manufacturers Profiles

Chapter Three: Global Point of Care Molecular Diagnostics Device Market Competition, by Players

Chapter Four: Global Point of Care Molecular Diagnostics Device Market Size by Regions

Chapter Five: North America Point of Care Molecular Diagnostics Device Revenue by Countries

Chapter Six: Europe Point of Care Molecular Diagnostics Device Revenue by Countries

Chapter Seven: Asia-Pacific Point of Care Molecular Diagnostics Device Revenue by Countries

Chapter Eight: South America Point of Care Molecular Diagnostics Device Revenue by Countries

Chapter Nine: Middle East and Africa Revenue Point of Care Molecular Diagnostics Device by Countries

Chapter Ten: Global Point of Care Molecular Diagnostics Device Market Segment by Type

Chapter Eleven: Global Point of Care Molecular Diagnostics Device Market Segment by Application

Chapter Twelve: Global Point of Care Molecular Diagnostics Device Market Size Forecast (2019-2026)

Browse Full Report with Facts and Figures of Point of Care Molecular Diagnostics Device Market Report at:https://www.maximizemarketresearch.com/market-report/point-of-care-molecular-diagnostics-device-market/10995/

About Us:

Maximize Market Research provides B2B and B2C market research on 20,000 high growth emerging technologies & opportunities in Chemical, Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, Electronics & Communications, Internet of Things, Food and Beverages, Aerospace and Defense and other manufacturing sectors.

Contact info:

Name: Vikas Godage

Organization: MAXIMIZE MARKET RESEARCH PVT. LTD.

Email: sales@maximizemarketresearch.com

Contact: +919607065656/ +919607195908

Website: http://www.maximizemarketresearch.com

Connect With us at LinkedInLinkedIn

Connect with us at FacebookFacebook

Contact With Us at TwitterTwitter

See more here:
Point of Care Molecular Diagnostics Device Market Industry Analysis and Forecast (2019 to 2026) by... - Azizsalon News

BOSTON & TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Virna Therapeutics announces that they are partnering with University of Toronto to in-license neutralizing antibodies, to treat COVID-19. The discovery was made in the laboratory of Sachdev Sidhu, PhD., a professor of Molecular Genetics at the University of Torontos Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research and founder of the Toronto Recombinant Antibody Centre.

The speed and scale of the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the urgent need for better methods for developing and testing novel therapeutics. The crisis has presented severe challenges to global health but has also provided an opportunity to integrate advanced methods. The speed with which SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies were produced and validated highlights the robustness of the Donnelly Centre antibody engineering platform and its ability to address urgent health challenges like COVID-19, says Brenda Andrews, Director of the Donnelly Centre. "The partnership with Virna Therapeutics is the latest in a string of industry collaborations allowing our investigators to translate their discoveries into new therapies."

The founders of Virna Therapeutics include Dr. Sachdev Sidhu (Chief Scientific Officer), leader of the discovery and development process, Suresh K. Jain, PhD. (President and Chief Executive Officer), a Boston-based serial biotech entrepreneur with a track record of success in building world-class organizations and teams, and Pier Paolo Pandolfi, MD., PhD., FRCP, a famed cancer molecular geneticist and RNA therapy expert.

Virna Therapeutics has a three-pronged strategy to target the COVID-19 virus: (1) neutralizing antibodies that will prevent the virus from entering host cells, (2) CRISPR/Cas13d-based and LNA-based technologies for the treatment and prevention of RNA virus infection and (3) novel protease inhibitors that will prevent replication and release from host cells.

Virna has prioritized developing potent and highly selective neutralizing antibodies against spike proteins and plans to clinically test these leads within the next three to four months says Dr. Jain. We aim to become the worlds leading expert in the development of novel, best-in-class, anti-viral therapies based on synthetic antibodies, small molecules and RNA medicine.

Dr. Sidhu adds, Besides antibodies against spike protein, we also have several antibodies that target additional epitopes on the spike protein and are exploring those in functional assays. We are confident that the targeting of the key epitope will be a very effective therapy, but we still have a long-term interest in achieving a complete understanding of the various epitopes that can be recruited for therapy.

About University of Toronto

Founded in 1827, the University of Toronto is Canadas leading institution of discovery and knowledge. Located at U of T, the Donnelly Centre is a research institute where scientists from diverse fields make discoveries to improve health. It houses the Toronto Recombinant Antibody Centre (TRAC), which produces a variety of antibodies to support academic collaborations, industry partnerships and to help seed promising start-up companies. U of Ts Innovations & Partnership Office (IPO) is responsible for the negotiation and licensing of biologics from the university and represents U of T in its commercial transactions with VIRNA. For more information about the Donnelly Centre, visit us at thedonnellycentre.utoronto.ca or follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

About VirnaVirna Therapeutics Inc. is a privately held biotech company specializing in multi-pronged discovery technologies. While Virna is researching multiple approaches for treating infectious diseases, their validated synthetic antibody technology is a powerful platform enabling efficient generation of fully-human monoclonal antibodies. The company is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts and has a registered office in Montreal; http://www.virnatherapeutics.com

Visit link:
Virna Therapeutics and University of Toronto Announce Licensing of Neutralizing Monoclonal Antibodies to Treat COVID-19 - Business Wire

The global spread of COVID-19 has forced us to become familiar with terminology from contact tracing to social distancing most of us didnt know a few months ago. Now, if the hunch of many scientists is correct, we are about to hear a lot about genome sequencing, too.

In search of a genetic explanation for why the novel coronavirus affects some people much more severely than others, the federal government has invested $20 million into a national project to sequence and analyze the genomes of 10,000 Canadians who have had COVID-19.

The project, part of a larger $40 million investment in the Canadian COVID Genomics Network, will be managed by CGEn, a federally funded national platform for genome sequencing, a complex process that, among other things, can help spot DNA mutations in individuals or groups that predispose them to certain illnesses.

There seems to be a genetic component to this virus. You can see that in the individuals who have had the same level of exposure to the virus but respond very differently, says Lisa Strug, associate director of The Centre for Applied Genomics (TCAG) at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and an associate professor in the department of statistical sciences in the University of Torontos Faculty of Arts & Science.

That points to this idea that our genetics could impact our response to the virus and how some people can fight it off and some cant. So, we need to know what are the genetic variations that are determining this variable response?

Strug, who is scientific lead of the CGEn sequencing project, says published studies have already examined so-called heritability.

Researchers have looked at whether some of the symptoms being seen with COVID-19 run in families, she says. Some families are experiencing the virus in the same way they all have mild symptoms, or all have very severe experiences. So it appears that there is some hereditary component. And thats another piece of evidence pointing to genetics.

Strug will work with scientists at CGEn nodes at U of T and SickKids, McGill University and at the University of British Columbia. CGEn will collect blood samples from 10,000 patients from across the country, of all ages and genders, who have COVID-19. The researchers will then extract the DNA from the samples, sequence and analyze it with sophisticated computing and statistical techniques and put all the clinical and genetic information in a protected database so researchers around the world can use it in their COVID-19 projects. A similar project is being conducted in the United Kingdom, which will involve about 20,000 patients.

The large sample size is essential because there are likely different factors that contribute to the response to COVID-19 infection in different individuals and at different ages, and the more data we have, the greater the ability researchers will have to identify these, says Strug. There is a huge benefit in not just looking at one patient at a time, but across the population and across all genes.

How will this information benefit research into the novel coronavirus? Strug says the results will be useful in identifying who is the most susceptible to COVID-19 and in understanding which genes scientists should be targeting when developing drugs to treat the virus and, ideally, a vaccine that will help control it.

There is also another major benefit of starting this massive, two year-long project immediately: data that can be used to protect ourselves from future illnesses.

U of Ts StephenScherer,the lead principal investigator of CGEn,says the genetic information gleaned from the project can be used to help guard against future outbreaks (photo courtesy of SickKids)

This is Canadas first time doing a large-scale project like this, says Stephen Scherer, TCAGs director and a University Professor of molecular genetics at U of T. When global society moves past the COVID-19 pandemic, there will be another one. All this genetic information will be extremely useful for that point in the future.

Were about to get an excellent genetic cross-section of the Canadian population. This virus has been destructive, but it is also forcing us to create new knowledge that we will be able to leverage for years to come.

For example, knowledge gained from the SARS epidemic of the early 2000s has been useful during the current outbreak, according to Strug and Scherer. Thats because of the similarities between the two coronaviruses.

That has helped the global research community be able to respond quickly to this new virus, says Strug.

That said, genetic sequencing must deal with a huge amount of data. The numbers are staggering the human genome contains three billion base chemical units that code for about 25,000 to 35,000 genes, and this project will sequence 10,000 genomes.

This is very big data analysis, Strug says.

Both scientists note that computing technology used for sequencing is far more advanced than even a decade ago. The technology has become so sophisticated and affordable that we can propose to look at entire DNA sequences, says Scherer. In 2003, for SARS 1, we couldnt do this.

Scherer, who is the lead principal investigator of CGEn, a senior scientist at SickKids and director of U of Ts McLaughlin Centre, says hes impressed with how the global research community has pivoted to focus on solving the COVID-19 puzzle.

Its amazing how scientists around the world have come together on this, he says. Just at U of T, there are researchers working on COVID-19 who I would have never predicted would be. I would say that 75 per cent of the people Im talking with every day, now, are not the same people I was talking with eight weeks ago. But they have a specific technology or some useful knowledge that links in.

Thats how scientific research needs to work to be effective: By bringing in a wide breadth of perspectives and specialists, cracking COVID-19 could become this generations moonshot.

View post:
U of T researchers help lead national effort to explore role of genes in COVID-19 - News@UofT

With top White House officials indicating a coronavirus vaccine may be available by January 2021, scientists and vaccine experts outside the Trump administration are cautious but optimistic that a vaccine could be delivered on such an accelerated timeline.

Experts interviewed by ABC warned that developing a vaccine within a 12-month time frame could mean throwing normal scientific standards out the window, but added that a vaccine could be available by the new year if everything goes perfectly.

While President Donald Trump has been bullish in his promise to have a "vaccine by the end of the year," his top advisors have taken a more measured approach, saying a January deadline is a best-case scenario. Last week, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease doctor, said, "we want to go quickly, but we want to make sure it's safe and it's effective."

Since the start of the U.S. epidemic, Fauci has been estimating a vaccine is 12 to 18 months away. But the prior record for vaccine development -- the mumps vaccine -- took four years, meaning Fauci's early estimates drew skepticism among many vaccine experts.

But with the growing sense of urgency as the death toll mounted dramatically in March and April, vaccine developers collapsed the normal development timelines by running concurrent studies that would normally be conducted in a stepwise approach. Meanwhile, drug companies are already scaling up production without even knowing which vaccine is likely to work.

"It is not impossible," said Paul Duprex, PhD, Director of the Center for Vaccine Research and professor of microbiology and molecular genetics at the University of Pittsburgh. "It's of course very aggressive -- but it is possible."

"You'd have to be lucky," said Dr. Paul Offit, co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine, who sits on the Food and Drug Administration's vaccine advisory committee. "It would be remarkable, but not completely ridiculous."

The first box of the vaccine candidate to be used in Phase I / II trial, at the Clinical Biomanufacturing Facility (CBF) in Oxford, Britain, April 2, 2020.

Dr. Paul Goepfert, professor of medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and an expert in vaccine design, said a vaccine by January would only be possible "if everything works out perfectly."

To have a new vaccine by January, experts said a study would need to be conducted in parts of the world where the pandemic is still raging. This would help ensure a big enough group of patients were exposed, and then protected, from the virus.

Then, one of the vaccines currently being developed would have to show positive results, which isn't a guarantee. That vaccine would also have to prove safe, without any dangerous side effects. Finally, vaccine makers would have to be ready with hundreds of millions of doses as soon as data is in hand.

"It is possible but not likely," Goepfert said.

"It's difficult to set exact timelines," said Rinke Bos, principal scientist and immunologist for Johnson and Johnson - one of the companies advancing a COVID-19 vaccine. There are several complicating factors that could easily delay the timeline beyond 18 months, including the fact that the studies will need to be conducted in places where the virus is still circulating.

"Those are quite complicated discussions," she said. "It's very difficult to say something about a timeline."

Right now there are more than 100 vaccines being studied, and at least eight of those have already progressed outside the laboratory and into human studies, according to the World Health Organization. The furthest along include candidates from the University of Oxford, Pfizer, Moderna Therapeutics, Inovio Pharmaceuticals and China's CanSino Biologics.

Many of these vaccines use different technology -- some brand-new to vaccine science -- and experts still don't know which is the most likely to work.

Meanwhile, the White House's Operation Warp Speed has resulted in a handful of vaccine candidates that might work against the novel coronavirus -- although those will also need further study.

Right now, many of the vaccines already tested in people have been accelerated far beyond the normal, methodical timelines. Instead of moving from animal studies in a laboratory to a carefully tiered Phase I, II and III system of in-human study, some of these studies are being conducted simultaneously -- with some even skipping normal animal studies.

Under normal circumstances, it would be too expensive for drug developers and too risky for human volunteers to run these types of studies concurrently. But vaccine developers are deviating from the normal rule book because of the sheer devastation of the global pandemic.

A researcher works on coronavirus vaccine development at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Silver Spring, Md., April 28, 2020.

"We as scientists are rather linear individuals," said Duprex. "There are huge financial reasons for that." Now, he said, "there are people taking risks, doing something that might not lead to fruition."

The scientific challenges are unprecedented, considering how little is known about the novel coronavirus that has killed more than 250,000 people across the globe.

For example, said Offit, most vaccines work by triggering an immune response inside the body without making a person sick. But for this novel coronavirus, scientists still haven't had time to adequately study the body's immune response to infection -- meaning we don't know whether an immune system response necessarily protects against a future infection.

And rushing development could mean that important safety issues are missed.

"Most vaccines have been pretty safe, but there have been problems in the past," said Goepfert.

And the downside of immunizing millions of people with a rushed, unsafe vaccine could have long-ranging consequences.

"Vaccines are so, so important for public health," Duprex said. If something goes wrong the general public will extrapolate that vaccines are unsafe."

"Time is critical, of course, but safety is critical," said Duprex. "In the middle of this fast approach, we absolutely cannot compromise on safety."

Tune into ABC at 1 p.m. ET and ABC News Live at 4 p.m. ET every weekday for special coverage of the novel coronavirus with the full ABC News team, including the latest news, context and analysis.

Read this article:
Is it possible to have a safe coronavirus vaccine by New Years Eve? - ABC News

DetailsCategory: Proteins and PeptidesPublished on Tuesday, 26 May 2020 18:19Hits: 273

Pegzilarginase Showed Durable Clinical Response at 56 Week Analysis

All Patients Demonstrated a Marked and Sustained Reduction in Plasma Arginine

Favorable Safety Profile, Consistent with Previously Reported Results

AUSTIN, TX, USA I May 26, 2020 I Aeglea BioTherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AGLE), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing a new generation of human enzyme therapeutics as innovative solutions for rare and other high-burden diseases, today announced a new 56 week analysis on Arginase 1 Deficiency (ARG1-D) patients who have been treated with pegzilarginase from the Companys completed Phase 1/2 clinical trial and the ongoing Phase 2 open-label extension study. The data were shared yesterday in a virtual, late-breaking oral presentation at the 6th Congress of the European Academy of Neurology.

Arginase 1 Deficiency is a devastating disease that is frequently under diagnosed or misdiagnosed as more common neurological conditions, such as cerebral palsy, due to lack of awareness of this rare condition, said George Diaz, M.D., Ph.D., division chief of medical genetics in theDivision of Medical Genetics and Genomics and Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences at theIcahn School of MedicineatMount Sinai, New York, NY. Because of the conditions progressive nature, it is essential that patients be diagnosed early, and there is an urgent need for a therapy that addresses the underlying cause of the disease and improves clinical manifestations.

The results of this long-term data demonstrate that treatment with pegzilarginase resulted in a durable clinical response, which is a critical factor in effectively treating a life-long, progressive condition, said Ravi M. Rao, M.B Ch.B PhD, chief medical officer of Aeglea. We are also pleased to see that the lowering of arginine levels observed in the 20 week analysis were maintained through the 56 week analysis. These results align with the primary endpoint of PEACE, our ongoing pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial, and together with the durable clinical response bolsters our belief that pegzilarginase has the potential to be an impactful treatment for people living with Arginase 1 Deficiency.

The presentation, titled 1 Year Data from First in Human Study of Pegzilarginase for the Treatment of Arginase 1 Deficiency (ARG1-D), includes data on 13 patients treated with pegzilarginase who completed the 56 week treatment period (8 weeks Part 2 repeat dosing + 48 weeks open-label extension).

Highlights from the 56 week analysis include:

The presentation is available for download on the Presentations & Events section of the Companys website.

About the Phase 1/2 and Open-Label Extension Trial

The Phase 1/2, multicenter, single arm, open-label extension study of pegzilarginase enrolled patients aged 2 years and older with Arginase 1 Deficiency in the United States, Canada, and Europe. The trial investigates single ascending doses (Part 1), repeated weekly dosing for eight weeks (Part 2). The trial enrolled 16 adult and pediatric patients and 14 patients rolled over to the open-label extension. The primary endpoint of the trial is safety and tolerability of intravenous administration of pegzilarginase in patients with Arginase 1 Deficiency. The trial also evaluated the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic effects of repeated doses of pegzilarginase on plasma arginine levels, and evaluation of clinical outcomes using several mobility assessments.

Please visit http://www.clinicaltrials.gov for more information.

About Pegzilarginase in Arginase 1 Deficiency

Pegzilarginase is an enhanced human arginase that enzymatically lowers levels of the amino acid arginine. Aeglea is developing pegzilarginase for the treatment of patients with Arginase 1 Deficiency (ARG1-D), a rare debilitating disease presenting in childhood with persistent hyperargininemia, severe progressive neurological abnormalities and early mortality. Pegzilarginase is intended for use as an enzyme therapy to reduce elevated blood arginine levels in patients with ARG1-D. Aegleas Phase 1/2 and Phase 2 open-label extension data for pegzilarginase in patients with ARG1-D demonstrated clinical improvements and sustained lowering of plasma arginine. The Companys single, global pivotal Phase 3 PEACE trial is designed to assess the effects of treatment with pegzilarginase versus placebo over 24 weeks with a primary endpoint of plasma arginine reduction.

About Aeglea BioTherapeuticsAeglea BioTherapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company redefining the potential of human enzyme therapeutics to benefit people with rare and other high burden diseases. Aeglea's lead product candidate, pegzilarginase, is in a pivotal Phase 3 trial for the treatment of Arginase 1 Deficiency and has received both Rare Pediatric Disease and Breakthrough Therapy Designation. The Company received approval of its Clinical Trial Application (CTA) for ACN00177 for the treatment of Homocystinuria by the United Kingdoms Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). Aeglea has an active discovery platform, with the most advanced program for Cystinuria. For more information, please visit http://aegleabio.com.

SOURCE: Aeglea BioTherapeutics

View post:
Aeglea BioTherapeutics Announces 1-Year Data for Pegzilarginase in Patients with Arginase 1 Deficiency at the 6th Congress of the European Academy of...

Ordering takeout or delivery during a pandemic, you cant help but wonder just how safe food that hasnt been prepared in your own home might be especially when delivered by a stranger.

There are no reported cases of COVID-19 being spread through food, and we know that the chance of transmission through food is very low. Thats reassuring, but its still easy to feel anxious about an interaction that was mundane in pre-pandemic times. We spoke to health and food experts for best practices when handling takeout during a pandemic.

The short answer is no. Food that has been cooked is very likely to be safe to eat. When a meal is moved from the kitchen straight into a takeout container, those chances become even lower.

Heres the scientific answer:

This virus is very different than the types of viruses commonly being spread through food, explains Jennifer Ronholm, assistant professor of agricultural and environmental science at McGill University. COVID-19 is an enveloped virus, meaning it is surrounded by a phospholipid, protein and glycoprotein membrane. These membranes are critical to the virus it simply cannot infect you if its membrane isnt mostly intact.

However, these viral membranes are very sensitive to desiccation, heat, enzymes, pH and detergents, she adds. Which means enveloped viruses succumb to the elements relatively quickly when compared to non-enveloped viruses, like norovirus, which are known to spread easily using food as a vector.

When it comes to the delivery process itself, the individual most at risk is the delivery person, who interacts with both the restaurant and the customer. COVID-19 is transmitted through respiratory droplets, i.e. if someone coughs, sneezes or breathes while handling food though the risk of it spreading via packaging is low.

As such, you should opt for contactless payment when possible, whether paying electronically or leaving cash outside your door in an envelope; asking for contactless delivery; remaining physically distanced from the delivery person; and washing your hands after handling the delivery.

A useful practice is to assume your delivery person is infected and treat the surface of your package as though it has been contaminated in order to get into a new rhythm.

After you receive the package, remove the box of food and throw away the bag. Open the box, wash your hands and dish the food onto a plate. Then throw away the box. Wash your hands again and eat. If youre dealing with uncooked food or groceries, for example, fruits or vegetables, give them a good wash or wipe-down.

If youre picking up takeout, maintain a two-metre distance from other patrons and do not go out if you are sick or living with someone who is.

Reheating leftovers is okay, as isrefrigerating food.

Coronavirus is a virus not a bacterium so it does not grow outside of the human body, says William Navarre, associate professor of molecular genetics at the University of Toronto. If I put 1,000 virus particles on a piece of food and come back a day later? Still 1,000 viruses. If I put 1,000 bacteria [like salmonella or listeria] on a piece of food? By the next day, Ill have over a million bacteria. So while refrigeration of food is a great thing, its irrelevant for COVID-19. In fact, it may keep the virus active for longer than if it were sitting at room temperature.

If you suspect your food is contaminated, toss it out.

When thousands gathered in close proximity in Torontos Trinity Bellwoods Park on May 23, Bloordale restaurant Seoul Shakers announced it would no longer make park deliveries due to the risk not just to those delivering, but those in the park.

In Wuhan, China, where the outbreak wreaked havoc for months, many delivery drivers wore protective gear, including full-body suits, gloves, goggles and masks and were provided with sanitizer by their employers. They also had temperature checks twice daily.

Restaurants and delivery services are also adapting to safety measures in Canada, but to a lesser degree. DoorDash is offering its delivery drivers hand sanitizer and gloves through online delivery, while Uber Eats is working to provide delivery people with sanitization materials.

The risk to delivery people depends not only on the restaurant but on the customer. Its important to evaluate how much danger you might be placing your delivery person in when you place an order. Where are you located? Are you sick or living with someone who is? Can you manage a contactless process? Its important to weigh the risk to both parties. (And dont forget to tip.)

While restaurant kitchens should always operate in accordance with provincial occupational health and safety rules, they must now follow additional public health measures, as per the chief medical officer of health: washing hands often, sanitizing between each transaction and delivery, wearing masks and gloves where possible, sneezing or coughing into sleeves, remaining physically distanced in the kitchen when possible, adding floor markings to manage traffic flow, installing barriers between cashiers and customers or for curbside pick-up.

Most restaurants are obligated to follow health and safety guidelines regarding preparation and storage of food and most of what they do to prevent other food issues is going to be useful to limit the spread of COVID-19, says Navarre. Restaurant workers should be more careful about always wearing masks in the kitchen and only using clean hands when preparing food. Better yet, utensils and tongs to touch food when possible. All restaurants should be tripling their efforts.

Now that the weather is warmer, he says, its beneficial to keep restaurant back doors open while a fan blows air out, as viral particles in the air build up over time when there is poor ventilation. Gloves need to be regularly cleaned or changed. While disposables may not be the best environmental choice, they can be safer, more efficient and better for your skin.

These should be the new rules, says Navarre. Lets hope, when COVID-19 is old news, some kitchens might consider keeping some of the new rules.

@_sadafahsan

Read more here:
How to safely handle delivery and takeout food - NOW Magazine

Eurordis, a Paris-based coalition of national rare disease associations across Europe, hosted its first all-virtual conference, bringing some 1,500 delegates from 57 countries together online during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 10th European Conference on Rare Diseases & Orphan Products (ECRD2020) which was set for May 1415 in Stockholm, instead took place via Zoom. Eurordis and its co-organizer, Orphanet, used the occasion to appeal to the European Union in Brussels to urgently approve standardized policies to advance the health and well-being of all Europeans.

Yann Le Cam, CEO of Eurordis, said that as is the case with COVID-19, there is an obvious value to grouping efforts at the EU level in order to tackle rare diseases. But he lashed out at the increasing nationalism shown by various leaders responding to the pandemic.

We must quash this egocentric rhetoric emerging in some countries. It fragments Europe into diverging national-level decisions, Le Cam, of France, said in his welcoming remarks. A lack of EU coordination is both detrimental to the health of people living with a rare disease and has an unnecessary negative impact on the economy.

He urged the EU to take the following concrete steps:

This epidemic has shown that if you fail to prepare, you prepare for failure and we must prepare together across borders, said Terkel Andersen, president of the Eurordis board.

Eurordis is a nonprofit alliance of 900 rare-disease patient organizations from 72 countries that work jointly to improve the lives of Europeans with rare diseases. Orphanet provides high-quality information and data on rare diseases. With its 40-nation network, Orphanet helps to orient patients and doctors to relevant expert resources in Europe and beyond.

The EU considers a disease rare if its incidence is lower than 1 in 2,000 people. About 30 million of the 446 million citizens who live in its 27 member states have a rare disease.

Yet because of the low prevalence of each disease, medical expertise is uncertain, care offerings inadequate, and research limited, said Orphanets director, Ana Rath. She noted that 72% of rare diseases are genetic and that 70% of those genetic conditions begin in childhood.

Now more than ever, the EU has a vital role to play in improving the health of its citizens. ECRD2020 focuses on how to build policies and services over the next decade that will improve the journey of living with a rare disease for patients and families, Rath said.

Attendance at this years virtual conference was up 81% compared to the 850 people who attended ECRD2018 in Vienna. It followed six broad themes, ranging from the future of diagnosis to the digital health revolution.

The online conference program ran 54 pages, with specific breakout sessions covering topics from newborn screening for genetic diseases to how best to bring real life into therapeutic development.

Several top EU officials addressed participants via Zoom, including Stella Kyriakides, the European commissioner for health and food safety. She said ECRD2020 builds on the work of the ongoingRare 2030 Foresight Study, which will conclude in 2021 with a comprehensive set of key recommendations to EU leaders on how to improve rare disease policy.

In the coming years, we will be guided by the Rare 2030 Foresight Study, Kyriakides said. We need now to take lessons from COVID-19. We know that patients will be the driving force of our rare disease policy.Europe currently accounts for more than one-third of the 4.7 million confirmed COVID-19 infections worldwide, with cases stretching from Madrid to Moscow. Infection rates, however, varies widely among EU member states.

Another major theme of ECRD2020 was how to ensure non-discrimination on the basis of health and disability. Officials addressing that theme included David Lega, a Swedish member of the European Parliament; Jana Popova of theBulgarian Association for Neuromuscular Diseases; and Helena Dalli, European commissioner for equality.

All people should be able to participate fully and equally in society and in the economy, Dalli said. It is not only their right. Their participation represents a huge contribution to the whole society.

The ECRD2020 conference was co-chaired by Maria Montefusco, president of Rare Diseases Sweden; Milan Macek, a professor of medical and molecular genetics at Motol University Hospital in Prague; and Violeta Stoyanova-Beninska, chair of the Committee of Orphan Medical Products at the Amsterdam-based European Medicines Agency.

Total Posts: 85

Ana holds a PhD in Immunology from the University of Lisbon and worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Instituto de Medicina Molecular (iMM) in Lisbon, Portugal. She graduated with a BSc in Genetics from the University of Newcastle and received a Masters in Biomolecular Archaeology from the University of Manchester, England. After leaving the lab to pursue a career in Science Communication, she served as the Director of Science Communication at iMM.

See the original post:
Unity and EU-wide Efforts Focus of Online Rare Disease Meeting - SMA News Today

The ability to modify gene expression in these cells has the potential to lead to new treatments for cancer, autoimmune disease

UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center

L-R: Study authors Luke Riggan, Professor Tim OSullivan and Andrew Hildreth.

Sarah C.P. Williams | May 20, 2020

A UCLA research team has successfully usedthe powerful gene-editing tool known asCRISPR-Cas9 toalterthe DNA ofmatureinnate immune cells, some of the bodys first responders to infections. These blood cells have been notoriously difficult to genetically engineer in the past.

While the work was carried out in mice, the ability tomodifythe gene expression of these cells could one day allow clinicians to better harness the power of the immune system in the fight against cancer and autoimmune disease.

The study, published in the journal Cell Reports, was led by senior authorTim OSullivan, an assistant professor of microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics and a member of theEli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA.

Weve figured out a way to genetically edit cells that researchers have had a lot of difficulty with in the past, said OSullivan, who is also a member of theUCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. The real impact will be if we can one day take cells from patients blood, edit them using this approach and put them back in the same patient as an immunotherapy.

Unlike the adaptive immune system, which relies ontheproduction ofantibodiesthattarget specific molecules present on viruses, bacteria, and other pathogens, the innate immune system is the bodysfirst andmoregeneralized line ofdefense. Innate immune cells including macrophages, dendritic cells and natural killer cells recognize and fight offa wide variety offoreign invaders using receptors that seek out common molecular patterns found in pathogens.

Over the past decade, researchers have utilized CRISPR-Cas9 to modify gene expression inside living cells. Adapted from a naturally occurring DNA-editing system in bacteria,the technology relies on a scissor-like protein called Cas9, which can be directed to cut DNA at specific sites on a cells genome to disable, repair or make other alterations to genes.

Typically, the approach uses aharmlessvirus to deliverCas9 and its accompanying moleculesto the inside of cells. It has been successful in editing genes in dozens of cell types, including those of the adaptive immune system. But when researchers including OSullivans team tried to use a similar approach on innate immune cells, the cellsidentifiedthe virus as an invader and activated their defenses, thwarting the efficacy of the approach.

We wanted to figure out a way to edit the innate immune cells without activating them, said UCLA graduate student Andrew Hildreth, cofirst author of the new work.

The groups new method involves zapping theinnateimmune cells with a small pulse of electricity enough to make the outer covering of the cells slightly porous but not enough to harm the cells otherwise. If the Cas9 and the accompanying protein complex used for gene editing are in the liquid surrounding the cells and the electricity pulses just right, the Cas9 complexes can sneak in through the porous membrane of the cells.

We optimized the process so that the Cas9 protein complexes enter the immune cells, go to the nucleus, and edit the target gene with 95% efficiency, said Luke Riggan, a graduate student in OSullivans lab and the other cofirst author of the paper. And we can do all this in less than a week.

To show the utility of the new method for research purposes, OSullivans team used it to delete a gene called MyD88 from the dendritic cells of mice. Without the gene, they showed, mice die from a virus that their immune systems can usually fight off. They also used thenew deliverytechnology to edit the genes of natural killer cells, giving the researchers the ability to test how certain genes contribute to natural killercell proliferation during viral infection. Natural killer cells are a type of white blood cell that have the ability to target cancer cells; boosting their proliferative capabilities could help treat some tumors, the researchers said.

In the future, OSullivan said,the methodcouldbe useful for a range of immunological research quickly deleting many genes from different innate immune cells could help scientists screen for genes that are important for certain immune functions, for instance. But the approach could also be used clinically to edit immune cellstaken directlyfrom patients.

The ability to use this technique in human cells could have major clinical applications, he said, adding that the team is already carrying out experiments on cells from human blood samples.

The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health, including a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award.

Originally posted here:
UCLA scientists alter genes of innate immune cells with DNA-snipping tool - UCLA Newsroom

Revealing yet another super-power in the skillful squid, scientists have discovered that squid massively edit their own genetic instructions not only within the nucleus of their neurons, but also within the axon the long, slender neural projections that transmit electrical impulses to other neurons. This is the first time that edits to genetic information have been observed outside of the nucleus of an animal cell.

The study, led by Isabel C. Vallecillo-Viejo and Joshua Rosenthal at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), Woods Hole, is published this week in Nucleic Acids Research.

The longfin inshore squid, Doryteuthis pealeii, long established as a research organism for fundamental biological studies. Credit: Elaine Bearer

The discovery provides another jolt to the central dogma of molecular biology, which states that genetic information is passed faithfully from DNA to messenger RNA to the synthesis of proteins. In 2015, Rosenthal and colleagues discovered that squid edit their messenger RNA instructions to an extraordinary degree orders of magnitude more than humans do allowing them to fine-tune the type of proteins that will be produced in the nervous system.

But we thought all the RNA editing happened in the nucleus, and then the modified messenger RNAs are exported out to the cell, says Rosenthal, senior author on the present study. Now we are showing that squid can modify the RNAs out in the periphery of the cell. That means, theoretically, they can modify protein function to meet the localized demands of the cell. That gives them a lot of latitude to tailor the genetic information, as needed. The team also showed that messenger RNAs are edited in the nerve cells axon at much higher rates than in the nucleus.

Top, schematic of squid anatomy showing the location of the giant axon, an unusually large neural projection that partly controls the squids jet propulsion system, used for very fast movement, attacks and escapes. Below, schematic of a neuron, showing the location of the nucleus where all RNA editing was previously thought to occur, and the axon, where local RNA editing was identified in squid. Credit: Vallecillo-Viejo et al, Nucl. Acids Res., 2020.

In humans, axon dysfunction is associated with many neurological disorders. Insights from the present study could accelerate the efforts of biotech companies that seek to harness this natural RNA editing process in humans for therapeutic benefit.

Scientists from Tel Aviv University and The University of Colorado at Denver collaborated with MBL scientists on the study.

Previously, Rosenthal and colleagues showed that octopus and cuttlefish also rely heavily on mRNA editing to diversify the proteins they can produce in the nervous system. Together with squid, these animals are known for strikingly sophisticated behaviors, relative to other invertebrates.

Reference: Spatially regulated editing of genetic information within a neuron by Isabel C Vallecillo-Viejo, Noa Liscovitch-Brauer, Juan F Diaz Quiroz, Maria F Montiel-Gonzalez, Sonya E Nemes, Kavita J Rangan, Simon R Levinson, Eli Eisenberg and Joshua J C Rosenthal, 23 March 2020, Nucleic Acids Research.DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkaa172

Original post:
Superpower Discovered in Squids: They Can Massively Edit Their Own Genetics - SciTechDaily

Although scientists don't fully understand it yet, and it varies from person to person, there is a link between genetics and obesity as you've probably figured out if you've got friends who can eat whatever they like while remaining thin.

Now new research has identified one gene that could play a role. It's called ALK (Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase), and mutations in this gene have previously been linked to certain cancers, and identified as drivers of tumour growth.

The latest study found two particular ALK variations showing up in thin, low BMI individuals - but not in individuals of normal weight. The analysis looked at the DNA of 47,102 people aged 20 to 44 years old, taken from Estonia's 'biobank', a biological database collected from a large percentage of the Estonian population.

"We wanted to understand why," says medical geneticist Josef Penninger, from the University of British Columbia in Canada. "Most researchers study obesity and the genetics of obesity. We just turned it around and studied thinness, thereby starting a new field of research."

In follow-uptests on mice and Drosophila fruitflies, animalsthat had the ALKgene turned off stayed thinner than normal even when the mice were fed what the researchers described to CNN as "a McDonald's diet".

Further tests showed that the mice without the ALK gene had lower than normal body weight and levels of body fat.

Of course correlation isn't causation. But the researchers suggest that the gene, which is highly expressed in the brain, plays a role in telling bodies how much fat to burn and how to use its energy stores.

Still, for now all we've shown is that this direct link exists in fruit flies and mice, not humans. Despite extensive research into the gene's involvement in cancer, our understanding of the ALK gene's role in human physiology remains largely unclear.

But one promising aspect of the discovery is that scientists already know how to inhibit ALK in humans because of its role in cancer development, so testing the link further is doable.

"If you think about it, it's realistic that we could shut down ALK and reduce ALK function to see if we did stay skinny," says Penninger.

"ALK inhibitors are used in cancer treatments already. It's targetable. We could possibly inhibit ALK, and we actually will try to do this in the future."

Further studies are also going to need to take a closer look at how the ALK gene operates in the brain: how it potentially balances metabolism and leads to a skinnier body shape at a molecular level.

Even if a clear link between ALK mutations and a resistance to weight gain is established, it's probably going to only be part of a much larger mix of genetic factors as previous research has hinted at.

While the biobank data and tests on mice and flies are a good starting point at solving the mystery link between genetics and thinness, scientists are going to need a lot more data in the future before we can figure out what's really happening here.

"You learn a lot from biobanks," says Penninger. "But, like everything, it's not the ultimate answer to life, but they're the starting points and very good points for confirmation, very important links and associations to human health."

The research has been published in Cell.

Here is the original post:
Researchers Identify a Potential 'Thinness' Gene That Stops Mice Putting on Weight - ScienceAlert

The global scientific community has joined forces in an unprecedented effort to understand, track, forecast, test for, and find a cure for the current coronavirus pandemic. But in a crisis where every second lost means more loss of lives, solidarity alone isnt enough. Supercomputers are enabling a vastly accelerated pace by which scientists can conduct research and collect and analyze data. Never have they proven their value to society more than during this COVID-19 pandemic.

Supercomputers provide scientists with unique capabilities: they can explore the structure and behavior of the virus at the molecular level, and forecast the spread of the disease and design drugs much faster than would otherwise be possible.

The Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) began fielding requests for compute time to assist in the fight against COVID-19 in February 2020. In March, the White House enlisted some of the worlds most powerful supercomputers in the battle against COVID-1 through the COVID-19 High Performance Computing (HPC) Consortium, a public-private partnership providing researchers worldwide with massive computing resources.

As part of this effort, we are working closely with teams to provide priority access to supercomputing resources here and across the world. In the U.S. alone, there are more than 100 projects, involving thousands of researchers, using HPC systems to predict the effects of interventions like stay-at-home orders and school closings; to simulate the molecular behavior of the proteins that make the virus virulent; to understand the genetics of the virus and its mutability; to screen potential drugs and vaccines for efficacy; and to visualize and interactively share data with decision-makers.

At TACC, nearly a third of all computing time has been dedicated to accelerating these efforts the equivalent of 40,000 desktop computers churning non-stop. None of this would be possible without federal funding for high performance computing by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and Department of Energy (DOE), who have made open access to supercomputers part of their mission for more than four decades.

Beyond big machines, supercomputing centers employ some of the brightest minds in computational science, and these individuals are collaborating with teams across the nation to fast-track research.

Among these partnerships is the University of Texas at Austin COVID-19 Modeling Consortium, led by Dr. Lauren Ancel Meyers, which developed one of the leading epidemiological models of how the disease spreads based on virus transmission and real-time cell phone data. The White House and CDC, as well as the national media and public, have used the model to inform their understanding and decision-making.

A team from DOEs Argonne and Brookhaven National Laboratories applied several of the most powerful supercomputers in the world to accelerate an AI-based approach to drug docking. Their effort narrowed 6 billion possible small molecules to the 30 with the best chance of binding to one of the virus proteins and disrupting its function. These are now being tested in labs at the University of Chicago.

The TACC-powered COVID-19 Drug Discovery Consortium is collaborating with Enamine, the worlds largest provider of screening compounds, and Boston University, Texas A&M, and the University of Texas Medical Branch, to identify the 600 most promising, readily available, drug-like molecules (out of 2.6 million) and test them in high-containment laboratories in order to find potential drugs in months rather than years.

New projects are launching daily.

In many of these cases, long-term research collaborations helped speed the projects out of the gate. The UT Austin Modeling Consortiums projections built on a decade of federally-funded R&D on flu pandemic modeling by Meyers team. The DOE researchers adapted AI-based cancer drug discovery methods for SARS-CoV-2. The Drug Discovery Consortium leveraged tools and methods developed over many years to fight bioterrorism. Our ongoing relationships with these teams has made it possible for them to shift their research focus, expand their scope, and reduce limitations as they work towards a common good.

Academic research is frequently the first step in a long process that requires efforts by government agencies, philanthropic organizations, and industry. Basic science helps decision-makers protect the populace, and informs the creation of vaccines and treatments.

Under normal circumstances, this process takes years or decades. However, time is a luxury we simply do not have. The urgency of the challenge we face makes the application of research accelerators like supercomputers even more critical to help flatten the curve and ultimately solve the greatest crisis we as a society have ever faced.

Dan Stanzione is the director of TACC at The University of Texas at Austin.

A version of this op-ed appeared in The Hill.

See the rest here:
How Supercomputers Are Getting Us Closer to a Covid-19 Vaccine - UT News | The University of Texas at Austin

In 1994, researchers found two chimpanzees dead in Cte dIvoires Ta National Park, which holds West Africas largest rainforest. Autopsies of the chimpanzees revealed signs of hemorrhage resembling those found in humans during outbreaks of ebolavirus that occurred decades earlier in Zaire and Sudan. Indeed, further studies led to the designation of Ta Forest ebolavirus, one of five known strains of the virus that can lead to the ebolavirus disease. One researcher in the park contracted the disease during this time.

This is one of many stories of a zoonotic disease, also referred to as a zoonosis, which is a disease transmitted to humans by animals. Zoonoses are transmitted via direct or indirect contact with an infected individual, consuming contaminated food or water, or through vectors for example, being bitten by a mosquito carrying the disease.

The focus on transmission to humans dominates the global narrative of zoonoses, which include West Nile, rabies, Lyme and others. But certain pockets of the zoological research community focus on the reverse: humans transmitting zoonoses to wildlife, known as zooanthroponosis or anthroponosis.

In the current case of COVID-19, researchers of non-human primates have sounded alarm bells for the risks humans pose for transmitting SARS-CoV-2, the viral pathogen that causes the COVID-19 or coronavirus disease, to species of primates, including monkeys and apes. Being among some of the worlds most endangered species, of particular concern are wild great apes, including bonobos, eastern and western gorillas, orangutans and chimpanzees.

These types of outbreaks can have really devastating effects on primate populations, says says Amanda Melin, a biological anthropologist who runs the Primate Genomics and Ecology lab at the University of Calgary. This is a great example of the risks that we pose to other animals in the earth.

So far, there have been no positive tests of COVID-19 in wild great apes but the deadliness of the disease, should transmission occur, is likely high.

Its the quickest study Ive ever been involved in, says Melin of a study she co-led with Mareike Janiak, a postdoctoral scholar in molecular anthropology, and James Higham, a primate evolutionary biologist at New York University, that helps dispel the guesswork of which non-human primate species are at greatest risk. The study was conducted within about seven days in early April and posted to a preprint server shortly thereafter because of the urgency of its findings, which examine the genetics behind how the SARS-CoV-2 pathogen triggers the COVID-19 disease itself.

In order for a viral pathogen to take hold in a host, the proteins on its surface must bind with certain proteins on the surfaces of a hosts cells. Once the pathogens protein has found its cellular protein match, known as a receptor, the pathogen can enter the cell and trigger the disease. Coronavirus pathogens not just of COVID-19, but of other coronaviruses as well express spike proteins on their surfaces.

If the viruss protein cant find anywhere to bind, then its not going to become infectious, Melin puts simply.

Genes determine which proteins are formed on which cells. Melins study examines the coding sequence of the ACE2gene, which codes the cellular protein (the ACE2 receptor) for the SARS-CoV-2 pathogen. These receptors are found in endothelial tissues throughout the body, including in the lungs, hence the diseases respiratory effects.

As is the case concerning most forms of life, less diversity means less resilience to threat, and so too does it go for genetic predisposition to COVID-19.

Proteins are made of amino acids. Genes can vary in the sequences of their comprising DNA, and the variants of a gene will code protein receptors with different structures of their amino acids. Receptors with a range of structures make it more difficult for a pathogen to find its match.

With that context, consider this statement from Melins study: Here, we show that all apes, including chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans, and all African and Asian monkeys, exhibit the same set of twelve key amino acid residues as human ACE2.

In other words, we and many of our primate cousins are in the same boat of being highly susceptible because we have highly similar ACE2 genes and receptors, making it easier for the SARS-CoV-2 pathogen to find its binding match on our cells.

Interestingly, the study found that monkeys in the Americas, and some tarsiers, lemurs and lorisoids, had more ACE2 genetic variation, indicating that many species are likely less susceptible. However, Melin warns, some lemur species are also likely to be highly susceptible, which is worrying as they are also among the most endangered primates.

(Bats, notorious for being hosts and spreaders of coronaviruses, have exceptionally high ACE2 genetic variation. Within just the handful of bat species that we looked at, we saw genetic variation equivalent to the variation we saw across the entire range of other mammals we included, says Melin.)

Its easy to imagine that were closely related to other non-human primates, and so we should be careful with diseases. But knowing that they have the exact same sites and should be equally susceptible to us, and seeing what its doing to humans around the world its really concerning.

At the end of 2016 and into early 2017, chimpanzees in the Ta forest were seen with cold-like symptoms. While it did not prove deadly, the illness was found by researchers to have been a coronavirus passed to the chimpanzees from humans, likely poachers.

Similar to Gombe, disease is the leading challenge for conservation of chimpanzees at Ta, says Thomas Gillespie, whose work with wild great apes in Africa includes directing theGombe Ecosystem Health Project, in addition to running the Gillespie Lab at Emory University. Because of that, were always alert to the risk of disease exposure from people. The Ta team, 10 years ago or so, had a major respiratory outbreak that killed all the young chimpanzees

The tell-tale signs of COVID-19 are likely also the same for human and non-human primates, namely dry cough and fever.

We expect to see human-like symptoms, or more extreme versions of those. Laboratory-based infection of macaques resulted in similar disease progression to what were seeing in humans, says Gillespie.

Because best practices of wildlife conservation, and especially with wild great apes, demand limited human interaction, researchers rely on technology to check animals for symptoms from a safe and hidden distance. Laser thermometers are used to check fecal masses immediately after defecation to determine body temperatures. Blood meals from mosquitos are tested to keep track of pathogens circulating between them and animals. Carrion flies, which feast on dead animals, can give insights on mortality.

The Cross River gorillas, for example we never see them because theyre very cryptic, says Gillespie of the critically endangered species. Only an estimated 200 or 300 remain, residing at the border of Nigeria and Cameroon. But the flies are still going to find them. Flies are going to let us know if theres a spike in mortality. And then that can alert us to potential issues.

Should COVID-19 begin to be found in wild great apes, there is good and bad news. The bad is that quarantining isnt an option. Because of group dynamics, individual animals within most groups cannot be removed They dont respond well it tends to go quite badly, says Gillespie making the likelihood of virus spreading to the entire group of a single infected animal quite high.

And, once a wild animal has left the wild, he adds, there are tremendous threats involved with putting them back in the wild because we might have exposed them to additional pathogens in the sanctuary setting.

So we cant think about things like darting individuals, removing them from the group, quarantining them. We have to really focus on them not becoming infected. And thats the most important thing.

Gillespie nonetheless expects the virus to make its way into at least some populations of wild apes populations. The key now is to understand how it is likely to spread among species, based on exposure as well as the apes behavior and ecology. For example, in some places, habituated apes those accustomed to proximity to humans might be exposed to SARS-CoV-2, but will likely never come into contact with non-habituated apes. In other areas, this might not be the case.

And in yet other areas, monkeys that share habitats with apes baboons and vervet monkeys in Africa; macaques in Asia might spread the virus among great ape groups, or act as intermediaries, carrying the virus from humans to great apes.

This is something were actively working on, says Gillespie, who is leading a team focused on creating a model of sites across Africa and Asia to guide location-based best practices for ape conservation during the pandemic. Were modeling the different ape species, including variables like demographics, behavioral ecology, and proximity to humans and other susceptible species. This can all influence the dynamics of transmission to wild great apes.

Many protected areas inhabited by wild great apes have quickly developed lockdown measures of their own, such as shutting down tourism, logging and mining operations and extensively testing staff and researchers.

One of the major efforts currently addressing this is led by the Primate Specialist Group and the Wildlife Health Specialist Group, both of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The two groups released a joint statement in early March, listing ways that humans can minimize risks to wild great apes, including disinfecting their footwear, wearing surgical masks, quarantining when coming from abroad, and immediately leaving an area when feeling the need to cough or sneeze and not returning.

But for local communities who depend on the use of certain forests, current measures might mean theyre left without a livelihood. To this end, the IUCN has created a task force, which includes Gillespie, focused on COVID-19s impacts on areas where wildlife and communities share and depend on the same ecosystems. One component of this effort has been distributing funds to communities that might otherwise be forced to resort to actions that could threaten wildlife.

Melins and Gillespies studies and others like them are proving crucial tools for these conservationists to know where and how to allocate resources to protect species highly vulnerable to the disease, as well as provide scientific backing to policy- and decision-makers about the vulnerability of these species.

Even after the heightened phase of the pandemic has lessened, changes must continue to be made, she says: For primate observational research, we need to continue to be really careful about quarantining ourselves and about our proximities, always using best practices when were interacting with non-human primates. More generally, I hope we can slow and then stop the illegal trade of wildlife, which might help prevent future, different outbreaks.

And then she broadens her thoughts: How will it feel collectively, as humans, if were responsible for the rapid extermination of these species from the Earth?

Continue reading here:
What the genetics of COVID-19 mean for the survival of wild great apes - Landscape News

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused supply and manufacturing disruptions in the Healthcare creating uncertainties in every aspect. The change in customer behavior in terms of mobility preferences during this crisis is changing the Healthcare landscape.

This pandemic situation has shut down many production lines owing to the trade restrictions and closed borders, creating a shortage in required parts and limiting the distribution of supplies. Different enforced measures including the closing of workspaces and dismissal of short-time workers have created a depression in the growth rate of the Healthcare Industry.

The growing fear of recession is estimated to decrease overall sales and revenue. A limited supply of parts coupled with a reduced workforce has forced the leading OEMs to shut down their production. A significant drop in demand has restricted the cash inflow which is highly important in payment of salaries to the workforce. With growing uncertainties around the COVID-19 pandemic, the industry leaders are taking measures to adapt to the situation.

Introduction

DNA extraction is a process of purifying the DNA from the sample using a combination of physical and chemical methods. DNA extraction is used in many types of biological research including molecular biology, forensics, pathology, environmental research, and drug discovery. The ability to extract DNA is of prime importance in order to study the genetic causes of disease and to develop of diagnosis and drugs, It is also essential for carrying out forensic science, sequencing genomes, detecting bacteria and viruses in the environment and for determining paternity. The three basic steps involved in DNA extraction are lysis, precipitation, and purification. Amongst the most common DNA extraction methods are organic extraction, Chelex extraction, and solid phase extraction. Though these methods consistently yield isolated DNA, the quality and the quantity of DNA yielded differ. There are multiple factors to consider when selecting a DNA extraction method which including cost, time, safety, and risk of contamination. Automated DNA Extraction Systems are easy to use with the reliable system and affordable kits. DNA extraction is a crucial stage in the processing of the samples in most molecular genetics laboratories. DNA isolation and extraction techniques are opening fascinating opportunities in the life sciences therefore by automating this process it could potentially be beneficial a number of reasons including increased throughput in relatively lesser time and more consistent and reproducible results, also improved sample tracking, less risk of contamination and more safety.

For detailed insights on enhancing your product footprint, request for a Sample Report here https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/27076

Automated DNA Extraction Systems Market: Drivers and Restraints

The major factors driving the growth of the market include increasing public-private funding for life science research and presently commercially available very high-throughput automated DNA Extraction Systems, as well as techniques that are under development. The rising adoption of technology in both academic and research laboratories is expected to rise as the results provide valuable and comprehensive information which the major factor is driving the growth of Automated DNA Extraction Systems Market over the forecast period. The growing advancement in technology with ease of use cost-effective control and reliable results are driving the Automated DNA Extraction Systems Market. The Analysis with the Automated DNA Extraction Systems helps in applications such as next-generation sequencing, Genotyping, Chip-based applications, PCR and others which will expand the Automated DNA Extraction Systems market. DNA extraction is a crucial stage in the processing of the samples in most molecular genetics laboratories which is driving the automated DNA Extraction Systems market. The areas such as plants and animal genomics, cancer research, diagnostics, clinical research will benefit due to the Automated DNA Extraction Systems market. These devices will provide high throughput and greater efficiency. The overall market of Automated DNA Extraction Systems Market is pushed by the increasing demand for growing expenditure on healthcare.

Automated DNA Extraction Systems Market: Segmentation

Tentatively, the global Automated DNA Extraction Systems Market devices Market can be segmented on the basis of types of Product type, Application, End User and geography.

Based on target type, the global Automated DNA Extraction Systems Market devices market is segmented as:

Based on end users, the global Automated DNA Extraction Systems Market devices market is segmented as:

Based on region, the global Automated DNA Extraction Systems Market is segmented as:

To receive extensive list of important regions, ask for TOC here https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/27076

Automated DNA Extraction Systems Market devices: Regional Outlook

Geographically, the global Automated DNA Extraction Systems Market devices are segmented into viz. North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia-Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ), Japan and the Middle East and Africa (MEA). North America is expected to be the dominant market in the global Automated DNA Extraction Systems Market owing to increasing number of research and development and increasing public-private funding for life science research. Also, the Automated DNA Extraction Systems market in North America will rise due to the advancement in the technology and availability of skilled healthcare professionals. Europe is expected to have the second large share in the global Automated DNA Extraction Systems Market devices market throughout the forecast period. The Automated DNA Extraction Systems Market devices Market in the Asia Pacific excluding Japan is expected to grow at a significant CAGR due to an expansion of product offerings by the key players and increasing biotechnology industries in the region.

Automated DNA Extraction Systems Market: Key Players

The global market for Automated DNA Extraction Systems Market devices is highly fragmented. Examples of some of the key players operating in the global Automated DNA Extraction Systems Market devices are Thermo Fisher Scientific, QIAGEN, Autogen Inc., GeneReach Biotechnology Corp., Genolution Inc., RBC Bioscience Corp., Biosynex SA, Aurora Biomed Inc, bioMrieux SA, ADS Biotec Inc. PerkinElmer Inc., AITbiotech Pte Ltd, Roche Molecular Systems, Inc. Westburg BV among others.

For in-depth competitive analysis, Check Pre-Book here https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/checkout/27076

Key data points covered in report

The report covers exhaustive analysis on:

Report Highlights:

Visit link:
Sales Revenue of Automated DNA Extraction Systems Market to escalate in the Coming Years Owing to Changes in Market Dynamics During COVID-19 Pandemic...

KUALA LUMPUR, May 18 Three Malaysian students under the sponsorship programme of Public Service Department (PSD) have won the Class of 2020 Departmental Award from the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, College of Natural Science, Michigan State University, United States.

The PSD, in a statement, said the students Nurul Izzati Mohamed, Nurul Iffa Nazirah Taini Achim and Nuur Aqilah Izzati Othman are currently pursuing a bachelors degree in Microbiology at the university.

Nurul Izzati and Nurul Iffa Nazirah both received the Dietrich C. Bauer Scholarship Award (High Honour Distinction) while Nuur Aqilah Izzati received the Russel Duvall Endowed Scholarship Award (Research).

A total of eight awards were contested and three awards went to Malaysian students. The awards are based on academic excellence throughout the course and the quality and potential of the study conducted, the statement said.

Nuur Aqilah Izzati, 23, the sole recipient of the Russel Duvall Endowed Scholarship, was given the award based on panel assessment on the presentation of a study on Wheat Allergy: Do Wheat Genotypes Differ in Allergenicity.

Born in Batu Pahat, Johor, Nuur Aqilah Izzati was also conducting a joint study with Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) students on a research entitled Transdermal Sensitisation and Oral Elicitation of Anaphylaxis to Salt-Soluble Wheat Protein in An Adjuvant-Free Mouse Model of Wheat Allergy.

The announcement of the award of the three students was published on the official website of the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, College of Natural Science, Michigan State University, the statement said. Bernama

The rest is here:
Three PSD-sponsored students win awards in the US - Malay Mail

Sponsored by

A large number of people with COVID-19 are asymptomatic. Others recover quickly while many suffer severe symptoms including profound respiratory distress. A significant number die from the infection. What are the driving causes of this variability?

Each one of us carries about 5 million DNA variants in the genome of our cells. It is a small number compared to the approximately 3 billion pairs of DNA bases present in the human genome. However, these DNA variants influence biology (and behavior) because they often change the chemical properties of proteins they code for, alter the level of expression of genes they relate to or modify other molecular events in cells. These DNA variants are also the reason there are genetic predispositions to obesity, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, dementia and infectious diseases.

While we are still in the very early stages of investigating COVID-19, research has already shown that older people, adults with pre-existing conditions such as obesity, hypertension type 2 diabetes and other health issues, men, and minorities are more vulnerable than the rest of the population. Now several reports suggest that the individual genetic profile of an individual (the host) can play a role in meeting the challenges posed by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19. Scientists are seeking the answers to three critical questions about an individuals genetic profile:

Does it put them at higher or lower risk of infection? Does it influence the magnitude of the immune response to the virus? Does it affect the severity of the symptoms and increase risk of death?

These questions will keep scientists busy for years but the early evidence strongly suggests that the genetic profile of the host is of great importance.

Host genetics and severity of symptoms. One study from the United Kingdom suggests that identical twins are substantially more alike in symptoms such as fever, loss of taste and smell than fraternal twins. This suggests that there is a genetic contribution to the severity of the symptoms experienced when infected. An issue of great interest is whether the genetic determinants of obesity, hypertension, diabetes and other morbidities known to increase the vulnerability to the viral infection also contribute to the physiological response to the infection itself. This is a topic of great importance that needs to be addressed in depth.

Host genetics and the risk of infection. Prior studies have shown that several DNA variants influence a persons susceptibility to infection. For example, some peoples genes slow or help fight off HIV, malaria, hepatitis B and other infections. It has been suggested that people with blood type O or with one of several subtypes of tissue antigens (within the HLA system) are more prone to the coronavirus infection compared to those with other HLA genetic characteristics. HLA genes provide the instructions to produce proteins that are present on the cell surface of almost all tissues. These proteins bind to intruders, like the coronavirus, and trigger the host immune response. Some peoples HLA defenses appear more effective against the virus while others are less so.

One promising area of investigation is the ACE2 gene, which produces a protein that appears to be the major receptor of SARS-CoV-2. A persons genetics may determine how accessible the proteins encoded by the ACE2 gene are to the virus. The virus invades the cell by using proteins, known as spike proteins, that are located in the outer covering of the cell. The virus cant dock to a host cell unless it has receptors that fit the spikes. Your DNA helps determine how many ACE2 receptors there are on your cells, and possibly your risk of infection.

Less than six months have elapsed since the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus was identified and its infection potential recognized. Remarkable advances have occurred in a very short period of time, but a lot more needs to be done. There is hope on the genetic front that much will be learned in the coming months.

For instance, there are more than 100 ongoing projects worldwide exploring the host genomic signatures of infection risk and the range of symptoms experienced once infected; the effort is being supported by a coordinating team based at the University of Helsinki. In-depth genetic studies of outliers such as young people who experience very severe symptoms, older people who experience no or minor symptoms, infected people with obesity and/or hypertension and/or diabetes who are experiencing no symptoms once infected are also of great interest.

In summary, because it is so early in the research agenda, one cannot use genetic information to guide prevention and treatment as of yet. In the meantime, we should assume that we are not all equally at risk because we are genetically different.

Click here to learn moreabout Penningtons role in understanding the critical link between obesity and Covid-19. To support Pennington Biomedicals important work, pleaseclick here.

See original here:
Coronavirus Advisory: Is there a genetic predisposition to COVID-19? - Greater Baton Rouge Business Report

Eurordis, a Paris-based coalition of national rare disease associations across Europe, hosted its first all-virtual conference, bringing some 1,500 delegates from 57 countries together online during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 10th European Conference on Rare Diseases & Orphan Products (ECRD2020) which was set for May 1415 in Stockholm, instead took place via Zoom. Eurordis and its co-organizer, Orphanet, used the occasion to appeal to the European Union in Brussels to urgently approve standardized policies to advance the health and well-being of all Europeans.

Yann Le Cam, CEO of Eurordis, said that as is the case with COVID-19, there is an obvious value to grouping efforts at the EU level in order to tackle rare diseases. But he lashed out at the increasing nationalism shown by various leaders responding to the pandemic.

We must quash this egocentric rhetoric emerging in some countries. It fragments Europe into diverging national-level decisions, Le Cam, of France, said in his welcoming remarks. A lack of EU coordination is both detrimental to the health of people living with a rare disease and has an unnecessary negative impact on the economy.

He urged the EU to take the following concrete steps:

This epidemic has shown that if you fail to prepare, you prepare for failure and we must prepare together across borders, said Terkel Andersen, president of the Eurordis board.

Eurordis is a nonprofit alliance of 900 rare-disease patient organizations from 72 countries that work jointly to improve the lives of Europeans with rare diseases. Orphanet provides high-quality information and data on rare diseases. With its 40-nation network, Orphanet helps to orient patients and doctors to relevant expert resources in Europe and beyond.

The EU considers a disease rare if its incidence is lower than 1 in 2,000 people. About 30 million of the 446 million citizens who live in its 27 member states have a rare disease.

Yet because of the low prevalence of each disease, medical expertise is uncertain, care offerings inadequate, and research limited, said Orphanets director, Ana Rath. She noted that 72% of rare diseases are genetic and that 70% of those genetic conditions begin in childhood.

Now more than ever, the EU has a vital role to play in improving the health of its citizens. ECRD2020 focuses on how to build policies and services over the next decade that will improve the journey of living with a rare disease for patients and families, Rath said.

Attendance at this years virtual conference was up 81% compared to the 850 people who attended ECRD2018 in Vienna. It followed six broad themes, ranging from the future of diagnosis to the digital health revolution.The online conference program ran 54 pages, with specific breakout sessions covering topics from newborn screening for genetic diseases to how best to bring real life into therapeutic development.

Several top EU officials addressed participants via Zoom, including Stella Kyriakides, the European commissioner for health and food safety. She said ECRD2020 builds on the work of the ongoingRare 2030 Foresight Study, which will conclude in 2021 with a comprehensive set of key recommendations to EU leaders on how to improve rare disease policy.

In the coming years, we will be guided by the Rare 2030 Foresight Study, Kyriakides said. We need now to take lessons from COVID-19. We know that patients will be the driving force of our rare disease policy.

Europe currently accounts for more than one-third of the 4.7 million confirmed COVID-19 infections worldwide, with cases stretching from Madrid to Moscow. Infection rates, however, varies widely among EU member states.

Another major theme of ECRD2020 was how to ensure non-discrimination on the basis of health and disability. Officials addressing that theme included David Lega, a Swedish member of the European Parliament; Jana Popova of the Bulgarian Association for Neuromuscular Diseases; and Helena Dalli, European commissioner for equality.

All people should be able to participate fully and equally in society and in the economy, Dalli said. It is not only their right. Their participation represents a huge contribution to the whole society.

The ECRD2020 conference was co-chaired by Maria Montefusco, president of Rare Diseases Sweden; Milan Macek, a professor of medical and molecular genetics at Motol University Hospital in Prague; and Violeta Stoyanova-Beninska, chair of the Committee of Orphan Medical Products at the Amsterdam-based European Medicines Agency.

Florida native Larry Luxner, a veteran journalist and photographer, has reported from more than 100 countries in Latin America, Africa, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Asia for the Miami Herald, the Washington Diplomat, the Journal of Commerce and other news outlets. He lived for many years in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and the Washington, D.C., area. Among other ventures, he launched a monthly newsletter, South America Report, and later published CubaNews for 12 years before relocating to Israel in January 2017 and joining BioNews first as a copy editor and now as a staff writer. Larry is fluent in Spanish, Portuguese and Hebrew, and enjoys taking long walks around Tel Aviv in his spare time.

Total Posts: 46

Jos holds a PhD in Neuroscience from Universidade of Porto, in Portugal. He has also studied Biochemistry at Universidade do Porto and was a postdoctoral associate at Weill Cornell Medicine, in New York, and at The University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, Canada. His work has ranged from the association of central cardiovascular and pain control to the neurobiological basis of hypertension, and the molecular pathways driving Alzheimers disease.

Visit link:
Unity and EU-wide Efforts Focus of Online Rare Disease Meeting - Hemophilia News Today

Professor Johnsons primary area of research expertise is on ion channels, neuropsychopharmacology, molecular genetics, mathematics, neuroimaging, and medications for treating addictions. He holds several US and International patents in pharmacogenetics.

MIAMI (PRWEB) May 19, 2020

The Haute MD Network, well known for its exclusivity, and luxurious lifestyle, is privileged to present Dr. Bankole Johnson as a leading addiction expert representing the Miami/ Ft. Lauderdale Market and the newest addition to the Haute Living partnership.

Haute MD offers a prominent collective of leading doctors nationwide. The invitation-only exclusive network maintains elite as ever, with only two doctors in every market. This partnership allows Haute MD to connect its affluent readers with industry-leading doctors.

Visit Dr. Bankole's Haute MD Profile: https://hauteliving.com/hautebeauty/mdmember/dr-bankole-johnson/

About Dr. Johnson:

Professor Bankole A. Johnson, D.Sc., M.D., MBChB, MPhil, FRCPsych, DFAPA, Dip-ABAM, Dip-ABDA, FACFEI

Professor Johnson (2013 2019) served as The Dr. Irving J. Taylor Professor and Chair in the Department of Psychiatry, and Professor of Anatomy & Neurobiology, Medicine, Neurology, and Pharmacology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He directs all brain sciences across multiple departments at the School under the aegis of the Brain Science Research Consortium Unit, which grew in NIH funding from $21M-$35M from 2013-2018. Professor Johnson serves as the Director of the Clinical Neurobehavioral Center in Columbia.

Previously (2004 2013), Professor Johnson was the Alumni Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia and was a Professor in the departments of Neuroscience and Medicine.

Professor Johnson graduated in Medicine from Glasgow University in 1982, and trained in Psychiatry at the Royal London, Maudsley, and Bethlem Royal Hospitals. Additional to his medical degree, he obtained a Master of Philosophy degree for his neurobiological research at the University of London and conducted studies in neuropsychopharmacology for his doctoral thesis (degree from Glasgow University) on the Medical Research Council unit at Oxford University. In 2004, Professor Johnson earned his Doctor of Science degree in Medicine from Glasgow Universitythe highest degree that can be granted in science by a British university.

Professor Johnsons primary area of research expertise is on ion channels, neuropsychopharmacology, molecular genetics, mathematics, neuroimaging, and medications for treating addictions. He holds several US and International patents in pharmacogenetics. Professor Johnson is a licensed physician and board-certified psychiatrist. He is the Principal Investigator on National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded research studies from basic science to molecular and clinical studies, and has been funded continuously for over two decades. Professor Johnson has been awarded or been affiliated with over $40M in NIH funding. Professor Johnsons clinical expertise is in the fields of addiction, forensics, and disability assessment. Honors include service on numerous NIH review and other committees including special panels. Briefly, Professor Johnson was the 2001 recipient of the Dan Anderson Research Award for his distinguished contribution as a researcher who has advanced the scientific knowledge of addiction recovery. He received the Distinguished Senior Scholar of Distinction Award in 2002 from the National Medical Association. Professor Johnson also was an inductee of the Texas Hall of Fame in 2003 for contributions to science, mathematics, and technology, and in 2006 he received the American Psychiatric Associations (APAs) Distinguished Psychiatrist Lecturer Award. In 2007, he was named as a Fellow in the Royal College of Psychiatrists, and in 2008 he was elected to the status of Distinguished Fellow of the APA. In 2009, he received the APAs Solomon Carter Fuller Award, honoring an individual who has pioneered in an area that has benefited significantly the quality of life for Black people. In 2010, he was named as a Fellow in the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. He received the NIHs Jack Mendelson Award in 2013 for landmark discoveries in addiction science. In 2016, he received a Governors citation for service on the Maryland Heroin and Opioid Emergency Task Force. In 2019, he will receive the R. Brinkley Smithers award from the American Association of Addiction Medicine.

Professor Johnson has served as Editor-in-Chief and on the Editorial Boards of prestigious medical journals, and reviewed for more than 30 journals in pharmacology, neuroscience, and the addictions. He has authored 161 peer-reviewed publications, received over 17,000 citations, has an i10 index of 155, and an h-index of 58.

Professor Johnson is the founder and was the Chairman of Adial Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a publicly listed (on the NASDAQ) pharmaceutical Company till august 2019 (now he is its Chief Medical Officer), which developed as a start-up at the University of Virginia.

Share article on social media or email:

Read the original:
Dr. Bankole Johnson Partners with the Exclusive Haute MD Network - PR Web