StemCell Therapy

FT819 CAR T-cell Product Candidate Derived from Clonal Master iPSC Line with Novel CD19-specific 1XX CAR Integrated into TRAC Locus

Phase 1 Clinical Study will Evaluate FT819 for Patients with Advanced B-cell Leukemias and Lymphomas

SAN DIEGO, July 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Fate Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: FATE), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development of programmed cellular immunotherapies for cancer and immune disorders, announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared the Company’s Investigational New Drug (IND) application for FT819, an off-the-shelf allogeneic chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy targeting CD19+ malignancies. FT819 is the first-ever CAR T-cell therapy derived from a clonal master induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) line, and is engineered with several first-of-kind features designed to improve the safety and efficacy of CAR T-cell therapy. The Company plans to initiate clinical investigation of FT819 for the treatment of patients with relapsed / refractory B-cell malignancies, including chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL).

The clearance of our IND application for FT819 is a ground-breaking milestone in the field of cell-based cancer immunotherapy. Our unique ability to produce CAR T cells from a clonal master engineered iPSC line creates a pathway for more patients to gain timely access to therapies with curative potential,” said Scott Wolchko, President and Chief Executive Officer of Fate Therapeutics. Four years ago, we first set out under our partnership with Memorial Sloan Kettering led by Dr. Michel Sadelain to improve on the revolutionary success of patient-derived CAR T-cell therapy and bring an off-the-shelf paradigm to patients, and we are very excited to advance FT819 into clinical development.”

FT819 was designed to specifically address several limitations associated with the current generation of patient- and donor-derived CAR T-cell therapies. Under a collaboration with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) led by Michel Sadelain, M.D., Ph.D., Director, Center for Cell Engineering, and Head, Gene Expression and Gene Transfer Laboratory at MSK, the Company incorporated several first-of-kind features into FT819 including:

The multi-center Phase 1 clinical trial of FT819 is designed to determine the maximum tolerated dose of FT819 and assess its safety and clinical activity in up to 297 adult patients across three types of B-cell malignancies (CLL, ALL, and NHL). Each indication will enroll independently and evaluate three dose-escalating treatment regimens: Regimen A as a single dose of FT819; Regimen B as a single dose of FT819 with IL-2 cytokine support; and Regimen C as three fractionated doses of FT819. For each indication and regimen, dose-expansion cohorts of up to 15 patients may be enrolled to further evaluate the clinical activity of FT819.

At the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Virtual 2020 Meeting, the Company presented preclinical data demonstrating FT819 is comprised of CD8a T cells with uniform 1XX CAR expression and complete elimination of endogenous TCR expression. Additionally, data from functional assessments showed FT819 has antigen-specific cytolytic activity in vitro against CD19-expressing leukemia and lymphoma cell lines that is comparable to that of healthy donor-derived CAR T cells, and persists and maintains tumor clearance in the bone marrow in an in vivo disseminated xenograft model of lymphoblastic leukemia.

Fate Therapeutics has an exclusive license for all human therapeutic use to U.S. Patent No. 10,370,452 pursuant to its license agreement with MSK1, which patent covers compositions and uses of effector T cells expressing a CAR, where such T cells are derived from a pluripotent stem cell including an iPSC. In addition to the patent rights licensed from MSK, the Company owns an extensive intellectual property portfolio that broadly covers compositions and methods for the genome editing of iPSCs using CRISPR and other nucleases, including the use of CRISPR to insert a CAR in the TRAC locus for endogenous transcriptional control.

1 Fate Therapeutics has licensed intellectual property from MSK on which Dr. Sadelain is an inventor. As a result of the licensing arrangement, MSK has financial interests related to Fate Therapeutics.

About Fate Therapeutics’ iPSC Product Platform The Company’s proprietary induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) product platform enables mass production of off-the-shelf, engineered, homogeneous cell products that can be administered with multiple doses to deliver more effective pharmacologic activity, including in combination with cycles of other cancer treatments. Human iPSCs possess the unique dual properties of unlimited self-renewal and differentiation potential into all cell types of the body. The Company’s first-of-kind approach involves engineering human iPSCs in a one-time genetic modification event and selecting a single engineered iPSC for maintenance as a clonal master iPSC line. Analogous to master cell lines used to manufacture biopharmaceutical drug products such as monoclonal antibodies, clonal master iPSC lines are a renewable source for manufacturing cell therapy products which are well-defined and uniform in composition, can be mass produced at significant scale in a cost-effective manner, and can be delivered off-the-shelf for patient treatment. As a result, the Company’s platform is uniquely capable of overcoming numerous limitations associated with the production of cell therapies using patient- or donor-sourced cells, which is logistically complex and expensive and is subject to batch-to-batch and cell-to-cell variability that can affect clinical safety and efficacy. Fate Therapeutics’ iPSC product platform is supported by an intellectual property portfolio of over 300 issued patents and 150 pending patent applications.

About Fate Therapeutics, Inc. Fate Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development of first-in-class cellular immunotherapies for cancer and immune disorders. The Company has established a leadership position in the clinical development and manufacture of universal, off-the-shelf cell products using its proprietary induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) product platform. The Company’s immuno-oncology product candidates include natural killer (NK) cell and T-cell cancer immunotherapies, which are designed to synergize with well-established cancer therapies, including immune checkpoint inhibitors and monoclonal antibodies, and to target tumor-associated antigens with chimeric antigen receptors (CARs). The Company’s immuno-regulatory product candidates include ProTmune, a pharmacologically modulated, donor cell graft that is currently being evaluated in a Phase 2 clinical trial for the prevention of graft-versus-host disease, and a myeloid-derived suppressor cell immunotherapy for promoting immune tolerance in patients with immune disorders. Fate Therapeutics is headquartered in San Diego, CA. For more information, please visit http://www.fatetherapeutics.com.

Forward-Looking Statements This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 including statements regarding the advancement of and plans related to the Company's product candidates and clinical studies, the Company’s progress, plans and timelines for the clinical investigation of its product candidates, the therapeutic potential of the Company’s product candidates including FT819, and the Company’s clinical development strategy for FT819. These and any other forward-looking statements in this release are based on management's current expectations of future events and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those set forth in or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the risk of difficulties or delay in the initiation of any planned clinical studies, or in the enrollment or evaluation of subjects in any ongoing or future clinical studies, the risk that the Company may cease or delay preclinical or clinical development of any of its product candidates for a variety of reasons (including requirements that may be imposed by regulatory authorities on the initiation or conduct of clinical trials or to support regulatory approval, difficulties in manufacturing or supplying the Company’s product candidates for clinical testing, and any adverse events or other negative results that may be observed during preclinical or clinical development), the risk that results observed in preclinical studies of FT819 may not be replicated in ongoing or future clinical trials or studies, and the risk that FT819 may not produce therapeutic benefits or may cause other unanticipated adverse effects. For a discussion of other risks and uncertainties, and other important factors, any of which could cause the Company’s actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see the risks and uncertainties detailed in the Company’s periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to the Company’s most recently filed periodic report, and from time to time in the Company’s press releases and other investor communications. Fate Therapeutics is providing the information in this release as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Contact: Christina Tartaglia Stern Investor Relations, Inc. 212.362.1200 christina@sternir.com

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Fate Therapeutics Announces FDA Clearance of IND Application for First-ever iPSC-derived CAR T-Cell Therapy | 2020-07-09 | Press Releases - Stockhouse

DE PERE, Wis. (WFRV) July is Juvenile Arthritis Awareness Month. The disease 300,000 kids have been diagnosed with nationwide.

A De Pere 12-year-old is speaking out about her experience with the autoimmune disease after being diagnosed at just four years old.

Lily Laurent says arthritis mostly impacts her knees and legs. She and her mother, Anne, spoke with WFRV Local 5 about how it has impacted their family and how much of a difference finding a community has made.

When we were first diagnosed, we didnt know another family I mean, I didnt even know kids could get arthritis and we ended up at the rheumatologist, Anne tells WFRV Local 5. It can be scary, and you can feel alone. And there are groups, in Green Bay and the Fox Valley and in Wisconsin, where weve met other families and shes met other kids.

There is no known cure for the disease, but Lily is doing well and heading toward remission.

Her doctor says that patients should watch for the symptoms of juvenile arthritis, such as unusual amounts of aches and pains.

If your child has redness and swelling and especially a lot of stiffness in the morning where theyre walking like an old man or old woman, limping, I mean these are the signs that should, you know, at least, first start with your pediatrician, Dr. Paul Tuttle, a rheumatologist with Orthopedic & Sports Medicine in Green Bay, tells WFRV Local 5.

Lily created a video about her journey with arthritis.

Continued here:
De Pere girl discusses experience with juvenile arthritis - WeAreGreenBay.com

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Advancements in Technology to Aid the Growth of the Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatment Market Over the Forecast Period 2017-2027 - Jewish Life News

Here are the top stories recently covered by DocWire News in the rheumatology section. In this edition, read about sarilumab in COVID-19, glucocorticoidsin rheumatoid arthritis (RA), body weight and the risk of tumor necrosis factor inhibitor discontinuation in RA, and healthcare utilization predictors of inflammatory arthritis.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) drugsarilumab was not an effective treatment for severely ill COVID-19 patients, according to the results of a phase 3 trial. The U.S.-based study was a phase 3 trial comparing 400 mg sarilumab plus best supportive care versus best supportive care alone for COVID-19 patients requiring mechanical ventilation.According to Regeneron, 80% of Kevzara patients and 77% of best supportive care patients in the primary analysis group sustained adverse events (AEs). Serious AEs documented in at least 3% of patients and were more common in the sarilumab group than the best supportive care group included multiorgan dysfunction syndrome (6% vs. 5%) and hypotension (4% vs. 3%). This study has been stopped in the 400 mg group as well as in a higher-dose cohort.

Astudy compared the effect of low-dose glucocorticoids plus methotrexate and hydroxychloroquine versus placebo plus methotrexate andhydroxychloroquineon symptoms, signs, and inflammation in early RA. After one month of treatment, American College of Rheumatology 20 (ACR20) response was achieved by 55% of the glucocorticoids group and 20% of the placebo group. At month three, 85.0% of the glucocorticoids group and 47.5% of the placebo group achieved ACR20 response; at months six and 12, the rates were 87.5% versus 60.0%, respectively, and 90.0% versus 72.5%, respectively (P<0.05 for all). During the first half of the treatment period, the trial group had significantly lower disease activity score (DAS) 28- erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) scores than the control group. Inflammation, quality of life, and radiological symptoms improved significantly in the glucocorticoids group. Bone erosion did not change in the trial group and worsened in the control group. The correlation coefficient between disease duration and DAS28-ESR score was 0.496 for month one, 0.464 for month three, 0.509 for month six, and 0.550 for month 12. Rates of adverse events did not largely differ between the groups.

RA patients with either a low orhigh body mass index(BMI) are more likely than normal weight RA patients to discontinue treatment withtumor necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFis), according to a study. Final analysis included 5,230 RA patients. TNFi survival, when compared to that of normal weight patients, was significantly shorter among patients inobesity class II(hazard ratio [HR]=1.28; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.06 to 1.54), obesity class III (HR=1.67; 95% CI, 1.29 to 2.18), and the underweight group (HR=1.30; 95% CI, 1.07 to 1.58). Among the underweight group, the most significant effect was observed for patients on infliximab (HR=1.82; 95% CI, 1.20 to 2.76). In overweight patients, the most significant effect was noticed for patients taking infliximab (obesity class II: HR=1.49; 95% CI, 0.98 to 2.26; obesity class III: HR=1.46; 95% CI, 0.79 to 2.71) and etanercept (obesity class II: HR=1.27; 95% CI, 0.98 to 1.65; obesity class III: HR=1.79; 95% CI, 1.25 to 2.55).

Patients who eventually go on to be diagnosed withinflammatory arthritis (IA)often present withmusculoskeletal symptoms, infections, and comorbidity leading up to their diagnosis, according to a study. During the 1.5-year period before their diagnosis, IA patients were significantly more likely than controls to have health visits for musculoskeletal symptomsprimarily for shoulders, wrists, fingers, and kneesand carpal tunnel syndrome. The odds ratio (OR) was highest at six months prediagnosis (3.2; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.8 to 3.5), followed by 12 months (OR=2.8; 95% CI, 2.5 to 3.1) and 18 months (OR=2.5; 95% CI, 2.2 to 2.8).

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Rheum Round-up: Sarilumab Flops in COVID-19, RA TNFi Termination and Body Weight, and more - DocWire News

A drug used to treat brain haemorrhage and arthritis could help patients battling COVID-19.

A coronavirus patient at Wythenshawe Hospital has become the first to take part in the trial a drug called Anakinra.

Anakinra is an immunosuppressive drug mainly used to treat rheumatoid arthritis but also certain types of brain haemorrhage.

Researchers say the drug can combat severe infections and multiple organ failure triggered by an overreactive response by the bodys immune system.

This immune response can result in death and can occur in critically-ill COVID-19 patients.

The new trial is comparing the drugs effectiveness in treating critically ill patients when administered either by injection under the skin or into the vein.

Dr Tim Felton, a consultant in Intensive Care and Respiratory Medicine at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT), is leading the study.

He said: "Anakinra is highly effective in treating overreactive immune response and severe infections.

"Because of this it could prove effective in treating COVID-19 patients, and several global trials are now underway to investigate this.

"The drug is typically administered as an injection either into the vein or under the skin.

"We think injection under the skin is a more efficient way of delivering the drug and thats why with SCIL-1Ra we want to compare the two methods.

"We hope to show one method is more effective than the other and deliver better outcomes for patients."

Dr Bannard-Smith, an ICU consultant and lead Covid researcher at the MRI, added: Were incredibly grateful to our patient and their family for participating in the trial, and our fantastic team at Wythenshawe Hospital for their excellent patient care and hard work in coordinating this study.

"MFT is at the forefront in delivering cutting-edge research to fight COVID-19. Anakinra is currently being trialled as a potential COVID-19 treatment by several major UK and international studies, and we hope this one will make a vital contribution to wider efforts to understand the drugs effectiveness."

The study, called SCIL-1Ra, aims to recruit 40 adult patients in intensive care with confirmed or clinically suspected COVID-19.

It's one of many COVID-19 treatment trials underway at hospitals across Greater Manchester.

View original post here:
Drug used to treat brain haemorrhage and arthritis is being tested on Covid patients at Wythenshawe Hospital - Manchester Evening News

The research report on theglobal Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatment Market is a comprehensive guide for new market entrants. The report provides the market history of each product retailed by the company. It likewise gives a background marked by item types, innovation and volume during the figure time frame. The growth rate, challenges and obstacles are also explained in the Global Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatment study report. The report features the pace of improvement of the methodologies, items and advances utilized in the creation, assembling and promoting of the item.

The following Top manufacturers are evaluated in this report: Pfizer, Inc., Johnson & Johnson, Abbvie, Inc., F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, Merck & Co., Inc., and Amgen, Inc.,

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Brief Introduction to the research report.Table of Contents (Scope covered as a part of the study)Top players in the marketResearch framework (presentation)Research methodology adopted by Coherent Market Insights

The market report contains the following chapters:

Chapter 1: The Global Market Research Report Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatment Help Understand Crucial Information About The Given Market. Chapter 2: The report provides a detailed study on each actor having a major impact on the global market Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatment, such as company profiles, the latest technological advances of market players and the product profile of the player currently available in the market, as well as the regions in which they operate mainly. Chapter 3: It helps to understand the key product segments and their future on the global market Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatment. It provides strategic solutions and recommendations in key business sectors based on market estimates. Chapter 4: The report also presents an eight-year forecast survey based on expected market growth.

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Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatment Market Regional Analysis:

Geographically, the Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatment market is segmented across the following regions: North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa.

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The report conveys key measurements on the current market status of the Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatment makers and is a dependable wellspring of direction and course for the organizations and people intrigued by the business in the industry. The report delivers an overview of the industry, including the basic definition, applications, the latest manufacturing technology, and others. The report comprises of the company profile, product specifications, production capacity, production value, and market shares for the key competitors. The market is additionally partitioned by an organization, by nation, and by application/type for the serious scene investigation. The report forecasts market development trends of the Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatment industry from 2016 to 2027.Analysis of the upstream raw materials, downstream demand and current market dynamics is also carried out efficiently. The report states the important growth prospects and proposals for a new project in the global Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatment Industry.

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Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatment Market trends, drivers, restraints, and opportunities 2020-2026 - Daily Research Chronicles

TheGlobal Psoriatic Arthritis Therapeutics Market Outlook and Forecast 2020-2025A fundamental outline of thePsoriatic Arthritis Therapeutics Marketniche is presented by the Psoriatic Arthritis Therapeutics Market report that entails definitions, classifications, applications together with industry chain framework. ThePsoriatic Arthritis Therapeutics Marketreport provides a far-reaching evaluation of necessary market dynamics and the latest trends. It also highlights the regional market, the prominent market players, as well as several market segments [Product, Applications, End-Users, and Major Regions], and sub-segments with a wide-ranging consideration of numerous divisions with their applications.

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Some of the Major Market Players Are:

AbbVie, Amgen, Celgene Corporation, Janssen Biotech, UCB, Pfizer, Biogen, Novartis AG, Eli Lilly and Company

Further, the report acknowledges that in these growing and promptly enhancing market circumstances, the most recent advertising and marketing details are very important to determine the performance in the forecast period and make essential choices for profitability and growth of the Psoriatic Arthritis Therapeutics Market. In addition, the report encompasses an array of factors that impact the growth of the Psoriatic Arthritis Therapeutics Market in the forecast period. Further, this specific analysis also determines the impact on the individual segments of the market.

Furthermore, the study assessed major market elements, covering the cost, capacity utilization rate, growth rate, capacity, production, gross, usage, revenue, export, supply, price, market share, gross margin, import, and demand. In addition, the study offers a thorough segmentation of the global Psoriatic Arthritis Therapeutics Market on the basis of geography [ Latin America, North America, Asia Pacific, Middle & East Africa, and Europe] , technology, end-users, applications, and region.

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Chapters Covered in Research Report are :

Chapter 1,2 :The goal of global Psoriatic Arthritis Therapeutics Market covering the market introduction, product image, market summary and development scope.

Chapter 3, 4 :Global Market Competitions by Manufacturers, Sales Volume and Market Profit.

Chapter 5,6,7:Global Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Regions like United States, Asia-Pacific, China, India, Japan. Conducts the region-wise study of the market based on the sales ratio in each region, and market share from 2015 to 2024

Chapter 8,9,10:Global Market Analysis by Application, Cost Analysis, Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders

Chapter 11,12 :Market information and study conclusions, appendix and data sources.

The market report also identifies further useful and usable information about the industry mainly includes Psoriatic Arthritis Therapeutics Market development trend analysis, investment return and feasibility analysis. Further, SWOT analysis is deployed in the report to analyze the key global market players growth in the Psoriatic Arthritis Therapeutics Market industry

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Global Psoriatic Arthritis Therapeutics Market Outlook and Forecast 2020-2025 - 3rd Watch News

The stereotypic image of a person with gout is the overweight middle-aged male who indulges in rich food and consumes too much alcohol. Although this may certainly be an example of someone with gout, this common and complex form of arthritis can affect anyone.

Gout is, in fact, an inherited metabolic disease related to insulin resistance. Gout typically manifests as acute, very painful arthritis of the big toe but in reality, can affect any of the major joints in the body. Although the last thing you want to experience is painful arthritis, gout has other associations and as with all other medical conditions, the best treatment of gout is prevention.

The basic metabolic abnormality is an elevated uric acid a waste product created during the normal breakdown of purines (a type of chemical found in foods and drinks). The crystals of uric acid precipitate in the joint leading to the painful arthritis. But these crystals of uric acid can also affect the kidney leading to varying degrees of kidney impairment and hypertension (high blood pressure).

There are very effective treatments to settle down an acute episode, but there is also a drug that has been available for many years, which in most cases is very safe: allopurinol (sold under the brand names Allohexal, Allosig, Progout and Zyloprim). Taking allopurinol once the episode has settled in increasing doses to a maintenance of 300mg daily should prevent gout with minimal, if any, side effects. This will not only prevent further episodes of gout but will also protect the kidney from damage and help reduce blood pressure.

Interestingly, a recent large study published in the Journal of Hypertension of just under 24,000 people with hypertension showed the commonly prescribed blood pressure pill amlodipine when compared with diuretic or another commonly prescribed group of blood pressure drugs, ACE inhibitors, lowers the risk for gout by around 35 per cent.

So if you have unfortunately experienced gout in your life and also have hypertension, its worth discussing with your doctor the preventative management for gout, but also taking the appropriate therapy for your blood pressure.

IMPORTANT LEGAL INFO This article is of a general nature and FYI only, because it doesnt take into account your personal health requirements or existing medical conditions. That means its not personalised health advice and shouldnt be relied upon as if it is. Before making a health-related decision, you should work out if the info is appropriate for your situation and get professional medical advice.

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The best way to treat a gout attack - Starts at 60

According to science, its generally considered A-okay to blame your parents (aka your gene pool) for acne or rosacea. Now, a major study has found that sensitive skin, in general, could be passed down from generation to generation. To which we say: Thanks a lot, mom and dad!

In June, beauty corporation Procter & Gamble joined forces with 23andMe, the genetic testing service, looked at the sensitive skin condition in 23,426 participants of European ancestry whose genomes are in the 23andMe database. The research, which was published in Cosmetics, found strong associations between certain points in genomes and sensitive skin conditionsmaking this the first official connection that sensitive skin might be something thats passed down, rather than environmentally conditioned.

Sensitive skin has been a huge topic in beauty for a quite some time. Studies estimate that about 70 percent of women believe that their skin is sensitive. According to Google Search data, searches for sensitive skin have steadily risen since 2004, and are currently at an all-time high. Knowing that the sensitive skin condition stems from genetics means its now possible to avoid these triggers by building a lifestyle and skin-care regimen around them before the word go.

Currently, many people have to play a game of Clue every time their complexion experiences an inflammatory flare-up that could result in rosacea, eczema, or psoriasis. Flare-ups could be caused by sensitivities to skin-care ingredients, drinking alcohol or eating spicy foods, the temperature outdoors, or even the water used to wash products off (if it has too much mineral build-up in it).

Knowing this means we can treat patients from an earlier age based on what their family history is, says Shirley Chi, MD, a board-certified dermatologist in Los Angeles. I do that a lot in my practice, where I see a parent that has a certain skin condition like eczema, psoriasis, or severe, scarring acne, and their child starts with a few symptoms. So we start treating it early and end up getting a better handle on it than if we would let it get full-blown.

Typically, dermatologists recommend that sensitive skin types stick with a simple beauty regimen. Those with sensitive skin really have to try to limit the amount of products and chemicals that theyre exposing to their faces, says Dr. Chi. Its best to steer clear of botanical ingredients, since they can be irritating for many sensitive skin types, and Dr. Chi suggests using products with a limited number of ingredients on the label. Sensitive skin types do very well with mineral sunscreen. And products that contain silicone are good because theyre like a barrier, which protects your skin from being penetrated by chemicals.

Having a leg-up on knowing about your skin is a huge stepping stone in terms of treatment, which should be music to the ears of about 70 percent of women.

Read more from the original source:
Think You Have Sensitive Skin? Theres One Way To Know For Sure - Well+Good

A Danish biotech sturtup will use genetic technology to diagnose COVID-19 and future pandemics in a more efficient way.

The biotech startup company Accelerbiotics, which originates from DTU Biosustain, aims to develop two technological platforms that can perform electrophoresis needed to test the disease.

Electrophoresis is a laboratory technique used to separate DNA, RNA, or protein molecules based on their size and electrical charge.

Faster and cheaper diagnosingToday, electrophoresis is mostly done manually, which makes the testing process time-consuming.

The new technology will allow purifying biomolecules such as DNA, RNA and proteins faster, cheaper and more sustainably as the electrodes will be recycled.

The platforms will be able to handle over a thousand samples at a time and read the result immediately afterwards.

HPV-related head and neck cancer cases increaseAccording to Rigshospitalet, HPV-related head and neck cancer cases have notably increased in the past 18 years in Eastern Denmark. The fact that the disease is sparked by HPV and not by smoking is also supported by the significantly increased number of non-smokers who get this form of cancer. Another striking detail is that patients tend to be younger than they used to be.

Students 3D-print fishStudents from the EU-led research project Training4CRM and DTU have created a 3D-printing technique that allows producing fish-like products based on proteins from mushrooms and peas. The project Legendary Vish is expected to be marketed to sushi restaurants by 2022.

The joy of eating chips does not depend on saltAccording to research conducted by the University of Southern Denmark, chips taste just as good when they contain 30 percent less salt. The researchers have tested 200 young people and have been surprised by the result, which suggests that the pleasure of eating chips is not dependent on salt content. As 9 out of 10 Danes eat too much salt, the finding is relevant as this ingredient can be significantly reduced without affecting the overall taste.

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Science Round-Up: Genetic technology to be used to detect coronavirus - The Copenhagen Post - Danish news in english

Stem Cell Therapy for Crohns Disease and IBD in Mexico (888) 988-0515

SAN DIEGO (PRWEB) July 08, 2020

R3 International is now offering effective stem cell therapy for Crohns disease, Ulcerative Colitis and IBD with a new program in Mexico. The new program provides up to 200 million stem cells for patients, with treatment starting at only $2975.

Millions of individuals worldwide suffer from chronic abdominal issues that affect every aspect of daily life and lead to difficulty with functioning. Traditional treatments are often insufficient and entail significant side effects.

According to R3 CEO David Greene, MD, MBA, "Stem cell therapy for Crohns, UC and IBD is not only safe and effective, but you don't have the bad side effects like you do with traditional drugs. We've been very successful in Mexico because the therapies are not only clinically and cost effective, but we offer very high numbers of stem cells for pricing exponentially less than the US, Panama or others!"

Studies on stem cell therapy for inflammatory diseases such as Crohns are showing that they are highly effective at regulating one's immune response (Nat Rev Nephrol 2018). This typically helps reduce flare ups and pain in patients, helping to increase quality of life tremendously.

Since R3 Stem Cell International opened in Tijuana, outcomes for these inflammatory conditions have been tremendous, with patients receiving anywhere from 30 million to 200 million stem cells.

The cells offered at R3 International come from a lab with a perfect safety record and quality assurance standards that exceed those of the FDA. No preservative is necessary, so the cell viability for the biologic exceeds 95% typically.

According to CEO Dr. Greene, "We made sure to partner with a lab that has a perfect safety record and only cultures cells between three and five generations. This means counts are high, and so is the potency of the cells!"

The treatment process starts with a free phone consultation with one of R3's licensed, experienced stem cell doctors. Once the treatment recommendation is made and the procedure is scheduled, the patient's designated concierge representative will assist with travel logistics. Transportation is included to and from the clinic from San Diego International Airport, which is only 20 minutes away.

Treatment starts at $2975 for 30 million live stem cells, and goes up $1000 for a total of 50 million. If a patient desires, a five day stay will include three treatments totaling 150 to 200 million stem cells. Or there is an option for four visits over a year as well, both starting at $8975 all inclusive.

To start the seamless process of obtaining treatment, visit for more information and call (888) 988-0515 to schedule the phone consultation.

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R3 International Now Offering Stem Cell Therapy Program for Crohns Disease, IBD and Ulcerative Colitis - PR Web

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Bats with covid-19? Pennsylvania researchers are trying to find out - TribLIVE

Posts shared on Facebook show an image of a sedated lion lying on its belly with its head through a sign of the famous Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) Studios logo. This image has been photoshopped.

Reuters Fact Check. REUTERS/Axel Schmidt

Examples of such posts can be seen here and here .

As reported by Business Insider in 2015, the image seen here on Twitter, shows a Barbary lion named Samson getting CAT scan in 2005 (here).

When zookeepers at the Hai-Kef zoo near Tel Aviv noticed Samson was having trouble walking, Dr. Merav Shamir ( here ), a veterinary neurological specialistfrom Israel's Koret School of Veterinary Medicine ( here ), decided to do a full neurological exam. Samson was suffering damage to the posterior portion of his skull, which applied pressure on his cerebellum and the upper sector of the spinal cord ( here ).

Ten days after a six-hour operation to remove part of the thickened skull tissue, Samson was reunited at the zoo with his sister Delilah and able to walk normally ( here , here).

Leo, the lion seen in the current MGM logo, has been the companys mascot since 1957 ( here ). A 2012 article here published by Mental Floss says that Leo appeared in severalTarzanmovies as well as theTarzantelevision adaptation. MGM used several other lions prior to Leo, including Slats, Jackie, Tanner, and George. A YouTube video on the history of the MGM lion can be viewed here .

Further reading on MGMs lion is visible in a report by Mashable here

False. This is a photoshopped image of a lion receiving a CAT scan in 2005.

This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact checking work here .

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Fact check: Image does not show lion being sedated and abused for use in MGM logo - Reuters

Record numbers of PSC students ready to start careers as medics, dentists or vets

Peter Symonds College students are celebrating an impressive number of offers of university places to study medicine, dentistry and veterinary medicine.

A total of 62 students have been offered places to study medicine, five students have places to study dentistry and eight students have been offered places to study veterinary medicine.

Student Georgina Hart, a former pupil at Kings School in Winchester, comments on the process: The application to study medicine is not a short or easy one, but now that I have come out the other side and received four offers, I feel thrilled that all my efforts have paid off!

Georgina is thankful to not face the process alone: Whilst applying to medicine required a lot of independence and self motivation, Symonds provided support along the way including running mock interviews and having doctors and other allied health professionals attend the careers day.

Teaching staff have been a huge help supporting medicine applicants in reviewing and improving personal statements. The Careers Department has also been of help with UCAS advice.

Student Hameem Khan, a former Cams Hill School pupil, comments on his college influence: I wanted to study medicine after the college helped me find work experience.

This inspired me to research into medical careers and sparked my interest. I feel very secure with my place and excited for the future.

Biology teacher Julian Foster reiterates: Places on courses such as medicine, dentistry and veterinary medicine are notoriously difficult to obtain and so we are thrilled that the hard work and dedication of these students has paid off.

Their diligence and motivation has carried them through an extremely rigorous selection process with a demanding set of entry requirements and we wish them every success with their future studies.

The College has a number of programmes dedicated to improving access to medical and veterinary degrees and has close links with outreach programmes at a number of Russell Group universities, including the University of Southampton.

The College runs a very successful Oxbridge programme and isalso part of the HE+ collaborative project in Hampshire which is run in conjunction with the University of Cambridge and encourages students to apply to highly selective higher education institutions.

In addition students hoping for a career in a medical field can explore their interest further through various additional activities offered as part of the Colleges enrichment programme, including Future Medics, Future Vets and Biology Extension.

Students from Peter Symonds also have a long and successful track record competing in Biology and Chemistry Olympiads.

Symonds and former Thornden School student Omar Elawady looks forward to the future: My inspiration for studying medicine was my deep enjoyment of sciences, which was developed and blossomed thanks to the teaching at Symonds.

I decided to put this to good use in helping others after I witnessed my father get admitted into hospital due to a DVT. I feel excited that I get to pursue that further and study medicine at uni.

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PSC Scores Well With Unis - Winchester Today

In 2018, the market size of Nitenpyram Market is million US$ and it will reach million US$ in 2025, growing at a CAGR of from 2018; while in China, the market size is valued at xx million US$ and will increase to xx million US$ in 2025, with a CAGR of xx% during forecast period.

In this report, 2018 has been considered as the base year and 2018 to 2025 as the forecast period to estimate the market size for Nitenpyram .

This report studies the global market size of Nitenpyram , especially focuses on the key regions like United States, European Union, China, and other regions (Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia).

Get PDF Sample Copy of this Report to understand the structure of the complete report: (Including Full TOC, List of Tables & Figures, Chart) @ https://www.marketresearchhub.com/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=2616726&source=atm

This study presents the Nitenpyram Market production, revenue, market share and growth rate for each key company, and also covers the breakdown data (production, consumption, revenue and market share) by regions, type and applications. Nitenpyram history breakdown data from 2014 to 2018, and forecast to 2025.

For top companies in United States, European Union and China, this report investigates and analyzes the production, value, price, market share and growth rate for the top manufacturers, key data from 2014 to 2018.

The report firstly introduced the Nitenpyram basics: definitions, classifications, applications and market overview; product specifications; manufacturing processes; cost structures, raw materials and so on. Then it analyzed the worlds main region market conditions, including the product price, profit, capacity, production, supply, demand and market growth rate and forecast etc. In the end, the report introduced new project SWOT analysis, investment feasibility analysis, and investment return analysis.

The major players profiled in this report include:BASFHunan Dejia Biochemical TechSyngentaAdamaFMCSumitomo ChemicalJiangsu Huifeng

The end users/applications and product categories analysis:On the basis of product, this report displays the sales volume, revenue (Million USD), product price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split into-CrystalLiquid

On the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, sales volume, market share and growth rate of Nitenpyram for each application, including-AgricultureVeterinary Medicine

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The content of the study subjects, includes a total of 15 chapters:

Chapter 1, to describe Nitenpyram product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market driving force and market risks.

Chapter 2, to profile the top manufacturers of Nitenpyram , with price, sales, revenue and global market share of Nitenpyram in 2017 and 2018.

Chapter 3, the Nitenpyram competitive situation, sales, revenue and global market share of top manufacturers are analyzed emphatically by landscape contrast.

Chapter 4, the Nitenpyram breakdown data are shown at the regional level, to show the sales, revenue and growth by regions, from 2014 to 2018.

Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to break the sales data at the country level, with sales, revenue and market share for key countries in the world, from 2014 to 2018.

You can Buy This Report from Here @ https://www.marketresearchhub.com/checkout?rep_id=2616726&licType=S&source=atm

Chapter 10 and 11, to segment the sales by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2014 to 2018.

Chapter 12, Nitenpyram market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2018 to 2024.

Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Nitenpyram sales channel, distributors, customers, research findings and conclusion, appendix and data source.

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Nitenpyram Expected to Expand at a Steady CAGR through 2020 - Jewish Life News

Mr Cheng has paid tribute to Professor Ian McIntyre with his donation.

Mr Tong Fatt Cheng served in the state Veterinary service in Singapore and then joined the diplomatic service in 1989 as Singapore Ambassador to Japan then to the Peoples Republic of China and as Ambassador-at-Large until his retirement in 2004.

The generous gift by Mr Cheng, who graduated BVMS in 1957 from the University of Glasgow, will be used to establish the McIntyre International Research Fellowships which will foster international collaboration in research on farm animal diseases.

The Fellowships will provide funding for a British veterinary graduate to work overseas for two years and for an overseas veterinary graduate to come to the Glasgow Veterinary School for two years.

By establishing the McIntyre International Research Fellowships, Mr Cheng is paying tribute to Professor Ian McIntyre, the Universitys first Professor of Veterinary Medicine.

Professor McIntyre was an inspirational and innovative teacher, and a strong advocate for international collaboration in veterinary education and research. He was a leading member of the Glasgow team which developed the first antiparasitic vaccine for cattle (Dictol).

In his later career, Professor McIntyre was seconded to the University of East Africa In Nairobi and went on to make further contributions to veterinary medicine In Africa.

Mr Cheng said: I am delighted to commemorate Professor McIntyres name in perpetuity through the creation of these international fellowships.

Professor McIntyre was an inspiring teacher when I was a student at the University of Glasgow Veterinary School and I have always admired his achievements both in Glasgow and internationally.

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Glasgow University Vet school gifted 1m - Linlithgow Journal and Gazette

Researchers from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Ivannikov Institute for System Programming, and the Harvard Medical School-affiliated Schepens Eye Research Institute have developed a neural network capable of recognizing retinal tissues during the process of their differentiation in a dish. Unlike humans, the algorithm achieves this without the need to modify cells, making the method suitable for growing retinal tissue for developing cell replacement therapies to treat blindness and conducting research into new drugs.

The study was published in Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience.

This would allow to expand the applications of the technology for multiple fields including the drug discovery and development of cell replacement therapies to treat blindnessIn multicellular organisms, the cells making up different organs and tissues are not the same. They have distinct functions and properties, acquired in the course of development. They start out the same, as so-called stem cells, which have the potential to become any kind of cell the mature organism incorporates. They then undergo differentiation by producing proteins specific to certain tissues and organs.

The most advanced technique for replicating tissue differentiation in vitro relies on 3D cell aggregates called organoids. The method has already proved effective for studying the development of the retina, the brain, the inner ear, the intestine, the pancreas, and many other tissue types. Since organoid-based differentiation closely mimics natural processes, the resulting tissue is very similar to the one in an actual biological organ.

Some of the stages in cell differentiation toward retina have a stochastic (random) nature, leading to considerable variations in the number of cells with a particular function even between artificial organs in the same batch. The discrepancy is even greater when different cell lines are involved. As a result, it is necessary to have a means of determining which cells have already differentiated at a given point in time. Otherwise, experiments will not be truly replicable, making clinical applications less reliable, too.

To spot differentiated cells, tissue engineers use fluorescent proteins. By inserting the gene responsible for the production of such a protein into the DNA of cells, researchers ensure that it is synthesized and produces a signal once a certain stage in cell development has been reached. While this technique is highly sensitive, specific, and convenient for quantitative assessments, it is not suitable for cells intended for transplantation or hereditary disease modeling.

To address that pitfall, the authors of the recent study in Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience have proposed an alternative approach based on tissue structure. No reliable and objective criteria for predicting the quality of differentiated cells have been formulated so far. The researchers proposed that the best retinal tissues those most suitable for transplantation, drug screening, or disease modeling should be selected using neural networks and artificial intelligence.

Study co-author Pavel Volchkov, who heads the Genome Engineering Lab at MIPT, commented on growing artificial organs:

One of the main focuses of our lab is applying the methods of bioinformatics, machine learning, and AI to practical tasks in genetics and molecular biology. And this solution, too, is at the interface between sciences. In it, neural networks, which are among the things MIPT traditionally excels at, address a problem important for biomedicine: predicting stem cell differentiation into retina.

The human retina has a very limited capacity for regeneration, the geneticist went on. This means that any progressive loss of neurons for example, in glaucoma inevitably leads to complete loss of vision. And there is nothing a physician can recommend, short of getting a head start on learning Braille. Our research takes biomedicine a step closer to creating a cellular therapy for retinal diseases that would not only halt the progression but reverse vision loss.

The team trained a neural network that is, a computer algorithm that mimics the way neurons work in the human brain to identify the tissues in a developing retina based on photographs made by a conventional light microscope. The researchers first had a number of experts identify the differentiated cells in 1,200 images via an accurate technique that involves the use of a fluorescent reporter. The neural network was trained on 750 images, with another 150 used for validation and 250 for testing predictions. At this last stage, the machine was able to spot differentiated cells with an 84% accuracy, compared with 67% achieved by humans.

Evgenii Kegeles of the MIPT Laboratory for Orphan Disease Therapy and Schepens Eye Research Institute, U.S, commented:

Our findings indicate that the current criteria used for early-stage retinal tissue selection may be subjective. They depend on the expert making the decision. However, we hypothesized that the tissue morphology, its structure, contains clues that enable predicting retinal differentiation, even at very early stages. And unlike a human, the computer program can extract that information!

This approach does not require images of a very high quality, fluorescent reporters, or dyes, making it relatively easy to implement, the scientist added. It takes us one step closer to developing cellular therapies for the retinal diseases such as glaucoma and macular degeneration, which today invariably lead to blindness. Besides that, the approach can be transferred not just to other cell lines, but also to other human artificial organs.

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Machine learning will help to grow artificial organs - Open Access Government

Newswise The ability to recognize faces is a complex neurocognitive skill with important social implications. The disorder, which, according to some estimates, affects more than 2 percent of the population, can lead to isolation and anxiety and impair personal and work relationships.

The traditional view of face blindnessprosopagnosia in scientific parlancehas held that the disorder arises from deficits in visual perception. Under that view, individuals with face blindness are unable to visually distinguish the features of faces presented side by side and unable to determine whether the faces are the same or not.

Now a new study led by researchers at Harvard Medical School and the VA Boston Healthcare System shows that face blindness may arise from deficits beyond visual perception and appears to involve glitches in retrieving various contextual cues from memory.

The results, published July 5 ahead of print in the journal Cortex, suggest that the traditional view of face blindness as a purely visual perceptual disorder may be reductive, the researchers said. Further, they reveal that successful facial recognition requires recollection, or the recall of relevant contextual details about a person, such as their name or profession.

The new findings can help explain a mystifying discrepancy in face blindness research: People with the condition often fail to visually identify familiar faces, but many also perform normally on visual-perception tests.

This inconsistency has always hinted that there may be other factors at play that go beyond visual perception, said study senior author Joseph DeGutis, HMS assistant professor of psychiatry at VA Boston. Our findings suggest that one important deficit beyond perception is face recollection.

The ability to recognize a face requires two forms of memory: Recollection and familiarity. Recollection is the retrieval of contextual information upon seeing a facea fellow shopper greeting you in the store and you recognizing them as the person you met through work a few weeks back. Familiarity, on the other hand, is a fuzzier feeling of knowing without any contextual information, the researchers explained. Think of the fellow shopper looking vaguely familiar but without any of the relevant details that tell you how you know them.

The findings can help inform the design of techniques to boost face recognition in people with developmental prosopagnosiaa form of face blindness that is not caused by brain injury, poor vision or neurodevelopmental disorders like autism.

Our results underscore that prosopagnosia is a far more complex disorder that is driven by more than deficits in visual perception, said study first author Anna Stumps, a researcher in the Boston Attention Learning Laboratory at VA Boston. This finding can help inform the design of new training approaches for people with face blindness.

The research team is currently working to design one such experimental program in the VA Boston laboratory where the work was conducted.

The study involved 6o people, ages 18 to 65, half of whom had lifelong face blindness.

The participants were asked to perform a series of facial-recognition tasks by studying and then identifying sets of faces that the participants had not seen prior to the study. Participants were asked to study 60 faces shown on a computer screen, one at a time. The participants were then shown a scramble of 120 facessome of them already seen during the study session and some completely new.

To tease out the differences in recognition memory between participants with and without face blindness, DeGutis and colleagues measured their degree of confidence in classifying each face as old or new on a scale of 1 to 6. Correctly identifying a face as old with high confidence reflects the use of recollection, the researchers said, whereas correctly identifying a face as old with less confidence reflects the use of familiarity.

Compared with participants who had face blindness, people without it were significantly more confident that they had seen these faces before. However, those with face blindness were still able to correctly identify many of the faces they had seen before, although with less confidence. In other words, when trying to recognize a face, participants with face blindness relied on familiarity, the vague sense of knowing or having seen someone before without specific contextual information. In contrast, individuals without face blindness relied on recollection.

Taken together, these findings suggest that people with face blindness use different memory processes for face recognition.

The results, the researchers said, demonstrate that successful face recognition requires more than a vague familiarity with a facea sense of having seen a face before but without recalling any other details to place the face. Memory researchers call this inability to identify a familiar face out of context butcher-on-the-bus phenomenon. Though everyone experiences this from time to time, for people with true face blindness this can happen frequently, as often as multiple times a day.

Our findings suggest that people with developmental prosopagnosia use a different memory system when trying to learn and remember faces and that system is less optimally suited for the task of recognizing faces, DeGutis said.

Additional authors on the study include Elyana Saad, David Rothlein and Mieke Verfaellie.

The research was supported by the National Eye Institute (grant RO1EY026057).

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More Than Meets the Eye - Newswise

The gift will help the charity to continue its sight-saving research in the UK

The optical products manufacturer has donated 1 for every order of their blue light blocking screen protectors for phones, tablets and computers.

Fight for Sight works to fund treatments and cures for the leading causes of sight loss and blindness in the UK. The charity is currently invested in over 150 research projects at 42 universities and hospitals across the country, and also campaigns on issues related to sight loss and blindness.

Ikram Dahman, Fight for Sights director of fundraising, said that the charity is so pleased that Ocushield has raised this money to help fund our vital sight-saving research.

He added: Their support has come at a really important time, when lockdown and social distancing have presented real obstacles for our researchers.

Ocushields gift will go towards ensuring we continue to work towards future scientific breakthroughs for the two million people living with sight loss in the UK. We are really grateful for their support.

A recent Fight for Sight survey revealed that COVID-19 is putting new sight-saving treatments at risk. 90% of researchers in the field of ophthalmology reported that the future funding for their research has become uncertain as a result of the pandemic.

Dhruvin Patel, founder of Ocushield, (pictured) said: Its good to know our support will go towards ensuring the charity can continue to fight for better outcomes for people living with sight loss and visual impairment.

Fight for Sight is an important charity in this sector, and we wish it all the best moving forward and will continue to support it where we can.

Fight for Sight has launched an urgent appeal to help researchers cover the costs in delays to projects. You can support the appeal by visiting Fight for Sights website here.

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Ocushield makes 5000 donation to Fight for Sight - AOP

The first six months of this new decade have forced us to reconsider nearly everything: how we work, how we connect with each other and, with increasing urgency, the purposes, functions and futures of the structures and institutions at the core of our social and economic systems. The COVID-19 pandemic and the widespread reckoning with racism brought about by the latest resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement are both happening in the shadow of a global climate emergency. The confluence of crises has forced our collective hand. These are not polite invitations to consider incremental change, they are radical disruptions that are shaking us by our collective shoulders and asking: What will you do now?

If we have learned anything in the first half of 2020, its that our public institutions and policy machinery can be far more nimble than we sometimes give them credit for. Were doing things we didnt think we could do before from the universal income support of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit to a massive shift in public consciousness and engagement with anti-racism movements. Many of our assumptions about the way we do government can and should be re-examined. Its not so much that the convergence of multiple crises has broken our socio-economic systems, its that they have exacerbated the cracks and crevices that were already there, with the kind of acute clarity that means they can no longer be ignored.

One such increasingly volatile fault line is the rural-urban divide. The tendency toward conflict between rural and urban communities, despite their many interconnections, long predates this unexpectedly chaotic year. Contributors to Policy Options noted the growing disconnect between rural and urban Canada in 2017. In 2018, the economic geographer Andrs Rodrguez-Pose drew direct links between such divides and their socio-economic and political consequences by calling the geographic distribution of growing populism the revenge of the places that dont matter. Whether its the glaring ineffectiveness of the way we approach investments in rural broadband, the social and economic pressures linked to disaster gentrification or renewed awareness of the centrality of rural places in providing critical resources like energy or food (and the racialized dynamics of the labour of some parts of Canadas agri-food system) 2020 has surfaced serious sinkholes in Canadian rural policy.

These issues are not new to anyone who has spent time in rural Canada. However, the political and policy machinery that governs our country has become increasingly centralized in large urban centres and managed by generalists. This disconnect is a major part of the problem. Canadian public policy has developed a place-blindness that assumes that what works in Nelson, BC, should work in Dundalk, Ontario, or North Battleford, Saskatchewan all while taking for granted that, of course, Vancouver, Edmonton and Montreal need their own specific approaches. Theres never been a better time to unravel these assumptions.

As we sit with the stinging feeling that comes when sunlight lands on the darkest recesses of our institutional dynamics, we must address three critical questions if we are going to make any progress toward reimagining resilient rural futures:

Do we value rural places?

In general, rural value is framed as extractive value or consumptive value, whether its timber, agriculture, energy or tourism, recreation or empty spaces to escape to. Rural places are most frequently positioned in terms of what they can provide to non-rural people, rather than through any lens that recognizes their inherent worth. The tendency to frame the value of both individuals and communities only in terms of their productive or consumptive value is dehumanizing.

By contrast, we position cities as places of innovation and culture. There is a tendency to embed these values in the idea of the city itself. If we can do this for some places, why not others? Why is it so difficult to consider and then centre the value of rural people and places in their own right? What if rural policy deeply respected rural communities, rather than treating them as cities in waiting or something broken that needs to be fixed?

Is there a right to be rural?

It can be difficult to feel like our current approach to rural policy actually does value rural places as unique contributors to the complex interconnections between communities of all shapes and sizes that make up the social and economic fabric of our country. This is mostly because the underpinning assumption of most contemporary rural policies and programs seems to be that successful rural development is urbanization. The geographically uneven results of current approaches to investing in infrastructure, social safety nets, and economic development mean that, to a large degree, geography is destiny. Place-blind policies neglect the importance of place in shaping our lives and communities.

The combination of external forces pushing rural places toward urbanization and rural peoples perception that they are being left out of the decision-making processes that deeply affect their lives has produced arguments about the right to be rural. They echo the philosopher Henri Lefebvres vision of the right to the city, which has become a slogan of urban renewal around the world.

Interestingly, marginalized and underserved communities in both rural and urban contexts have far more in common than one might imagine. For example, the experience of living in a food desert will be similar, regardless of whether your urban community is served only by convenience stores or your rural community grocery store has closed and you must drive an hour to the next city. If we consider things like broadband connectivity, access to health care and education, and the opportunity to pursue meaningful and sustainable livelihood as rights, why should we accept lower standards and, by extension, lesser rights for those living in rural communities?

As we face the possibility of increasingly uncertain futures, approaching rural policy through the lens of rights requires us to start from questions of equity and radically rethink the quality, quantity and speed of our investments in rural communities.

Who gets to decide what happens next?

The transformation of rural Canada has been and will continue to be shaped by both the formal decisions and the informal relationships that continually constitute and reconstitute the structures that govern our societies. However, governments across Canada seem to struggle to develop robust, flexible and effective rural policies to meet the ever-changing needs of rural communities. Evidence-based policy-making remains a challenge. Critically, there often appears to be little questioning about who gets invited to the table when rural issues are being discussed, based on (incorrect) assumptions that all rural communities are the same or that there is a singular policy response that can meet every rural persons needs and aspirations.

Rural policy is typically positioned as a sub-portfolio within ministries of agriculture, natural resources or infrastructure. The tendency to see agricultural or other sector-specific policy as representing the whole of rural policy ignores the layered identities, needs and aspirations of rural places. Further, the assumption that cities are our primary engines of growth ignores the outsize contributions of rural areas to both our GDP and Canadian culture. The dismantling of the federal Rural Secretariat in 2013, the general trend toward centralization of government and service delivery, and the emphasis of all orders of government on sectoral development rather than holistic community development has all but erased rural people from the policies and programs supposedly designed to support them. Re-centering the priorities of rural people and places in rural policy will require fundamental changes in where, how and by whom rural policy decisions are made if we are ever to develop effective tools for addressing contemporary rural realities.

Realizing the radical potential of rurality

It is easy to feel like we might collapse under the weight of the tasks ahead of us; there is much to do if we are going to reimagine a more just world. There is no recovery from our current crises without social, economic and climate justice and this work includes supporting efforts to realize the full potential of rural Canada.

It is time to rise to the invitation offered by American activist and community organizer Mariame Kaba and let this radicalize you rather than lead you to despair. To realize the radical potential of the rural, we must leave behind outdated assumptions that both rural decline and unchallenged urbanization are the twin edges of some inevitable compromise.

As we look toward the future, we need to overcome the laziness of viewing the application of public policy interventions through the lens of urban versus everywhere else and develop place-based approaches that recognize the value of a diversity of both rural and urban communities and the critical linkages between them. As we recommit to new ways of building interesting, inclusive futures from here on out, we must not let our imagination end at the city limits.

This article is part of theThe Coronavirus Pandemic: Canadas Responsespecial feature.

Photo:Bruce Bird opens a gate on his familys cattle farm near Cremona, Alta., on May 28, 2020, amid a worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

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Will post-COVID policies realize the full potential of rural Canada? - Policy Options