Gilead’s antiviral medication remdesivir could radically change the course of the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak.
Category: biotech/medical – Page 1,916
A new variation of the gene-editing technology CRISPR-Cas9 can correct mutations in the CFTR gene — the genetic cause of cystic fibrosis (CF) — in stem cells from CF patients, a study shows.
The new approach has the ability to correct mutations without the need to excise the affected region, the researchers said.
The study, “CRISPR-Based Adenine Editors Correct Nonsense Mutations in a Cystic Fibrosis Organoid Biobank,” was published in the journal Cell Stem Cell.
A team of Australian researchers say they’ve found a cure for the novel coronavirus and hope to have patients enrolled in a nationwide trial by the end of the month.
University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research director Professor David Paterson told news.com.au today they have seen two drugs used to treat other conditions wipe out the virus in test tubes.
He said one of the medications, given to some of the first people to test positive for COVID-19 in Australia, had already resulted in “disappearance of the virus” and complete recovery from the infection.
Cleantech is usually focused on electric cars, batteries, clean electrical generation, and the like. But clean also has a more direct connotation for humans of being free from disease.
Danish company UVD Robotics makes germ-, virus-, and mold-killing ultraviolet robots for hospitals. The product has been in existence for a while, but now it’s signed contracts with Chinese hospitals and is shipping units to that country.
Chinese officials say they’ll have a coronavirus vaccine ready next month for emergency situations and clinical trials.
Eight institutes in the country are working on five approaches to inoculations in an effort to combat COVID-19, according to the South China Morning Post. The contagious illness has sickened more than 118,000 people and killed at least 4,200 worldwide, mostly in mainland China, as of Tuesday afternoon.
“According to our estimates, we are hopeful that in April some of the vaccines will enter clinical research or be of use in emergency situations,” Zheng Zhongwei, director of the National Health Commission’s Science and Technology Development Center, said Friday.
Erythropoietin, or Epo for short, is a notorious doping agent. It promotes the formation of red blood cells, leading thereby to enhanced physical performance — at least, that is what we have believed until now. However, as a growth factor, it also protects and regenerates nerve cells in the brain. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine in Göttingen have now revealed how Epo achieves this effect. They have discovered that cognitive challenges trigger a slight oxygen deficit (termed ‘functional hypoxia’ by the researchers) in the brain’s nerve cells. This increases production of Epo and its receptors in the active nerve cells, stimulating neighbouring precursor cells to form new nerve cells and causing the nerve cells to connect to one another more effectively.
The growth factor erythropoietin is among others responsible for stimulating the production of red blood cells. In anaemia patients it promotes blood formation. It is also a highly potent substance used for illegal performance enhancement in sports.
“Administering Epo improves regeneration after a stroke (termed ‘neuroprotection’ or ‘neurogeneration’), reducing damage in the brain. Patients with mental health disorders such as schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder or multiple sclerosis who have been treated with Epo have shown a significant improvement in cognitive performance,” says Hannelore Ehrenreich of the Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine. Along with her colleagues, she has spent many years researching the role played by Epo in the brain.
What follows is a thread of information, my interpretation, links to sources & predictions. Let’s start with what you need to know… #coronavirus #COVIDー19
Scientists can now edit multiple sites in the genome at the same time to learn how different DNA stretches co-operate in health and disease.
CRISPR-based DNA editing has revolutionized the study of the human genome by allowing precise deletion of any human gene to glean insights into its function. But one feature remained challenging—the ability to simultaneously remove multiple genes or gene fragments in the same cell. Yet this type of genome surgery is key for scientists to understand how different parts of the genome work together in the contexts of both normal physiology and disease.
Now such a tool exists thanks to the teams of Benjamin Blencowe and Jason Moffat, both professors of molecular genetics at the Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research. Dubbed ‘CHyMErA’, for Cas Hybrid for Multiplexed Editing and Screening Applications, the method can be applied to any type of mammalian cell to systematically target the DNA at multiple positions at the same time, as described in a study published in the journal Nature Biotechnology.
Because of the central importance of tissue repair to all organisms, Neves assumed that many of the mechanisms behind it would be shared among all animals. So she started looking at proteins produced by immune cells in the well-known animal model of the fruit fly.
She discovered that a poorly-understood protein known as MANF (mesencephalic astrocyte-derived neurotrophic factor) plays a crucial role in reducing inflammation in fruit flies. More importantly, she found that mice and humans also produce it, and its prevalence reduces in all the species as they age, suggesting it plays a key role in limiting age-related inflammation.
That prompted her to see if introducing MANF would boost the effectiveness of stem cell treatments in older animals. She used the protein in combination with a procedure that uses stem cells to replace degenerating photoreceptors in the retina of older mice and found it greatly improved the restoration of vision.
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Rats that received microparticles that release a chemical signal to recruit immune cells tolerated hind limb transplants for more than 200 days.