One case involved a man with cancer who underwent a specialized stem cell transplant; the other involved a woman who received immune-boosting therapies as part of a clinical trial.
Category: biotech/medical – Page 1119
Academics have created a vaccine which has the potential to protect humans from the infection melioidosis, also called Whitmore’s disease.
The vaccine is the result of two decades of research, and is the most protective tested to date.
Melioidosis is caused by the bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei. It is thought to be spread in soil and dust, but experts do not yet know why it only affects people and animals in tropical regions. Occasionally people from the UK have contracted melioidosis while on holiday abroad.
The Virus Zoo is my latest educational blog post! I’ve written up ~1 page ‘cheat sheets’ on the molecular biology of specific viruses. I cover genome, structure, and life cycle. So far, my zoo includes adeno-associated virus (AAV), adenovirus, and herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1). However, I plan to add more viruses as time goes on! Some others I would like to incorporate later are coronavirus, HIV, anellovirus, lentivirus, ebolavirus, and MS2 bacteriophage. Feel free to suggest other interesting viruses in the comments! All images were created by me. #virology #molecularbiology #biotechnology #genetherapy #virus #biochemistry #genetics
Genome and Structure:
AAV genomes are about 4.7 kb in length and are composed of ssDNA. Inverted terminal repeats (ITRs) form hairpin structures at ends of the genome. These ITR structures are important for AAV genomic packaging and replication. Rep genes (encoded via overlapping reading frames) include Rep78, Rep68, Rep52, Rep40.1 These proteins facilitate replication of the viral genome. As a Dependoparvovirus, additional helper functions from adenovirus (or certain other viruses) are needed for AAVs to replicate.
AAV capsids are about 25 nm in diameter. Cap genes include VP1, VP2, VP3 and are transcribed from overlapping reading frames.2 The VP3 protein is the smallest capsid protein. The VP2 protein is the same as VP3 except that it includes an N-terminal extension with a nuclear localization sequence. The VP1 protein is the same as VP2 except that it includes a further N-terminal extension encoding a phospholipase A2 (PLA2) that facilitates endosomal escape during infection. In the AAV capsid, VP1, VP2, and VP3 are present at a ratio of roughly 1:1:10. It should be noted that this ratio is actually the average of a distribution, not a fixed number.
The man is among a handful who have gone into remission after the procedure, but it is not an option for most people.
Circa 2015
New software being developed at MIT is proving able to autonomously repair software bugs by borrowing from other programs and across different programming languages, without requiring access to the source code. This could save developers thousands of hours of programming time and lead to much more stable software.
Bugs are the bane of the software developer’s life. The changes that must be made to fix them are often trivial, typically involving changing only a few lines of code, but the process of identifying exactly which lines need to be fixed can be a very time-consuming and often very frustrating process, particularly in larger projects.
But now, new software from MIT could take care of this, and more. The system, dubbed CodePhage, can fix bugs which have to do with variable checks, and could soon be expanded to fix many more types of mistakes. Remarkably, according to MIT researcher Stelios Sidiroglou-Douskos, the software can do this kind of dynamic code translation and transplant (dubbed “horizontal code transplant,” from the analogous process in genetics) without needing access to the source code and across different programming languages, by analyzing the executable file directly.
AIDS researchers announced on Wednesday that a fourth person has been “cured” of HIV, but the dangerous procedure for patients also battling cancer may be little comfort for the tens of millions living with the virus worldwide.
The 66-year-old man, named the “City of Hope” patient after the Californian center where he was treated, was declared in remission in the lead up to the International AIDS Conference, which begins in Montreal, Canada on Friday.
He is the second person to be announced cured this year, after researchers said in February that a US woman dubbed the New York patient had also gone into remission.
𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐫𝐮𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐣𝐮𝐫𝐲
Scientists from the University of Birmingham have shown that a brain-penetrating candidate drug currently in development as a cancer therapy can foster regeneration of damaged nerves after spinal trauma.
The research, published today in Clinical and Translational Medicine, used cell and animal models to demonstrate that when taken orally the candidate drug, known as AZD1390, can block the response to DNA damage in nerve cells and promote regeneration of damaged nerves, so restoring sensory and motor function after spinal injury.
The announcement comes weeks after the same research team showed a https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-05-spinal-cord-injury-treatment.html">different investigational drug (AZD1236) can reduce damage after spinal cord injury, by blocking the inflammatory response. Both studies were supported by AstraZeneca’s Open Innovations Program, which shares compounds, tools, technologies and expertise with the scientific community to advance drug discovery and development…
How the virus behind covid-19 enters the brain was somewhat of a mystery, but new evidence hints it may build tiny tubes from nose cells to brain cells that it can shuttle through.
Targeted repairs with ‘nicks’ of single DNA
DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is a molecule composed of two long strands of nucleotides that coil around each other to form a double helix. It is the hereditary material in humans and almost all other organisms that carries genetic instructions for development, functioning, growth, and reproduction. Nearly every cell in a person’s body has the same DNA. Most DNA is located in the cell nucleus (where it is called nuclear DNA), but a small amount of DNA can also be found in the mitochondria (where it is called mitochondrial DNA or mtDNA).
People who have at least two of the conditions type 2 diabetes, heart disease, or stroke are twice as likely to develop dementia. Research from Sweden’s Karolinska Institutet that was published in the journal Alzheimer’s.
Alzheimer’s disease is a disease that attacks the brain, causing a decline in mental ability that worsens over time. It is the most common form of dementia and accounts for 60 to 80 percent of dementia cases. There is no current cure for Alzheimer’s disease, but there are medications that can help ease the symptoms.