The COVID-19 pandemic showed the value of changing direction in research. It should be incentivized, encouraged and celebrated.
Category: biotech/medical – Page 33
Antibody-mediated protection mechanism expands tuberculosis treatment options
Researchers at the Ragon Institute have made a significant discovery about how antibodies can directly enhance the body’s ability to fight Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the bacteria responsible for tuberculosis (TB). Despite decades of research, TB remains one of the deadliest infectious diseases worldwide, with about 10 million new cases and 1.6 million deaths annually. Currently, there is no highly effective vaccine, highlighting the urgent need for new insights and treatments.
In a study published today in Immunity, Ragon faculty member Galit Alter, Ph.D. and previous post-doctoral trainee Patricia Grace, Ph.D., now at University of Pittsburgh, partnered with Bryan Bryson, Ph.D., associate member Sarah Fortune, Ph.D. and a team of collaborators, to collect the largest library of monoclonal antibodies to Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) the bacteria that causes tuberculosis.
The team identified specific antibody features that significantly limit the growth of Mtb. This research reveals critical new insights into how antibodies interact with immune cells in the lungs to restrict Mtb infection, laying the groundwork for potential antibody-based therapies or vaccines against tuberculosis, both of which are urgently needed.
Novel Treatment Based on Gene Editing Safely and Effectively Removes HIV-Like Virus from Genomes of Non-Human Primates
(Philadelphia, PA) – A single injection of a novel CRISPR gene-editing treatment safely and efficiently removes SIV – a virus related to the AIDS-causing agent HIV – from the genomes of non-human primates, scientists at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University now report. The groundbreaking work complements previous experiments as the basis for the first-ever clinical trial of an HIV gene-editing technology in human patients, which was authorized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2022.
The preclinical study, published online in the journal Gene Therapy, tested EBT-001, an SIV-specific CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing therapy, in rhesus macaques. The study shows that EBT-001 effectively excises SIV from reservoirs – cells and tissues where viruses like SIV and HIV integrate into host DNA and hide for years – without any detectable off-target effects in animals. The work is a significant advance in the generation of a cure for HIV/AIDS in humans.
“Our study supports safety and demonstrates evidence of in vivo SIV editing of a CRISPR gene-editing technology aimed at the permanent inactivation of virus in a broad range of tissues in a large, preclinical animal model, using a one-time injection of the treatment,” said Kamel Khalili, PhD, Laura H. Carnell Professor and Chair of the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Inflammation, Director of the Center for Neurovirology and Gene Editing, Director of the Comprehensive NeuroAIDS Center at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine, and senior investigator on the new study.
Cutting CAR T Costs via Decentralization, Vector-Alternatives, and Artificial Intelligence
High manufacturing costs are limiting patient access to CAR T cell therapies, according to new research, which indicates that decentralization, vector-free modification technologies, and AI would help make production cheaper.
Making CAR T therapies is an expensive business. A recent study suggested that producing a single batch can cost anywhere between $170,000 and $220,000, depending on the logistical, processing, and distribution steps involved.
The fundamental problem is that CAR T production is not a good fit for centralized manufacturing, according to Martin Bonamino, PhD, leader of the experimental cancer immunotherapy group at Brazil’s National Cancer Institute (INCA).
Emerging role of mitochondrial calcium levels in cellular senescence and in switching cell fates
Manipulating senescent cells by eliminating them or by modifying their activity has attracted huge interest for its potential to delay or even treat many age-related diseases, and to improve healthy aging. Mitochondria, and in particular their calcium levels, have emerged as key regulators of cellular senescence, cell death and the balance between the two, and might constitute targets for novel strategies to stifle the viability or properties of senescent cells.
Conserved brain-wide emergence of emotional response from sensory experience in humans and mice
Emotional responses to sensory experience are central to the human condition in health and disease. We hypothesized that principles governing the emergence of emotion from sensation might be discoverable through their conservation across the mammalian lineage. We therefore designed a cross-species neural activity screen, applicable to humans and mice, combining precise affective behavioral measurements, clinical medication administration, and brain-wide intracranial electrophysiology. This screen revealed conserved biphasic dynamics in which emotionally salient sensory signals are swiftly broadcast throughout the brain and followed by a characteristic persistent activity pattern. Medication-based interventions that selectively blocked persistent dynamics while preserving fast broadcast selectively inhibited emotional responses in humans and mice.
Atomic-level view of plant cell death enzyme offers path to safer crop protection
In a discovery three decades in the making, scientists at Rutgers and Brookhaven National Laboratory have acquired detailed knowledge about the internal structures and mode of regulation for a specialized protein and are proceeding to develop tools that can capitalize on its ability to help plants combat a wide range of diseases.
The work, which exploits a natural process where plant cells die on purpose to help the host plant stay healthy, is expected to have wide applications in the agricultural sector, offering new ways to protect major food crops from a variety of devastating diseases, the scientists said.
In a study published in Nature Communications, a team led by Eric Lam at Rutgers University-New Brunswick and Qun Liu at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York reported that advanced crystallography and computer modeling techniques have enabled them to obtain the best picture yet of a pivotal plant protease, a protein enzyme that cuts other proteins, known as metacaspase 9.
3D genome mapping technology sheds light on how plants regulate photosynthesis
Chinese researchers have developed a technology that sheds light on how the three-dimensional (3D) organization of plant genomes influences gene expression—especially in photosynthesis.
The research, which was led by Prof. Xiao Jun at the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with BGI Research, is published in Science Advances.
The innovative method not only provides a more precise tool for understanding the intricate 3D interactions between genes, but also highlights the critical role of long-range chromatin interactions in gene regulation.