Tag: biotechnology
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Engineered Tomato Helps Cut Contributor to Clogged Arteries
Researchers at University of California in Los Angeles found feeding a bio-engineered tomato to lab animals cuts their production of a fatty acid believed to contribute to high cholesterol levels. The team led by Alan Fogelman, director of the atherosclerosis research unit at UCLA’s medical school published their findings in the December issue of the…
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Cancer Genomics Precision-Medicine Center Opens in Boston
A group of research institutes and hospitals in Boston is opening a new lab to study the science leading to individualized cancer therapies based on the genomic make-up of a patient’s tumors. The Joint Center for Cancer Precision Medicine is a collaboration of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston Children’s Hospital, and the…
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Less Expensive Method Devised to Assemble DNA Sequence Data
Genome scientists at University of Washington in Seattle developed a technique of assembling DNA sequencing data along entire chromosomes that is less expensive and as accurate as current methods. The team from Washington’s medical school led by Jay Shendure published its findings earlier this week in the journal Nature Biotechnology (paid subscription required). Shendure and…
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Research Consortium Applies X-ray Lasers to Drug Molecules
A group of eight universities and research institutes in the U.S. is advancing the use of X-ray laser technology in biology, with direct applications in finding molecular targets for new therapies. The Center for Biology with X-ray Laser, or BioXFEL, is funded by a $25 million grant from National Science Foundation, led by University at…
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FDA Approves Leukemia Treatment, First Breakthrough Therapy
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved an antibody designed to treat chronic lymphocytic leukemia, when taken with chemotherapy. Obinutuzumabm — developed and marketed as the brand name Gazyva by the biotechnology company Genentech, a division of Roche in South San Francisco, California — is the first drug designated as a breakthrough therapy approved…
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Myelin Foundation to Assess Multiple Sclerosis Treatment
Myelin Repair Foundation in Saratoga, California is collaborating with drug development company Bionure Inc. in Barcelona, Spain to evaluate Bionure’s compound BN201 as a therapy candidate for multiple sclerosis. Financial aspects of the agreement were not disclosed. Multiple sclerosis is a condition where the immune system attacks the central nervous system and damages the fatty,…
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Novartis Licenses University Stem Cell Transplant Technology
The global pharmaceutical company Novartis, based in Switzerland, is licensing research conducted at University of Louisville to help transplant patients better tolerate donated kidneys. Financial aspects of the agreement between Novartis and the Louisville biotechnology company Regenerex LLC, the original licensee and completed last month, were not disclosed. Regenerex is the company founded by Suzanne…
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Peptide Developed to Combat Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria
Researchers at University of Copenhagen in Denmark and University of British Columbia in Canada developed and tested in the lab a substance they say quickly and effectively kills multiple types of bacteria, including those resistant to current antibiotics. The team led by Copenhagen’s Henrik Franzyk and UBC’s Robert Hancock published their findings last week in the…
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Contract Awarded for Influenza Vaccine and Immune Booster
NanoBio Corporation in Ann Arbor, Michigan received a new contract from National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of National Institutes of Health, for development of a pandemic influenza vaccine and adjuvant to boost the immune response of that vaccine. The initial contract value is $5.5 million, but the company says it would be…
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Trial Underway Testing Genetic Disease Stem Cell Therapy
A clinical trial is underway testing a therapy based on a patient’s own stem cells to treat childhood cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy (CCALD), a rare genetic disease affecting mainly boys. The trial began treating the first of an expected 15 patients testing the therapy made by bluebird bio, a biotechnology company in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Paris, France.…