NSPRI advocates agric trust fund to fast-track development

As part of solutions to the challenges in agriculture, and to fast-track agro-economic development and diversify sustainably, a dedicated trust fund to finance agricultural research, which, in turn, will prop up new technologies and products, should be emplaced by the Federal Government.

Spotlight

Viroclinics Biosciences BV

Viroclinics Biosciences operates at a global level, being the preferred virology testing laboratory for several of the top-10 Biopharmaceutical companies. As a virology contract research organization, we serve the biopharmaceutical community with our preclinical, clinical diagnostic, research & development and clinical trial logistics services. Our extensive experience with clinical and preclinical studies for viruses, including our specialty in respiratory viruses, puts us at the forefront for supporting the development of vaccines, antibodies and antiviral compounds targeting viral infectious diseases.

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MedTech

Biotech in 2022

Article | July 11, 2022

The robust global channel of more than, 800 gene and cell curatives presently in trials will produce clinical readouts in 2022, revealing what lies ahead for advanced curatives. The impact will be felt in 2022, no matter how you slice it. Eventually, how well industry and non-supervisory bodies unite to produce new frameworks for advanced therapies will shape the year 2022 and further. Pacific Northwest talent will continue to contribute to the advancement of gene and cell curatives in both the short and long term, thanks to its deep pool of ground-breaking scientific developers, entrepreneurial directorial leadership, largely skilled translational scientists, and endured bio manufacturing technicians. We may see continued on-life science fund withdrawal from biotech in 2021, but this can be anticipated as a strong comeback in 2022 by biotech industry, backed by deep-pocketed life science investors who are committed to this sector. A similar investment, combined with pharma's cash-heavy coffers, can result in increased junction and acquisition activity, which will be a challenge for some but an occasion for others. Over the last five years, investment interest in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest has grown exponentially, from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Oregon. The region's explosive portfolio of new biotech companies, innovated out of academic centres, demonstrates the region's growing recognition of scientific invention. This created a belief that continued, especially because Seattle's start-ups and biotech enterprises are delivering on their pledge of clinical and patient impact. Talent and staffing will continue to be difficult to find. It's a CEO's market, but many of these funds' return, and are not rising in proportion to the exorbitant prices they're paying to enter deals. This schism has become particularly pronounced in 2021. Hence, everyone in biotech is concerned about reclamation and retention.

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MedTech

AI and Biotechnology: The Future of Healthcare Industry

Article | July 16, 2022

Artificial intelligence has grasped the foundation in biotech. It can have the most innovative impact on biotechnology. AI has already established its presence in our day-to-day life. AI has made the existence of self-driving cars possible. Likewise, the benefits and quality that it can contribute to biotech can also be felt. With AI, bio technicians will be able to enhance virtual screening, overlook preliminary datasets from clinics, and decipher an enormous amount of information. It can also help in improving the medication process by gathering and analyzing every bit of information. The Significance of AI in Biotechnology In the past few years, the application of artificial intelligence in the biotechnology industry has shifted from being sci-fi to sci-fact. A vast number of biotech companies like Deep Genomics are adopting AI for making data-driven decisions and use analytics tools to work efficiently. Unlike the AI robots in sci-fi that are ready to take over the world. AI designed for biotech has been designed to solve certain problems or complete a bunch of tasks by using automated algorithms. The aim of AI technology for biotech is to collect insights along with hidden patterns from large amounts of data. All the different industries of biotech including agriculture, animal, medical, industrial, and bioinformatics are gradually being affected by artificial intelligence. Moreover, the biotech industry is realizing that AI enables them some of the important strength to their business, including: Expanding accessibility Cost-effectiveness Critical predictions Efficient decision-making Research centers like PwC have also estimated output of $15.7 trillion by 2030 solely with AI contribution in industries. A survey revealed that about 44% of life science experts are using AI for R&D activities, as well. Use of AI in Biotechnology Altering Biomedical and Clinical Data So far the most developed use of AI is its ability to read voluminous data records and interpret them. It can prove to be a life-save for bio technicians who would have to examine that much data from research publications by themselves for the validation of their hypothesis. With the help of AI, clinical studies of patients will also become easier as all the examination reports and prescriptions will be stored in one place for cross-reference. Furthermore, it will also help in blending and fetching data into usable formats for analysis. Test Result Prediction Through trial and error, AI along with machine learning can help in predicting the response of the patient to certain drugs to provide more effective outcomes. Drug Design & Discovery AI plays a vital role whether it’s designing a new molecule or identifying new biological targets. It helps in identifying and validating drugs. It reduces the cost and time spent on the entire drug trial process and reaches the market. Personalized Medications for Rare Diseases With the combination of body scan results, patients’ body and analytics, AI can also help in detecting dangerous diseases at an early stage. Improving Process of Manufacturing To improve the process of manufacturing in biotechnology, AI offers a wide range of opportunities. It controls quality, reduces wastage, improves useability, and minimizes the designing time. Moving Towards AI-Enhanced Biotech Future Ever since the concept of artificial intelligence has arrived, being curious by nature, humans have started working towards achieving this goal. It has been growing at a fast pace while showing unbelievable growth and achievements at times. In comparison to the traditional methods used in the biotechnology industry, AI-based methods seem more reliable and accurate. In the upcoming years, it will show its success by improving the quality of health people have. You can also develop your AI-based application or know more about it by taking IT consultations.

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MedTech

Immunology: A New Frontier in Medical Science

Article | July 12, 2022

Introduction Recent developments in the bioengineering of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) have revolutionized the treatment of numerous rheumatic and immunological disorders. Currently, several immunological disorders are successfully being targeted and treated using innovative medical techniques such as immunotherapy. Leading companies are increasingly investing in research activities to expand the usage and application of immunology for the treatment of various infectious diseases, including multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disorders, lupus, and psoriasis, leading companies are increasingly investing in research activities. Today, the efforts of researchers in immunology, with a long history of study and research, have borne fruit, as bioengineered mAbs are now being employed in clinical practices. Accelerating Investments: Paving the Way for Immunology The increasing prevalence of infectious diseases, cancer, and immune-mediated inflammatory disorders (IMIDs) is raising the need for more precise classification and an in-depth understanding of the pathology underlying these ailments. Numerous leaders in the biotechnology domain are thus focusing on undertaking numerous strategies, such as new facility launches and collaborations, to address the need by finding deeper inroads into immunology and its use in disease treatments. For instance, in 2022, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center announced the launch of a visionary research and innovation hub, the James P. Allison Institute, to find new roads in immunotherapy, develop new treatments, and foster groundbreaking science. These developments will result in better diagnosis through the use of selective biomarkers, and early detection of fatal diseases and their treatment, which will prevent complications from happening. Also, the identification of high-risk populations through a deeper understanding of genetic and environmental factors can assist in the prevention of disease through immunotherapy. The Way Forward Immunology has led to the development of biotechnology, making it possible to develop novel drugs and vaccines, as well as diagnostic tests, that can be used to prevent, diagnose, and treat a wide range of autoimmune, infectious, and cancerous diseases. With the rapid advancement in technology and the integration of artificial intelligence, immunology is finding its way into an array of domains and industries, encompassing several research areas including medicine, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, and space. Today, not only researchers but also leading biotech and pharmaceutical companies have recognized that conventional therapies with pharmaceutical and chemical products are being replaced by products derived from immunology. This is because they work well for health problems, are environmentally friendly, and are also emerging as a wealth-generating business in the medical field.

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MedTech

Next-Gen Genetics Cancer Therapies Creating Investment Prospects

Article | July 5, 2022

Genetic therapeutics such as genetic engineering and gene therapy are increasingly emerging as one of the most influential and transformed biotechnological solutions around the globe in recent times. These genetic solutions are being assessed across various medical domains, including cancer treatment, neurology, oncology, and ophthalmology. Citing the trend, the genetics industry is estimated to experience a tsunami of approvals, with over 1,000 cell and gene therapy clinical trials currently underway and over 900 companies worldwide focusing on these cutting-edge therapies. Growing Cancer Encourages Advancements in Genetic Technologies With the surging cases of cancers such as leukemias, carcinomas, lymphomas, and others, patients worldwide are increasing their spending on adopting novel therapeutic solutions for non-recurring treatment of the disease, such as gene therapy, genetic engineering, T-cell therapy, and gene editing. As per a study by the Fight Cancer Organization, spending on the treatment of cancer increased to $200.7 billion, and the amount is anticipated to exceed $245 billion by the end of 2030. Growing revenue prospects are encouraging biotechnology and biopharmaceutical companies to develop novel genetic solutions for cancer treatment. For instance, Bristol-Myers Squibb K.K., a Japanese pharmaceutical company, introduced a B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA)-directed chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell immunotherapy, Abecma, for the treatment of relapsed or refractory (R/R) multiple myeloma in 2022. Amid a New Market: Genetics Will Attract Massive Investments Despite several developments and technological advancements, genetics is still considered to be in a nascent stage, providing significant prospects for growth to the companies that are already operating in the domain. Genetics solutions such as gene therapies, gene editing, and T-cell immunotherapy are emerging as highly active treatments across various medical fields, resulting in increasing research and development activities across the domain, drawing significant attention from investors. Given the potential of genetic treatments and the focus on finding new ways to treat cancer and other related diseases, it's easy to understand why companies are investing in the domain. For instance, Pfizer has recently announced an investment of around $800 million to construct development facilities supporting gene therapy manufacturing from initial preclinical research through final commercial-scale production. Due to these advancements, cell and gene therapies are forecast to grow from $4 billion annually to more than $45 billion, exhibiting growth at a 63% CAGR. The Future of Genetics Though there is a significant rise in advancement in genetic technologies and developments, the number of approved genetic treatments remains extremely small. However, with gene transfer and CRISPR solutions emerging as new modalities for cancer treatment, the start-up companies will attract a growing amount and proportion of private and public investments. This is expected present a tremendous opportunity for biopharma and biotechnology investors to help fund and benefit from the medical industry's shift from traditional treatments to cutting-edge genetic therapeutics in the coming years.

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Spotlight

Viroclinics Biosciences BV

Viroclinics Biosciences operates at a global level, being the preferred virology testing laboratory for several of the top-10 Biopharmaceutical companies. As a virology contract research organization, we serve the biopharmaceutical community with our preclinical, clinical diagnostic, research & development and clinical trial logistics services. Our extensive experience with clinical and preclinical studies for viruses, including our specialty in respiratory viruses, puts us at the forefront for supporting the development of vaccines, antibodies and antiviral compounds targeting viral infectious diseases.

Related News

Oxitec Signs New Multi-year Development Agreement to Apply 2nd Generation Technology to Control Soybean Looper

Prnewswire | April 16, 2019

a UK-based biotechnology company that pioneered the use of biologically-engineered insects to control disease-spreading mosquitoes and crop-destroying agricultural pests and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Intrexon (NASDAQ: XON), has announced the signing of a new multi-year development agreement with a collaborator to develop a self-limiting soybean looper (Chrysodeixis includens) to suppress this damaging agricultural pest that is found throughout the Americas. Soybean looper threatens a variety of crops, primarily soybeans as well as cotton, sweet potatoes, peanuts, lettuce, herbs, tomato, tobacco, and others. It has been historically difficult to control due to growing insecticide resistance. Additionally, individual adult females can lay up to 700 eggs each in their lifetime, allowing a small number of insects to exponentially grow in a very short time span. Oxitec's self-limiting soybean looper will leverage the advantages and benefits of Oxitec's 2nd generation technology as part of their commitment to advancing a new global standard for targeted, safe pest management using self-limiting insects. "Soybean looper threatens crops in the Americas, especially in Brazil and the US, where current control tools are under pressure. It is necessary to rapidly deploy new, safe and targeted technologies," said Grey Frandsen, Chief Executive Officer at Oxitec. "Our targeted biologically-based approach offers the opportunity to suppress this major agricultural pest, prevent widespread crop losses and, perhaps most importantly, complement the newest generations of other valuable pest control methods." As the need for agricultural productivity increases, so does the need for novel pest management solutions. Oxitec's approach has the potential to counter against insects developing resistance to both new and existing methods of insect control.

Read More

Scientists develop artificial chemical receptor to assist viral transduction for T cell engineering

Phys.org | April 15, 2019

Engineered T cell immunotherapy, such as chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR-T) and T cell receptor T cell (TCR-T) therapy, has emerged as a potent therapeutic strategy for treating tumors. However, the genetic manipulation of primary T cells remains inefficient, especially during the clinical manufacturing process. There's an urgent need to develop a reliable method for the preparation of engineered T cells. A research team led by Prof. Cai Lintao at the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology (SIAT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and other collaborators developed a "safe, efficient and universal" technique based on bioorthogonal chemistry and glycol-metabolic labeling for viral-mediated engineered T cell manufacturing. Their findings were published in Advanced Functional Materials. In this strategy, the functional azide motifs were anchored on T cell surfaces via the intrinsic glycometabolism of exogenous azide-glucose, thus serving as an artificial ligand for viral binding. The complementary functional moiety dibenzocyclooctyne (DBCO)/-conjugated PEI1.8K (PEI-DBCO) was coated on the lentiviral surface, which strengthened the virus-T cell interaction through DBCO/azide bioorthogonal chemistry.

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Engineering Accuracy in CRISPR

Technologynetworks | April 16, 2019

Biomedical engineers at Duke University have developed a method for improving the accuracy of the CRISPR genome editing technology by an average of 50-fold. They believe it can be easily translated to any of the editing technology's continually expanding formats. The approach adds a short tail to the guide RNA which is used to identify a sequence of DNA for editing. This added tail folds back and binds onto itself, creating a "lock" that can only be undone by the targeted DNA sequence. The study appears online on April 15 in the journal Nature Biotechnology. "CRISPR is generally incredibly accurate, but there are examples that have shown off-target activity, so there's been broad interest across the field in increasing specificity," said Charles Gersbach, the Rooney Family Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Duke. "But the solutions proposed thus far cannot be easily translated between different CRISPR systems." CRISPR/Cas9 is a defense system that bacteria use to target and cleave the DNA of invading viruses. While the first version of CRISPR technology engineered to work in human cells originated from a bacteria called Streptococcus pyogenes, many more bacteria species carry other versions. Scientists in the field have spent years looking for new CRISPR systems with desirable properties and are constantly adding to the CRISPR arsenal. For example, some systems are smaller and better able to fit inside of a viral vector to deliver to human cells for gene therapy. But no matter their individual abilities, all have produced unwanted genetic edits at times.

Read More

Oxitec Signs New Multi-year Development Agreement to Apply 2nd Generation Technology to Control Soybean Looper

Prnewswire | April 16, 2019

a UK-based biotechnology company that pioneered the use of biologically-engineered insects to control disease-spreading mosquitoes and crop-destroying agricultural pests and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Intrexon (NASDAQ: XON), has announced the signing of a new multi-year development agreement with a collaborator to develop a self-limiting soybean looper (Chrysodeixis includens) to suppress this damaging agricultural pest that is found throughout the Americas. Soybean looper threatens a variety of crops, primarily soybeans as well as cotton, sweet potatoes, peanuts, lettuce, herbs, tomato, tobacco, and others. It has been historically difficult to control due to growing insecticide resistance. Additionally, individual adult females can lay up to 700 eggs each in their lifetime, allowing a small number of insects to exponentially grow in a very short time span. Oxitec's self-limiting soybean looper will leverage the advantages and benefits of Oxitec's 2nd generation technology as part of their commitment to advancing a new global standard for targeted, safe pest management using self-limiting insects. "Soybean looper threatens crops in the Americas, especially in Brazil and the US, where current control tools are under pressure. It is necessary to rapidly deploy new, safe and targeted technologies," said Grey Frandsen, Chief Executive Officer at Oxitec. "Our targeted biologically-based approach offers the opportunity to suppress this major agricultural pest, prevent widespread crop losses and, perhaps most importantly, complement the newest generations of other valuable pest control methods." As the need for agricultural productivity increases, so does the need for novel pest management solutions. Oxitec's approach has the potential to counter against insects developing resistance to both new and existing methods of insect control.

Read More

Scientists develop artificial chemical receptor to assist viral transduction for T cell engineering

Phys.org | April 15, 2019

Engineered T cell immunotherapy, such as chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR-T) and T cell receptor T cell (TCR-T) therapy, has emerged as a potent therapeutic strategy for treating tumors. However, the genetic manipulation of primary T cells remains inefficient, especially during the clinical manufacturing process. There's an urgent need to develop a reliable method for the preparation of engineered T cells. A research team led by Prof. Cai Lintao at the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology (SIAT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and other collaborators developed a "safe, efficient and universal" technique based on bioorthogonal chemistry and glycol-metabolic labeling for viral-mediated engineered T cell manufacturing. Their findings were published in Advanced Functional Materials. In this strategy, the functional azide motifs were anchored on T cell surfaces via the intrinsic glycometabolism of exogenous azide-glucose, thus serving as an artificial ligand for viral binding. The complementary functional moiety dibenzocyclooctyne (DBCO)/-conjugated PEI1.8K (PEI-DBCO) was coated on the lentiviral surface, which strengthened the virus-T cell interaction through DBCO/azide bioorthogonal chemistry.

Read More

Engineering Accuracy in CRISPR

Technologynetworks | April 16, 2019

Biomedical engineers at Duke University have developed a method for improving the accuracy of the CRISPR genome editing technology by an average of 50-fold. They believe it can be easily translated to any of the editing technology's continually expanding formats. The approach adds a short tail to the guide RNA which is used to identify a sequence of DNA for editing. This added tail folds back and binds onto itself, creating a "lock" that can only be undone by the targeted DNA sequence. The study appears online on April 15 in the journal Nature Biotechnology. "CRISPR is generally incredibly accurate, but there are examples that have shown off-target activity, so there's been broad interest across the field in increasing specificity," said Charles Gersbach, the Rooney Family Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Duke. "But the solutions proposed thus far cannot be easily translated between different CRISPR systems." CRISPR/Cas9 is a defense system that bacteria use to target and cleave the DNA of invading viruses. While the first version of CRISPR technology engineered to work in human cells originated from a bacteria called Streptococcus pyogenes, many more bacteria species carry other versions. Scientists in the field have spent years looking for new CRISPR systems with desirable properties and are constantly adding to the CRISPR arsenal. For example, some systems are smaller and better able to fit inside of a viral vector to deliver to human cells for gene therapy. But no matter their individual abilities, all have produced unwanted genetic edits at times.

Read More

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