Google has fired the employee who authored a controversial 10-page memo arguing for less emphasis on gender diversity in the workplace, reports Bloomberg. The document was first posted to an internal company forum on Friday, August 4, and immediately went viral among Google employees; it was then leaked to the media over the weekend, setting off a firestorm of outrage and debate while highlighting the companys ongoing struggles to meaningfully diversify its workforce.

Titled Googles Ideological Echo Chamber, the memo argues that the reason women are underrepresented in the tech industry has to do with "biological causes" between men and women. Its author, James Damore, was a senior software engineer at Google (a mid-level position at the company); Damore, who holds a doctorate in systems biology from Harvard and had worked at Google since 2013, has confirmed to multiple outlets that he was terminated for perpetuating gender stereotypes.

Damores memo specifically criticizes the company for its ongoing diversity and inclusion initiatives, which include encouraging its employees to take classes in unconscious bias. He uses primarily stereotyped misconceptions about men and women to argue that gender gaps [do not always] imply sexism, and declares that discriminating just to increase the representation of women in tech is misguided and biased as well as unfair, divisive, and bad for business.

Notably, the memo complicates an already unflattering moment for Google: The company has pledged to improve its recently updated internal diversity metrics which paint an unsympathetic picture of yet another tech company whose employees are predominantly white and male while also facing wage discrimination scrutiny from the US Department of Labor for systematically underpaying its female employees.

Reactions from Google employees and the public at large have been wide-ranging. Many people are utterly appalled, and have expressed outrage not only over the memos dangerous anti-diversity sentiments and faulty logic, but the fact that Damore felt confident posting such a screed to an internal forum for all of his colleagues to see. He even used his own name, which was quickly leaked to the press.

But Damores memo has also generated some support from both inside and outside the company and thus has kicked off a larger discussion about how far free speech should go in workplace environments. Its also highlighted Googles lack of gender parity and the tech industrys ongoing problems with fostering safe spaces for women.

In Damores memo, he states that women are more neurotic and have a lower stress tolerance than men, and that these characteristics not systemic harassment, routinely being passed over for promotions, or other well-documented instances of sexism in tech culture are the reason why women do not succeed as often as men do in the high-pressure industry.

He also argues that men have a higher drive for status than women, and suggests that this factor, rather than well-documented gender biases in the workplace, may be responsible for the lack of women in leadership positions both at Google and in the tech industry as a whole.

Finally, Damore calls for Google to De-empathize empathy, arguing that being emotionally unengaged [with the issue of diversity] helps us better reason about the facts. He decries political correctness, discounting the very concept of unconscious bias and arguing against unconscious bias training for Google employees.

Damore generally attempts to support his arguments by citing individual research papers about two pernicious approaches to classifying human ability: biological essentialism and biological determinism.

Biological essentialism is the belief that people of different genders, race, and sexual orientation are all innately, essentially different due to a set of nebulous predetermined biological factors. Along with all other kinds of essentialist thinking, the scientific establishment routinely warns against biological essentialism as fundamentally unscientific.

Biological essentialism the idea that men and women are programmed to desire certain things has been largely discredited, the Guardian noted last year. Tristan Bridges, a sociology professor at the College at Brockport State University of New York, told the Guardian that this is because [biological essentialism] relies on stereotypes of early humans, and the adaptive problems they faced that are historically inaccurate and fail to account for much of what we know about how early humans lived.

Instead, many scientists agree that stereotypes about how men and women are supposed to act, reinforced by social structures, is a major factor in how people act. Through a rather constructivist approach most studies show that no scientific experiment has proved the existence of systematic and/or significant biological sex differences in most cognitive functions, notes a 2010 Stanford research paper examining stereotypes and gender identity.

Biological determinism is the belief that hereditary genetics determine most factors about individuals. This belief led to the appalling eugenics experiments of the early 20th century, and in the decades since it has been thoroughly debunked by the mainstream scientific establishment.

Scientists have been issuing warnings for nearly two decades that biological essentialism and determinism, with their implied justifications for racism and homophobia, are creeping back into scientific theory. The limitations of womens brains are on the front line in this battle of ideas, wrote a team of researchers in 2005, in response to a piece of gender essentialism which argued that the male brain is the systematizing brain, while the females is the empathizing brain.

Writing for the Guardian in response to Damores memo, Angela Saini, the author of Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong, offered a good summary of why this view of gender is fundamentally flawed. She notes that at this point in the development of neuropsychology, its well-established that differences in individual neurology have virtually nothing to do with gender.

There isnt a neuroscientist alive who can say with confidence which sex any given brain belongs to, she writes. She also explains that Damores use of individual scientific articles to support his arguments is misguided, because science as a whole relies on scientific consensus rather than individual findings in individual papers and scientific consensus does not support Damores biological essentialism or determinism.

Instead, longstanding scientific consensus holds that the way humans develop is fundamentally more complicated than a simple matter of nature versus nurture. But people who believe in essentialism and determinism frequently challenge this view, often in an attempt to lend scientific credence to bigoted belief systems.

Unsurprisingly, the memo has been met with plenty of anger and concern. Many people whove discussed it publicly or in conversations that have since been leaked to the press seem to agree that its arguments are faulty and dangerous. Furthermore, many Google employees find it particularly troubling that Damore felt empowered to widely share such harmful views of gender on the companys internal employee forum.

One engineer reportedly wrote that the memo had caused irreparable harm to 1000s of Googlers, and that going forward, I cannot and I will not work with James Damore. He went on to detail the ways in which he would not engage with or interact with Damore, his code, or his product development.

On Saturday, Danielle Brown, Google's recently appointed vice president of diversity, responded to Damores memo and the backlash it generated via an internal memo to employees. Brown unequivocally dismissed Damores arguments, noting, Like many of you, I found that it advanced incorrect assumptions about gender. I'm not going to link to it here as it's not a viewpoint that I or this company endorses, promotes or encourages.

Declaring that Google is unequivocal in our belief that diversity and inclusion are critical to our success as a company," she went on to assert that all employees with alternative views, including different political views, [should] feel safe sharing their opinions. But, she added, that discourse needs to work alongside the principles of equal employment found in our Code of Conduct, policies, and anti-discrimination laws.

When contacted by email, a Google spokesperson also shared a response to Damores memo written by Ari Balogh, Googles VP of engineering:

Id like to respond to the "pc-considered-harmful" post. Questioning our assumptions and sharing different perspectives is an important part of our culture, and we want to continue fostering an environment where its safe to engage in challenging conversations in a thoughtful way. But, in the process of doing that, we cannot allow stereotyping and harmful assumptions to play any part. One of the aspects of the post that troubled me deeply was the bias inherent in suggesting that most women, or men, feel or act a certain way. That is stereotyping, and it is harmful.

Building an open, inclusive environment is core to who we are, and the right thing to do. Nuff said.

But neither Browns nor Baloghs responses did much to allay the outrage and concerns shared by many of Damores fellow Google employees. There are certain alternative views, including different political views, which I do not want people to feel safe to share here, one engineering manager reportedly wrote in response to Browns memo. Several employees openly questioned whether Damore would be fired. One employee reportedly wrote that if Googles human resources department did not discipline Damore, she would seriously consider leaving the company.

On Monday, Google CEO Sundar Pichai sent an email titled Our words matter to Google staff noting that while the company strongly support[s] the right of Googlers to express themselves, and much of what was in that memo is fair to debate, Damores memo had violated parts of the companys Code of Conduct and cross[ed] the line by advancing harmful gender stereotypes in our workplace.

Pichai continued:

To suggest a group of our colleagues have traits that make them less biologically suited to that work is offensive and not OK. ... The memo has clearly impacted our co-workers, some of whom are hurting and feel judged based on their gender. Our co-workers shouldnt have to worry that each time they open their mouths to speak in a meeting, they have to prove that they are not like the memo states, being agreeable rather than assertive, showing a lower stress tolerance, or being neurotic.

At the same time, there are co-workers who are questioning whether they can safely express their views in the workplace (especially those with a minority viewpoint). They too feel under threat, and that is also not OK. People must feel free to express dissent. So to be clear again, many points raised in the memo such as the portions criticizing Googles trainings, questioning the role of ideology in the workplace, and debating whether programs for women and underserved groups are sufficiently open to all are important topics. The author had a right to express their views on those topics we encourage an environment in which people can do this and it remains our policy to not take action against anyone for prompting these discussions.

The past few days have been very difficult for many at the company, and we need to find a way to debate issues on which we might disagree while doing so in line with our Code of Conduct.

After Damores memo was made public, many people echoed the appalled feelings of Google employees whod spoken out against it. The faulty logic behind the memo dominated the discussion, as did explanations of why Damores decision to post it was so inherently damaging.

In a lengthy open letter to Damore, Yonatan Zunger, a former Google employee who only recently left the company, shared his views from the perspective of having been a distinguished engineer an extremely high-level position at Google. Zunger noted that, despite speaking very authoritatively, Damore does not appear to understand gender, engineering, or the consequences of what he wrote, either for others or himself.

Zunger, who wrote as is if he were still working at Google and had been tasked with handling the situation internally, addressed Damore directly to explain not only why the beliefs outlined in his memo are so dangerous, but why writing and posting the memo was such a terrible judgment call:

What you just did was incredibly stupid and harmful. You just put out a manifesto inside the company arguing that some large fraction of your colleagues are at root not good enough to do their jobs, and that theyre only being kept in their jobs because of some political ideas. And worse than simply thinking these things or saying them in private, youve said them in a way thats tried to legitimize this kind of thing across the company, causing other people to get up and say wait, is that right?

I need to be very clear here: not only was nearly everything you said in that document wrong, the fact that you did that has caused significant harm to people across this company, and to the companys entire ability to function....

And as for its impact on you: Do you understand that at this point, I could not in good conscience assign anyone to work with you? I certainly couldnt assign any women to deal with this, a good number of the people you might have to work with may simply punch you in the face, and even if there were a group of like-minded individuals I could put you with, nobody would be able to collaborate with them. You have just created a textbook hostile workplace environment.

But not everyone was unified in their opposition to Damores memo. A set of informal polls that reportedly circulated internally among Google employees and were subsequently leaked online show a more divided set of reactions, ranging from strong agreement with its position to strong disapproval:

Its important to note that, as indicated in images above, fewer than 300 of the Googles thousands of employees responded. But the results do hint at deeper underlying ideological differences at Google, and suggest that at least some of the companys employees agree with Damores claims that his views are seen as anathema to a productive workplace and thus should be shamed into silence.

Both inside and outside Google, Damores memo has garnered him open supporters, with one blogger calling him the only set of balls left at Google. Meanwhile, Motherboard spoke to an anonymous Google employee who described the reaction among his fellow employees as a mix of women saying, This is terrible and its been distracting me from my work and it shouldnt be allowed; Men and women saying this is horrible but we need to let him have a voice; and men saying This is so brave, I agree.

The ensuing debate over his memo and subsequent firing has inevitably touched on issues of free speech and whether any workplace should allow such harmful ideas to safely be voiced. And one overarching theme of that debate has been the argument that free speech cannot and should not be an excuse for employees to spread and legitimize harmful ways of thinking or encourage the dehumanization of other people especially when the dehumanizing arguments are linked to bad science.

Had Google been willing to tolerate the posting of the memo in the spirit of supporting free speech, such tolerance would undoubtedly have been a deal breaker for many of the companys employees who were unsettled by the notion that it could embolden more of their co-workers to advocate for sexist or racist views.

Its no secret that Google (to say nothing of the tech industry at large) has a diversity problem. The companys most recent workforce representation data revealed that, despite its various ongoing diversity initiatives, 69 percent of the companys total workforce is male, while 56 percent is white. (At many other leading technology companies, these numbers are far worse.) In turn, Google acknowledged that, While weve made progress in recent years for both women and people of color, there are areas for improvement across the board and insisted that it is actively working to hire more women engineers and people of color.

In her weekend memo to employees, Brown argued that Damores memo is an unfortunate reaction to Googles progressively changing culture. Strong stands elicit strong reactions, she wrote. But the kind of bias and resistance to change implied by the memo seem to fall in line with the endless accounts of harassment and a deeply embedded bro culture thatve been well-documented by women across the tech industry, and indicate that Google might need to take a much stronger stand in order to make a real difference.

By firing Damore, the company has made it clear that such hostility wont be tolerated. But Damores memo, and the support it has received from some, has also made it clear that the tech industrys undercurrent of sexism and resistance to change is deeply embedded. And firing a single employee wont solve that problem anytime soon.

Correction: A previous version of this story stated that Damore has a doctorate in systems biology from Harvard, which he listed on his LinkedIn profile. A representative from Harvard has confirmed to Vox that Damore actually has a masters degree in systems biology, not a PhD.

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Google has fired the engineer whose anti-diversity memo reflects a divided tech culture - Vox

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

A Google engineer has been fired after writing a memo asserting that biological differences between men and women are responsible for the tech industrys gender gap.

We need to stop assuming that gender gaps imply sexism, James Damore wrote in the manifesto, which was first reported by Vices Motherboard and later released in full by Gizmodo.

The 10-page document criticizesGoogle initiatives aimed at increasing gender and racial diversity, and argues that Google should focus more on "ideological diversity" to make conservatives more comfortable in the companys work environment.

In response, Google CEO Sundar Pichai cut his vacation short and wrote a memo criticizing Damores manifesto for advancing harmful gender stereotypes. "To suggest a group of our colleagues have traits that make them less biologically suited to that work is offensive and not OK," Pichai wrote.

Experts have been quick to cite numerous scientific meta-analyses of differences between the sexes, most of which suggest that men and women are alike in terms of personality and cognitive ability. Here are the specific claims Damore made in his manifesto, and the real science behind them.

Although some differences between men and women have been observed by scientists, they are mostly physical ones. Current research generally does not find evidence that variations in preferences, psychology, or personality stem from genetic or biological factors. Rather, theyre primarily attributed to culture and socialization.

In his manifesto, however, Damore suggested the gender differences he lists do have biological components. One justification he gives for this belief is that the differences he mentions are what we would predict from an evolutionary psychology perspective and are universal across human cultures.

Angela Merkel Ivanka Trump

(German Chancellor Angela Merkel listens as Ivanka Trump speaks during a meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, Friday, March 17, 2017.AP Photo/Evan Vucci) Damore didnt cite any sources to back up hisreasoning. However, a 2001 analysis of responses to a prominent personality inventory test found that contrary to predictions from evolutionary theory, the magnitude of gender differences varied across cultures a direct contradiction to his argument.

One of the main biological differences between men and women, according to Damore, is that women are more open to feelings and have a stronger interest in people rather than things.

He went on to suggest: These two differences in part explain why women relatively prefer jobs in social or artistic areas. More men may like coding because it requires systemizing.

Throughout his memo, Damore linked to many Wikipedia pages as justification for his claims but neither news media organizations nor scientists accept Wikipedia as a credible source of information, especially when used in policy recommendations.

To back up the people over things hypothesis, Damore cited a study published in the journal Social and Personality Psychology Compass in 2010; however, that work never suggests that the gender differences it lists have a proven biological basis.

In fact, the study says the opposite: Although most biologic scientists accept that sexual selection has led to sex differences in physical traits such as height, musculature, and fat distributions, many social scientists are skeptical about the role of sexual selection in generating psychological gender differences.

A 2000 review of at 10 studies related to gender differences in empathy also suggests men and women dont have innate differences in this area. The researchers found that such distinctions were only present in situations where the subjects were aware that they are being evaluated on an empathy-relevant dimension or in which empathy-relevant gender-role expectations or obligations are made salient. In other words, differences had to do with how people responded to expectations of them, not any inherent abilities.

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(Helen Sloan/HBO)

Adam Grant, a professor at University of Pennsylvanias Wharton School, has also highlighted the fact that differences between men and womens professional preferences are not genetically determined.

The data on occupational interests do reveal strong male preferences for working with things and strong female preferences for working with people, Grant wrote in a LinkedIn essay responding to Damores claims. But they also reveal that men and women are equally interested in working with data.

In the memo, Damore suggested that women are biologically prone to express their extraversion as gregariousness instead of assertiveness, and to be more agreeable than men.

That difference, he claims, leads to women generally having a harder time negotiating salary, asking for raises, speaking up, and leading.

Again, Damore didnt cite any evidence for this part of his argument. A 2005 analysis of 46 meta-analyses of gender differences suggests its false.

According to the American Psychological Association, one experiment in that analysis involved participants who were told that they would not be identified as male or female. Under those conditions, none conformed to stereotypes about their sex when given the chance to be aggressive. The researchers found the opposite to be true, in fact: women were more aggressive and men were more passive, they wrote.

And a meta-analysis of leadership effectiveness published in 2014 suggests that when it comes to others evaluations of leaders (as opposed to the leaders own perception), women are rated as significantly more effective than men. When looking at self-ratings, however, men rate themselves as significantly more effective than women rate themselves.

That suggests that context and learned expectations are responsible for some observed gender disparities.

Damore also suggested that women are biologically prone to feel higher levels of stress and anxiety, and posited that difference might contribute to the lower number of women in high stress jobs.

The only source he gave for this information is Wikipedia. However, the misconception might have stemmed from analyses of the Revised NEO Personality inventory (the prominent personality test mentioned above).

On the test, according to a2001 secondary analysis, women reported themselves to be higher in neuroticism. But those responses are based purely on self-perception (which is heavily influenced by social and cultural factors) so itd be problematic to consider that a biological difference.

ron swanson and leslie knope parks and rec

(NBCUniversal)

Women on average look for more work-life balance while men have a higher drive for status on average, Damore wrote.

As evidence for this, he cited a 2006 paper published in the British Journal of Guidance and Counseling.

That article highlights the fact that more women value a balance between their professional and home lives than men. It also suggests that men are more likely to make their careers their first priority. However, nowhere does that paper suggest that these preferences come from biological or evolutionary differences between the sexes.

In fact, it makes this caveat: They are differences of degree, with large overlaps between men and women. They are not fundamental qualitative differences, as often argued in the past in order to entirely exclude women from male occupations such as management, the military and the professions.

Damore does make a couple of valid points about the gender expectations of men, and the way these might contribute to the tech industrys gender gap.

He suggested that because men are often judged based on their status in the professional world, that pushes many men into these higher paying, less satisfying jobs for the status that they entail.

Furthermore, Damore noted that men are still very much tied to the male gender role, and wrote that allowing men to express traits or pursue goals that are traditionally thought of as feminine would help alleviate some of the gender-gap problems.

Although he doesnt cite any sources for these claims either, it seems logical that gender expectations and stereotypes are partially responsible for the types of roles men seek out in the workplace.

Sundar Pichai Google event Pixel 2016

(Reuters/Beck Diefenbach) Pichai also acknowledged the validity of Damores complaints about perceived intolerance of conservative viewpoints among Googles employees.

There are co-workers who are questioning whether they can safely express their views in the workplace (especially those with a minority viewpoint), the CEO wrote in his statement. They too feel under threat, and that is also not OK.

Damores views, however, were not the reason he was fired rather, it was because portions of his manifesto violated Googles code of conduct.

According to Reuters, Damore is now pursuing legal action against Google, though labor law experts suggest his case could be an uphill battle.

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A Google employee was fired after blaming biology for tech's gender gap but the science shows he's wrong - Yahoo Finance

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Coronary heart disease is the term that describes what happens when the heart's blood supply is blocked or interrupted by a build-up of fatty substances in the coronary arteries.

This is a process called atherosclerosis.

Coronary heart disease can't be cured yet but treatment can help manage the symptoms and reduce the chances of problems such as heart attacks.

However, now experts have found a new gene therapy which targets the heart and requires only one treatment session.

The treatment has been found safe for patients with coronary artery disease, according to a successful trial carried out in Finland.

It works by enhancing circulation in the oxygen-deficient heart muscle and experts said the effects were visible even one year after the treatment.

A trial was carried out in collaboration between the University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio University Hospital and Turku PET Centre as part of the Centre of Excellence in Cardiovascular and Metabolic Diseases of the Academy of Finland.

The biological bypass is based on gene transfer in which a natural human growth hormones - called a factor - is injected into the heart muscle to enhance vascular growth.

The trial was the first in the world to use a vascular growth factor which has several beneficial effects on circulation in the heart muscle.

Experts also developed a precise method for injecting the gene into the oxygen-deficient heart muscle area.

A customised catheter is inserted via the patients groin vessels to the left ventricle, after which the gene solution can be injected directly into the heart muscle.

The method is as easy to perform as coronary balloon angioplasty, which means that it is also suitable for older patients and patients who are beyond a bypass surgery or other demanding surgical or arterial operations.

Experts said the biological bypass constitutes a significant step forward in the development of novel biological treatments for patients with severe coronary artery disease.

A new blood test biomarker was also discovered, making it possible to identify patients who are most likely to benefit from the new treatment.

The biological bypass was developed by a research group at the University of Eastern Finland.

Experts said research into the biological bypass will continue with a new trial set to start in 2018.

This trial will also include five other cardiology clinics from Denmark, the UK, Austria, Spain and Poland.

This comes after it was revealed heart disease risk could be determined by your waist size.

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Cardiovascular disease cure? One session of THIS could help treat condition - Express.co.uk

Recommendation and review posted by simmons

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. & TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Agilis Biotherapeutics, Inc. (Agilis), a biotechnology company advancing innovative DNA therapeutics for rare genetic diseases that affect the central nervous system (CNS), and Gene Therapy Research Institution Co, Ltd. (GTRI), a corporation with the mission of developing and delivering of the safest and most efficient gene therapies, today announced that the companies have completed a manufacturing and collaboration partnership joint venture (JV) to advance adeno-associated virus (AAV) gene therapies. The JV was initiated earlier this year in connection with a grant from the Japanese Ministry of Trade, Economics and Industry (METI) and Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) for the development of a state-of-the-art AAV manufacturing facility in Japan. GTRI was co-founded by Professor Shin-ichi Muramatsu, M.D., a leading pioneer in gene therapy who has performed basic science and clinical research in the field for over two decades.

The JV, headquartered in Japan, will initially focus on developing and manufacturing AAV gene therapy vectors using Sf9 baculovirus and HEK293 mammalian cell systems and operate a process development and production facility located in the Tokyo area designed to meet international manufacturing standards, including cGMP, GCTP and PIC/S GMP requirements. Agilis and GTRI will also collaborate to expedite the development, approval and commercialization of select gene therapies in specific CNS diseases. Terms of the joint venture were not disclosed.

We are pleased to collaborate with Agilis to leverage each organizations capabilities and know-how, advance the manufacturing state-of-the art for gene therapy, and develop novel gene therapies, commented Katsuhito Asai, Chief Executive Officer of GTRI and a Director of the joint venture. Our partnership will seek to capitalize on the strong recent progress in the field of gene therapy and expedite the development of innovative gene therapies for patients in need, with a major emphasis on the quality production of safe, effective therapeutics.

We are thrilled to partner with GTRI, said Mark Pykett, Agilis CEO and a Director of the joint venture. We believe that our partnership will enhance the efforts of both organizations, build important shared production capabilities, and accelerate development and commercialization of important gene therapies. We look forward to working with GTRI on a range of initiatives.

Agilis Biotherapeutics

Agilis is advancing innovative gene therapies designed to provide long-term efficacy for patients with debilitating, often fatal, rare genetic diseases that affect the central nervous system. Agilis gene therapies are engineered to impart sustainable clinical benefits by inducing persistent expression of a therapeutic gene through precise targeting and restoration of lost gene function to achieve long-term efficacy. Agilis rare disease programs are focused on gene therapy for AADC deficiency, Friedreichs ataxia, and Angelman syndrome, all rare genetic diseases that include neurological deficits and result in physically debilitating conditions.

We invite you to visit our website at http://www.agilisbio.com

About GTRI

GTRI, a bio-tech venture in Japan, was founded in May 2014 based on the pioneering research of Dr. Shin-ichi Muramatsu, focusing on gene therapy using AAV vector as the leading company in Japan in this field. Its pipeline includes more than 20 diseases, targeting CNS diseases and monogenic disorders, such as Parkinsons disease, AADC deficiency, ALS, Alzheimers disease, spinocerebellar degeneration, Tay-Sachs disease, GLUT1 deficiency, and others.

Dr. Muramatsu, PhD, MD, of Jichi Medical University, is one of the top researchers of AAV vectors and AAV-mediated gene therapy in the world. He originated AAV3 in 1995 during his research at the NIH, USA, and afterwards developed his original modified AAV3/9 in Japan, which enables to deliver the gene of interest effectively in CNS through the blood-brain barrier.

Safe Harbor Statement

Some of the statements made in this press release are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based upon our current expectations and projections about future events and generally relate to our plans, objectives and expectations for the development of our business. Although management believes that the plans and objectives reflected in or suggested by these forward-looking statements are reasonable, all forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and actual future results may be materially different from the plans, objectives and expectations expressed in this press release.

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Agilis Biotherapeutics and Gene Therapy Research Institution Enter ... - Business Wire (press release)

Recommendation and review posted by sam

Just 21 years ago, Erna West faced every parents worst nightmare. Her then 9-year-old daughter Gizelle was diagnosed with the life-threatening and limiting disease Fanconi anaemia. The hereditary and rare disease leads to bone marrow failure, meaning an inability to produce blood cells.

The one thing I still remember is us driving in our car and my daughter asking me, Mommy, am I going to die? West recounted.

Now an ardent advocate for stem cell therapy and storage, West, a product specialist for CryoSave, credits stem cells with saving her daughters life.

Her daughter needed a bone marrow transplant, which involved the transplanting of stem cells.

She found she was an exact donor match for her daughters bone marrow transplant - a one-in-a-million occurrence.

When youre faced with a situation such as that as a parent, you want and are willing to do anything to save your childs life I just want parents to understand what stem cells can do.

Fast forward 21 years and stem cells are revolutionising health care and through modern technology, parents can store their newborn babys umbilical cord stem cells in case of any future illnesses or health care needs.

Stem cells are present in the human body throughout life, constantly repairing tissue damaged by normal activity, the environment and other extraneous factors. They can replicate or regenerate themselves and have the ability to differentiate into any kind of specialised cell in the body.

Africa is the only continent without a public stem cell bank - private stem cell storage banks are in increasing demand as research and medical innovation has shown that many blood cancers, blood disorders, autoimmune diseases and immunodeficiencies are treatable with cord blood.

Umbilical cord blood and stem cell banking is still a relatively novel concept in South Africa.

However, new parents are increasingly opting to have their newborn babies stem cells extracted from their umbilical cords.

According to CryoSave - which stores 7 800 client stem cell samples - the process is simpler and quicker than one might expect.

Once the baby is born, the umbilical cord is clamped and cut as per normal in any birth. It is only after this that the blood and tissue are collected from the cord - which is usually discarded as medical waste after the birth.

A babys umbilical cord stem cells are a 100% perfect match and biological parents stem cells will be at least a half-match.

There is a 25% probability of matching siblings and, unlike bone marrow transplants, one doesnt have to have a perfect match in transplants when making use of cord blood stem cells.

Today, umbilical cord blood stem cells are used in more than one-third of all blood stem cell transplants in the world.

Explaining the process behind the storage of umbilical cord cells at their labs, Christiene Botha, a lab quality manager said: The blood we receive goes through a rigorous sterilising, processing and freezing process.

The samples are then stored in liquid nitrogen tanks at a temperature of -196C.

But time is of the essence in this process.

The umbilical cord blood sample needs to reach the lab within 48 hours - and the cut off is at 64 hours - as blood cells start dying after 72 hours.

Depending on what product one uses to store the cells, storage rates can be from R250 to R300 a month.

The fact that we dont have a public national bank puts us at a disadvantage because it is the ideal. So there arent many choices for parents out there - but families can look after themselves through this type of storage.

"My daughter is 30-years-old, is married and lives a full life because of stem cells, West concluded.

Read more:
Daughter leads full life thanks to stem cell therapy - Independent Online

Recommendation and review posted by simmons

UCSF scientist, Dr. Jeremy Horst, has received a grant from microbial genomics leader, uBiome, that will support an ambitious research project investigating the use of the oral microbiome as a predictive diagnostic for blood infections in pediatric bone marrow transplant patients.

San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) August 08, 2017

uBiome, the leader in microbial genomics, has issued its latest Microbiome Impact Grant award to pediatric dentist and scientist Dr. Jeremy Horst of UCSF School of Medicine, who, along with colleagues in the UCSF Children's Oral Health Research Center, is carrying out research into the use of the oral microbiome as a non-invasive way of predicting and preventing blood infections in immunocompromised young bone marrow transplant patients.

Bone marrow transplants are used in order to replace damaged or diseased cells with non-cancerous stem cells that can, in turn, grow new, healthy cells. These transplants tend to be used when treatments for cancer have destroyed the bone marrow's normal stem cells. Bone marrow, which is found at the core of bones, is where the body manufactures blood cells.

Bone marrow transplants can be either allogeneic or autologous. Allogeneic transplants occur when bone marrow is received from a donor. In autologous transplants, the patient's own bone marrow is used, after being collected, frozen, and stored until it is needed following chemotherapy, for example.

Blood infections pose a considerable risk during bone marrow transplants, so being able to predict and prevent them is critical. Dr. Horst's study aims to explore the use of the oral microbiome as a predictive diagnostic for blood infections in pediatric patients who are immunocompromised, a common phenomenon during transplant procedures. Having a weakened immune system, technically known as immunodeficiency, is a state in which the immune system's ability to fight infectious disease and cancer is either compromised or entirely absent.

The potential to use the oral microbiome as a marker for the blood microbiome would offer considerable benefits, particularly because of its non-invasive nature.

Dr. Horst is a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Biochemistry and Biophysics Department at UCSF School of Medicine, specializing in Biochemistry and Infectious Diseases. He received his PhD for studies in Oral and Computational Biology at the University of Washington, after also first gaining his DDS there. This was followed by a residency in Pediatric Dentistry at UCSF. Dr. Horst began his academic studies at UCSD, where he was awarded his BS in Pharmacological Chemistry, a BA in Psychology, and a master's in Chemistry. He has contributed to 40 scientific papers.

The microbiome is the collective term for the ecosystem of trillions of microorganisms that live in and on the human body. Many play important parts in supporting life. For example, gut bacteria aid digestion and enable the synthesis of vitamins. Pathogenic bacteria, however, can be associated with a range of conditions. uBiome employs precision sequencing technology to generate detailed analyses of the human microbiome.

Dr. Jeremy Horst says: "To prepare young patients for bone marrow transplant, their immune systems are temporarily wiped out. Despite our extraordinarily cautious efforts, one third of these children at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital get blood infections, and oddly enough, one third of the infections come from bacteria in the dental plaque. We use traditional culture-based diagnostics to understand these infections once they happen, but the advanced technology offered by uBiome may enable us to detect harmful oral bacteria before they endanger the lives of these children - with just a bit saliva."

Dr. Zachary Apte, co-founder and CTO of uBiome, adds: "After collaborating with him in the past, we're familiar with Dr. Horst's work. We think his novel proposal to predict and prevent blood infections in young patients with weakened immune systems using something as simple as a saliva test is very exciting."

Founded in 2012, uBiome is the world's leading microbial genomics company. uBiome is funded by Y Combinator, Andreessen Horowitz, 8VC, and other leading investors.

uBiome's mission is to explore important research questions about the microbiome and to develop accurate and reliable clinical tests based on the microbiome.

Contact:Julie Taylorjulie(at)ubiome(dot)comPh: +1 (415) 212-9214

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2017/08/prweb14568771.htm

View post:
uBiome Grant Will Enable UCSF Scientist to Explore 'Spit Test' to Predict Blood Infections in Young Bone Marrow ... - Benzinga

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

MADISON, Wis. Its goggles, gloves and lab coats right now, Dan Murphy, outreach coordinator for the Morgridge Institute for Research, shouted, rallying participants in Summer Science Camp at the Institutes for Discovery on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus earlier this week.

There was excitement as campers, all students from high schools in rural Wisconsin, prepared and conducted an experiment testing the effect of medication on cardiac muscle cells, or cardiomyocytes.

Its pretty cool, said Tanner Oyen, a student at Lancaster High School in Grant County in southwestern Wisconsin, about the experiment in which students counted the beats made by stem-cell-derived cardiomyocytes before and after exposing them to verapamil, a calcium channel blocker.

The rural summer science camp, now in its 11th year, has brought more than 400 students from more than 70 high schools to the UW-Madison campus for a taste of what studying and maybe, someday, working in a university laboratory would be like.

Its mission is in part the Wisconsin Idea, bringing knowledge developed at UW-Madison to other parts of the state, Murphy said. Its also an opportunity for students from rural Wisconsin to know that going to a UW System school is possible for them.

And they see scientists not very much older than them model those aspirations, Murphy said.

Students from 10 state high schools participated in one of two science camps this month: Kickapoo Area School District in Viola; the North Crawford School District in Soldiers Grove; Iola-Scandinavia School District in Iola; Black Hawk School District in South Wayne; Chetek-Weyerhauser School District in Chetek; Lancaster High School; Phillips High School; Bruce High School; Coleman High School; and Hillsboro High School.

The students and their accompanying teachers spend four days on campus, staying in DeJope Residence Hall, and participate in a variety of educational and social activities.

On Wednesday, students heard a talk about how cardiac stem cells are developed and tested for use in medicine from Tim Kamp, a professor and researcher at the School of Medicine and Public Health. After hearing about the sometimes circuitous academic paths of graduate students who led the experiments, students got down to the business of calculating concentrations of verapamil and observing its effect on cardiomyocytes under the microscope.

Students chuckled at the idea of having the kind of equipment like the bio-safety cabinet that filtered the air around their cell samples and microscopes at their high schools.

Thats one reason why the summer camp is so educational. Its a great opportunity to get to work with new things, said Emma Peterson of Phillips High School in north central Wisconsin.

Her classmate, Kate Lochner, said the camp is giving her new appreciation for the potential of stem cell use, something she thinks will burgeon in the next few years. I think thats going to be really helpful in all fields of research, said Lochner.

Both girls see science and UW-Madison as possibilities in their futures.

Its a great school, said Lochner. A lot of kids from Phillips end up going here.

A lot percentage-wise can mean just a few students from small schools like Phillips, with an enrollment of 228 this past year.

Aaron Destiche, a middle and high school teacher in the Coleman School District, said the camp makes going to UW-Madison to pursue a career in science a tangible thing, not something off in the distance.

About 60 percent of Coleman graduates attend Northeast Wisconsin Technical College in nearby Green Bay, and 20 to 30 percent go on to a four-year college Destiche said. A handful of them, four or six a year, usually attend UW-Madison, he said.

Students on Wednesday noted that the beating of the cells slowed after the introduction of verapamil.

Does the drug affect the calcium? asked Annabelle Kolecki, a student at Coleman.

Thats a good hypothesis, replied graduate student Angelica de Lourdes, who comes from Puerto Rico.

Kolecki said the experiment energized the learning process. Its easier when you are getting hands-on experience, she said.

It was really cool to see actual heart cells, enthused classmate Kaily Klimek.

Both girls were excited about their week on campus. Being here gives us the chance to try new things, Klimek said.

The summer camp is free of charge to students and teachers attending, and is supported by several grants, including an endowment established by the family of Kathleen Smith, a former trustee of both the Morgridge Institute and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.

Its hoped that the experience also provides professional development for teachers who accompany their students, Murphy said. To promote experimentation back in the classroom, teachers receive funding of $25 per student they bring to camp to purchase science supplies, he said.

Hillsboro High School teacher Deb Freitag returned this year with a new group of students after the camp was a big hit with those who attended three years ago.

My students dont get to work with this kind of equipment or with other students who have the same capabilities and excitement over science, she remarked. The school in Vernon County in western Wisconsin has about 170 students.

They were able to become nerds, as they put it, and be comfortable about it, Freitag said.

Students in the camp create posters on what they learn that Freitag displayed in her classroom. Seeing their names and what they did made them proud of who they are, she said, and started a buzz about science camp that had other students eager to attend.

Murphy said that camp organizers have just begun surveying students in the years after camp about what affect it had on their educational and career choices to gauge its impact scientifically.

But we hear anecdotally from teachers that students are coming to UW-Madison because of these experiences, he said.

View original post here:
Camp gives rural students taste of lab - Indiana Gazette

Recommendation and review posted by simmons

August 8, 2017 - By Peter Erickson

The stock of Vistagen Therapeutics Incorporated (NASDAQ:VTGN) registered an increase of 11.81% in short interest. VTGNs total short interest was 90,900 shares in August as published by FINRA. Its up 11.81% from 81,300 shares, reported previously. With 28,700 shares average volume, it will take short sellers 3 days to cover their VTGNs short positions. The short interest to Vistagen Therapeutics Incorporateds float is 1.75%.

The stock decreased 2.22% or $0.04 on August 7, reaching $1.76. About shares traded. Vistagen Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:VTGN) has declined 50.00% since August 8, 2016 and is downtrending. It has underperformed by 66.70% the S&P500.

VistaGen Therapeutics, Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company. The company has market cap of $16.74 million. The Firm is engaged in developing and commercializing product candidates for patients with diseases and disorders involving the central nervous system . It currently has negative earnings. The Companys lead product candidate, AV-101, is an orally available prodrug candidate in Phase II development, initially for the adjunctive treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD) in patients with an inadequate response to standard antidepressants approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

More notable recent Vistagen Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:VTGN) news were published by: Prnewswire.com which released: VistaGen Therapeutics Reports Second Quarter 2017 Financial Results and on November 14, 2016, also Finance.Yahoo.com with their article: VistaGen Therapeutics Receives European Patent Office Notice of Intention to published on March 29, 2017, Prnewswire.com published: VistaGen Therapeutics Grants Exclusive Sublicense of Cardiac Stem Cell on December 14, 2016. More interesting news about Vistagen Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:VTGN) were released by: Prnewswire.com and their article: VistaGen Therapeutics to Present at Biotech Showcase 2017 published on January 05, 2017 as well as Prnewswire.coms news article titled: VistaGen Therapeutics Provides Business Outlook and Sets Corporate Milestones with publication date: September 22, 2016.

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Original post:
What's Propelling Vistagen Therapeutics Incorporated (NASDAQ:VTGN) After Higher Shorts Reported? - BZ Weekly

Recommendation and review posted by sam

"By using our novel nanochip technology, injured or compromised organs can be replaced, said Dr Sen.

We have shown that skin is a fertile land where we can grow the elements of any organ that is declining.

TNT extends the concept known as gene therapy, which has been known about for some time, however the big difference is how the DNA is delivered into the body.

"The concept is very simple," said Professor James Lee, who co-led the research.

"As a matter of fact, we were even surprised how it worked so well.

In my lab, we have ongoing research trying to understand the mechanism and do even better.

So, this is the beginning, more to come."

"By using our novel nanochip technology, injured or compromised organs can be replaced. We have shown that skin is a fertile land where we can grow the elements of any organ that is declining, said Dr Sen.

The study is published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

Continue reading here:
'Breakthrough' penny-sized nanochip pad is able to regrow organs and heal injuries - Telegraph.co.uk

Recommendation and review posted by sam

The PASE, or post-implantation amniotic sac embryoid, is a structure grown from human pluripotent stem cells that mimics many of the properties of the amniotic sac that forms soon after an embryo implants in the uterus wall. The structures could be used to study infertility. Credit: University of Michigan

The first few weeks after sperm meets egg still hold many mysteries. Among them: what causes the process to fail, leading to many cases of infertility.

Despite the importance of this critical stage, scientists haven't had a good way to explore what can go wrong, or even what must go right, after the newly formed ball of cells implants in the wall of the human uterus.

But a new achievement using human stem cells may help change that. Tiny lab-grown structures could give researchers a chance to see what they couldn't before, while avoiding ethical issues associated with studying actual embryos.

A team from the University of Michigan reports in Nature Communications that they have coaxed pluripotent human stem cells to grow on a specially engineered surface into structures that resemble an early aspect of human development called the amniotic sac.

The cells spontaneously developed some of the same structural and molecular features seen in a natural amniotic sac, which is an asymmetric, hollow ball-like structure containing cells that will give rise to a part of the placenta as well as the embryo itself. But the structures grown at U-M lack other key components of the early embryo, so they can't develop into a fetus.

It's the first time a team has grown such a structure starting with stem cells, rather than coaxing a donated embryo to grow, as a few other teams have done.

"As many as half of all pregnancies end in the first two weeks after fertilization, often before the woman is even aware she is pregnant. For some couples, there is a chronic inability to get past these critical early developmental steps, but we have not previously had a model that would allow us to explore the reasons why," says co-senior author Deborah Gumucio, Ph.D. "We hope this work will make it possible for many scientists to dig deeper into the pathways involved in normal and abnormal development, so we can understand some of the most fascinating biology on earth." Gumucio is the Engel Collegiate Professor of Cell & Developmental Biology at Michigan Medicine, U-M's academic medical center.

A steady PASE

The researchers have dubbed the new structure a post-implantation amniotic sac embryoid, or PASE. They describe how a PASE develops as a hollow spherical structure with two distinct halves that remain stable even as cells divide.

One half is made of cells that will become amniotic ectoderm, the other half consists of pluripotent epiblast cells that in nature make up the embryonic disc. The hollow center resembles the amniotic cavity - which in normal development eventually gives rise to the fluid-filled sac that protects and cushions the fetus during development.

Gumucio likens a PASE to a mismatched plastic Easter egg or a blue-and-red Pokmon ball - with two clearly divided halves of two kinds of cells that maintain a stable form around a hollow center.

The team also reports details about the genes that became activated during the development of a PASE, and the signals that the cells in a PASE send to one another and to neighboring tissues. They show that a stable two-halved PASE structure relies on a signaling pathway called BMP-SMAD that's known to be critical to embryo development.

Gumucio notes that the PASE structures even exhibit the earliest signs of initiating a "primitive streak", although it did not fully develop. In a human embryo, the streak would start a process called gastrulation. That's the division of new cells into three cell layersendoderm, mesoderm and ectodermthat are essential to give rise to all organs and tissues in the body.

Collaboration provides the spark

The new study follows directly from previous collaborative work between Gumucio's lab and that of the other senior author, U-M mechanical engineering associate professor Jianping Fu, Ph.D.

In the previous work, reported in Nature Materials, the team succeeded in getting balls of stem cells to implant in a special surface engineered in Fu's lab to resemble a simplified uterine wall. They showed that once the cells attached themselves to this substrate, they began to differentiate into hollow cysts composed entirely of amnion - a tough extraembryonic tissue that holds the amniotic fluid.

But further analysis of these cysts by co-first authors of the new paper Yue Shao, Ph.D., a graduate student in Fu's lab, and Ken Taniguchi, a postdoctoral fellow in Gumucio's lab, revealed that a small subset of these cysts were stably asymmetric and looked exactly like early human or monkey amniotic sacs.

The team found that such structures could also grow from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs)cells derived from human skin and grown in the lab under conditions that give them the ability to become any type of cell, similar to how embryonic stem cells behave. This opens the door for future work using skin cells donated by couples experiencing chronic infertility, which could be grown into iPSCs and tested for their ability to form proper amniotic sacs using the methods devised by the team.

Important notes and next steps

Besides working with genetic and infertility specialists to delve deeper into PASE biology as it relates to human infertility, the team is hoping to explore additional characteristics of amnion tissue.

For example, early rupture of the amnion tissue can endanger a fetus or be the cause of a miscarriage. The team also intends to study which aspects of human amnion formation also occur in development of mouse amnion. The mouse embryo model is very attractive as an in vivo model for investigating human genetic diseases.

The team's work is overseen by a panel that monitors all work done with pluripotent stem cells at U-M, and the studies are performed in accordance with laws regarding human stem cell research. The team ends experiments before the balls of cells effectively reach 14 developmental days, the cutoff used as an international limit on embryo researcheven though the work involves tissue that cannot form an embryo. Some of the stem cell lines were derived at U-M's privately funded MStem Cell Laboratory for human embryonic stem cells, and the U-M Pluripotent Stem Cell Core.

Explore further: Team uses stem cells to study earliest stages of amniotic sac formation

More information: Yue Shao et al, A pluripotent stem cell-based model for post-implantation human amniotic sac development, Nature Communications (2017). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-00236-w

Link:
Amniotic sac in a dish: Stem cells form structures that may aid of infertility research - Phys.Org

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Stem cell therapy has been claimed to cure cancer, improve chronic conditions such as headaches, and even make your skin look younger. How can that not be a good thing?

Youve probably heard about stem cell research before, but what exactly are stem cells, and how can stem cells injected into the body treat various diseases and conditions?

There has been enormous progress in this field over the last few decades, so let's take a look at how stem cell injections work.

What exactly are stem cells?

Stem cells are the bodys building blocks the reserve cells that the body is made up of. These cells are able to produce multiple different cells, each performing a specific function. Stem cells can be divided into two main categories:

What is stem cell therapy?

Stem cell therapy can be categorised as regenerative medicine. Stem cells used in medical treatments are currently harvested from three sources: umbilical cord blood, bone marrow and blood. These are treatments that restore damaged tissue and regenerate new cells in the case of illness or injury.

While there are other forms of stem cell therapy, these are still in the early stages and regarded as research.

How is stem cell therapy performed?

Adult stem cells are derived from a blood sample and injected back into the patient's blood. The surrounding cells are then activated, stimulating rejuvenation in the area.

Why the controversy?

In 2004 South Africa became the first African nation to open a stem cell bank. This involved embryonic stem cells for cloning research and not the "adult" stem cells used in treatment.

Embryonic stem cells are often viewed as problematic, as they are derived from very young foetuses. It is thus viewed as a form of "abortion" to use embryonic stem cells for treatment. But in most cases of stem cell therapy adult stem cells are used, which causes few ethical problems. Stem cells derived from the umbilical cord are not the same as from the embryo.

What does science say?

Prof Jacqui Greenberg from the University of Cape Town stated that although stem cells can potentially treat various diseases, they should be treated with extreme care.

She has no doubt that in time (in medical science particularly, progress is slow and measured in blocks of 10 years), stem cells will be the solution for many things. "But right now we have to strike a balance of not creating too much hype and raising hope too soon. Stem cells are the future, but the future is not now," Greenberg states.

The reason for this is that stem cells derived from an adult are too volatile at times. Researchers are not clear on how many of these stem cells will actually "survive" and "activate" to treat the condition at hand. Therefore it can't be predicted how many cells will survive and become functional.

There is as yet little proof that stem cells can actually fight disease when injected back into the host.Despite the success of IPS cell technology up to date, there are stillchallenges with regard to the purity of stem cells before their use in therapy.

Availability and cost in South Africa

Stem cell therapy is available at various treatment centres in South Africa. One of the most prominent is the South African Stem Cell Institute in the Free State. Here, various treatments, such as regenerative skin treatments and prolotherapy (regeneration of the joints), are offered.

Therapy starts with an initial consultation. During the second consultation vitals are checked, followed by either the fat harvest procedure under tumescent anaesthesia or bone marrow aspiration under local anaesthesia.

The stem cells are then cryopreserved and injected into the patient as needed. Prices of the treatment vary from R500 (for a once-off treatment in a small area, such as the hand) to R22 500 (a comprehensive process), depending on the condition being treated and length of treatment needed. This excludes the initial consultation fee and after-care.

There are also stem cell banks in South Africa, such as Cryo-Save, where stem cells can be stored at an annual fee (excluding initial consultation, testing and harvesting) and used for treatment.

Do your own research

If you do want to go the stem cell route, make sure that the medical programme being offered is legitimate and that the projected outcome is based on real evidence.

There are a number of private institutions banking on the promise of curing any number of diseases with stem cells from a patient's own blood. The truth, however, is that there is no conclusive proof that the majority of these diseases can be cured with the person's own stem cells annihilating the claim that stem cell therapy is the solution to all diseases.

Read the rest here:
Is stem cell injection the cure-all miracle? - Health24

Recommendation and review posted by simmons

New gene therapy for macular degeneration proven safe in preliminary clinical trial.

Credit: iStock

In a small and preliminary clinical trial, Johns Hopkins researchers and their collaborators have shown that an experimental gene therapy that uses viruses to introduce a therapeutic gene into the eye is safe and that it may be effective in preserving the vision of people with wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD). AMD is a leading cause of vision loss in the U.S., affecting an estimated 1.6 million Americans. The disease is marked by growth of abnormal blood vessels that leak fluid into the central portion of the retina called the macula, which we use for reading, driving and recognizing faces.

The study published on May 16 in The Lancet, reports an exciting new approach in which a virus, similar to the common cold, but altered in the lab so that it is unable to cause disease, is used as a carrier for a gene and is injected into the eye. The virus penetrates retinal cells and deposits a gene, which turns the cells into factories for productions of a therapeutic protein, called sFLT01.

The abnormal blood vessels that cause wet AMD grow because patients have increased production of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in their retinas. Current treatments require injections of proteins directly into the eye that bind and inactivate VEGF, reducing fluid in the macula and improving vision. However, the therapeutic proteins exit the eye over the course of a month, so patients with wet AMD usually need to return to the clinic for more injections every six to eight weeks in order to stave off vision loss. Eye specialists say the burden and discomfort of the regimen is responsible for many patients not getting injections as frequently as they need, causing vision loss.

Because viruses naturally penetrate cells and leave behind genetic material, the investigators designed their virus to target retinal cells and provide them with a gene that produces sFLT01. Thus, retinal cells become factories that produce the therapeutic protein potentially eliminating the need to repeatedly inject it.

This preliminary study is a small but promising step towards a new approach that will not only reduce doctor visits and the anxiety and discomfort associated with repeated injections in the eye, but may improve long-term outcomes because prolonged suppression of VEGF is needed to preserve vision, and that is difficult to achieve with repeated injections because life often gets in the way, says Peter Campochiaro, M.D., the George S. and Dolores D. Eccles Professor of Ophthalmology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

The phase 1 clinical trial involved 19 men and women, 50 years old or older with advanced wet AMD.

Participants were divided into five different groups that received increasing doses from 2X10^8 to 2X10^10 viral particles containing the therapeutic gene in 0.05 mL of fluid. Each group was examined by investigators for signs of adverse reactions for at least 4 weeks before administering a higher dose to the next group.

After the virus deposited the gene, the cells began secreting sFLT01 which bound to VEGF and prevented it from stimulating leakage and growth of abnormal blood vessels. The goal is for the retinal cells infected by the virus to produce enough sFLT01 to permanently stop the progression of AMD.

After monitoring the first three groups and finding no dose-limiting toxicity, the researchers administered the maximum dose to a group of ten participants and observed no serious side effects. Even at the highest dose, the treatment was quite safe. We found there were almost no adverse reactions in our patients, Campochiaro says.

For safety and ethical reasons, the study group was composed of people for whom standard approved treatments were highly unlikely to regain vision, meaning in part that only 11 of the 19 had the potential for fluid reduction. Of those eleven patients, four showed dramatic improvements. The amount of fluid in their eyes dropped from severe to almost nothing, just like what is observed with optimal standard treatment, Campochiaro says. In addition, two other participants showed a partial reduction in the amount of fluid in their eyes.

Five participants showed no reduction in fluid levels. Surprisingly, the researchers say, they found that all of the patients who did not show improvement had pre-existing antibodies to the AAV2 virus.

From that result, the researchers conclude that even if further studies affirm the safety and value of their gene therapy, it may have limitations for broad use. Thats because an estimated sixty percent of the U.S. population has been infection with adeno-associated virus, the family of viruses that AAV2 belongs to, and have built an immunity to it. The researchers believe that in these patients, the immune system destroyed the virus before it could insert the therapeutic gene. Campochiaro explains, The numbers are small and simply show a correlation, so we dont know if serum antibodies are definitely an impediment, but more work is needed to determine this.

Other researchers involved in this study include Jeffrey S. Heier and Shilpa Desai of the Ophthalmic Consultants of Boston; Saleema Kherani, of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Pravin Dugel of the Retinal Consultants of Arizona; Shalesh Kaushal of the University of Massachusetts Medical Center; and Seng H. Cheng, Cheryl Delacono, Annie Purvis, Susan Richards, Annaig Le-Halpere, John Connelly, Samuel C. Wadsworth, Rafael Varona, Ronald Buggage and Abraham Scaria of Sanofi Genzyme.

This study was funded by Sanofi Genzyme, Framingham, Massachusetts, USA.

Seng H. Cheng, Cheryl Delacono, Annie Purvis, Susan Richards, Annaig Le-Halpere, John Connelly, Samuel C. Wadsworth, Rafael Varona, Ronald Buggage and Abraham Scaria are employees of Sanofi Genzyme.

Read more here:
New Gene Therapy for Vision Loss Proven Safe in Humans ...

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Worldwide Male Hypogonadism Market 2017 presents a widespread and fundamental study of Male Hypogonadism industry along with the analysis of subjective aspects which will provide key business insights to the readers. Global Male Hypogonadism Market 2017 research report offers the analytical view of the industry by studying different factors like Male Hypogonadism market growth, consumption volume, market trends and Male Hypogonadism industry cost structures during the forecast period from 2017 to 2022.

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For Sample Copy Of The Report Click Here: http://qyresearch.us/report/global-male-hypogonadism-market-2017/53475/#inquiry

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Male Hypogonadism Market: Type Segment Analysis

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The Male Hypogonadism report does the thorough study of the key industry players to understand their business strategies, annual revenue, company profile and their contribution to the global Male Hypogonadism market share. Diverse factors of the Male Hypogonadism industry like the supply chain scenario, industry standards, import/export details are also mentioned in Global Male Hypogonadism Market 2017 report.

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Discover More About Report Here: http://qyresearch.us/report/global-male-hypogonadism-market-2017/53475/

Furthermore, distinct aspects of Male Hypogonadism market like the technological development, economic factors, opportunities and threats to the growth of Male Hypogonadism market are covered in depth in this report. The performance of Male Hypogonadism market during 2017 to 2022 is being forecasted in this report.

In conclusion, Global Male Hypogonadism market 2017 report presents the descriptive analysis of the parent market based on elite players, present, past and futuristic data which will serve as a profitable guide for all the Male Hypogonadism industry competitors.

Read the original here:
Global Male Hypogonadism Market 2017- Astrazeneca Plc., Merck & Co. Inc., Laboratories Genevrier, Allergan Plc. - DailyCommerceNews

Recommendation and review posted by simmons

In BriefIn 2017, the hot new gene editing technique CRISPR has made unparalleled advancements in gene engineering. Here are 11 highlights.

The CRISPR//Cas9 gene editing tool has quickly earned a reputation as a revolutionary technology, and its merits support the clout. This year has, in fact, seen so many CRISPR-related breakthroughs that its worthwhile to take a step backand take in all of the many accomplishments.

1. This week, circulating reports about the successful application of gene-editing human embryos in the US were confirmed by a research paper published in Nature. The researchers corrected one-cell embryo DNA to remove the MYBPC3 gene known to cause hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), a heart disease that affects 1 in 500 people.

2. This year, scientists successfully used gene editing to completely extract HIV from a living organism, with repeated success across three different animal models. In addition to the complete removal of the virus DNA, the team also prevented the progress of acute latent infection.

3. Semi-synthetic organisms were developed by breeding E.coli bacteria with an anomalous six-letter genetic code, instead of the normal four-base sequence. Additional gene editing was implemented to ensure that the new DNA molecules were not identified as an invasive presence.

4. The CRISPR method successfully targeted the command center of cancer called the hybrid fusion which leads to abnormal tumor growths. A cut-and-paste method allowed the creation of a cancer-annihilating gene that shrinks tumors in mice carrying human prostate and liver cancer cells.

5. Scientists also slowed the growth of cancerous cells, by targeting Tudor-SN, a key protein in cell division. Its expected that this technique could also slow the growth of fast-growing cells.

6. Gene editing techniques have also made superbugs kill themselves. By adding antibiotic resistant gene sequences into bacteriophage viruses, self-destructive mechanisms are triggered which protect bacteria.

7. Gene editing may even make mosquito-born diseases an extinct phenomenon. By hacking fertility genes, scientists have gained the ability to limit the spread of mosquitoes a success they credit to CRISPRs ability to make multiple genetic code changes simultaneously.

8. Using CRISPR, researchers have edited out Huntingtons disease from mice, pushing the symptomatic progression of the condition into reverse. Experts expect this promising technique to be applied to humans in the near future.

9. Outside of the medical field, CRISPR might also provide a more abundant and sustainable biofuel. By connecting several gene-editing tools, scientists engineered algae that produce twice the biofuel material as wild (or natural) counterparts.

10. Very recently, the first-ever molecular recorder was developed a gene editing process that encodes a film directly into DNA code and with this ability, scientists embedded information into an E.coli genome.

11. Last but not least, and on the macro-scale, the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) invested $65 million in a project called safe genes, designed to improve the accuracy and safety of CRISPR editing techniques. In addition to serving the public interest of avoiding accidental or intentional (cue ominous music) misuse, the seven research teams will remove engineered genes from environmentsto return them to baselinenatural levels.

Original post:
11 Incredible Things CRISPR Has Helped Us Achieve in 2017 - Futurism

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

"Significant and Exciting"

This is a significant and exciting decision by the EPO, and we view this announcement as recognition of MilliporeSigma's important contributions to the genome-editing field, MilliporeSigma CEO Udit Batra, Ph.D., said. This patent provides protection for our CRISPR technology, which will give scientists the ability to advance treatment options for the toughest medical challenges we face today.

MilliporeSigma also predicted that it would be awarded patents for the technology in other countries as well.

The European patent to MilliporeSigma comes five months after the EPO announced an intention to grant a patent broadly covering CRISPR technology to Emmanuelle Charpentier, Ph.D., a director at the Max-Planck Institute in Berlin, together with the University of California (UC), and University of Vienna.

The patent consisted of broad claims directed to the CRISPR/Cas9 single-guide gene-editing system for uses in both noncellular and cellular settings, including in cells from vertebrate animals such as human or mammalian cellsas well as composition claims for use in any setting, including claims for use in a method of therapeutic treatment of a patient. The technology has been licensed to companies that include CRISPR Therapeuticswhose co-founders include Dr. Charpentierand ERS Genomics, both of which announced the EPO decision.

Dr. Charpentier, UC, and University of Vienna are in a legal battle royal with the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard over who invented the gene-editing platform. Late last month, the European patent holders filed a brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit seeking to reverse the February 15 decision by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). The PTAB found no interference in fact between 12 patents related to CRISPR technology that list as inventor Feng Zhang, Ph.D., of the Broad, and a patent application by Dr. Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna, Ph.D., of UC Berkeley.

The #CRISPR #patent situation in Europe just got a LOT more complicated, tweeted Jacob S. Sherkow, J.D., associate professor at the Innovation Center for Law and Technology, New York Law School, who has closely followed the CRISPR legal wrangle, on August 5.

Until now, he tweeted, the EPO granting of a patent to Dr. Charpentier, UC, and the University of Vienna didn't mean Zhang couldn't get his. Now, it's unclear.

Link:
MilliporeSigma to Be Granted European Patent for CRISPR Technology - Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News

Recommendation and review posted by simmons

Existing cancer immunotherapies harness T cells that recognize and home in on tumor-specific targets and kill the cancer cells. Immunotherapy using checkpoint inhibitors, for example, disconnects immune system restraints so that the T cells can attack the cancer cells. Other forms of immunotherapy, including cancer vaccines and adoptive T-cell therapy, increase the numbers of cytotoxic T cells that are mobilized to the tumor.

Immunotherapy can be highly effective against advanced cancers in some patients, but in other cases treatment doesnt work. To try to understand the genetic basis of these differing responses, scientists at the U.S. National Institutes of Health developed a genome-scale CRISPR/Cas9 screen that allowed them to knock out every single gene in a melanoma cell line and then systematically test each gene for its effect on T-cell responses against the melanoma. Using this "two-cell type" (2CT)-CRISPR assay, the researchers, led by Shashank Patel, Ph.D., and Nicholas Restifo, M.D., who is a senior investigator with NCI's Center for Cancer Research, identified more than 100 "essential" genes that were required in the melanoma line for T cells to effectively engage with and kill the cells. When these genes were knocked out, the tumor cells were more able to resist exposure to T cells that had been engineered specifically to recognize tumor-associated antigens.

The researchers published their studies in the August 7 issue of Nature, in a paper entitled "Identification of Essential Genes for Cancer Immunotherapy. The NIH team worked in close collaboration with Feng Zhang, Ph.D., from MIT, one of the original innovators of the CRISPR technology. Neville Sanjana, Ph.D., from the New York Genome Center and New York University was co-first author of the study.

CRISPR/Cas9 screens have previously been used to identify genes that play key roles in cancer cell proliferation, drug resistance, and metastasis, the authors point out. To identify which genes in tumors are requisite for the "effector function of T cells," the team developed the 2CT-CRISPR assay, consisting of human T cells as effectors and melanoma cells as targets, to evaluate the effects of individual gene knockouts on cancer cell susceptibility to T-cell killing. Many of the hundred or so genes identified were directly involved in cytokine release, or in antigen processing and presentation, but dozens of the genes identified were not known to be required for cytotoxic T-cell-based immunotherapy.

This indicated that the loss of genes that T cells need to kill cancer cells might be at least partially responsible for why immunotherapy fails in some patients, Dr. Restifo suggested to GEN. However, we were really surprised to find dozens of tumor genes that had major impacts on tumor cell survival, which hadnt previously been linked with the ability of T cells to kill target cancer cells. Exploring potentially new signaling pathways mediated by these genes could help us to understand how T cells interact with cancer cells to bring about cell death, and how cancers can evade the immune system.

With their list of the 100 most necessary tumor genes in hand, the researchers looked at the gene expression profiles of nearly 11,500 human tumors from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database, across 36 tumor types, to see whether loss of these tumor genes associated with decreased cytolytic activity. The analysis identified a set of 19 genes that correlated with cytolytic activity across most of the cancer types. Ten of these were inducible by interferon- (IFN), which indicated that they might be upregulated in cancers because of increased T-cell mobilization. Loss of expression of these 19 genes within tumors could diminish or extinguish the presentation of tumor antigens (including HLA-A, HLA-F, B2M, TAP1 and TAP2); T-cell co-stimulation (ICAM1, CLECL1, LILRA1 and LILRA3); or cytokine production and signaling (JAK2 and STAT1) in the tumor microenvironment that drive infiltration and activation of T cells, and thus serve as a principal mechanism in immune evasion, the researchers write in their published paper.

The team next focused on one gene, APLNR, which codes for the apelin receptor, a G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) that hadnt previously been associated with T-cell killing of cancer, but which is known to be mutated in a number of different tumor types. They identified seven different mutations in this gene in the genetic makeup of metastatic melanoma and lung cancer patients who had failed therapy using immune checkpoint inhibitors.

When the team introduced these same mutations into a melanoma cell line, the cancer cells were more resistant to T-cell attack. And when they injected engineered melanoma cells that lacked the APLNR gene into experimental mice, the resulting tumors were resistant to checkpoint inhibitor therapy and didnt respond as well to adoptive cell transfer as tumors with a normal APLNR gene. Dr. Patel concluded that these data demonstrate that APLNR loss reduces the effectiveness of T-cell-based cancer therapies, including immune checkpoint blockade and ACT.

More work will be needed to validate the relevance of all the genes identified by the studies, Dr. Restifo stressed to GEN. We hope that this comprehensive list of genes will act as a blueprint for further study so that we can better understand tumor resistance to cancer therapies that hinge on T-cell attack. Looking at mutations in these genes in individual patients who failed immunotherapy may enable physicians to devise the most appropriate treatments for each individual patient, according to their essential gene profiles. More importantly, we are working toward developing new approaches to cancer therapy that help more patients with cancer.

The study findings also indicate that the success of cancer immunotherapy depends on the interplay between a far greater number of genes than previously thought, Dr. Restifo commented. A deeper understanding of how T cells interact with potential target cells could also help us to develop more effective treatments for infectious and autoimmune diseases.

Original post:
CRISPR Screen Identifies Top 100 Essential Genes for Cancer ... - Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News

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The Potential of CRISPR

The potential of the gene editing toolCRISPRjust seems to keep growing and growing, and the latest experimental use of the technology is creating skin grafts that trigger the release of insulin and help manage diabetes.

Researchers have successfully tested the idea with mice that gained less weight and showed a reversed resistance to insulin because of the grafts (high insulin resistance is a common precursor to type 2 diabetes).

In fact, the team from the University of Chicago says the same approach could eventually be used to treat a variety of metabolic and genetic conditions, not just diabetes its a question of using skin cells to trigger different chemical reactions in the body.

We didnt cure diabetes, but it does provide a potential long-term and safe approach of using skin epidermal stem cells to help people with diabetes and obesity better maintain their glucose levels,says one of the researchers, Xiaoyang Wu.

If youre new to theCRISPR(Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) phenomenon, its a new and innovative way of editing specific genes in the body, using a biological copy and paste technique: it can doeverything fromcut out HIV virus DNA to slow thegrowth of cancer cells.

For this study, researchers used CRISPR to alter the gene responsible for encoding a hormone calledglucagon-like peptide-1(GLP-1), which triggers the release of insulin and then helps remove excess glucose from the blood.

Type 2 diabetescomes about due to a lack of insulin, also known as insulin resistance.

Using CRISPR, the GLP-1 gene could be tweaked to make its effects last longer than normal. The result was developed into skin grafts that were then applied to mice.

Around 80 percent of the grafts successfully released the edited hormone into the blood, regulating blood glucose levels over four months, as well as reversing insulin resistance and weight gain related to a high-fat diet.

Significantly, its the first time the skin graft approach has worked for mice not specially designed in the lab.

This paper is exciting for us because it is the first time we show engineered skin grafts can survive long term in wild-type mice, and we expect that in the near future this approach can be used as a safe option for the treatment of human patients,says Wu.

Human treatments will take time to develop but the good news is that scientists are today able to grow skin tissue very easily in the lab using stem cells, so that wont be an issue.

If we can make it safe, and patients are happy with the procedure, then the researchers say it could be extended to treat something likehaemophilia, where the body is unable to make blood clots properly.

Any kind of disease where the body is deficient in specific molecules could potentially be targeted by this new technique. And if it works with diabetes, it could be time to say goodbye to needles and insulin injections.

Other scientists who werent directly involved in the research, including Timothy Kieffer from the University of British Columbia in Canada, seem optimistic.

I do predict that gene and cell therapies will ultimately replace repeated injections for the treatment of chronic diseases, Kieffer told Rachel Baxter atNew Scientist.

The findings have been published inCell Stem Cell.

Read the original:
CRISPR Skin Grafts Could Replace Insulin Shots For Diabetes - Futurism

Recommendation and review posted by simmons

Dynamic DNALaboratories

Street Address:

2144 E. Republic Rd. Suite B204

Springfield, MO 65804

Phone: 417-319-1047

Fax: 417-319-7142

WebAddress: http://www.dynamicdnalabs.com

Top Executives: Austin OReilly (Owner/Senior Scientist)

Dr. Christopher Gilbert (Medical Director)Year Founded: 2015

Number ofEmployees: 6

Product or Service:

Clinical and Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing

Consumer demand for genetic-makeup testing is growing, not only to give clues about the past but also to learn how to improve the future. The CDC has identified that genetic testing has the potential to help prevent common disease and improve the health of individuals and populations.Dynamic DNA Laboratories, owned by Austin OReilly, is a genetic testing facility in Springfield, MO, working with individuals and businesses locally, as well as across the U.S. and eight other countries.

The most well known use of DNA testing is for tracing ancestry and paternity.But the fast emerging use is to develop personalized diet and exercise plans, so individuals can achieve their optimum fitness level. This service is available to companies as part of their wellness plan in addition to individuals motivated to improve their health.

Dynamic DNA provides the following services:

DNA Fitness Testing

DNA Nutrition Testing

Personalized Medicine Reporting

DNA Ancestry Testing

Paternity Testing

DNA/Microscopic artwork

Biomedical research projects (upon request)

Company Partnerships

Dynamic DNA recently partnered with Prime Trucking and Trinity Healthcare to be a part of Primes corporate wellness program for their employees, offering Nutrition and Fitness Panels to their 7,000-plus staff members and truck drivers.

Local Testing

Most genetic testing services outsource their testing but Dynamic DNA conducts all of its testing in-house at the Springfield laboratory.

This ensures the integrity of results and affords a quicker turnaround time. Where most labs take months to deliver results, Dynamic DNA provides results in less than two weeks.

Low Cost Option

We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to participate in DNA testing, so our number one goal is to make advanced genetic testing accessible to everyone by keeping our price points at the lowest in the industry, says Austin OReilly, owner and senior scientist.

Easy-to-Understand Results

Some DNA results can also be a challenge to read, let alone understand. Dynamic DNA removes this hindrance by presenting results in a clean and concise manner, and providing clients direct access to the scientists, genetic consultants or doctors on staff, should they have any questions or concerns.

Whether someone is looking to learn more about their health and predispositions, how to improve their performance, what medications work best for them, or where their family came from, we are happy to help, says OReilly.

Dynamic DNA recently had a peer-reviewed article published in the Journal of Nutrition and Health on research conducted for a local product called Re:iimmune. The company will be featured on The Doctor Show on PBS in September.

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Genetic Testing Tells More Than Just Ancestry - Springfield Business Journal

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Because of genetic testing, Orion Maynards parents knew the cause of his epilepsy weeks after he was born. The results influenced his treatment, qualified him for immediate intervention services, and led to the discovery that future siblings had a 50% chance of being born with the same condition.

Most newborns with epilepsy like Orion would benefit from genetic testing because the majority of cases are linked to identifiable genetic causes, finds a study led by University of Michigan C.S. Mott Childrens Hospital.

In the study, among 29 babies with epilepsy not linked to congenital brain malformations, 83% had a genetic cause. Research published in Neurology analyzed data from the Neonatal Seizure Registry that includes enrollees from 7childrens hospitals, including Mott.

A parallel, multisite study in JAMA Pediatrics, for which Mott was a major contributor, found similar results for children under age 3.

The younger the epilepsy begins, the more likely we are to find a genetic cause that may help with treatment, says Renee Shellhaas, MD, a pediatric neurologist at Mott and the lead author of the Neurology work, in a release.

Parents and physicians always want to know why a specific child develops epilepsy. Genetic testing benefits our youngest epilepsy patients and their families because it can not only assist with their care and prognosis but also in connecting families with condition-specific support groups and specialists, access to research studies, and counseling about family planning.

Genetic testing involves a simple blood test but is not always approved by health insurance providers.

These findings reinforce that genetic tests are incredibly valuable for childhood epilepsy, yet we still struggle getting them covered because of the cost, Shellhaas says.

We need to work on a broader policy level to increase access to appropriate genetic testing for children with epilepsy. Finding the reason for a childs epilepsy provides comfort and closure for families, helps them to connect with other families, can allow for tailored treatment, and ends the diagnostic odyssey faced by so many of our patients. Genetic testing is a standard of care for children with global developmental delays; our research results suggest we should consider a similar standard for children with epilepsy.

For Orions parents, Lindsay and Robin, the test brought important answers after their baby boy began having back-to-back seizures at just a few days old.

Orion was referred to Mott where he was diagnosed with epilepsy. A genetic test easily found the source: a missing piece of one of his chromosomes (16p13.11). A few months later, both parents had the same test and learned Lindsay was a carrier.

The test also helped with immediate eligibility for Early on Michigan, which offers early intervention and services for families with children under 3 experiencing developmental delays, disabilities, or special needs. Now 3 years old, Orion has benefited from several of the programs resources, including speech, physical, and occupational therapy.

Without the testing, we may not have qualified for the program until he was closer to 1and a half or 2when speech and motor development delays were noticeable, Lindsay says. Orion has been getting services since he was 3months old.

Shellhaas findings come on the heels of a separate study she also led, which analyzed how clinicians treat epilepsy in children under three across 17 pediatric epilepsy centers in the United States. The work, published in Pediatric Neurology, found that even though there are 20 different antiseizure medications, the drug levetiracetam is most commonly prescribed.

She says this consistency in practice is surprising as there are currently no evidence-based guidelines on the preferred approach to treating early-life epilepsy.

Even though clinicians seem to have informally agreed on the best way to start treating early life epilepsy, that doesnt mean it is evidence-based treatment, she says. We dont have that much data on how a lot of medicines influence the developing brain. We are working hard to change that.

Factors in the preference toward levetiracetam could include that the medication has a generic form, doesnt have interactions with other drugs, can be taken as a liquid or be given through an IV. Still, more study on its efficacy is needed.

We have to keep working to find the best way to diagnose and tailor treatment as early as possible in a childs life, Shellhaas says. If you can improve the way a childs neurodevelopment begins early on, youve influenced his or her ability to grow, develop and participate in society. That not only benefits the child but the whole family.

Read the rest here:
Study: Most Newborns with Epilepsy Benefit from Genetic Testing - Sleep Review

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George Frey | AFP | Getty Images

A lab technician at Myriad Genetics in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Thousands of people are getting genetic tests, for everything from their cancer risk to their likelihood of passing on a disease to a child.

But many doctors aren't adequately trained to interpret these results, or tell patients how to act on them. And genetic counselors -- who do have that knowledge -- are in short supply. There are only about 4,000 genetic counselors in the country today. That's one for every 80,000 Americans. That means some patients have to wait months to get a consultation.

Start-up Clear Genetics, which launches this week after raising $2.5 million in financing, is trying to make genetic expertise more widely available.

The start-up has developed a conversational chatbot to guide a user through their results, collect information and review options for genetic testing, and answer questions about things like whether the test will be covered by insurance. If there's a need for additional support, the patient can then schedule a consultation with a human expert via video or in-person.

"We're finding that it's working really well with patients," said Moran Snir, Clear Genetics' CEO, who was previously a software engineer with the Israeli military.

Clear Genetics is working with several large health systems in the United States to test out a beta version of its product.

"I think this is a very good use for AI," said David Ledbetter, executive vice president and chief scientific officer at hospital network Geisinger Health System, in an interview with CNBC.

View post:
You're getting a DNA test start-up Clear Genetics is building chatbots to help you understand the results - CNBC

Recommendation and review posted by simmons

Marrow Drives

The Office of Management and Budget has withdrawn a proposed rule banning compensation for hematopoietic stem cells. In other words, you can get paid when someone harvests stem cells from your bone marrow.

Bone marrow transplantation is used to treat a variety of ailments, including aplastic anemia, sickle cell anemia, bone marrow damage during chemotherapy, and blood cancers such as leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma. In 1984, Congress passed the National Organ and Transplant Act, which outlawed compensation to the donors of solid organs like kidneys and livers. Oddly, the act also defined renewable bone marrow as a solid organ.

Originally, hematopoietic stem cells were obtained from bone marrow obtained by inserting a needle into donors' hip bones. Researchers later developed a technique in which donors are treated with substance that overstimulates the production of hematopoietic stem cells, which then circulate in their bloodstreams. In a process similar to blood donation, the hematopoietic stem cells are then filtered from the donors' blood. The red blood cells and plasma are returned to the donors.

More Marrow Donors, a California-based nonprofit, wanted to set up a system to encourage hematopoietic stem cell donations with $3,000 awards, in the form of scholarships, housing allowances, or gifts to charity. The Institute for Justice, a libertarian law firm, brought suit on their behalf, and in 2012 a federal appeals court sensibly ruled that the law's ban on compensation for solid organ donations did not apply to stem cells obtained from donors' bloodstreams. The Obama administration reacted by proposing a regulation defining stem cells obtained from blood as the equivalent of a solid organ.

Now the new administration has withdrawn the proposal.

"Banning compensation for donors would have eliminated the best incentive we havemoneyfor persuading strangers to work for each other," Jess Rowes, a senior attorney with the Institute for Justice, say in a press release. "Predictably, the ban on compensation for blood stem cell donors created chronic shortages and waiting lists. During the past four years, thousands of Americans needlessly died because compensation for bone marrow donors was unavailable."

The system of uncompensated donation is falling far short of meeting patient needs. As the Institute for Justice notes:

At any given time, more than 11,000 Americans are actively searching for a bone marrow donor. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, Caucasian potential donors are available and willing to donate about 51 percent of the time; Hispanic and Asian about 29 percent; and African-American about 23 percent. Caucasian patients can find a matching, available and willing donor about 75 percent of the time; Hispanic about 37 percent; Asian-American about 35 percent; and African-American patients only about 19 percent of the time. This demonstrates the huge gap between the need for compatible donors and the supply.

This is even more true in the case of solid organs from live and brain-dead donors. Right now there are more than 116,000 Americans waiting for a life-saving transplant organ. My colleagues and I at Reason have been arguing for decades in favor of compensating live donors for kidneys and pieces of their livers and the next-of-kin of brain-dead donors for other solid organs. If researchers and entrepreneurs succeed in boosting bone marrow donations by implementing various compensation schemes, perhaps that will prompt Congress to repeal its ill-conceived ban on compensation for organs donated for transplant.

Read more:
Trump Administration Withdraws Proposed Obama Ban on Compensation for Bone Marrow - Reason (blog)

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Nalini Ambady, the first Indian-American woman to teach psychology at three major universities in the U.S., died in 2013 due to leukaemia when she was just 54.

For the medical fraternity in Kerala, her native place, it turned the spotlight on the lack of awareness of stem cell transplant, which could have saved her life.

Four years down the lane, doctors say the situation has changed only marginally, as many patients who require the treatment have not been able to do it because of high expenses, lack of matching donors, and lack of facilities at hospitals.

Doctors note that stem cell transplant is being proposed as an effective treatment for cancers such as leukaemia and lymphoma, and primary immune deficiency disorders. Stem cells do not develop normally in such patients and it affects the blood cells that they make.

By a transplant, the patient gets new stem cells that can make new and healthy blood cells. Earlier, stem cells were collected from the bone-marrow. Now, it is being collected from blood cells.

Neeraj Sidharthan, bone marrow transplant physician at Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Kochi, told The Hindu that in Prof. Ambadys case, though matching donors were found, they had all dropped out.

Lack of awareness is still a major issue though there are some positive signs. In some cases, because of lack of infrastructure, cancer cases are not being diagnosed early, and treatment is delayed too, he said.

Ajith Kumar V.T., professor, department of paediatrics, Government Medical College, Manjeri, said donors could not be found often from the same families because of the nuclear family system. There are not many places where you can match the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) typing with donors. Another problem is the lack of stem cell registries in the State from where matching unrelated donors could be found. Even if doctors suggest a stem cell transplant, many families dont opt for it because of the high cost involved. If the donor is from the same family, the cost is relatively low.

But for unrelated donors, it is very high, Dr. Sidharthan said. The solution, Dr. Ajith Kumar said, was government intervention to set up HLA registries and bone marrow transplant centres. nestCare Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation based in the U.S., had recently approached us expressing interest to set up these facilities in the State. Talks are on, he said. Dr. Sidharthan said that in Tamil Nadu, there was a government scheme enabling poor patients to avail themselves of a financial assistance of Rs. 7 lakh for bone-marrow transplant. We need to have similar schemes here too, he added.

A.S. Jayanth

Lack of awareness is a major issue though there are positive signs. In some cases, because of lack of infrastructure, cancer cases are not being diagnosed early, and treatment is delayed too

Neeraj Sidharthan,

Bone marrow transplant expert

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Trust those cells to help cure cancer - The Hindu

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

A team from Northwestern University has developed a novel type of bioactive tissue that is thin and flexible enough to be folded into origami-like shapes and could be used in a variety of treatment programs.

The tissue paper was created from the structural proteins excreted by cells that give organs their form and structure, combined with a polymer to make the material pliable.

The researchers made the tissue papers from ovarian, uterine, kidney, liver, muscle and heart proteins that were obtained by processing pig and cow organs.

This new class of biomaterials has potential for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine as well as drug discovery and therapeutics, corresponding author Ramille Shah said in a statement. It's versatile and surgically friendly.

The cells are removed from the tissues, leaving the natural structural proteinsextracellular matrixthat are then dried into a powder and processed into the tissue papers.

Each paper has a type containing residual biochemical and protein architecture from its original organ that can stimulate cells to act in a certain way.

The researchers made tissue paper from a bovine ovary to grow ovarian follicleseggs and hormone producing cellscultured in vitro, which when grown on the tissue paper produced hormones necessary for proper function and maturation.

This could provide another option to restore normal hormone function to young cancer patients who often lose their hormone function as a result of chemotherapy and radiation, reproductive scientist Teresa Woodruff, a co-author on the study, said in a statement.

The ovarian paper with follicles could potentially be implanted under the arm to restore hormone production for cancer patients or women in menopause. Tissue paper made from other organs separately supported the growth of human adult stem cells when scientists placed human bone marrow stem cells on the tissue paper with all the stem cells attached and multiplied over the course of four weeks.

That's a good sign that the paper supports human stem cell growth, first author Adam Jakus, who developed the tissue papers, said in a statement. It's an indicator that once we start using tissue paper in animal models it will be biocompatible.

Read more from the original source:
'Tissue Paper' Organs Show Promise - R & D Magazine

Recommendation and review posted by sam

Welcome to ourOrphan Black science recaps, where Casey, a graduate student in genetics and developmental biology, and Nina, a professional science communicator, examine the science in each episode of OB and talk you through it in (mostly) easy-to-digest terms.

If you havent watched the latest episode of Orphan Black, be forewarned: there will be spoilers. There will also be crazy science.

Nina: The penultimate episode (can you believe that theres only one episode left?) of Orphan Black was all about Helena, who is about to deliver her babies.

Casey: Unfortunately, Helena has gotten herself captured by Coady and Westmorland, and their intentions are to further their personal research using Helenas babies. Of particular interest is the babies cord blood the blood from the placenta and umbilical cord that remains after birth and contains stem cells. It is becoming more and more common for people to save cord blood after they give birth due to the myriad uses these stem cells provide. Today there are almost 80 different diseases, varying from cancers to blood disorders, in which cord blood stem cells can be used as a cure.

Nina: Westmorland is ready and eager to perform a cesarean section to claim Helenas babies but Coady stops him. According to her, a cesarean section could have unpredictable epigenetic effects. The differences and benefits of c-sections versus vaginal births have long been studied for their impacts on health, and its been known that babies delivered via c-section tend to develop more immune diseases, asthma, and allergies. For one thing, babies born by c-section arent exposed to the microbes in their mothers vaginal tract, which can have impacts on how their immune functions and gut flora (digestive functions) develop.

For another: birth is a stressful experience, but that stress plays out differently depending on how the baby is born. Typically, a vaginal birth has a gradual build of stress as its pushed out, but a c-section creates a sudden shift from one environment to a new one. More than one study has remarked that these differences in stress experiences mark different patterns of methylation on their DNA. Methylation is a process that can change the activity of a DNA sequence and dictate whether a gene is expressed or not (as a rule, more methylation = repressed gene expression).Methylation is important for normal development and processes, but when it happens where it shouldnt (or doesnt happen where it should) it can cause problems.

We saw methylation mentioned once earlier this season, when Cosima was looking at Aishas medical files. She found that Aisha had low promoter methylation, which meant that a region of DNA that should have been turned off wasnt and was causing Aisha to develop tumours. One study that looked specifically at methylation of hematopoietic stem cells (the blood cell-producing stem cells found in bone marrow) in babies born vaginally versus babies born by c-section found major differences in methylation in genes linked to metabolism and immune function.

Westmorland doesnt so much care about these potential epigenetic impacts as long as they dont affect his would-be fountain of youth gene. For Coady, however, keeping these changes to a minimum is critical.

Casey: Of course, Coady doesnt want the cord blood for therapeutic uses. Getting her hands on these stem cells would provide her with a limitless source of clone genome for experimentation. While it may not be the exact genome as Project Leda, these stem cells are similar to cells obtained from Kira they contain enough of the clone genome to make them worthy of Neolutions interest.

Nina: Theres only one episode left. Lets hope Helena and her babies stay safe.

(image via BBCAmerica)

Like our science recaps? We wrote The Science of Orphan Blackthe official science companion for the show! Coming August 2017; available for pre-order now.

Casey Griffin is a graduate student in genetics and developmental biology. She obsesses over the blood-brain barrier, plays around with frog embryos, and nerds (and cries and screams) about Orphan Black. You can check out her OB Science Time Tumblr posts here.

Nina Nesseth is a professional science communicator, writer, and serial tea-drinker. Shes happiest when science-ing at people (yes, thats science as a verb). You can find her on Twitter @cestmabiologie.

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Orphan Black Science Recap: One Fettered Slave - The Mary Sue

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith

Since President Trump announced that transgenders are not allowed to join the United States military, which reverses President Obamas permissive policy, a predictable news media firestorm has taken place. It appears that the Chief Executive gravitates toward that which creates political firestorms. The transgender issue is incidental.

Be that as it may, a basic review of genetics and transgenderism is in order.

Each human has a genetic code: Male XY, female XX. On very rare occasions there a variations to this code, like XXY which would be a female hermaphrodite.

It has now become the fashion for people, especially young people, to question the genetic code that they were born with. This thinking has progressed to confusion and insecurity. Then there older and once successful people like Bruce Jenner who subscribed himself to synthetic hormone therapy and re-assignment surgery to gain the semblance of woman. No matter what surgery any male (or female) takes, not matter how much female hormones Jenner or any other males takes (or male hormones a female takes) the genetic code remains the same.

Jenner along with other transgenders cannot reproduce, hence they are sterile.

The opposition counters what is written above comes from hate, another form of gay-bashing.

The oppositions counters by stating that the genetic code of a person remains the same no matter what surgery, no matter what hormones are taken, that (same-sex marriage) and transgenderism has been accepted by much of the of the world. This is true.

In Israel there are gay pride parades. All of North America and much of South America, along with western European countries, accept transgenderism and same-sex marriage. I met with an Anglican Navy chaplain and made notice to the subject that the Queen of England, who is the ultimate head of the Anglican Church, signed the document that allows same-sex marriage in England. He denied this, he then looked downward and could not contest the fact.

It has been said, it has been written and repeated that there will come a time of the Great Apostasy.

It has been said, it has been written and repeated that some of the elect will be among they who are deceived.

That time is now.

Anthony Mills/USNS Carl Brahsear. Bahrain

Vallejo

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Anthony Mills: Trump's incidental firestorm - Vallejo Times Herald

Recommendation and review posted by Bethany Smith