Leading Drug Discovery Contract Research Organisation Sygnature Discovery has announced the set-up of a state-of-the-art Early Candidate Developability Screening Group. Located at its headquarters in Nottingham, UK, the new service line will expand on the company’s offerings to customers by bridging into formal preclinical drug development and paving the way for clinical trials...
Scientists have identified a new class of targeted cancer drugs that offer the potential to treat patients whose tumours have faulty copies of the BRCA cancer genes. The drugs, known as POLQ inhibitors, specifically kill cancer cells with mutations in the BRCA genes while leaving healthy cells unharmed. And crucially, they can kill cancer cells that have become resistant to PARP inhibitors – an existing treatment for patients with BRCA mutations....
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the worldwide search for an effective treatment is still ongoing. Remdesivir and GS-441524 are antiviral drugs that have been examined for the treatment of COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2). Remdesivir is a nucleotide analogue inhibitor that can inhibit the replication of animal and human coronaviruses...
Australian National Phenome Centre Integrates Quantitative NMR and MS Assay Platform for Risk Assessment and Longitudinal Monitoring of Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome (PACS). A clinical research collaboration on COVID-19 pheno-conversion and subsequent pheno-reversion has discovered transient and persistent systemic changes of the molecular signatures in patient blood samples three months after the acute COVID-19 disease phase...
A new white paper, written by scientists at Liverpool ChiroChem (LCC), describes how the Asynt Illumin8 parallel photoreactor is being used to synthesise a range of new 2-Aryl N-Heterocycles. The discovery of a novel enantioselective synthetic pathway for reduction of pyridines to the corresponding chiral piperidines led to the formation of LCC in 2014. Since inception, LCC have enhanced their expertise enabling them to provide leading scientific organisations with access to chirally-pure compounds that play their part in small molecule drug discovery....
Whilst commonly used air displacement pipettes are highly accurate for most pipetting applications, their performance is adversely affected by the physical properties of the solutions handled, such as viscosity, volatility, surface tension and temperature. However, positive displacement pipettes like Gilson's ergonomic MICROMAN® E and Capillary Pistons (CPs) work differently, and volume delivery is unaffected by the nature of the sample...
The Native Antigen Company, part of LGC Clinical Diagnostics and one of the world’s leading suppliers of reagents that enables research into diagnostics and vaccines for emerging and endemic infectious diseases, won ‘The Best COVID-19 Responder’ at OBN 2020 Awards. The award recognises the Company’s outstanding contribution to the fight against COVID-19....
Glasgow-based R-Biopharm Rhône (RBR), a business which manufactures and distributes test kits for the analysis of foodstuffs for a diverse range of constituents and potential contaminants, has joined the elite ranks of UK businesses accredited with the Investors in People (IIP) Platinum award. The company, employing 60 people at its West of Scotland Science Park base in the north west of the city, is one of the UK’s most successful exporters in its field...
ENPICOM, an innovative bioinformatics software engineering company, announce the upcoming expansion of the IGX Platform’s capabilities towards advanced liability prediction. At the Antibody Engineering and Therapeutics virtual conference, the company revealed its plans to integrate the Structural Antibody Prediction Platform (SAbPred) developed by researchers at the University of Oxford....
Thermo Fisher Scientific, the world leader in serving science, and the University of Sheffield, a leading institution with a global reputation for research excellence, have joined forces to develop advanced end-to-end workflows for the characterization and monitoring of complex oligonucleotide and mRNA products. This collaboration brings together the University of Sheffield’s extensive research expertise and Thermo Fisher’s cutting-edge sample preparation, liquid chromatography....
In this article, the characterization of lactose powders for use in DPI applications is discussed. We present new results obtained from state-of-the-art characterization methods allowing us to gather insightful information on the powder behavior. Moreover, electrostatic properties which are of great interest for DPI applications in particular with respect to drug release from the lactose carrier are investigated....
INTEGRA Biosciences has made significant progress towards its goal of minimizing its ecological footprint with the installation of new photovoltaic systems at the company’s US facilities in Hudson, NH. These systems will provide 77 percent of the total energy requirement for both the company’s US headquarters and production center, saving as much CO2 as 2900 cars or 2300 single-family homes produce in the USA each year....
As a project company of Xlife Sciences AG (XLS DE), inflamed pharma GmbH has developed a revolutionary and holistic therapeutic approach to treat both SARS-CoV-2 and flu viruses. The patented active substance ProcCluster(R) reduces the viral load by 90% and acts against infection-related inflammatory processes without developing a resistance. It is already used on humans...
Largest reported organ-on-a-chip screen ever performed on a 3D angiogenesis assay. MIMETAS, the global leader in human-relevant organ-on-a-chip models, has just opened their Phenotypic Screening Center. The center facilitates large-scale screening campaigns on Organ-on-a-Chip models, a powerful technology that improves the human physiological relevance of cultured tissues by utilizing microfluidic techniques....
Thermo Fisher Scientific, the world leader in serving science, and Newomics, a commercial-stage biotechnology company, are collaborating to develop a novel native liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC−MS) platform to support various LC−MS applications. This agreement utilizes Newomics’ experience in creating innovative and integrative platforms and solutions for precision medicine and Thermo Fisher’s cutting-edge LC-MS systems...
Aptamer Group Limited, the developer of Optimer™ Therapeutics, and PinotBio (Gyeonggi-do, Korea), a clinical-stage oncology-focused biotechnology company, have entered into a strategic collaboration agreement. The agreement is to develop Optimer-drug conjugates for targeted drug delivery combining Aptamer Group’s Optimer technology with PinotBio’s technology using the chemotherapeutic FL-118 compound with specific linker....
Avacta Group plc the developer of diagnostics and innovative cancer therapies based on its proprietary Affimer® and pre|CISION™ platforms, is pleased to announce that the MHRA has confirmed registration of Avacta’s AffiDX® SARS-CoV-2 antigen lateral flow test allowing the Company to place the product on the market in the UK for professional use...
AMSBIO reports upon a publication that cites how its STEM-CELLBANKER® animal-free cryopreservation media has played a role in the development of a cell therapy for Parkinson’s Disease that will soon be going into clinical trials. Parkinson’s disease is one of the most common neurodegenerative diseases worldwide. Its main features include motor symptoms such as bradykinesia, rigidity, resting tremor, and postural instability, though non-motor symptoms are often also present....
Moderna, Inc., a biotechnology company pioneering messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines, has announced that it has entered into an agreement with Thermo Fisher Scientific for fill/finish sterile manufacturing services and supply packaging for Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine. Under the terms of the agreement, Thermo Fisher’s commercial manufacturing site in Greenville, North Carolina will be used for aseptic fill/finish, labeling and packaging...
e-MSB 2021 has partnered with Virtual Creative Studios to provide an immersive conference experience that mimics the collegial atmosphere of in-person MSB meetings. The program will deliver strong scientific content with opportunities for engagement and building connections. The program will be packed with four full days of invited and contributed talks, general and parallel sessions with heavy focus on live Q&A by world renowned experts...
The very high use of antibiotics in patients hospitalised with COVID-19 is often not necessary, and risks worsening global antimicrobial resistance. New research led by the University of Glasgow as part of the ISARIC (International Severe Acute Respiratory and emerging Infections Consortium) WHO Clinical Characterisation Protocol UK (CCP-UK), found that antibiotic use was very high in hospitalised COVID-19 patients in the UK during the first wave despite confirmed bacterial infection being uncommon....
A unique electron microscope, set to break new ground in biological imaging, is being installed at the Franklin’s new building on the Harwell campus. The machine is able to image biological samples at up to a million frames a second, a thousand times faster than the current standard. It is the first of three instruments being developed jointly with electron microscope manufacturer, JEOL Ltd, and has been shipped to the UK from the company’s headquarters in Japan....