Model organisms or research organisms, as they are also known are living things that scientists, such as biologists, use to study human and other animal or plant life.

A model organism can be anything from single-celled bacteria to viruses and fungi. They can be more complex organisms, such as monkeys, mice, rats, frogs, elephants and a salamandercalled axolotl.

Monkeys and mice are considered incredibly important for the study of human disease and ageing, because they are genetically so similar to humans. And research on primates and rodents has led to some major scientific breakthroughs.

Illustration by Per Sander

The field is not without its opponents, though, and let's not mince our words its downsides.

One of the most basic scientific and ethical questions asks whether it's okay to subject non-human animals to experimental pain in a laboratory when we wouldn't do that with humans.

Think of vaccines and other medicines: Before they get tested on people, they are tested on non-human animals to look for dangerous side-effects.

Even further down the track, in human clinical trials, people can have extreme and adverse reactions to a drug in development. And that's when the drug has been somewhat refined to limit negative outcomes.

Illustration by Simone Hls

But with monkeys and rats, is it okay to just go ahead and test potentially lethal chemicals? Or what of psychological trials, like studying pain stimuli on mice? Is that okay? Does that mean that a monkey's life is worth less than a human life?

There are regulations to ensure the welfare of animals in research and, increasingly, some technical alternatives, such as computing models that use artificial intelligence and machine learning systems.

They can calculate what may happen if you put a medicinal compound in a body. But you can't avoid testing medicines on animals, including humans, in the end. How else would you know whether there are any benefits for human life?

Illustration by Simone Hls

There are less controversial model organisms than monkeys unexpected yet common things such as tomatoes, fruit flies, worms, and other vegetation. The axolotl is especially interesting because it keeps it's tadpole-like juvenile characteristics into adulthood. This includesexternalgills. But it is not a fish, it's a salamander.

One such plant is even celebrating the 200th anniversary of its naming, or to be precise, its renaming, and that's Arabidopsis thaliana.

A Swiss botanist called A.P. de Candolle coined the term Arabidopsis to describe a group of Brassicaceae plants in the mustard family in 1821.

In a paper published in the Journal of Plant Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Rajnish Khana and Ulrich Kutschera explain how a German botanist, Friedrich Laibach, then "established the mustard plant A. thaliana (L.) Heynh as a model organism in plant genetics []."

It has since become integral to stem cell research and is still delivering insights.

Illustration by Barbara Scheid

Khana and Kutschera write that A. thaliana is an ideal model organism for some very basic reasons: it's small and easy to grow, it has a short generation time the average time from the birth of one living thing to the birth of its offspring it produces up to 10,000 seeds per plant, and it's easy to manipulate and mutate.

Model organisms are categorized into various groups. The categories start with viruses, such as Phage lambda and the Tobacco mosaic virus.

Illustration by Christian Kuhn

The Lambda phage, for instance, is what's known as a temperate virus, which infects host bacteria, such as E.coli.

Being temperate, Phage lambda has different ways of infecting a cell, but it has to decide which it wants to use. And it's that decision-making process at such a fundamental level of life that has intrigued scientists. Studying the process allows them to learn about our own biological development.

Some researchers say it's important to continue studying viruses on the brink of global eradication, such as polio.

Even viruses such as Ebola, Zika and influenza can be used as model organisms to teach us about genetic and hereditary processes in RNA, the messengers of DNA the thing that makes living things unique individuals.

The next category is Prokaryotes. A prokaryote is any organism that lacks a distinct nucleus, the thing that controls the activity of a cell.

Illustration by Barbara Scheid

The most common prokaryotes are bacteria, such as E.coli (Escherichia coli), which is used to study molecular genetics. Synechocystis is a bacterium that is commonly used to research photosynthesis.

Next on the list and arguably the largest and best-known group involves eukaryotes. Eukaryotes are cells or organisms that are thought to have evolved about 2 billion years ago.

Compared to prokaryotes, eukaryotes have a clearly defined nucleus.

They include protists. Protists are often but not exclusively microscopic, single-celled organisms.

Illustration by Christian Kuhn

Eukaryotes also include fungi. There's Neurospora crassa, an orange bread mold, for instance, that's been used to study metabolic regulation and the circadian rhythm the latter being a field that won a Nobel Prize only a few years ago.

Baker's yeast is used in genetic research, as are Coprinus cinereus mushrooms. They have been useful in the study of meiosis, or cell-division, which is important for understanding reproduction.

Arabidopsis thaliana, mentioned above, is also a eukaryote. It belongs to a group of so-called higher plants.

Illustration by Peter Steinmetz

Then there are animals, both invertebrate and vertebrate.

Let's start with invertebrate animals. The US National Wildlife Federation describes invertebrates as the "most diverse and numerous group of animals on Earth."

Invertebrates have no spine. They can live on land or in water.

Illustration by Simone Hls

So, they include animals such as the common fruit fly and hydra, an aquatic animal.

Many have been used in molecular biology or biomedical experiments.

And last, but by no means least, we have the vertebrates arguably, the most controversial group of model organisms.

Vertebrates are defined by their having a spine.

Illustration by Olof Pock

Now, if you wanted to be cynical, you may like to suggest that some vertebrates have more of a spine than others. We humans, for instance, could be accused of being spineless for willingly subjecting other animals to pain that we would rather not endure ourselves. But that argument is up for grabs.

The usual suspects among the vertebrate model organisms are the aforementioned monkeys, rats and mice. But they also include dogs, frogs, chickens and cats, and birds used to study communication among songbirds and non-mammalian auditory systems.

Then there's the beautiful zebrafish, a freshwater tropical specimen.

Zebrafish are virtually transparent. That offers scientists with an almost unique view of an animal's internal anatomy.

Illustration by Simone Hls

But if that's not cool enough, Zebrafish are becoming more and more attractive as a model organism because about 70% of their genes are similar to human genes.

They also have similar bodily components or organs. Zebrafish have two eyes, a mouth, a brain, intestine, pancreas, liver, bile ducts, kidney, a heart, ears, nose, cartilage, and teeth just like humans.

Researchers says it's therefore possible to use zebrafish to model and study genetic changes, which in humans would lead to disease.

That's also one reason why some researchers say zebrafish are becoming more popular in the lab than mice.

Illustration by Simone Hls

Mice are not to be discounted, however. German scientists recently reported that they had cured mice of paralysis after the animals had suffered a spinal cord injury.

But the use of animals, especially those so genetically close to humans, with all the scientific benefits for human life, remains contentious for both scientists and observers of research that uses mammalian model organisms.

Germany's Max-Planck Society writes that "monkeys are used in animal research only if a particular phenomenon cannot be studied on any other species of animal, such as mice, fish or fruit flies. [] They are used primarily for the final drug safety tests on new medicines before they are used on humans."

That is one perspective. Elsewhere, scientists are moving from mice to monkeys.

Illustration by Benjamin St

A feature article in Nature has suggested that cynomolgus macaque monkeys (also known as long-tailed or crab-eating macaques) may be the focus of a "new era of animal models for autism and other brain and psychiatric diseases."

Macaques are already among the most commonly used non-human primates in biomedical research.

The RSPCA, an animal welfare charity in the UK, saysprimates are "highly intelligent animals [] that suffer in similar ways to us."

It goes on to say that "the capture of wild primates for use in breeding colonies and for experiments in some countries causes very significant suffering we believe this is completely unacceptable."I

llustrations by Simone Hls, Christian Kuhn, Olof Pock, Per Sander, Barbara Scheid, Peter Steinmetz, Benjamin St

At a depth of 3,700 meters (12,000 feet), dozens of natural chimneys stick up from the seafloor emitting hot fluid at 290 degrees Celsius (554 degrees Fahrenheit). Over thousands of years, towers of lime have piled up. This is the hydrothermal vent field of the Pescadero Basin, about 150 kilometers east of La Paz in Mexico in the Gulf of California. A marvelous place!

US researchers at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute discovered the deep-sea vent field at Pescadero Basin in 2015. A few months ago, a research team went back on board the Schmidt Ocean Institute ship Falkor to explore this special place. They mapped the seafloor, recorded high-resolution video and brought back rocks and animal samples.

Due to volcanic activity underground, hot water creeps out of the seafloor, containing chemicals such as hydrogen sulfide - a gas that smells like rotten eggs. It is extremely toxic to humans, but some bacteria can metabolize it and gain energy from it. Those bacteria thrive down here at Pescadero Basin and form these thick, fluffy looking bacterial mats.

The vents are buried in the sediment, so the hot liquid reacts with rocks before it escapes. Therefore, the liquid is clear (like you can see in this picture). At another type of vent called a 'black smoker', dark, metal-rich fluid leaves the chimneys instead. Pescadero harbors life quite different from that what was found at other vent fields explored previously.

The vents are densely covered with tubeworms (Oasisia alvinae). These sessile invertebrates live in chitin tubes just a bit wider than their body. Tubeworms like this one were discovered in the 1970s at a vent field near the Galapagos. The researchers were amazed by how many of these animals live at Pescadero. They are literally everywhere.

Oasisia tubeworms dont have a mouth or a digestive system. Instead, the animals take up hydrogen sulfide and oxygen from the water with their orange-red plumes. They feed the nutrients into a bag filled with bacteria. The bacteria then generate energy for them. It works similar to the bacteria in our guts digesting food for us.

In Pescadero Basin, researchers found species they hadnt seen anywhere else before. Like this iridescent blue scale worm, named Peinaleopolynoe orphanae. Across their back, they have thick discs that refract light - just like the wings of a butterfly. The researchers watched the creatures fighting with each other. They have big jaws which they can project during a fight.

This strange creature is called Xenoturbella profunda, but scientists often call it simply the sock worm. This turns out to be quite literal they are just a bag with a mouth underneath. Scientists saw these strange animals gliding very slowly over the seafloor. They seem to feed on clams, as researchers found clam DNA inside their bodies. How they catch and eat their prey? Nobody knows.

Some animals such as tubeworms, scale worms and Xenoturbella live directly on the hydrothermal vents. Others, though, just float by, like fish or octopuses. Or this guy here, a siphonophore. It resembles a jellyfish, but it's not one. Its more closely related to the venomous Portuguese man o' war.

Apart from animals and rocks, there is more to see in the Pescadero Basin. Underwater lakes like this one, for example. They develop when hot fluid gets trapped under rocks or within caves and cannot escape.

An underwater-robot pilot on the ship steers the remotely-operated vehicle from vent to vent. Via a tether, the robot sends back data and high-resolution video footage to the surface. The researchers can thus see in real-time whats going on down there. An awesome experience, for sure.

The underwater robot has an arm with which it can pick up rocks and animals and bring them back to the surface. But most animals lose their colors and shape pretty soon when conserved in alcohol in the researchers lab. This for a example is a sea cucumber from Pescadero Basin, beautifully colored in life not anymore.

Author: Brigitte Osterath

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Model organisms are more than just monkeys and mice - DW (English)

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Billionaire Richard Branson has invested in everything from commercial space travel to record labels. Now he is getting into the human genome business.

His blank-check special-purpose company, VG Acquisition Corp. (ticker: VGAC), is merging with the gene-testing company 23andMe and will list it publicly on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker ME. Under the deal, which values the company at around $3.5 billion, existing shareholders of the gene-testing firm will own 81% of the business.

Branson and Anne Wojcicki, the CEO of 23andMe, will each invest $25 million in a $250 million private investment in public equity, or PIPE. Other investors include funds managed by Fidelity, Altimeter Capital, Casdin Capital, and Foresite Capital. It is expected to close in the second quarter.

The transaction will bring 23andMe gross proceeds of up to $759 million, according to a statement disclosing the deal. That includes the $250 million PIPE and up to $509 million in a VG Acquistion trust account.

For Branson, it is a foray into the booming health-care services industry. 23andMe sells an at-home testing kit that has become popular with consumers who want to learn about their genetic backgrounds. The information can reveal details about genetic health risks in addition to ancestry.

Test users also have the option to participate in genetic research, which 80% accept. The insights from this research can be used to develop future therapies for cancer, heart, and lung disease, among others, the company said.

We have a huge opportunity to help personalize the entire experience at scale, allowing individuals to be more proactive about their health and wellness, said Wojcicki. Through a genetics-based approach, we fundamentally believe we can transform the continuum of healthcare.

Branson said in the same statement that he was excited to see 23andMe make a positive difference to more people.

Consumer genetic testing fits into the growing segment of personalized medicine and health care. Its also an area of controversy over privacy issues.

In 2018, 23andMe joined forces with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in a four-year project to use the genetic data 23andMe gathers to develop new drugs.

VG Acquisition shares jumped more than 14% on Thursday, compared with a 0.9% gain in the S&P 500.

Write to Liz Moyer at Liz.Moyer@barrons.com

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Richard Bransons SPAC to Merge With Gene-Testing Firm 23andMe - Barron's

Patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), the sixth most common epithelial cancer worldwide, are treated with surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. In addition, targeted agents, including an EGFR monoclonal antibody (mAb) inhibitor and two programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) inhibitors, have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for HNSCC treatment, but response rates are moderate.

In this study, researchers led by Baylor College of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University and the National Cancer Institutes Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium (CPTAC) investigated what new insight proteogenomic analysis might offer into understanding why certain patients respond to certain treatments while other patients do not. They propose that their findings may help better match patients to an appropriate course of treatment in the future.

The team profiled proteins, phosphosites (a site on a protein associated with phosphorylation) and signaling pathways in 108 human papillomavirus-negative HNSCC tumors in order to understand how genetic aberrations drive tumor behavior and response to therapies.

We found three subtypes of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, and each subtype may be a good candidate for a different type of therapy EGFR inhibitors, CDK inhibitors or immunotherapy, saidDr. Bing Zhang, lead contact of the study and professor in theLester and Sue Smith Breast Centerand theDepartment of Molecular and Human Geneticsat Baylor. We also identified candidate biomarkers that could be used to match patients to effective therapies or clinical trials.

One important finding involved matching HNSCC patients to EGFR mAb inhibitors. Cetuximab, an EGFR mAb medication, was approved by the FDA in 2006 as the first targeted therapy for HNSCC, however the success rate for this treatment is low. Moreover, EGFR amplification or overexpression cannot predict response to EGFR mAbs. In this study, researchers found that EGFR ligands, instead of EGFR itself, act as the limiting factor for EGFR pathway activation. When ligand is low, the downstream pathway will not be triggered, even if EGFR protein is highly overexpressed.

We proposed that the EGFR ligand should be used as a biomarker, rather than EGFR amplification or overexpression, to help select patients for the EGFR monoclonal antibody treatment, said Zhang, a member of the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center, a Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) Scholar and aMcNair Scholarat Baylor.

Tumors with high EGFR amplification do not necessarily have high levels of EGFR ligands, which may underlie their lack of response to EGFR mAb therapy. The team confirmed this hypothesis by analyzing previously published data from patient-derived xenograft models and a clinical trial.

Additionally, tracking a key tumor suppressor known as Rb (retinoblastoma), the research team identified a striking finding that suggests that Rb phosphorylation status could potentially be a better indicator of a patients response to CDK4/6 inhibitor therapy. The study showed that the many mutations in the genes regulating CDK4/6 activity were neither necessary nor sufficient for activation of CDK4/6.

The team found that the CDK4 activity was best measured through Rb phosphorylation measurements, thus identifying a potential measure for patient selection in CDK inhibitor clinical trials.

The research team also found important insights into the effectiveness of immunotherapy. PD-1 inhibitors target the interaction between immune checkpoints PD-1 and PD-L1, but success rates of immunotherapy are low, even when PD-L1 expression is used for patient selection. The researchers examined tumors with high expression of PD-L1 and found that when a tumor overexpresses PD-L1, it also upregulates other immune checkpoints, thus allowing the tumor growth despite the use of PD-1 inhibitors.

This observation suggests that PD-1- and PD-L1-activated tumors with hot immune environments may require multiple types of immunotherapy, which target different immune checkpoint proteins, to be effective.Conversely, tumors with cold immune environments are not good targets for immunotherapy.

Immune-cold tumors are tumors that contain few if any infiltrating immune T cells. Examination of how a tumor becomes immune-cold showed that the problem stems from a flaw in its antigen presentation pathway, a first step toward triggering an immune response against tumor antigens. In immune-cold tumors multiple key gene components of the antigen presentation pathway were deleted. As a result, although tumor antigens are being expressed, the immune system is not able to recognize them on the surface of cancer cells and therefore fails to activate the bodys defense system against the tumor. These deletions have the potential to be effective targets for future therapies.

This study extends our biological understanding of HPV-negative HNSCCs and generates therapeutic hypotheses that may serve as the basis for future studies and clinical trials toward molecularly-guided precision medicine treatment of this aggressive cancer type, saidDr. Daniel W. Chan, co-corresponding author of the study, professor of pathology and oncology, and director of theCenter for Biomarker Discovery and Translationat theJohns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Find all the details of this study and a full list of contributing authors in the journalCancer Cell.

This work was supported by grants U24 CA210954, U24 CA210985, U24 CA210972, U24 CA210979, U24 CA210986, U24 CA214125, U24 CA210967, and U24 CA210993 from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium (CPTAC), by a Cancer Prevention Institute of Texas (CPRIT) award RR160027, by grant T32 CA203690 from the Translational Breast Cancer Research Training Program, and by funding from the McNair Medical Institute at the Robert and Janice McNair Foundation.

By Molly Chiu

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Using proteogenomics to improve the treatment of squamous cell carcinoma - Baylor College of Medicine News

Today on In the Hive, a primer on coronavirus variants. Three variants of SARS-Cov-2 have drawn the attention of health officials because they may spread more easily or in some cases may be more deadly than the original. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that the so-called UK Variant has now been detected in more than half of U.S. states including Utah, while the Brazilian variant has been found in Minnesota and the South African variant in Maryland and South Carolina. How do viruses mutate? And what should we be doing to protect ourselves? Dr. Stephen Goldstein, a post-doctoral researcher with the University of Utahs Department of Human Genetics says that all the same rules apply for trying to curb the spread of these versions of the virus. Goldstein also says the vaccines we have appear to build an immune response to these variants, which means there is, still, a light at the end of the pandemic tunnel.

Guest:Dr. Stephen Goldstein, Post-doctoral researcher at the University of Utahs Dept. of Human Genetics

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Coronavirus variants, vaccines, and where the pandemic is headed - KCPW

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Feb. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --Eisai Inc., the U.S. pharmaceutical subsidiary of Eisai Co., Ltd. and BioLabs announced today the launch of the Eisai Innovation Center BioLabs, a shared lab and office space for start-ups aiming to innovate in the complex field of neurological diseases. The incubator space is located at the Eisai Center for Genetics Guided Dementia Discovery (G2D2) facility and will become part of BioLabs' national biotechnology network.

"We are excited to announce this collaboration with BioLabs," said Nadeem Sarwar, Ph.D. and President of G2D2. "This specialized incubator will be the first of its kind. With BioLabs' focus on building ecosystems that foster rapid innovation combined with G2D2's state-of-the-art technology to support neurological research, we believe the creation of the Eisai Innovation Center BioLabs will fuel new scientific discoveries and insights. With more than 50 million people globally living with dementia1, there has never been a greater need for the discovery of novel approaches to prevention and treatment."

Housed in the G2D2 facility, the Eisai Innovation Center BioLabs aims to host five to seven neurology-focused start-ups and provide the infrastructure and support to help build their biotech companies. The facility was custom-designed for discovery research, including capabilities for in-vitro biology, molecular and cellular biology including BioSafety Level 2 tissue culture, microscopy, chemical and structural biology and screening. Companies hosted at this incubator will have the opportunity to access the BioLabs network, and interact with the Eisai network, including G2D2 and Eisai's investment arm, Eisai Innovation Inc.

"Launching this incubator space in partnership with BioLabs is an important milestone in our relentless pursuit of a cure for neurological diseases, including Alzheimer's disease, and the fulfillment of our human health care mission. In this new specialized model, we want to advance beyond offering only co-working space," said Vanessa Almendro, MBA, Ph.D. and Head of Strategy and External Innovation at G2D2. "By providing scientific support and enabling potential collaborative opportunities, the Eisai Innovation Center BioLabs is pioneering in providing unique, broad and tailored support to the most prominent biotech companies developing transformative therapies, devices and digital solutions for patients suffering from neurological disorders."

The integration with BioLabs, a national, membership-based network of shared lab and office facilities located in key biotech innovation clusters, empowers companies to rapidly launch their operations in a full-equipped, ready-to-use facility, while collaborating with other innovators in the field.

"The custom-designed space at G2D2 is an ideal home for the Eisai Innovation Center BioLabs. The open-lab layout naturally fosters integration between entrepreneurs, all focused on understanding and advancing the field of neurological diseases. Interacting with a community of peers, specifically within a specialized area of research, sparks collaboration and can significantly fast track a start-up's evolution," said Adam Milne, Chief Operating Officer at BioLabs.

A joint selection committee with members of Eisai Inc., Eisai Innovation Inc. and BioLabs representatives will select the companies to be invited. The selection committee will prioritize start-ups focused on neurology, aligned with Eisai's human health care mission and showing strong potential to develop curative therapeutics. To learn more about the incubator, visit our website.

About Eisai Inc. At Eisai Inc., human health care (hhc)is our goal. We give our first thoughts to patients and their families, and helping to increase the benefits health care provides. As the U.S. pharmaceutical subsidiary of Tokyo-based Eisai Co., Ltd., we have a passionate commitment to patient care that is the driving force behind our efforts to discover and develop innovative therapies to help address unmet medical needs.

Eisai is a fully integrated pharmaceutical business that operates in two global business groups: oncology and neurology (dementia-related diseases and neurodegenerative diseases). Our U.S. headquarters, commercial and clinical development organizations are located in New Jersey; our discovery labs are in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania; and our global demand chain organization resides in Maryland and North Carolina. To learn more about Eisai Inc., please visit us at http://www.eisai.com/US and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

About Eisai Innovation, Inc.Eisai Innovation, Inc.(EII) is a subsidiary of Eisai Inc. It is a strategic investment organization aspiring to identify synergies between the scientific community and the Eisai network of companies. EII contributes toour human health care (hhc)mission by prioritizing disease prevention, prediction and treatment through global investments and research collaboration.

About G2D2Eisai Center for Genetics Guided DementiaDiscovery (G2D2) is the first research center focused on immunodementia. As part of Eisai's Neurology Business Group, G2D2 draws upon Eisai's cutting-edge strengths in human genetics, data sciences and precision chemistry to accelerate discovery of breakthrough immunodementia precision therapeutics.

G2D2 is located in the Alewife Research Center in the Alewife area, in the north-west part of Cambridge, which is one of the world's leading biotechnology clusters where private research organizations in addition to academic institutions such as Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Tufts University are concentrated. Leveraging the benefits of the location, a research space that can be used by external organizations will be set up at G2D2 to enhance collaboration with outstanding researchers and open innovation initiatives to promote immunodementia drug discovery.

About BioLabsBioLabsis a membership-based network of shared lab facilities located in the nation's key biotech innovation clusters, designed exclusively for high-potential, early-stage life science companies. It offers co-working environments that pair premium, fully equipped and supported lab and space with unparalleled access to capital and industry partners. Find out more athttps://www.biolabs.io/

References

Contact:

Eisai Inc. Libby Holman201-753-1945 [emailprotected]

SOURCE Eisai Inc.

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Eisai and BioLabs Partner to Create the Eisai Innovation Center BioLabs - PRNewswire

SEATTLE, Feb. 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --Just like us, immune cells need fuel to do their jobs. Despite the tight links between human health including our immunity and how our bodies process what we eat, the intersection of immunology and metabolism remains a poorly understood area of human biology.

New awards announced today by The Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group, a division of the Allen Institute, aim to improve that understanding by supporting four research projects in the emerging field of immunometabolism. The projects, which are led by 10 new Allen Distinguished Investigators working in teams of two or three lead investigators per award, will explore new avenues of basic biology, health, disease, and technology development, all focused on unanswered questions about how the immune system and metabolism work together.

In recent years, as Frontiers Group staff met with scientific experts to identify future areas of interest, the topic of metabolism and its intersection with the immune system kept coming up, said Frontiers Group Director Kathy Richmond, Ph.D., M.B.A. As they delved into the unknowns, Richmond and her team realized that any significant progress in these areas could improve human health.

"In so many diseases, a tipping point is reached where entire systems in our bodies are thrown off balance. Studying the complex and fascinating interactions between the immune system and energy metabolism will give us a better understanding of what it means to be healthy and how it might be possible to return those systems to balance after damage or disease," Richmond said. "The innovative and pioneering visions of these four teams of Allen Distinguished Investigators span a variety of approaches to tackle this exciting area of biomedical research."

Each award confers $1.5 million in funding over three years for a total of $6 million awarded for immunometabolism research. The Frontiers Group, founded by the late philanthropist Paul G. Allen in 2016, recommends funding from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation to researchers around the world whose work has the potential to accelerate scientific discoveries or launch entirely new avenues of exploration.The Allen Distinguished Investigator program was launched in 2010 by Allen to back creative, early-stage research projects in biology and medical research that would not otherwise be supported by traditional research funding programs. Including the 10 new investigators announced today, a total of 92 Allen Distinguished Investigators have been appointed.

The four new research projects include research on human disease, basic biology of the mammalian immune system, and technology development that could impact many areas of immunology and metabolism research.

"The whole field of immunometabolism is relatively new, and it's a great time to be studying this area because there are also new technologies that allow for exploration of metabolic processes within cells and tissues," said Dan Littman , M.D., Ph.D., a professor of immunology and microbiology at NYU Langone Health. "It's an exciting and emerging area, and there aren't many other avenues for funding immunometabolism research as of yet."

Meet the new Allen Distinguished Investigators

Will Bailis, Ph.D.Children's Hospital of PhiladelphiaChris Bennett, M.D.University of PennsylvaniaRuaidhr Jackson, Ph.D.Harvard Medical SchoolAll of us are made up of trillions of cells, yet it is unclear how these cells simultaneously behave as individuals and as part of a collective that makes up who we are. Drs. Will Bailis, Chris Bennett and Ruaidhri Jackson are leading a project to better understand the many links between immunity and metabolism at the scale of individual cells, organs and the entire body. These inextricable links how our diet affects our immune system, and how our immune cells in turn change metabolism tie into all aspects of human health and disease, including cancer, diabetes and heart disease. Using laboratory mice, the researchers will study how an animal's food affects energy production inside immune cells by genetically engineering those cells to "ignore" changes in diet. In tandem, they will study how one particular type of immune cell, known as tissue resident macrophages, uses metabolism to govern not only its own cellular function, but the function of tissues and the entire body.

Aida Habtezion, MD, MSc.Stanford University School of MedicineNandita Garud, Ph.D., MS.University of California, Los AngelesCarolina Tropini, Ph.D.University of British ColumbiaInflammatory bowel disease, or IBD, is a class of immune diseases that stem from chronic inflammation in the intestines. Patients with IBD have widely varied symptoms and responses to treatment which can't be fully explained by human genetics. Drs. Aida Habtezion, Nandita Garud and Carolina Tropini are leading a project to explore how patients' immune responses, metabolism, gut microbiomes and environments may contribute to that variability, using a registry of hundreds of IBD patient volunteers. Better understanding the details of variation between patients, and the reasons behind that diversity, could lead to better, more tailored treatments for this class of often crippling illnesses.

Russell Jones, Ph.D.Van Andel InstituteYasmine Belkaid, Ph.D.National Institute for Allergies and Infectious DiseaseLike all cells, our immune cells need energy from the food we eat to do their jobs. Drs. Russell Jones and Yasmine Belkaid have recently found that T cells, an important type of immune cell that surveys the body and detects and eliminates infected cells, use multiple kinds of fuel when they are working their hardest. Now, they are leading a project to better understand T cells' preferred fuel sources, uncovering which types of T-cell metabolism are needed for optimal infection-fighting and which types might lead to immune dysfunction.

Jennifer Prescher, Ph.D.Michelle Digman, Ph.D.University of California, IrvineTo better understand the immune system and how it dovetails with metabolism, researchers need better toolkits to track and manipulate multiple kinds of cells and molecules at once, over time, in a living animal. Drs. Jennifer Prescher and Michelle Digman are leading the development of a new technique to shine "biological flashlights" on many different immune- and metabolism-related molecules at the same time. The technique, which they dub bioluminescent phasor, will ultimately yield a large toolkit of optical tags that can light up multiple processes or proteins in the laboratory mouse's immune system at once. Once complete, the toolkit would be available for any research lab to use, opening new avenues for discoveries about the immune system and its relationship to our diet.

About The Paul G. Allen Frontiers GroupThe Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group, a division of the Allen Institute,is dedicated to exploringthe landscape of bioscience to identify and foster ideas that will change the world. The Frontiers Group recommends funding through award mechanisms to accelerate our understanding of biology, including: Allen Discovery Centers at partner institutions forleadership-driven, compass-guided research; and Allen Distinguished Investigatorsforfrontier explorations with exceptional creativity and potential impact.The Paul G. Allen Frontiers Groupwas foundedin 2016 by the late philanthropist and visionary Paul G. Allen. For more information, visit allenfrontiersgroup.org.

About the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation

For more than four decades the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation has focused on changing the trajectory of some of the world's toughest problems. Founded by philanthropists Jody Allen and the late Paul G. Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, the Foundation initially invested in community needs across the Pacific Northwest with a focus on regional arts, under-served populations, and the environment. Today, the Foundation supports a global portfolio of frontline partners working to preserve ocean health, protect wildlife, combat climate change, and strengthen communities. The Foundation invests in grantees to leverage technology, fill data and science gaps, and drive positive public policy to advance knowledge and enable lasting change.

Media Contact: Rob Piercy, Director, Media Relations206.548.8486 | [emailprotected]

SOURCE The Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group

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The COVID-19 pandemic has hit some Americans particularly hard.

Older adults, people with certain preexisting health conditions, and members of ethnic and racial minorities are more likely than others to develop serious symptoms of the disease. Theyve faced higher rates of hospitalization and higher rates of death from COVID-19.

To help community members learn how certain risk factors affect the chances of hospitalization in people whove developed COVID-19, the consumer genomics company 23andMe has launched a new interactive tool called the COVID-19 Severity Calculator.

Its interesting because it turns every citizen who looks at it into a bit of an investigator, said Dr. Robert C. Green, MPH, a medical geneticist and physician-scientist at Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.

You can change the age, you can change the body mass index, you can change the ethnicity and see how it influences the risk of hospitalization, he continued.

The tool offers insights into some of the risk factors for hospitalization from COVID-19, but the company notes that its not intended to predict an individual users risk and doesnt take into account genetic risk factors. The tool does not take into account all of the possible risk factors that can affect how the disease develops.

We created the Severity Calculator because people who have visited 23andMes COVID-19 Information Center have consistently been asking for more information about the severity of the virus infection and what factors into why it impacts some people harder than others, Janie F. Shelton, PhD, MPH, a senior scientist at 23andMe, said in a company press release

The COVID-19 Severity Calculator only incorporates nongenetic risk factors for hospitalization from COVID-19.

They make it clear that this is not based on your genetics. But you have to read that. Its not like its in huge bold letters, Green told Healthline.

The tools algorithm is based on data related to age, sex, ancestry, weight, height, exercise frequency, and certain health conditions. Those conditions include fatty liver disease, high blood pressure, and type 2 diabetes.

Green speculates that the company might eventually incorporate genetic data into the tool as more insights on genetic risk factors become available.

I dont know, but I suspect they will be trying to integrate genetic data into it as the weeks go by and they get more [data], he said.

To develop the COVID-19 Severity Calculator, 23andMe drew on findings from its own COVID-19 Research Study.

The company launched this project in April 2020 to identify and study genetic and non-genetic factors that may affect how COVID-19 develops among members of its customer base.

Study participants share saliva samples and complete online questionnaires about their health, including their experiences with COVID-19.

Nearly 10,000 participants report they have tested positive for the virus. Roughly 750 report being hospitalized with severe symptoms of the disease.

The participants in this study do not represent the general population of the United States, reports 23andMe.

The company also notes that neither the study nor the risk calculator incorporate findings from people who have died from COVID-19.

COVID-19 can cause a wide range of symptoms, ranging from mild to life threatening. Multiple research groups around the world are studying how genetic factors may affect those symptoms and how COVID-19 develops.

I am confident that genetics has a role in disease onset and severity, Michael P. Snyder, PhD, chair of the department of genetics and director of the Center for Genomics and Personalized Medicine at Stanford University in California, told Healthline.

Right now, blood type, which is controlled by genetics, has been associated with COVID-19 in several studies. Other genetic loci are [also beginning to be discovered, he said.

Many scientists who are studying these topics have come together to participate in The COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative. This international research consortium includes Greens research team, as well as 23andMe.

As researchers learn more about the role of genetics in COVID-19, their findings may help them predict who is at greatest risk of developing severe symptoms. This may help experts learn which groups of people are most likely to benefit from certain treatments, said Snyder.

Genetic insights may also help scientists identify new treatment targets and treatment approaches for COVID-19.

Certain markers may offer clues to specific biological vulnerabilities and specific systems in the body that put you at risk, Green said.

If you can pin down more precisely exactly which genes and variants are more responsible, which proteins those genes produce, youve got a head start on thinking about treatments that can moderate those responses, he added.

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What Experts Think of 23andMe's COVID-19 Risk Calculator - Healthline

Wiesia Woodyatt, Research and Innovation Manager for Stockport NHS Foundation Trust

Stockport NHS Foundation Trust has played a key role in two recent medical research projects which have recently published important findings in the ongoing fight against coronavirus.

The trusts research and innovation team based at Stepping Hill Hospital, together with other staff and patients in both the hospital and community, have contributed toward both the GenOMICC study into the relationship between human genes and Covid-19, and the SIREN study aiming at greater understanding of how far individuals who have recovered from Covid-19 are protected from future infections.

Patients seriously ill with coronavirus in the hospitals ICU took part in the GenOMICC study ('Genetics Of Mortality In Critical Care'), a national research project led by a partnership between the University of Edinburgh and Genomics England.

The study tested how patients genetic makeup could influence how they react to the virus, which will help support the vital search for new treatments.

The GenOMICC study has now successfully identified five genes within DNA that were markedly different between ICU patients and volunteers who did not have Covid-19.

This discovery will help to identify those most at risk, and may assist in fast-tracking new therapies into clinical trials to improve recoveries and help patients survive.

The SIREN study, led by Public Health England, aimed to study and understand whether prior infection with SARS-CoV2 (the virus that causes Covid-19) protects against future infection with the same virus.

Over 100 staff members from Stockport NHS Foundation Trust came forward to assist with this.

The newly published SIREN study found those infected are likely to be protected against reinfection for several months, but could still carry the virus in their nose and throat and transmit it to others.

The study shows a person being infected accounts for an 83 per cent rate of protection against being re-infected themselves, but not against passing on to others.

These continuing studies confirm Stockport NHS Foundation Trusts key role in research on fighting coronavirus, as well as a centre for vaccination against the virus.

Wiesia Woodyatt, Research and Innovation Manager for Stockport NHS Foundation Trust said: "The importance of research remains central to the fight against coronavirus.

"We are proud of the role both our patients and staff have contributed to these studies which have taken important steps forward in these areas."

Stepping Hill Hospital is located in Stockport, Greater Manchester.

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ATLANTA, Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- This World Cancer Day, the CDC Foundation announced a multi-year initiative to improve cancer outcomes with anew health empowerment program. Led by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the CDC Foundation, EmPOWERed Health is focused on empowering and equipping individuals to become their own health champions. The program will also provide tools and resources that will spark better physician-patient communication and improve shared decision-making.

"Research reveals that people who take an active role in their health have a greater feeling of control, are more likely to adopt positive health behaviors and experience better health outcomes," said Lisa Richardson, MD, MPH, and director of CDC's Division of Cancer Prevention and Control. "This is especially important when trying to prevent or manage a serious condition like cancer. Empowerment can result in more people getting cancer screenings, a greater feeling of control during cancer diagnosis and treatment, and a better care plan for cancer survivors."

Health empowerment has never been more important. The COVID-19 pandemic has been particularly tough for individuals going through cancer, with delayed appointments resulting in heightened anxiety. Cancer screening rates have also declined significantlyscreening appointments for breast, cervical, and colon cancers in March 2020 decreased between 86 percent and 94 percent compared with average volumes in the prior three years, according to a study by the medical record company Epic.

"It's critically important we empower individuals to return to care, especially people of color and lower income populations who are disproportionately affected by cancer," said Judy Monroe, MD, president and CEO of the CDC Foundation. "EmPOWERed Health is a unique initiative that will catalyze individuals to become their own health champions."

This program, with financial support from Amgen, will seek input and involvement from individuals from all backgrounds: members of the general public and oncology community, including people with cancer, their care partners, cancer survivors and healthcare providers. Others involved in this effort will include unexpected partners, like technology, entertainment and social media influencers. Kicking EmPOWERed Health off in March, the CDC Foundation will host a virtual hackathon that leverages open innovation to create bold approaches that can educate, raise awareness and trigger positive action.

"At Amgen, we are committed to improving cancer outcomes for allpatients, including those impacted by healthcare inequity. There is good evidence that empowerment and shared-decision making can have a significant impact," said Darryl Sleep, MD chief medical officer at Amgen, "EmPOWERed Health is an opportunity to build and launch innovation that can improve cancer care, and we are excited to grow our long-standing relationship with CDC and the CDC Foundation with this new initiative."

Both healthcare providers and individuals have a role to play in empowerment, and the program will develop tools for both groups. "As both an oncologist and a cancer survivor, I have been a part of both sides of the cancer experience," said Liz O' Riordan, oncologist and breast cancer survivor."Speaking as a clinician, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of treating your patient as an equal partner in healthcare decision making. As a patient, having the information and confidence to express your opinion makes you feel more in control and able to cope with a challenging situation."

For more information and to receive program updates on EmPOWERed Health, visit: http://www.EmpoweredHealth.organd follow us on Instagram.

About the CDC FoundationThe CDC Foundation helps the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) save and improve lives by unleashing the power of collaboration between CDC, philanthropies, corporations, organizations and individuals to protect the health, safety and security of America and the world. The CDC Foundation is the go-to nonprofit authorized by Congress to mobilize philanthropic partners and private-sector resources to support CDC's critical health protection mission. Since 1995, the CDC Foundation has raised over$1 billionand launched more than 1,000 programs impacting a variety of health threats from chronic disease conditions including cardiovascular disease and cancer, to infectious diseases like rotavirus and HIV, to emergency responses, including COVID-19 and Ebola. The CDC Foundation managed hundreds of CDC-led programs inthe United Statesandin more than 140 countries last year. For more information, visithttps://www.cdcfoundation.org. Follow the Foundation onTwitter,Facebook,LinkedIn,InstagramandTikTok.

About the Centers for Disease Control and PreventionThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) works 24/7to protect America from health and safety threats. Whether these threats are global or domestic, chronic or acute, curable or preventable, natural disaster or deliberate attack, CDC is the nation's health protection agency.

AboutAmgenAmgenis committed to unlocking the potential of biology for patients suffering from serious illnesses by discovering, developing, manufacturing and delivering innovative human therapeutics. This approach begins by using tools like advanced human genetics to unravel the complexities of disease and understand the fundamentals of human biology. Amgenfocuses on areas of high unmet medical need and leverages its expertise to strive for solutions that improve health outcomes and dramatically improve people's lives. A biotechnology pioneer since 1980,Amgenhas grown to be one of the world's leading independent biotechnology companies, has reached millions of patients around the world and is developing a pipeline of medicines with breakaway potential. For more information, visitwww.amgen.comand follow us onwww.twitter.com/amgen.

SOURCE CDC Foundation

http://www.cdcfoundation.org

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CDC Foundation Aims to Improve Cancer Outcomes Through New Initiative Aimed at Education and Empowerment - PRNewswire

The study of a disease is inherently challenging when patients are few and far between, but doctors at the Perelman School of Medicine have reported a new patient-powered approach that may help to revolutionize the study of rare diseases.

The Penn Medicine researchers, in a paper in Cell Reports Medicine, described a new type of patient registry they recently developed for Castleman disease, a rare disorder involving flu-like symptoms, enlarged lymph nodes, and sometimes life-threatening vital organ dysfunction.

The registry, called ACCELERATE, includes an approach in which Castleman disease patients can enroll directly. The researchers found that this patient-powered approach greatly boosted enrollment and the overall availability of data, compared to the traditional approach in which doctors at a few designated sites can enroll their patients. Another innovative component is that the study team requests and extracts data from the full medical record for each patient who enrolls rather than relying on physicians or patients to enter data, significantly increasing the quantity of data included.

One of the greatest barriers to progress for rare diseases is the lack of high-quality, centralized data, says study senior author David Fajgenbaum, an assistant professor of translational medicine and human genetics at the Perelman School of Medicine who directs the Center for Cytokine Storm Treatment & Laboratory and is a patient with Castleman disease. Using this novel, patient-powered study design to centralize high-quality data through ACCELERATE has been transformative for Castleman disease tracking and clinical trial enrollment and may serve as a model for research on thousands of other rare diseases that have no approved therapies.

Read more at Penn Medicine News.

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A patient-powered registry boosts the study of a rare disease | Penn Today - Penn Today