Clemson names local students to fall 2016 Dean’s List – Journalscene.com

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Local students have been named to the Dean's List at Clemson University for the fall 2016 semester.

They are:

Deidra M. Ward of Charleston, who is majoring in chemical engineering

Antonio J. Ayala of Ladson, who is majoring in bioengineering

Austin Ryal Bowen of Ladson, who is majoring in computer engineering

Austin M. Greenwood of Ladson, who is majoring in electrical engineering

Sarahlyn E. Hill of Ladson, who is majoring in biological sciences

Ricki E. Hughes of Ladson, who is majoring in animal and veterinary science

Kylie M. Johnson of Ladson, who is majoring in general engineering

Jocelyn M. Mcgill of Ladson, who is majoring in animal and veterinary science

Charles R. Ritter III of Ladson, who is majoring in computer science

Kerry Marissa Wilt of Ladson, who is majoring in women's leadership

Taylor Marie Abendroth of North Charleston, who is majoring in biochemistry

Kimberly Bui of North Charleston, who is majoring in biological sciences

Michael Chavez of North Charleston, who is majoring in general engineering

Nicole Shilah Mcalister of North Charleston, who is majoring in College of Architecture, Arts, and Humanities

Cameron James Weathers of North Charleston, who is majoring in civil engineering

Benjamin M. O'Cain of St. George, who is majoring in general engineering

Hannah Shuler of St. George, who is majoring in English

Katelyn E. Adkins of Summerville, who is majoring in environmental and natural resources

Alicia Oluwakemi Amon of Summerville, who is majoring in nursing

Cameron W. Arnold of Summerville, who is majoring in mathematical sciences

Kinsey Suzanne Baughman of Summerville, who is majoring in psychology

Ryan A. Becwar of Summerville, who is majoring in computer science

Mackenzie William Binns of Summerville, who is majoring in computer information systems

Mackenzie G. Bowen of Summerville, who is majoring in parks, recreation and tourism management

Madison L. Buddin of Summerville, who is majoring in biological sciences

Collin A. Burchette of Summerville, who is majoring in chemical engineering

Grant A. Byrum of Summerville, who is majoring in computer science

Meghan A. Carter of Summerville, who is majoring in pre-business

Hannah E. Collins of Summerville, who is majoring in history

Alexis P. Cone of Summerville, who is majoring in financial management

Victoria Jade Cooper of Summerville, who is majoring in communication

Tristan M. Cromer of Summerville, who is majoring in general engineering

Caleb A. Dorrity of Summerville, who is majoring in industrial engineering

Connor Hoke Egbert of Summerville, who is majoring in civil engineering

Taylor R. Esch of Summerville, who is majoring in materials science and engineering

Rachel E. Fate of Summerville, who is majoring in psychology

Daniel M. Finley Jr. of Summerville, who is majoring in electrical engineering

Jacob E. Fladd of Summerville, who is majoring in bioengineering

Patrick Kyle Flanagan of Summerville, who is majoring in physics

Thomas M. Fleury of Summerville, who is majoring in biological sciences

Jennifer A. Gabriel of Summerville, who is majoring in accounting

Matthew R. Hagan of Summerville, who is majoring in philosophy

Brooke Spencer Haile of Summerville, who is majoring in psychology

Amanda Maria Hazell of Summerville, who is majoring in visual arts

Hayes S. Hoover of Summerville, who is majoring in biological sciences

Haley W. Jones of Summerville, who is majoring in materials science and engineering

Jason Michael Kinard of Summerville, who is majoring in computer science

Connor W. Lee of Summerville, who is majoring in mechanical engineering

Emily R. Leiendecker of Summerville, who is majoring in economics

Michael A. Lemelin of Summerville, who is majoring in chemistry

Christopher Michael Logan of Summerville, who is majoring in computer science

Rebecca A. Long of Summerville, who is majoring in psychology

Logan V. Mann of Summerville, who is majoring in biological sciences

Carlan A. May of Summerville, who is majoring in biological sciences

Amanda N. Pietrofeso of Summerville, who is majoring in industrial engineering

Rebecca B. Provost of Summerville, who is majoring in bioengineering

Thomas J. Purcell of Summerville, who is majoring in civil engineering

Andrew D. Purcell of Summerville, who is majoring in forest resource management

Cole David Reber of Summerville, who is majoring in packaging science

Andrew B. Samuels of Summerville, who is majoring in computer science

Rachel C. Sanner of Summerville, who is majoring in biological sciences

Aaron P. Schmitt of Summerville, who is majoring in civil engineering

Samuel W. Seigler of Summerville, who is majoring in biochemistry

Mollie C. Smith of Summerville, who is majoring in nursing

Charlotte A. Snook of Summerville, who is majoring in biological sciences

Alan D. Stack of Summerville, who is majoring in wildlife and fisheries biology

Kara S. Stem of Summerville, who is majoring in animal and veterinary science

Ashley L. Tant of Summerville, who is majoring in psychology

Matthew D. Thompson of Summerville, who is majoring in political science

Michael Alan Tibbs of Summerville, who is majoring in electrical engineering

Alexandra Nicole Tomlinson of Summerville, who is majoring in architecture

Rachel Ann Van der Meyden of Summerville, who is majoring in communication

Ryan T. West of Summerville, who is majoring in bioengineering

Caitlin E. Willan of Summerville, who is majoring in biological sciences

Rhiannon Catherine Williams of Summerville, who is majoring in animal and veterinary science

To be named to the Dean's List, a student achieved a grade-point average between 3.50 and 3.99 on a 4.0 scale.

Ranked No. 23 among national public universities, Clemson University is a major, land-grant, science- and engineering-oriented research university that maintains a strong commitment to teaching and student success. Clemson is an inclusive, student-centered community characterized by high academic standards, a culture of collaboration, school spirit, and a competitive drive to excel.

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Clemson names local students to fall 2016 Dean's List - Journalscene.com

Coronavirus: Antibody study on 10,000 people, how many were infected – Business Insider – Business Insider

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The National Institutes of Health is enrolling up to 10,000 healthy people in a study that seeks to determine how many people have immunity to the novel coronavirus.

Investigators will take blood from participants and test it for antibodies the body produces to fight off infection. The idea is to figure out the true number of people who've been exposed to the virus, whether or not they had symptoms.

The study is one of many public and private efforts to expand "serology" or immunity tests in the US. Since the tests can measure a response to the virus long after it's occurred, they've been called the next frontier of coronavirus screening and should help the NIH understand the extent of its spread.

Read more: Tests that can tell if you're immune to the coronavirus are on the way. Here are the companies racing to bring them to the US healthcare system.

Led by researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, the rollout is one of the biggest serology efforts at the federal level thus far.

"This study will give us a clearer picture of the true magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States by telling us how many people in different communities have been infected without knowing it, because they had a very mild, undocumented illness or did not access testing while they were sick," said Anthony S. Fauci, a key member of President Donald Trump's coronavirus task force and the director of NIAID, in a press release.

Whereas reporting of confirmed cases in the US has mostly relied on molecular tests that determine the active presence of the virus in a person's airways, NIH investigators will analyze the blood for two kinds of antibodies indicating prior exposure, proteins called IgM and IgG.

The former develops quickly and typically lasts for a week or two. The latter has a longer life and is involved in the body's secondary immune response, according to the NIH.

"An antibody test is looking back into the immune system's history with a rearview mirror," said Matthew J. Memoli, the study's principal investigator.

Volunteers near Washington, DC will give blood in-person at the NIH campus in Maryland. The NIH will ship kits made by medical device company Neoteryx to other participants for at-home use.

Never miss out on healthcare news. Subscribe to Dispensed, Business Insider's weekly newsletter on pharma, biotech, and healthcare.

The study is not open to people with current coronavirus symptoms or those with laboratory-confirmed histories of the virus. People who suspect they recovered without tests or never had symptoms consistent with the virus in the first place are encouraged to enroll, however.

People interested in joining can contact the NIH at clinicalstudiesunit@nih.gov and will be asked to consent over the phone. Enrollees can request their results after a prolonged waiting period of weeks or months, according to the NIH.

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Coronavirus: Antibody study on 10,000 people, how many were infected - Business Insider - Business Insider

Framework for building bio-bots – Next Big Future

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For the past several years, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have been developing a class of walking "bio-bots" powered by muscle cells and controlled with electrical and optical pulses. Now, Bioengineering Professor Rashid Bashirs research group is sharing the recipe for the current generation of bio-bots. Their how-to paper is the cover article in Nature Protocols.

The protocol teaches every step of building a bio-bot, from 3D printing the skeleton to tissue engineering the skeletal muscle actuator, including manufacturers and part numbers for every single thing we use in the lab, explained Ritu Raman, now a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Bioengineering and first author of the paper

This protocol is essentially intended to be a one-stop reference for any scientist around the world who wants to replicate the results we showed in our PNAS 2016 and PNAS 2014 papers, and give them a framework for building their own bio-bots for a variety of applications, Raman said.

Nature Protocols - A modular approach to the design, fabrication, and characterization of muscle-powered biological machines

As stated in the paper, "Biological machines consisting of cells and biomaterials have the potential to dynamically sense, process, respond, and adapt to environmental signals in real time." This can result in exciting possibilities where these "systems could one day demonstrate complex behaviors including self-assembly, self-organization, self-healing, and adaptation of composition and functionality to best suit their environment." Bashir's group has been a pioneer in designing and building bio-bots, less than a centimeter in size, made of flexible 3D printed hydrogels and living cells. In 2012, the group demonstrated bio-bots that could "walk" on their own, powered by beating heart cells from rats. However, heart cells constantly contract, denying researchers control over the bot's motion.

The purpose of the paper was to provide the detailed recipes and protocols so that others can easily duplicate the work and help to further permeate the idea of 'building with biology--so that other researchers and educators can have the tools and the knowledge to build these bio-hybrid systems and attempt to address challenges in health, medicine, and environment that we face as a society, stated Rashid Bashir, a Grainger Distinguished Chair in Engineering and head of the Department of Bioengineering.

The 3D printing revolution has given us the tools required to build with biology in this way. Raman said. We re-designed the 3D-printed injection mold to produce skeletal muscle rings that could be manually transferred to any of a wide variety of bio-bot skeletons. These rings were shown to produce passive and active tension forces similar to those generated by muscle strips.

"Using optogenetics techniques, we worked with collaborators at MIT to genetically engineer a light-responsive skeletal muscle cell line that could be stimulated to contract by pulses of 470-nm blue light," Raman added. "The resultant optogenetic muscle rings were coupled to multi-legged bio-bot skeletons with symmetric geometric designs. Localized stimulation of contraction, rendered possible by the greater spatiotemporal control of light stimuli over electrical stimuli, was used to drive directional locomotion and 2D rotational steering.

Abstract

Biological machines consisting of cells and biomaterials have the potential to dynamically sense, process, respond, and adapt to environmental signals in real time. As a first step toward the realization of such machines, which will require biological actuators that can generate force and perform mechanical work, we have developed a method of manufacturing modular skeletal muscle actuators that can generate up to 1.7 mN (3.2 kPa) of passive tension force and 300 N (0.56 kPa) of active tension force in response to external stimulation. Such millimeter-scale biological actuators can be coupled to a wide variety of 3D-printed skeletons to power complex output behaviors such as controllable locomotion. This article provides a comprehensive protocol for forward engineering of biological actuators and 3D-printed skeletons for any design application. 3D printing of the injection molds and skeletons requires 3 hours, seeding the muscle actuators takes 2 hours, and differentiating the muscle takes 7 days.

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Framework for building bio-bots - Next Big Future

Students frustrated trying to get into UW’s strict engineering program – The Seattle Times

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It gets harder every year to get into some of the University of Washingtons most in-demand majors, creating a cutthroat system of competition at the flagship university.

By the end of his freshman year at the University of Washington, Jack Kussick believed there was no point in even applying to get into the UWs bioengineering program.

Kussick had sailed through Seattles Roosevelt High with top grades. When he entered the UW, the Seattle native was thinking about a career designing cutting-edge rehabilitation tools that could help wounded veterans get back on their feet, or athletes devastated by injury return to their sports.

But college required an entirely different type of studying. As a freshman, Kussick stumbled in a few classes before he figured out a system that worked for him.

By then, he believed, it was already too late.

In order to be competitive for bioengineering, a counselor told him, hed need to begin making As in nearly every class. Even then, his chances of being admitted were slim.

At a time when students are encouraged to go into careers in science and technology, as well as business, its becoming harder and harder to do so in some majors at the states largest flagship university.

Of the roughly 2,000 students in each class who say they want to major in one of the engineering disciplines, fewer than half will get in. And for the business administration major at the Foster School of Business, the admission rate is 40 percent.

Some faculty say thats created a cutthroat system that forces students to compete against one another at a time when they should be learning how to work together.

In high-demand majors, the university is having to select from a group of students who are amazing, and bright, and capable, and could do well, said Patricia Kramer, an anthropology professor who heads a faculty committee trying to solve the problem.

This isnt weeding out students who are not good, she added.

The pressure to build a perfect transcript also means students sacrifice many other experiences that make up the fabric of a good college experience, said Brian Fabien, the associate dean of academic affairs for the College of Engineering.

Theyre not participating in student organizations, in clubs theyre not doing the things wed like them to do, Fabien said. This is not a good environment for learning.

Theres no easy solution. But the UW will be asking more questions about a students area of interest on its freshman and transfer admissions applications. At some point, that information might be used to decide who becomes a Husky, and who does not.

On the third floor of Loew Hall one day last week, a half-dozen pre-engineering students waited in line for appointments with academic counselors to fine-tune their schedules, or ask for advice. Most were upbeat about their chances of being accepted into engineerings disciplines mechanical, civil and computer engineering, to name a few.

But the reality is that fewer than half will be admitted, Fabien said. Students get several chances to apply, but in the meantime they are in limbo about their major, and some wont know for certain until their third year, which is actually pretty cruel, he said.

Taylor Ishida, a sophomore who wants to major in bioengineering, stays in the library studying until 10 or 11 p.m. every night. Its definitely stressful, knowing the level of competition, she said.

Ishida, who grew up in Oregon, says her academic record is strong, but shes an anxious test-taker, and often wakes up at night worrying about how she did on her last exam. If she doesnt get into the program, shell transfer to another university.

Allen Putich, a first-quarter transfer student who earned his associate degree from Skagit Valley College, knows its hard to get into his intended major, computer science; he spent an entire week studying for his first midterm. He thinks his chances are good, but hes got a backup plan: electrical engineering.

Khanh Le, a sophomore, has been turned down once already trying to get into either industrial or civil engineering, and says shes under a lot of pressure now to get in. Le, who graduated from Mariner High School in Everett, said if she doesnt get in on her second attempt, she may take a year off or transfer elsewhere.

No major is more competitive than computer science only about a third of the students who apply get in. For those students, some help is on the way; the UW has gotten millions from private industry and the state Legislature to construct a new computer science building, which will allow it to double the number of students it can handle in the coming years.

Students who cant get into engineering often choose math, chemistry or physics and that puts stress on those majors, too, Fabien said. Those who dont get into the Foster School, for example, often choose economics as a backup. That major is no shoo-in, either it only admits about two-thirds of applicants.

Engineers are trained to be collaborative, so they can solve problems together. But the hypercompetitive environment at the UW means students are in a race to beat one another. Its exactly the opposite of the skills theyll need in the workplace, Fabien said.

Why cant the UW simply eliminate majors that are falling out of favor, and use the money to hire more engineering professors?

Its not that easy.

Engineers need to learn on expensive and space-consuming equipment, Fabien said. For example, mechanical engineers at the UW work with machining equipment similar to whats used in a Boeing facility.

The engineering college also needs students who can write, and have an understanding of history, political science and the humanities not just good grades in math and science. You cant be a good engineer if you cant communicate, he said.

Kramer said the slowness with which the university builds up, or cuts back, on majors is an important check on chasing the latest fad.

Ten years ago, for example, the university resisted pressure to reduce instruction in Eastern European languages. Now, because of unrest in Ukraine, an understanding of those languages and cultures is in demand, she said.

Before the university starts considering a students area of academic interest in deciding who is admitted, all three campuses would have to approve that change. Kramer expects there will be changes in the way the university makes its choice on offering admission to out-of-state and international students.

For in-state students, in contrast, she thinks the changes will be minor.

Our obligation to Washington state students is really different from the universitys commitment to out-of-state and international students, she said.

But she emphasized that no decisions have been made yet, and that the intent is not to decrease overall chances of admission into the UW for any student, but rather to give students the best chances of being able to gain entry into, and to complete, majors in the field of their interest.

For transfer students, an applicants intended major already has a bearing on whether he or she is admitted. A transfer student who selects only one major on the application, and is not admitted into that major, also is not admitted into the university, she said.

Meanwhile, the College of Engineering has proposed a system in which about 50 percent of engineering-major prospects would be directly admitted to the college at the same time they are admitted to the UW as freshmen or transfer students, although they would still need to apply for their specific major. No decision has been made, but Fabien noted that its a practice already in use at most other major engineering schools. And last year, the UW Student Senate passed a resolution calling for that change.

The trouble with direct admission, Kramer said, is that it can deprive students of the chance to explore different subjects, or pursue careers they might never have heard of in high school.

That can be especially hard on those who come from rural or low-income schools students who may have never met an engineer, or explored a great science lab, she said.

Computer science professor Ed Lazowska said theres no right way to handle the overcrowded-majors issue.

Elite private universities allow students to choose any major they want, Lazowska said, but getting admitted to those universities in the first place is like winning the lottery.

On the other hand, some major public universities give students a relatively free choice of their major, but use weed-out courses extremely difficult prerequisites to reduce the number of students going into certain majors, he said.

Meanwhile, just up the road in Everett, Washington State Universitys new North Puget Sound campus is adding more slots in electrical, mechanical and software engineering. The mechanical engineering program, which can accommodate 40 new students each year, had twice that number of applicants this January.

Kussick, the UW student who thought he would never get into bioengineering, solved his dilemma by transferring to Oregon State University at the start of his sophomore year. He is making As in all his classes Im doing better than Ive ever done at school and was admitted to the pre-bioengineering program. His interests have expanded into robotics, and hes also thinking about medical school or earning a Ph.D.

Kussick is 250 miles from home, and because hes an out-of-state-student, his familys paying about $13,000 more a year in tuition and living expenses than they did while he was at the UW.

But hes happy with his decision to move to Corvallis. Im loving it down here, he said.

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Students frustrated trying to get into UW's strict engineering program - The Seattle Times

TCR therapy an attractive alternative to CAR T for immunotherapy – Drug Target Review

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Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies have produced encouraging clinical outcomes, demonstrating their therapeutic potential in mitigating tumour development. However, another form of T-cell immunotherapy based on T-cell receptors (TCR) has also shown great potential in this field. Here, Nikki Withers speaks to Miguel Forte who elaborates on the process and explains why he is excited about seeing an idea translate into an industrial proposition.

STIMULATING the natural defences of a persons immune system to kill cancer cells, known as immunotherapy, has become a novel and exciting approach to treat cancer. For example, the role of T cells in cell-mediated immunity has inspired the development of several strategies to genetically modify T cells, such as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, to target cancer cells. In recent years, CAR T-cell therapy has received much attention from researchers and the press alike, and the landmark approval and clinical successes of Novartis Kymriah (the first FDA-approved treatment to include a gene therapy step in the United States) and Gilead/Kite Pharmas Yescarta (the first CAR T-cell therapy for adults living with certain types of non-Hodgkin lymphoma) has prompted a surge of further research. However, this approach which involves isolating cells from a patient, bioengineering them to express CARs that identify and attach to tumour cells and injecting them back into the patient has several limitations, according to Miguel Forte, former CEO of Zelluna Immunotherapy and currently CEO of Bone Therapeutics.

Forte has been working on a T-cell immunotherapy approach that primarily focuses on the T-cell receptors (TCRs). Similar to CAR therapies, TCR therapies modify the patients T lymphocytes ex vivo before being injected back into the patients body. However, they differ in their mechanisms for recognising antigens. CAR T-cell therapy can be compared to a policeman, with a photograph of the criminal, being able to identify them on the street, explained Forte. It is an artificial way of guiding those cells to the cancer when the cancer cells are in suspension. The difficulty with CAR is that it cannot always penetrate and deliver an effect in solid tumours. TCR therapy, which utilises the natural mechanisms that T cells use to recognise the antigen and therefore the cancer, is better suited to penetrate the tumour ie, the policeman is able to go inside the building where a criminal is hiding.

It is obviously more costly at the beginning of the development when you are fine tuning your process, compared to when you progress to a larger scale as you approach the market

Of note, this approach targets the TCR- peptide/major histocompatibility complex (MHC) interaction, which enables eradication of tumour cells. Intracellular tumour-related antigens can be presented as peptides in the MHC on the cell surface, which interact with the TCR on antigen-specific T cells to stimulate an anti-tumour response. Imagine you, or the cells, are not just a soldier in an army but a captain that can bring other immune cells into the mix. TCRs and these cells, once they go in, have a direct kill activity and an immunostimulatory activity to other cells to have a more comprehensive effect of killing the tumour cells. Forte concluded that this approach is scientifically appealing and could bring value to a large array of solid tumours.

The benefits of TCR therapies are evident; however, as with all new approaches, it is not without its challenges. The first relates to the manufacturing of these therapies; the process requires extracting patient material, changing it and then returning it to the patient. Unlike drug discovery with small molecules where you have an inert, well-defined, chemically-established component, with biologics you go up a notch in terms of complexity, Forte explained, adding that while small molecules are unidimensional, biologics are three-dimensional and, thus, more complex and challenging to manufacture. You need to remember that your product, the cells, are a living being. It is something that replicates, changes and responds to its environment. This makes it a lot more challenging to characterise and define the right specifications of the product. The initial challenge is to put in place a consistent and reliable manufacturing process.

Generating the necessary pre-clinical data can also prove challenging; studies are easier to conduct in animal models when you are working with chemical entities rather than human cells, according to Forte. Finally, when the product does get to clinic, there are elements of manufacturing, supply and logistics that can prove challenging; however, companies are starting to provide solutions for this. Working in cell and gene therapy we need to apply what we have done with other products, explained Forte. You need to adapt to the complexity and diversity of the product you have in hand. Here, you have a live product. Something that responds. It is similar to having a child; you can modulate it, but you can never fully control the behaviour of something you are shaping.

Bringing a new drug to market, from drug discovery through clinical trials to approval, can be a costly process, especially when developing cell-based therapies. These are more expensive than developing chemistry or biologics, but when biologics started to be developed, they were also very expensive, explained Forte. We are now seeing a reduction of those costs as more companies are developing products and consequently more solutions are surfacing.

Forte was involved in developing his first cell therapy product about 10 years ago. At this time, it was difficult; a lot of solutions you had to build in house. Nowadays, you can import this from solutions already available so you can concentrate on the specificity; for instance, the viral vector for gene editing your cells or the cytokine concentration for the expansion of your cells. He added that as these therapies grow, so too does the competition, resulting in reduced costs. However, the price and return on investment must correlate with benefit. It is obviously more costly at the beginning of the development when you are fine tuning your process, compared to when you progress to a larger scale as you approach the market.

The well-publicised success story of Emily Whitehead a six-year-old leukaemia patient who was one of the first patients to receive CAR T-cell therapy is a prime example of the success of immunotherapy treatments. Even though these patients may need to continue medications, they can live a relatively normal life. The gene- edited cells remain in the individual and continue to control the cancer by restoring the immune systems capabilities, said Forte. He hopes that similar results will be seen with TCR therapies: Hopefully, a significant fraction of patients will have a clinical and biological response that will reduce the tumour bulk, give them a quality life and remain doing so by controlling the cancer for a significant amount of time.

Forte concluded that the possibilities for TCR- based immunotherapies are exciting and hopefully products will be developed that will deliver an immediate and sustained effect in cancer patients.

About the author

MIGUEL FORTE

Miguel is currently the CEO of Bone Therapeutics and visiting Professor at the Lisbon University in Portugal. He also serves as Chief Commercialization Officer and Chair of the Commercialization Committee of the International Society of Cellular Therapy (ISCT) and is Member of Board of Directors of ISCT and ARM. Miguel was CEO of Zelluna Immunotherapy until the end of 2019. Miguel holds a masters degree from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon, Portugal, a PhD in Immunology from the University of Birmingham, UK, an accreditation as Specialist in Infectious Diseases and a certificate on Health Economics of Pharmaceuticals and Medical Technologies (HEP). He is Fellow of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine of the RCP in the UK.

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TCR therapy an attractive alternative to CAR T for immunotherapy - Drug Target Review

Meet the team of IIT Guwahati students, researchers who are developing a COVID-19 vaccine – EdexLive

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The IIT Guwahati team| Pic: IIT-G

Researchers at The Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati are working to develop a vaccine for the Coronavirus and stem the pandemic. They are also developing rapid detection and portable diagnostic kits for various viruses and microorganisms. The team of researchers is led by Professor Sachin Kumar, Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering.

Explaining that they are currently analysing data, Professor Sachin says, "We haven't started the work on the vaccine yet. We are analysing the data. We are analysing the sequence of Coronavirus from samples from Kerala and China. It is also difficult to say how much time the vaccine will take to be fully functional. However, the diagnostic could be done fast. Currently, what we have is a realtime PCR based-diagnostic for CoV-2 detection."

Adding how they are taking the research forward he says, "We are working on a virus that causes Newcastle Disease. It is a poultry pathogen. It is a very important pathogen in the poultry industry as a lot of modalities related to poultry is going on. We are trying to develop some kind of vaccine and diagnostics for this poultry disease. In addition to the development of vaccine and diagnostic, we have developed this virus as a vector. Now, what is done is that this virus can express some foreign protein which can be useful in protection from other diseases as well. Though we are working on poultry, we can use this tool as a marker for the development of some kind of a vaccine."

How far away is the cure? Quite a bit.

The team comprises of PhD students, MTech students, Junior Research Fellows and Post Doctoral Fellows. "The viral immunology laboratory at IIT Guwahati works primarily on the avian paramyxovirus. The lab is actively involved in the development of vaccines and diagnostics against avian paramyxovirus. Besides, the lab has developed a viral vector system to deliver foreign antigens. Recently, the research group led by Prof Sachin Kumar, Department of BSBE has developed recombinant vaccines against Japanese encephalitis and classical swine fever virus which got published in the journal Vaccine and Archives of virology, respectively. The lab could substantially contribute to the research and development towards severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus -2 (SARS-CoV-2). The lab at IIT Guwahati is exploring the possibilities to clone the immunogenic proteins of SARS-CoV-2 to be used as diagnostics and possible vaccine candidates," the institute said in their statement.

What these researchers are looking forward to is that their research output, which will suggest if they can use the same tool, as they had developed for Japanese encephalitis virus and classical swine fever. Then they will use the same to extract the foreign protein of COVID-19. "We can use this tool which is there in our lab for generating a fast diagnostics against Coronavirus so that it can be used in the field condition as of what we have," he concludes.

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Meet the team of IIT Guwahati students, researchers who are developing a COVID-19 vaccine - EdexLive

Using Regenerative Biology To Restore Mucus Production – Technology Networks

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Mucus is a protective, slimy secretion produced by goblet cells and which lines organs of the respiratory, digestive, and reproductive systems. Slime production is essential to health, and an imbalance can be life-threatening. Patients with diseases such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and ulcerative colitis produce too much mucus, often after growing too many goblet cells. Loss of goblet cells can be equally devastating - for instance during cancer, after infection, or injury. The balance of slime creation, amount, and transport is critical, so doctors and medical researchers have long sought the origins of goblet cells and have been eager to control processes that regenerate them and maintain balanced populations.

Recently, a group of bioengineers at the University of Pittsburgh discovered a case of goblet cell regeneration that is both easily accessible and happens incredibly fast on cells isolated from early developing frog embryos.

Lance Davidson, William Kepler Whiteford Professor of Bioengineering at Pitt, leads the MechMorpho Lab in the Swanson School of Engineering where his researchers study the role of mechanics in human cells as well as the Xenopus embryo - an aquatic frog native to South Africa.

The Xenopus tadpole, like many frogs, has a respiratory skin that can exchange oxygen and perform tasks similar to a human lung, explained Davidson. Like the human lung, the surface of the Xenopus respiratory skin is a mucociliated epithelium, which is a tissue formed from goblet cells and ciliated cells that also protects the larva against pathogens. Because of these evolutionary similarities, our group uses frog embryonic organoids to examine how tissue mechanics impact cell growth and tissue formation.

Studying this species is a rapid and cost-effective way to explore the genetic origins of biomechanics and how mechanical cues are sensed, not just in the frog embryo, but universally. When clinicians study cancer in patients, such changes can take weeks, months, or even years, but in a frog embryo, changes happen within hours.

In this project, we took a group of mesenchymal cells out of the early embryo and formed them into a spherical aggregate, and within five hours, they began to change, Davidson said. These cells are known to differentiate into a variety of types, but in this scenario, we discovered that they changed very dramatically into a type of cell that they would not have changed into had they been in the embryo.

The lab surprisingly uncovered a case of regeneration that restores a mucociliated epithelium from mesenchymal cells. They performed the experiment multiple times to confirm the unexpected findings and began to look closely at what microenvironmental cues could drive cells into an entirely new type.

We have tools to modulate the mechanical microenvironment that houses the cells, and to our surprise, we found that if we made the environment stiffer, the aggregates changed into these epithelial cells, explained Davidson. If we made it softer, we were able to block them from changing. This finding shows that mechanics alone can cause important changes in the cells, and that is a remarkable thing.

Davidsons group is interested in how cells, influenced by mechanics, may affect disease states. The results detailed in this article may drive new questions in cancer biology, prompting researchers to consider whether certain kinds of invasive cancer cells might revert to a resting cell type based on the stiffness or softness of their surroundings.

When applying these results to cancer biology, one might ask, If tumors are surrounded by soft tissues, would they become dormant and basically non-invasive? Or, If you have them in stiff tissues, would they invade and become deadly? said Davidson. These are major questions in the field that biomechanics may be able to help answer. Many researchers focus solely on the chemical pathways, but we are also finding mechanical influencers of disease.

Hye Young Kim, a young scientist fellow at Institute for Basic Science (IBS) and former member of the MechMorpho Lab, will continue this work at the Center for Vascular Research located at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). She will study how cell motility changes during regeneration and how epithelial cells assemble a new epithelium. Davidson and his lab will explore how this novel case of mechanical cues are sensed by mesenchymal cells and how these mechanical induction pathways are integrated with known pathways that control cell fate choices.

"Frog embryos and organoids give us unparalleled access to study these processes, far more access than is possible with human organs, he said. The old ideas that regeneration is controlled exclusively by diffusing growth factors and hormones is giving way to the recognition that the physical mechanics of the environment such as how rubbery or fluid the environment - play just as critical a role."

Reference:Kim, H. Y., Jackson, T. R., Stuckenholz, C., & Davidson, L. A. (2020). Tissue mechanics drives regeneration of a mucociliated epidermis on the surface of Xenopus embryonic aggregates. Nature Communications, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-14385-y

This article has been republished from the following materials. Note: material may have been edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source.

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Using Regenerative Biology To Restore Mucus Production - Technology Networks

Focus on existential threats, philosopher tells researchers – Times Higher Education (THE)

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For Toby Ord, humanity is still in its adolescence and a crucial research goal must be to ensure it reaches maturity and realises its full potential.

Now senior research fellow at the University of Oxfords Future of Humanity Institute,Dr Ord studied both philosophy and computer science at the University of Melbourne before moving to Oxford to focus on philosophy. In 2009, while working on global health and poverty, he set up the societyGiving What We Can.This, he toldTimes Higher Education,enables members to pledge to give at least a 10th of their income to where they think it can do the most good. To date, just over 4,500 people have donated almost 100 million. His own contribution has gone to people in the poorest countries suffering from easily preventable diseases. He has also been consulted on such issues by the World Health Organisation, theUKs Department for International Development and No 10.

Yet, although he continues to work in this area, Dr Ord has now turned most of his attention to the even larger topic explored in his forthcoming book,The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity.

We can trace its origins back to his PhD. His supervisor and mentor, the philosopher Derek Parfit, ended his celebrated 1984 bookReasons and Personsby reflecting on a devastating nuclear war. If it killed 99 per cent of the human race, this would obviously be an unimaginable tragedy, yet we might eventually be able to rebuild some sort of civilisation. But if it destroyed all humanity, it would have an utterly different significance.

With that last 1 per cent, Dr Ord explained, we would lose not only [many millions of] people but the entire future of humanity and all the trillions who could come to existHumanity has survived for 2,000 centuries so far. Theres nothing stopping us, other than [a number of existential risks], surviving for thousands moreWe need to be proactive about [that] and avoid developing the kind of things which take us close to the brink.

That is the precipice we have to get past, and Dr Ords book assesses the level of existential threat posed by everything from asteroids to unaligned artificial intelligence. Yet he felt the topic had been largely neglected by researchers.

When it comes to something like climate change, he explained, a huge amount of work is being done, but only a fraction of it looks at the worst outcomes. How bad could they be? Could they realistically pose a threat to the collapse of civilisation or even human extinction? Is there any realistic chance that the warming will be a very extreme 10 degrees?...For each particular risk, people dont pay special attention to [the small chance of something occurring] that could destroy not only all the lives of the people today but all the people to come and the entire future of humanity.

Our lack of forward planning is vividly illustrated inThe Precipice.On the significant risk of engineered pandemics, it points out, the international body responsible for the continued prohibition of bioweapons (the Biological Weapons Convention) has an annual budget of just $1.4 million [1.1 million] less than the average McDonalds restaurant. Furthermore, we can state with confidence that humanity spends more on ice cream every year than on ensuring that the technologies we develop do not destroy us.

In the case of his own fellowship, Dr Ord writes, money from the European Research Council and a philanthropist has allowed [him] years of uninterrupted work on a topic I consider so important.

This had provided him with a safety net, he admitted, to work on topics which are less academically fashionable and might be seen as too big for the profession. It is hard to place journal articles about them, compared to something thousands of people have already written about where there are clear technical questions.

There were also issues around the culture of science. Although Dr Ord said that he understood the case for openness and transparency, we also had to take greater account of information hazards.

In nuclear physics, he went on, there is an awareness that we have to be careful about publishing ideas which could cause nuclear proliferation. With the increasing power of bioengineering, it could be that subfield needs [similar safeguards]. We should be open to different ways of doing things. Its not just an inherent right of academic freedom that we can publish whatever we want.

matthew.reisz@timeshighereducation.com

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IIT Guwahati researchers exploring ways to find COVID-19 vaccine – Times of India

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GUWAHATI: An IIT-Guwahati team of researchers have started experiments, exploring the possibilities to clone the immunogenic proteins of SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the novel coronavirus disease, to be used as diagnostics and possible vaccine for the novel coronavirus infected patients.

Most importantly, they have developed a viral vector system to deliver foreign antigens that could be useful in future treatment for COVID-19 or novel coronavirus infected patients, said associate professor Sachin Kumar from the Biosciences and Bioengineering (BSBE) department of IIT-G, who is leading the group of researchers working on viral diseases.

Recently, the research group has developed recombinant vaccines against Japanese Encephalitis and classical swine fever virus which got published in the journal Vaccine and Archives of virology. By developing these vaccines, Kumar said that the IIT-G lab could substantially contribute to the research and development towards severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus -2 (SARS-CoV-2) which is popularly known as the novel coronavirus. Earlier, the virus from the same coronavirus family came in between 2002-2004 as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) or coronavirus -1.

Now, the lab at IIT Guwahati is exploring the possibilities to clone the immunogenic proteins of SARS-CoV-2 to be used as diagnostics and vaccinate the novel coronavirus infected patients. Although it is just a proof of concept and the work requires a thorough validation in cell culture and animal model before coming to any conclusion. Similarly, the development of rapid detection and portable diagnostic kits for various viruses and microorganisms is also being pursued at the institute, Kumar told TOI.

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IIT Guwahati researchers exploring ways to find COVID-19 vaccine - Times of India

Teitell: How immunotherapy became the fourth pillar of cancer care at UCLA – The Cancer Letter

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publication date: Nov. 15, 2019

Michael A. Teitell

Director, UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center

The Latta Endowed Chair in Pathology,

Professor, Departments of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Pediatrics, and Bioengineering

As one of the cancer hospitals serving Los Angeles County, the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Center has to face the challenge of providing the most sophisticatedand most expensivecare to a largely underserved population.

LA County is large and diverse. We have over 10 million individuals, and about 76% of the total would be considered as underrepresented groups, said Michael A. Teitell, director, UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Latta Endowed Chair in Pathology, and professor at the Departments of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Pediatrics, and Bioengineering.

We really try to serve all patients from all walks of life who need specialized services, Teitell said. So, here we have financial assistance policies that we follow that are in compliance with our state law in California for patients who are in need of financial assistance. We have institutional staff in relation to CAR T therapy who work closely with commercial and governmental payers to try to obtain funding on a case-by-case basis.

In a conversation with The Cancer Letter, Teitell spoke about the role of immunotherapyincluding CAR T, which can cost over $450,000 for a single dosein the care UCLA delivers at its hospitals and local practices within its catchment area.

Continue reading Teitell: How immunotherapy became the fourth pillar of cancer care at UCLA

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New galaxy observations and secrets of skin: News from the College | Imperial News – Imperial College London

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Heres a batch of fresh news and announcements from across Imperial.

From observations of a distant star-forming galaxy, to a new documentary featuring Imperial bioengineering, here is some quick-read news from across the College.

Astronomers, including some from Imperial, have spotted the light of a massive galaxy seen only 970 million years after the Big Bang. This galaxy, called MAMBO-9, is the most distant dusty star-forming galaxy that has ever been observed without the help of a gravitational lens.

Gravitational lensing is when the light of a galaxy is bent by the mass of a galaxy in front of it, making it easier to find, but distorting the details. Now, ten years after its light was first observed, the team have identified MAMBO-9 as a very dusty star-forming galaxy and determined how far away it is, providing its age. They were also able to measure its mass as ten times more than all the stars in the Milky Way.

Read more from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

In a talk delivered to mark Disability History Month, entrepreneur Elizabeth Takyi discussed her late dyslexia diagnosis and how employers can better support those with the learning difference.

Having left a job due to her dyslexia, Elizabeth wondered how many other people had struggled to reach their full potential because of the learning difference. Elizabeth went on to set up Aspire2Inspire Dyslexia, which offers support to dyslexic adults who want to return to education or work.

Elizabeth stressed that dyslexia does not look the same for everyone: "Support should be tailored to the individual, tackling the barriers they feel are affecting them most. Make no assumption about their capabilities, or aspirations."

Imperial Business 2020, Imperial College Business Schools annual magazine, is out now. It looks at the theme of sustainable business, from air pollution to the newly launched sustainability research centre.

It explores the impact of machine learning and how data science can help solve many of the worlds most pressing challenges. Also included are profiles of Professor Maurizio Zollo, the new Head of the Department of Management and Scientific Director of the Leonardo Centre, and Dr Harveen Chugh, entrepreneurship expert and one of Poets & Quants Best 40 Under 40.

The 2020 issue of Imperial Business is available around the Business School, you can also read Imperial Business magazine online.

A new book by Imperials Professor Sir Gordon Conway, Dr Katrin Glatzel, Program Head of the Malabo Montpellier Panel (and Imperial Visiting Researcher), and Dr Ousmane Badiane, Director for Africa at the International Food Policy Research Institute, explores the concept of sustainable intensification (SI) for African farmers.

Food for All in Africa lays out ideas and methods for sustainably transforming Africas agriculture sector and the livelihoods of millions of smallholders, by producing more with less, using fertilisers and pesticides more prudently, adapting to climate change, improving natural capital, adopting new technologies, and building resilience at every stage of the agriculture value chain.

Pick up a copy of Food for All in Africa.

Dr Claire Higginsfrom ImperialsDepartment of Bioengineering, featured in a new BBC4 documentary Secrets of Skin on Sunday 15 December.

The episode included new work from her research group that could inspire re-engineering of stump skin for more comfortable prosthetics using skin from the sole of the foot as a template.

Dr Higgins, who led the new research, said: It was a great experience to work with the BBC and have the opportunity to showcase our work to such a large audience.

Want to be kept up to date on news at Imperial?

Sign up for our free quick-read daily e-newsletter, Imperial Today.

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NTT Research to Expand its Silicon Valley Footprint in 2020 – HPCwire

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PALO ALTO, Calif., Dec. 24, 2019 NTT Research, Inc., a division ofNTT, today announced its plan to move to a facility in Sunnyvale in mid-2020 to better accommodate a growing number of researchers, including medical scientists it expects to hire for its Medical and Health Informatics (MEI) Lab. These priorities follow six months of progress in all three labs at NTT Research since its official launch in July 2019.

To recap, NTT Research has signed anIndustrial Partnershipbetween its Cryptography and Information Security (CIS) Lab and the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing at UC Berkeley; set upjoint research agreementsbetween its Physics and Informatics (PHI) Lab and six universities (CalTech, Cornell, Michigan, MIT, Stanford and Swinburne), one US Federal Agency (NASAs Ames Research Center) and one private quantum computing software company (1QBit); and reached anotherjoint research agreementbetween the MEI Lab and the Technical University of Munich (TUM). The need for a larger facility, in part, reflects this activity.

We are aiming for a research-friendly space to hire more excellent scientists, said Kei Karasawa, NTT Researchs Vice President of Strategy. We need both private offices as well as collaboration space to accelerate research with partners, whether professors, NTT colleagues or other stakeholders in our three research domains.

NTT Research has already hired more than 20 scientists, about half of whom are university professors and senior researchers. With the PHI and CIS Labs both on pace in terms of staffing, NTT Research plans to focus on talent acquisition for the MEI Lab in the new year. The ultimate target for the entire organization is about 50 scientists.

Based on the joint agreement between the MEI Lab and TUM, NTT Research will send two of its researchers to Munich in Q1 2020. The initial phase of that long-term research project involves screening and optimizing materials that can eventually be used for three-dimensionally transformable and implantable electrodes. The project leader in Germany is Dr. Bernhard Wolfrum,Professor of Neuroelectronicsat TUM in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Munich School of BioEngineering (MSB).

The MEI Lab is directed by Hitonobu Tomoike (M.D., Ph.D), former Director of the Sakakibara Heart Institute, Director Emeritus at the National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center in Japan, and former Professor of Cardiology at Yamagata University. Dr. Tomoike is known for his work in precision medicine involving bio-sensors and analytics.

One goal of the MEI Lab is to explore the potential of bio digital twin. Already applicable in the field of business transformation it is one of NTT Ltd.sIntelligent Business: 2020 technology trends bio digital twin in the medical domain is the idea of scanning an individual and creating a replica, which medically-guided supercomputing and artificial intelligence (AI) can then examine, diagnose and treat as a roadmap to caring for a human. In a smart world, our digital twin will be second-nature technology, Dr. Tomoike said.

In addition to the move to Sunnyvale and the plan to hire more scientists for the MEI Lab, NTT Research expects to announce several more joint research agreements in early 2020. Throughout the year, NTT Research scientists will continue to submit papers and attend conferences in the United States and around the world.

About NTT Research

NTT Research opened its Palo Alto offices in July 2019 as a new Silicon Valley startup to conduct basic research and advance technologies that promote positive change for humankind. Currently, three labs are housed at NTT Research: the Physics and Information Science (PHI) Lab, the Cryptography and Information Security (CIS) Lab, and the Medical and Health Informatics (MEI) Lab. The organization aims to upgrade reality in three areas: 1) quantum information, neuro-science and photonics; 2) cryptographic and information security; and 3) medical and health informatics. NTT Research is part of NTT, a global technology and business solutions provider with an annual R&D budget of $3.6 billion.

Source: NTT Research

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Shenzhen Neptunus Bioengineering Co. Ltd (000078) Is Yet to See Trading Action on Sep 5 – MoneyMakingArticles

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September 5, 2017 - By Michael Collier

Shares of Shenzhen Neptunus Bioengineering Co. Ltd (SHE:000078) closed at 6.12 yesterday. Shenzhen Neptunus Bioengineering Co. Ltd currently has a total float of shares and on average sees shares exchange hands each day. The stock now has a 52-week low of 5.29 and high of 7.78.

Amid numerous setbacks in the past, China has still proven itself to have one of the most important economies not just in Asia but in the whole world. Trade and commerce is richly flourishing in the nation and the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) is one of the reasons it does. It is also the best place to show full potential for Shenzhen Neptunus Bioengineering Co. Ltd and its colleagues.

The SSE, one of Chinas primary stock exchanges aside from the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, is a non-profit organization that is administered by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC). As of February, the SSE boasts with a market capitalization of $3.50 trillion, making it the fifth largest stock exchange in the world. In Asia, it is the second biggest stock exchange. The second biggest market in the world increased the chances of Shenzhen Neptunus Bioengineering Co. Ltd to catch attention of investors.

The SSE was established in 1866 but it had to close on December 5, 1941 when Japan invaded Shanghai. Operations did not resume until December 19, 1990.

Shortly after the relaunch of the SSE, the SSE Composite Index began operating on July 15, 1991 as the primary index measuring all stocks on the SSE based on market capitalization. It tracks companies using the Paasche weighted composite price index formula. Measuring more than 1,000 companies listed on the SSE means that the SSE Composite Index is a broad indicator of the Chinese economy. As a result, it had to have three sub-indices: 1) the SSE 380, which monitors the 380 most active companies; 2) the SSE 180, which monitors the 180 most active companies; and 3) the SSE 50, which monitors the 50 most active companies. Of course, in order to be included in the SSE 50, a company needs to first be included in the SSE 180 and the SSE 380. Similarly, in order for it to be included in the SSE 180, it first needs to be included in the SSE 380. The smaller the index, the clearer of a representation it is of the Chinese economy.

The SSE Composite Index has last seen its all-time high of 6,092.06 in October 2007, shortly before the 2008 Global Financial Crisis broke out; and its all-time low of 99.98 in December 1990 during the relaunch period of the SSE.

Companies listed on the SSE are classified into two types: 1) A shares, which are traded in yuan; and 2) B shares, which are traded in US dollar (USD). In the past, only domestic traders had been allowed to trade A shares. Foreign investors had been limited to B shares. However, the restriction was lifted in 2002, giving the Chinese economy more opportunities to grow immensely with greater foreign investments. It means more possibilities for Shenzhen Neptunus Bioengineering Co. Ltd.

The regular trading session on the SSE starts at 9:30 and ends at 11:30 in the morning and starts at 1:30 and ends at 3:00 in the afternoon. There is also a pre-market trading session that starts at 9:15 a.m. and lasts for 10 minutes.

China is Asias largest economy, which is why there is no better way to bet on the Asian trade and commerce environment than to invest on SSE stocks. Traders look on the liquidity of Shenzhen Neptunus Bioengineering Co. Ltd.

More important recent Shenzhen Neptunus Bioengineering Co. Ltd (SHE:000078) news were published by: Businesswire.com which released: Provision Asia and Shenzhen Hairong International Medical Development Form on June 03, 2016, also Businesswire.com published article titled: Research and Markets: Report on Health Food Industry in China 2015-2019, Marketwatch.com published: 20.05 on May 20, 2011. More interesting news about Shenzhen Neptunus Bioengineering Co. Ltd (SHE:000078) was released by: Marketwatch.com and their article: 24.59 with publication date: March 10, 2011.

Shenzhen Neptunus Bioengineering Co.,Ltd is a China firm principally engaged in pharmaceutical and food manufacturing and pharmaceutical commercial distribution businesses. The company has market cap of $. The Companys main products include anti-tumor products, cardiovascular drugs, marine drugs, respiratory drugs, anti-infective products and other pharmaceuticals, as well as healthcare products, health food and medical instrument. It currently has negative earnings.

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By Michael Collier

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Shenzhen Neptunus Bioengineering Co. Ltd (000078) Is Yet to See Trading Action on Sep 5 - MoneyMakingArticles

For science’s sake, the government must approve FY20 spending bills | TheHill – The Hill

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Once again, Congress is poised to approve a second continuing resolution (CR) to keep the U.S. government running when the current resolution expires Nov. 21. As some congressional leaders noted, it is unlikely Congress will reach agreement on any of the 12 fiscal year (FY) 2020 spending bills by the expiration date, raising serious concerns that funding will remain flat for government agencies into, or even through, 2020. The current CR keeps the U.S. government open but operating at FY2019 spending levels. Even more ominous is the threat of another government shutdown should negotiations between Congress and the White House again collapse. Either scenario presents serious consequences for scientific research if federal agencies delay the rollout of new programs such as the National Quantum Initiative (NQI), a coordinated multiagency effort to support research and training in quantum information science.

Without an FY2020 spending package, several federal agencies that support science risk the loss of funding increases approved by House or Senate appropriators 10 percent for the Department of Energys Office of Science, 5 percent for the National Nuclear Security Administrations Inertial Confinement Fusion Program, 6 percent for the National Institute of Standards and Technology, 7 percent for the National Science Foundation, and 6 percent for the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering.

Worse yet is the possibility of another partial government shutdown as memories of last 2019 Januarys 35-day shutdown, the longest in U.S. history, remind us that even minor disruptions in government funding could have a detrimental impact on important research.

During the 2019 shutdown, many researchers, including members of The Optical Society (OSA), who were awaiting grant funding from the National Science Foundation, NASA, or other agencies affected, suddenly found their research projects on hold. Early career scientists rely on grants to establish themselves and faculty members use grant money to hire and train graduate students, postdoctoral researchers and other laboratory staff. Postdoctoral researchers from outside the U.S. either had to wait in limbo for the situation to be resolved or look for work in other countries. Those who rely on government data for their research and access to resources found themselves with limited options to continue their work.

For U.S. government scientists, the situation was similarly dire. They were not allowed to work or use government email accounts. Research projects by U.S. government scientists on cybersecurity, climate monitoring, quantum computing and more, came to a halt. Plans to attend or even register for scientific meetings had to be cancelled and scientific instruments in the field were temporarily abandoned. Work on research papers for scientific journals also stopped, meaning critical publishing deadlines were missed and, in some cases, never rescheduled.

The global science enterprise likewise suffers when collaborations with U.S. scientists wither for lack of funding or when international research projects are suddenly missing a U.S. partner. Researchers outside the U.S. face even greater hurdles obtaining visas to attend scientific meetings in the U.S., during a shutdown, leaving organizers of scientific meetings with a substantial loss of attendees.

We urge the Congress and the White House to move swiftly in approving an FY2020 spending package that provides significant funding increases to support advanced manufacturing, quantum information science, artificial intelligence, solar energy, space exploration, medical imaging and many other areas that will benefit the U.S. and societies worldwide. Congress must act to secure adequate spending increases that will enable our scientific enterprise to support and attract the brightest minds in the pursuit of new discoveries and technologies.

Elizabeth A. Rogan is CEO The Optical Society (OSA).

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For science's sake, the government must approve FY20 spending bills | TheHill - The Hill

Global partnerships brewing at bioengineering institute … – Indian NewsLink

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Auckland, March 20, 2017

The Auckland Bioengineering Institute (ABI) of the University of Auckland hopes to develop new international strategic partnerships and investor opportunities for medical technology (medtech).

The Institutes Strategic Partnership Specialist Dr Diana Siew said that she would focus on promoting Medtech Core and Consortium for Medical Device Technologies (CMDT), the latter founded by her with ABI Director Distinguished Professor Peter Hunter to reduce the isolation of medical technology research institutions in New Zealand.

CMDT is a partnership led of the University of Auckland with the Canterbury University, Otago University, Auckland University of Technology, Victoria University of Wellington and Callaghan Innovation.

High Achiever

ABI announced today the appointment of Dr Siew as its Strategic Partnership Specialist, stating that she has a strong innovation, research management and relationship management background in New Zealands medical technology sector.

She will continue in her role as the Co-Chair of CMDT and Associate Director of Medtech Core. She is an alumnus of the University of Auckland with a doctorate in Chemistry with several years of experience in New Zealands Medtech environment, including previous roles with Industrial Research Ltd and Callaghan Innovation.

Feedback from multinationals was that they found it hard to work in New Zealand with its large number of different research organisations in the medical health technology space. They sometimes did not know where to start to find all the people for a particular focus, Dr Siew said.

CMDT partners have developed Consortium as a national network to highlight New Zealands medtech activity and connect companies, the research industry, health providers and government stakeholders.

It is the NZ Inc front for medtech research in this country and makes it easier for multinational companies to work in New Zealand.

Trust and Transparency

Medtech Core is a translational research pipeline of new technologies for the medtech sector. ABI has created a high level of trust in the network and transparency between the partners.

Earlier this month, the CMDT partners hosted a workshop for a group of Japanese researchers, companies and funders to support a collaboration between the two countries, focused on developing new technologies for elderly care.

While working at Callaghan Innovation, Dr Siew established Standing Trial Population Centres that support fast early-stage validation studies of medical devices and digital health systems to accelerate technology development for both health and economic outcomes.

Quick validation

This platform accelerates the ability of a medtech company to get quick validation for prototypes and concepts that on which they are working. This reduces the time and expense in identifying clinical expertise and recruiting patients, she said.

It is an easy access tool for multinationals to see the four main areas where the Standing Trials Population Centres operate in technologies for elderly care, rehabilitation innovation and remote community care, and design and development for new devices.

Waikato District Health Boards Institute of Healthy Ageing and AUT are key partners to two of the Standing Trials Populations Centres.

Another initiative developed by Dr Siew for medtech is a showcase on the latest technologies available in New Zealand.

These Technology Innovation Knowledge and Interchange (TIKI) tours focus on the latest innovations for busy clinicians in health boards and other health organisations. The TIKI tours are intended to be a discussion platform between clinicians at district health boards and New Zealand health tech innovators. It is about alerting clinicians to what technologies are coming out both from industry and research institutions, so that they are aware of these for use in our health system, Dr Siew said.

*

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Diana Siew

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2017-2022 Global Bioreactors and Fermenters Market Analysis : Applikon Biotechnology , Bioengineering AG , Infors … – First Newshawk

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

Bioreactors and Fermenters market studies the competitive landscape view of the industry. The Bioreactors and Fermenters report also includes development plans and policies along with manufacturing processes. The major regions involved in Bioreactors and Fermenters Market are (United States, EU, China, and Japan).

For Sample Copy Of The Report Click Here: https://market.biz/report/global-bioreactors-and-fermenters-market-2017/94290/#inquiry

Leading Manufacturers Analysis in Global Bioreactors and Fermenters Market 2017:

1 Sartorius AG ?BBI?2 Thermo Fisher3 Merck KGaA4 GE Healthcare5 Danaher (Pall)6 Eppendorf AG7 Praj Hipurity Systems8 Pierre Guerin (DCI-Biolafitte)9 ZETA10 Applikon Biotechnology11 Bioengineering AG12 Infors HT13 Solaris14 Other

Bioreactors and Fermenters Market: Type Segment Analysis

Single-use BioreactorsMultiple-use Bioreactors

Bioreactors and Fermenters Market: Applications Segment Analysis

Biopharmaceutical CompaniesCROsAcademic and Research InstitutesOthers

The Bioreactors and Fermenters 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 Bioreactors and Fermenters market share. Diverse factors of the Bioreactors and Fermenters industry like the supply chain scenario, industry standards, import/export details are also mentioned in Global Bioreactors and Fermenters Market 2017 report.

Key Highlights of the Bioreactors and Fermenters Market:

A Clear understanding of the Bioreactors and Fermenters market based on growth, constraints, opportunities, feasibility study.

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Analysis of evolving market segments as well as a complete study of existing Bioreactors and Fermenters market segments.

Discover More About Report Here: https://market.biz/report/global-bioreactors-and-fermenters-market-2017/94290/

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

In conclusion, Global Bioreactors and Fermenters 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 Bioreactors and Fermenters industry competitors.

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2017-2022 Global Bioreactors and Fermenters Market Analysis : Applikon Biotechnology , Bioengineering AG , Infors ... - First Newshawk

A Team of University of Maryland Students Just Wowed NIH With … – Washingtonian.com

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Its a cool time for young people interested in changing health care. Tech is more accessible, and it no longer takes multiple degrees to make a difference. Thats certainly the case for a team of University of Maryland bioengineering undergraduate students, who just took home the top prizea $20,000 awardin theDesign by Biomedical Undergraduate Teams (DEBUT) competition by the National Institutes of Healths (NIH) National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB).

The teamwhich was made up of seven students in UMDs class of 2020were up against 41 entries from teams across the country that had designed prototypes of products to advance technology and improve human health. UMDs winning prototype, a wearable EEG monitor, is intended to help diagnose Alzheimers disease.

Dhruv Patel, who led the UMD team along with Chris Look, says that he was inspired to look for innovation in Alzheimers after his grandfather was diagnosed with the disease.

I pursued research into the disease and how current mechanisms fail to diagnose it in an earlier stage, says Patel. I saw there was improvement to be made, and so I set out to make that improvement.

To create their prototype, the students used an OpenBCI portable EEG monitor as their base, then plugged in clinical data obtained from international medical institutions into machine learning tools to enable the device to tell healthy brain waves apart from an Alzheimers patients brain waves. In one of the tests the students designed, the monitor-wearer hears two different tonesone at a high frequency, the other lowand then the EEG monitor reads their responsive brain waves to determine whether they are reading as an Alzheimers patient would.

The devicewhich won first place ahead of a brain surgery mapping tool by the second place team from Arizona State University and a cornea transplant device by the third place team from Johns Hopkins Universitycaught the attention of the judges because it both addressed a widespread problem in health care and has the potential to make a big difference in how that problem is approached in the future.

Such a device that can easily be used by a clinician to determine that an individual is inflicted with Alzheimers disease before the patient displays clinical symptoms can both guide the clinician in the treatment of the patient and allow the patient and their family time to prepare, says NIBIBs program director for interdisciplinary training Zeynep Erim.The impact for society is immense.

Patel says that the $20,000 award will be invested in their newly filed LLC, Synapto. Patel and his Synapto co-founder, Look, are planning to pursue a patent for their technology within the next year. They also plan to continue collecting data from medical institutions around the globe to improve their devices accuracy in identifying Alzheimers brain waves, before eventually moving into clinical trials.

Correction: A former version of this story incorrectly identified Zeynep Erim as Erim Zeynep.

Associate Editor

Caroline Cunningham joined Washingtonian in 2014 after moving to the DC area from Cincinnati, where she interned and freelanced for Cincinnati Magazine and worked in content marketing. She currently resides in College Park.

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Oral delivery system could make vaccination needle-free – Science Daily

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Patients could one day self-administer vaccines using a needleless, pill-sized technology that jet-releases a stream of vaccine inside the mouth, according to a proof-of-concept study conducted at UC Berkeley.

The study did not test vaccine delivery in people, but demonstrated that the technology, called MucoJet, is capable of delivering vaccine-sized molecules to immune cells in the mouths of animals. The technology is a step toward improved oral vaccine delivery, which holds the promise of building immunity in the mouth's buccal region of cells, where many infections enter the body. When patients hold the MucoJet against the inside of their cheek, the device releases a jet stream that directly targets the buccal region. This region is rich in immune cells but underutilized in immunology because of the challenge of efficiently penetrating the thick mucosal layer in this part of the oral cavity with existing technologies, such as the oral spray often used for influenza vaccination.

In laboratory and animal experiments, the research team showed that the MucoJet can deliver a high-pressure stream of liquid and immune system-triggering molecules that penetrate the mucosal layer to stimulate an immune response in the buccal region. The jet is pressurized, but not uncomfortably so, and would remove the sting of needles.

"The jet is similar in pressure to a water pick that dentists use," said Kiana Aran, who developed the technology while a postdoctoral scholar at Berkeley in the labs of Dorian Liepmann, a professor of mechanical and bioengineering, and Niren Murthy, a professor of bioengineering. Aran is now an assistant professor at the Keck Graduate Institute of Claremont University.

The portable technology, designed to be self-administered, stores vaccines in powder form and could one day enable vaccine delivery to remote locations, but years of further study are needed before the device would be commercially available.

The study will be published March 8 in the journal Science Translational Medicine and is available for download on EurekAlert!.

MucoJet is a 15-by-7-milimeter cylindrical, two-compartment plastic device. The solid components were 3D-printed from an inexpensive biocompatible and water-resistant plastic resin. The exterior compartment holds 250 mililiters of water. The interior compartment is composed of two reservoirs separated by a porous plastic membrane and a movable piston. One interior compartment is a vaccine reservoir, containing a 100-ml chamber of vaccine solution with a piston at one end and a sealed 200-micrometer (m) diameter delivery nozzle at the other end. The other interior compartment is the propellant reservoir, which contains a dry chemical propellant (citric acid and sodium bicarbonate) and is separated from the vaccine reservoir at one end by the built-in porous membrane and movable piston and is sealed at the other end from the exterior compartment with a dissolvable membrane

To administer the MucoJet, a patient clicks together the interior and exterior compartments. The membrane dissolves, water contacts the chemical propellant and the ensuing chemical reaction generates carbon dioxide gas. The gas increases the pressure in the propellant chamber, causing the piston to move. The free-moving piston ensures uniform movement of the ejected drug and blocks the exit of fizz from the carbon dioxide through the nozzle. When the pressure in the propellant chamber is high enough, the force on the piston breaks the nozzle seal of the vaccine reservoir. The vaccine solution is then ejected from the MucoJet nozzle, penetrates the mucosal layer of the buccal tissue, and delivers the vaccine to underlying vaccine targets, called antigen-presenting cells.

To test the MucoJet's delivery system, researchers designed a laboratory experiment in plastic dishes using mucosal layers and buccal tissues from pigs. They tested the MucoJet's ability to deliver ovalbumim, an immune stimulating protein, across the mucosal layer. The experiments showed an eightfold increase in the delivery of ovalbumin over the course of three hours compared to a control experiment of administering ovalbumim with a dropper (similar to how oral vaccines, such as for the flu, are administered today).

The researchers then tested different pressures of the vaccine jet and found that increasing the MucoJet output pressure increased the ovalbumin delivery to the tissue, indicating that the delivery efficiency improves with increased pressure.

"The pressure is very focused, the diameter of the jet is very small, so that's how it penetrates the mucosal layer," Aran said.

The researchers then tested the MucoJet's ability to deliver ovalbumim to buccal tissue in rabbits. The MucoJet delivery resulted in a sevenfold increase in the delivery of ovalbumin compared to control experiments with droppers. Animals treated with ovalbumin by MucoJet had key antibodies in their blood that were three orders of magnitude higher than in the blood from rabbits treated with ovalbumin by a dropper.

The study did not compare the MucoJet to vaccine delivery with a needle, but data suggests that the MucoJet can trigger an immune response that is as good or better than delivery with a needle, especially for mucosal pathogens.

The next step in MucoJet's development is to test the delivery of a real vaccine in larger animals. The researchers hope the MucoJet can be available in five to 10 years. They also hope to engineer a version of the MucoJet that can be swallowed and then release vaccines internally.

The researchers are considering other shapes, sizes and designs to simplify vaccine administration procedures and increase patient compliance, especially for children. For example, the MucoJet could be fabricated into a lollipop.

"Imagine if we could put the Mucojet in a lollipop and have kids hold it in their cheek," Aran said. "They wouldn't have to go to a clinic to get a vaccine."

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Oral delivery system could make vaccination needle-free - Science Daily

Revolutionizing the fight against cancer – CW6 San Diego – CW6 News

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(University of California San Diego) Theres a new tool that could revolutionize the fight against cancer. Researchers at UC San Diego have discovered that a blood test could detect the disease in its early stages.

Bioengineers at UC San Diego discovered this blood test by accident. The author of the study that was just released says the blood test can detect cancer and where a tumor is growing in the body. Its a discovery that could change how quickly doctors can make a cancer diagnosis.

In a bioengineering lab at UC San Diego, whats being called the holy grail of early cancer detection might have been discovered.

I think the potential is enormous, says Kun Zhang, PhD, UCSD Bioengineering Professor.

Researchers looked at the blood of cancer patients and found out that not only could they detect cancer, they could also locate where the tumor is growing in the body. The hope is the blood test can be used to cut out invasive procedures such as biopsies. Since the disease will be discovered so early, it will eliminate the need for chemotherapy and radiation.

Many of these therapies cannot completely cure cancer, adds Zhang, They can manage the disease for a certain period of time, and then you relapse, and it goes beyond your control.

Early detection can also help patients with fast growing cancers such as lung and colon, which are usually diagnosed when its too late.

If theres a way to detect there cancers early on when they are highly localized, then maybe a surgical procedure can completely get rid of these cancer cells, says the bioengineering professor.

Zhang says the blood test wouldnt be available to the public for a few more years. The next step is a large clinical study and then it would have to be approved by the FDA. .

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UW Center for Dialysis Innovation gets $15M grant to improve … – GeekWire

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Jonathan Himmelfarb, co-director of the UWs Center for Dialysis Innovation and also director of the UWs Kidney Research Institute. (UW Photo)

Dialysis can be a life-saving treatment forthe millions of people across the globe who face kidney failure. But despite the importance of this treatment, the technology behind it is still essentially the same as when the process was pioneered at the University of Washington in Seattle in the early 60s.

Now, a new UW center is hoping to revolutionize the technology again. The Center for Dialysis Innovation brings together researchers from around the university with the goal of greatly improving dialysis technology, and it just received a $15 million grant from nonprofit dialysis providerNorthwest Kidney Centers to pursue that goal.

Northwest Kidney Centers says the grant will support startup projects within the Center for Dialysis Innovation, with the goal of one day developing dialysis technology that can completely restore kidney health.

Dialysis is currently the only treatment for kidney failure, short of a kidney transplant. Today, over 450,000 people in the U.S. are on dialysis, and the life expectancy for those patients is only 3 to 5 years.

We are excited about the Center for Dialysis Innovation because it brings together creative, entrepreneurial, can-do minds from a wide range of fields including nephrology and bioengineering. This team also wants to involve people living with kidney disease to help direct the centers focus, said Joyce Jackson, CEO of Northwest Kidney Centers, said in a pressrelease.

Their aim is to develop revolutionary dialysis technologies, including a wearable dialysis system that is low-cost, and energy- and water-efficient. This would not only sustain users lives, but give them more vitality and productivity. This work is desperately needed, she said.

The $15 million will be delivered to the center over the next five years. It is the first outside funding the center has receivedand makes up over half of its goal budget of $25 million.

The Center for Dialysis Innovation opened last Novemberand brings together researchers from the UWsKidney Research Institute and the universitys department of biomaterials and bioengineering. It is led by co-directors Jonathan Himmelfarb, director of the UWs Kidney Research Institute, and Buddy Ratner, a professor of bioengineering and chemical engineering.

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