Protein

Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy Provides $500,000 in Funding to Kinea Bio Through PPMD Venture Pathways Program to Support Next-Gen Midi-Dystrophin Gene Therapy Development

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, February 13, 2024

WASHINGTON, Feb. 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy (PPMD) , a nonprofit organization leading the fight to end Duchenne muscular dystrophy (Duchenne) , is excited to announce that PPMD has provided $500,000 in funding to Kinea Bio, Inc. (Kinea) through PPMD Venture Pathways, the organization's venture philanthropy program which provides industry funding to accelerate therapeutic development.

Key Points: 
  • WASHINGTON, Feb. 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy (PPMD) , a nonprofit organization leading the fight to end Duchenne muscular dystrophy (Duchenne) , is excited to announce that PPMD has provided $500,000 in funding to Kinea Bio, Inc. (Kinea) through PPMD Venture Pathways, the organization's venture philanthropy program which provides industry funding to accelerate therapeutic development.
  • The organization prioritizes research for next-generation and future-generation gene therapies both through PPMD's Gene Therapy Initiative and the PPMD Venture Pathways program.
  • Casey Childers, DO, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of Kinea Bio, explains:
    "We are pleased to receive this funding commitment from PPMD.
  • In addition to PPMD's significant pre-clinical and academic research funding, the organization provides funding to biopharmaceutical companies through PPMD Venture Pathways, its venture philanthropy program.

Millions of older people don’t get enough nutrients – how to spot it and what to do about it

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, February 13, 2024

With this in mind, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has put “healthy ageing” on its agenda.

Key Points: 
  • With this in mind, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has put “healthy ageing” on its agenda.
  • However, there is a difference between energy requirements and nutrient requirements, and nutrient requirements actually remain the same, if not increase, as we get older.
  • This means we need to get more nutrients into less energy which can be tricky as older adults often have lower appetites.

How to spot when someone isn’t eating enough?

  • However, it affects five in ten older people living in nursing homes, and seven in ten older people in hospital.
  • And when older adults lose weight, they lose muscle, meaning that they are more likely to lose their abilities to do daily tasks.
  • But clothing that’s too loose or a watchstrap that floats on the wrist are all warning signs of undernourishment.

Getting more nutrients into less food

  • If people are eating small amounts of food, it is important to think about how to add more nutrients into it.
  • A very effective technique, “fortification” is commonly done with pre-made products such as breakfast cereals, plant-based milk and bread in the UK.
  • This versatile ingredient can be mixed into porridge before cooking or used it as a substitute for other powdered ingredients in baking.

Importance of physical activity and strength exercises


Physical activity and nutrition go hand-in-hand – both are equally important. As we age, being physically active becomes even more essential as it helps to prevent disease, maintains independence, decreases risk of falls, improves cognitive function, mental health and sleep.

  • Often strength training gets ignored when we think of being active but to keep independence and prevent falls, older adults should do varied physical activity that emphasises balance and strength training at moderate or greater intensity on three or more days a week.
  • Ultimately, it’s essential to contact a doctor or dietician with any worries or concerns about malnutrition or unintentional weight loss.
  • Miriam Clegg receives funding from the Medical Research Council, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, EIT Food, Horizon 2020, Apetito, and Tanita Healthy Weight Community Trust.
  • She is affiliated with Association for Nutrition.

VantAI Enters Collaboration With Bristol Myers Squibb to Accelerate Molecular Glue Drug Discovery Through Artificial Intelligence

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, February 13, 2024

VantAI , a company focused on generative AI-enabled drug discovery, and Bristol Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY), a leading pharmaceutical company, have entered into a strategic collaboration to discover new molecular glues for therapeutic targets of interest.

Key Points: 
  • VantAI , a company focused on generative AI-enabled drug discovery, and Bristol Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY), a leading pharmaceutical company, have entered into a strategic collaboration to discover new molecular glues for therapeutic targets of interest.
  • Photo credit: VantAI
    The collaboration will focus on leveraging VantAI’s generative AI platform to design molecular glues as small molecule therapeutics.
  • “At VantAI, we view glue discovery as a challenging ‘geometric puzzle’, and we believe that artificial intelligence is the best tool to find the missing piece.
  • Our collaboration with Bristol Myers Squibb is a significant step forward in our journey to use generative AI to accelerate molecular glue discovery and ultimately bring new therapies to patients.”
    “This partnership with VantAI reflects our strategy of leveraging predictive sciences to identify novel molecular glues directed toward biologically validated targets,” said Neil Bence, PhD, Vice President, Head of Oncology Discovery, Bristol Myers Squibb.

BioVaxys Acquires All Intellectual Property, Immunotherapeutics Platform Technology, and Clinical Stage Assets of the Former IMV Inc.

Retrieved on: 
Monday, February 12, 2024

HIMV will also be entitled to appoint an observer to BioVaxys's Board of Directors.

Key Points: 
  • HIMV will also be entitled to appoint an observer to BioVaxys's Board of Directors.
  • The DPX™ antigen delivery platform acquired by BioVaxys is designed to stimulate a specific, coordinated and persistent anti-tumor immune response, improving the lives of patients with solid or hematological cancers.
  • These elements foster maturation of antigen presenting cells as well as robust activation of CD8 T cell effector and memory function.
  • Findings showed clinical benefit to patients with recurrent ovarian cancer, regardless of platinum sensitivity or BRCA mutational status.

BioVaxys Acquires All Intellectual Property, Immunotherapeutics Platform Technology, and Clinical Stage Assets of the Former IMV Inc.

Retrieved on: 
Monday, February 12, 2024

HIMV will also be entitled to appoint an observer to BioVaxys's Board of Directors.

Key Points: 
  • HIMV will also be entitled to appoint an observer to BioVaxys's Board of Directors.
  • The DPX™ antigen delivery platform acquired by BioVaxys is designed to stimulate a specific, coordinated and persistent anti-tumor immune response, improving the lives of patients with solid or hematological cancers.
  • These elements foster maturation of antigen presenting cells as well as robust activation of CD8 T cell effector and memory function.
  • Findings showed clinical benefit to patients with recurrent ovarian cancer, regardless of platinum sensitivity or BRCA mutational status.

Allakos Announces Publication Highlighting AK006 Mast Cell Inhibition

Retrieved on: 
Monday, February 12, 2024

SAN CARLOS, Calif., Feb. 12, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Allakos Inc. (Nasdaq: ALLK), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing therapeutics that target immunomodulatory receptors present on immune effector cells involved in allergy, inflammatory and proliferative diseases, today announced the publication of new scientific results in Allergy.  The preclinical research found that AK006 (agonist Siglec-6 antibody) impacts mast cell function by interacting with multiple activating receptors and key signaling molecules.

Key Points: 
  • The preclinical research found that AK006 (agonist Siglec-6 antibody) impacts mast cell function by interacting with multiple activating receptors and key signaling molecules.
  • The publication titled “Regulation of Mast Cells by Overlapping but Distinct Protein Interactions of Siglec-6 and Siglec-8” details efforts to identify proteins associated with Siglec-6 and Siglec-8 in mast cells and functionally characterize these protein interaction networks using ex vivo and in vivo models of mast cell activation.
  • The data published today add to previously published preclinical data demonstrating that AK006 inhibits multiple modes of mast activation.
  • These findings suggest Siglec-6 has a broader role in regulating mast cell function and may contribute to the increased inhibitory effects observed with AK006 in vitro and in vivo.

Iambic Therapeutics Announces New Research Published in Nature Machine Intelligence Demonstrating the Capabilities of Its Generative AI NeuralPLexer Technology to Predict Protein-Ligand Complex Structures

Retrieved on: 
Monday, February 12, 2024

Iambic Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing novel therapeutics using its unique generative AI discovery platform, today announced the publication of research in Nature Machine Intelligence showing that its NeuralPLexer technology outperforms other state-of-the art systems in predicting the structure of protein-ligand complexes as well as the conformational changes to these structures from the addition of drug molecules.

Key Points: 
  • Iambic Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing novel therapeutics using its unique generative AI discovery platform, today announced the publication of research in Nature Machine Intelligence showing that its NeuralPLexer technology outperforms other state-of-the art systems in predicting the structure of protein-ligand complexes as well as the conformational changes to these structures from the addition of drug molecules.
  • View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240212651244/en/
    A frame from the NeuralPLexer generative diffusion process, as it creates the predicted protein-ligand complex structure.
  • The Company today also released a white paper highlighting the improvements in its next-generation NeuralPLexer2.
  • In preclinical studies, IAM1363 has demonstrated over 1000-fold selectivity for HER2 compared to EGFR.

Meeting highlights from the Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee (PRAC) 5-8 February 2024

Retrieved on: 
Saturday, February 10, 2024

EMA’s safety committee (PRAC) is reminding healthcare professionals of the risk of serious and potentially fatal adverse reactions with Paxlovid (nirmatrelvir, ritonavir) when…, Agenda Agenda of the PRAC meeting 5-8 February 2024DraftFirst published: 05/02/2024Last updated: 06/02/2024Reference Number: EMA/PRAC/11237/2024…, PRAC statistics: February 2024, PRAC statistics: February 2024First published: 09/02/2024 English (EN) (22.52 MB - PDF)View , Glossary:Safety signal assessments.

Key Points: 
  • EMA’s safety committee (PRAC) is reminding healthcare professionals of the risk of serious and potentially fatal adverse reactions with Paxlovid (nirmatrelvir, ritonavir) when…, Agenda Agenda of the PRAC meeting 5-8 February 2024DraftFirst published: 05/02/2024Last updated: 06/02/2024Reference Number: EMA/PRAC/11237/2024…, PRAC statistics: February 2024, PRAC statistics: February 2024First published: 09/02/2024 English (EN) (22.52 MB - PDF)View , Glossary:Safety signal assessments.
  • A safety signal is information which suggests a new potentially causal association, or a new aspect of a known association between a medicine…, Ongoing referralsProcedureStatusUpdateHydroxyprogesterone-containing medicinal products – Article-31 referralUnder evaluationPRAC continued its assessment

Pioneering Technique Reveals New Layer of Human Gene Regulation

Retrieved on: 
Friday, February 9, 2024

Now a new study led by Nudler's team at NYU Langone Health reveals that their new technique, Long Range Cleavage sequencing (LORAX-seq), can directly detect where backtracking events begin and end.

Key Points: 
  • Now a new study led by Nudler's team at NYU Langone Health reveals that their new technique, Long Range Cleavage sequencing (LORAX-seq), can directly detect where backtracking events begin and end.
  • The results also suggest that persistent backtracking occurs frequently throughout genomes, happens more often near certain gene types, and has functions well beyond DNA repair.
  • "If further work expands our findings to different developmental programs and pathological conditions, backtracking may be akin to epigenetics, the discovery of which revealed a surprising new layer of gene regulation without changing the DNA code."
  • Locked, backtracked complexes are less likely to be rescued by TFIIS-driven cleavage, and more likely to delay transcription of the gene involved.

Sugary handshakes are how cells talk to each other − understanding these name tags can clarify how the immune system works

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, February 8, 2024

Unlike people, cells perform these handshakes using the diverse range of sugar molecules coating their surface like trees covering a landscape.

Key Points: 
  • Unlike people, cells perform these handshakes using the diverse range of sugar molecules coating their surface like trees covering a landscape.
  • Handshakes between these sugar molecules, or glycans, trigger cells to react in specific ways toward each other, such as escape, ignore or destroy.

What are glycans?

  • The vast number of possible glycan structures that can be built from connecting these sugar molecules together allows glycans to store rich information.
  • Glycans are chemically bonded to proteins and lipids on the surface of red blood cells.
  • Notably, the surface of type A red blood cells have glycans that differ from the glycans on the surface of type B and type O red blood cells.
  • For example, distinctive glycoproteins cover the surface of the viruses that cause COVID-19, HIV and H1N1 influenza and help them infect cells.
  • Glycolipids also coat many bacteria, allowing them to stick to their hosts and protect them from viruses and immune cells.

How do cells read glycans?

  • Found on surfaces of certain immune cells, these lectins deliver the glycans to proteins on other immune cells that can now selectively destroy any viruses or cells that carry that glycan.
  • For example, these lectins recognize glycans on the surfaces of cancer cells and direct other immune cells to eliminate these cancer cells.
  • Another type of lectin called siglecs are found on surfaces of immune cells and help them distinguish self from nonself, that is, between the cells that make up the body and the cells that are foreign to the body.
  • The bacterial glycans in the vaccine trigger an immune response when immune cells recognize the glycans as foreign threats.

Examining every sugar molecule

  • Comprehensively extracting all the information stored in glycans is very difficult because there isn’t currently technology able to analyze the complex and diverse structures of glycans.
  • Individual glycans are composed of sugar molecules in unique arrangements, but current analytical tools can only simultaneously analyze many glycans.


My lab is confronting this challenge by developing imaging technology that can analyze the structure of glycans by imaging each individual molecule. Essentially, we’re developing a technique to open the jar and study every single candy one at a time. In the long run, my team aspires to unveil how these glycans present themselves to the proteins that recognize them and, finally, reveal the very language that cells use to express themselves.
Kelvin Anggara works for the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research and receives funding from the European Research Council under Project GlycoX (101075996).