Reindeer

• "We are honored to have Steve Kanner join our Board of Directors," remarked Professor Shimon Sakaguchi, co-founder of RegCell.
• "Dr. Kanner's profound understanding of immunology comes at a pivotal juncture for RegCell as we advance our clinical development and expand our Precision Epigenetic Reprogramming Platform.
• Backed by leading institutional and corporate investors hailing from Japan, RegCell emerges as the next-generation global life science enterprise at the forefront of regulatory T-cell therapies.
• Central to RegCell's innovation is its 'Precision Epigenetic Reprogramming' platform, which entails the epigenetic reprogramming of CD4+ T-cells into regulatory T-cells.

• “For our lead program, CB-010, we plan to present initial dose expansion data and the RP2D in the second quarter of 2024.
• For our third program, CB-012, we are thrilled to have recently dosed the first patient in the AMpLify trial.
• In December 2023, Caribou shared regulatory feedback from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) following a Type B clinical meeting.
• CB-012: Caribou plans to provide updates on dose escalation as the AMpLify Phase 1 clinical trial in r/r AML advances.

• Since 1996, a deadly neurodegenerative disease of cervids (deer, elk, moose, caribou, reindeer) has been spreading across Canada.
• On Jan. 31, 2024, chronic wasting disease (CWD) was detected for the first time in British Columbia in two deer.

Disease-causing proteins

• The protein is similar to other normal proteins in the body, except it’s abnormally shaped.
• The abnormal folding of these disease-causing prion proteins — which are found most abundantly in the brain — leads to brain damage that makes the brain appear like a sponge.
• Other TSEs include Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in people, bovine-spongiform encephalopathy (“mad cow disease”) in cows, and scrapie in sheep and goats.
• This means that early detection and management is critical for reducing the impact of this disease.

British Columbia’s preparations

• has established a surveillance program to detect CWD as soon as possible.
• Our research suggests that a robust approach to such a difficult disease will require rapid, collective and collaborative action across sectors.
• This approach must involve wildlife managers, hunters, local communities, First Nations and researchers to integrate a number of approaches.

Surveillance and management

• Many CWD management programs rely on removing infected animals from the landscape.
• While it is mandatory to submit the heads from hunted cervids in select management units in B.C., in most regions, submission is voluntary.
• Hunters can participate in CWD management and surveillance by removing the head of the animal and submitting it to a local testing station or freezer for CWD testing.

• The public can also participate in CWD surveillance and management by reporting signs of sick animals and vehicle collisions with cervids.
• This is why testing cervids that have been killed by vehicles is also a critical component of CWD surveillance and management.

Curbing the spread

• CWD can spread between animals through contact with bodily fluids.
• Legal restrictions on carcass transport and the use of urine-based scents in hunting can also reduce the unintentional spread of CWD.
• Research has shown that community-focused communication and engagement are essential for the success of CWD management efforts.
• In the days ahead, fostering open dialogue and collaboration will be paramount towards an effective and sustainable effort against CWD.

Kaylee Byers is the Regional Deputy Director of the British Columbia Node of the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative and collaborates with the Wildlife Health Program, which leads Chronic Wasting Disease surveillance in British Columbia. Sarah Robinson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

• Archaeologists have identified what may be Europe’s oldest human-made megastructure, submerged 21 metres below the Baltic Sea in the Bay of Mecklenburg, Germany.
• This structure – which has been named the Blinkerwall – is a continuous low wall made from over 1,500 granite stones that runs for almost a kilometre.
• The evidence suggests it was constructed by Palaeolithic people between 11,700 and 9,900 years ago, probably as an aid for hunting reindeer.

A different landscape

• At the time of its construction, the landscapes and seascapes of northwest Europe were very different from today.
• Herds of reindeer, European bison and wild horse migrated across its sparsely forested landscape.
• The identification of the Blinkerwall now demonstrates that Palaeolithic hunters were managing their landscape to aid their hunting activities more deliberately than was previously thought.
• Construction of walls and other features in the landscape is familiar to us, particularly in the context of land enclosure for farming.

Supporting evidence

• One archaeological site from Germany that supports this interpretation is Stellmoor, located just north of Hamburg and which dates to the latest time that the Blinkerwall could have been constructed.
• The hunting evidence at Stellmoor shows the reindeer were shot by arrows as they were driven down the valley into the lake.

• While there is no archaeological evidence at Stellmoor to suggest people had deliberately created or changed the landscape to enhance their hunting success, it shows how the topography of the landscape was used to the hunters’ advantage.
• The Blinkerwall construction provides evidence that Palaeolithic people took this level of planning and coordination a step further.
• The Bay of Mecklenburg has the potential to reveal further archaeological evidence of equal significance.

Stephanie Piper does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.