Metagenomic studies suggest that giant viruses—currently known as Nucleocytoviricota but formerly referred to as Nucleocytoplasmic large DNA viruses (NCLDV)—have an enormous amount of diversity and can be found in almost every environment around the world. Despite this almost ubiquitous distribution, the number of protist and algal hosts that the viruses have been isolated from is very small. Now, a new report describes the first large viral isolate that replicates in the amoeboflagellate Naegleria—the genus that comprises the incredibly deadly human pathogen Naegleria fowleri. The research gr ..read more

During her PhD training years a decade ago, Kathleen Elison would ride her purple Huffy cruiser bike from her laboratory, housed at the Flower Building at City of Hope, to a neighboring microscopy facility. With her advisor, Jacob Berlin, PhD, associate professor in the department of molecular medicine, Elison was developing an ultradense microarray chip for measuring small molecule interactions with the goal of informing therapeutic applications, such as drug discovery. A key step for prepping the chip for her screening experiments involved using a microscope to collect the sequencing informa ..read more

Antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) have been shown to effectively rescue defects in preclinical Timothy syndrome models, a neurodevelopmental disorder associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Stanford University researchers developed an ASO therapy that corrects a splicing error that results in the expression of a gain-of-function variant in a subunit of a voltage-gated calcium channel that is widely expressed in the developing brain. The ASO restored the cellular and functional deficiencies that normally affect cortical neurons in this neurodevelopmental disorder in cortical organo ..read more

Using microfabrication, tissue engineering, and optogenetic techniques, scientists from École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and colleagues at other institutions have successfully developed miniature colons capable of generating tumors outside the body that closely resemble those found in vivo. Their work is published in Nature in a paper titled, “Spatiotemporally resolved colorectal oncogenesis in mini-colons ex vivo.” The mini colons replicate both the physical structure of colon tissue including the crypt and lumen architecture, as well as the cellular diversity that is present i ..read more

Uncontrolled secretion of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins such as collagen can lead to excessive scarring and fibrosis, and compromise tissue function. Researchers at the Center for Genomic Regulation and at the University of Cologne have now developed an experimental strategy to tackle scarring and fibrosis that uses peptide inhibitors to limit the amount of collagen released from hyperactive fibroblasts. The team’s experiments with patient-derived human cells and in animal models showed the strategy to be effective and non-toxic and found that its effects were reversible. ICREA research ..read more

Scientists at ETH Zurich report that they have engineered bacteria in the laboratory to efficiently use methanol. The metabolism of these bacteria can now be tapped into to produce valuable products currently made by the chemical industry from fossil fuels, according to the researchers, whose research paper “A synthetic methylotrophic Escherichia coli as a chassis for bioproduction from methanol” appears in Nature Catalysis. “Methanol synthesized from captured greenhouse gases is an emerging renewable feedstock with great potential for bioproduction. Recent research has raised the prospect of ..read more

Four months after announcing the Cell & Gene Therapy Access Model for Medicaid, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed increasing the New Technology Add-on Payment (NTAP) for cell and gene therapies for Medicare (a government health insurance program for seniors). This outcomes-based reimbursement proposal aligns Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement plans for cell and gene therapy (CGT) for sickle cell disease. Eventually, this approach may expand to cover additional conditions. Basically, the Medicare proposal calls for increasing the payment to 75% of the cost ..read more

A British-based cell therapy company is using smart operations to streamline its viral vector processing. According to Paul S. Carter, senior director, manufacturing science and technology (MSAT), at Quell Therapeutics, the company is using clever planning to work more efficiently, without incurring large costs. “The discussions we’ve been having within the small team I lead is how to generate as much value as possible, without growing too large or buying huge amounts of expensive equipment,” he explains. Carter shared his expertise at a roundtable during the Terrapinn conference on Advanced T ..read more

The bacterium Serratia rubidaea plays a bit of a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde role in healthcare and bioprocessing. For the Mr. Hyde side of Serratia rubidaea, Alexandra Chiaverini, DMV, PhD, of the Instituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell’Abruzzo e del Molise “G. Caporale” in Teramo, Italy, and her colleagues noted that this bacterium “has emerged in recent years as an opportunistic nosocomial pathogen.” Still, this bacterium also produces prodigiosin, which is a biomolecule with more than one feature befitting Dr. Jekyll. For one thing, fabrics can be dyed red with prodigiosin. Recently ..read more

When pathogens invade the body, the immune system must react immediately to prevent or contain an infection. However, it is not fully understood how our defense cells stay vigilant when there are no pathogens in sight. Now, researchers from CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences have discovered these cells are constantly stimulated by healthy tissue to keep them prime and ready to respond to pathogens. Their study in mice suggests future medications could be devised to selectively enhance our immune system’s attention. The findings are published in Natu ..read more