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Emergex partners with George Mason University for highly pathogenic RNA virus studies

Emergex Vaccines Holding Limited, a biotechnology company developing CD8+ priming set-point vaccines to prevent serious infectious diseases, today announced that it has entered into an agreement with the George Mason University, based in Virginia, in the United States.

22 Apr 2020

A first-in-human trial with promising MERS coronavirus vaccine

Over the past 20 years, coronaviruses have been responsible for large outbreaks, resulting in severe respiratory illness and a number of deaths.

22 Apr 2020

Risk prediction model identifies people at higher risk of pancreatic cancer

Bottom Line: A risk prediction model that combined genetic and clinical factors with circulating biomarkers identified people at significantly higher than normal risk of pancreatic cancer.

22 Apr 2020

Study reveals a new, effective treatment for chronic insomnia

A new treatment for chronic insomnia, transcranial alternating corrent stimulation, has been found to be effective in a study published in Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics.

22 Apr 2020

Avacta successfully generates several highly specific Affimer reagents for COVID-19 antigen rapid test ahead of schedule as part of Cytiva partnership

Avacta Group plc is pleased to announce that it has successfully generated multiple Affimer reagents that bind the SARS-COV-2 viral antigen.

From Avacta Life Sciences Ltd. 22 Apr 2020

Scientists find gene signature for poor response to standard therapy in rare uterine cancer

Women who don't survive a rare and aggressive uterine cancer called uterine serous carcinoma, have high expression of a group of 73 genes, a score scientists say can help identify these women and improve their outcome.

22 Apr 2020

Experts share contingency plans to address increased COVID-19 cases in urban areas

In "Mobilization and Preparation of a Large Urban Academic Center During the COVID-19 Pandemic,"- published online in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society - experts from Philadelphia's Temple University Hospital share their contingency plans for meeting an increased demand for hospitalization, as well as their protocols and training plans to minimize health care staff exposure to COVID-19 and ensure proper active and reserve staffing.

22 Apr 2020

Is hydroxychloroquine effective against COVID-19?

Following the emergence of a novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China, in the last month of 2019, it has spread globally to produce the first pandemic of the 21st century. The virus, called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has already affected over 2.5 million and killed more than 177,000 people as of April 22, 2020.

22 Apr 2020

Researchers are exploring potential therapy for controlling infectious diseases

The engineering of specific virus-targeting receptors onto a patient's own immune cells is now being explored by scientists from Duke-NUS Medical School (Duke-NUS), as a potential therapy for controlling infectious diseases, including the COVID-19-causing virus, SARS-CoV-2.

22 Apr 2020

P-BEST: Fast efficient COVID-19 virus testing before symptoms appear

A highly promising new study published on the preprint server medRxiv in April 2020 reports an efficient new method to conduct high-throughput testing of blood samples for the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) which is causing the rapidly spreading pandemic of COVID-19 disease throughout the world. The method could revolutionize the diagnosis of new cases before they become symptomatic.

22 Apr 2020

PiCoVacc vaccine candidate for COVID-19 effective in animal trials

In a new study available on the bioRxiv preprint server, a group of researchers from China report on the pilot-scale production of a purified inactivated severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus vaccine candidate (PiCoVacc), shown to induce virus-specific neutralizing antibodies in rats, mice, and non-human primates.

21 Apr 2020

Immunity to coronavirus infection may help stem the pandemic

The raging coronavirus pandemic is causing immense fear and uncertainty across the world. One of the most distressing aspects of COVID-19 disease is the seemingly large number of unknowns. These include the burning question of immunity. Does a person who was sick with the COVID-19 and then recovered or was infected without symptoms, have immunity against re-infection?

21 Apr 2020

Scientists identify new biomarker to detect subclinical atherosclerosis

Scientists at the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares and the Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria-Fundación Jiménez Díaz in Madrid have demonstrated that a proteins present in early atheroma plaques--accumulations of cholesterol in the wall of arteries--could be used as a biomarker to detect atherosclerosis in the subclinical phase, before the appearance of symptoms.

21 Apr 2020

Gene therapy could help treat glaucoma, study shows

A new study led by the University of Bristol has shown a common eye condition, glaucoma, could be successfully treated with a single injection using gene therapy, which would improve treatment options, effectiveness and quality of life for many patients.

21 Apr 2020

Age-related DNA modifications linked with susceptibility to eye disease

National Eye Institute researchers profiling epigenomic changes in light-sensing mouse photoreceptors have a clearer picture of how age-related eye diseases may be linked to age-related changes in the regulation of gene expression.

21 Apr 2020

CRISPR helps identify new protein potentially involved in Alzheimer’s disease

Experts at the University of Tokyo have identified a new protein in the pathway that leads to Alzheimer's disease. Researchers used the "molecular scissors" of CRISPR/Cas9 to search for new genes related to the neurodegenerative disease.

21 Apr 2020

NEI researchers link age-related DNA modifications to susceptibility to eye disease

Researchers profiling epigenomic changes in mouse photoreceptors suggest that age-related eye diseases may be linked to gene expression.

21 Apr 2020

A new biosensor to quickly and reliably detect novel coronavirus

Jing Wang and his team at Empa and ETH Zurich usually work on measuring, analyzing and reducing airborne pollutants such as aerosols and artificially produced nanoparticles.

21 Apr 2020

Microbiologists discover ethane-munching microbes in hot vents

Researchers have discovered a microbe in the deep sea that eats ethane, the second most common component of natural gas.

21 Apr 2020

How Hong Kong reduced COVID-19 transmission

Amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, many countries across the globe have imposed lockdowns in an attempt to reduce the spread of the virus. Still, some countries have not opted for lockdowns, and community quarantines, and still are doing well. Hong Kong, for one, appears to have averted a major COVID-19 outbreak despite not imposing lockdown.

21 Apr 2020