SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 17, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The genome of human cells looks a lot like a tangled ball of yarn, with tightly wound clumps from which myriad loose strands escape and loop out. But there is order to this tangleand growing evidence that the genome's 3D architecture influences the activity of its genes. Understanding the rules that control gene activity has been the object of a long collaboration between Gladstone investigators Deepak Srivastava, Benoit Bruneau, Katherine Pollard, Bruce Conklin, and Nevan Krogan, and their UC San Francisco (UCSF) partner Brian Black. Together, they have already found many key regulators of gene activity in the heart.

Now, their collaboration has received a strong shot in the arm from the National Institute of Health with the recent award of a Program Project Grant totaling $13 million between the labs for the next five years.

With this new support, the researchers will carry out a comprehensive probe into gene activity in heart cells and its intersection with the genome's 3D organization during heart formation.

"It is truly gratifying to see our long collaboration supported in this way by the National Institute of Health,"says Srivastava, president of Gladstone Institutes and project leader on this multi-investigator grant. "This funding will allow us to dig deep into processes that are fundamental to heart cell biology, but that will also directly inform our efforts to design therapies for congenital heart disease, heart failure, and other heart diseases."

Heart failure is the most common cause of death in adults, and congenital heart defects the most common form of birth defects. These defects have been traced to mutations in a number of proteins that regulate gene activity in heart cells, including the proteins at the core of the researchers' new proposal.

"However, the investigation of the 3D organization of the genome is a relatively new area, particularly in the heart," says Srivastava, who is also a pediatric cardiologist and has devoted much of his career to understanding heart formation and congenital heart defects.

The work outlined in this grant is therefore expected to yield novel insight into heart disease and spur the design of new therapies. It will also help the researchers improve their ability to coax human cells into becoming various types of heart cells. This technology could eventually be used to regenerate failing heart tissue.

Gladstone Senior InvestigatorBruce Conklinwill lend his expertise in cardiac stem cell biology and CRISPR gene-editing technology to the project.

The researchers' plan is to correlate gene activity and genome organization at the whole-genome scale and during multiple stages of heart formation. This will require enormous technological power. It will also require massive computing power and statistical analysis to store and sift through the large data sets the group will generate.

But the team is well-positioned to take on this challenge.

"Our studies are facilitated by extraordinary new technology,"says Bruneau, also a cardiovascular development specialist and the director of the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease.

The $13 million proposal will leverage Srivastava, Bruneau, and Black's deep understanding of heart development and disease, and enlist the state-of-the-art technologies and analytic tools that Pollard and Krogan have developed to collect and analyze information about biological networks on a grand scale.

"Our team combines a remarkable array of expertise and technologies," says Srivastava, who is also director of the Roddenberry Stem Cell Center at Gladstone. "It would be impossible for any one or two labs in isolation to pursue the complex goals we set out to achieve with this project."

Dynamic Protein Networks

The project focuses on a small set of proteins the team has previously shown to be crucial for the formation of a functional heart. These proteins, known as transcription factors, activate or silence genes by binding to specific DNA sequences in the genes' vicinity.

The scientists have shown that cardiac transcription factors can associate with each other and with other proteins. "Depending on the associations they form, they turn genes on, off, or somewhere in between, and different types of heart cells may form," says Black.

But for a transcription factor to turn a gene on or off, it needs to access the gene's DNA sequence. That's not as easy as it sounds, as much of the genome is wound up in tight coils that give no foothold to transcription factors.

Bruneau's team studies proteins that modulate the accessibility of DNA sequences along the genome, a process known as chromatin remodeling. These proteins unspool segments of the genome from the tightly wound coils, opening up stretches of DNA that transcription factors can bind.

Like transcription factors, chromatin remodeling proteins associate with each other and with other proteins, forming associations that vary depending on the cell type or the stage of heart formation.

Interestingly, Srivastava's group recently discovered that cardiac transcription factors may have long-range effects on the 3D organization of the genome. The genome is housed in a separate compartment of the cell, a spherical structure called the nucleus. Srivastava's team found that cardiac transcription factors may pull genome loops all the way to proteins lining the edges of the nucleus.

The picture that emerges from these findings is that of a vast network of proteins that coordinate gene activity and genome architecture, and change as the heart forms.

Now the researchers want to know how these networks form, how many proteins they entail, and what genes they affect.

Dynamic Lab Partnerships

To answer these questions, the team will analyze the associations between cardiac transcription factors, chromatin remodeling proteins, and their various partners during heart development. They will pair this analysis with a genome-wide survey of the genes these proteins target and of these genes' activity.

"Our overarching goal is to understand all the levels of gene regulation in developing hearts, from genes and transcription factors to chromatin remodeling and to genome organization within the nucleus," says Bruneau, who is also a professor of pediatrics at UCSF.

The researchers will use a battery of sophisticated techniques to capture the complexes that proteins form with each other or with DNA sequences and to record which genes are active or inactive in different types of heart cells.

They will leverage various models of heart development, including human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPS cells) that can give rise to heart tissue in the dish, or cells from the developing heart of mouse embryos. They will also use CRISPR technology and other genetic tools to insert mutations in heart cells and evaluate the impact of these mutations on the protein-genome networks.

Their success will depend on high-throughput data collection and analysis, and powerful statistics to guarantee the validity of the findings. That's where Krogan and Pollard come in.

Krogan's labwill contribute technology his lab developed to determine how proteins interact with one another in the celland how those interactions affect the interaction of proteins with DNA.

Pollard's groupwill devise statistical methods to rigorously analyze the protein networks and gene activity profiles the researchers uncover through the lens of genetic causes of heart disease.

"The biggest challenge will be to develop novel computational methods, including artificial intelligence tools," says Pollard, who directs the Gladstone Institute for Data Science and Biotechnology. "This is the first time that scientists will integrate such diverse kinds of data to understand a disease."

Together, these tools will allow the researchers to reliably identify connections between protein networks and gene activity at all stages of heart formation, in the context of disease or healthy heart formation.

"This project crystallizes a more than a decade-long collaboration across our labs, with a laser focus on fundamental concepts of gene regulation," says Bruneau.

"We will learn how these concepts apply to the heart and to heart diseases," he adds, "but we think they will also be relevant to other organs and sets of diseases."

Media Contact:Megan McDevittmegan.mcdevitt@Gladstone.ucsf.edu

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team-of-researchers-who-received.jpg Team of Researchers who Received the Grant New funding from the NIH fuels collaboration between UCSF's Brian Black and Gladstone's Deepak Srivastava, Benoit Bruneau (front row, left to right), Katie Pollard, Bruce Conklin (back row, left to right), and Nevan Krogan (not shown).

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$13 Million Grant to Probe the Genome of Heart Cells - PRNewswire

NEW YORK, Dec. 17, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The global 3D cell culture market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 15.7% during the forecast period.

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05206182/?utm_source=PRN

The 3D cell culture market is projected to reach USD 1,846 million by 2024 from USD 892 million in 2019, at a CAGR of 15.7%. The growth in this market is primarily driven by the increasing focus on developing alternatives to animal testing, growing focus on personalized medicine, increasing incidence of chronic diseases, and the availability of funding for research. On the other hand, the lack of infrastructure for 3D cell-based research and the high cost of cell biology research are expected to limit market growth during the forecast period.

The microfluidics-based 3D cell cultures segment is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period.Based on product, the 3D cell culture market is segmented into scaffold-based, scaffold-free, microfluidics-based, and magnetic & bioprinted 3D cell cultures.The microfluidics-based segment is expected to register the highest CAGR during the forecast period.

Funding initiatives from various government and private investors are among the key factors driving the growth of this market.

The cancer and stem cell research segment accounted for the largest share of the 3D cell culture market in 2018.On the basis of application, the 3D cell culture market is segmented into cancer & stem cell research, drug discovery & toxicology testing, and tissue engineering & regenerative medicine.The cancer & stem cell research segment accounted for the largest share of the market in 2018.

The increasing prevalence of cancer and significant funding initiatives for cancer research from the government as well as the private sector are some of the major factors driving the growth of this application segment.

Europe to witness high growth during the forecast period.Based on region, the 3D cell culture market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Rest of the World (RoW). The European market is expected to grow at the highest CAGR owing to the growth of the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry, increasing incidence of cancer, growing number of venture capital investments, strategic expansion of market players in the region, recent commercialization of microfluidic-based products, increasing presence of major market players, and the large number of research activities in the region.

The primary interviews conducted for this report can be categorized as follows: By Company Type: Tier 1: 50%, Tier 2: 30%, and Tier 3: 20% By Designation: C-level: 37%, D-level: 29%, and Others: 34% By Region: North America: 38%, Europe: 23%, Asia: 30%, and the RoW: 9%

List of companies profiled in this report Thermo Fisher Scientific (US) Corning Incorporated (US) Merck (Germany) Lonza AG (Switzerland) REPROCELL Incorporated (Japan) TissUse (Germany) InSphero (Switzerland) Synthecon (US) 3D Biotek (US) CN Bio (UK) Hamilton Company (US) MIMETAS (Netherlands) Emulate (US) Hrel Corporation (US) QGel SA (Switzerland) SynVivo (US) Advanced BioMatrix (US) Greiner Bio-One International (Austria) PromoCell (Germany)

Research Coverage:The report provides an overview of the 3D cell culture market.It aims at estimating the market size and growth potential of this market across different segments such as product, application, end user, and region.

The report also includes an in-depth competitive analysis of the key players in the market, along with their company profiles, recent developments, and key market strategies.

Key Benefits of Buying the Report:The report will help the market leaders/new entrants in the 3D cell culture market by providing them with the closest approximations of revenues for the overall market and its subsegments.This report will help stakeholders to understand the competitive landscape better and gain insights to position their businesses and help companies adopt suitable go-to-market strategies.

The report also helps stakeholders understand the pulse of the market and provide them with information regarding key market drivers and opportunities.

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The 3D cell culture market is projected to reach USD 1,846 million by 2024 from USD 892 million in 2019, at a CAGR of 15.7% - PRNewswire

This course of action is known as Apoptosis. The findings are reported in Cell. There are two sorts of ER.

Some malignant tumors may be caused by exposure to asbestos. The way the secretion becomes processed 2. There are some unicellular eukaryotes also.

There is an assortment of subtypes present within the immune system that have the ability to secrete distinctive cytokines based on the immune response occurring, write my essay however these are beyond the range of this report. Theres a enormous selection of distinct forms of cells but all of them have some common characteristics. There are several different types, sizes, and shapes of cells within the body.

This type is fundamental when it has to do with healing brain injuries. There are hundreds and hundreds of different forms of eukaryotic cells. You will likely devote some time in the laboratory studying the many portions of the cell, and youll want to learn how to label a mobile diagram with the appropriate cell components.

Last, a broad global effort will be necessary as a result of biological reality that the international wisdom and insights gained from the differences in the dimensions of https://au.payforessay.net/editing-service populations in various continents should enrich the undertaking. There is a vast scope of cells on the Earth that survive differently from one another and execute unique varieties of function. All living things are composed of cells.

FOR and NEXT statements are utilized to create loops that you are able to then repeat a particular number of times. A degree generally biology can likewise be a terrific option if you would like to teach high school biology, and numerous schools offer you this degree with an alternative for a teaching credential. There are two primary types.

The institute carries out a big selection of programs to inform policy and enhance practice. It might be a stand-alone major or an option for a certain track in a overall biology major. You can discover the links to MS Word template and LaTeX template of every one of the journal here.

With these techniques scientists have been in a position to study cells called fibroblasts that are a portion of connective tissue. This isnt https://scholar.cu.edu.eg/ the case with our very own adult stem cells. An array of unique cells regulate and manage the functions of the nervous system.

Sometimes, in the event the infants blood has an antigen that the mothers blood doesnt, her immune system will observe the infants antigen as foreign and respond by attempting to eradicate it like it were a dangerous pathogen. They also do not have a nucleus. They comprise the majority of these cells.

Some sorts of cell signaling are intracellular, while some are intercellular. These signals may also travel short distances outside the target cell and affect near-by cells.

The cytoplasm has structures that consume and transform power and do the cells functions. A protein is an instance of a macromolecule as a mitochondrion is a good example of an organelle. Fibrous proteins are usually elongated and insoluble.

Theyre secreted to the small intestine where theyre activated by removing or cleaving off a little part of the protein. The sperm doesnt have many organelles that are typically seen in the majority of cells.

Phagocytosis is the principal method employed by the body to get rid of completely free microorganisms in the blood and tissue fluids. Smooth muscle doesnt have sarcomeres. They cannot locate tissue as they are just examine the surface portion of the epidermis.

Such a tumor is normally found on each the frontal or atemporal lobes. The role of microvilli is to raise the surface region of the cell. There are 4 major kinds of T cells.

From time to time, though, this growth can get unregulated and result in a mass of cells. Theres regular movement of proteins using these compartments. There are 3 sorts of muscle cells.

PCR may be used to ascertain how many copies of a gene are found in a cell. The activity and stimulation of the reporter gene is contingent on the optimum mixture of that with the right promoter. The specificity of an enzyme is dependent on its distinctive 3D structure.

Distinct pigments trigger various functions. Sometimes it is essential to inhibit an enzyme to decrease a reaction rate, and theres more than 1 way for this inhibition to occur. It is one such catalyst which is commonly known as the biological catalyst.

You are likely familiar with the form of bacteria that may cause you to get sick. The amino acids that compose the active site of an enzyme arent contiguous to one another along the principal amino acid sequence. Different types of enzyme Your entire body contains about 3,000 unique enzymes, every one of which accelerates the reaction of a specific protein product.

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Primers are created by the enzyme DNA primase. The activity and stimulation of the reporter gene is contingent on the optimum mixture of that with the right promoter. Covalent inhibition requires the chemical modification of the enzyme so that its no longer active.

The malignant tumors call for a more intensive kind of chemotherapy and a number of medicines to keep the tumor in check and eliminate it wholly. In some instances, a protein may include a non-peptide group. Dont use a 3-D formula.

You are likely familiar with the form of bacteria that may cause you to get sick. In some instances, using ATP could possibly be indirect. Based on the kind of the plants product that is to be used and the sort of the enzyme applied, the fermented product varies.

This site involved with catalysis is known as the catalytic website. Model organisms each have some distinct experimental advantages that have enabled them to turn into popular among researchers. There are a couple groups of organisms that are mixotrophs.

In reality, several of the species within the Archaea domain are observed within hydrothermal vents. It is additionally the only organelle thats capitalized. Genes arent only passed down throughout plants, but theyre also passed down through animal reproduction too.

FOR and NEXT statements are utilized to create loops that you are able to then repeat a particular number of times. A degree generally biology can likewise be a terrific option if you would like to teach high school biology, and numerous schools offer you this degree with an alternative for a teaching credential. Announcements regarding academic activities like conferences are published free of charge.

You might have heard of folks that are lactose intolerant, or you can suffer from this problem yourself. Its a dangerous world out there there are many things that may damage DNA, and actually your DNA is being damaged all of the time. There arent many animals that could regenerate their body parts.

In the analysis, researchers went through each cell type and used a number of tedious approaches to estimate the amount of each type. Developmental processes are extremely evident during the practice of metamorphosis. Discuss why biologists may have a hard time classifying this organism.

Cell signaling can happen through numerous unique pathways, but the general theme is that the actions of one cell influence the use of another one. The cell is the fundamental unit of life. This movement is a consequence of cytoplasmic streaming.

Cancer progression is an intricate procedure, and exosomes appear to get involved with every stage of development. Synthetic biology intends to design and make full genetic systems that may be put into place in an organism to be able to execute a self-regulated endeavor. They are the basic unit of life.

Based on the quantity of exposure, radiolysis can create plenty of toxic free radicals in the cell, which ends in lysis. As stated above, archaebacteria are an extremely old kind of prokaryotic cells. The material our entire body uses to develop new cells comes from the food that we eat.

Here some cells within this epithelium do not reach until the free surface. Tissues are groups of cells with a similar structure and act with each other to carry out a particular function. There might be various sub-tissues within each one of the main tissues.

We have around 200 different cell types in our entire body, therefore we have to see that theres a very good likelihood that if we target an antigen that is created by the tumor, therell be other cells which are also being attacked as well just since they share the identical antigen. These, together with carbohydrates connected to the integral proteins, are considered to function in the recognition of self.

These lipid layers consist of several fatty acid building blocks. Theyre also the structural elements of flagella and cilia. The inner membrane is folded to raise the surface area and so also boost the mitochondrions capability to make ATP.

For instance, they supply a whole image of a zebrafish embryo. The sperm doesnt have many organelles that are typically seen in the majority of cells.

When you take into consideration the huge picture, it seems sensible a muscle cell would differ from a nerve cell or a bone cell. Smooth muscle doesnt have sarcomeres. Without muscle cells, you wouldnt have the ability to move!

The previous type has an important part in the muscular regeneration process because it will help to create new muscle fibers or muscle nuclei. Their main purpose is to serve as a form of wrapper for those synapses located at the border area between the CNS and the remainder of the body. There are 4 major kinds of T cells.

From time to time, though, this growth can get unregulated and result in a mass of cells. Theres regular movement of proteins using these compartments. Every cell is different but theres a simple structure thats common to all cells.

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Theres a lot more to cell biology. It is whats usually called ovarian cancer as such. Generally speaking though, one particular DNA error here or there isnt sufficient to trigger cancer.

In sexually reproducing animals, it is ordinarily essential to minimize the genetic information before fertilization. The way the secretion becomes processed 2. All eukaryotic organisms fall beneath this domain.

There is an assortment of subtypes present within the immune system that have the ability to secrete distinctive cytokines based on the immune response occurring, however these are beyond the range of this report. Theres a enormous selection of distinct forms of cells but all of them have some common characteristics. At the moment, there isnt any consensus view on the root cause of aging.

The term tissue comes out of a kind of an aged French verb meaning to weave. The sort of the tumor is dependent upon the kind of growth it undergoes. These stem cells in the body are given so much importance on account of their promising part in the treatment of disorders later on.

The best we might do is find an estimate based on an normal individual. There is a vast scope of cells on the Earth that survive differently from one another and execute unique varieties of function. All living things are composed of cells.

Actually, the body wouldnt exist without enzymes because the chemical reactions necessary to keep the body simply wouldnt occur fast enough. What follows is a short overview of the majority of the significant organelles and other structures found in cells along with a brief description for each. Even inside the same organism, there are different kinds of cells.

The DNA of a cell holds all of the info a cell should keep itself alive. Cell signaling is required by multicellular organisms to coordinate a wide selection of functions. These cells play an important part in the initiation of immunological reactions.

The sort of substrate is another component that has an effect on the enzyme action. Organic molecules that function to help an enzyme are known as coenzymes. Based on the kind of the plants product that is to be used and the sort of the enzyme applied, the fermented product varies.

Xenomorphs are merely that cool. Make it more fun for the remainder of us. They can endure for many months within the recipient.

You have to follow along with the author guidelines to manually format your document or construct a LaTeX undertaking. In the library there are various books on various topics and subjects. The answer to each of these questions lies in genetics.

No new treatments utilizing the cells are shown to be medically powerful. As stated above, archaebacteria are an extremely old kind of prokaryotic cells. The material our entire body uses to develop new cells comes from the food that we eat.

Sometimes, in the event the infants blood has an antigen that the mothers blood doesnt, her immune system will observe the infants antigen as foreign and respond by attempting to eradicate it like it were a dangerous pathogen. They also do not have a nucleus. They comprise the majority of these cells.

Astrocytes, also called astroglia, are related to both neurons and other portions of the body. T cells (also referred to as T lymphocytes) are among the key elements of the adaptive immune system.

The endoskeletons of different animals might be more flexible for instance, the endoskeleton of a shark is constructed of cartilage, the identical material which makes up the soft portions of your nose. There are about 200 unique kinds of cells within the body. There are about 200 unique kinds of cells in your entire body.

For instance, they supply a whole image of a zebrafish embryo. The sperm doesnt have many organelles that are typically seen in the majority of cells.

For instance, collagen has a super-coiled helical form. Smooth muscle doesnt have sarcomeres. They cannot locate tissue as they are just examine the surface portion of the epidermis.

Cell walls may also be found surrounding some varieties of eukaryotic cells. Cells grow and divide as a consequence of signaling from different cells. Each cell has a certain function.

From time to time, though, this growth can get unregulated and result in a mass of cells. Theres regular movement of proteins using these compartments. To say that cells are normally small isnt saying much, however, because even among microscopic cells theres a broad range in proportion.

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Unbiased Report Exposes the Unanswered Questions on Different Types of Cells in Biology - Rising Sun Chatsworth

Vancouver, British Columbia-based Novoheart signed an exclusive licensing deal with Harvard Universitys Office of Technology Development.

The deal allows Novoheart to merge its MyHeart Platform with Harvards tissue-engineered scale model of the heart ventricle and bioreactor technology. Novoheart invented and commercialized the first and only human heart-in-a-jar model for drug discovery and development.

Harvards valved bioreactor technology was engineered in Kevin Kit Parkers laboratory. He is the Tarr Family Professor of Bioengineering and Applied Physics at Harvard A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

The two institutions expect that the merged technology will result in a next-generation human heart-in-a-jar that will be a superior human heart model for disease modeling, drug discovery and development with unmatched biofidelity as well as significantly enhanced predictive accuracy, capacity and versatility.

In addition to developing various bioengineered human heart constructs, Novoheart wants to develop the technology into transplantable grafts for cell-based regenerative heart therapies. The companys various products include Human Ventricular Cardiomyocytes (hvCM), Cardiac Anisotropic Sheet (hvCAS), Cardiac Tissue Strip (hvCTS), and Cardiac Organoid Chamber (hvCOC). It also offers consultation and screening and phenotyping services using its 2D or 3D tissue assays.

On November 26, Novoheart announced a collaboration with AstraZeneca to develop the worlds first human-specific in vitro, functional model of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). Working with AstraZenecas Cardiovascular, Renal and Metabolism team, they will initially establish a new in vitro model using Novohearts proprietary 3D human ventricular cardiac organoid chamber (hvCOC), also known as the human heart-in-a-jar.

Of the Harvard licensing deal, Kevin Costa, co-founder and chief scientific officer of Novoheart, said, By integrating Harvards valved bioreactor technology with our own proprietary human heart-in-a-jar, Novoheart will advance its disease modeling capabilities to an unprecedented level of biofidelity for in vitro human cardiac assays. It will lead to the development of next-generation heart models that would be impossible in the absence of functional valves, including for highly prevalent heart diseases such as dilated cardiomyopathy and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. The models can be directly applied to the discovery of new therapeutics targeting such diseases.

The work run in the Parker lab was led by Luke MacQueen, a research associate.

Parker said, My lab develops engineered cardiovascular tissue in order to better understand the physiology of the system, better identify the causes and mechanisms of disease, and develop regenerative solutions for patients in need. While we continue that work at Harvard, it is gratifying to see our innovations adopted into a platform with immediate relevance to the discovery and development of new therapeutics.

Parkers overall work is on cardiac cell biology and tissue engineering, traumatic brain injury, and biological applications of microtechnology and nanotechnology. He is involved in a broad range of projects working to develop nanofabrics for tissue regeneration for organs-on-chips to treat pediatric diseases like asthma, muscular dystrophy, diabetes, brain injury and congenital heart disease. He was previously a member of the Defense Science Research Council, an advisory activity of the Department of Defenses Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

The heart-in-a-jar concept is at least one step up from using laboratory animals and cell cultures for research and drug development.

Novohearts human heart-in-a-jar is already in use by our various pharma and biotech clients, said Ronald Li, Novohearts co-founder and chief executive officer. We anticipate that incorporating Harvards technology will broaden our commercial applications and offerings for facilitated drug discovery and development.

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Novoheart and Harvard Partner on Heart-in-a-Jar Technology to Advance Cardiac Drug Development - BioSpace

This story was originally published by Mother Jones and appears here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration

Do you love burgersbut not the animal cruelty and environmental degradation that go into making them? I come bearing good news: Someday, you might be able to get your meat fix, without all that bad stuff. Scientists can now grow animal flesh, without raisingor in most cases killingan animal. This food, called lab-grown meat, cell-based meat, cultured meat, cultivated meat, clean meat, or as comedian Stephen Colbert jokingly called it in 2009, shmeat, has set off a flurry of media attention in recent years. Dozens of lab-grown meat companies have materialized, most aiming to solve the problems associated with large-scale beef, pork, poultry, and seafood production.

Finless Foods, a 12-person food-tech startup founded in 2017 and based in Emeryville, California, claims to be the first company to focus on lab-grown fish, although a handful of other startups have since joined them. In October, 28-year-old Finless Foods co-founder Mike Selden gave me a tour of their facility, and I dished about it on the latest episode of the Mother Jones food politics podcast Bite:

Selden and his co-founder Brian Wyrwas, both products of an agricultural biochemistry program at UMass Amherst, started the company, he says, to make something good.

We started off with zebrafish and goldfish, which already had a lot of cell biology research behind them, Selden explains. From there, we did our first prototypes, which were carp. The company grew tilapia, bass, rainbow trout, salmon, Mahi Mahi, lobster, and Fugu (poisonous pufferfish) meat before settling on Bluefin tuna, whose stocks have dropped sharply in the last few decades.

The idea behind lab-grown fish, Selden says, is multi-pronged. The technology, they hope, will prevent the killing of animals for food, cut down on overfishing, and eliminate mercury and microplastic contamination in seafood. We see this as creating a clean food supply on land: no mercury, no plastic, no animals involved, and it can still meet peoples needs.

Selden doesnt like the term lab-grown. Industry insiders argue it makes their products sound artificial and unappetizing. He instead prefers to call it cell-based. He argues that the process of growing fish in a lab is actually very similar to how fish grow and develop in the wild.

It begins with a sampleabout the size of a grain of riceof real meat from a real fish. (The tuna doesnt have to die during this process, but often does. In the companys two-and-a-half-year history, theyve killed fewer than 20 tuna.) Those cells are put in a liquid feed, like a nutritious soup, which gives them the energy to grow and divide, just like they would in a real, growing fish.

Despite the obvious advantages of lab-grown fish, there arent any products on the market. For Finless Foods, the cost of making one serving of their fish is still too high for consumers. I wont say exactly what number it is, Selden tells me, but youre not going to buy it. This is true across the industry: lab-grown beef, at one point costing as much as $280,000 to produce a hamburger, is also still prohibitively expensive, though its price is expected to drop to a mere $10 in two years.

Hitting the right price is one of the industrys biggest hurdles, if not the biggest one, according to Liz Specht, associate director of science and technology at the Good Food Institute, a nonprofit which lobbies for plant-based and cell-based alternatives to meat, dairy, and eggs. The industry, she says, has the science down. What does need to happenand I dont want to downplay or trivialize how challenging this will beis getting it to the scale and the price point that will ultimately be necessary.

On top of that, Finless Foods is still working out the kinks on the flavor. The first iteration of its fish, carp served as a croquette and prepared by a local chef, which it unveiled in 2017, didnt taste like much, Selden concedes. At the time, journalist Amy Fleming described it in a story for The Guardian as delicious and disappointing. When I called Fleming in November to get more detail about the taste, she said she recalls it being crispy on the outside and smooth and delicate on the inside. It had a subtle flavor of the sea, as the chef described it to Fleming, like water in an oyster shell. They were really lovely, she says, But did taste of fish? It was hard to say. You couldnt see any fish in there and you can discern any fleshy fish sort of texture.

Now, after two more years of taste-tests Selden claims the flavor of his Bluefin is really good. I think it tastes fantastic, he says. And I think that it really speaks for itself. (Ill have to take Seldens word for it; at the time of my visit, they didnt have any fish available for tasting.)

Finless Foods lab-grown carp, in a frying pan. Finless Foods

The companys success could depend on finding the right flavor. When I ask Selden why people would choose his product over other alternatives, like sustainably caught or farm-raised fish, he says, They wont. He elaborated: Were specifically shooting for people who really dont care about sustainability. To appeal to seafood connoisseurs, he says, his company plans to first sell to upscale restaurants rather than grocery stores. Fine dining, he believes, is an easier way to get public perception on your sideespecially when were specifically searching for foodies rather than for a sustainably-minded consumer.

Funders seem to agreethey have already invested millions of dollars into Finless Foods. Early supporters include an aquaculture investment firm based out of Norway called Hatch, an Italian food science company, Hi-Food, a Japanese tuna company, Dainichi Corporation, and Draper Associates, a venture capital firm founded by Silicon Valley investor Tim Draper. Animal welfare organizations including PETA and Mercy for Animals have voiced support for lab-grown meat as a whole. And according to a 2018 survey conducted by Faunalytics, a non-profit animal advocacy research organization, 66 percent of consumers were willing to try clean meat.

There is one group of people that likely isnt so enthusiastic about lab-grown seafood: fishermen. I think that we need essentially a Green New Deal but for agriculture, says Selden. He believes a jobs guarantee might alleviate some of the growing pains associated with transitioning to a partial lab-grown meat food system. I think that the people who are doing that fishing, are doing that farming, we need to provide something for them so that they can still survive, even if we transition out of their industry as a method of food production.

It is yet to be seen whether Finless Foods sashimi will win over die-hard seafood fanatics. Then again, they might not have a choice: As climate change worsens, and the ocean becomes too hot, too acidic, too polluted, and over-fished, its possible that one day some types of seafood may come only in a lab-grown variety. As Specht told me, I think cultivated meat may truly be our only option for preserving the diversity of aquatic species we eat.

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We Destroyed the Oceans. Now Scientists Are Growing Seafood in Labs. - National Observer

New research has shed light on the origins of spinocerebellar ataxia type 7 (SCA7) and demonstrates effective new therapeutic pathways for SCA7 and the more than 40 other types of spinocerebellar ataxia. The study, which appears online Monday on the website of the journal Neuron, implicates metabolic dysregulation leading to altered calcium homeostasis in neurons as the underlying cause of cerebellar ataxias.

This study not only tells us about how SCA7 begins at a basic mechanistic level,but it also provides a variety of therapeutic opportunities to treat SCA7 and other ataxias."

Al La Spada, MD, PhD, professor of Neurology, Neurobiology, and Cell Biology, at the Duke School of Medicine, and the study's senior author

SCA7 is an inherited neurodegenerative disorder that causes progressive problems with vision, movement, and balance. Individuals with SCA7 have CAG-polyglutamine repeat expansions in one of their genes; these expansions lead to progressive neuronal death in the cerebellum. SCA7 has no cure or disease-modifying therapies.

La Spada and colleagues performed transcriptome analysis on mice living with SCA7. These mice displayed down-regulation of genes that controlled calcium flux and abnormal calcium-dependent membrane excitability in neurons in their cerebellum.

La Spada's team also linked dysfunction of the protein Sirtuin 1 (Sirt1) in the development of cerebellar ataxia. Sirt1 is a "master regulator" protein associated both with improved neuronal health and with reduced overall neurodegenerative effects associated with aging. La Spada's team observed reduced activity of Sirt1 in SCA7 mice; this reduced activity was associated with depletion of NAD+, a molecule important for metabolic functions and for catalyzing the activity of numerous enzymes, including Sirt1.

When the team crossed mouse models of SCA7 with Sirt1 transgenic mice, they found improvements in cerebellar degeneration, calcium flux defects, and membrane excitability. They also found that NAD+ repletion rescued SCA7 disease phenotypes in both mouse models and human stem cell-derived neurons from patients.

These findings elucidate Sirt1's role in neuroprotection by promoting calcium regulation and describe changes in NAD+ metabolism that reduce the activity of Sirt1 in neurodegenerative disease.

"Sirt1 has been known to be neuroprotective, but it's a little unclear as to why," said Colleen Stoyas, PhD, first author of the study, and a postdoctoral fellow at the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation in San Diego. "Tying NAD+ metabolism and Sirt1 activity to a crucial neuronal functional pathway offers a handful of ways to intervene that could be potentially useful and practical to patients."

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Study sheds light on the origins of spinocerebellar ataxia type 7 - News-Medical.net

Gene therapy is fighting to enter mainstream medicine. With sickle cell disease, the fight is heating up.

Roughly two years ago, the FDA made the historic decision to approve the first gene therapy in the US, finally realizing the therapeutic potential of hacking our biological base code after decades of cycles of hope and despair. Other approvals soon followed, including Luxturna to target inherited blindness and Zolgensma, a single injection that could save children with a degenerative disease from their muscles wasting away and dying before the age of two.

Yet despite their transformative potential, gene therapy has only targeted relatively rareand often fataldisorders. Thats about to change.

This year, a handful of companies deployed gene therapy against sickle-cell anemia, a condition that affects over 20 million people worldwide and 100,000 Americans. With over a dozen therapies in the run, sickle-cell disease could be the indication that allows gene therapy to enter the mainstream. Yet because of its unique nature, sickle-cell could also be the indication that shines an unflinching spotlight on challenges to the nascent breakthrough, both ethically and technologically.

You see, sickle-cell anemia, while being one of the worlds best-known genetic diseases, and one of the best understood, also predominantly affects third-world countries and marginalized people of color in the US. So far, gene therapy has come with a hefty bill exceeding millions; few people afflicted by the condition can carry that amount. The potential treatments are enormously complex, further upping costs to include lengthy hospital stays, and increasing potential side effects. To muddy the waters even more, the disorder, though causing tremendous pain and risk of stroke, already has approved pharmaceutical treatments and isnt necessarily considered life-threatening.

How we handle gene therapies for sickle-cell could inform many other similar therapies to come. With nearly 400 clinical trials in the making and two dozen nearing approval, theres no doubt that hacking our genes will become one of the most transformative medical wonders of the new decade. The question is: will it ever be available for everyone in need?

Even those uninterested in biology have likely heard of the disorder. Sickle-cell anemia holds the crown as the first genetic disorder to be traced to its molecular roots nearly a hundred years ago.

The root of the disorder is a single genetic mutation that drastically changes the structure of the oxygen-carrying protein, beta-globin, in red blood cells. The result is that the cells, rather than forming their usual slick disc-shape, turn into jagged, sickle-shaped daggers that damage blood vessels or block them altogether. The symptoms arent always uniform; rather, they come in crisis episodes during which the pain becomes nearly intolerable.

Kids with sickle-cell disorder usually die before the age of five; those who survive suffer a lifetime of debilitating pain and increased risk of stroke and infection. The symptoms can be managed to a degree with a cocktail of drugsantibiotics, painkillers, and a drug that reduces crisis episodes but ups infection risksand frequent blood transfusions or bone marrow transplants. More recently, the FDA approved a drug that helps prevent sickled-shaped cells from forming clumps in the vessels to further combat the disorder.

To Dr. David Williams at Boston Childrens Hospital in Massachusetts, the availability of these treatmentshowever inadequatesuggests that gene therapy remains too risky for sickle-cell disease. Its not an immediately lethal diseaseit wouldnt be ethical to treat those patients with a highly risky experimental approach, he said to Nature.

Others disagree. Freeing patients from a lifetime of risks and pain seems worthy, regardless of the price tag. Inspired by recent FDA approvals, companies have jumped onto three different treatments in a bitter fight to be the first to win approval.

The complexity of sickle-cell disease also opens the door to competing ideas about how to best treat it.

The most direct approach, backed by Bluebird Bio in Cambridge, Massachusetts, uses a virus to insert a functional copy of the broken beta-globin gene into blood cells. This approach seems to be on track for winning the first FDA approval for the disorder.

The second idea is to add a beneficial oxygen-carrying protein, rather than fixing the broken one. Here, viruses carry gamma-globin, which is a variant mostly present in fetal blood cells, but shuts off production soon after birth. Gamma-globin acts as a repellent that prevents clotting, a main trigger for strokes and other dangerous vascular diseases.

Yet another idea also focuses on gamma-globin, the good guy oxygen-carrier. Here, rather than inserting genes to produce the protein, the key is to remove the breaks that halt its production after birth. Both Bluebird Bio and Sangamo Therapeutics, based in Richmond, California, are pursing this approach. The rise of CRISPR-oriented companies is especially giving the idea new promise, in which CRISPR can theoretically shut off the break without too many side effects.

But there are complications. All three approaches also tap into cell therapy: blood-producing cells are removed from the body through chemotherapy, genetically edited, and re-infused into the bone marrow to reconstruct the entire blood system.

Its a risky, costly, and lengthy solution. Nevertheless, there have already been signs of success in the US. One person in a Bluebird Bio trial remained symptom-free for a year; another, using a CRISPR-based approach, hasnt experienced a crisis in four months since leaving the hospital. For about a year, Bluebird Bio has monitored a dozen treated patients. So far, according to the company, none has reported episodes of severe pain.

Despite these early successes, advocates worry about the actual impact of a genetic approach to sickle-cell disease.

Similar to other gene therapies, the treatment is considered a last-line, hail Mary solution for the most difficult cases of sickle cell disease because of its inherent risks and costly nature. Yet end-of-the-line patients often suffer from kidney, liver, and heart damages that make chemotherapy far too dangerous.

Then theres the problem of global access. Some developing countries, where sickle-cell disease is more prevalent, dont even have consistent access to safe blood transfusions, not to mention the laboratory equipment needed for altering blood-producing stem cells. Recent efforts in education, early screening, and prevention have also allowed people to live longer and reduce the stigma of the disorder.

Is a $1 million price tag ever attainable? To combat exhorbitant costs, Bluebird Bio is offering an installment payment plan for five years, which can be terminated anytime the treatment stops working. Yet for patients in South Africa, India, or Cambodia, the costs far exceed the $3 per month price tag for standard treatment. Even hydroxyurea, the newly-approved FDA drug to reduce crisis pain episodes, is just a fraction of the price tag that comes with gene therapy.

As gene therapy technologies are further refined and their base cost reduced, its possible that overall costs will drop. Yet whether these treatments will be affordable in the long run remains questionable. Even as scientists focus on efficacy rather than price tag, NIH director Dr. Francis Collins believes not thinking about global access is almost unethical. There are historical examples for optimism: vaccines, once rather fringe, now touch almost every corner of our world with the help of scientific knowledge, advocacy groups, andfundamentallyproven efficacy.

With the rise of gene therapy, were now in an age of personalized medicine beyond imagination. Its true that perhaps sickle-cell disease genetic therapies arent quite there yet in terms of safety and efficacy; but without tackling access issues, the therapy will be stymied in its impact for global good. As genetic editing tools become more powerful, gene therapy has the potential to save even more livesif its made accessible to those who need it most.

Image Credit: Image by Narupon Promvichai from Pixabay

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Gene Therapy for Sickle-Cell Anemia Looks Promisingbut It's Riddled With Controversy - Singularity Hub

Written by AZoNanoDec 17 2019

Despite the rising popularity of nanotechnology, the risk assessment for nanoparticles is an arduous process that poses considerable difficulties to the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR).

Image Credit: Siarhei_AdobeStock.

To determine more efficient test techniques, a research team, including scientists from BfR and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), closely examined the biological impacts of nanomaterials. The results of the study have been published in the Particle and Fibre Toxicology journal.

Nanomaterials are used in many applications, ranging from construction materials to dyes, and from medicine to electronics and cosmetic products. They can be found in various different applications, but the nature of these materials is not known.

Nanomaterials are defined purely by their size. Materials between one and 100 nanometres in size are referred to as a nanomaterial.

Dr Kristin Schubert, Department of Molecular Systems Biology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research

To help visualize the tiny size of nanomaterials, 1 nm is only one-millionth of a millimeter. As nanomaterials are very tiny, they can easily penetrate the bodyfor instance, via the gastrointestinal tract, skin, and lungs where they can lead to adverse impacts.

Similar to traditional chemicals, nanomaterials should also be tested for possible health hazards before they are produced, used, and commercialized at the industrial level.

Each nanomaterial is now being tested individually. Moreover, individual tests are required for each nanomaterial variant because even the tiniest changesfor instance, in surface or size propertiescan impact toxicity.

Risk assessment for nanomaterials is sometimes difficult and very time-consuming. And the list of substances to be tested is getting longer every day, because nanotechnology is growing to become a key technology with wide-ranging applications. We therefore urgently need to find solutions for more efficient risk assessment.

Dr Andrea Haase, German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment

But how to suitably classify the nanomaterials into groups? Do their effects have similarities? And what properties of materials are related to these effects? In the new study, the BfR and UFZ researchers, as well as industry representatives, collaborated to answer these questions.

We focused on the biological effects and examined which molecules and signalling pathways in the cell are influenced by which types of nanomaterials, added Schubert.

The researchers performed in vitro experiments, where they exposed the epithelial cells found in rats lungs to different types of nanomaterials and then observed for changes inside the cells. To accomplish this task, the researchers utilized the so-called multi-omics techniquesthey first detected various amino acids and lipids as well as several thousand cell proteins, and analyzed significant signaling pathways inside the cell.

Then, with the help of an innovative bioinformatic analysis method, they assessed large amounts of data and reached some fascinating results.

We were able to show that nanomaterials with toxic effects initially trigger oxidative stress and that in the process certain proteins are up- or down-regulated in the cell. In future, these key molecules could serve as biomarkers to detect and provide evidence of potential toxic effects of nanomaterials quickly and effectively.

Dr Kristin Schubert, Department of Molecular Systems Biology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research

If the nanomaterial has high levels of toxicity, it results in increased oxidative stress. This is followed by the development of inflammatory processes, and the cell dies after a specific point.

We now have a better understanding of how nanomaterials affect the cell, added Haase. And with the help of biomarkers we can now also detect much lower toxic effects than previously possible.

In addition, the scientists detected distinct links between changes in the cellular metabolism and specific properties of nanomaterials.

For example, we were able to show that nanomaterials with a large surface area affect the cell quite differently from those with a small surface area, added Schubert.

It will be very useful to know the type of parameters that play a major role in toxic effects. It implies that nanomaterials can be improved at the time of the manufacturing process, for instance, via small changes, thereby reducing the harmful effects.

Our study has taken us several large steps forward, stated Schubert. For the first time, we have extensively analysed the biological mechanisms underlying the toxic effects, classified nanomaterials into groups based on their biological effects and identified key biomarkers for novel test methods.

Andrea Haase from BfR is more than happy: The results are important for future work. They will contribute to new concepts for the efficient, reliable risk assessment of nanomaterials and set the direction in which we need to go.

Source: https://www.ufz.de/

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Researchers Explore the Biological Effects of Nanomaterials - AZoNano