Monthly Archives: October 2021

Immunology

Immunology of SARS-CoV-2 infections and vaccines – DocWire News

This article was originally published here

Adv Immunol. 2021;151:49-97. doi: 10.1016/bs.ai.2021.08.002. Epub 2021 Sep 10.

ABSTRACT

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections trigger viral RNA sensors such as TLR7 and RIG-I, thereby leading to production of type I interferon (IFN) and other inflammatory mediators. Expression of viral proteins in the context of this inflammation leads to stereotypical antigen-specific antibody and T cell responses that clear the virus. Immunity is then maintained through long-lived antibody-secreting plasma cells and by memory B and T cells that can initiate anamnestic responses. Each of these steps is consistent with prior knowledge of acute RNA virus infections. Yet there are certain concepts, while not entirely new, that have been resurrected by the biology of severe SARS-CoV-2 infections and deserve further attention. These include production of anti-IFN autoantibodies, early inflammatory processes that slow adaptive humoral immunity, immunodominance of antibody responses, and original antigenic sin. Moreover, multiple different vaccine platforms allow for comparisons of pathways that promote robust and durable adaptive immunity.

PMID:34656288 | DOI:10.1016/bs.ai.2021.08.002

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Immunology of SARS-CoV-2 infections and vaccines - DocWire News

Immunology

Cue Biopharma Announces Publication in The Journal of Clinical Investigation Highlighting Immuno-STAT Biologics for the Treatment of Chronic…

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Oct. 21, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cue Biopharma, Inc. (Nasdaq: CUE), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company engineering a novel class of injectable biologics to selectively engage and modulate targeted T cells directly within the patients body, announced today the publication of a research study titled T-Cell Receptor-specific Immunotherapeutics Drive Selective In vivo HIV and CMV- specific T-Cell Expansion in Humanized Mice in the peer-reviewed Journal of Clinical Investigation. The article extends the application of Cue Biopharmas Immuno-STAT(Selective Targeting and Alteration of T cells)platform, also known as synTacs, from cancer therapy to the treatment of chronic infectious diseases caused by viruses such as HIV and CMV. The study was co-authored bySteven C. Almo, Ph.D., co-founder ofCue Biopharma, professor and chair of biochemistry, professor of physiology & biophysics and theWollowick Family Foundationchair in multiple sclerosis and immunology atAlbert Einstein College of Medicine,andHarris Goldstein, M.D., director of the Einstein-Rockefeller-CUNY Center for AIDS Research, professor of pediatrics and microbiology & immunology, the Charles Michael chair in autoimmune diseases and associate dean for scientific resources, also at Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

We hypothesized that we could boost the capacity of the natural immune response to effectively control and potentially clear chronic viral infections such as HIV and CMV by treating patients with biologics capable of selectively delivering the required primary and co-stimulatory signals needed to further activate and expand virus-specific immune T cells. Therapeutic approaches to date have not achieved this without ex vivo manipulation of immune T cells, which limits their clinical applicability, said Dr. Goldstein. We are pleased to demonstrate, using mice with a humanized immune system, the successful in vivo application of the Immuno-STAT framework, referred to as synTacs in the article, to selectively reactivate and expand virus-specific human immune T cells and suppress HIV and CMV infection. This supports the potential use of the Immuno-STAT framework to treat infectious diseases by directly amplifying virus-specific immune responses within the patients body. The objective of this research is to boost the cytotoxic activity of HIV-specific CD8+ T cells, thereby increasing their capacity to eliminate HIV-infected cells with the aim of achieving a functional cure for HIV-1 infection.

Dr. Almo added, This research demonstrates how Immuno-STATs, or synTacs, are able to activate HIV-specific cytotoxic T cells in vivo. This is a significant accomplishment considering that a major barrier in preventing a functional cure for HIV-infected individuals is the inability of their natural anti-HIV-specific cytotoxic T cells to eliminate infected cells after standard of care antiretroviral therapy ends. Given the modularity of this platform, which enables swapping of the costimulatory signals and the antigen-specific signals to any viral molecule, these data serve as proof-of-concept to not only demonstrate the potential of synTacs to treat HIV, but a variety of other infectious diseases, including novel viral infections such as SARS-Cov-2.

Anish Suri, Ph.D., president and chief scientific officer of Cue Biopharma, added, The clinical potential of Immuno-STAT biologics is already being revealed in our ongoing Phase 1 clinical trial of CUE-101, our lead drug product candidate, in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), which has shown a positive safety and efficacy profile to date. We are highly encouraged by these key datasets published by Dr. Steven Almo and Dr. Harris Goldstein, which demonstrate the potential of our biologics platforms to selectively activate virus-specific T cells for therapeutic applications across chronic infectious diseases, transplant rejection, graft-versus-host-disease (GVHD) and enhancing anti-tumor immunity.

Albert Einstein College of Medicineand its faculty members acknowledge the following relationships withCue Biopharma, Inc.:Dr. Almoholds equity inCue Biopharma, Inc., receives royalties from existing license agreements between Einstein and Cue Biopharma, and is a member of itsScience Advisory Board.Albert Einstein College of Medicineholds equity in Cue Biopharma and receives royalties from existing licensing agreements. Dr. Almo and Dr. Goldstein have received prior funding from Cue Biopharma under a sponsored research agreement.

About the CUE-200 SeriesThe Immuno-STAT platform enables development of first-in-class off-the-shelf biologic molecules designed to selectively engage and activate disease-relevant T cells via the T cell receptors (TCR), mimicking the natural immune process, through the presentation of complimentary and synergistic signals, or cues. The Immuno-STAT CUE-200 series is engineered to include: 1) a first signal or cue involving the presentation of a specific disease protein, via a major histocompatibility (MHC)-peptide complex, to T cell receptors (TCRs) of disease-specific T cells, and 2) a second costimulatory ligand receptor such as CD28- or 4-1BB, able to promote activation and expansion of CD8+ cytotoxic T cells, the relevant type of T cells with virus-killing activity. The Immuno-STAT is constructed upon a portion of a human antibody (the Fc portion) that serves as the molecules backbone or scaffold and provides manufacturability and structural stability.

AboutCue BiopharmaCue Biopharma, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, is engineering a novel class of injectable biologics to selectively engage and modulate targeted T cells directly within the patients body to transform the treatment of cancer, infectious disease and autoimmune disease. The companys proprietary Immuno-STAT (Selective Targeting and Alteration of T cells) platform, is designed to harness the bodys intrinsic immune system without the need for ex vivo manipulation.

Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the company is led by an experienced management team and independent Board of Directors with deep expertise in immunology and immuno-oncology as well as the design and clinical development of protein biologics.

For more information, visit https://www.cuebiopharma.com and follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/CueBiopharma.

Forward-Looking StatementsThis press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, that are intended to be covered by the safe harbor created by those sections. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, those regarding: the companys estimate of the period in which it expects to have cash to fund its operations; the companys belief that the Immuno-STAT platform stimulates targeted immune modulation through the selective engagement of disease-relevant T cells; and the companys business strategies, plans and prospects. Forward-looking statements, which are based on certain assumptions and describe the companys future plans, strategies and expectations, can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terms such as believe, expect, may, will, should, would, could, seek, intend, plan, goal, project, estimate, anticipate, strategy, future, likely or other comparable terms, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this press release regarding the companys strategies, prospects, financial condition, operations, costs, plans and objectives are forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause the companys actual results and financial condition to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements include, among others, the companys limited operating history, limited cash and a history of losses; the companys ability to achieve profitability; potential setbacks in the companys research and development efforts including negative or inconclusive results from its preclinical studies, its ability to secure required U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or other governmental approvals for its product candidates and the breadth of any approved indication; adverse effects caused by public health pandemics, including COVID-19, including possible effects on the companys trials; negative or inconclusive results from the companys clinical trials or preclinical studies or serious and unexpected drug-related side effects or other safety issues experienced by participants in clinical trials; delays and changes in regulatory requirements, policy and guidelines including potential delays in submitting required regulatory applications to the FDA; the companys reliance on licensors, collaborators, contract research organizations, suppliers and other business partners; the companys ability to obtain adequate financing to fund its business operations in the future; operations and clinical the companys ability to maintain and enforce necessary patent and other intellectual property protection; competitive factors; general economic and market conditions and the other risks and uncertainties described in the Risk Factors and in Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations sections of the companys most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K and any subsequently filed Quarterly Report(s) on Form 10-Q. Any forward-looking statement made by the company in this press release is based only on information currently available to the company and speaks only as of the date on which it is made. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.

Investor ContactGeorge B. Zavoico, Ph.D.VP, Investor Relations & Corporate Development Cue Biopharma, Inc. gzavoico@cuebio.com

Media ContactDarren Opland, Ph.D.LifeSci Communicationsdarren@lifescicomms.com

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Immunology

Janssen’s Data Ecosystem and the Role of Data Managers – Bio-IT World

By Allison Proffitt

October 20, 2021 | At the Bio-IT World Conference & Expo last month, Aleksandar Stojmirovic and Weiwei Schultz, both of Janssens Data Science group, explained the data management mission and vision of Janssen R&D.

The team, Stojmirovic said, originated in the immunology therapeutic area, but moved to Data Science several years ago and now seeks to deliver end-to-end solutions for translational research data across Janssen R&D focusing on discovery, translational science, biomarkers and data science. The groups mission is to organize and manage Janssen research data according to FAIR principles (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable), thus building an integrated and standardize data ecosystem helping to derive deep insights and make timely decisions for the therapeutic portfolio.

Janssen used to be a highly decentralized organization, Stojmirovic explained, with research data acquisition, storage, and analysis all centered on therapeutic area. The approach, he said, led to missing data management workflows, a variety of metadata schema, and inconsistent data curation and storage. As a result, data were not traceable up or downstream of an individual team and there was no way to search or compare data across therapeutic areas.

Data would get lost, he summarized. Our team was formed to unify research data management based on the foundations established in the immunology therapeutic area.

The guiding principles of the new approach follow FAIR principles. The first priority is a unified data management strategy, enabling data reuse and integrative analysis across the company and breaking silos within and between therapeutic areas and functions.

Target development programs of course they are related within therapeutic areas, Stojmirovic said. Sometimes the same target may have been examined before and the data may be available within your organization but may not be able to be found.

The team worked to scale cross-functional initiatives for target and biomarker identification, patient stratification, and disease understanding. These cross-functional initiatives would not only tear down data silos, but also group silos: Not only to bring data together, but to foster connectivity between people and data, he said. Fostering people-focused connection facilitates the continuity of operations, Stojmirovic added. When turnover happens within the organization, data and analyses are not lost.

Changing Culture

This was only the first step in a much larger cultural change effort to cultivate a data stewardship mentality across the organization so that data and metadata are handled consistently, ownership is shared, and common workflows flourish.

Its not enough just for an analysist to be involved in a portfolio program. We dont want this attitude of, Just give me the data and Ill give you the results. We need to ensure that everyone share responsibility of ownership and execution of the data management best practices, Stojmirovic said.

The model Janssen has chosen for an ecosystem to facilitate this is a data manager who sits on the Data Management Team, working with data engineers, curators, and bioinformaticians, but also liaising with stakeholders including data generators, consumers, owners, data scientists and analysists, and senior therapeutic area leadership, as well was with compliance and Janssen Business Technology.

Data managersand the Data Management team as a wholeare really at the center of this ecosystem, corresponding with everyone, Stojmirovic explained.

Schultz flagged this as a key challenge to the launch of the ecosystem. Data managers had to establish trust with stakeholders and data owners. She recommended that managers, work with them to find optimal data management solutions that keeps them in the loop.

Ecosystem Structure

The structure of the new ecosystem was meant to ensure data was available in a permanent repository, was annotated at the study and experiment levels, and was quickly turned over to analysts. Final processing and analysis would then be stored with the raw data in the permanent repository for re-use.

The ecosystem is organized, then, by ingest, storage and annotation, and then visualization and cataloging, explained Weiwei Schultz.

All raw research dataeither internally or externally generated, along with minimal metadata annotations as yaml filesare ingested first into a staging area either on the cloud or on premises. From there, the responsible data manager transfers data to its permanent storage location on the cloud. Permanent storage is based on therapeutic area and organized in a hierarchical structure of disease, program, study, and experiment. From there, visualization and cataloging happen via internally-developed platforms.

Metadata models were another challenge, Schultz said. The team sought to strike a balance between a metadata model that required minimal effort to populate while still being usefully descriptive, she said.

End users can only access data from permanent storage, Schultz explained, and they work with the data on local or cloud-based user workspaces. Processed data and analysis are ingested the same way raw research data are, passing, again, by the responsible data manager to be stored with the raw data.

Among the internally-developed tools data owners and managers use to facilitate the ecosystem, Schultz mentioned JRD Annotator, a web application providing standard schemas, attributes, and vocabularies; and BioViz, which offers visualization by expression, contrast, genes, and more.

The efforts have paid off. Since August 30, 2021, more than 770 experiments and 400 TB of data have been process through the workflow across all therapeutic areas, Schultz reported. The team has realized a 75% reduction in time required to finalize ingestion of a single dataset.

But Shultz still emphasized that Janssens data management story is one of continual evolution. It is never too late to implement an enterprise-grade data management strategy for your organization, she said.

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Janssen's Data Ecosystem and the Role of Data Managers - Bio-IT World

Immunology

argenx to Report Third Quarter 2021 Financial Results and Business Update on October 28, 2021 – Benzinga – Benzinga

October 21, 2021

Breda, the Netherlands argenx ((Euronext &, NASDAQ:ARGX), a global immunology company committed to improving the lives of people suffering from severe autoimmune diseases and cancer, today announced that it will host a conference call and audio webcast on Thursday, October 28, 2021 at 2:30 pm CET (8:30 am ET) to discuss its third quarter 2021 financial results and provide a business update.

A webcast of the live call may be accessed on the Investors section of the argenx website at argenx.com/investors. A replay of the webcast will be available on the argenx website for approximately one year following the call.

Dial-in numbers:

Please dial in 15 minutes prior to the live call.

Belgium 0800 389 13France0805 102 319Netherlands 0800 949 4506United Kingdom 0800 279 9489United States 1 844 808 7140International 1 412 902 0128

About argenx

argenx is a global immunology company committed to improving the lives of people suffering from severe autoimmune diseases and cancer. Partnering with leading academic researchers through its Immunology Innovation Program (IIP), argenx aims to translate immunology breakthroughs into a world-class portfolio of novel antibody-based medicines. argenx is evaluating efgartigimod in multiple serious autoimmune diseases. argenx is also advancing several earlier stage experimental medicines within its therapeutic franchises. argenx has offices in Belgium, the United States, Japan, and Switzerland. For more information, visit https://www.argenx.com and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

For further information, please contact:

Media:

Kelsey Kirkkkirk@argenx.com

Joke Comijn (EU)jcomijn@argenx.com

Investors:

Beth DelGiaccobdelgiacco@argenx.com

Michelle Greenblattmgreenblatt@argenx.com

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argenx to Report Third Quarter 2021 Financial Results and Business Update on October 28, 2021 - Benzinga - Benzinga

Immunology

Gut-skin axis may hold the answer to hidradenitis suppurativa – Pharmaceutical Technology

At the 30th European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV) Congress held from 29 September to 2 October, results were presented from a study exploring patterns in the skin, nasal mucosa and gut microbiomes of 59 patients with the rare skin disease hidradenitis suppurativa (HS). HS, also called acne inversa, is a chronic inflammatory skin disease that affects apocrine gland-bearing skin in the axillae, groin and under the breasts. The disease is characterised by persistent or recurrent boil-like nodules and abscesses that culminate in a purulent discharge, sinus formation and scarring. Because effective therapies for the disease are limited, there is great unmet need for better treatment options.

The study by McCarthy and colleagues presented at EADV tested faecal samples, as well as nasal and skin swabs. It demonstrated compromised biodiversity both on the skin and in the gut of HS patients, and highlighted abnormal levels of specific bacterial species. HS-specific patterns in patients skin and gut microbiomes in this study suggest that, similar to psoriasis (PsO), HS may be a good candidate indication for microbiome-targeting therapeutics acting via the gut-skin axis, which is the relationship between the immune system and the neuroendocrine systems of the gut and skin.

In the study presented at EADV, McCarthy and colleagues confirmed reduced microbiome alpha and beta diversity in HS, as well as abnormally elevated levels of bacterial strains such as Clostridium ramosum in faecal samples and Finegoldia magna on skin samples of HS patients. Ruminococcus gnavus was, notably, over-abundant in the faecal microbiome of HS patients, a finding similarly reported in Crohns disease. Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a relatively common comorbidity of HS, affecting around 1-3% of patients. It is possible that common microbiota alterations in HS and IBD could serve as a link between these comorbid conditions.

Lack of microbial diversity in both the skin and gut have been found to play a critical role in the pathology of other dermatological indications, particularly those with a more systemic pattern of disease manifestation, such as PsO, a disease that is also frequently associated with IBD. As explored in GlobalDatas recent Microbiome Targeted Therapeutics in Immunology report, there is currently one microbiome-targeting pipeline candidate for PsO, Evelo Biosciences EDP-1815, which targets skin symptoms via the modulation of gut microbiota. Evelo recently announced positive Phase IIb (NCT04603027) data for the drug in PsO and is about to initiate Phase IIa studies of the same drug for the treatment of atopic dermatitis. No microbiome-targeting therapies are currently under development for HS, but the data presented at EADV suggest that this disease may be a good candidate for a microbiome-targeting approach similar to that used in PsO.

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R&D, Production, Contract Manufacturing, and Marketing of Pharmaceutical Drugs

Biopharma Cold Chain Engineering with State-of-the-Art Transport Simulation Laboratory

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Neuroscience

Experts address the limitations of studying individual brains in cognitive neuroscience – News-Medical.Net

In a new paper, scientists suggest that efforts to understand human cognition should expand beyond the study of individual brains. They call on neuroscientists to incorporate evidence from social science disciplines to better understand how people think.

"Accumulating evidence indicates that memory, reasoning, decision-making and other higher-level functions take place across people," the researchers wrote in a review in the journal Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience. "Cognition extends into the physical world and the brains of others."

The co-authors neuroscientist Aron Barbey, a professor of psychology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; Richard Patterson, a professor emeritus of philosophy at Emory University; and Steven Sloman, a professor of cognitive, linguistic and psychological sciences at Brown University wanted to address the limitations of studying brains in isolation, out of the context in which they operate and stripped of the resources they rely on for optimal function.

In cognitive neuroscience, the standard approach is essentially to assume that knowledge is represented in the individual brain and transferred between individuals. But there are, we think, important cases where those assumptions begin to break down."

Aron Barbey, Neuroscientist and Professor of Psychology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Take, for instance, the fact that people often "outsource" the task of understanding or coming to conclusions about complex subject matter, using other people's expertise to guide their own decision-making.

"Most people will agree that smoking contributes to the incidence of lung cancer without necessarily understanding precisely how that occurs," Barbey said. "And when doctors diagnose and treat disease, they don't transfer all of their knowledge to their patients. Instead, patients rely on doctors to help them decide the best course of action.

"Without relying on experts in our community, our beliefs would become untethered from the social conventions and scientific evidence that are necessary to support them," he said. "It would become unclear, for example, whether 'smoking causes lung cancer,' bringing into question the truth of our beliefs, the motivation for our actions."

To understand the role that knowledge serves in human intelligence, the researchers wrote that it is necessary to look beyond the individual and to study the community.

"Cognition is, to a large extent, a group activity, not an individual one," Sloman said. "People depend on others for their reasoning, judgment and decision-making. Cognitive neuroscience is not able to shed light on this aspect of cognitive processing."

The limitations of individual knowledge and human dependence on others for understanding are the themes of "The Knowledge Illusion: Why We Never Think Alone," a book Sloman wrote with Phil Fernbach, a cognitive scientist and professor of marketing at the University of Colorado.

"The challenge for cognitive neuroscience becomes how to capture knowledge that does not reside in the individual brain but is outsourced to the community," Barbey said.

Neuroscientific methods such as functional MRI were designed to track activity in one brain at a time and have limited capacity for capturing the dynamics that occur when individuals interact in large communities, he said.

Some neuroscientists are trying to overcome this limitation. In a recent study, researchers placed two people face-to-face in a scanner and tracked their brain activity and eye movements while they interacted. Other teams use a technique called "hyperscanning," which allows the simultaneous recording of brain activity in people who are physically distant from each another but interacting online.

Such efforts have found evidence suggesting that the same brain regions are activated in people who are effectively communicating with one another or cooperating on a task, Barbey said. These studies are also showing how brains operate differently from one another, depending on the type of interaction and the context.

Several fields of research are ahead of neuroscience in understanding and embracing the collective, collaborative nature of knowledge, Patterson said. For example, "social epistemology" recognizes that knowledge is a social phenomenon that depends on community norms, a shared language and a reliable method for testing the trustworthiness of potential sources.

"Philosophers studying natural language also illustrate how knowledge relies on the community," Patterson said. "For example, according to 'externalism,' the meaning of words depends on how they are used and represented within a social context. Thus, the meaning of the word and its correct use depends on collected knowledge that extends beyond the individual."

To address these shortfalls, neuroscientists can look to other social science fields, Barbey said.

"We need to incorporate not only neuroscience evidence, but also evidence from social psychology, social anthropology and other disciplines that are better positioned to study the community of knowledge," he said

Source:

Journal reference:

Sloman, S. A., et al. (2021) Cognitive Neuroscience Meets the Community of Knowledge. Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience. doi.org/10.3389/fnsys.2021.675127.

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Experts address the limitations of studying individual brains in cognitive neuroscience - News-Medical.Net

Neuroscience

Philip receives NIH grant for neuroscience research – The Source – Washington University Record

Benjamin Allen Philip, assistant professor of occupational therapy, of neurology and of surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, received a five-year $2.1 million grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke of the National institutes of Health (NIH) for research titled Extramural Research Programs in the Neurosciences and Neurological Disorders.

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Philip receives NIH grant for neuroscience research - The Source - Washington University Record

Neuroscience

Gladstone Neuroscience Researcher Elected to the National Academy of Medicine – Yahoo Finance

Lennart Mucke is recognized for his pioneering discoveries in research on Alzheimer's disease and related disorders

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Lennart Mucke, MD, founding director of the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease and senior investigator at Gladstone Institutes, has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM). Election to the Academy is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine and recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service.

Lennart Mucke is recognized by the National Academy of Medicine for his leading role in defining molecular and pathophysiological mechanisms by which Alzheimers disease causes synaptic failure, neural network dysfunctions, and cognitive decline. Photo: Michael Short/Gladstone Institutes

The prestigious recognition is a testament to Mucke's long track record of contributions to disease-focused neuroscience, and particularly to Alzheimer's disease and other conditions that rob people of their abilities to control and enjoy their lives.

Alzheimer's disease is a complicated and multifactorial condition that affects more than 50 million people worldwide, including 6 million in the United States, causing many abnormalities in the brain. Mucke has played a leading role in deciphering which of these abnormalities actually contribute to cognitive declineand therefore merit therapeutic interventionand which may be "red herrings," for example changes that look ominous under the microscope but do not actually cause loss of memory or other key symptoms of the disease.

In doing so, Mucke has debunked several dogmas and helped focus the field's attention on molecular and cellular processes that truly matter in regard to brain functions and the main symptoms that impair the lives of patients and their caretakers. His discoveries include the demonstration that key proteins implicated in Alzheimer's diseaseincluding amyloid-beta, apolipoprotein E4 (apoE4), and taucan cause brain dysfunctions independent of plaques and tangles, which are pathological hallmarks of the disease.

Mucke also discovered that tau regulates the activity of neurons, and that reducing the levels of this protein in the brain blocks abnormal neuronal activities in experimental models of diseases as diverse as Alzheimer's, epilepsy, and autism. Several of his scientific discoveries are being translated into novel therapeutics for these and related conditions by his team and others in academia and the biopharmaceutical industry.

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"I am most grateful to the outstanding investigators who nominated me and to the many NAM members who supported me with their vote," says Mucke, who is also the Joseph B. Martin Distinguished Professor of Neuroscience and a professor of neurology at UC San Francisco. "Many of my former and current coworkers contributed to this achievement, and we all share this honor together. I greatly appreciate what the NAM stands for and will do whatever I can to support its mission."

A Global and Multipronged Approach to Overcoming Alzheimer's Disease

Despite a significant investment in research, potential therapies for Alzheimer's disease have been slow to arrive, most likely because of the complexity and multifactorial nature of the disease.

"The path toward generating therapeutics that are efficacious and safe when given to millions of people for many years is always challenging," Mucke notes. "This process is made even more difficult in the case of Alzheimer's disease because it affects the elderly, who often suffer from other aging-related conditions requiring treatments that might adversely interact with novel therapeutics for Alzheimer's."

To address this complexity, Mucke is leading efforts at Gladstone to investigate how multiple genetic and non-genetic factors come together to promote the disease. This multipronged approach is helping to diversify the drug development portfolio for Alzheimer's disease. Mucke and his colleagues are also using similar approaches to develop better therapies for other diseases that affect the nervous system, including Parkinson's disease, frontotemporal dementia, epilepsy, and autism.

"My hope is that our comprehensive strategy will improve treatment options for several common, devastating, and incurable diseases," says Mucke. "To be successful in this quest, we must continue to nurture interactions between basic scientists and clinicians, as well as between academia and industry."

To ensure an even broader, global impact of his experience and expertise, Mucke has served as an advisor on innovative neurodegenerative disease-focused initiatives to the governments of the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom, and to several major pharmaceutical companies.

He has also mentored over 60 graduate students and postdoctoral scholars, many of whom are now leading their own labs throughout the country and continuing to contribute to the field of neuroscience research.

"I have a great passion for mentorship and like to tailor my approaches to the particular needs and potential of each individual," he says. "I believe that my colleagues and I have created an adventuresome team spirit and uncompromising standard of excellence that is ideal for training in disease-focused neuroscience."

Mucke has been at Gladstone since 1996, but can trace his interest in neuroscience and medicine back to his teenage years.

"I developed a great interest in psychiatry, neurology, and neuroscience when I was in high school and to this day can't think of anything more fascinating and rewarding than to discover how the brain works and how to preserve the fragile structures that harbor the very essence of who we are," he says.

He is a graduate of the Georg-August University and the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry (Neurobiology) in Gttingen, Germany. He trained in internal medicine at the Cleveland Clinic, in neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and in neuroimmunology and neurovirology at The Scripps Research Institute. He is also a member of the American Neurological Association and the Association of American Physicians.

Mucke's election was announced on October 18, 2021, by the NAM, which is part of the congressionally chartered National Academy of Sciencesprivate, nonprofit institutions that provide objective advice on matters of science, technology, and health. He joins six fellow NAM members from Gladstone Institutes: Jennifer Doudna, PhD, senior investigator; Warner Greene, MD, PhD, senior investigator and director of the Michael Hulton Center for HIV Cure Research; Robert W. Mahley, MD, PhD, senior investigator, president emeritus, and Gladstone founder; Deepak Srivastava, MD, senior investigator and current president of Gladstone; R. Sanders Williams, MD, former Gladstone president; and Shinya Yamanaka, MD, PhD, senior investigator.

About Gladstone Institutes

To ensure our work does the greatest good, Gladstone Institutes focuses on conditions with profound medical, economic, and social impactunsolved diseases. Gladstone is an independent, nonprofit life science research organization that uses visionary science and technology to overcome disease. It has an academic affiliation with the University of California, San Francisco.

Media Contact: Julie Langelier | Associate Director, Communications | julie.langelier@gladstone.org | 415.734.5000 1650 Owens Street, San Francisco, CA 94158 | gladstone.org

Gladstone Institutes logo (PRNewsfoto/Gladstone Institutes)

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Gladstone Neuroscience Researcher Elected to the National Academy of Medicine - Yahoo Finance

Neuroscience

Advances in Health: Ayer Neuroscience Institute – WTNH.com

NORTH WINDHAM, Conn. (WTNH) -- Two teachers in North Windham just got some grant money to help with urban farming at the school.

Nicole Bay and Christian Kollegger are educators at Charles H. Barrows STEM Academy. They recieved $27,000 in Voya Financial Unsung Heroes grant money to help bring urban farming for food and STEM to students.

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Advances in Health: Ayer Neuroscience Institute - WTNH.com

Neuroscience

Gladstone Neuroscience researcher elected to – EurekAlert

image:Gladstone Investigator Lennart Mucke is recognized by the National Academy of Medicine for his leading role in defining molecular and pathophysiological mechanisms by which Alzheimers disease causes synaptic failure, neural network dysfunctions, and cognitive decline. view more

Credit: Photo: Gladstone Institutes

SAN FRANCISCO, CAOctober 18, 2021Lennart Mucke, MD, founding director of the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease and senior investigator at Gladstone Institutes, has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM). Election to the Academy is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine and recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service.

The prestigious recognition is a testament to Muckes long track record of contributions to disease-focused neuroscience, and particularly to Alzheimers disease and other conditions that rob people of their abilities to control and enjoy their lives.

Alzheimers disease is a complicated and multifactorial condition that affects more than 50 million people worldwide, including 6 million in the United States, causing many abnormalities in the brain. Mucke has played a leading role in deciphering which of these abnormalities actually contribute to cognitive declineand therefore merit therapeutic interventionand which may be red herrings, for example changes that look ominous under the microscope but do not actually cause loss of memory or other key symptoms of the disease.

In doing so, Mucke has debunked several dogmas and helped focus the fields attention on molecular and cellular processes that truly matter in regard to brain functions and the main symptoms that impair the lives of patients and their caretakers. His discoveries include the demonstration that key proteins implicated in Alzheimers diseaseincluding amyloid-beta, apolipoprotein E4 (apoE4), and taucan cause brain dysfunctions independent of plaques and tangles, which are pathological hallmarks of the disease.

Mucke also discovered that tau regulates the activity of neurons, and that reducing the levels of this protein in the brain blocks abnormal neuronal activities in experimental models of diseases as diverse as Alzheimers, epilepsy, and autism. Several of his scientific discoveries are being translated into novel therapeutics for these and related conditions by his team and others in academia and the biopharmaceutical industry.

I am most grateful to the outstanding investigators who nominated me and to the many NAM members who supported me with their vote, says Mucke, who is also the Joseph B. Martin Distinguished Professor of Neuroscience and a professor of neurology at UC San Francisco. Many of my former and current coworkers contributed to this achievement, and we all share this honor together. I greatly appreciate what the NAM stands for and will do whatever I can to support its mission.

A Global and Multipronged Approach to Overcoming Alzheimers Disease

Despite a significant investment in research, potential therapies for Alzheimers disease have been slow to arrive, most likely because of the complexity and multifactorial nature of the disease.

The path toward generating therapeutics that are efficacious and safe when given to millions of people for many years is always challenging, Mucke notes. This process is made even more difficult in the case of Alzheimers disease because it affects the elderly, who often suffer from other aging-related conditions requiring treatments that might adversely interact with novel therapeutics for Alzheimers.

To address this complexity, Mucke is leading efforts at Gladstone to investigate how multiple genetic and non-genetic factors come together to promote the disease. This multipronged approach is helping to diversify the drug development portfolio for Alzheimers disease. Mucke and his colleagues are also using similar approaches to develop better therapies for other diseases that affect the nervous system, including Parkinsons disease, frontotemporal dementia, epilepsy, and autism.

My hope is that our comprehensive strategy will improve treatment options for several common, devastating, and incurable diseases, says Mucke. To be successful in this quest, we must continue to nurture interactions between basic scientists and clinicians, as well as between academia and industry.

To ensure an even broader, global impact of his experience and expertise, Mucke has served as an advisor on innovative neurodegenerative disease-focused initiatives to the governments of the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom, and to several major pharmaceutical companies.

He has also mentored over 60 graduate students and postdoctoral scholars, many of whom are now leading their own labs throughout the country and continuing to contribute to the field of neuroscience research.

I have a great passion for mentorship and like to tailor my approaches to the particular needs and potential of each individual, he says. I believe that my colleagues and I have created an adventuresome team spirit and uncompromising standard of excellence that is ideal for training in disease-focused neuroscience.

Mucke has been at Gladstone since 1996, but can trace his interest in neuroscience and medicine back to his teenage years.

I developed a great interest in psychiatry, neurology, and neuroscience when I was in high school and to this day cant think of anything more fascinating and rewarding than to discover how the brain works and how to preserve the fragile structures that harbor the very essence of who we are, he says.

He is a graduate of the Georg-August University and the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry (Neurobiology) in Gttingen, Germany. He trained in internal medicine at the Cleveland Clinic, in neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and in neuroimmunology and neurovirology at The Scripps Research Institute. He is also a member of the American Neurological Association and the Association of American Physicians.

Muckes election was announced on October 18, 2021, by the NAM, which is part of the congressionally chartered National Academy of Sciencesprivate, nonprofit institutions that provide objective advice on matters of science, technology, and health. He joins six fellow NAM members from Gladstone Institutes: Jennifer Doudna, PhD, senior investigator; Warner Greene, MD, PhD, senior investigator and director of the Michael Hulton Center for HIV Cure Research; Robert W. Mahley, MD, PhD, senior investigator, president emeritus, and Gladstone founder; Deepak Srivastava, MD, senior investigator and current president of Gladstone; R. Sanders Williams, MD, former Gladstone president; and Shinya Yamanaka, MD, PhD, senior investigator.

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About Gladstone Institutes

To ensure our work does the greatest good, Gladstone Institutes focuses on conditions with profound medical, economic, and social impactunsolved diseases. Gladstone is an independent, nonprofit life science research organization that uses visionary science and technology to overcome disease. It has an academic affiliation with the University of California, San Francisco.

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Gladstone Neuroscience researcher elected to - EurekAlert