All posts by medical

Cell-cultured and plant-based seafood: Will COVID-19 boost progression in the sector? – FoodIngredientsFirst

April 29, 2020 medical

29 Apr 2020 --- As the world learns to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, eating behaviors are already changing. The global population is projected to reach more than 9.8 billion by 2050, and with this comes the challenge to secure sustainable, nutritious and plant-friendly food supplies. With the interest in cell-cultured seafood making waves and theacceptance of meat grown in a lab taking off, could the COVID-19 crisis boost further progression in this burgeoning sector?

FoodIngredientsFirstspeaks with innovators in cell- and plant-based seafood, as the pandemic shines a light on new ways of consuming fish and meat, in a way which is deemed better for the planet and provides a flexible alternative during times of crisis. Many of the key players in this space also predict significant funding of companies in this sector throughout the year, with a sharpened focus on speed to market.

Experts have already predicted that demand for meat, poultry and seafood will increase substantially as the global population increases over the next several decades. Now, as the world faces the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, we are seeing how fragile our food supply chain is and how critical it is for the US to utilize all technology at our disposal to support a flexible and secure food system that can continue to feed the world, a spokesperson for Alliance for Meat, Poultry & Seafood Innovation (AMPS Innovation) tells FoodIngredientsFirst.

Click to EnlargeExperts have already predicted that demand for meat, poultry and seafood will increase substantially as the global population increases over the next several decades.A silver lining?BlueNalu has touted cell-based food as a solution to food security since its inception, and along with sustainability and traceability, Lou Cooperhouse, President and CEO, sees a greater need for this additional food supply.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created a heightened awareness regarding the vulnerability of our planet, he says. Consumers are taking a closer look at current food systems, how our food is sourced, and how their food choices can make a difference.

With the uncertainties and challenges brought by COVID-19, a light is cast on the fragility of our food system, how rapidly supply and demand can become mismatched, the way consumers interact with and receive products can shift, and how the processes we depend on can be put at risk, comments Michael Selden, CEO and Co-Founder of Finless Foods, which harnesses cellular biology to develop new ways to produce nutritious, environmentally-friendly versions of fish and seafood products.

It definitely shows the importance of agility and ensuring a trusted supply that can be localized and decentralized. Cell-based seafood can be a strong tool moving forward for us to address these challenges in a new, innovative way to ensure a stable and secure food system that can react quickly to new phenomena, he tells FoodIngredientsFirst. If anything, now even more than ever, there is a strong case made for the development and support of this burgeoning industry.

For Kimberlie Le, Co-Founder at Prime Roots which makes alternative meats and seafood, made from a whole food protein from koji, grown in California the global health crisis will provide a silver lining for plant-based meat and seafood. There has been a growing awareness among the general population about the concerns with animal agriculture from human and environmental health perspectives.

Consumers are also interested in trying new things while at home and they are also looking for products that are cleaner and healthier and have better shelf-life and safety standards, according to Le. Plant-based products are much better positioned to serve these growing consumer demands than their animal-based counterparts, she notes.

The cultured and alternative seafood space has attracted significant investments in recent times and technologies show no sign of slowing down. From pioneering technology that grows shrimp meat in a laboratory to fish made from fungus technologies are breaching new realms of possibility.

2020 has already been a banner year for companies producing both plant-based and cell-based seafood products in terms of investments, details Cooperhouse of BlueNalu, who recently closed on a US$20 million Series A round of financing for cell-based seafood. Meanwhile, Gathered Foods, parent company of the Good Catch brand, recently closed a US$32 million Series B round for its plant-based products.Click to EnlargeThe cultured and alternative seafood space has attracted significant investments in recent times and technologies show no sign of slowing down. Above is an image of plant-based "lobster" from Prime Roots.

I believe that we will see significant additional funding of companies in this sector in 2020, and we will also see increasing announcements of partnerships with conventional multinational food companies which will provide infrastructure to support getting these products efficiently to market, explains Cooperhouse.

In the cell-based seafood sector, we will also see advancements in cost reduction and readiness for market launch. We are likely to also see progress at the federal regulatory level, that brings us all closer to commercialization and market launch. BlueNalu is planning a small market launch later in 2021, pending this regulatory approval, he continues.

A better catch?Cooperhouse is also anticipating that there will be a significant interest in cell-based seafood products from both consumers and foodservice operators. Cell-based seafood products originating from companies like BlueNalu provide an option that is sustainable, consistent, free of environmental contaminants, with 100 percent yield, that can dramatically reduce the stresses on our ocean and offer many more additional benefits, he stresses. We are also seeing increased interest in BlueNalus cell-based seafood as our process results in a more stable global supply chain and enhanced food security.

We need various tools in the toolbox to supply this growing demand in the near future, including well-managed wild-caught fisheries, responsible aquaculture, and, importantly, innovations in cell-based seafood, explains Selden of Finless Foods. Cell-based seafood provides an additional benefit for those species that are in high demand, such as tuna, and specifically Bluefin tuna, which have a strong conservation thesis.

Global demand for seafood is currently at an all-time high and is anticipated to increase significantly in the decades ahead, particularly as GDP increases in nations around the world. Unfortunately, says Cooperhouse, Our supply of seafood will be continually challenged to keep up with this demand, and there is great concern from many global organizations regarding our ability to feed our planet with its protein supply in the decades ahead.

Based on global protein consumption, BlueNalu expects that cell-based seafood products will make up a great majority of all cultured meat products during this time period and the company is building a library of species and seafood products to meet this growing demand.

Responding to waves of changeThe regulatory environment for the cell-based industry is in the process of being solidified,to ensure a clear, supportive regulatory pathway to market, explains Selden of Finless Foods. The biggest difficulty for cell-based seafood is reducing costs to an affordable level for consumers to access, he notes.

Meanwhile, developing stable cell lines in seafood without genetic engineering is deemed one of the biggest challenges in cell-cultured seafood, Chris Damman, Chief Technical Officer at BluNalu, tells FoodIngredientsFirst.

Click to EnlargePlant-based spicy "tuna" from Prime Roots. The company says plant-based seafood and fish are still lacking in the market.There were no fish muscle cell lines available worldwide when BlueNalu began operations in June 2018, he comments. As all of our products are non-GMO, and we had to develop new cell isolation methods and proliferation protocols.

Another challenge Damman details is developing growth media that are serum free and cost efficient. BlueNalus protocols eliminate the need for FBS (fetal bovine serum) in its large-scale production process. Instead, BlueNalu has developed proprietary formulations that enable us to grow our cells without serum, he states.

Meanwhile, the goal is to make a product that handles and cooks like conventional fish, he remarks. BlueNalu did just that and demonstrated this with yellowtail amberjack in December 2019. Our chef demonstrated that our yellowtail can be prepared in various ways, including deep frying and marination in an acidified solution [as in a poke or ceviche application]. Creating cell-based fish pieces that have the right consistency and mouthfeel in the raw state and when cooked is a technical milestone that is very difficult to accomplish, Damman explains.

Currently, BlueNalu is working on Mahi Mahi as the next species in the companys product pipeline. Within the next 12 months it will enter the product development phase where we fine-tune the texture and taste. This product will then be ready to enter a test market in the second half of 2021, once FDA regulatory clearance has been obtained, reveals Damman.

Turning the tide on plant-based seafoodAccording to Le at Prime Roots, plant-based seafood and fish are still lacking in the market, but she does expect there to be some new products and advancements in 2020. This is a largely underserved market, and some sources cite that 40 percent of the consumption of protein globally is in seafood while we know that less than 1 percent of alternative proteins are targeting seafood, she highlights.

Many players in the alternative meat space mostly use soy, wheat, or pea-based ingredients, while Prime Roots products are made using koji, a fermented Japanese fungus.

In terms of flavors and colors, there are a lot of innovative ingredients from plant and algae sources, notes Le, adding that there are many textures and flavors that are almost impossible to replicate with plant bases since they tend to be airy and spongy in texture and have strong off-flavors.

By Elizabeth Green

To contact our editorial team please email us at editorial@cnsmedia.com

If you found this article valuable, you may wish to receive our newsletters. Subscribe now to receive the latest news directly into your inbox.

Link:
Cell-cultured and plant-based seafood: Will COVID-19 boost progression in the sector? - FoodIngredientsFirst

Cell Biology

COVID-19: What’s RNA research got to do with it? – University of Rochester

April 29, 2020 medical

April 28, 2020

Rochester research into RNA structure and function provides key information for developing coronavirus treatments.

Viruses like the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 are able to unleash their fury because of a devious weapon: ribonucleic acid, also known as RNA.

A contingent of researchers at the University of Rochester study the RNA of viruses to better understand how RNAs work and how they are involved in diseases. As COVID-19 continues to spread around the globe, RNA research provides an important foundation for developing antiviral drugs, vaccines, and other therapeutics to disrupt the virus and stop infections.

The Universitys website is a way to find guidance and critical information during a rapidly changing situation.

Find out what to do if you or a close contact have symptoms or think you may have been exposed.

Understanding RNA structure and function helps us understand how to throw a therapeutic wrench into what the COVID-19 RNA doesmake new virus that can infect more of our cells and also the cells of other human beings, says Lynne Maquat, professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the University of Rochester Medical Center and the director of Rochesters Center for RNA Biology.

In the past few decades, as scientists came to realize that genetic material is largely regulated by the RNA it encodes, that most of our DNA produces RNA, and that RNA is not only a target but also a tool for disease therapies, the RNA research world has exploded, Maquat says. The University of Rochester understood this.

In 2007, Maquat founded the Center for RNA Biology as a means of conducting interdisciplinary research in the function, structure, and processing of RNAs. The center involves researchers from both the River Campus and the Medical Center, combining expertise in biology, chemistry, engineering, neurology, and pharmacology.

While much of the research across the University has been put on pause, labs that are involved in coronavirus research remain active.

Our strength as a university is our diversity of research expertise, combined with our highly collaborative nature, says Dragony Fu, an assistant professor of biology on the River Campus and a member of the Center for RNA Biology. We are surrounded by outstanding researchers who enhance our understanding of RNA biology, and a medical center that provides a translational aspect where the knowledge gained from RNA biology can be applied for therapeutics.

In mammals, such as humans, DNA contains genetic instructions that are transcribedor copiedinto RNA. While DNA remains in the cells nucleus, RNA carries the copies of genetic information to the rest of the cell by way of various combinations of amino acids, which it delivers to ribosomes. The ribosomes link the amino acids together to form proteins that then carry out functions within the human body.

Many diseases occur when these gene expressions go awry.

COVID-19, short for coronavirus disease 2019, is caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Like many other viruses, SARS-CoV-2 is an RNA virus. This means that, unlike in humans and other mammals, the genetic material for SARS-CoV-2 is encoded in RNA. The viral RNA is sneaky: its features cause the protein synthesis machinery of our cells to mistake it for RNA produced by our own DNA.

While SARS-CoV-2 is a new coronavirus, it likely replicates and functions similar to related coronaviruses that infect animals and humans, says Douglas Anderson, an assistant professor of medicine in the Aab Cardiovascular Research Institute and a member of the Center for RNA Biology, who studies how RNA mutations can give rise to human disease.

A graphic created by the New York Times illustrates how the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 enters the body through the nose, mouth, or eyes and attaches to our cells. Once the virus is inside our cells, it releases its RNA. Our hijacked cells serve as virus factories, reading the viruss RNA and making long viral proteins to compromise the immune system. The virus assembles new copies of itself and spreads to more parts of the body andby way of saliva, sweat, and other bodily fluidsto other humans.

Once the virus is in our cells, the entire process of infection and re-infection depends on the viral RNA, Maquat says.

Researchers Douglas Anderson, Dragony Fu, and Lynne Maquat are among the scientists at the University of Rochester who study the RNA of viruses to better understand how RNAs work and how they are involved in diseases. (University of Rochester photos / Matt Wittmeyer / J. Adam Fenster)

Maquat has been studying RNA since 1972 and was part of the earliest wave of scientists to realize the important role RNA plays in human health and disease.

Our cells have a number of ways to combat viruses in what can be viewed as an arms race between host and virus. One of the weapons in our cells arsenal is an RNA surveillance mechanism Maquat discovered called nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD).

Nonsense-mediated mRNA decay protects us from many genetic mutations that could cause disease if NMD was not active to destroy the RNA harboring the mutation, she says.

Maquats discovery has contributed to the development of drug therapies for genetic disorders such as cystic fibrosis, and may be useful in developing treatments for coronavirus.

NMD also helps us combat viral infections, which is why many viruses either inhibit or evade NMD, she adds. The genome of the virus COVID-19 is a positive-sense, single-stranded RNA. It is well known that other positive-sense, single-stranded RNA viruses evade NMD by having RNA structures that prevent NMD from degrading viral RNAs.

Maquats lab is currently collaborating with a lab at Harvard University to test how viral proteins can inhibit the NMD machinery.

Like Maquat, Fu studies fundamental aspects of RNAand has found that his research on proteins may, too, be applicable to coronavirus research.

Fus lab analyzes enzymes and proteins that modify the chemical structure of RNA and how these chemical modifications impact the function of RNA. A research group at the University of California, San Francisco, recently identified an interaction between a protein made by the SARS-CoV-9 virus and a protein Fu studies.

This is an intriguing result, and we are currently thinking of ways this interaction could affect the host cell, Fu says. There is emerging evidence that RNA-based viruses undergo RNA modification, so we could use this knowledge to identify key links between the host and pathogen for development of a coronavirus vaccine or treatment.

One of the reasons viruses are such a challenge is that they change and mutate in response to drugs.

Targeting viral RNA, or the proteins it produces, is key for treating this disease.

That means novel virus treatments and vaccines have to be created each time a new strain of virus presents itself. Armed with innovative research on the fundamentals of RNA, scientists are better able to develop and test therapeutics that directly target the RNAs and processes critical to a viruss life cycle.

The University of Rochester Medical Center, for instance, is currently participating in a clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of a potential coronavirus treatment called remdesivir, an antiviral drug particularly tailored to attack RNA viruses. The drug inhibits RNA polymerase, an enzyme responsible for copying a DNA sequence into an RNA sequence.

Anderson has found that alternative therapeutics, such as the gene-editing technology CRISPR, may additionally usher in a new approach to how we target and combat infectious diseases, he says.

For the past few years, Andersons lab has developed tools and delivery systems that use the RNA-targeting CRISPR-Cas13 to treat human genetic diseases that affect muscle function. CRISPR-Cas13 is like a molecular pair of scissors that can target specific RNAs for degradation, using small, programmable guide RNAs.

When the health crisis first became apparent in Wuhan, China, researchers in Andersons lab turned their focus toward developing a CRISPR-Cas13 therapeutic aimed at SARS-CoV-2. Applying the knowledge already available about coronavirus RNA replication, they designed single CRISPR guide RNAs capable of targeting every viral RNA that is made within a SARS-CoV-2 infected cell. Using a novel cloning method developed in Andersons lab, multiple CRISPR guide-RNAs could be packaged into a single therapeutic vector (a genetically engineered carrier) to target numerous viral RNA sites simultaneously. The multi-pronged targeting strategy could be used as a therapy to safeguard against virus-induced cell toxicity and prevent escape of viruses which may have undergone mutation.

Infectious viruses and pandemics seemingly come out of nowhere, which has made it hard to rapidly develop and screen traditional small molecule therapeutics or vaccines, Anderson says. There is a clear need to develop alternative targeted therapeutics, such as CRISPR-Cas13, which have the ability to be rapidly reprogrammed to target new emerging pandemics.

While many new treatments for the novel coronavirus are being considered, there is one thing that is certain, Maquat says: Targeting viral RNA, or the proteins it produces, is key for treating this disease.

Tags: Arts and Sciences, Center for RNA Biology, COVID-19, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Department of Biology, Douglas Anderson, Dragony Fu, featured-post, Lynne Maquat, medical center

Category: Featured

More:
COVID-19: What's RNA research got to do with it? - University of Rochester

Cell Biology

Conclusion of an Agreement in Principle Between Bold Capital and Dymedso, a Corporation Involved in Lung Disease Treatment and Treating COVID-19…

April 29, 2020 medical

MONTREAL, April 29, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Peter Rona, President and Chief Executive Officer of Bold Capital Enterprises Ltd. (Bold) (TSX-V Bold), a Capital Pool Company, is pleased to announce the conclusion of an agreement in principle dated April 28, 2020 with Dymedso Inc. (Dymedso) for the realization of a qualifying transaction, as per Policy 2.4 of the TSX Venture Exchange (the Exchange).

About Dymedso

Dymedso is a medical device corporation using sound (acoustics) to treat patients with airway clearance issues. Its flagship product, the Frequencer V2x (the Frequencer), provides airway clearance therapy and promotes bronchial drainage by inducing vibration through chest walls. This medical device is intended to be a component of chest physiotherapy by providing a convenient airway clearance method without harsh external thorax manipulation. The Frequencer is indicated for patients who have respiratory ailments that involve defective mucociliary clearance, as typically seen in patients suffering from cystic fibrosis as well as Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), bronchiectasis, ciliary dyskinesia syndromes, asthma, muscular dystrophy, neuromuscular degenerative disorders, postoperative atelectasis, and thoracic wall defects.

Dr. Laura McIntosh, Human Cell Biologist, sees a potential role for the Frequencer in the context of the COVID-19 crisis1: The majority of COVID-19 fatalities are the result of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). In a recent study in China, researchers performed autopsies on deceased patients and found large amounts of sticky mucus and hyaline membranes in the deep-seated airways. And clearing the smaller airways is precisely what the Frequencer does.

While controlled clinical studies on the effectiveness of the Frequencer on COVID-19 patients have not yet been done, more than 650 Frequencers are currently being utilized across the world to assist with airway recruitment and secretion removal. The technology is in use in clinical settings for COVID-19 treatment in Montral and in Germany.

The Frequencer has obtained FDA approval, Health Canada licenses, UL approval, and CE Mark. The Frequencer is approved for sale in the United States, the European Union, Canada and the Middle East. Dymedso is also ISO 13485 certified for the design manufacturing and maintenance of pulmonary medical devices.

Dymedso and Bold are not making any express or implied claims that its product has the ability to eliminate, cure, or contain the COVID-19 virus at this time.

Summary of the Terms of the Agreement in Principle

According to the terms of the agreement in principle, Bold proposes to acquire all the issued and outstanding securities of Dymedso by the issuance of common shares and, upon the closing of the acquisition, the shareholders of Bold and Dymedso will hold respectively 12% and 88% of all the issued and outstanding common shares of Bold, calculated prior to any additional financing. The qualifying transaction is subject to various conditions such as its approval by the board of directors of Bold and Dymedso, the hiring of a brokerage firm and the completion of a concurrent private or public placement of a minimum of $2,000,000 and a maximum of $5,000,000. The qualifying transaction constitutes an arms length qualifying transaction and is not subject to shareholder approval. Furthermore, the Exchange has not considered the merits of the contemplated qualifying transaction. A more detailed press release will be subsequently published in order to provide additional details on the contemplated qualifying transaction. Consequently, trading in the common shares of Bold will be halted until the publication of a press release announcing that trading in the common shares is resumed.

Further Details Regarding Dymedso

Based on the unaudited financial statements of Dymedso for the year ended September 30, 2019, Dymedso had total current assets of approximately $521,587, total current liabilities of approximately$808,988 and a shareholders equity of approximately $4,124,079. Dymedso has generated $671,000 in revenue, a gross margin of $292,328 and a net loss of $221,798. It is anticipated that Dymedso will be cash flow positive within a year with the financing mentioned above.

Mr.Yvon Robert holds, directly or indirectly, 11,993,733 shares in the capital of Dymedso, which represent an aggregate of 94.41% of the voting shares of Dymedso. To the knowledge of Bold and Dymedso, no other person will beneficially own, directly or indirectly, or exercise control or direction over, more than 10% of the voting rights attached to all of the outstanding shares of Bold after the completion of the proposed qualifying transaction.

Directors and Officers of Dymedso

Subject to applicable approvals, it is anticipated that four out of the five directors of Dymedso to be nominated will be Richard Boudreault, Kim Anderson, Simon Phaneuf and Yvon Robert. Management of Dymedso will include Kim Anderson as President, Richard Boudreault as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board, and Simon Phaneuf as Chief Scientific Officer. Biographies for the officers and directors of Dymedso are described below.

Richard Boudreault, FRSC, FCAE, FCMOS, HFRCGS, FCASI, FWAAS, FIAA, FinstP, AFAIAA, SMIEEE Chief Executive Officer of Dymedso

Richard Boudreault is the CEO of Dymedso. He joined Dymedso in January 2020 to bring it to another level. A successful award winning serial entrepreneur and C-level executive, Mr.Boudreault has held top corporate positions in organizations of all sizes in both the private and public sectors and has sat on over 30 boards. Over 40 years, he has led organizations across a variety of sectors including advanced materials, nanotechnology, photonics, resources and medical devices. He was involved with various publicly traded corporations in Canada including Orbite Technologies Inc. (ORT), ART Advanced Research Technologies Inc. (ARA) and 5N Plus Inc (VNP). Of the 12technology corporations he has led along the years, six have been sold to large conglomerates, four went public and two are within their growth phase.

He chairs the Board of the national polar agency, Polar Knowledge Canada and the R&D advisory Board of the National Optics Institute. Mr.Boudreault has been actively involved in venture capital portfolio management, notably for the Caisse de dpot et placement du Quebec in the areas of sustainable energy, new materials, and the medical and transport industries. He is the originator of more than 80 patents (standing and pending) split in a dozen of families and his passion for innovation keeps him active in the Canadian VC landscape as a consultant and investment committee member.

Mr.Boudreault holds a bachelors degree in applied physics, an MBA and a professional masters degree in engineering, which he earned at Cornell. He is an adjunct professor at cole polytechnique de Montral, where he teaches and performs applied research on environmental chemical engineering, green chemistry and clean tech innovation and is a visiting scholar at McGill University.

He is the holder of a number of prestigious national and international fellowships, was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, was knighted into Frances Ordre des Palmes acadmiques, and is a recipient of the Canadian Association of Physicist Medal for Outstanding Service in Applied Photonics and the American Physics Societys George Pake Award for innovation management. He also received the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Lifetime career prize for Engineering in Medicine and Biology. All these prizes were obtained for his medical device industry and innovation expertise.

Kim Anderson President of Dymedso

KimAnderson is an experienced medical device executive. She is President of Dymedso. She joined the corporation in January 2017 as Sales and Marketing Director. With over 20 years or experience in sales, she has worked for multinational organizations in the dental industry including orthodontics, implantology and CAD/CAM technology.

Ms.Anderson holds a bachelors degree in marketing and communication from University of Montral. Her sales successes were directly linked to her customer-oriented selling approach and skills to establish effective strategies to facilitate the integration of innovative technologies to the dental workflow. She has won numerous sales awards such as Representative of the Year, for highest sales growth and for achieving sales goals for six consecutive years. Her experience in customer management, combined with solid technical experience, has allowed her to work with a wide range of specialists as well as university faculties, hospitals, private dental offices and dental laboratories. She was invited to lecture at several conferences and training, including the undergraduate program at University of Montral and continuous education programs for dentists and dental staff.

Ms.Anderson worked for four years in sales at Ormco, a dental corporation specializing in orthodontic appliances (Orange, California). She also held a sales position for two years at Nobel Biocare (Toronto, Canada) and she served as Executive Sales Manager for Dentsply Sirona Implants (Waltham, Massachusetts) from 2005 to 2016. The corporation focuses on implantable medical devices, integrated digital workflow, computer-aided design and computerized assisted manufacturing process.

Simon Phaneuf, MD, CCFP (EM) (SEM), dip. ABLM, MBA Chief Scientific Officer of Dymedso

SimonPhaneuf is the CSO of Dymedso. He joined the corporation in February 2020 to assist in the next stages of development. A Medical Doctor with extensive clinical and academic experience, he has also participated in several start-ups in medical and technological companies.

Dr.Phaneuf currently teaches medicine at Universit Laval and is a former Clinical Professor of Medicine at Universit de Sherbrooke. He is specialized in Emergency Medicine, Sports and Exercise Medicine, and Lifestyle Medicine. Throughout his career, he participated in numerous clinical trials and sat on the Ethics Board Committee at Charles LeMoyne Hospital for several years. He also developed several medical devices in the fields of emergency medicine and minimally invasive surgery and is co-author of several corresponding patents. These innovations are currently being used on a daily basis both in North America and in Europe.

His experience as executive includes implementation of ISO 13485 for design and production of medical devices as well as quality control systems compliant with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency requirements. He also sat on corporate boards and scientific advisory committees of both private and public companies.

Dr.Phaneuf holds a medical doctorate (MD) degree from Universit de Montral and a certificate of added competency in Emergency Medicine and in Sports and Exercise Medicine, as well as an executive MBA from Universit de Sherbrooke. He also happens to be the first physician in the Province of Qubec to be certified by the American Board of Lifestyle Medicine.

Yvon Robert Director

Yvon Robert graduated from the Universit de Sherbrooke in physical education. He has always been very involved in sports and cultural organizations in the region, either as president of the Qubec Games (les Jeux du Qubec) or as an event organizer. For several years, he was responsible for physical education programs at a school board and was a professor at the Universit de Sherbrooke.

He then became Director of Marketing for the Winnipeg Jets club (AHL) in the National Hockey League. Two years later, he joined the marketing department of the Montreal Canadiens hockey club where he created LES CANADIENS magazine and became its publisher.

In 1988, Mr.Robert incorporated Les Consultants C.O.R.P. Inc., a subcontracting company operating in the publishing industry.

In 2002, Mr. Louis Plante, a young cystic fibrosis patient, invented an acoustic airway clearance device and joined Mr.Robert to incorporate Dymedso Inc. After several years of clinical trials and research in acoustics at the Universit de Sherbrooke, it was finally in 2009 that Mr.Robert decided to take over the companys management and develop the Frequencer, a medical device that uses low frequency acoustic waves to dislodge mucus that accumulates in the lungs.

It took two years of development, design and certification to finally introduce the Frequencer in 2011.

Mr.Robert has recently stepped down as President of Dymedso to focus on the development of Dymedso's new products.

The scientific information contained in this news release was read and approved by Dr.Simon Phaneuf, CSO of Dymedso.

Completion of the transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including but not limited to, Exchange acceptance and if applicable pursuant to Exchange Requirements, majority of the minority shareholder approval. Where applicable, the transaction cannot close until the required shareholder approval is obtained. There can be no assurance that the transaction will be completed as proposed or at all.

Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the management information circular or filing statement to be prepared in connection with the transaction, any information released or received with respect to the transaction may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon. Trading in the securities of a capital pool company should be considered highly speculative.

The TSX Venture Exchange Inc. has in no way passed upon the merits of the proposed transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.

1 Dr.Laura McIntosh: Acoustic Airway Clearance with the FrequencerTM - Clinical Evidence and Markets (2020). To review this white paper, log on to: https://www.dymedso.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/White-paper-final-Apr-20-2020-signed-min-1.pdf

About Laura McIntosh, Ph.D.

Laura McIntosh is a biotech R&D leader with 15 years experience in the development and commercialization of innovative biological products and services for human health and agriculture. She has significant expertise in driving science and product development strategies, managing academic and industrial scientific collaborations, and intellectual property creation and management. Most recently, Dr.McIntosh was the Vice President R&D at Concentric AG where she was responsible for the science and IP strategy in the development of commercially viable microbial-based products for the soil microbiome. As Vice President, Translational Research at Caprion Biosciences, she was responsible for the scientific integrity and oversight of all client-based proteomics projects. She also co-led a large public-private personalized medicine project in the Province of Quebec (www.pmpc-org.com/en). Dr.McIntosh also held senior-level positions at Osprey Pharmaceuticals Ltd where she led the research and clinical trials of a platform of protein therapeutic drugs, and at ART Advanced Research Technologies where she was involved in the development and commercialization of an optical imaging device.

After completing her doctorate in human anatomy and cell biology at the University of Manitoba, Dr.McIntosh was awarded an NSERC postdoctoral fellowship at the National Research Council of Canada. Dr.McIntosh also holds a Master of Science in Human Anatomy and Cell Science from the University of Manitoba, and a Bachelor of Science in Zoology from Brandon University in Brandon, Manitoba. She has 28 peer reviewed publications and four patents.

Forward-Looking Statement

This press release includes forward-looking statements that are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, including the possibility of unfavourable results from clinical trials involving the Frequencer and the treatment of COVID-19 even if the Frequencer has been successfully used for the treatment of other lung diseases. As a result, the Frequencer may never be successfully commercialized for COVID-19. All statements other than statements of historical fact could be deemed forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and other factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those referred to in the forward-looking statements. The reader is cautioned not to rely on these forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are based on information currently available to Dymedso and Dymedso assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements.

Cell Biology

Immune cell type in breast ducts points to better treatment of breast cancer: Aussie research – Brinkwire

April 29, 2020 medical

SYDNEY, April 28 (Xinhua) A new type of specialized immune cells that maintain the health of breast ducts has been discovered using advanced imaging techniques, pointing to better understanding and treatment of breast cancer, according to a latest Australian research.

The immune cells help to keep breast tissue healthy by regulating a vital process within mammary ducts the sites where milk is produced and transported, but also where most breast cancers arise, the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research said in a statement on Tuesday.

The researchers used high-resolution 3D imaging to observe how the cells monitor threats in the mammary ducts and help maintain tissue health.

We discovered an entirely new population of specialized immune cells, which we named ductal macrophages, squeezed in between two layers of the mammary duct wall, institute researcher Caleb Dawson said.

We were excited to find that these cells play an essential role at a pivotal point in mammary gland function called involution when lactation stops, milk-producing cells die and breast tissue needs to remodel back to its original state, he said.

We watched incredulously as the star-shaped ductal macrophages probed with their arms and ate away dying cells. The clearing action performed by ductal macrophages helps redundant milk-producing structures to collapse, allowing them to successfully return to a resting state.

When the researchers later removed the specialized cells from the mammary ducts they discovered that no other immune cells were able to swiftly carry out the essential process, according to the institute. The findings were published in scientific journal Nature Cell Biology.

More than 19,000 Australians are diagnosed with breast cancer every year and it is the most common cancer in Australian women, according to the institute.

The researchers, going forward, hope to explore the function of ductal macrophages at different stages of mammary gland development, such as the transitions into adulthood and pregnancy, Dawson said. Enditem

Original post:
Immune cell type in breast ducts points to better treatment of breast cancer: Aussie research - Brinkwire

Cell Biology

Assistant / Associate / Professor for School of Life Science and Technology job with SHANGHAITECH UNIVERSITY | 205309 – Times Higher Education (THE)

April 29, 2020 medical

Officially established on September 30th 2013 by Chinas Ministry of Education, ShanghaiTech University is a small-scale research university of academic excellence jointly established by Shanghai Municipal Government and Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). ShanghaiTech focuses on science and engineering. The university consists of four schools and two research institutes: School of Physical Science and Technology (SPST), School of Information Science and Technology (SIST), School of Life Science and Technology (SLST), School of Entrepreneurship and Management (SEM), Shanghai Institute for Advanced Immunochemical Studies (SIAIS) and iHuman Institute.

Qualifications

SLST is seeking applications focused on, but not limited to, genomics and proteomics, epigenetics, RNA biology, systems and computational biology, stem cell biology and regenerative medicine, super-resolution microscopy, chemical biology and drug discovery, and translational medicine. Successful applicants should have an exceptional track record of research in life science or technology in the last five years. The recruited faculty members are expected to develop a first-rate research program and contribute to the educational missions of SLSTs undergraduate and graduate prog

Salary Package

Salary is highly competitive and commensurate with experience and academic accomplishments. ShanghaiTech also offers a comprehensive benefit package. On-campus professor apartment is provided.

ShanghaiTech will provide internationally competitive start-up funds, including support for Research Associates and Post-Doctoral fellows. Laboratory space will be provided to match research needs.

Application Procedure

Submit a cover letter (Firstname_Lastname_Cover_Letter.pdf), a 2-page research plan (Firstname_Lastname_Research_Plan.pdf), a CV (Firstname_Lastname_CV.pdf), up to 3 copies of most significant publications (Firstname_Lastname_Paper1-3.pdf), and the names of three references to SLST@shanghaitech.edu.cn.

Review of applications will start immediately and will continue until positions are filled.

More:
Assistant / Associate / Professor for School of Life Science and Technology job with SHANGHAITECH UNIVERSITY | 205309 - Times Higher Education (THE)

Cell Biology

Castle Biosciences Announces Publication of Validation Study for DecisionDx-SCC, Showing this Test is an Independent Predictor of Metastatic Risk in…

April 29, 2020 medical

FRIENDSWOOD, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Castle Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: CSTL), a skin cancer diagnostics company providing personalized genomic information to improve cancer treatment decisions, today announced the publication of development and validation data for DecisionDx-SCC, its prognostic test for patients diagnosed with high-risk cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). The test is expected to be launched commercially in the second half of 2020.

The article titled, Validation of a 40-Gene Expression Profile Test to Predict Metastatic Risk in Localized High-Risk Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma, was published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology (JAAD).

The study results demonstrate that DecisionDx-SCC is an independent predictor of metastatic risk that can complement current cancer risk-factor staging systems for patients with high-risk SCC.

As clinicians, we struggle with treatment decisions for patients with high-risk cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma due to the limitations of clinicopathologic based staging systems, said first author, Ashley Wysong, M.D., University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha NE. Validation of the DecisionDx-SCC test demonstrates significant progress in this area by integrating tumor-specific genetic information into clinical decision making. Having better prognostic information helps us to identify patients as low risk by tumor biology and manage them more conservatively with clinical surveillance, as well as provides us with data to help guide implementation of adjuvant interventions and clinical trial recommendations for those identified as high risk.

Disease and Study Background

Study Findings

DecisionDx-SCC is the second skin cancer test discovered, developed and validated by Castle Biosciences.

About Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is one of the most common cancers. Approximately 1 million patients are diagnosed with SCC each year in the U.S. While the majority of patients have a favorable prognosis, approximately 200,000 patients are identified as high risk. National guidelines provide for broad, aggressive treatment plan recommendations relative to low-risk patients. Traditional clinicopathologic based risk-factor staging systems suffer from low positive predictive value; meaning many more patients are classified as high risk than actually develop metastatic disease. This may lead to over- and under-treatment of a substantial number of cutaneous SCC patients. To address this clinical need, Castle Biosciences has developed a gene expression profile test designed to improve upon current staging systems and identify patients with cutaneous SCC at high risk for metastasis or recurrence, in order to enable more informed, objective clinical decisions regarding adjuvant therapy and other management options.

About Castle Biosciences

Castle Biosciences (Nasdaq: CSTL) is a commercial-stage dermatologic cancer company focused on providing physicians and their patients with personalized, clinically actionable genomic information to make more accurate treatment decisions. The Company currently offers tests for patients with cutaneous melanoma (DecisionDx-Melanoma, DecisionDx-CMSeq; http://www.SkinMelanoma.com) and uveal melanoma (DecisionDx-UM, DecisionDx-PRAME and DecisionDx-UMSeq; http://www.MyUvealMelanoma.com), with products in development for other underserved cancers, the two most advanced of which are focused on patients with cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, and patients who have a difficult-to-diagnose pigmented lesion. Castle Biosciences is based in Friendswood, Texas (Houston), and has laboratory operations in Phoenix, Arizona. For more information, visit http://www.CastleBiosciences.com.

DecisionDx-Melanoma, DecisionDx-CMSeq, DecisionDx-UM, DecisionDx-PRAME and DecisionDx-UMSeq are trademarks of Castle Biosciences, Inc.

Forward-Looking Statements

The information in this press release contains forward-looking statements and information 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, which are subject to the safe harbor created by those sections. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements concerning the ability of DecisionDx-SCC test results to appropriately direct cutaneous SCC patient work-up and treatment plans; the ability of DecisionDx-SCC to improve upon existing staging systems and accurately classify patient risk; and expectations of DecisionDx-SCC to enable de-escalation of care in patients identified as high risk by traditional staging and provide objective data to implement proper recommendations for actual high-risk patients. The words anticipates, believes, estimates, expects, intends, may, plans, projects, will, would and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements; although, not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. We may not actually achieve the plans, intentions, or expectations disclosed in our forward-looking statements and you should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. Actual results or events could differ materially from the plans, intentions and expectations disclosed in the forward-looking statements that we make. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, the risks set forth in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, filed with the SEC on March 10, 2020, and in our other filings with the SEC. The forward-looking statements are applicable only as of the date on which they are made, and we do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as may be required by law.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200429005114/en/

Follow this link:
Castle Biosciences Announces Publication of Validation Study for DecisionDx-SCC, Showing this Test is an Independent Predictor of Metastatic Risk in...

Neuroscience

Global Neuroscience Antibodies and Assays Market (2020 to 2024) – Key Players Include Abcam, Bio-Rad Laboratories & Cell Signaling Technology…

April 28, 2020 medical

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The "Global Neuroscience Antibodies and Assays Market 2020-2024" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The author has been monitoring the global neuroscience antibodies and assays market and it is poised to grow by USD 1.36 bn during 2020-2024, progressing at a CAGR of 8% during the forecast period. The reports on global neuroscience antibodies and assays market provides a holistic analysis, market size and forecast, trends, growth drivers, and challenges, as well as vendor analysis covering around 25 vendors.

The report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current global market scenario, latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment. The market is driven by technological advances. In addition, advances in neuroscience instruments is anticipated to boost the growth of the global neuroscience antibodies and assays market as well.

This study identifies advances in neuroscience instruments as the prime reasons driving the global neuroscience antibodies and assays market growth during the next few years.

Companies Mentioned

Key Topics Covered:

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

2. SCOPE OF THE REPORT

3. MARKET LANDSCAPE

4. MARKET SIZING

5. FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS

6. MARKET SEGMENTATION BY PRODUCT

7. CUSTOMER LANDSCAPE

8. GEOGRAPHIC LANDSCAPE

9. DRIVERS AND CHALLENGES

10. MARKET TRENDS

11. VENDOR LANDSCAPE

12. VENDOR ANALYSIS

13. APPENDIX

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/n0dh3w

Go here to see the original:
Global Neuroscience Antibodies and Assays Market (2020 to 2024) - Key Players Include Abcam, Bio-Rad Laboratories & Cell Signaling Technology...

Neuroscience

Emotional eating: why do I eat when I’m bored? – Big Think

April 28, 2020 medical

We all know the feeling of being insatiably hungry, but have you ever stopped to consider what kind of hunger you're really feeling and what that means?

True hunger builds gradually, and any type of food you find will satisfy your appetite. Once you've eaten enough, you stop. There are usually no lingering feelings of shame because you're providing your body with the energy it needs, even if the meal wasn't so healthy.

Emotional hunger, on the other hand, is an unhealthy response to stress that causes cravings for various types of food. This kind of hunger isn't as easy to stop and leads to over-eating, which usually makes you feel guilty.

Boredom hunger, where you aren't hungry but snack out of boredom (most of us do this while we watch Netflix), sometimes falls under the category of "emotional eating." Even if we aren't overly emotional at the time, stress and boredom mix well together when you're avoiding a task you find difficult or some other problem you don't want to address.

Escaping self-awareness and a surge of dopamine are two main reasons people eat when they are bored.

Photo by Andrey_Popov on Shutterstock

There are many reasons why you may find yourself illuminated by the refrigerator light every time you're feeling a bit restless.

A 2015 study suggests that we eat to escape our self-awareness.

"Being bored affectively marks an appraised lack of meaning in the present situation and in life," according to the researchers of this study. "Boredom increases eating in an attempt to distract from this experience, especially among people high in self-awareness."

Three studies were conducted to see how eating habits were affected by boredom. In the first study, boredom positively predicted calorie, fat, carb, and protein intake for the participants. In the second, a high (compared to low) boredom task increased the desire to snack compared to eating something healthy. In the third study, people who had high (compared to low) self-awareness consumed the most food during their peak times of boredom. Something important to note about the final study is that the subjects with increased self-awareness liked to eat exciting healthy food as well as exciting unhealthy food.

This suggests the act of selecting or cooking healthy recipes may play a factor in decreasing boredom.

The neuroscience of eating and boredom...is dopamine to blame?

Susan Carnell, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins University, believes there is another reason we may be searching out food to satisfy our bored minds.

According to Carnell, dopamine likely plays a role in the boredom-hunger paradigm. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that is crucial to our motivation levels. Dopamine is present during sex, when we fall in love, and when we're satisfying an addiction it's a pleasure-reward reaction that drives our motivations to do things that give us even more dopamine.

"The release of dopamine in the brain can be so stimulating and motivating that rats will lever-press for it to the exclusion of other crucially important activities like sleeping and eating," Carnell explained.

People who have naturally lower levels of dopamine are more likely to seek out and become addicted to dopamine-producing substances or activities like alcohol, drugs, and gambling.

Tracing this back to eating out of boredom, Carnell added that it's very likely that when we are bored or unhappy, our dopamine neurons are inactive. When we eat due to boredom, this can be a way of "waking up" our dopamine neurons so we can feel excited again.

How can I stop eating when I'm bored?

Photo by Brian A Jackson on Shutterstock

Occupy yourself by doing something fun.

Whether it's checking something off your to-do list, starting a craft like scrap-booking, or going for a nice walk, one of the best things you can do when you're feeling hungry due to boredom is to cure the boredom.

Doing something to occupy your time, even just temporarily, will likely get your mind out of the fridge and focused on something else until the hunger passes.

Drink water.

Dehydration and thirst are very commonly mistaken for hunger. Instead of reaching for a bag of chips next time you're feeling hungry, have a large glass of water first. You can even add a splash of lemon or lime to the water to trick your mind into thinking this is a little treat.

Keep your mouth busy.

Sometimes pretending as though you're eating is enough to fill the need to eat, especially when you're not hungry. Chewing gum is a great replacement for eating food you don't need to be eating.

Another idea to keep your mouth occupied is to call a friend you haven't heard from in a while or start a fun conversation with your spouse or kids. Conversations are a great way to distract your mind from eating when you're not really hungry.

Do something physical.

If Dr. Carnell is right, what you need is a big surge of dopamine, so why not get physical? Exercise sends a rush of dopamine throughout your system (the same as snacking on some popcorn might), and it's way more healthy.

You can slide on your running shoes and go for a jog or you can lay on the carpet and do some ab exercises while you watch Netflix. Either one will accomplish the same goal.

Wait out the boredom to see if you're really hungry.

Give yourself 30-60 minutes to determine whether what you're feeling is hunger due to boredom, or hunger due to really being hungry. Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference. True hunger will build and remain consistent, but emotional hunger (or boredom hunger) will fade as your mind becomes occupied with other things.

From Your Site Articles

Yoshua Bengio: Attention is a core ingredient of conscious AI – VentureBeat

April 28, 2020 medical

During the International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR) 2020 this week, which as a result of the pandemic took place virtually, Turing Award winner and director of the Montreal Institute for Learning Algorithms Yoshua Bengio provided a glimpse into the future of AI and machine learning techniques. He spoke in February at the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence 2020 in New York alongside fellow Turing Award recipients Geoffrey Hinton and Yann LeCun. But in a lecture published Monday, Bengio expounded upon some of his earlier themes.

One of those was attention in this context, the mechanism by which a person (or algorithm) focuses on a single element or a few elements at a time. Its central both to machine learning model architectures like Googles Transformer and to the bottleneck neuroscientific theory of consciousness, which suggests that people have limited attention resources, so information is distilled down in the brain to only its salient bits. Models with attention have already achieved state-of-the-art results in domains like natural language processing, and they could form the foundation of enterprise AI that assists employees in a range of cognitively demanding tasks.

Bengio described the cognitive systems proposed by Israeli-American psychologist and economist Daniel Kahneman in his seminal book Thinking, Fast and Slow. The first type is unconscious its intuitive and fast, non-linguistic and habitual, and it deals only with implicit types of knowledge. The second is conscious its linguistic and algorithmic, and it incorporates reasoning and planning, as well as explicit forms of knowledge. An interesting property of the conscious system is that it allows the manipulation of semantic concepts that can be recombined in novel situations, which Bengio noted is a desirable property in AI and machine learning algorithms.

Current machine learning approaches have yet to move beyond the unconscious to the fully conscious, but Bengio believes this transition is well within the realm of possibility. He pointed out that neuroscience research has revealed that the semantic variables involved in conscious thought are often causal they involve things like intentions or controllable objects. Its also now understood that a mapping between semantic variables and thoughts exists like the relationship between words and sentences, for example and that concepts can be recombined to form new and unfamiliar concepts.

GamesBeat Summit 2020 Online | Live Now, Upgrade your pass for networking and speaker Q&A.

Attention is one of the core ingredients in this process, Bengio explained.

Building on this, in a recent paper he and colleagues proposed recurrent independent mechanisms (RIMs), a new model architecture in which multiple groups of cells operate independently, communicating only sparingly through attention. They showed that this leads to specialization among the RIMs, which in turn allows for improved generalization on tasks where some factors of variation differ between training and evaluation.

This allows an agent to adapt faster to changes in a distribution or inference in order to discover reasons why the change happened, said Bengio.

He outlined a few of the outstanding challenges on the road to conscious systems, including identifying ways to teach models to meta-learn (or understand causal relations embodied in data) and tightening the integration between machine learning and reinforcement learning. But hes confident that the interplay between biological and AI research will eventually unlock the key to machines that can reason like humans and even express emotions.

Consciousness has been studied in neuroscience with a lot of progress in the last couple of decades. I think its time for machine learning to consider these advances and incorporate them into machine learning models.

Link:
Yoshua Bengio: Attention is a core ingredient of conscious AI - VentureBeat

Neuroscience

Fund in memory of tragic teenager hits 100,000 with money from his own wallet – Yorkshire Post

April 28, 2020 medical

HealthA group of fundraisers known as Team Jack was set up by Yorkshire teenager before he died of a tumour. Grace Hammond reports

Tuesday, 28th April 2020, 11:45 am

Jack Faulkners family and friends remember most his caring nature, warm sense of humour and his ability to time an eye-roll so well, entire rooms would descend into hysterics.

Almost two years have passed since 15-year-old Jack from Totley was diagnosed with an incurable brain tumour which would sadly end his life.

The fundraising effort which sparked the TeamJack movement was instigated by the teenager himself, as he set up a JustGiving page whilst beginning chemotherapy on the dedicated neurosciences ward, Ward 5, at Sheffield Childrens Hospital.

The money raised quickly exceeded all expectations. Supporters took on a host of events, from races, sponsored walks and triathlons to bake sales and charity stalls. Local pubs held collections, long-lost friends reconnected to pledge support and hospital staff wore special Team Jack badges emblazoned on their uniforms.

More than 500 people attended the Totley teens funeral; and in the months since, an incredible group of men, women and children Jacks family, friends and local community raised nearly 100,000 in his name, far more than the 20,000 target originally set.

Inspired by the teenagers remarkable resilience, #TeamJack led by mumSally, and dadDan are determined that the life of their lovely boy will be an ongoing force for good, with every penny raised going to Sheffield Childrens Hospitals neurosciences ward.

As the latest milestone approached, the cancellation of planned events left the fundraising just short of their 100,000 target, which is when Sally thought of a fitting way Jack could round up what he began.

It makes me quite emotional to talk about it, but when Jack became ill, he sold his old phone to his Grandpa for 80. We had just left the money in his wallet I couldnt bring myself to touch it, says Sally.

When I found out we were short, I knew what we had to do. As well as being the joker everyone remembers, he also had a very caring side. Dan and I were sobbing down the phone when I suggested it, but it felt right. This has always been about him and its fitting that it was Jacks own money got us here.

Dan added: Having Jack take us across the line really hit home, it was a moving moment. What we have been able to achieve together has been nothing short of incredible. I would never have dreamed to raise so much, all in the name of a very courageous young man.

The money raised has been split between two causes close to Jacks heart, The Childrens Hospital Charity and CLIC Sargant. At Jacks request, the money raised for Sheffield Childrens Hospital has been dedicated to Ward 5 which provided his treatment.

The fundraising is already having a positive impact at Sheffield Childrens Hospital. Jack spent 79 nights continuously on the neurosciences ward and three of his suggestions for improvement; video games consoles, new curtains and two specially adapted wheelchairs have already been funded.

Its great that the ward now has some nicer surroundings and weve helped to make things brighter, says Sally. The Childrens Hospital Charity listened to Jacks suggestions and theyre already making a difference. For Jacks parents, the fundraising effort has helped them deal with the loss of their son.

After everything that happened when Jack passed, I felt lost, continues Sally. The fundraising gave us a sense of purpose and focus, to build on Jacks legacy and continue helping other people. Its just been amazing how many people have stepped forward and asked can I join Team Jack? Jacks friends have been phenomenal too. The support they have given his younger sister Emily at school has been amazing, its such a relief to know they will always look out for her.

Dan added: Being able to fundraise and train for events has personally allowed me to keep my focus. Without that kind of structure in my life, I honestly dont know what would have happened.

The Childrens Hospital Charitys team have been great, and TeamJack as a community has provided a sense of normality and allowed us to get to a point where we are in a good place. I know for sure, that what weve been through has brought us closer together and made us stronger.

We will continue to raise as much money as we can. The next milestone might take a little longer to reach, but it will be just as important.

As well as the fundraising, the family also held a TeamJack Snowflake Charity Ball in November. The nurses and doctors who cared for Jack attended free of charge as a gesture of thanks from the family. Mum Sally was also involved in organising last summers Neuroscience Family Fun Day at Graves Park in Sheffield, which raised over 4,700.

Rachael Thomas, events fundraising officer at The Childrens Hospital Charity added: I was really moved to find out that Jack himself helped the fundraising in his name reach this incredible total.

Were so thankful to everyone in TeamJack who continues to dedicate themselves tirelessly to this effort, which has already achieved so much. It is lovely to know that the fundraising has already been used to help improve the wards surroundings, particularly for older patients, in a legacy that is sure to last for generations to come.

Continue reading here:
Fund in memory of tragic teenager hits 100,000 with money from his own wallet - Yorkshire Post