All posts by medical

Embryology

Why we need root and branch fertility law reform – BioNews

25 November 2019

We are currently experiencing powerful digital, artificial intelligence, genomic science, epigenetics and human reproductive revolutions. These will increasingly blur the lines between the physical, digital and biological spheres.

However, as these technological advances create immense responsibilities, new national and international laws, policies and safeguards will become increasingly necessary.

As more people embrace the transformational impact of these technological revolutions and calculate the economic benefits, I predict that we will see new trends resulting in fewer natural conceptions, more genetically planned parenthood and increased demand for fertility treatment. This is good news for the fertility sector.

DNA (genetic) sequencingnow costs a few hundred pounds per genome, making its integration into the mainstream possible. Interpretation costs are additional, but seem likely to fall. It makes increasing economic sense to invest in genomic sequencing and possible remedies at the outset of fertility patient treatment.

Whole genome sequencing can currently help identify upwards of 40006000 diseases and this number is likely to grow. It is far cheaper than the cost of treating a sick child or adult and lost productivity in the workplace. It is likely to decrease the costs of institutionalised care and result in healthier people living better quality lives. This in turn is likely to increase GDP and lead to greater innovation and development of society as a whole.

Genome editing technologies are becoming more accurate, affordable and accessible to researchers, and could in future help switch genes on and off, target and study DNA sequences.

As genomic science and medicine becomes part of mainstream healthcare provision, I predict we will see a shift in perception towards genetically-planned parenthood to have a healthy child. This technology will help alleviate a biological lottery at birth, avoid condemning children and adults to preventable disease, pain and suffering and has the potential to improve opportunities in life. It could also help address fundamental societal issues of declining fertility levels, later-life conceptions and ageing populations.

At ground level, I expect to see changes to delivery of fertility treatment and patient care. The typical fertility patient treatment model is likely to evolve, incorporating three additional genomic steps at the outset: genomic sequencing, genetic counselling and genetic medicine (including genetic screening and genome editing).

Genomic technology, therefore, has great potential in preventing serious and deadly hereditary diseases and over time we will inevitably see greater pressure to push the boundaries of human genetic enhancements.

In the UK, the implantation of a genetically-altered embryo into a woman is currently prohibited under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990, (as amended), excepting under certain conditions to prevent the transmission of serious mitochondrialdisease.

Taking account of these rapidly evolving sectors will require centralised state law and integrated policies. We would benefit from a dedicated Ministry for Fertility and Genomics, with a Minister providing a unified voice, agenda and future direction for the fertility sector as a whole. This would help develop a robust genomic and fertility policy and political strategy encompassing pre-conception through to birth and future genetic legacy.

Added to this, we should ensure the integration of specialist legal services to help protect fertility patients (and future born children) undertaking complex treatment and provide a truly multi-disciplinary medico-legal process.

We will also need informed and effective oversight of genomic science and medicine to protect standards and prevent abuse of this technology. Close oversight, accountability and transparency will be required, and regulation must strike a careful balance between respect for the individual and the interests of the state.

Law and policymakers must adopt caution in deploying these powerful technologies, and it will be important to see how countries across the globe meet the challenge. It will be vital to seek international consensus and build new international legal infrastructures to mitigate the risks and prevent rampant genomic and fertility tourism.

It will require engagement and commitment to help law and policymakers build effective legal and regulatory frameworks that will safely and successfully harness the enormous transformational power of genomic science and medicine in the fertility sector over the next 1020 years and beyond.

Success is there for the taking, but the stakes are very high and we overlook root and branch law and policy reform at our peril.

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Why we need root and branch fertility law reform - BioNews

Embryology

How redefining medicine has redefined the family – Lifesite

November 25, 2019 (American Thinker) Today, largely due to government policy, doctors' offices have been transformed into a big governmentcontrolled business, and the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), the leading body for family medicine in the United States, appears to prefer it that way. As older doctors like me leave the field, young idealistic physicians bypass family medicine; they are neither interested in working for a business nor motivated by a stifling code of political correctness that fails to recognize the dignity of every human being.

Over 50 years ago, purposeful ignorance of the definition of reproductive health and basic embryology initiated family medicine's decline. Embryology teaches that after an act of sexual intercourse, sperm and egg unite in the woman's fallopian tube, and a human life is created. Seven days later, that human implants in the woman's womb, and nine months later, the mother delivers her child. Ensuring that this process works as natural law intends is reproductive health care, just as ensuring that the heart pumps blood is cardiac health care. For family physicians, however, 1965 brought with it a new discovery about the beginning of life. No longer at fertilization, doctors now declared that human life began with uterine implantation. The new beginning was based not on Nobel Prizewinning medical research, but rather on a desire to cash in on the contraceptive pill, which occasionally prevents a human life from implanting in the womb. It was more lucrative to simply lie about the beginning of human life than to explain to patients the pill's abortifacient potential. Although appearing innocuous, this unscientific declaration demonstrated that family medicine was willing to sacrifice scientific excellence and medical ethics for consumerism. It set a precedent in which select people can claim something to be a medical fact and redefine it as such without any type of scientific analysis. And finally, it began the involvement of medicine in practices purposefully designed to prevent a human organ system from working properly the antithesis of health care.

This deception, led by physicians and amplified by governments, has led the world to believe that the reprophobic practices of contraception, abortion, and sterilization are the main elements of reproductive health care. The absurdity of this belief could best be compared to a government proposal in which physicians would prescribe alcohol as the main component of neurologic health care. Without ever entering into dialogue within the medical community about the pros and cons of enticing people to be more sexually active by unnaturally inhibiting the reproductive system, reprophobics became an essential element of health care. Although lucrative, the negative effects on the family of such treatment, including increased teen sexual activity, infidelity, and the death of family members, should be something family medicine physicians are particularly concerned about. But the AAFP is not, preferring to virtue-signal about the politically correct subject du jour while keeping the "family" in family medicine devoid of any real meaning.

So integral to family medicine has contraception becomethat not to prescribe it makes working as a physician difficult. Unable to afford the bureaucraticexpense of private practice, I have felt required on multiple occasions to proclaim religious beliefs as an excuse for my prescribing practices, while groveling before a prospective employer. In retrospect, this was always a weak argument, as it suggested that if not for myunscientific belief in a supernatural deity, I would prescribe reprophobics day and night. In reality, it is my medical beliefs that determine how I treat my patients; God did not order me to have them. They reflect extensive study of the family and sexuality, based on the natural law and its realistic consequences, which my wife and I do our best to put into practice.

Religious belief is just another term that progressives have cleverly co-opted to devalue convictions that are consistent with orthodox Christian values. Beliefs including that life begins at conception, homosexual "marriage" is wrong, and abortion is murder are dismissed as religious. Beliefs that life begins at some other time, gender is fluid, or abortion is great are not and therefore considered of higher importance.

My medical beliefs have helped to keep my family healthy; I want the same for my patients.

Control of prescription contraceptives makes physicians big-money players in the commercial side of sexual activity. The imperfection of contraception in preventing unwanted pregnanciesgives medicine another opportunity to profit, in this case through abortion procedures. The importance of these procedures in American medicine is clearly illustrated by aMay 2019 joint public statement that condemns state laws limiting abortion, complaining that they "inappropriately interfere with the patient-physician relationship" and "unnecessarily regulate the evidence-based practice of medicine." The underlying but unstated premise of the statement, promulgated by the AAFP and five other large medical associations, is that human lives are of different value, especially unborn family members. For unborn lives of higher value, the mother and child become patients, and it is (as it should be) the physician's responsibility to do his best to ensure a healthy delivery. For those of lesser value, the doctor is directed not only to walk away from the doctor-patient relationship, but, moreover, toenable child extermination.

Despite the public statement's grandiloquent description of family physicians as "informed by their years of medical education, training, experience, and the available evidence,"none of that is considered in the final decision about the value of an unborn family member. It is rather the often flawed analysis of a distraught teenage girl with a SpongeBob level of medical knowledge that leads to the life-or-death decision.

Without ever providing a rationale, AAFP directives strip the family physician of his role as true advocate for every pregnant mother and her child. Unable to defend its position on the basis of medical ethics, generally regarded as medicine's highest standard, the AAFP chooses rather to highlight abortion as evidence-based medicine. Voluminous evidence, most recently from the Planned Parenthood baby parts trafficking case, does at least support this claim, demonstrating the deadly effectiveness of this unethical and disturbing medical procedure. However, rather than interfere with the doctor-patient relationship as these organizations claim, recently passed laws mandate the establishment of such a relationship with a child whom doctors would otherwise have cruelly and unethically chosen to discard.

Since 1973, government has legalized a "religious" belief that unborn family members do not automatically deserve the right to life. At the time and continuing today, rather than stand up for the humanity of the unborn, something in which the physician has honored expertise, the AAFP produces condescending and illogical criticism of those voters who do. American medical organizations have allowed government to establish itself as a permanent intrusive member of the doctor-patient relationship and given credence to those who believe that some American lives have less value than others. Hidden behind terms like "reproductive health care," "evidence-based medicine," and "intrusion into the patient-doctor relationship" is our willingness as an organization to sacrifice human life for financial and political gain. When professions whose reputations are established based on Christlike ideals of helping the weakest among us attempt to prosper at the cost of the weak, failure is inevitable except, of course, for those with lives of higher value.

Published with permission from the American Thinker.

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How redefining medicine has redefined the family - Lifesite

Neuroscience

$106M Weill Family Foundation Gift Opens Neurohub Research Network – ALS News Today

A $106 million Weill Family Foundationinitiative will bring together interdisciplinary researchers and clinicians at three West Coast universities in hopes of finding new treatments for brain and nervous system disorders such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

The University of California, Berkeley (Berkeley), the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and the University of Washington (UW) have launched the Weill Neurohub, a cutting-edge research network that seeks to promote collaborations among investigators from an array of fields, including artificial intelligence, engineering and data science.

The gains in knowledge amassed by neuroscientists over the past few decades can now be brought to the next level with supercomputers, electronic brain-computer interfaces, nanotechnology, robotics and powerful imaging tools, Sanford I. Weill, the foundations chairman, said in a press release.

The Neurohub will seize this opportunity by building bridges between people with diverse talents and training and bringing them together in a common cause: discovering new treatments to help the millions of patients with such conditions as Alzheimers diseaseand mental illness, he said.

The initiative will support collaborative projects with near-term transformational prospects, as well as pioneering investigators novel project ideas. It also intends to recruit new talent to fill knowledge gaps, and train the next generation of clinicians and scientists. In addition, the UCSF-based Neurohubwill host symposiums and other meetings in order to share knowledge, promote new alliances and motivate scientists.

To fuel development of high-impact new approaches, the Neurohub will begin by funding projects built upon at least one of these four fields: imaging, engineering, genomics and molecular therapies, and computation and data analytics. For their computational and device manufacturing expertise, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will provide support for the initiative. Other labs overseen by the U.S. Department of Energy that specialize in bioengineering, imaging and data science, also will contribute.

The announcement cites a 2016 study by the Information Technology & Innovation Foundationthat found the economic burden of psychiatric and neurological diseases, such as ALS, Parkinsons and Alzheimers,.exceeds $1.5 trillion annually in the U.S nearly 9% of the gross national product.

Each year, more than 5,600 U.S. residents are diagnosed with ALS.With one in five residents turning 65 or older in the next decade, California has the nations largest aging population. That presents significant challenges that extend beyond the state, said Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Every day, millions of people in California, the nation and the world are facing the uncertainty of neuro-related diseases, mental illness and brain injuries, and collaboration between different disciplines in science, academia, government and philanthropy is critical to meet this challenge, Newsom said while thanking the Weill Family Foundation.

Together, we must accelerate the development and use cutting-edge technology, innovation and tools that will advance research and practical application that will benefit people across the world and for generations to come. California is at the forefront of this innovation, Gavin said.

The gift expands on the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, established in 2016 with $185 million from the foundation.

Now, with the Weill Neurohub, were going even further: eliminating institutional boundaries between three great public research universities, and also other disciplinary walls between traditional neuroscience and non-traditional approaches to understanding the brain, said Stephen Hauser, MD. Hauser is Weill Institute director and a Neurohub co-director along with Berkeleys Ehud Isacoff, PhD, the Evan Rauch Chair of Neuroscience.

By embracing engineering, data analysis and imaging science at this dramatically higher level areas in which both Berkeley and the UW are among the best in the world neuroscientists on all three campuses will gain crucial tools and insights that will bring us closer to our shared goal of reducing suffering from brain diseases.

Tom Daniel, PhD, is the UW Joan and Richard Komen Endowed Chair and a member of the initiatives leadership committee. He said the Neurohub is unlike any other effort.

To my knowledge, this is a nationally unique enterprise drawing on diverse approaches to accomplish goals no single institution could reach alone, as well as seeding and accelerating research and discovery, Daniel said.

Mary M. Chapman began her professional career at United Press International, running both print and broadcast desks. She then became a Michigan correspondent for what is now Bloomberg BNA, where she mainly covered the automotive industry plus legal, tax and regulatory issues. A member of the Automotive Press Association and one of a relatively small number of women on the car beat, Chapman has discussed the automotive industry multiple times of National Public Radio, and in 2014 was selected as an honorary judge at the prestigious Cobble Beach Concours dElegance. She has written for numerous national outlets including Time, People, Al-Jazeera America, Fortune, Daily Beast, MSN.com, Newsweek, The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press. The winner of the Society of Professional Journalists award for outstanding reporting, Chapman has had dozens of articles in The New York Times, including two on the coveted front page. She has completed a manuscript about centenarian car enthusiast Margaret Dunning, titled Belle of the Concours.

Total Posts: 279

Margarida graduated with a BS in Health Sciences from the University of Lisbon and a MSc in Biotechnology from Instituto Superior Tcnico (IST-UL). She worked as a molecular biologist research associate at a Cambridge UK-based biotech company that discovers and develops therapeutic, fully human monoclonal antibodies.

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$106M Weill Family Foundation Gift Opens Neurohub Research Network - ALS News Today

Neuroscience

Galaxy brain: The neuroscience of how fake news grabs our attention, produces false memories, and appeals to our emotions – Nieman Journalism Lab at…

Fake news is a relatively new term, but its now seen by some as one of the greatest threats to democracy and free debate. But how does it work? Neuroscience can provide at least some insight.

The first job of fake news is to catch our attention, and for that reason, novelty is key. Researchers Gordon Pennycook and David Rand have suggested that one reason hyperpartisan claims are so successful is that they tend to be outlandish. In a world full of surprises, humans have developed an exquisite ability to rapidly detect and orient towards unexpected information or events. Novelty is an essential concept underlying the neural basis of behavior, and plays a role at nearly all stages of neural processing.

Sensory neuroscience has shown that only unexpected information can filter through to higher stages of processing. The sensory cortex may have therefore evolved to adapt to, to predict, and to quiet down the expected regularities of our experiences, focusing on events that are unpredictable or surprising. Neural responses gradually reduce each time were exposed to the same information, as the brain learns that this stimulus has no reward associated with it.

Novelty itself is related to motivation. Dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with reward anticipation, increases when we are confronted by novelty. When we see something new, we recognize its potential to reward us in some way. Studies have shown that the hippocampus ability to create new synaptic connections between neurons (a process known as plasticity) is increased by the influence of novelty. By increasing the brains plasticity, the potential to learn new concepts is also increased.

The primary region involved in responding to novel stimuli the substantia nigra/ventral segmental area, or SN/VTA is closely linked to the hippocampus and the amygdala, both of which play important roles in learning and memory. While the hippocampus compares stimuli against existing memories, the amygdala responds to emotional stimuli and strengthens associated long-term memories.

This aspect of learning and memory formation is of particular interest to my own lab, where we study brain oscillations involved in long-term memory consolidation. That process occurs during sleep, a somewhat limited timeframe to integrate all of our daily information. For that reason, the brain is adapted to prioritize certain types of information. Highly emotionally provocative information stands a stronger chance of lingering in our minds and being incorporated into long-term memory banks.

The allure of fake news is therefore reinforced by its relationship to memory formation. A recent study published in Psychological Science highlighted that exposure to propaganda can induce false memories. In one of the largest false-memory experiments to date, scientists gathered up registered voters in the Republic of Ireland in the week preceding the 2018 abortion referendum. Half of the participants reported a false memory for at least one fabricated event, with more than a third of participants reporting a specific eyewitness memory. In-depth analysis revealed that voters were most susceptible to forming false memories for fake news that closely aligned with their beliefs, particularly if they had low cognitive ability.

The ability of fake news to grab our attention and then highjack our learning and memory circuitry goes a long way to explaining its success. But its strongest selling point is its ability to appeal to our emotions. Studies of online networks show text spreads more virally when it contains a high degree of moral emotion, which drives much of what we do. Decisions are often driven by deep-seated emotions that can be difficult to identify. In the process of making a judgment, people consult or refer to an emotional catalog carrying all the positive and negative tags consciously or unconsciously associated with a given context.

We rely on our ability to place information into an emotional frame of reference that combines facts with feelings. Our positive or negative feelings about people, things, and ideas arise much more rapidly than our conscious thoughts, long before were aware of them. This processing operates with exposures to emotional content as short as 1/250th of a second, an interval so brief that there is no recognition or recall of the stimulus.

Merely being exposed to a fake news headline can increase later belief in that headline so scrolling through social media feeds laden with emotionally provocative content has the power to change the way we see the world and make political decisions.

The novelty and emotional conviction of fake news, and the way these properties interact with the framework of our memories, exceeds our brains analytical capabilities. Though its impossible to imagine a democratic structure without disagreement, no constitutional settlement can function if everything is a value judgement based on misinformation. In the absence of any authoritative perspective on reality, we are doomed to navigate our identities and political beliefs at the mercy of our brains more basal functions.

The capacity to nurture and sustain peaceful disagreement is a positive characteristic of a truly democratic political system. But before democratic politics can begin, we must be able to distinguish between opinions and facts, fake news and objective truth.

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Galaxy brain: The neuroscience of how fake news grabs our attention, produces false memories, and appeals to our emotions - Nieman Journalism Lab at...

Immunology

AbbVie Shareholders Have a Lot to Look Forward To With Allergan – The Motley Fool

AbbVie's (NYSE:ABBV) third-quarter earnings call reminded investors about the transformative potential of the Allergan acquisition for the pharma giant. Management reiterated that they continue to expect the deal to close by the end of the first quarter of 2020. This is promising for investors, as the combined entity will allow AbbVie to gain a more diversified foothold in faster-growing therapeutic areas such as Botox and neuroscience while expanding its immunology portfolio with the addition of Allergan's Linzess and Viberzi.

AbbVie CEO Richard Gonzalez said on the earnings call that "the Allergan transaction will make us even stronger and more diversified." Let's see why.

Photo Credit: Getty Images

The new AbbVie will have a strong market leadership position in a number of therapeutic areas. AbbVie would be No. 1 in immunology, supported by its flagship arthritis treatment, Humira, but investors are also excited about potential approvals following results of ongoing Phase 3 clinical trials of Skyrizi in psoriasis and Upadacitinib in rheumatoid arthritis before the end of 2020. Not surprisingly, AbbVie will also have a market leadership position in medical aesthetics, with a product suite covering Botox, the CoolSculpting fat removal system, and Juvederm dermal fillers, which are used to help conceal wrinkles. Medical aesthetics is still a rapidly growing market, especially internationally. Management cited a Markets and Markets Medical Aesthetics report from September 2018 that cited the aesthetics addressable market being $12B at the time and "growing."

Investors should be encouraged by Gonzalez's comments on the call that, "Based on the uniqueness of this particular molecule, we have come to the conclusion that it would be extremely difficult to create a biosimilar version of Botox, and I would tell you, we looked at this very extensively with a lot of outside expertise and we feel very confident that that's the case." This should create a steady stream of earnings and cash flow to AbbVie to help support other therapeutic areas without the worry of generic competition.

The scale and synergies of the acquisition are another bright spot for investors in a world where size matters more than ever to fend off competition.

Let's start with scale. Using full-year 2018 financials, adding AbbVie and Allergan gives us an entity that would have trailed only Johnson & Johnson, Roche, and Pfizer in revenue, lagging only the first two in operating cash flow. With the company's new scale, management believes it can achieve high-single-digit revenue growth.

With respect to the synergies, management expects the combined entity to lower costs and increase returns. Total savings are expected to top $2 billion over a three-plus-year period: 50% from R&D efficiency; 40% from selling, general, and administrative expenses as the footprint of the combined organization becomes leaner; and 10% from greater manufacturing efficiency. Those savings should show up quickly: Earnings per share are expected to get a 10% boost in year one and eventually top 20%. This will help support the increase of an already generous 5%-plus dividend yield, coupled with the promise of further shareholder-friendly actions as the company reduces its debt load. Gonzalez said that "combined, we will generate significant earnings and cash flow to enhance our innovative R&D platform support a strong and growing dividend and rapidly pay down debt."

Year to date, AbbVie's stock price has been more or less flat, lagging the S&P 500. As a result, it's sporting a forward price-to-earnings multiple of roughly 10 times consensus estimates. That's not a steep price for an attractive dividend yield coupled with the prospect of accelerating revenue and earnings growth.

As closure of the acquisition draws near, any negative investor sentiment should begin to abate, allowing for the prospects of multiple expansion. Gonzalez said on the call, "Our model is more conservative than what the Allergan current performance is and certainly more conservative than their longer-range forecast, but it still does project growth for Botox going forward." Thus, this multiple expansion should be led by reduced fears around competition, realized cost synergies, and potential for increased earnings guidance.

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AbbVie Shareholders Have a Lot to Look Forward To With Allergan - The Motley Fool

Immunology

Stanford postdoc and students cited as example to girls interested in STEM fields | The Dish – Stanford University News

by Alex Kekauoha on November 24, 2019 10:31 am

Dorothy Tovar, PhD student in microbiology and immunology, is among those selected to be an IF/THEN ambassador. (Courtesy Dorothy Tovar)

Three Stanford students and one postdoctoral scholar have been selected to the first class of IF/THEN ambassadors for the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Each will provide support and mentorship to young girls interested in pursuing STEM fields.

Catie Cuan

Graduate students CATIE CUAN and DOROTHY TOVAR, postdoctoral scholar HELEN TRAN and undergraduate ERIN SMITHare among 125 women selected to serve as ambassadors.

The ambassadors recently attended the IF/THEN Summit in Dallas, Texas, where they participated in a full-body scan that produced life-sized 3D-printed statues of the ambassadors the largest collection of statues of women. Ambassadors will also work with Bay Area Girl Scout troops, appear on the network television series Mission Unstoppable about women working on cutting-edge STEM projects and participate in media campaigns.

The IF/THEN initiative is based on the idea that if women in STEM fields are supported, then they can change the world. The program is supported by a $25 million commitment from Dallas-based Lyda Hill Philanthropies. It is also a partnership with the American Association for the Advancement of Science, which works to advance science, engineering and innovation throughout the world for the benefit of all people.

Catie Cuan is a PhD candidate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Growing up in Berkeley, California, she loved math and science, but had few female role models in those fields.

Helen Tran

This resulted in a self-imposed narrowing of what my future possibilities were, she said.

Cuan earned a bachelors degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and has had a career as a dancer and choreographer. After making performances and art installations with robots, she decided to pursue a graduate degree in mechanical engineering.Cuan is currently designing physical interactions between humans and robots, as well as haptic devices to tele-operate robots.

Helen Tran is the Intelligence Community postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Professor Zhenan Bao in the Department of Chemical Engineering.

A native of San Jose, California, science was not on Trans radar until college. She earned a bachelors degree in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, and a PhD in chemistry from Columbia University. She joined Stanford in 2016 and is currently researching biodegradable stretchable electronics.

Through the IF/THEN program, Tran has enjoyed learning about the quantitative studies on the importance of media representation of women in media.

Dorothy Tovar is a PhD student studying microbiology and immunology.

Erin Smith

Growing up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Tovar became interested in science at a young age. She frequently read science books and encyclopedias and watched countless hours of the Discovery Channel. She also spent some of her childhood in Haiti, where she became fascinated by the way microscopic organisms could cause diseases that devastate entire countries.

Tovar earned a BS in microbiology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where she was awarded the universitys 21st Century Leader Award. She joined Stanford Medicine in 2015.

Erin Smith, a first-year student and native of Kansas, is the founder ofFacePrint, an AI tool to detect and monitor Parkinsons disease and commonly misidentified neurological disorders using video technology and early-stage facial expression indicators. She is currently off campus pursuing a Thiel Internship.

Smiths research interest was spurred when she watched a video by the Michael J. Fox Foundation and noticed that Parkinsons patients smiles and laughter often appeared emotionally distant years before diagnosis. She talked to clinicians and caretakers, who reported similar observations. As she read through past medical papers. she found that the often-overlooked parts of the brain that experience some of the earliest changes in Parkinsons patients are the same parts involved in the formation of facial expressions. Smith became captivated by the idea of using facial expressions to monitor changes in the brain like Parkinsons and objectively detect its onset.

Mentors have had a pivotal impact on my life, said Smith. I am looking forward to the opportunity to engage with young students and help shape their futures.

Read more in the Roundabout.

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Stanford postdoc and students cited as example to girls interested in STEM fields | The Dish - Stanford University News

Immunology

Why I’m Holding On to My Bristol-Myers Squibb Shares Now That the Celgene Acquisition Has Closed – The Motley Fool

Goodbye, Celgene. Hello, Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY).

With Bristol-Myers Squibb's acquisition of Celgene closing on Wednesday, one of my favorite biotech stocks is now gone. Celgene became a subsidiary of BMS and is no longer a publicly traded company on its own. Like many former Celgene shareholders, I now own Bristol-Myers Squibb stock.

I've thought quite a bit about what I would do when the buyout deal concluded. My final conclusion: Do nothing. Here's why I plan to hold on to my new Bristol-Myers Squibb shares.

Image source: Getty Images.

I agree with market researcher EvaluatePharma that BMS's cancer immunotherapy Opdivo and its blood-thinning drug Eliquis are likely torank among the world's top-selling drugs over the next few years. But to be honest, the growth prospects for Opdivo and Eliquis alone wouldn't be enough to make me want to keep my newfound BMS shares. However, now that the big drugmaker owns Celgene's pipeline, it's a different story altogether.

Ozanimod appears to have very good chances of winning FDA approval for treating relapsed multiple sclerosis early next year. I expect the drug will generate peak annual sales in the ballpark of $5 billion if approved.

Celgene's cancer cell therapies liso-cel and ide-cel should also be in a pretty good position to secure regulatory approvals. These two drugs could tack on another $4 billion or so in combined peak annual sales. There could also be additional indications for recently approved Reblozyl (luspatercept) on the way that could help the drug achieve peak sales of close to $2 billion.

Looking farther down the road, I have high hopes for Celgene's CelMOD therapies that are currently in early stage clinical studies targeting blood cancers. I also think bb21217, a cell therapy that Celgene is developing with bluebird bio, could be a big winner.

These pipeline candidates make me excited about BMS's growth prospects. Yes, the company will have to offset the inevitable sales declines for Revlimid as generic rivals enter the market beginning in 2022. However, sales of those generics will be volume-limited at first. I think that the combination of Celgene's pipeline and already-approved drugs such as Pomalyst and Inrebic along with BMS's drugs should give the "new" company a solid growth runway.

In addition to its impressive blockbusters already mentioned, Bristol-Myers Squibb claims something remarkable of its own -- its dividend. The drugmaker's dividend currently yields 2.9%. That's a level that most investors would find quite attractive.

BMS has also been consistent at increasing its dividend payout through the years. Granted, those dividend hikes haven't been awe-inspiring. Still, a growing dividend is a good dividend in my book, especially with the already great yield.

I'm not worried at all about Bristol-Myers Squibb's ability to keep the dividends flowing and growing in the future. CFO Charles Bancroft noted in the company's third-quarter conference call that BMS will be able to increase its dividend, along with paying down its debt. He added that the company has "modeled annual increases" to its dividend in its pro forma financial projections.

It also helps that BMS just received $13.4 billion from the sale of Celgene's immunology drug Otezla to Amgen. While I would have preferred that BMS have Otezla in its lineup, the divestiture was necessary to make regulators happy and ended up being a good deal for all involved parties.

Celgene shareholders didn't just receive BMS stock with the closing of the acquisition. We also received $50 in cash per share plus a contingent value right (CVR) that will pay $9 if specified regulatory milestones are achieved.

I plan on holding on to my CVR. My expectation is that these CVR shares will eventually pay out the full $9 as BMS wins FDA approvals for ozanimod, liso-cel, and ide-cel.

As for the cash that I received with the acquisition of Celgene, I plan to invest in stocks, of course. Bristol-Myers Squibb won't be one of them, though, because I want to diversify more outside healthcare. The good news is that there are plenty of great stocks to choose from.

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Why I'm Holding On to My Bristol-Myers Squibb Shares Now That the Celgene Acquisition Has Closed - The Motley Fool

Immunology

Immunitas Therapeutics Launches with $39 Million to Advance Lead Programs to Human Efficacy Studies Based on a Unique Immunology-Focused Drug…

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Immunitas Therapeutics (Immunitas), a single cell genomics-based drug discovery company founded by Longwood Fund, today announced a $39 million Series A financing led by Leaps by Bayer and Novartis Venture Fund and joined by additional investors including Evotec, M Ventures, Alexandria Venture Investments, and other institutional investors. The company plans to use this funding to advance its first programs, monoclonal antibody therapeutics with single agent activity in preclinical models of oncology, to clinical studies.

Underlying the companys programs is the unique drug development platform crafted by the Immunitas team along with Aviv Regev (Professor of Biology and Core Member of the Broad Institute and Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute) that dissects the microenvironment of human tumors using single cell genomics-based approaches to identify novel immune targets. The Immunitas platform has generated fully humanized antibodies that act on these targets, advancing to human efficacy studies driven by specific clinical biomarkers, and a breadth of promising druggable cancer targets.

The scientific founders of Immunitas are pioneers in studying the immunobiology of human tumors, including the use of single cell genomics-based techniques and antibody-development techniques:

Single cell genomic sequencing has tremendous promise to help unravel the interactions between immune cells and cancer cells in tumors to advance cancer drug development but focusing it appropriately to discover meaningful new targets based on human biology has been challenging, said Dr. Wucherpfennig. The Immunitas platform is designed to reveal novel and important adaptive and innate immune interactions with tumor cells, which may open up new possibilities in cancer therapy. My scientific co-founders and I look forward to continuing to work with the Immunitas team as they advance this powerful science.

Our scientific founders are pioneers in the field of single cell sequencing and analysis. They have extensive expertise in deep computational biology, which has enabled us to discover novel therapeutic targets directly from human immunology, said Lea Hachigian, Ph.D., co-founder, director and President of Immunitas Therapeutics. The data from this platform have also provided us with biomarkers for patient selection, which has potential to accelerate our development plans and provides improved chances for efficacy for individual patients.

Immunitas was founded to directly address the challenge of translating findings from laboratory research in model organisms to meaningful clinical advances in humans. Immunitas focuses on human samples, allowing the company to start with and stay closer to the most relevant and translatable biology for patients.

One of todays biggest challenges in oncology is how to efficiently and effectively move preclinical research into human therapies while avoiding the false signals often seen in animal models, said Dr. Jrgen Eckhardt, Head of Leaps by Bayer, Bayer AGs strategic venture capital unit. The scientific founders of Immunitas have elegantly solved this problem by dissecting the biology of immune cells in human tumors directly. We are excited to support this approach which has the potential to significantly improve cancer drug development.

Longwood-founded Immunitas also announced key senior management appointments as well as the Board of Directors of the company. Dr. Lea Hachigian is co-founder, director and President of Immunitas as well as a Principal at Longwood Fund. She is also a co-founder and director of TScan Therapeutics. Tarek Samad, Ph.D. is the Chief Scientific Officer at Immunitas Therapeutics. He has over two decades of experience in academia and industry leading small molecule and antibody biologic programs into the clinic. Amanda Wagner joins the company as Vice President of Strategy and Operations with over ten years of biotech experience in similar roles. The Board of Directors includes Dr. Laura Brass, Dr. Jrgen Eckhardt, Dr. Lea Hachigian, Dr. Lucio Iannone, Dr. Christoph Westphal, and Dr. Vincent Xiang.

About Immunitas Therapeutics

Immunitas Therapeutics, founded by Longwood Fund, employs a single cell genomics platform to dissect the biology of immune cells in human tumors, thereby advancing discoveries directly from the bench into meaningful clinical improvements. Our focus on human data allows us to start with and stay closer to the biology that is most relevant in patients and greatly accelerates the pace of our research. The Immunitas team of scientific pioneers innovates around each step of the drug development process, first identifying novel targets, then designing therapeutic strategies, and developing key biomarkers to guide the selection of patients who may benefit from our new drugs. http://www.ImmunitasTx.com.

Immunitas the human approach to oncology

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Immunitas Therapeutics Launches with $39 Million to Advance Lead Programs to Human Efficacy Studies Based on a Unique Immunology-Focused Drug...

Immunology

Omeros’ New GPR174 Immuno-oncology Data Presented at the American Association for Cancer Research Conference In Boston Now Available Online – Business…

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Omeros Corporation (Nasdaq: OMER) presented new GPR174 immuno-oncology data yesterday at the American Association for Cancer Research Conference on Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy in Boston, Massachusetts. The positively received and well-attended presentation about the companys cell-based and animal studies related to its newly discovered cancer immunity axis was made by Marc Gavin, Ph.D., Omeros Director of Immunology. This data can now be accessed on the companys website at https://investor.omeros.com/presentations

About Omeros Corporation

Omeros is an innovative biopharmaceutical company committed to discovering, developing and commercializing small-molecule and protein therapeutics for large-market as well as orphan indications targeting complement-mediated diseases, disorders of the central nervous system and immune-related diseases, including cancers. In addition to its commercial product OMIDRIA (phenylephrine and ketorolac intraocular solution) 1%/0.3%, Omeros has multiple Phase 3 and Phase 2 clinical-stage development programs focused on complement-mediated disorders and substance abuse, as well as a diverse group of preclinical programs including GPR174, a novel target in immuno-oncology that modulates a new cancer immunity axis recently discovered by Omeros. Small-molecule inhibitors of GPR174 are part of Omeros proprietary G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) platform through which it controls 54 new GPCR drug targets and their corresponding compounds. The company also exclusively possesses a novel antibody-generating platform.

Source: Omeros Corporation

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Omeros' New GPR174 Immuno-oncology Data Presented at the American Association for Cancer Research Conference In Boston Now Available Online - Business...

Immunology

Road trip germs and how to avoid the grossness this holiday – CNN

(CNN) It's the time of year to pile the family into the car and make the trek to grandma's house.

No doubt you've got the packing down pat, as well as the best ways to entertain the kids as you travel. You've probably stashed some hand sanitizer for those thousands of restroom stops as well.

But have you thought of all of the other germs you might encounter on your journey?

Your car

Think of all the things you carry in your car -- and the germs that ride along. Not to mention the fact that most of us eat in our cars, scattering tasty bits to feed those microbes.

In fact, the study found the inside of the average car to be over 2,000 times germier than a phone, with more than 200 infectious bacteria per inch.

None of that surprises microbiologist Charles Gerba, a professor of public health, environmental science and immunology at the University of Arizona.

"I can actually tell by looking at the microbiology of a car where it is from in the US," Gerba said. Known as "Dr. Germ" for his abundant testing for germs on nearly every surface mankind might touch, Gerba's work is often commissioned by cleaning supply manufacturers to verify if their products work.

"We grew salmonella in the shop and we put them in the trucks of cars in different states," Gerba said. "In the south and Florida, it's nice and humid like a sauna so you get tons of bacteria. Michigan is like a refrigerator, so it's loaded with fungi because they grow better at the colder temperature."

However, in Arizona where Gerba lives, it's tougher for bacteria to survive: "They get toasted because it's 120 degrees in your trunk."

The solution is obvious: Clean the inside of your car with sanitizing wipes, change the air filters frequently to remove airborne particles, vacuum upholstery and sanitize floor mats. And don't forget to clean your keys.

Another germy surface you won't be able to avoid on your road trip: the gas station. The buttons you push to select and pay for gas harbor millions of bacteria, some dangerous, some not, according to the car rental survey. Gas pumps carried over 6,000 times the bacteria a public elevator button has and more than 11,000 times the germs of a public toilet seat.

Adding to my travel checklist: disposable plastic gloves.

Eating out on the road

Germs can spread through a family very quickly, as Gerba found out when he swabbed the hands of several families of four with a benign bacterium.

"Usually the germs spread to about 90% of the home's surfaces within four hours. I was actually kind of amazed," he said.

Just imagine what's happening in a restaurant that is serving one person (or family with small children in diapers) after another...

"Restaurant menus, they get pretty germy," Gerba said. "The plastic ones get really bad. Tabletops can be nasty too. We sampled tables at restaurants and asked the waiter or waitress to come over and wipe it clean."

Instead, Gerba said, "they usually put a thin layer of E. coli down on the table for us to eat off of."

"They're supposed to use disinfectants in these sponges and dish cloths, but apparently it's not effective enough," Gerba continued. "When they come to wipe my table off, I say 'Don't do it please. I'm fine.' "

Another note to self: Bring disinfectant wipes into restaurants every, single, time.

Self-checkouts

From the restaurant you just wiped down to the grocery store or quick mart you stopped at to get some snacks for the road, self-checkouts are another way to keep things moving quickly. Too bad they're so germy.

"We found a lot of fecal bacteria, antibiotic-resistant bacteria. I must say I was quite surprised," Gerba said. "They were worse than hospital screens that doctors and nurses touch. I certainly don't use the self-checkout anymore."

But here's some good news: When you pay for your items with cash, there's little chance of those dollar bills and coins passing on germs.

"We had people touch paper bills and very few bacteria, only 1%, came off," Gerba said.

"There may be bacteria but it doesn't transfer to your hands because bills tend to be porous. Coins tend to be somewhat anti-microbial; they are made of copper, silver and nickel. So, they didn't come out too bad in our studies either."

Too bad many of us don't carry much cash. Well, thank goodness for quick pay on our cell phones.

Oh, right. We carry those into the bathroom with us.

Hotel rooms

The nastiest item? The hotel TV remote.

Surprisingly, one of the least contaminated spots was the bathroom door handle.

Gerba tested hotel rooms that varied in price from $98 to $500 per night. You'd think the more expensive lodging would be less germy, but you'd be wrong. One 5-star hotel room had excessive levels of bacteria on the room service menu. Another disgusting item was the hotel hair dryer.

And when it comes to remote controls, Gerba's team found similar results as the Houston researchers, but with an extremely, uh, disturbing twist.

"Remote controls are the germiest thing in a hotel room," Gerba said. "In fact, we found semen on 30% of the remote controls we tested."

Speechless. But I can still scribble another note to myself: Next road trip bring enough plastic wrap to cover entire body.

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Road trip germs and how to avoid the grossness this holiday - CNN