Director of Research/Cell Biology, tells us that genome editing is just a way of speeding up mother nature. Genome editing, the advantage is it is not GMO. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue said he is not going to push for regulations on genome editing where it does not involve any plant pest and the reason for that is the nucleotide substitution, mother nature does the very same thing. We call them snips, a single nucleotide polymorphism and its the snips that plant breeders take advantage of for yield gains and that is the basis of plant breeding. We are just able to harness that ability that mother nature has developed and use it in a way that we can do it a whole lot faster. The outcome is the same as what mother nature would do.

In a 60 minutes report, a scientist suggested that genome editing may ultimately enable us to cure every disease known to man.

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Speeding up nature - AG INFORMATION NETWORK OF THE WEST - AGInfo Ag Information Network Of The West

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

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

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

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

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

Finless Foods carp croquettes, in September 2017

Finless Foods

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Finless Foods

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

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

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

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

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We Destroyed the Oceans. Now Scientists Are Growing Seafood in Labs. - Mother Jones

This past June, Princeton University molecular geneticist Coleen Murphy and colleagues published their research documenting that after consuming a pathogen, C. eleganscan pass on information about it to their offspring, allowing the next generation to avoid making the same mistake. But only some pathogenic bacteria trigger this transgenerational avoidance response. Murphy wanted to know why.

Her group started exposing worms to various bits of pathogenic Pseudomonas bacteria, which the team had previously found to trigger the avoidance response across generations. To the researchers surprise, exposure to bacterial metabolites did not trigger an avoidance response, nor did bacterial DNA. Small RNAs in the bacteria, however, did. When they squirted a bunch of Pseudomonas small RNAs onto the worms usual diet of E. coli, the nematodes later avoided eating Pseudomonas, even though theyd never encountered the actual organism before.

The team looked for differences in the expression of small RNAs between Pseudomonas bacteria cultured at 25 Ca temperature at which the microbes are pathogenic and trigger the avoidance response in C. elegansthat consume themand those cultured at 15 Cconditions that result in no response in the wormsand identified six bacterial small RNAs that were upregulated in the bacteria kept at the warmer temperature. Further experiments with E. coligenetically engineered to express each of these small RNAs narrowed the search to one particular culprit that appears to trigger the avoidance responseeven if the worms dont actually get sick. Its like a false memory, says Murphy, who presented the findings on Monday (December 9) at the American Society for Cell Biology annual meeting in Washington, DC, and earlier this year as a preprint on bioRxiv.

Small RNAs isolated from Serratia marcesans, a pathogen that does not trigger a transgenerational avoidance response, did not have this effect, she tells The Scientist.

Digging into the phenomenon further, her team found that the molecular pathways underlying the worms initial avoidance of Pseudomonasand their ability to pass that information on to their offspring appear to be one and the same. In fact, the small RNAs signal must go from the gut to the germline before it can reach the neurons that control the avoidance behavior. We got this crazy result early on, Murphy says, referring to the signals route of transmission through the body. We thought it was a mistake we made.

But it was no mistake. In the study published in June, the team had found that lots of tiny C. elegans RNAs known as Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) were expressed differently after exposure to pathogenic Pseudomonas, and that knocking out prg-1, which encodes a regulator of piRNAs, in the germline blocked the transgenerational response.

In this latest project, the researchers found that knocking out prg-1 in the germline also blocked the avoidance response in the mothers. Every single thing that was required for transgenerational inheritance was also required for avoidance in the mother, says Murphy. It basically is this system-wide signaling that the worms use to interpret what theyre eating.

The team confirmed the results with wild C. elegansand wild bacteria, to demonstrate that this was not simply an artifact of the laboratory environment. Although the exact mechanisms by which the Pseudomonassmall RNA triggers avoidance behaviornot to mention the passing of that behavior on to the next generationremain a bit of a black box, Murphy and her colleagues did determine that they do not involve the known components of pathways for processing microRNAs or viral RNAs. Its something thats completely new, she says. [It] opens up a whole new set of questions.

Jef Akst is managing editor ofThe Scientist. Email her atjakst@the-scientist.com.

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How Worms Avoid Eating Bad Bacteria and Warn Their Offspring Too - The Scientist

Research Report onLive Cell Imaging Consumables Market size | Industry Segment by Applications (Cell Biology, Stem Cells, Developmental Biology and Drug Discovery), by Type (Assay Kits, Reagents, Media and Others), Regional Outlook, Market Demand, Latest Trends, Live Cell Imaging Consumables Industry Share & Revenue by Manufacturers, Company Profiles, Growth Forecasts 2025.Analyzes current market size and upcoming 5 years growth of this industry.

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Live Cell Imaging Consumables Market Forecast 2020-2025, Latest Trends and Oppor - News by aeresearch

Parkinsons disease is characterized by the loss of specific brain cells that make the chemical dopamine. Without dopamine, nerve cells cannot communicate with muscles and people are left with debilitating motor problems. Aspen is focusing on human pluripotent stem cells, cultured cells that can become any cell type in the human body. Many health technology startups are on the raise to cure this disease. At the forefront is Aspen Neuroscience, a healthtech startup developing first-of-its-kind personalized cell therapy for Parkinsons disease.

Aspen Neuroscience is a development stage, private biotechnology company that uses innovative genomic approaches combined with stem cell biology to deliver patient-specific, restorative cell therapies that modify the course of Parkinsons disease.

Today,Aspen Neuroscience announced its official launch with $6.5 million seed financingto develop the first autologous cell therapies for Parkinsons disease.The round was led by Domain Associates and Axon Ventures and including Alexandria Venture Investments, Arch Venture Partners, OrbiMed and others.

Aspens proprietary approach was developed by the companys co-founders, Jeanne F. Loring, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus and founding director of the Center for Regenerative Medicine at The Scripps Research Institute, and Andres Bratt-Leal, Ph.D., a former post-doctoral researcher in Dr. Lorings lab. The company was initially supported by Summit for Stem Cell, a founding partner and non-profit organization which provides a variety of services for people with Parkinsons disease. Aspen is led by industry veteran Howard J. Federoff, M.D., Ph.D., as Chief Executive Officer.

The companys research is specific to induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which it develops by taking a skin biopsy from a person with Parkinsons disease and turning the tissue into pluripotent stem cells using genetic engineering. Aspen then differentiates the pluripotent stem cells into dopamine-releasing neurons that can be transplanted into that same person (autologous), thereby restoring the types of neurons lost in Parkinsons disease.

As an autologous cell therapy for Parkinsons disease, Aspens treatment would eliminate the need for immunosuppression because the neurons are transplanted back into the same patient from which they were generated. The use of immunosuppression is necessary with currently available cell therapies for Parkinsons disease and when transplanting cells from one patient to another (allogeneic) to prevent rejection but can pre-dispose the patient to life-threatening complications including infection and add cost to the patient and health system. Aspen is the only company in the world offering an autologous neuron replacement therapy for Parkinsons disease.

Aspen encompasses a powerful executive leadership team including Dr. Federoff who, in addition to his leadership roles at the UC Irvine Health System, was the Executive Vice President for Health Sciences and the Executive Dean of Medicine at Georgetown University. Dr. Federoff also has significant biotech industry experience including co-founding MedGenesis Therapeutix and Brain Neurotherapy Bio, as well as leading the U.S. Parkinsons Disease Gene Therapy Study Group. The company is also proud to announce the addition of several experienced and well-known members to its leadership team including Edward Wirth, M.D., Ph.D., as Chief Medical Officer.

Dr. Wirth currently serves as the Chief Medical Ofcer for Lineage Cell Therapeutics where he oversees clinical development of its two therapeutic programs for spinal cord injuries and lung cancer. He received his M.D. and Ph.D. from the University of Florida in 1994 and remained to conduct postdoctoral research including leading the University of Florida team that performed the rst human embryonic spinal cord transplant in the U.S. Dr. Wirth went on to serve as the Medical Director for Regenerative Medicine at Geron Corporation where the worlds rst clinical trial of human embryonic stem cell (hESC)-derived product occurred which demonstrated initial clinical safety.

Drs. Federoff and Wirth are joined by Dr. Loring, as Chief Scientific Officer; Jay Sial, as Chief Financial Officer; Andres Bratt-Leal, Ph.D., as Vice President of Research and Development; Thorsten Gorba, Ph.D., as Senior Director of Manufacturing and Naveen M. Krishnan, M.D., M.Phil., as Senior Director of Corporate Development.

Aspen is developing a restorative, disease modifying autologous neuron therapy for people suffering from Parkinsons disease, said Dr. Federoff. We are fortunate to have such a high-caliber scientific and medical leadership team to make our treatments a reality. Our cell replacement therapy, which originated in the laboratory of Dr. Jeanne Loring and was later supported by Summit for Stem Cell and its President, Ms. Jenifer Raub, has the potential to release dopamine and reconstruct neural networks where no disease-modifying therapies exist.

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Aspen Neuroscience launches with $6.5M seed funding to develop personalized and autologous cell therapy for Parkinson's disease - TechStartups.com

Work type: Full-timeDepartment: Research Division for Molecular and Cell Biology (25003)Categories: Academic-related Staff

Applications are invited for appointment as Post-doctoral Fellow in the Research Division for Molecular and Cell Biology (Ref.: 499200), to commence on March 1, 2020 for one year, with the possibility of renewal.

Applicants should possess a Ph.D. degree in genetics or developmental neurobiology, a strong background in using model organisms to study the genetic basis of neuronal differentiation and circuit formation, and a good publication record in relevant field. They should have excellent communication skills in written and spoken English, great trouble-shooting skills, effective collaboration skills and be able to conduct research independently. Those with research experience in the nematode C. elegans and skills in computational biology would have an advantage.

The appointee will carry out investigations in the field of developmental neurobiology using C. elegans as a model system and applying various genetics, genomics, and imaging techniques to study the mechanisms of neuronal differentiation and circuit assembly. He/She will participate in potential projects to study the mechanisms that regulate neurogenesis, cell fate decisions, and neuronal morphogenesis; and investigate the mechanisms that instruct the formation of electrical synapses in neural circuits. Background information about the research concerned can be found at http://www.zhenglabhku.org. Enquiries about the post should be sent to Dr. Zheng at cgzheng@hku.hk.

A highly competitive salary commensurate with qualifications and experience will be offered, in addition to annual leave and medical benefits. At current rates, salaries tax does not exceed 15% of gross income.

The University only accepts online application for the above post. Applicants should apply online and upload an up-to-date C.V., a brief statement of research interests, and the contact information of 2 referees. Review of applications will commence as soon as possible and continue until February 1, 2020, or until the post is filled, whichever is earlier.

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Postdoctoral Fellow in the Research Division for Molecular and Cell Biology job with THE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG | 188833 - Times Higher Education...

Aging is a dramatic public health issue in the face of the current demographic changes: the proportion of 60 and over in the worlds population will almost double by 2050. In this context, a new discovery has just broadened scientific knowledge. Researchers from the Developmental and Stem Cell Biology Department at the Institut Pasteur shed light on the mechanisms of senescence, by identifying a key protein associated with aging.

Currently, most of older people die of noncommunicable diseases such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes, rather than infectious or parasitic diseases, even in developing countries. Thus, ageing is a major public health issue and the Institut Pasteur is committed to being a major player in research in this area.

A better understanding of the fundamental mechanisms that lead to ageing will pave the way towards ultimately healthier aging, which is a major socioeconomic issue for the coming decades.

Identification of a key protein linked to ageingSenescence, which is a process that limits proliferation of damaged cells in response to various types of stress, has been associated to aging. Accumulation of senescent cells in tissues may contribute to organ degeneration and age-related diseases. As a result, clearance of these cells has been associated with slower aging and longer healthspan in animal models.

Scientists from Institut Pasteur and CNRS demonstrated that progressive depletion of a protein drives proliferating cells into irreversible aging. Moreover, such a depletion is a very early trigger, and therefore a determinant of cellular aging, or senescence.

This factor, called CSB is involved in Cockayne syndrome, a disease affecting about one in every 200,000 people in European countries. The absence of CSB protein or its dysfunction causes early aging, photosensitivity, progressive neurological disorders and intellectual deficit in patients with Cockayne syndrome. We had previously shown that the absence or impairment of CSB is also responsible for dysfunction of mitochondria, the power plant of cells says Dr. Miria Ricchetti, head of the team Stability of Nuclear and Mitochondrial DNA within the Stem Cells and Development Unit at the Institut Pasteur. This new study reveals the very same alterations in replicative senescence, a process strictly linked to physiological aging says Ricchetti.

The importance of the present discovery is that it shows that a factor that was considered to be stable in normal cells is instead progressively depleted when they proliferate. When this happens, the cell is irreparably committed to the dead end of senescence.

The exhaustion of CSB is driven by epigenetic modifications (reversible and regulated modifications of gene expression, without altering the DNA) that block its expression at the DNA level. Moreover, a molecule previously identified by these researchers as being able to reverse the defects of Cockayne syndrome patient cells, is also able to attenuate the commitment of normal cells to senescence.

"These studies demonstrate an important link between the [pathological] accelerated aging process and normal aging, and also expose the CSB protein as a key factor against cellular aging" concludes Ricchetti.

Reference

Crochemore et al. (2019) CSB promoter downregulation via histone H3 hypoacetylation is an early determinant of replicative senescence. Nature Communications. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-13314-y

This article has been republished from the following materials. Note: material may have been edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source.

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Key Protein Linked to Aging Is Discovered - Technology Networks

Dec. 10, 2019 13:00 UTC

WILMINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE: CRL) today announced that it has entered into an exclusive Discovery and Safety Services partnership with Bit Bio, a company that offers consistent and efficient reprogramming of human cells for use in research, drug discovery, and cell therapies.

By applying an engineering approach to synthetic and stem cell biology, Bit Bio has developed proprietary technologies for the efficient, consistent, and scalable reprogramming of induced pluripotent stem cells.

Cellular Reprogramming

Cellular reprogramming is the process by which human stem cells, given a precise set of genetic instructions, differentiate into a desired cell type. Current cellular reprogramming approaches are inefficient, with low cell yields, creating a gap for applications requiring high quality, consistent, and pure human cells.

To overcome this hurdle, Bit Bio has developed a gene engineering approach, opti-ox (optimised inducible over-expression). This platform, validated on both muscle and brain cells, enables precise, controllable stem cell reprogramming. According to Bit Bio, the process is more efficient and scalable than available technologies in transforming stem cells into desired cell types.

By combining the purity, scale, and speed of the opti-ox platform with deep learning algorithms, Bit Bio has the potential to accelerate the discovery and application of every single human cell type.

Partnering for Translational Drug Development

By partnering with Bit Bio, Charles River plans to offer clients access to an expanding suite of authentic human cells through their use in target discovery, validation and screening services. In drug discovery and safety, the use of high quality, authentic human cells at scale will enable the development of therapies with a higher chance of success in patients. Additionally, through the partnership, Charles River will contribute to the development and validation of novel cell lines.

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About Charles River

Charles River provides essential products and services to help pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, government agencies and leading academic institutions around the globe accelerate their research and drug development efforts. Our dedicated employees are focused on providing clients with exactly what they need to improve and expedite the discovery, early-stage development and safe manufacture of new therapies for the patients who need them. To learn more about our unique portfolio and breadth of services, visit http://www.criver.com.

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Charles River Announces Strategic Partnership with Bit Bio, Increasing Portfolio of Translational Drug Discovery Technologies - BioSpace

FT819 Exhibits Enhanced Tumor Clearance In Vivo Compared to Primary CAR T Cells in Preclinical Leukemia Model

Master Engineered iPSC Line for FT819 Fully Characterized for Complete Elimination of TCR Expression and Integration of Novel 1XX CAR into TRAC Locus with No Evidence of Off-target Effects

Company Plans to Submit an IND Application for FT819 during 1H20

SAN DIEGO, Dec. 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Fate Therapeutics, Inc. (FATE), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development of programmed cellular immunotherapies for cancer and immune disorders, announced new in vivo preclinical data for FT819, its first off-the-shelf, iPSC-derived chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell product candidate, at the 61st American Society of Hematology (ASH) Meeting and Exposition in Orlando, Florida.

FT819 is derived from a clonal master engineered induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) line with complete elimination of T-cell receptor (TCR) expression and a novel 1XX CAR targeting CD19 inserted into the T-cell receptor alpha constant (TRAC) locus. The cell product candidate is being developed under a collaboration with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) led by Michel Sadelain, M.D., Ph.D. The Company has now selected a single engineered iPSC clone, and generated and fully-characterized the master engineered iPSC bank for GMP production of FT819.

CAR T-cell therapy continues to deliver remarkable outcomes for patients with hematologic malignancies, and next-generation approaches are needed to enable broad and timely patient access and reduce the cost and complexity of therapy, said Scott Wolchko, President and Chief Executive Officer of Fate Therapeutics. With early evidence of clinical activity for our off-the-shelf, iPSC-derived NK cell programs, we are excited to lead in bringing next-generation CAR T-cell therapies to patients and plan to submit an IND for FT819 in the first half of 2020.

The Companys iPSC product platform unites stem cell biology and precision genetic engineering to create renewable master engineered iPSC lines that can be repeatedly used to mass produce cancer-fighting immune cells, replacing the high production costs, weeks of manufacturing time, and complex engineering processes required for current-generation CAR T-cell immunotherapies with an off-the-shelf product that has the potential to reach many more patients.

At ASH, scientists from the Company and MSK presented new in vivo preclinical data demonstrating that FT819 exhibits durable tumor control and extended survival. In a stringent xenograft model of disseminated lymphoblastic leukemia, FT819 demonstrated enhanced tumor clearance and control of leukemia as compared to primary CAR19 T cells. At Day 35 following administration, a bone marrow assessment showed that FT819 persisted and continued to demonstrate tumor clearance, whereas primary CAR T cells, while persisting, were not able to control tumor growth. Over the past twelve months, the collaboration team has worked to optimize its processes for making T cells from iPSCs, and has now shown the production of pure T-lymphocytes consisting of both CD8+ and CD4+ T cells having a global gene expression profile that is highly-similar to primary T cells based on a principal component analysis.

As proof-of-principle for the unique advantages arising from selecting a single engineered iPSC clone for the production of CAR T-cell therapy, the scientists assessed 747 clones after engineering a pool of cells using CRISPR. It was found that only about 2% of clones met the Companys standards for overall quality including containing both bi-allelic disruption of the TCR, proper insertion of the CAR into the TRAC locus without random transgene integrations, and no evidence of off-target genomic modifications or translocations. The Company selected the top-performing clone for generation of the master engineered iPSC bank for GMP production of FT819.

Fate Therapeutics has exclusively licensed from MSK foundational intellectual property covering the production and composition of iPSC-derived T cells. In August, the Company announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued U.S. Patent No. 10,370,452 covering compositions and uses of effector T cells expressing a CAR, where such T cells are derived from a pluripotent stem cell, including an iPSC. The foundational patent, which expires in 2034, is owned by MSK and is licensed exclusively to Fate Therapeutics for all human therapeutic uses.

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About Fate Therapeutics iPSC Product PlatformThe Companys proprietary induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) product platform enables mass production of off-the-shelf, engineered, homogeneous cell products that can be administered with multiple doses to deliver more effective pharmacologic activity, including in combination with cycles of other cancer treatments. Human iPSCs possess the unique dual properties of unlimited self-renewal and differentiation potential into all cell types of the body. The Companys first-of-kind approach involves engineering human iPSCs in a one-time genetic modification event and selecting a single engineered iPSC for maintenance as a clonal master iPSC line. Analogous to master cell lines used to manufacture biopharmaceutical drug products such as monoclonal antibodies, clonal master iPSC lines are a renewable source for manufacturing cell therapy products which are well-defined and uniform in composition, can be mass produced at significant scale in a cost-effective manner, and can be delivered off-the-shelf for patient treatment. As a result, the Companys platform is uniquely capable of overcoming numerous limitations associated with the production of cell therapies using patient- or donor-sourced cells, which is logistically complex and expensive and is subject to batch-to-batch and cell-to-cell variability that can affect clinical safety and efficacy. Fate Therapeutics iPSC product platform is supported by an intellectual property portfolio of over 250 issued patents and 150 pending patent applications.

About Fate Therapeutics, Inc.Fate Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development of first-in-class cellular immunotherapies for cancer and immune disorders. The Company has established a leadership position in the clinical development and manufacture of universal, off-the-shelf cell products using its proprietary induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) product platform. The Companys immuno-oncology product candidates include natural killer (NK) cell and T-cell cancer immunotherapies, which are designed to synergize with well-established cancer therapies, including immune checkpoint inhibitors and monoclonal antibodies, and to target tumor-associated antigens with chimeric antigen receptors (CARs). The Companys immuno-regulatory product candidates include ProTmune, a pharmacologically modulated, donor cell graft that is currently being evaluated in a Phase 2 clinical trial for the prevention of graft-versus-host disease, and a myeloid-derived suppressor cell immunotherapy for promoting immune tolerance in patients with immune disorders. Fate Therapeutics is headquartered in San Diego, CA. For more information, please visit http://www.fatetherapeutics.com.

Forward-Looking StatementsThis release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 including statements regarding the safety and therapeutic potential of the Companys cell product candidates, including FT819, its ongoing and planned clinical studies, and the expected clinical development plans for FT819. These and any other forward-looking statements in this release are based on management's current expectations of future events and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those set forth in or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the risk that the Company may cease or delay planned development and clinical trials of any of its product candidates for a variety of reasons (including any delay in enrolling patients in current and planned clinical trials, requirements that may be imposed by regulatory authorities on the conduct of clinical trials or to support regulatory approval, difficulties in manufacturing or supplying the Companys product candidates for clinical testing, or the occurrence of any adverse events or other negative results that may be observed during development), the risk that results observed in preclinical studies of its product candidates, including FT819, may not be replicated in future clinical trials or studies, and the risk that its product candidates may not produce therapeutic benefits or may cause other unanticipated adverse effects. For a discussion of other risks and uncertainties, and other important factors, any of which could cause the Companys actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see the risks and uncertainties detailed in the Companys periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to the Companys most recently filed periodic report, and from time to time in the Companys press releases and other investor communications.Fate Therapeutics is providing the information in this release as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Contact:Christina TartagliaStern Investor Relations, Inc.212.362.1200christina@sternir.com

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Fate Therapeutics Presents its First Off-the-shelf, iPSC-derived CAR T-Cell Cancer Immunotherapy Program at ASH Annual Meeting - Yahoo Finance

Conner Wright is carrying a demanding course load in his final year as an English major at UC Berkeley: antebellum American literature, introduction to music therapy and a research seminar on William Shakespeare.

The 20-year-old senior is immersed in the works of Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Herman Melville and Harriet Jacobs.

But Wright, who is anticipating his graduation in May, has the self-awareness to know he needed a little something extra to prepare for his launch into a post-college world, that a superior ability to interpret classic literary works may not be enough.

So he signed up for a class on adulting, where he is learning to create and stick to a personal budget, build a resume and apply for jobs and navigate romantic relationships in a time when online interactions are eclipsing face-to-face encounters.

I need to learn how to get this adult thing down and manage life, Wright said.

The class, which has 30 students enrolled in each section, is led by two Berkeley undergrads who plan discussion topics and schedule guest speakers to fill 90 minutes each week. The adults in training are among thousands of people across the country who have signed up for courses that focus on things such as cooking or budgeting or time management.

Jenny Zhou, left, and Belle Lau teach an adulting class at UC Berkeley.

(Josh Edelson / For The Times)

Adulting classes for college students and postgrads have swelled in popularity in recent years, in part because many high schools have largely abandoned life skills courses such as home economics, which were created to help students navigate the path to adulthood.

That trend, combined with armies of hovering parents who emphasize academic achievement to the exclusion of almost everything else, has resulted in university classrooms filled with students who scored a 5 on their AP Physics test, but struggle to plan for a weeks worth of groceries and meals.

In Portland, Maine, the Adulting School offers in-person classes on soft skills, such as interviewing, conflict resolution and making friends, along with topics such as personal finance and basic home maintenance.

Principal Rachel Flehinger said her students, who are typically in their 20s and 30s, have experienced their share of disdain over their so-called entitlement and laziness.

Weve had clients who are millennials having major anxiety that they didnt have these skills and didnt feel successful as an adult, she said. Theres a lot of self-loathing that happens.

Similar classes or in-person workshops have popped up at libraries and universities across the country, in private groups on social media and even on blogs tailored to college students. Some high schools have scheduled seminars on life skills as a way to prepare their students for life after graduation.

Sometimes students come up with their own solutions.

Neither Belle Lau of Washington nor Jenny Zhou of Arizona felt fully prepared for life away from home when they arrived at Berkeley two years ago. When Lau moved out of the dorms and into her own apartment during her sophomore year, her lack of self-reliance at the time became apparent. She was working, attending classes and, for the first time, had to plan her own meals, put money aside and cover her expenses. She quickly realized that she was spending too much money eating out all the time.

More than 200 students at UC Berkeley applied for two adulting courses offered this semester. More than half of them had to be turned away because of limited class size.

(Josh Edelson / For The Times)

Lau and Zhou noticed that many of their peers were having similar struggles.

Were thrown out into this world and have little idea about what the heck were supposed to do, said Lau, 21. I think in general we all feel a little bit lost and dont know where to start.

To remedy that, Lau and Zhou, 20, decided to create their own class.

When it was first offered last spring, every one of the 30 spots was filled. Seventy students had to be turned away.

Lau and Zhou added a second session this semester. More than 200 students filled out applications explaining why they wanted to take the 12-week course. The women accepted fewer than half who applied.

Column One

A showcase for compelling storytelling from the Los Angeles Times.

Adulting is one of dozens of student-run courses in the universitys DeCal (Democratic Education at Cal) program, in which students create and facilitate their own classes on topics that include those practical and fun and often arent addressed in traditional curriculum. The project is rooted in the ideals of Berkeleys free speech movement, launched in the 1960s when students pressed for and won greater academic rights.

Theres a class on criminal psychology, which aims to analyze the minds of criminals, particularly of those who commit heinous crimes, in an effort to understand factors that influenced their behaviors and led them to commit violent offenses. Students enrolled in Intro to Baking learn to make bread, cakes, pastries and other confections without setting you or your roommates on fire, according to the course catalog.

Another course takes participants on a journey to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry through discussions of Harry Potter novels.

The courses in DeCal count for one or two credits and are offered as pass/no pass; as a result, students say they are unlikely to add to their stress levels.

College is a time of so many transitions the losing of certain reference points and its relatively sudden, said Nancy Liu, an assistant clinical professor of psychology at UC Berkeley and the faculty sponsor for the adulting class this semester. Youre on your own for the first time, youre navigating a large system with limited support, youre taken out of past comforts and starting anew, you have new tasks that youve never had to deal with before.

Add to that the stress of a high-pressure academic environment, it makes sense that many would feel overwhelmed, she said.

College also sets the tone for much of what comes afterward: fostering those daily habits and routines; balancing work, school and life; remembering to file your taxes and keeping a budget; learning how to navigate interpersonal challenges with less scaffolding or support from experienced others. It seems crucial to address it head-on in a way that was valuable to students, Liu said.

Students learn basic life skills that experts say have been abandoned by traditional academia.

(Josh Edelson / For The Times)

When Lau and Zhou decided to create a class, they initially envisioned a course in cooking, a passion they share. That idea morphed into life hacks and, later, adulting.

When the two began brainstorming a syllabus, daily tasks such as laundry, sewing and car maintenance didnt make the cut. Instead, they focused on topics that are more abstract: time management, budgeting, fitness and nutrition, and relationships.

Each 90-minute session features a presentation from Zhou and Lau, juniors majoring in molecular and cell biology and integrative biology, respectively, and an outside expert who visits the class in person or via video chat. Last year, a recruiter from Lyft prepped students about job searches and a former accountant discussed filing taxes.

Those accepted into the classes, mostly seniors, have lamented that many of the things they were learning werent taught by their parents.

Laus mother, Allie Wu, says that parents dont trust their kids enough to do things on their own, adding that when theyre at home their parents pretty much take care of everything for them.

Wu says she has always been very independent, a trait that was a necessity when she arrived in the United States from Taiwan as a 22-year-old to pursue her MBA. Wu hoped her daughter would leave home with the same sense of self-sufficiency. But when Lau confessed to her mother that she struggled a bit her first year at Berkeley, Wu said she began to worry.

Those concerns dissipated when Lau told her about the adulting class she wanted to start with a friend.

Wu, who visited the class last year to talk about taxes, said the course is wonderful and unique.

I know shes in a good place now. Im very proud of her, Wu said. She knows what she wants and what she needs to accomplish her goals.

UC Berkeley students Belle Lau, left, and Jenny Zhou teach an adulting class for their peers.

(Josh Edelson / For The Times)

During the first week of adulting at Berkeley this semester, students were asked to come up with goals that were SMART specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-based.

To kick it off, Zhou asked whether anyone had ever set a goal they didnt accomplish.

A few hands shot up. Several people shifted uncomfortably in their chairs. A handful looked around the room.

In less than a minute, everyones hand was in the air.

After a brief lecture, Lau and Zhou split the class into groups of six, each assigned to discuss their goals for the semester. Precision was rewarded; vagueness had to be remedied.

Students shuffled their desks into haphazard circles in the classroom and made quick introductions. They bantered about the dread of 8 a.m. classes and late-night studying marathons that would compound that trepidation as the semester dragged on.

Then things got uncomfortable.

Some of the students spoke in hushed tones as they shared the goals they had written on sheets of paper in front of them and, along with those, their insecurities that they might not be doing this whole grown-up thing quite right.

Wright spoke up first. His goal was to build more healthful habits with diet and exercise before graduation. The group nodded in agreement.

Several students said better time management would make a huge difference in their lives. One woman, a junior, said planning and establishing a routine might keep her from staying up all night cramming for exams.

Another piped up, saying shed like to get more done during the day by limiting how much time she spends on her phone a common distraction.

Kate Curtis, a 21-year-old senior who showed up 10 minutes late to the class with a look of embarrassment and a quick apology, said shes long struggled with punctuality. Shes been late so many times to her job at a fast-food restaurant that her manager recently pulled her into a meeting to discuss it. She was humiliated and ashamed.

I want to learn to be dependable. I want other people to be able to count on me, she said.

Curtis, who transferred to Berkeley from a community college in Orange County, said she lived at home for the first two years of college and feels she was coddled longer than her peers.

Im eight hours away from home now, so Im actually on my own. I have to find my own doctor if Im sick. Ive just signed up for my first loan, and Im not really understanding what Im getting into, she said.

Lau acknowledged that she and Zhou dont have all the answers, but shes quick to note that parents shouldnt be faulted for their childrens lack of real-world knowledge.

Maybe it is our parents who arent teaching us these things we thought we should already know, but we dont want to blame our parents for us being naive or ignorant, she said. Its our responsibility as college students to know that if were struggling in some aspect, there are resources out there for us.

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'Adulting' is hard. UC Berkeley has a class for that - Los Angeles Times