Cell Biology

COVID-19 Testing Labs Can Skip RNA Extraction, Simplifying and Accelerating Workflow, With New Promega XpressAmp Direct Amplification Reagents -…

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200902005210/en/

COVID-19 testing labs can use Promega XpressAmp Direct Amplification Reagents for RNA extraction-free sample preparation that is simple and automation-friendly. (Graphic: Business Wire)

The simple, direct amplification workflow involves:

Promega, a global manufacturer of reagents, assays and benchtop instruments essential for COVID-19 research, drug development and diagnostic testing, including RNA extraction, increased production dramatically since the start of the pandemic to address a 10-fold increase in demand. Reagent manufacturers worldwide responded similarly. Still, supply and demand gaps remain, particularly around RNA extraction. Promega sought a solution that leverages the companys more than 40 years of experience in both sample preparation and amplification, especially its work with challenging samples such as forensic crime scene evidence. The result is a direct amplification method that simplifies and accelerates time to qPCR results.

We are constantly exploring ways to apply our scientific and manufacturing expertise to help labs address the unprecedented demands they are facing for COVID-19 testing, says Promega Chief Medical Officer Ashley Anderson. Offering an option to skip RNA extraction and move directly to PCR amplification not only saves time, it also addresses potential supply constraints since the many buffers and optimization reagents needed for extraction and wash steps in a typical PCR workflow are no longer needed.

XpressAmp Direct Amplification Reagents are a custom product that can be adjusted in numerous ways to suit a laboratorys specific needs. Options include purchasing in bulk, changing the dispense size or reformatting and relabeling.

Direct amplification technology continues Promega Corporations support of the worldwide fight against COVID-19.

Promega tools used for COVID-19 applications are a small subset of the 4,000 products Promega manufactures and distributes globally, serving research, pharma, clinical, forensic and applied markets. These tools are used for a myriad of applications in human health, disease, genetic identity, drug development, clinical diagnostics and more.

To learn more about Promega XpressAmp Direct Amplification Reagents, visit http://www.promega.com/PromegaXpressAmp

About Promega Corporation

Promega Corporation is a leader in providing innovative solutions andtechnical supportto the life sciences industry. The companys product portfolio of over 4,000 products support a range of life science work across areas such as cell biology; DNA, RNA and protein analysis; drug development; human identification and molecular diagnostics. For over 40 years these tools and technologies have grown in their application and are used today by scientists and technicians in labs for academic and government research, forensics, pharmaceuticals, clinical diagnostics and agricultural and environmental testing. Promega is headquartered in Madison, WI, USA with branches in 16 countries and over 50 global distributors. For more information, visit http://www.promega.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200902005210/en/

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COVID-19 Testing Labs Can Skip RNA Extraction, Simplifying and Accelerating Workflow, With New Promega XpressAmp Direct Amplification Reagents -...

Cell Biology

Biological Microscope Objectives Market Current Trends, Business Strategies and Industry Overview 2020 to 2025 – Bulletin Line

Meridian Market Consultants (MMC) has published a new report titled, 2020-2025 Global and Regional Biological Microscope Objectives Industry Production, Sales and Consumption Status and Prospects Professional Market Research Report (Enhanced Version).According to the report,Global Biological Microscope Objectives Market, is expected to grow at a significant CAGR for the period between 2020 and 2025.

Get Exclusive Sample Copy of the Report@ https://meridianmarketconsultants.com/requst?rid=%20111230647

As per the report,the microscopes are plugging away in numerous fields with its potential to enlarge and glorify the representation of an object that cannot be observed through bare eyes, thereby the global biological microscope objective market is witnessing a satisfactory growth these days. Fundamentally, a kind of microscope which promotes its utility in order to examine tissues, cells, and other biological specimens, is known as a biological microscope.

Furthermore, one of the most important constituents of an optical microscope is a microscope objective as it forms the primary image and is solely responsible for the quality of the image that the microscope is going to produce. In addition to that, the microscope objective is helpful in enlarging or glorifying a specific biological sample so that each and every fine detail of the sample can be observed.

Notably, the name of the microscope objectives is derived from the fact that they are the only component that is closest to the specimen that is being imaged. As a matter of fact, the researchers are always in constant requirement for new and advanced objective lenses to examine unique kinds of substances, cells and other objects as closely as possible. Owing to which, the technological advancements intended at bringing novelty in objective lenses have been very common in the present times. Attributing to such factors, the global biological microscope objectives market is expected to flourish positively in the near future.

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In the similar manner, the comprehensive demand of the biological microscopes is also projected to quicken the growth of the global biological microscope objectives market in the forthcoming future as it serves its application in semiconductor, material science, pharmaceutical, life science, and biotechnology industries.

More essentially, the microscope objectives assist in blood microscopy, cell biology research, immunohistochemistry in cancer research, sputum microscopy, urine analysis, and many more, thus the field of life sciences observe high demand of biological microscopes, in turn supporting the growth of the global biological microscope objectives market.

Along with that, several key market players are aiming their attention at product integration with the automated platforms in order to grow their applications in the field of material as well as life sciences.

Remarkably, the wide usage of microscope objectives potentially boosts its operational efficiency in different applications including manufacturing units and hospitals. Hence, the global biological microscope objectives market is projected to augment rapidly in the coming years.

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MMC study identifies some of the key participating players in the biological microscope objectives market globally are ZEISS International, Olympus Corporation, Nikon Instruments Inc., Leica Microsystems, Meiji Techno, and Newport Corporation, among several others.

About Meridian Market Consultants:

Meridian Market Consultants (MMC) is committed to provide deep insights that serve as a creative tool for the client that enables it to perform confidently in the market. At MMC we adhere to the clients needs and regularly ponder to bring out more valuable and real outcomes for our customers. We are equipped with a strategically enhanced group of researchers and analysts that redefines and stabilizes the business polarity in different categorical dimensions of the market.

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Biological Microscope Objectives Market Current Trends, Business Strategies and Industry Overview 2020 to 2025 - Bulletin Line

Cell Biology

The Drug Supply Chain Is Broken. A New Breakthrough Paves The Way For On-Demand Plant-Based Medicines – Forbes

When Covid hit and hospitals started reporting drug shortages, it became clear that our drug supply ... [+] chain was broken. In a Nature paper, Christina Smolke reports a breakthrough in making plant-based medicines that lays the foundation for a flexible, on-demand drug supply chain. Photo by The Tonik on Unsplash

When Covid hit and hospitals started reporting shortages of hydroxychloroquine and other medicines vital to patients with conditions like malaria, lupus, asthma, and COPD, it became clear that our drug supply chain was broken.

Nearly all plant-based medicines including hydroxychloroquine are made outside the US because the medicinal plants used to make them grow in very particular climates. For example, India manufactures 70% of the world's supply of hydroxychloroquine. (India initially banned the drugs export to the US but later reversed its decision after President Trump threatened retaliation.)

Plant-based drugs have long been subjected to production limitations and medical shortages. Environmental disasters like the Australian wildfires or sudden spikes in the demand (similar to what the US experienced at the onset of the pandemic) can result in patients lacking desperately needed medicines.

Were experiencing a number of challenges with supply chains for pharmaceuticals today, especially in supply chains that are based upon farming, says Stanford professor Christina Smolke.

In a Nature paper published today, Smolke and her lab report a breakthrough in making plant-based medicines that lays the foundation for a flexible, on-demand drug supply chain to replace our current fragmented and slow-moving one. The solution: use yeast instead of plants.

Using the tools of synthetic biology, which combines advances in our ability to edit DNA with computation and automation, Smolkes lab successfully added the genes from plants into bakers yeast that make drugs called tropane alkaloids. This class of drugs includes hyoscyamine and scopolamine, two traditional drugs used to treat neuromuscular disorders like Parkinson's as well as nausea from motion sickness and surgery.

Stanford professor Christina Smolke

Smolkes lab had previously demonstrated a similar ability to engineer yeast to ferment opioids, another plant-based class of medicines. That process added over twenty genes from five different organisms to yeast cells, resulting in the first narcotic produced using synthetic biology. But the project reported today was far more challenging and has bigger implications for the way we make plant-based medicines.

The way that plants have evolved to make tropane alkaloids is through a very complicated biosynthesis scheme, says Smolke. In nature, the pathway depends on enzymes that only work in specific tissues, cell types, and organelles within the plant.

Smolkes team took what it calls a whole-cell engineering approach to the problem. It not only rebuilt the pathways 26 different enzymes and proteins in yeast, but it also recreated the cellular microfactories needed for the pathway to work as it would in plants. This included special transporter enzymes that shuttle the intermediate chemical into and out of the various microfactories as needed during biosynthesis of the chemical. Replicating these various cellular processes in a single microorganism like yeast has never been done.

The result: the same basic yeast that makes bread and wine can now also ferment some of the most complex molecules known to humankind.

The research is a strong indicator that the vast majority of plant-based drugs can be produced through industrial fermentation in the coming years. Rather than the months or years it takes to grow, harvest, and extract key molecules from medicinal plants, a fermentation-based manufacturing approach can be implemented in any location and takes just days to produce target compounds, enabling the production of essential medicines when and where theyre needed.

Smolkes research also sets the stage for others to discover improved drugs starting from the original. By making thousands of individual changes to the original biosynthetic pathway, scientists can discover new tropane alkaloid derivatives with new properties, which could be useful as new therapeutics for CNS disorders.

This type of work lays the foundation for being able to develop a bio-based fermentation process for producing these and related molecules, says Smolke.

In 2013, Smolke founded Antheia, a biotech startup that is bringing to market next-generation plant-inspired medicines like these. Antheia developed a fermentation process that takes the work from the lab to commercial scales. These days, Smolke spends most of her time at Antheia, turning her labs research into commercial products.

I think it's a very unique opportunity as an engineer to have a hand in both innovating the breakthrough research that underlies these innovations and then guiding them to commercialization, Smolke says. There's a lot of steps beyond what we would do in an academic lab to actually bring something to the stage where it can have a real impact in the world.

Follow me on Twitter at @johncumbers and @synbiobeta. Subscribe to my weekly newsletters in synthetic biology. Thank you to Kevin Costa for additional research and reporting in this article. Im the founder of SynBioBeta, and some of the companies that I write about are sponsors of the SynBioBeta conference and weekly digest. Heres the full list of SynBioBeta sponsors.

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The Drug Supply Chain Is Broken. A New Breakthrough Paves The Way For On-Demand Plant-Based Medicines - Forbes

Immunology

Insights on the Human Microbiome Immunology Therapeutics Global Market to 2025 – Featuring Finch Therapeutics, MaaT Pharma & Merck Among Others -…

Dublin, Sept. 02, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Global Human Microbiome Immunology Therapeutics Market & Clinical Trial Insight 2025" clinical trials has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The scale and scope of microbiome research activity has now become one of the fastest growing areas in biology. The relevance that it has shown for the welfare of the society and pharmaceutical industry has led to the development of a transdisciplinary environment that is however conducive to innovation with a mission to abolish the limitations in the pharmaceutical industry through excellence in microbiome research, awareness and outreach. Over the years now, gut microbiome is estimated to implicate success for the various immunotherapies.

Microbiome's role in immunology practices is to transform world-class treatment into the medicine of today and tomorrow. It is highly recognizable that the healthcare issues that mankind is facing today is now bigger than any one solution. The treatment of certain diseases requires multiple options for the treatment and ultimately prevention. Therefore, the amalgamation of two different treatment paradigms i.e. microbiome and immunology are apparently delivering some medical benefits that millions of patients were in need for long period of time. The ways in which microbiome is understood and manipulated to serve the immunological aspects has given great interest to all the researchers.

The essential and usual concept of immunology depicts targeting the immune system of the body to provoke an immune response with huge impact but then the unsuccessful implication of immunology therapies driven treatments led to an exploration of several other basic concepts that could play an important role in boosting the immune system when combined. Looking forward, the microbiome community in the gut represented beneficial patterns with respect to further research. The area of microbiome research and its combination with immunological aspect for the disease treatment has produced a real excitement in the area of medical research and specifically microbiome research.

All over the world, the amalgamation of the two has been well accepted and appreciated by the patients, physicians and the clinicians. Investigation of all the working sides of microbiome and how it plays an important role in boosting the manipulated immune cells have recently started in large numbers as the technology available in the medical field allows to capture it accurately. To facilitate the microbiome and immunology community in order to extract the best and trending opportunities that are stemmed into the microbiome research, the experts from both the relevant disciplines are analyzing it through clinical researches and surveys. Further, the area is getting supported by 86 different clinical trials getting conducted in different countries.

The Global Human Microbiome Immunology Therapeutics Market & Clinical Trial Insight 2025 report summarizes the view of the wider opportunities that are associated microbiome community for the advancement of the scientific information regarding immunology. The science that is related to microbiome has high interdisciplinary and various opportunities that somehow have remained hidden in the medical world. It is believed that the opportunities and all the desirable tangible benefits microbiome is capable of delivering when combined with immunology is large and needs coordinated and constructive approach. The call to the two different sectors i.e. microbiology and immunology is estimated to unlock the potential and promising benefits of microbiome. The approach leading to the extraction of advantages if properly embedded in the microbiome and immunology research, the future benefits will be huge

Report Highlights:

Key Topics Covered:

1. Overview of Microbiome1.1 Introduction to Microbiome1.2 History & Evolution of Microbiome

2. Role of Microbiome in Human Body

3. Microbiome: Various Forms3.1 Gut Microbiome3.2 Lung Microbiome3.3 Skin Microbiome3.4 Microbiome in Other Parts of the Body

4. Mechanism of Microbiome Activity4.1 Nature of Immune Response4.1.1 Immunosuppressive Activity4.1.2 Immunostimulatory Activity4.2 Messengers Involves in Microbiome Mechanism4.2.1 MAMPs/PAMPs4.2.2 Microbial Metabolites As Messengers4.2.3 Host Cytokines As Messengers4.2.4 Immune Cells As Messengers

5. Technological Requirement for Microbiota5.1 Technologies Used5.1.1 iChip5.1.2 Simulator of the Human Intestinal Microbial Ecosystem (SHIME)5.1.3 Gut-on-a-Chip System5.1.4 Colonic Stem Cell Construction5.2 Harnessing & Engineering the Microbiome5.2.1 Additive Approaches5.2.2 Subtractive Approaches

6. Need for Microbiome Immunology

7. Therapeutic Applications of Microbiome Immunology7.1 Microbiome Therapy7.2 Precision Medicine7.3 Drug discovery7.4 Biomarkers & Therapy Optimization

8. Human Microbiota in Infectious Diseases8.1 Infection with Clostridium Difficile8.2 Infection with Helicobacter Pylori8.3 Bacterial Vaginosis8.4 Infection with HIV

9. The Human Microbiota & Liver Diseases9.1 Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD)9.2 Alcoholic Liver Diseases (ALD)9.3 Liver Fibrosis & Cirrhosis

10. The Human Microbiota & Metabolic Disorders10.1 Obesity10.2 Type 2 Diabetes

11. The Human Microbiota & Other Diseases11.1 Microbiota & Allergic Diseases11.2 Microbiota & Psychiatric Diseases

12. Microbiome in Immuno Oncology12.1 Role of Microbiome in Immuno Oncology12.2 Microbiome Mechanism in Oncogenesis & Tumor Suppression

13. Microbiome Application by Cancer Types13.1 Gastric Cancer13.2 Colorectal Cancer13.3 Esophageal Cancer13.4 Hepatocellular Carcinoma13.5 Melanoma13.6 Solid Tumors

14. Industrial Approaches of Microbiome Therapy in Oncology14.1 Bacterial Approaches14.1.1 Fecal Microbiota Transplantation (FMT)14.1.2 Synthetic Bacteria14.1.3 Microbial Culture14.2 Microbiome as Vaccine14.3 Microbiome as Small Molecules14.4 Microbiome Therapy using Phage Virus

15. Global Human Microbiome Market Analysis15.1 Overview15.2 Human Microbiome Market Segmentation15.2.1 Regional Segmentation15.2.2 Disease Based Segmentation15.2.3 Segmentation by Application

16. Clinical Pipeline of Microbiome Based Therapy16.1 Microbiome Modulators in Clinical Trial16.2 Cancer Related Clinical Trials16.2.1 Preclinical & Discovery Phase16.2.2 Active Clinical Trials16.3 Clinical Trial Related To FMT16.3.1 Clinical Trial for Recurrent C. difficile16.3.2 Clinical Trial for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)16.3.3 Other FMT Related Clinical Trials

17. Global Microbiome Modulators Clinical Pipeline By Company, Indication & Phase17.1 Research17.2 Preclinical17.3 Clinical17.4 Phase-I17.5 Phase-I/II17.6 Phase-II17.7 Phase-II/III17.8 Phase-III

18. Marketed Microbiome Modulators Clinical Insight18.1 Sodium Oligomannurarate - Shanghai Green Valley Pharmaceutical18.2 Miya-BM

19. Global Microbiome Immunology Therapeutics Market Growth Drivers

20. Microbiome Technology - Investments, Acquisitions & Collaborations by Leading Microbiome Companies

21. Blockades in the Microbiome Immunology Market21.1 Stable Engraftment21.2 Development of Clinically Relevant Sensors21.3 Robustness and Evolutionary Stability of Genetic Circuits21.4 Regulation, Safety and Biocontainment

22. Global Microbiome Immunology Market Future Panorama

23. Competitive Landscape23.1 4D Pharma23.2 AbbVie23.3 AstraZeneca plc23.4 Biocodex23.5 Bristol Mayer Squibb23.6 Corebiome/Diversigen23.7 Elogi Bioscience23.8 Enterome23.9 Ferring Pharmaceuticals23.10 Finch Therapeutics23.11 Maat Pharma23.12 Merck23.13 Microbiome Therapeutics23.14 Novartis23.15 OpenBiome23.16 Pfizer23.17 Rebiotix23.18 Second Genome23.19 Seres Therapeutics23.20 Symberix23.21 Takeda Pharmaceuticals23.22 Vedanta Bioscience

For more information about this clinical trials report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/d6z6gb

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.

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Insights on the Human Microbiome Immunology Therapeutics Global Market to 2025 - Featuring Finch Therapeutics, MaaT Pharma & Merck Among Others -...

Immunology

UK government to invest 8.4 million into COVID-19 immunology research – Drug Target Review

The UK government will invest 8.4 million in COVID-19 research projects to reveal more information that can be used to develop therapies and vaccines against the disease.

The UK government has announced it is investing 8.4 million in COVID-19 immunology research projects across the UK, including at the Universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dundee. According to the government, this is the biggest ever contribution to COVID-19 immunology research in the UK.

Three new UK-wide studies will receive funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) to understand immune responses to COVID-19.It is hoped these studies will improve the treatment of patients and inform the development of vaccines and therapies.

The Scottish universities are taking part in the largest study, the UK Coronavirus Immunology Consortium, which will receive 6.5 million and bring together leading immunologists from 17 UK universities. The University of Edinburgh is also involved in another study.

Dr Christopher Lucas at the University of Edinburgh, will lead a study on the key features of fatal COVID-19 and the impact the virus has upon the lungs and other vital organs. Using authorised hospital post-mortem examinations of patients who have died from COVID-19, this study will provide a unique opportunity for expert clinicians and scientists to study the whole body in a level of detail that is not possible during life.

We have learned so much from COVID-19 patients during the past six months. However, there is only so much that we can learn from clinical examinations and blood tests.By having a deeper look at those who have died from COVID-19 through post-mortem examination, we will increase our understanding of what is happening to the body in the most severe cases of this disease.Critically, this will allow us to rapidly answer key clinical questions and help inform the care of patients and the development of new treatments, Dr Lucas said.

The UK Coronavirus Immunology Consortium will investigate key questions including how long immunity from COVID-19 lasts andwhy some patients immune systems are better able to fight off the virus.

According to the researchers, better understanding of these immune responses, particularly the T-cell response, could provide targets for new therapies to treat COVID-19 and inform the efforts to develop a vaccine.

The project will use samples and data from major UK COVID-19 projects already underway, funded by UKRI and NIHR.

Professor Massimo Palmarini, Director of the Medical Research Council-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research (CVR) said: My colleagues and I at the CVR are extremely proud to be involved in the UK-CIC consortium and are grateful to UKRI and NIHR for the generous funding support. It is now more important than ever that the immunology community work together, as we aim to address important, unanswered questions about SARS-CoV-2 as we move through this pandemic.

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UK government to invest 8.4 million into COVID-19 immunology research - Drug Target Review

Immunology

Immunologists Receive Multi-Million Funding Boost to Research Role of Immune System in COVID-19 – HospiMedica

Immunologists from The University of Edinburgh (Edinburgh, Scotland) have received a multimillion pound funding boost to research the role of the immune system in COVID-19.

The funding comes from the UK Coronavirus Immunology Consortium (UK-CIC), a major initiative set-up to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. The GBP 8.4 million Consortium launched by UK Research and Innovation and the National Institute for Health Research brings together 17 UK research institutes to investigate vital aspects of disease immunity, including why the disease affects some people worse than others.

Dr. Kenneth Baillie, from the Roslin Institute, will work with collaborators to analyze immunity data in people hospitalized because of COVID-19 symptoms. Professor Sarah Walmsley from the Centre for Inflammation Research will research the role of immune systems in determining susceptibility to the virus and how it varies as people age. A third study led by Dr. Christopher Lucas from the Centre for Inflammation Research will investigate the key features of fatal COVID-19 cases and the impact the virus has on lungs and other vital organs. UK-CIC will use resources from ongoing UK studies, including ISARIC-4C, which is following more than 75,000 people hospitalized with COVID-19, and GenOMICC, a study to sequence the genomes of people with the disease, led by Dr. Kenneth Baillie.

We have learned so much from COVID-19 patients during the past six months. However, there is only so much that we can learn from clinical examinations and blood tests, said Dr. Christopher Lucas. By having a deeper look at those who have died from COVID-19 through post-mortem examination, we will increase our understanding of what is happening to the body in the most severe cases of this disease. Critically, this will allow us to rapidly answer key clinical questions and help inform the care of patients and the development of new treatments.

Related Links:The University of Edinburgh

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Immunologists Receive Multi-Million Funding Boost to Research Role of Immune System in COVID-19 - HospiMedica

Immunology

Video: COVID-19 Why it Matters, Part 4: Why wash hands/wear mask? – UWGB

This video series features UW-Green Bays Immunologist Brian Merkel on COVID-19 and Why it Matters. This series empowers viewers with knowledge to help them navigate through the pandemic. Merkel has a Ph.D. in Microbiology & Immunology from the Medical College of Virginia. He is an associate professor in UW-Green Bays Human Biology & Biology programs and has an appointment at the Medical College of Wisconsin Department of Microbiology and Immunology. He will be responding to a number of questions related to COVID19 and try to get behind the why its important to be educated in your decision-making as we navigate the pandemic together.

Video Transcript COVID-19 Why it Matters, Part 4: Why wash hands/wear mask?

Brian Merkel, Microbiology and Immunology, talking about Why COVID-19 matters to you.

COVID-19 is a respiratory agent and what that means and why thats important is that it can contaminate surfaces, so we have to be mindful about keeping our hands clean and washing our hands for 20 seconds.

It also means that when we breathe and exhale and when we yell or when we talk and when we cough and we sneeze because this is a respiratory disease, those are all opportunities for the virus to get out in the environment and infect someone else. Given those realities, thats why hand washing becomes very important and its considered to be 20 seconds to be effective. And face coverings very very clearly when both the infected and uninfected when both parties as much face covering and face and mask wearing as we can have the better off were going to be. Because it reduces the ability for the virus to be transmitted and to infect other people.

COVID-19 Why it Matters Video Series:

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Video: COVID-19 Why it Matters, Part 4: Why wash hands/wear mask? - UWGB

Immunology

Trinity is at the Heart of Immunology. It Needs to Take a Lead on Testing – The University Times

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In an interview with The University Times earlier this week, Trinity immunologist Luke ONeill advised that College test all staff and students for the coronavirus twice weekly. A familiar and reassuring voice throughout the pandemic, ONeill asserted that frequent testing was the best way to minimise the chances of outbreaks on campus.

Of course, it is not exactly new information that frequent testing is the best way to contain the virus and ensure that transmission is minimised, especially given the asymptomatic aspect of the disease.

College has already taken steps to ensure that staff and students have access to testing facilities such as the on-site coronavirus testing facilities set to open before the beginning of first term and isolation rooms being provided in Trinitys buildings for staff and students who develop coronavirus symptoms on campus.

David McGrath, director of the College Health Service, told this paper that the testing facilities would as far as possible reduce the development of clusters within the College particularly within student accommodation.

However, these on-campus test facilities will only be used to test students who have displayed symptoms. Students who are asymptomatic could unknowingly be passing on the virus. As McGrath said, students have a responsibility not to infect the public, but they cant take precautions if they dont know whether they are infected.

A Science Foundation Ireland report launched last week revealed that Ireland ranked number one worldwide for immunology research in 2019. With Trinity considered the centre of immunology research in Ireland, College has no shortage of expert advice to consult and take guidance from when it comes to drawing up a testing and containment strategy for campus next year.

Trinity put public safety first when they made the decision to close before other universities when the coronavirus started to take hold in Ireland last March. An on-campus test site and isolation facilities are great first steps in ensuring that campus can reopen safely. However, if College wants to continue to lead the way in university health guidelines, then there needs to be further consideration of testing for all staff and students, not just those with symptoms.

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Trinity is at the Heart of Immunology. It Needs to Take a Lead on Testing - The University Times

Immunology

Sheffield immunologists part of unprecedented national effort to search for answers on Covid-19 – Latest – News – University of Sheffield News

28 August 2020

Three new UK-wide studies will receive 8.4 million from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) to understand immune responses to the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2.

The largest of these is the UK Coronavirus Immunology Consortium (UK-CIC), which receives 6.5 million in funding. It will bring together scientists at the University of Sheffield with immunologists at 16 other UK universities to investigate the following:

Specifically, the Sheffield team will study two main areas:

The contribution of the University of Sheffield to UK-CIC reflects the notable expertise across the University in both myeloid and T cell biology, and infectious diseases.

Together, it is hoped the studies of the UK-CIC will significantly improve our understanding of this new virus and thus treatment outcomes for patients. They may also inform the development of vaccines and new therapies for Covid-19.

The project will use samples and data from major UK Covid-19 projects already underway, and funded by UKRI and NIHR, including ISARIC-4C (characterising and following more than 75,000 hospitalised patients with Covid-19) and the genomic studies COG-UK (sequencing the SARS-CoV-2 virus genomes) and GenOMICC (sequencing the genomes of people with Covid-19).

The Sheffield team is led by Professor Claire Lewis from the Department of Oncology and Metabolism and Professor Sarah Rowland-Jones, Dr Thushan de Silva and Professor Endre Kiss-Toth from the Department of Infection, Immunity and Cardiovascular Disease.

Claire Lewis, Professor of Molecular and Cellular Pathology at the University of Sheffield, said: We are delighted to be able to contribute to this exciting new immunology consortium. Pooling our expertise and resources in this way will accelerate our understanding of how this coronavirus affects the immune system, and thus how we can defeat it.

The University of Sheffield has a rich heritage of pioneering research to fight infectious disease. In 1941 Sir Howard Florey, former Chair of Pathology at the University of Sheffield, conducted the first ever clinical trials of penicillin a drug which would go on to save more than 82 million lives worldwide.

Pooling our expertise and resources in this way will accelerate our understanding of how this coronavirus affects the immune system, and thus how we can defeat it

Professor Claire Lewis, University of sheffield

Dr Thushan de Silva, Senior Clinical Lecturer in Infectious Diseases at the University of Sheffield, said: We are excited to be working with colleagues across the consortium to characterise the nature and durability of immunity after Covid-19. This work will be key to understanding what immune responses are important in protecting people from re-infection as we move into the next phases of the pandemic.

The UK-CIC consortium is led nationally by Professor Paul Moss at the University of Birmingham, who said: The UK is a world leader in immunology research and its an honour to lead this consortium to deliver a coordinated and agile national research programme to build our knowledge of this disease, which will translate into meaningful benefits for patients. There is so much that we still need to learn about how the novel coronavirus interacts with our immune systems and, with this investment, we have a unique opportunity to answer these key questions and hasten effective pandemic control.

The Humoral Immune Correlates of Covid-19 (HICC) consortium will receive 1.5 million to study the humoral immune response molecules produced by the immune system to fight infection, including antibodies. They will focus on two groups: NHS workers in collaboration with SIREN to track immunity over 12 months, and hospitalised patients.

Both the UK-CIC and HICC have been given urgent public health research status by the Department of Health and Social Care to prioritise their delivery by the health and care system.

The third study will specifically focus on the key features of fatal Covid-19 and the impact the virus has upon the lungs and other vital organs. The project, titled Inflammation in Covid-19: Exploration of Critical Aspects of Pathogenesis, or ICECAP, will receive 394,000.

Chief Medical Officer for England and Head of the NIHR, Professor Chris Whitty, said: Understanding how our immune systems respond to Covid-19 is key to solving some of the important questions about this new disease, including whether those who have had the disease develop immunity and how long this lasts, and why some are more severely affected.

This investment by the NIHR and UKRI will help immunology experts to discover how our immune systems respond to SARS-CoV-2, including our T cell response. This is vital information to help prevent and treat the disease.

These studies build on the UKs world-class expertise and capability in global health and infectious disease that has already shaped our understanding of the pandemic and is informing measures to tackle it.

The full list of research institutions include the University of Birmingham, University of Bristol, University of Cambridge and Wellcome Sanger Institute, UCL, Kings College London, Imperial College London, University of Liverpool, University of Manchester, Newcastle University, University of Oxford, University of Sheffield, University of York, Cardiff University, University of Dundee, University of Edinburgh, University of Glasgow and the Bradford Institute for Health Research.

The University of Sheffield

With almost 29,000 of the brightest students from over 140 countries, learning alongside over 1,200 of the best academics from across the globe, the University of Sheffield is one of the worlds leading universities.

A member of the UKs prestigious Russell Group of leading research-led institutions, Sheffield offers world-class teaching and research excellence across a wide range of disciplines.

Unified by the power of discovery and understanding, staff and students at the university are committed to finding new ways to transform the world we live in.

Sheffield is the only university to feature in The Sunday Times 100 Best Not-For-Profit Organisations to Work For 2018 and for the last eight years has been ranked in the top five UK universities for Student Satisfaction by Times Higher Education.

Sheffield has six Nobel Prize winners among former staff and students and its alumni go on to hold positions of great responsibility and influence all over the world, making significant contributions in their chosen fields. Global research partners and clients include Boeing, Rolls-Royce, Unilever, AstraZeneca, Glaxo SmithKline, Siemens and Airbus, as well as many UK and overseas government agencies and charitable foundations.

UK Research and Innovation works in partnership with universities, research organisations, businesses, charities, and government to create the best possible environment for research and innovation to flourish. We aim to maximise the contribution of each of our component parts, working individually and collectively. We work with our many partners to benefit everyone through knowledge, talent and ideas.

For further information please contact:

Amy HuxtableMedia Relations OfficerThe University of Sheffield0114 222 9859a.l.huxtable@sheffield.ac.uk

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Sheffield immunologists part of unprecedented national effort to search for answers on Covid-19 - Latest - News - University of Sheffield News

Immunology

Cancer Immunology And Oncolytic Virology Market Investigation Highlights Growth Trends in COVID-19 the Coming Years – Kentucky Journal 24

The global cancer immunotherapy market should reach $96.5 billion by 2021 from $73.0 billion in 2016 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.7%, from 2016 to 2021.

Report Scope:

The scope of this report covers current cancer immunotherapy markets for most common cancers. The market segments included in this report are therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (with special focus on checkpoint inhibitors), synthetic interleukins, interferons, and colony-stimulating factors; small kinase inhibitors of cancer-related targets; protective and therapeutic cancer vaccines; and adoptive cell therapies. This report also covers treatments that are in development for late-stage and early-stage oncolytic viruses. Detailed epidemiological information, discussion of incidence and mortality trends, overview of regulatory landscapes, and analysis of market shares for leading products and companies are also included in this report.

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Report Includes:

An overview of the global markets for cancer immunotherapies and oncolytic virology. Analyses of global market trends, with data from 2015, 2016, and projections of compound annual growth rates (CAGRs) through 2021. Analyses of factors influencing market demand, such as clinical guidelines, demographic changes, and market saturation. Information covering the latest trends, market structure, market size, key drug segments, and trends in technology. Coverage of colony stimulating factors (CSFs), interferon alfa and gamma products, interleukin products and therapeutic monoclonal antibodies, including antibody conjugates, cancer vaccines, and other cancer treatment immunology products. Technological discussions, including the current state, newly issued patents, and pending applications. Profiles of leading companies in the industry.

Report Summary

Cancer is a disease with global implications. There are many different types of cancer, of which the most common types include lung, breast, colon and rectal, stomach, head and neck, prostate, cervical, melanoma, and ovarian cancer, as well as leukemia. Cancer is a genetic disease that is conventionally treated by surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, hormonal therapy, and immunotherapy. Surgery is the mainstay treatment for all cancers. Usually surgery is complimented with radiation or chemotherapy to ensure the clearance of all residual cancer. Despite the advances in treatment, cancer has great plasticity; therefore, after a certain time the effects of treatment fade and cancer returns with acquired resistance. Combination therapy, using multiple modalities including surgery and pharmaceutical or radiation therapy, improves response to treatment.

Radiation and chemotherapy have many side effects. Biological treatment options provide less impactful treatment of cancer. Immunotherapy is a type of biological therapy and it incorporates elements of the immune system in cancer treatment. The immune system has various types of cells and proteins that detect and act upon signs of a disease or infection by harmful and foreign substances such as microbes, bacteria and viruses. The immune system differentiates the bodys own cells and tissues through an evolutionary bar-coding system. This system helps the immune system understand encountered foreign substances as nonself. Cancer cells are recognized as nonself as well. The immune system monitors the body for cancer and destroys when it detects a malignancy. Cancer cells can avoid being recognized by the immune system and develop resistance through numerous methods.

Since the early 1900s, the connection between cancer and the immune system has caught the attention of various scientists and medical practitioners. Although the early studies were bluntly done without current technological and scientific tools, they nonetheless shed insights leading to the development of the first monoclonal antibodies and to the use of biologically derived synthetic interleukins and interferons. After many decades of research, immunotherapy finally emerged as a fully functionalclinical area in the 1990s. Since then, the cancer therapeutics landscape has changed dramatically.

With the stream of product approvals in recent years, the global immunotherapy market has reached its current value. In 2015, the global cancer immunotherapy market hit $65 billion. The current immunotherapy market contains several blockbuster products reaching their end-of-market exclusivities; however, the market is mostly comprised of newly introduced and expensive therapies. In 2016, the market expanded by more than 10% over the previous year, reaching $73 billion. During the period of 2016 through 2021, the global cancer immunotherapy market is forecast to grow by a 5.7% compound annual growth rate (CAGR), reaching $96.5 billion in 2021.

The strongest growth is expected to occur in checkpoint-inhibitor drugs with a 19.4% CAGR during the forecast period. Immunomodulators are anticipated to show the second-highest growth rates among immunotherapy products, with an 8.4% CAGR during the same period. The combined sales from both segments are expected to make up for nearly one-third of the market, with a combined sales value of $28 billion in 2021. Checkpoint inhibitors are virtually comprised of monoclonal antibodies; however,they are assessed separately due to their immense commercial and clinical significance. Sales from other therapeutic antibodies accrued to $28 billion in 2016, and this value is expected to remain relatively constant through 2021, due to several patent expiries, pressure from anticipated generic entries, and newly introduced classes of drugs expected by 2021.

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Cancer Immunology And Oncolytic Virology Market Investigation Highlights Growth Trends in COVID-19 the Coming Years - Kentucky Journal 24