A team of experts from Hamad Medical Corporation's (HMC) Hamad General Hospital (HGH), Neuroscience Institute and Sidra Medicine has saved the life of a newborn with a rare brain condition. Led by a neuro-interventional radiologist and his team from Hamad General Hospital, in collaboration with Sidra Medicine, the life-saving procedure was performed when the baby was less than two weeks old.

The Qatari baby boy suffered from Vein of Galen Malformation (VOGM), a rare condition that occurs before birth and results in abnormal connections between blood vessels within the brain and associated congenital heart defects. The condition, which occurs in 1 to 2% of vascular malformations of the brain, was detected during a routine scan by the team at Sidra Medicine late in the mother's pregnancy. To protect the baby and reduce the risk of complications during the final weeks of pregnancy, the baby was delivered three weeks early by Caesarian section at Sidra Medicine.An extensive multidisciplinary team of neuro and interventional radiologists, cardiac interventionalists, neurosurgeons, and neonatologists was assembled to oversee the newborn's care. Dr Ayman Zakaria, Senior Consultant, Interventional Neuroradiology at Hamad General Hospital, and the Neuroscience Institute, along with his team, led the procedure. "Babies with Vein of Galen Malformation normally develop the condition during the first trimester of pregnancy. It results in abnormal arteries that connect directly into the precursor of the Vein of Galen instead of connecting with capillaries. This leads to extra pressure in the vein. It can bleed or dilate to prevent the drainage of the fluids inside the brain or cause a rush of blood towards the heart and lungs, causing extreme pressure on the right side of the heart, leading to congestive heart failure," said Dr Zakaria.The first procedure, which took five hours, was performed by Dr Zakaria and his team and supported by Dr Walid Mubarak, a senior attending physician from Sidra Medicine's Diagnostics Imaging Unit. The procedure was conducted at Sidra Medicine's world-class intra-operative imaging suite (IMRIS); a hybrid operating theatre featuring intraoperative imaging capabilities with the capacity to run complex interventions within the same setting.The first procedure was a success and was followed by a second procedure a week later to further improve the baby's heart circulation.The second procedure was also performed by Dr Zakaria and his team from Hamad General Hospital, with the support of DrAshley Robinson, Division Chief of Interventional Radiology at Sidra Medicine. The baby is recovering well at Sidra Medicine's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and is showing marked improvement in his cardiac and vital signs.Another follow-up session will be performed by Dr Zakaria when the baby is around two months old. This procedure will complete the closure of the remaining shunts and ensure normal physical development and brain function. "The teams at both HMC and Sidra Medicine are delighted with the outcome of this complex endovascular procedure. This procedure had a set of unique risks and the successful outcome in managing this rare, life-threatening vascular malformation is the result of continuous scientific collaboration between Hamad General Hospital and Sidra Medicine teams," said Head of HMC's Neurosciences Institute Dr Ahmed Own.The Chief Medical Officer at HMC Dr Abdulla al-Ansari explained that all healthcare providers are determined to continue delivering the best medical care with the highest international standards in Qatar during these unprecedented times of the Covid-19 pandemic."I would like to thank everyone who has been involved in helping to provide a healthy physical and mental life for this young baby boy and wish him and his family the best of health for the future," said Dr al-Ansari.The Acting Chief Medical Officer at Sidra Medicine Professor Ziyad Hijazi said: "We are proud of our collaboration with our colleagues from Hamad General Hospital and HMC and thrilled that this collaboration with the Neurosciences Institute has led to a continuum of service provision for the children of Qatar. Our multidisciplinary team-based approach was key to providing the baby with lifesaving care and highlights the world-class services available in the country."

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HMC-Sidra Medicine team saves baby from rare brain condition - Gulf Times

Neuroscience

Takeda and Carmine Enter $900 Million Non-Viral Gene Therapy Collaboration – BioSpace

June 30, 2020 medical

Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Carmine Therapeutics inked a research collaboration deal with Japans Takeda Pharmaceutical to develop and commercialize non-viral gene therapies for two rare diseases.

Under the terms of the deal, Takeda will pay Carmine an undisclosed upfront payment and research funding support. Takeda has committed to a $5 million convertible loan to support the development of Carmines REGENT technology platform. Carmine is also eligible for more than $900 million in milestone payments and tiered royalties. Takeda has an option to license the programs after preclinical proof-of-concept studies are concluded and would then take over clinical development and commercialization.

Typically, gene therapies rely on viruses as vector for delivering gene therapies to target cells, usually adeno-associated viruses (AAV). Carmines REGENT technology platform uses red blood cell extracellular vesicles (RBCEVs). Broadly speaking, the technology uses engineered O-type blood cells to carry the RNA payload to the target cells.

One advantage over AAV-based gene therapies is the potential for repeat dosing, a larger payload capacity, and improved bio-distribution in selected tissues by modifying the surface molecules of the RBCEV.

We are pleased to enter this collaboration with Takeda, a recognized global leader in rare disease therapies, slightly more than a year since Carmine was created and incubated by Esco Ventures X, said XQ Lin, founding chief executive officer of Carmine. This provides Carmine with significant funding to further develop our REGENT platform and advance our wholly-owned programs.

Carmine was founded in 2019 by Esco Ventures X, Harvey Lodish with the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and MIT, and Singaporean researchers Minh Le and Jiahai Shi. So far, the company has raised more than $9.4 million in seed equity financing led by Esco Ventures and Takeda Ventures.

In December 2019, Carmine won the Bristol Myers Squibb 2019 Golden Ticket for LabCentral. LabCentral is a shared laboratory launchpad for life sciences and biotech startups in Cambridge. Bristol Myers Squibb, as part of the Golden Tickets program, could choose up to two companies per year to underwrite the cost of one lab bench for one year in LabCentrals facility in Kendall Square.

At the time, Ronne Yeo, vice president of Discovery at Carmine, said, Nucleic acid therapeutics will take center stage in the 21st century, however their delivery has been a huge technical challenge. The beauty of Carmines REGENT platform is that we are able to harvest large quantities of extracellular vesicles very economically, and load them with nucleic acid payloads to be delivered in various sites in the body, overcoming several limitations of todays gene therapy vehicles.

Takeda has been building its pipeline in gene therapy and protein replacement technology. In March, Takeda entered a multi-target partnership with Evox Therapeutics to develop protein replacement and mRNA therapies for rare diseases. The deal involved five new therapies, including Evoxs preclinical program for Niemann-Pick disease type C (NPC). That deal included $44 million in upfront, near-term milestone payments and research funding in addition to $882 million in various milestone payments.

Collaborating on the Evox exosome platform also complements our expanding capabilities in cell and gene therapies, said Madhu Natarajan, Takedas Rare Diseases Drug Discovery unit head, particularly with the potential to develop new delivery approaches in addition to our cutting-edge adeno-associated virus platform, to provide transformative therapies or functional cures for people living with rare diseases.

And in September 2019, Takeda and Evotec partnered on at least five drug discovery programs across a broad range of indications. Then in April of this year, the two companies initiated a long-term research deal in support of Takedas gene therapy discover programs. Under the alliance, Evotec supports various Takeda programs aligned with Takedas four therapeutic areas: oncology, rare diseases, neuroscience and gastroenterology.

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Takeda and Carmine Enter $900 Million Non-Viral Gene Therapy Collaboration - BioSpace

Neuroscience

Tau protein modifications may be linked to heterogeneity in Alzheimers disease – News-Medical.Net

June 30, 2020 medical

Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.Jun 24 2020

A new study reveals a possible biological reason that Alzheimer's Disease (AD) progresses at different rates in different patients.

The study, which was led by Massachusetts General Hospital researchers, focused on tau, a protein found in the neurofibrillary tangles in the brain that are a well-known sign of AD.

Tau can undergo a variety of modifications during the course of the disease including phosphorylations. Researchers found that the presence of different forms of phosphorylated tau could explain why the disease has variable effects.

The study's lead author is Simon Dujardin, PhD, post-doctoral research fellow at Mass General.

Physicians have long known that, from patient to patient, there can be substantial variation in the clinical presentation of Alzheimer's Disease, including age of onset, rate of memory decline and other clinical measures.

Also, higher levels of pathological tau in the brain are associated with more severe disease. However, there are few clues as to what causes this variation between patients.

This team studied samples from 32 patients who were diagnosed with what is considered "typical AD" while living, and that diagnosis was confirmed after death.

The age at diagnosis and the rate of disease progression varied markedly among these patients.

The researchers also conducted an in-depth characterization of the molecular features of tau proteins within the brains of these patients.

This included levels of different species of tau, capacity of tau to induce aggregation (also called seeding), as well as the presence of specific post-translational modifications using biochemical, biophysical and bioactivity assays, as well as advanced mass spectrometry techniques, working with teams at Children's Hospital, Boston and Merck.

The researchers found "striking" variation in the presence of phosphorylated tau oligomers that associates with greater tau spread, and, importantly, worse disease.

Different specific modifications were associated with different degrees of severity and progression rate.

Notably, these specific molecular characteristics led to variable recognition by antibodies which are currently being considered for the therapeutic targeting of tau proteins in AD and associated diseases.

We speculate that there are different molecular 'drivers' of Alzheimer's progression, with each patient having their own set of these. This is similar to what we see in cancer, where there are several types of lung or breast cancer, for example, and the treatment depends on the particular molecular drivers in the patient's tumor."

Bradley Hyman, MD, PhD, senior author of the report and director of the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at the Massachusetts General Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease (MIND)

This was a multi-institution, cross-disciplinary collaboration between clinicians, neuroscientists and neuropathologists. The team included Judith Steen, PhD, associate professor at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Neuroproteomics Laboratory in the F. M. Kirby Neuroscience Center at Boston Children's Hospital, as well as Matthew Kennedy, PhD, of the Department of Neuroscience, Merck & Co.

Source:

Journal reference:

Dujardin, S., et al. (2020) Tau molecular diversity contributes to clinical heterogeneity in Alzheimers disease. Nature Medicine. doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-0938-9.

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Tau protein modifications may be linked to heterogeneity in Alzheimers disease - News-Medical.Net

Genetics

Genotype analysis of six popular dog breeds finds reduced genetic diversity within subpopulations – PRNewswire

June 30, 2020 medical

VANCOUVER, Wash., June 30, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --Wisdom Health Genetics, the world's leader in pet genetics and makers of the WISDOM PANELdog DNA tests, announced today the publication in Canine Medicine and Genetics of a study conducted in collaboration with the University of Eastern Finland.

The study, Variation in breeding practices and geographic isolation drive subpopulation differentiation, contributing to the loss of genetic diversity within dog breed lineages,describes genetic subpopulation differentiation and related loss of genetic diversity discovered in six dog breeds: the Belgian Shepherd, English Greyhound, Finnish Lapphund, Italian Greyhound, Labrador Retriever, and Shetland Sheepdog.

Researchers examined the six popular dog breeds based on differential breeding strategies -- such as breeding for characteristics desired in 'sporting' compared to 'show' lines -- and geography using genotype analysis, finding that each of the breeds showed subpopulation differentiation contributing to a lack of genetic diversity.

For the Italian Greyhound and Shetland Sheepdog, the differentiation could be attributed to the founder effect -- or the reduction in genetic diversity caused when a population descends from a small number of 'founding' ancestors, combined withgeographical isolation based on continent. Breeder preferences accounted for the genetic structure of the remaining four breeds: the English Greyhound and Labrador Retriever breed structures were selected for either show, sport, or working lineages. Analysis of the Belgian Shepherd breed structure shed light on the genetic relationships between different subvarieties of the breed; analysis of the Finnish Lapphund revealed a relatively recent, unexpected split within that subpopulation due to breeder preference.

"These findings are yet another example of how the genetic data generated during our commercial testing at Wisdom Health Genetics can be used to gain insight into the population structure and diversity levels of breeds and their subpopulations," said Jonas Donner, PhD, Discovery Manager at Wisdom Health Genetics.

Though breed differentiation can serve important purposes, selection must be done critically and carefully to maintain healthy genetic diversity and increase gene flow between isolated populations.

"Breeding dogs to fulfill specific breed ideals, by definition, will result in a loss of variation over time; this differentiation is not generally negative. However, due to their size, many small breed populations are in danger of suffering from the accumulated effects of inbreeding depression over the generations," said study co-author Jaakko Pohjoismaki, PhD, senior researcher in genetics at the University of Eastern Finland. "Breed organizations should be more proactive in mixing the dogs between specialized lineages or closely related breeds to prevent deleterious effects of inbreeding depression."

It is essential to maintain a balance between preserving diversity within the breeds when selecting for desired characteristics; to continue responsible breeding, genetic diversity and selecting for positive health traits are central to keeping a population healthy.

"The results of this study highlight the importance of careful balancing between selection for desired traits and health, and avoiding loss of genetic diversity," said Rebecca Chodroff Foran, PhD, R&D Director at Wisdom Health Genetics. "Through our research, we aim to improve the lives of pets everywhere, and identifying opportunities to maintain genetic diversity will ultimately help create and support healthier populations."

Based on the observed loss of genetic diversity in subpopulations of the six breeds studied, the researchers recommend that breeders take steps to encourage genetic diversity, facilitating exchange of dogs across geographical borders and avoiding unnecessary artificial boundaries between lineages.

About the Subpopulation Genetic Differentiation Study:

About Wisdom Health Genetics

The mission of the Wisdom Health business is to strengthen the bond between pets and their people through world-leading insights powered by DNA. Wisdom Panel dog DNA tests - backed by the WISDOM HEALTH scientific research - can help pet parents plan better, care smarter, and love longer. For more than a decade, Wisdom Health scientific research contributed to develop state-of-the-art genetic tests for companion animals, revolutionizing personalized pet care. By unlocking the secrets of their dog or cat's DNA, pet parents and veterinarians can work together to tailor wellness programs that fit the one-of-a-kind needs of their pets. Wisdom Panel products are recommended by veterinarians, and the tests are currently offered by 7000+ veterinarians worldwide. For more information, visithttp://www.wisdompanel.com, or follow the Wisdom Panel brand onFacebook andInstagram.

About Kinship Labs

Advances in science, technology, health and nutrition offer an opportunity to transform the $100B+ pet care industry. With industry-leading data and analytics capabilities, a $100M venture fund and pioneering startup accelerator program, unique set of technology businesses like Whistle Labs and Wisdom Health Genetics,Kinship Labs is building the first-of-its-kind coalition of partners to transform the future of pet care. Kinship Labs is a business division of Mars Petcare, the global leader in pet health, nutrition and services, dedicated to one purpose:A BETTER WORLD FOR PETS. Follow @kinshipco to learn more.

About Mars Petcare

Part of Mars, Incorporated, a family-owned business with more than a century of history making diverse products and offering services for people and the pets people love, the 85,000 Associates across 50+ countries in Mars Petcare are dedicated to one purpose: A BETTER WORLD FOR PETS. With 85 years of experience, our portfolio of almost 50 brands serves the health and nutrition needs of the world's pets including brands PEDIGREE, WHISKAS, ROYAL CANIN,NUTRO, GREENIES, SHEBA, CESAR, IAMS and EUKANUBA as well as the Waltham Petcare Science Institute which has advanced research in the nutrition and health of pets for over 50 years. Mars Petcare is also a leading veterinary health provider through an international network of over 2,000 pet hospitals and diagnostic services including BANFIELD, BLUEPEARL, VCA, Linnaeus, AniCura and Antech. We're also active in innovation and technology for pets, with Wisdom Panel genetic health screening and DNA testing for dogs, the WHISTLE GPS dog tracker, LEAPVENTURE STUDIOaccelerator and COMPANION FUND programs that drive innovation and disruption in the pet care industry. As a family business guided by our principles, we are privileged with the flexibility to fight for what we believe in and we choose to fight for our purpose: A BETTER WORLD FOR PETS.

Media Contact:Lesley Albert[emailprotected]

SOURCE Wisdom Health

http://www.wisdompanel.com

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Genotype analysis of six popular dog breeds finds reduced genetic diversity within subpopulations - PRNewswire

Genetics

Want to help with COVID-19 research? If you tested positive, share your genetic makeup with DNA testing sites – The Union Leader

June 30, 2020 medical

DNA testing companies like Ancestry.com and 23andMe are using their expertise in the fight against COVID-19.

Ancestry.coms study is available only to its members, but 23andMe is asking past and present COVID-19 patients (customers or not) to take part in a study that will contribute to ongoing research on the new coronavirus.

23andMe asked existing customers in April if they would allow their DNA sample to be used for research aimed at determining if there are genetic factors affecting immune response to the virus. Then the company opened the study to include non-23andMe customers who had been hospitalized with COVID-19.

According to Adam Auton, principal scientist at 23andMe and lead researcher on the study, the testing company is hoping research will offer insight into differences in risk among individuals, and help academic and scientific communities in their efforts to treat the illness.

When the pandemic was getting going, we here at 23andMe were beginning to think through what could we do to really try and help and contribute to the science and understanding of this disease, he said.

Given that we have a very large cohort of people who have had their genomes genotyped, we really felt that we might be able to make an impact on the question of why do some people get very, very sick with a COVID infection whereas other people may have not even noticed that they had an infection at all? And given our expertise in genetics, we wanted to ask the question to what extent genetics plays a role in those outcomes.

Auton said the response has been a positive one. He said hundreds of thousands of people already have completed the survey to participate in the genome study, and of those, over 9,000 individuals said they have tested positive for COVID-19.

Auton is hoping more participants join the study to get a wider spectrum of coronavirus experiences. To join, individuals have to be over 18, live in the United States, be willing to provide a saliva sample for analyzing different parts of your genome, be willing to complete online study surveys, must have tested positive for COVID-19 and must have been hospitalized due to COVID-19 symptoms. Those who qualify will receive the 23andMe Health + Ancestry Service at no cost.

Edgewater resident Judy Schneider, 75, did a 23andMe kit almost 10 years ago. Having rebounded from a COVID-19 diagnosis in March, she was excited to hear about the 23andMe study.

I would participate because Im interested from the point of view that I have asthma and my mother had asthma, she said. Im concerned about being reinfected, so I would participate.

Ashantis Jones, 26, of Lakeview, did a 23andMe kit with her family two Christmases ago. But she said she wouldnt add her genome information to the COVID-19 study.

Theres a cultural implication especially around people of color because weve been tested on since America has become America, she said. So there is a historical context, too, so no. Youre not just going to take my stuff and test. It just starts to get a little bit too Big Brother.

Auton says 23andMe wants to be as transparent as possible with the study, so the studys protocols are overseen by a third-party ethical review board.

I think its super important to emphasize that all of the research that we do is entirely opt-in, Auton said. They can withdraw their consent at any point, and we will stop using their data. We really are very conscious of this. Frankly, we know we couldnt do this research without our participants, so were just extremely grateful to those that have chosen to participate.

Preliminary data shows a variant in the ABO gene (which is associated with blood type) linked to a lower risk, when comparing research participants who reported that they tested positive for COVID-19 with those who tested negative. Auton said data collection will continue through the summer.

We know that genetics is important when determining outcomes across essentially all human diseases, so your genome may have some information in it that confers risks for certain diseases or protection for other diseases, Auton said.

Given that COVID-19 is so new in our lives, I think we just dont know at this stage whether genetics has a really big role to play in determining these outcomes or whether it has a small role. And if we can establish that it has a role, it may be informative about the developments of potential therapies for people who do have these kinds of severe outcomes.

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Want to help with COVID-19 research? If you tested positive, share your genetic makeup with DNA testing sites - The Union Leader

Genetics

Cancer Genetics CEO "excited about the vision and future" by being highly focused on drug discovery – Proactive Investors USA & Canada

June 30, 2020 medical

Cancer Genetics, Inc () CEO Jay Roberts tells Proactive the drug discovery and preclinical oncology and immuno-oncology services provider says he's 'excited about the vision and future' of the firm by focusing more on drug discovery and by strengthening its balance sheet.

Roberts says the firm is well positioned to carry through new strategic alternative activities to further strengthen its position in the industry.

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Cancer Genetics CEO "excited about the vision and future" by being highly focused on drug discovery - Proactive Investors USA & Canada

Anatomy

The anatomy of Delhi riots: How rioters mobilised through SMS and WhatsApp messages – Times Now

June 30, 2020 medical

Representational Image | Photo Credit: ANI

New Delhi: A WhatsApp group comprising members of a particular community created on February 25 during the Delhi riots was allegedly used to mobilise and commit maximum violence. The members of the group led to the killing of nine people and dumping their bodies in the drains, a recent charge sheet filed by the Delhi police claims.

It was on the intervening night of February 25th-26th, when a group of rioters randomly attacked passer-byes after checking their identity at Nala Road, Johripur Puliya on the stretch of Bhagwati Vihar and Ganga Vihar, Delhi.

Nine accused people have been charge-sheeted in three separate killings during the north-east riots in Delhi. Hamza, Bhure Ali and Amin were found in the drain in Bhagwati Vihar of north-east Delhi.

The rioters kept on stopping random men and killed them with sticks and rods after asking for their identity. Nine bodies were found in the days to follow.

Delhi police charge sheet claims that they have identified and arrested those behind the killings. All men were part of a WhatsApp group, created to take revenge from the members of other community for burning their property.

Crime branch SIT probing the riots have arrested Nine members of a WhatsApp group createdto take revenge during the riots. They have been challenged for the killing of Hamza, Bhure Ali and Amin.

Two of the initial arrests led to the identification of other members after their mobile handsets were scanned. According to the Delhi police charge sheet, the accused were members of Kattar Hindut Ekta.

One of the members of the group, who identified himself as Lokesh Solanki from Ganga Vihar spilt the beans. On February 26, at 11:39 PM, he started instigating others with a text

Bhai Mai Ganga Vihar se Lokesh Solanki hu agr kisi ko koi problem ho or wha log Kam pde to bta dena Mai apni Puri Ganga Vihar ki team k sath aayunga Sara Saman hai humare pass goli bandook sab kuch," says the crime branch charge-sheet.

In the later texts, he accepted killing two men and dumping their bodies at the Nala. The same description matched with the victims in the case.

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The anatomy of Delhi riots: How rioters mobilised through SMS and WhatsApp messages - Times Now

Anatomy

The Weird and Wild Anatomy of the Netflix Original Sitcom – Paste Magazine

June 30, 2020 medical

For the most part, the original sitcoms Netflix has been churning out in the years since Fuller House made its splashy streaming debut will feel familiar to anyone whos turned on a television even once since I Love Lucy took its final bow.

Half-hour multicam format? Check. Bright, flat lighting? Check. Live studio audience (and/or laugh track)? Check (and/or check). Throw in some nostalgic stunt-casting here (hello, TV teens of the 90s!), a genuine Sitcom Hall of Famer there (thats Mr. Norman Lear to you), and enough corny jokes to give Mitchells famous cereal grain palace a run for its money, and youve got all the ingredients necessary for traditional sitcom greatness.

And yet, while its absolutely true that many Netflix sitcoms are greata few, even, rising to the level of excellentwhat almost none of them are, as a rule, is traditional. And how could they be? Just as the streamers rules-be-damned, flood-the-market production model has disrupted well-worn trends across the board (fully upending, in the process, how people even talk about TV), so too has it redefined not just what a modern multicam sitcom can do, but how it can go about doing it.

In the earliest days of the Netflix sitcom (e.g., like, 2016), this rule-breaking wasnt always easy to parse. On the one hand, you had things like Fuller House and One Day at a Time, whose comedic premises (intergenerational hijinks, with heart) were straightforward, and whose sitcom pedigrees (95% of the original Full House cast; Norman Lear) were pure gold. So their episodes ran a little long, and their character arcs pushed a few boundariesno problem, the classic sitcom vibe was still there. On the other hand, though, you had things like Disjointed (the Kathy Bates cannabis comedy) and The Ranch (depressed conservative cowboys who say fuck like its a punchline). Sure, thanks to the likes of Chuck Lorre and Ashton Kutcher, both came backed by similarly legit sitcom pedigrees, but as early reviews (and the quick cancellation of Disjointed) bore out, youd have to have been high to think either one vibed as anything close to a classic sitcom.

At the time, these four titles (plus a charmless Richie Rich) sitting side-by-side in the Goofy TV Comedies queue made it seem like Netflix didnt quite know what it wanted its chapter in the history of the sitcom to cover. Was it hoping to elevate a genre that time (and modern television-watching sensibilities) had burnished to dullif efficientperfection? Or was it trying to turn the traditional multicam into something altogether weirder, forging paths through comedic and narrative territory way beyond the well-lit paths network television has long been bound to?

The answer, it seems, is yes. Yes, with things like Fuller House and One Day at a Timeand, more recently, Mr. Iglesias, Family Reunion, and The Expanding Universe of Ashley GarciaNetflix absolutely aims to take a formula generations of sitcom watchers know and love, and kick it up to 11. But also yes, with things like The Ranch, Alexa & Katie, and (to Pastes eternally shocked delight) No Good Nick, the streamer just as absolutely aims to turn that formula way weird. Because heres the thing: Freed from the limitations imposed on the traditional multicam by generations of both FCC regulation and audience expectation, the Netflix sitcomno matter where on the spectrum of classic to WTF it starts outhas proven itself to have the gift of almost endless flexibility.

Clockwise from top left: Fuller House (2016-2020), Family Reunion (2019-), No Good Nick (2019), Alexa & Katie (2017-2020), The Ranch (2016-2020), One Day at a Time (2017-2019*), Mr. Iglesias (2019-), The Expanding Universe of Ashley Garcia (2020-)

What does all that flexibility look like in practice? Well, after many long hours of very corny research, weve crunched the data, and have come up with the following list of things that make up the weird and ever-wilder anatomy of the Netflix original sitcom. Whether youre a sitcom agnostic whos never given Netflixs stabs at the genre a single thought, or a sitcom fan whos been put off by the way they seem to reflect the traditional sitcom model through a funhouse mirror, may this guide give you reason to give at least one of these cornball series a real shot.

While its true that a nostalgia-driven reboot trend has also hit the linear sitcom landscape hard in the half-decade since Girl Meets World premieredand its just as true that multicams across broadcast and cable television had been littered with sitcom pros long before thatthe Netflix sitcom, as a rule, goes all in on nostalgia. Fuller House and One Day at a Time are the most obvious examples of this, but theres been at least one Big Nostalgia play in every sitcom Netflix has released since.

Usually, this play is aimed squarely at older Millennials, various stars of the 80s and 90s showing up both as parents of various teen characterssee: Sean Astin and Melissa Joan Hart on No Good Nick, Allison Munn and The Big Show on The Big Show Show, Tiffany Amber Thiessen on Alexa & Katie, Rev Run on All About the Washingtons, and Tia Mowry-Hardrict on Family Reunionas well as other (less parental) adultsGabriel Iglesias, Sherri Shepherd and Oscar Nuez as public school employees on Mr. Iglesias, Ashley Tisdale and Bridgit Mendler as Dennis Quaids unhappy daughters on Merry Happy Whatever, Ashton Kutcher and Danny Masterson as downer brothers on The Ranch, Jaleel White everywhere, and Mario Lopez and Chelsea Kane as family friends on The Expanding Universe of Ashley Garcia. As often as it angles for Millennial attention, though, the Netflix sitcom also uses nostalgia to take aim at the Gen Z crowd, pulling in teen actors from fan-favorite Nickelodeon and Disney sitcoms to play the kids of all those 80s/90s stars abovehere, think Theodore Barnes on Prince of Peoria, Landry Bender and Isaak Presley on Fuller House, Cree Cicchino, Tucker Albrizzi and Coy Stewart on Mr. Iglesias, Paris Berelc, Emery Kelly, Nathaniel Potvin and Jack Griffo on Alexa & Katie, and Siena Agudong, Lauren Lindsey Donzis, Kalama Epstein and Kyla-Drew on No Good Nick.

On the one hand, while casting all those heavy-hitter adults makes cynically good sense, drawing so many names from the Nickelodeon/Disney pool feels a bit like cheating, Netflix cashing in on the casting talent both Disney and Nickelodeon have worked for decades to hone, rather than taking the opportunity to find all new funny, charming teens to call their own. On the other hand, making a cynical grab for known factors across the generations is just good business, because the next thing that defines the Netflix sitcom is

Back in the land of linear programming, every network that traffics in multicam sitcoms has a clearly defined lane: On the broadcast end of things, NBC specializes in the workplace comedy, CBS goes for put-upon parents/maladjusted singles, ABC does families, and FOX does animation. Cable, meanwhile, has Freeform in the messy twentysomethings lane, TBS (and, lately, Pop TV) in the weirdo adult one, and Nickelodeon and Disney cover all things aimed at precocious kids and/or goofy teens.

Netflix sitcoms have no lanes. Yes, The Ranch (f-bombs) and Disjointed (pot jokes) mostly skew adult, while Prince of Peoria (outdated boy humor) and Team Kaylie (the less funny cousin to Bunkd) mostly skew pre-teen. From Alexa & Katie to Mr. Iglesias, though, just about every other title in Netflixs small-but-growing sitcom arsenal is set-up to appeal to adult and kid/teen audiences in more or less equal measure. On something like No Good Nick, this means the audience is invited to emotionally invest both in Disney-esque high school melodramas, and in Liz (Hart) and Eds (Astin) broadcast-level marital/professional problems. (And, to a slightly lesser extent, Nicks dads more darkly-shaded criminal ones.) Family Reunion, meanwhile, gives as much time to the four McKellan kidswho themselves span at least three different Disney demographic groupsas it does to their parents (Mowry-Hardrict and Anthony Alabi) and grandparents (Loretta Devine and Richard Roundtree), while One Day at a Time not only covers the network-spanning sprawl of the Alvarez familys narrative needs, but also brings in Schneider (Todd Grinnell), whose solo arc occasionally gets so prickly even TBS might hesitate to embrace it. (In that respect, especially, the fact that ODAAT ended up on Pop TV after being prematurely canceled by Netflix makes perfect sense.)

For audiences used to being able to turn on a network sitcom and know, based on context, more or less what to expect, this kind of demographic mash-up can feel disorientingnot for nothing did we deem No Good Nick the most confounding sitcom wed ever seen! But taken in the everything, for everyone, all the time context Netflix has spent the last few years building, these sitcoms crafting stories that cater to such a broad, ambiguous audience isnt confounding; its completely natural.

In that same spirit, while many broadcast sitcoms have become notably more diverse in recent yearsin terms of race, at least, if not always in other waysthe Netflix sitcom got to start with diversity as a guiding light. True, the streamers first three traditional sitcoms (Richie Rich in 2015, followed by Fuller House and The Ranch in 2016) were extremely (if not entirely) white. The majority of the series that followed, howeverstarting with One Day at a Time in 2017, then continuing with Alexa & Katie, Prince of Peoria and All About the Washingtons in 2018, No Good Nick, Mr. Iglesias, Family Reunion, and Team Kaylie in 2019, and now The Expanding Life of Ashley Garcia in 2020have either featured, or have entirely centered, non-white characters and experiences, whose stories were created, written, or directed by similarly diverse teams.

Corny as the broadcast-based multicam sitcom can be, this kind of representation is still important, and always worth fighting to improve. On Netflix, howeverwhere neither the FCC nor politically squeamish commercial interests hold sway, and where all the ambiguous storytelling outlined above has rendered any expectations the audience might have mootit has moved from important to productive. With something like Mr. Iglesias, this has meant getting to show the ways in which the American public education system treats black, brown and poor white students like theyre wholly expendable, without layering it in so many corny jokes the point gets lost. On One Day at a Time, meanwhile, it means Elenas (Isabella Gomez) coming out arc not just being about her sexuality, but about her identity as a Puerto Rican woman, while on Family Reunion, it means getting to show Jade (Talia Jackson) confronting colorism and anti-interracial dating in her own community, and Cocoa and Moz (Mowry-Hardrict and Alabi) sitting Shaka (Isaiah Russell-Bailey) and Mazzi (Cameron J. Wright) down for The Talk, after two smugly racist white officers pull guns on the boys in front of their own home. Shows like The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Living Single got to be frank about similar issues in their own time, but thats been more the exception than the rule. On Netflix, it is starting out as the rule.

The freedom Netflix sitcoms have to take on diverse stories extends beyond race. Most gratingly, of course, theres Kutchers deeply unpleasant conservative comedy, The Ranch, which uses its Netflix bonafides to layer stories about domestic abuse, substance abuse, abortion, miscarriage and suicide on top of the jokes about bull castration and economic depression it promises from the start. Ill own the fact that Ive got a chip on my shoulder when it comes to The Ranch (look, as a High Plains native, I resent the disdain they show for the kinds of folks I grew up with, who might be conservative but arent universally mean boors, while as a fan of comedic fluency, I resent that so many sitcom pros seem to have forgotten how to land a joke), but the fact that those topics are made the meat of a multicam sitcom at all is notable. Similarly notable, Alexa & Katie centering a teen (Paris Berelc) with cancer who starts the series actively undergoing chemo, and not shying away from the possibly mortal consequences of her diagnosis. See also: Jeremy (Kalama Epstein) having his first kiss with another boy and later coming out to his family on No Good Nick, Gabe (Iglesias) struggling with sobriety on Mr. Iglesias, and both Penny wrestling with her anxiety and Elena first coming out to her family, then starting a relationship with her non-binary partner Syd (Sheridan Pierce), on One Day at a Time.

Its all so much! Which is why its so luck that the last thing that defines a Netflix sitcom is

In not being weighed down by multiple long ad breaks, the Netflix sitcom enjoys meaningfully longer episodes than its commercial-laden cousins on broadcast and cable TVthe pilot of Family Reunion, for example, runs a full 34 minutes long, while the pilot of Marlon Wayans Marlon, which streams alongside Family Reunion but originates from NBC, tops out at a tight 20:04. The pilot of Fuller House, if you want an even sharper comparison, runs all the way to 36 minutes. The pilot of Full House, the Netflix reboots beloved predecessor? A trim 25.

For a genre as long-lived (read: finely tuned) as the multicam sitcom, these extra minutes can occasionally result in a shagginess youd be hard pressed to find in shows developed for the traditional broadcast setting. For the most part, though, they work in the Netflix sitcoms favor, making room for the kinds of big, ambitious stories described in more detail above. (Plus, obviously, more jokes.)

Similarly, the full-season drop signature to the Netflix model incentivizes serialized storytelling, even in something as inherently episodic as the multicam sitcom. No Good Nick, which uses its single season to follow a con artist foster kid through her entire scheme embedding with the family who ruined her dads life, is perhaps the best example of this trend towards serialization, but from Mr. Iglesiass academic decathlon to Fuller Houses surrogacy arc to Merry Happy Whatevers excruciatingly long family Christmas visit, serialization of at least some sort is present throughout, giving the wild and weird beast that is the Netflix original sitcom room to grow into whatever it might want to beaudience expectations be damned.

With so much production shut down for the pandemic, its a given that Netflixs sitcom legacy will slow down for a time, too. But with Kevin James NASCAR sitcom and Jane Lynch and Cyndi Laupers mystery Golden Girls-esque project already greenlit, were just as certain that whenever it comes back, it will be as big and bold as ever.

Original multicam sitcoms (so many of them!) are available streaming now on Netflix. Presuming youve already loved One Day at a Time and binged Fuller House (whether you loved it or not), we suggest giving Family Reunion a shot next. But you do you!

Alexis Gunderson is a TV critic and audiobibliophile. She can be found @AlexisKG.

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The Weird and Wild Anatomy of the Netflix Original Sitcom - Paste Magazine

Anatomy

Sandra Oh Revealed She Used to Fight With "Greys Anatomy" Writers and Shonda Rhimes – Yahoo Lifestyle

June 30, 2020 medical

From Prevention

Sandra Oh detailed why she used to get into arguments with Greys Anatomy writers and Shonda Rhimes.

She said going toe to toe with them was challenging but worth it because she cared about her character, Dr. Cristina Yang.

She also opened up about how the show didnt want to address race, which she occasionally disagreed with.

Sandra Oh played Dr. Cristina Yang on Greys Anatomy for 10 years, so she definitely knows everything there is about her character and what Dr. Yang would realistically do in any situation. But during Varietys Actors on Actors series, Sandra revealed that she actually had to fight for her character and go toe to toe with the writers and even Shonda Rhimes herself.

Talking to Scandal actor Kerry Washington, Sandra said, What I was able to get from Greys is to have the responsibility and the relationship with the writer to be able to direct where shes going. If something kind of came up which was like, That is completely wrong, I would go toe to toe with Shonda and a lot of the writers, which has been challenging.

This approach to her character pushed her to bother Shonda, which would often lead to them digging in our heels hugely. She went on to say, But just the friction itself, a lot of times a third thing would come out, and it would not be in my sight of consciousness at all; it would take that pushing against someone equally as strong. I started to learn how to trust that.

One instance that really stood out in Sandras mind was when her character married Preston Burke (Isaiah Washington). Explaining the ethos of the show, Sandra said, When we did Greys, for at least the first 10 seasons, we would not talk about race. We would not go into race, and that was purposeful. And whatever, it was the right thing to do when it was. When it came to the marriage, though, Sandra wanted to focus on the mothers-in-law, who were Asian and Black. She recalled saying, Come on, there is a lot of story that we can do here! Unfortunately, the writers wouldnt budge.

Story continues

Even though filming 10 seasons with 22 to 24 episodes each was a major challenge, Sandra is incredibly proud of herself (as she should be!) for standing up for her character. She finished, I feel like, when I look back, because its been six years now since I left Greys, I feel like one of my biggest successes, for me, was I dont feel I gave up.

Sandra Oh Wanted To Leave ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ To Play Olivia Pope On ‘Scandal’ – iHeartRadio

June 30, 2020 medical

Shonda Rhimes created two of the most iconic shows of all time for ABCGrey's Anatomy and Scandal. Those shows are packed with strong female leads that any actress would have loved to play. It turns out one of Grey's Anatomy's biggest stars almost considered jumping ship to play the lead role on Scandal because the role of Washington D.C. 'fixer' Olivia Pope was just that intriguing.

While chatting for Variety's virtual actors on actors series, Sandra Ohwho starred as Cristina Yang on Grey's Anatomy for 10 seasonstold Scandal star Kerry Washington about the time she tried to convince Rhimes to let her play Olivia Pope. I remember exactly where I was when I read that damn pilot. I was on Greys. We were on stage five. Someone snuck [the script] to me, Oh told Washington. I dont know who it was, but I got my hands on that pilot and I read it, and I was just like, How could I play Olivia Pope?

I remember going to Shonda, and its like, How could I do this? What is this script? Could I do this too?" Oh recalled. As the Killing Eve star recalls, though, Rhimes quickly shot down Oh's idea. She goes, No, youve got to play Cristina Yang! Though Oh was disappointed she couldn't go from one iconic Rhimes character to another, she told Washington she was "so glad it was you who ended up bringing Olivia Pope to life.

Oh also recounted what it felt like to read the Scandal pilot. "Its so wonderful and rare when you get in your hands something that you know is electric," Oh said. Washington agreed with Oh, saying she became protective of her character over the source of Scandal's run. I was so devoted to her," she said.

Photo: Getty

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Sandra Oh Wanted To Leave 'Grey's Anatomy' To Play Olivia Pope On 'Scandal' - iHeartRadio