Cell Biology

TGen, Amgen, CeMM, And More: Bio-IT Community Rallies Against COVID-19 – Bio-IT World

April 10, 2020 Coronavirus research, tools and offerings are advancing at a breakneck pace. The SARS-CoV-2 virus is serving as a rallying cry across the bio-IT landscape inspiring creative new solutions, partnerships, and ideas to address the outbreak, treat and prevent the disease it causes, and address the life adjustments of our new normal. Here are some of the free tools, new solutions, and research this week.

Industry News

TheTranslational Genomics Research Institute(TGen),an affiliate of City of Hope,The Pathogen and Microbiome Institute at Northern Arizona Universityand the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department at theUniversity of Arizonahave formedthe Arizona COVID-19 Genomics Union totrack the COVID-19 coronavirusby harnessing the power of state-of-the-art technology and "big data" analysis. Scientists will sequence samples from COVID-19 patients to analyze the virus' genetic codes, track its different strains, show where each sample originates from, where it may have been transmitted andpossiblyuncovercritical information for diagnostics, anti-viral drug targets and vaccine development.Press release.

AmgenandAdaptive Biotechnologiesarecombiningexpertise to discover and develop fully human neutralizing antibodies targeting SARS-CoV-2 to potentially prevent or treat COVID-19. The mutually exclusive collaboration brings togetherAdaptive'sproprietary immune medicine platform for the identification of virus-neutralizing antibodies with Amgen's expertise in immunology and novel antibody therapy development.Neutralizing antibodies defend healthy cells by interfering with the biological function of an invading virus. These antibodies may be used therapeutically to treat someone currently fighting the disease and can be given to people who have heightened risk of exposure to SARS-CoV-2, such as healthcare workers.Press release.

Researchers from theCenterForMolecular MedicineOfTheAustrian AcademyOfSciences (CeMM) have released SARS-CoV-2 genomesfrom Austrian patients. Initial sequence analysis of the 29,900 nucleotide-long SARS-CoV-2 genomes from Austria revealed on average 6 mutations different to the reference genome isolated in Wuhan. The observed number of mutations is in line with other recently reported SARS-CoV-2 genomes. Most of the observed mutations lead to changes in viral proteins, providing evidence for positive selection pressure and evolution within the human population. Assessing the actual impact of these mutations for the virus life cycle and its interactions with both the host and the immune system will be within the scope of future investigations.Press release.

IRB Barcelona's Structural Bioinformatics and Network Biology Laboratoryhas joined forces with Amazon to develop the Chemical Checker, a computational tool that would help process academic literature on COVID-19. Using artificial intelligence, this tool will "read" articles and extract all relevant information related to the molecules and treatments studied. Through a limited review of the most relevant scientific literature, researchers at IRB Barcelona have so far identified more than 150 compounds that are potentially active against COVID-19. Results are already available athttps://sbnb.irbbarcelona.org/covid19/. The experience Amazon has with text-mining, machine learning and natural language understanding has allowed the automatic analysis of scientific articles to be incorporated into the Chemical Checker at a fast pace.Chemical Checker and results.

Flinders Universityresearchers working withOracle Cloudtechnology and vaccine technology developed by local companyVaxine,are testing avaccine candidate against the SARS-CoV-2coronavirus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic.Oracle wastapped for technical collaboration, access to an expanded research community, and cloud infrastructure that helped enable the rapid design of the novel COVID-19 vaccine candidate.The Australian teamused computer models of the spike protein and its human receptor, ACE2, to identify how the virus was infecting human cells, and then were able to design a vaccine to block this process.Press release.

Through the end of 2020,Sandia National Laboratoriesisofferingany U.S. personnonexclusive, fast-tracklicensesfree of chargetomore than 1,000 patentedtechnologies. Thegoal of theRapid Technology Deployment Programisto enablelicensees to invest their full resources into combating theCOVID-19pandemic and its economic effects.

Japanis putting itsflagshipsupercomputerFugakuto work in combatting the pandemicby giving priority toCOVID-relatedresearch selected by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Installation of the new supercomputer began in December and isnt scheduled to go into full-fledged open useuntil2021, but someof the nodesare going intotrial useas of April1.Press release.

Latest from the Literature

A collaborativein vitrostudy led byMonash University's Biomedicine Discovery Institute(BDI)in Melbourne, Australia, with thePeter Doherty Institute of Infection and Immunity(Doherty Institute), has shown that ananti-parasitic drugalready available around the world kills the virus within 48 hours.The drug, Ivermectin, stopped the SARS-CoV-2 virus growing in cell culture within 48 hours.Ivermectin is an FDA-approved anti-parasitic drug that has also been shown to be effective in vitro against a broad range of viruses including HIV, Dengue, Influenza and Zika virus.The study was published online inAntiviral Research.DOI:10.1016/j.antiviral.2020.104787

A multidisciplinary team of scientists atThe University of Texas Medical Branch(UTMB)at Galveston have developedareverse genetic systemthatallows researchers tomake SARS-CoV-2 in the lab and manipulate it in a petri dishspeeding thedevelopmentandevaluation ofvaccines, diagnose infected patients and exploreevolution ofthe virus.The system has been used tolabel the virussoinfectedcellsturn green,creatingahigh-throughputtestsignificantly reducing the time it takes to evaluate and bring candidate vaccines to market.UTMBis making thetechnology available to academia and industry researchers working to quickly developCOVID-19countermeasures. On-campus scientistswill nowdeploy the technology forblood-based diagnostictesting.Thestudy willbe publishedinCell Host & Microbe. DOI:10.1016/j.chom.2020.04.004

Thereceptor for SARS-CoV-2 is abundantly expressed in certain progenitor cellsthatnormally develop into respiratory tract cells, according to scientistsattheBerlin Institute of Health,Charit-UniversittsmedizinBerlinand the Thorax Clinic at Heidelberg University Hospital. The discovery, whichwillbe published inThe EMBO Journal (DOI:10.15252/embj.20105114),emerged from anexamination ofsamples from non-virus-infected patientsusing used single-cell sequencing technology.An additional, preliminary finding was that receptor density on the cells increased with age andwasgenerally higher in men than in women.Dellwas responsible for the reduced processing time needed to sequence 60,000 single cells.

AUniversity of Ottawabiology professor believesstray dogsspecifically dog intestinesmaybe theorigin of the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.Hisstudy involved examining full-lengthbetacoronavirusgenomes that have been deposited into GenBank, a National Institutes of Health genetic sequence database.Evidence willbepublishedinMolecular Biology and Evolution(http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaa094). While study findings are of vital interest in the current world health crisis, theymore broadly suggest that viralevolution can be revealed bylooking at theinteraction of host defenses with viral genomes.

Researchersin the UK and GermanyreportinPNASa phylogenic network of 160SARS-CoV-2genomes, revealing three major typesof variantsone found predominantly within East Asia and the other two in Europeans and Americans.The networkreconstructsdocumented routes of infectionand might be used to trace unknown infection sourcesthatcan then be quarantined toprevent recurrent spreadof the disease worldwide.DOI:10.1073/pnas.2004999117

Continue reading here:
TGen, Amgen, CeMM, And More: Bio-IT Community Rallies Against COVID-19 - Bio-IT World

Cell Biology

HKU Biomedical Engineering develops novel 3D imaging technology to make fluorescence microscopy more efficient and push the boundaries of living cells…

Scientists have been using fluorescence microscopy to study the inner workings of biological cells and organisms for decades. However, many of these platforms are often too slow to follow the biological action in 3D; and too damaging to the living biological specimens with strong light illumination.

To address these challenges, a research team led by Dr Kevin Tsia, Associate Professor of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and Programme Director of Bachelor of Engineering in Biomedical Engineering of the University of Hong Kong (HKU), developed a new optical imaging technology Coded Light-sheet Array Microscopy (CLAM) which can perform 3D imaging at high speed, and is power efficient and gentle to preserve the living specimens during scanning at a level that is not achieved by existing technologies.

This advanced imaging technology was recently published in Light: Science & Applications. An US patent application has been filed for the innovation.

CLAM allows 3D fluorescence imaging at high frame rate comparable to state-of-the-art technology (~10s volumes per second). More importantly, it is much more power efficient, being over 1,000 times gentler than the standard 3D microscopes widely used in scientific laboratories, which greatly reduces the damage done to living specimens during scanning, explained Dr Tsia.

Existing 3D biological microscopy platforms are slow because the entire volume of the specimen has to be sequentially scanned and imaged point-by-point, line-by-line or plane-by-plane. In these platforms, a single 3D snapshot requires repeated illumination on the specimen. The specimens are often illuminated for thousands to million times more intense than the sunlight. It is likely to damage the specimen itself, thus is not favorable for long-term biological imaging for diverse applications like anatomical science, developmental biology and neuroscience.

Moreover, these platforms often quickly exhaust the limited fluorescence budget a fundamental constraint that fluorescent light can only be generated upon illumination for a limited period before it permanently fades out in a process called photo-bleaching, which sets a limit to how many image acquisitions can be performed on a sample.

Repeated illumination on the specimen not only accelerates photo-bleaching, but also generates excessive fluorescence light that does not eventually form the final image. Hence, the fluorescence budget is largely wasted in these imaging platforms, Dr Tsia added.

The heart of CLAM is transforming a single laser beam into a high-density array of light-sheets with the use of a pair of parallel mirrors, to spread over a large area of the specimen as fluorescence excitation.

The image within the entire 3D volume is captured simultaneously (i.e. parallelized), without the need to scan the specimen point-by-point or line-by-line or plane-by-plane as required by other techniques. Such 3D parallelization in CLAM leads to a very gentle and efficient 3D fluorescence imaging without sacrificing sensitivity and speed, as pointed out by Dr Yuxuan Ren, a postdoctoral researcher of the work. CLAM also outperforms the common 3D fluorescence imaging methods in reducing the effect of photo-bleaching.

To preserve the image resolution and quality in CLAM, the team turned to Code Division Multiplexing (CDM), an image encoding technique which is widely used in telecommunication for sending multiple signals simultaneously.

This encoding technique allows us to use a 2D image sensor to capture and digitally reconstruct all image stacks in 3D simultaneously. CDM has never been used in 3D imaging before. We adopted the technology, which became a success, explained by Dr Queenie Lai, another postdoctoral researcher who developed the system.

As a proof-of-concept demonstration, the team applied CLAM to capture 3D videos of fast microparticle flow in a microfluidic chip at a volume rate of over 10 volumes per second comparable to state-of-the-art technology.

CLAM has no fundamental limitation in imaging speed. The only constraint is from the speed of the detector employed in the system, i.e. the camera for taking snapshots. As high-speed camera technology continually advances, CLAM can always challenge its limit to attain an even higher speed in scanning, highlighted by Dr Jianglai Wu, the postdoctoral research who initiated the work.

The team has taken a step further to combine CLAM with HKU LKS Faculty of Medicines newly developed tissue clearing technology to perform 3D visualization of mouse glomeruli and intestine blood vasculature in high frame-rate.

We anticipate that this combined technique can be extended to large-scale 3D histopathological investigation of archival biological samples, like mapping the cellular organization in brain for neuroscience research. Dr Tsia said.

Since CLAM imaging is significantly gentler than all other methods, it uniquely favours long term and continuous surveillance of biological specimen in their living form. This could potentially impact our fundamental understanding in many aspects of cell biology, e.g. to continuously track how an animal embryo develops into its adult form; to monitor in real-time how the cells/organisms get infected by bacteria or viruses; to see how the cancer cells are killed by drugs, and other challenging tasks unachievable by existing technologies today, Dr Tsia added.

CLAM can be adapted to many current microscope systems with minimal hardware or software modification. Taking advantage of this, the team is planning to further upgrade the current CLAM system for research in cell biology, animal and plant developmental biology.

This project is an interdisciplinary collaboration between HKU Faculty of Engineering and LKS Faculty of Medicine. It was funded by HKSAR Research Grants Council, Innovation and Technology Support Program, the University Development Funds of the University of Hong Kong and the Natural Science Foundation of China.

More:
HKU Biomedical Engineering develops novel 3D imaging technology to make fluorescence microscopy more efficient and push the boundaries of living cells...

Cell Biology

CYTOVIA Therapeutics and MACROMOLTEK to Develop Dual-Acting Natural Killer Immunotherapy Against SARS CoV2 (COVID-19) – GlobeNewswire

NEW YORK and AUSTIN, Texas, April 07, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cytovia Therapeutics (Cytovia), an emerging biopharmaceutical company developing Natural Killer (NK) immunotherapies for cancer and infectious diseases, announced today that it is expanding its programs to help urgently address the current SAR CoV2 (COVID-19) crisis.

Natural Killer cells are a first line of defense not only against tumor cells but also against severe acute infectious diseases. Using a bi-functional approach has the potential to minimize virus escape from the immune response thereby inhibiting the intensification of the inflammation leading to Acute Respiratory Syndrome (ARS). The activation of NK cells through the NKp46 receptor aims to destroy the virus-infected cells while the other arm can either block the entry of the virus into epithelial cells or neutralize circulating viruses.

Dr Daniel Teper, co-founder, Chairman and CEO of Cytovia said: Our goal is to bring the best candidate to clinical trials by the end of the year 2020 and make it available to patients in 2021. As we become more prepared for potential next waves of the pandemic, physicians will need therapeutic options to strengthen the immune response and prevent rapid worsening of the disease. We expect that our novel approach might also be applied in the future to other severe acute infectious diseases, an area that still has significant unmet medical needs. Partnering with Macromoltek will fast-track this process.

Dr Monica Berrondo, co-founder and CEO of Macromoltek added: Our computational approach to antibody design allows to fast track the development of optimal therapeutic candidates in weeks rather than months. In the fight against SARS CoV2, time is of the essence. We are delighted to be part of a multi-disciplinary team passionate about winning the race against the virus with novel therapeutic solutions.

Cytovia will lead a highly coordinated team of scientific collaborators in order to achieve aggressive timelines for its COVID-19 therapeutic program. Cytovia will leverage its own proprietary bi-functional technology, developed by co-founder Dr Kadouche, NK activating antibodies licensed last month from Yissum, the technology transfer company of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and novel antibodies neutralizing or blocking SARS CoV2, designed by Macromoltek, a computational antibody discovery company. The selected bi-functional antibodies will further benefit from the Fast to Clinic approach implemented by STC Biologics, a Boston, MA based antibody development and manufacturing company.

About Cytovia TherapeuticsCytovia aims to accelerate patient access to transformational immunotherapies, addressing several of the most challenging unmet medical needs in cancer and severe acute infectious diseases. Cytovia focuses on Natural Killer (NK) cell biology and applies precision medicine tools to develop the right therapy for the right patient at the right stage of the disease. Cytovia has secured access to multiple advanced technologies, including an induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) platform for NK cell therapy, gene editing of Chimeric Antigen Receptors (CAR) to enhance targeting of NK cells, and NK engager multi-functional antibodies. Cytovia partners with the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), the New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Learn more at http://www.cytoviatx.com.

About MacromoltekMacromoltek, a computationalde novodrug design company, rapidly producesaccurate and credible antibody designs. They have built a proprietary platform that enables design against difficult targets inaccessible by traditional methods. A Y Combinator cohort company, they are already designing antibodies for several large biopharmas and smaller biotechs. https://www.macromoltek.com

Media and Investor Contacts

Cytovia TherapeuticsSophie Badr(Media)sophiebadre21@gmail.com929.317.1565

Anna Baran Djokovic (Investors)Anna@cytoviatx.com

MacromoltekLisa Hendricksonlhendrickson@sparkcity.co917.912.9424

Read the original here:
CYTOVIA Therapeutics and MACROMOLTEK to Develop Dual-Acting Natural Killer Immunotherapy Against SARS CoV2 (COVID-19) - GlobeNewswire

Cell Biology

Princeton awards over half-a-million dollars in funding for rapid, novel and actionable COVID-19 research projects – Princeton University

With the aim of accelerating solutions to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, Princeton has awarded University funding for seven new faculty-led research initiatives with strong potential for impact.

The funding enables faculty and their teams to address crucial questions in biomedical, health-related and fundamental science, as well as policy, social and economic topics. Projects will receive funding of up to $100,000.

The projects include research on asymptomatic transmission, immunity following infection, vaccines, new treatments, contact tracing, economic implications of social distancing, challenges unique to urban environments, and strategies for reducing pandemic-associated domestic violence.

The University's support for new research against COVID-19 was spurred by a groundswell of requests from faculty, said Dean for Research Pablo Debenedetti, whose office coordinated the application process and the review of the proposals.

"Many members of the Princeton faculty have reached out with requests for opportunities to use their knowledge, ideas and skills to assist in combating the COVID-19 pandemic," said Debenedetti, the Class of 1950 Professor in Engineering and Applied Science and a professor of chemical and biological engineering. "The quality of the proposals received is a testament to the creativity of our faculty and to their dedication to the common good in this challenging time."

The seven projects were chosen following a competitive application process with proposals evaluated by a committee of peers. The funding supports the creation of new knowledge rather than production of materials or equipment for clinical purposes, which is being addressed by Princeton's COVID-19 Response Special Activities and Resources Group. Consideration was given to the unique needs facing the state of New Jersey, as well as the broader needs arising from the pandemic.

Reflecting the immediacy of the situation, researchers must report on their progress after three months, at which time only projects that have made appreciable progress will be allowed to continue.

Some projects will require access to laboratories and other campus spaces which are restricted due to New Jersey's stay-at-home order. These new projects will join a small number of campus-based projects deemed essential following earlier review by the Office of the Dean for Research.

The selected projects are:

Monitoring SARS-CoV-2 in Princeton: Quantifying viral transmission and building an understanding of immunity

Andrea Graham, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology

Bryan Grenfell, the Kathryn Briger and Sarah Fenton Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Public Affairs, Woodrow Wilson School

C. Jessica Metcalf, assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and public affairs, Woodrow Wilson School

Julien Ayroles, assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics

Researchers will combine viral testing for active infections with evaluations of the immune response of individuals in the community of Princeton to provide much needed resolution on the question of asymptomatic transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19. The project will also provide a foundation from which to probe the development of an immune response to the virus, with the potential to inform our understanding of what the immune response means in terms of protection from infection.

Development of critical reagents to accelerate drug and vaccine development against SARS-CoV-2

Alexander Ploss, associate professor of molecular biology

The team aims to develop a version of SARS-CoV-2 that is less dangerous to laboratory workers and that can be safely handled under less stringent safety controls, thus broadening the ability of more researchers to study the virus. The researchers will also evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of certain FDA-approved compounds that have been shown to interfere with the replication of numerous viruses, as well as test a potential vaccine approach. They also will work to establish a humanized mouse model that can be used for preclinical testing of drug and vaccine candidates.

Fine-grained, privacy-respecting contact traceback for COVID-19 epidemiology

Kyle Jamieson, associate professor of computer science

Leveraging advances in mobile tracking, this project aims to automate the identification and traceback of recent significant risk contacts of a confirmed COVID-19 case. Instead of relying on GPS, which doesnt work well indoors and in many urban settings, the new approach employs more granular information from the cellular networks control channel to determine whether and for how long people spend time near a confirmed positive case.

Proposal for identifying small molecules targeting SARS-CoV-2 spike binding to human ACE2 cell receptor

Cliff Brangwynne, professor of chemical and biological engineering

Researchers will search for molecules that disrupt the cycle of infection by blocking the interaction between the virus's spike proteins and theACE2 receptors on human cells. The team will screen thousands of known bioactive compounds, including ones with prior FDA approval for other indications that could be rapidly deployed. Upon identifying promising compounds, the team will work with partner labs to move these candidates toward clinical testing.

Evaluating the economic implications and costs of COVID-19 social distancing policies

Natalie Bachas, assistant professor of economics

Arlene Wong, assistant professor of economics

Drawing on the collection of large datasets, the researchers will conduct an analysis to help inform the level of social distancing that balances health outcomes and economic consequences. These estimates will help guide the policy debate on how to both flatten the infection curve and the economic cost curve. The researchers will also evaluate the effectiveness of the payouts to households and provide key estimates on the economic spillovers of closures from essential and non-essential businesses.

Manual of urban distance: Strategies for reconfiguring the city

Paul Lewis, professor of architecture

Guy Nordenson, professor of architecture

Physical distancing and urban density are diametrically opposed, so new strategies are needed that rework the design of cities for a beneficial urban future. This project addresses the near-term problems of urban distancing during peak infection, as well asafter restrictions are eased but the population is still at risk of a rebound. The second phase of the project will look at longer term and more permanent strategies that consider possible future resurgence of COVID-19 as well as future pandemics.

Macroeconomic shocks and domestic violence: Evidence from COVID-19

Maria Micaela Sviatschi, assistant professor of economics and public affairs, Woodrow Wilson School

With unemployment on the rise and large numbers of people working from home, the potential for financial and emotional stress could potentially lead to increased domestic violence. Thisteam will evaluate COVID-19's impact on domestic violence and aims to test two interventions that are likely to determine pathways to aid victims during a pandemic: one that provides labor market opportunities for women and a second that provides information on how to identify and respond in domestic violence cases.

Read the original:
Princeton awards over half-a-million dollars in funding for rapid, novel and actionable COVID-19 research projects - Princeton University

Anatomy

Complete Anatomy App Will Use LiDAR in iPad Pro to Measure Range of Motion After Injury – MacRumors

Complete Anatomy, an iPad app from 3D4Medical, is designed to teach medical school students human anatomy with a virtual dissectible heart, real-time muscle movement mapping, nerve tracer, and microanatomy models to explore.

The feature is demoed in a YouTube video featuring Irene Walsh, the chief design officer at Complete Anatomy. According to Walsh, there has been no standardized way to measure range of motion, a problem solved with the iPad Pro's LiDAR Scanner.

Using the new 2020 iPad Pro, Complete Anatomy is able to view movements in three dimensions, using motion capture to identify which movement a person is doing. Movements are paired with 3D muscle animations, providing information on the primary muscles required to carry out the action.

Walsh says that the upcoming version of Complete Anatomy on the iPad "has the potential to transform the medical community of the future."

The LiDAR Scanner feature is coming to the Complete Anatomy app in the near future, though no specific release date is provided. So far, few apps are able to take advantage of the LiDAR Scanner, but previews like these give us an idea of just how powerful of a tool it will be when implemented by developers.

Rumors suggest that iPhones set to be released in 2020 will also include a similar 3D scanning LiDAR feature, which would allow Apple's iPhones and iPad Pro models to be used for more advanced and exciting augmented reality functions.

Read more:
Complete Anatomy App Will Use LiDAR in iPad Pro to Measure Range of Motion After Injury - MacRumors

Anatomy

Players do not know anatomy of their body: Shoaib Akhtar reveals which Pakistan player is looking very… – Hindustan Times

Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar is not too happy with the way Hasan Ali trained during his recuperation from an injury. There has been a lot of confusion regarding his injury as different players have offered different theories. Former Pakistan bowling coach Azhar Mahmood claimed that it happened when Hasan was made to deadlift 130 to 140 kilograms of weight.

However, Waqar Younis believes Hasan picked up the injury during a first-class match. Akhtar believes it was because the fast bowler did not understand his body and hence, is now looking very weak and frail.

ALSOREAD: Players are just pawns: Former Pakistan skipper says board officials may be involved in fixing

Hasan got injured due to training as well as overwork. Plus, he played a lot of cricket for the past year or two and wasnt managed properly, Akhtar was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan. When I met him 25 days ago, I told him to do light and high repetition training so there is no stiffness and rigidness in his muscle.

He is looking very weak and his shoulders [are] also very thin. He went through wrong training and was asked to lift heavy weights. The learning process of our cricketers is very slow because they do not know the anatomy of their body and how to do high repetition training.

There was a bit mess up from everybody along with Hasan Ali. However, Azhar should have said all this when he was looking after him but I dont understand why he is saying all this now, Akhtar added.

View post:
Players do not know anatomy of their body: Shoaib Akhtar reveals which Pakistan player is looking very... - Hindustan Times

Anatomy

The Anatomy Of A Corporate Event That Won’t Bore Delegates To Tears – BBN Times

object(stdClass)#31623 (59) { ["id"]=> string(4) "5834" ["title"]=> string(72) "Improvements Business Owners Can Make To Improve The Working Environment" ["alias"]=> string(76) "improvements-a-manager-or-business-onwer-can-make-to-the-working-environment" ["introtext"]=> string(157) "

As a business owner in charge of a team, you can feel an element of responsibility to ensure that the working environment is a positive place to be.

Not only for yourself, but also for the productivity levels of your workforce. However, there are certain aspects of the working environment that can be forgotten. Whether you have a small or large business indoor or outdoor, here are some of the biggest improvements that you can make to your working environment in order to improve the mindset of your employees and increase productivity.

Image source - pixabay - CC0 License

Many businesses work from an office environment, which often means that you will have staff working at various different levels under one roof. As a manager of the operation, or the business owner, you have a duty of care to ensure that you make the right improvements to ensure that staff can do their job, while maintaining a positive environment. Here are some of the things to think about.

One of the first things to think about would be to ensure that the office has the right technology for you to do the job. It can often be the small things such as a working computer, decent internet connection, which are all functional things for your business. You might want to think about having the right sort of systems in place to ensure that your staff and employees can perform their job roles effectively.

A small change that you could make to your business and working environment when you work indoors is to create a quiet room or a breakout area that staff and employees, including yourself, can go to relax and gather your thoughts. This is going to be free from the distractions of work and even their personal lives. Helping them to improve their mindset and have a positive attitude for their work and job role.

You might also want to implement things such as flexible working options for your staff members. That might be working from home or condensing their hours into longer days. An improved working life can help your employees work life to thrive because of a simple change that you made.

Image source - Pixabay - CC0 License

There are some businesses out there that only require you to stay at your desk, on your phone or attached to your laptop. Working away through the digital spectrum or speaking to customers, to then sell a product and service and have it shipped out. Job done. But some businesses are a little more physical than that. They require building work or manufacturing. Here are some of the things to think about.

One of the first things that you need to consider as a manager is to make sure that you take into account health and safety. Not just for you, but for anyone working with you on site. The working environment may be a bustling yard. Perhaps the business you are in is one of selling houses, for example, or buildings in city centres. Health and safety is going to be of the utmost importance, as not only do you have less control of the surroundings, but you also need to make sure that people are safe. This is because the environment outside of the office might be more dangerous. Such as using different equipment or machinery, for example. Having a decent policy in place can help you ensure that this is covered.

Of course, whether your project is a big one, or something on a smaller scale, you will need to ensure that you have the right level of equipment there ready and waiting. So you need to ensure that you have the right equipment for the job. Whether that is the right sort of crane, fork lift trucks or excavators, ensure that the people you have employed to do a job can do it to the best of their ability because you have supplied the right level of equipment for the job.

As a manager, you need to ensure that there is some form of plan in place to follow. This could be building plans, blueprints that are seen as guides, or even things like meetings so that people know what is expected of them. As a manager, you need to be able to lead. So you may want to ensure that your leadership skills are on point. It could be that you need to be more assertive with things, or ensure that your presence on site is seen and adhered to. Small changes could make a big difference.

It is so important to be prepared for every eventuality when off site and not in the office surroundings. You have less control over outside factors such as the weather. So things like the right level of footwear and clothing should be worn, to ensure safety. It could be things such as foreseeable problems, being discussed and then actions and plans put in place to help overcome them. Be prepared for every eventuality, so that you are never second guessing your next move.

Image source - Pixabay - CC0 License

No matter what your business is, be it outside, in an office, out on the road, specialist or working from home, the workwear you have and the tools that you use are two vital elements to making improvements for staff and employees. Or even your own work ethic. Often the small focuses such as uniform, workwear requirements and having the right tools for the job can be the only elements that give a staff member, including yourself, the confidence to get the job done. Depending on the type of business you have, here are some of the improvements you can make in this area.

Working outside could appear to be the dream job during a heatwave in the Summer, but how about when its winter like now, and the temperatures are plummeting? Working outside often means that you dont get an escape from the elements, and so you need to be dressed appropriately to protect your body and also keep warm. If you can, you may also want to think about a wooly hat and a scarf and glove set to keep your head, neck and hands warm. Your fingers can often feel the cold the most, and if you need to be hands on in your job, it could be a saving grace to have them covered.

Working outdoors can often mean that workers will be using specific tools to take on jobs and tasks. So ensuring that a health and safety check takes place and you supply what that person needs to complete the job is important. You also need to think of the general well being on the staff members that are working. So small things such as an onsite toilet could help to create a decent working environment outside. Thankfully, you can find construction site toilet hire online and you may also want to consider hiring wellness areas and breakout rooms where workers can enjoy a warm drink and rest out of the elements of the weather. This could be especially helpful in winter.

An office environment can often mean that your appearance needs to be smart and presentable. Whether you are customer facing or not, many employers prefer to have this sort of dress code as they feel it better aids productivity. There is some truth to that as mentally you feel dressed for the occasion of work, instead of in some clothes that are comfortable and relaxing to you. Most commonly people who work in an office or customer facing environment would wear a suit and smart attire.

Finally, working from home means you get to decide the dress code. You could work in your pyjamas and nobody would be aware of it. But you have to think about your productivity levels and your mindset when working from home. So it is a good idea to treat the day as if you were heading out to work, that means dressing appropriately. Of course, you dont need to be wearing a shirt and tie, but dressing smarter could help your work rate increase.

You might also want to think about joining up with applications like Skype and Zoom so that video conferencing and communication can be made easier for anyone that is working from home, including yourself. Email access, text messaging services and even taking advantage of cloud based software systems can help people who work from home to be fully able to complete tasks and perform their jobs.

We hope these tips will help you when it comes to making improvements in your working environment.

Read more:
The Anatomy Of A Corporate Event That Won't Bore Delegates To Tears - BBN Times