Immunology

Gossamer Bio Announces Participation in Upcoming Investor Conferences – Business Wire

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Gossamer Bio, Inc. (Nasdaq: GOSS), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, acquiring, developing and commercializing therapeutics in the disease areas of immunology, inflammation and oncology, today announced that members of the management team will participate in the following investor conferences:

A live webcast of the presentations will be available on the Events and Presentations page in the Investors section of the companys website at https://ir.gossamerbio.com. A replay of the webcast will be archived on the companys website for 90 days following the presentation.

About Gossamer Bio

Gossamer Bio is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, acquiring, developing and commercializing therapeutics in the disease areas of immunology, inflammation and oncology. Its goal is to be an industry leader in each of these therapeutic areas and to enhance and extend the lives of patients suffering from such diseases.

Read more from the original source:
Gossamer Bio Announces Participation in Upcoming Investor Conferences - Business Wire

Embryology

Animals embryos evolved before animals, study reveals – International Business Times, Singapore Edition

There is no dark side of moon | Former NASA scientist busts age-old myth through his animation

A research conducted by a team of scientists at Bristol University has found that animal embryos evolved before animals. Until now, the evolution of animals was studied by analyzing living animals and their relatives.

But now, the research team has found that fossilized embryos that resemble multicellular stages in the life cycle of single-celled relatives of animals, which indicates that animal embryos started evolving first.

During the study, researchers discovered these fossils from 609 million-year-old rocks in the Guizhou Province of South China. Scientists have named these fossils Caveasphaera, and they are just only about half a millimetre in diameter. X-ray analysis done on these fossils revealed that they were preserved all the way down to their component cells.

"X-Ray tomographic microscopy works like a medical CT scanner but allows us to see features that are less than a thousandth of a millimetre in size. We were able to sort the fossils into growth stages, reconstructing the embryology of Caveasphaera," said Kelly Vargas, a researcher at the University of Bristol's School of Earth Sciences in a recent statement.

Zongjun Yin, from Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology in China, who is the co-author of the study suggested that Caveasphaera sorted its cells during embryo development in just the same way as living animals that include human beings. However, he made it clear that there is no evidence that these embryos developed into complex organs.

"Caveasphaera had a life cycle like the close living relatives of animals, which alternate between single-celled and multicellular stages. However, Caveasphaera goes one step further, reorganizing those cells during embryology," said John Cunningham, co-author of the study.

Few months back, a study conducted by a team of experts at the University of Queensland and Neel Institute had solved the billion-dollar 'chicken or egg' paradox. After using various theories of quantum physics, researchers found that both the chicken and egg can come first. However, another study conducted in 2014 argued that chicken came first, as proteins found in the body of chicken are necessary to form an egg.

Read the original post:
Animals embryos evolved before animals, study reveals - International Business Times, Singapore Edition

Embryology

Egg freezing has become standard practice for big companies, but what are the pros and cons? – Screen Shot

In an attempt to encourage a work and life balance and close its embarrassing gender pay gap, which reaches to 50,6 per cent, Goldman Sachs launched its new benefit scheme for its employees earlier this montha fund of $20,000 (15,400) to cover the costs of extracting or purchasing donated eggs for prospect parents.

This is not the first time a company announces a scheme of that nature. In 2014, tech-titans Apple and Facebook made headlines when they announced that they would include the option of egg freezing among their work benefits. Goldmans Pathways to parenthood project also includes delivering mothers breast milk to their children should they have to be away for work, and offers emergency nannies to look after unwell children.

While the efforts of a company of monstrous power to close gender pay gaps should not be dismissed, the reality is that it wont solve mothers problems and maintain a work and life balance. Rather, it will only increase their time spent at work by preventing women from being there for their families or even being present to in order to create one.

Egg freezing is a method of fertility preservation. Some women wish to freeze their eggs for medical reasons, such as cancer or any other illness that may trigger early menopause (in that case the process of egg freezing can be funded by NHS). Alternatively, other women go for social egg freezing, referring to women who wish to conceive at an older age due to career or high-risk career jobs (such as working in the army) or women who have yet to start hormone therapy when wishing to go through a sex change.

The process overall lasts 12 to 40 days, beginning with the womans circle, explained Suvir Venkataraman, the general manager at Harley Street Fertility Clinic in London. The ovaries are hyperstimulated with hormone injections in order to produce more than a single egg (which is usually produced in one menstrual circle). The eggs are then retrieved with a needle via a low-risk surgical procedure, individually fast-frozen via a method called vitrification, and placed in liquid nitrogen until needed. The eggs can usually be stored for up to ten years.

The treatment costs 3,500 but the medicine can cost from 600 to 1,800 depending on the patient. Overall were issuing a cost of 4,000 to 5,500 per circle, says Venkataraman. On top of the costs, you will need to undergo the procedure to fertilise the eggs (called ICSI) and factor in the potential of more circles needed in order to bank 10 to 20 eggs for a successful outcome, as only a small percentage of eggs are mature and capable of being fertilised. The success rate? In the past, the survival rate of frozen eggs was 30 per cent now its 90 per cent, shares Venkataraman.

Its hard to give a definite answer, however, as only 2,000 babies have been born worldwide from frozen eggs, 700 of them in the UK, according to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA). In 2017, only 19 per cent of IVF treatments using the patients own frozen eggs were successful. Furthermore, regardless of the condition of the fertile eggs themselves, older patients are at an increased risk for miscarriages and pregnancy-related complications.

Freezing fresh embryos (either from a donor or the patients partner), on the other hand, has a higher success rate, as embryos are not affected by the length of time they are frozen for. The process has helped prospect parents, and Hannah Selinger was one of the patients who had frozen her eggs, too. Sellinger spent $17,000 and claims that she regretted the whole process. She conceived naturally and, sardonically, during her pregnancy had found out that her eggs were destroyed. The reason was a lapse in communication, as she didnt receive the egg-rent reminders due to her moving to a new place.

Discussing Goldman Sachss scheme, Sellinger said that despite her experience she isnt against egg freezing, and that she believes the problem lies elsewhere. I think the real problem is to care about mothers, make sure that that mothers take six months to a year off, and that should be the case for paternity leave, too. It would be wiser for my government to move into that direction rather than ban abortions, I am only able to have children cause my husband makes enough money from me to do what I do.

While Venkataraman claims, Its really nice that we can help someone, because it means that theyll do as they please. Because we all live longer, our quality of life is better, we are able to stretch our biological clock and egg freezing allows women to do that with fertility as well. Its a great option but I dont think the socio-political system should force someone to do it. If you wish to freeze your eggs, feel free to do it. But dont do it because your company told you to, because your company wont care about youit will care about the money youre making.

Read more here:
Egg freezing has become standard practice for big companies, but what are the pros and cons? - Screen Shot

Anatomy

We Need To Know WTF Is Going To Happen on ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ in 2020 – Cosmopolitan.com

Spoilers for Greys Anatomy season 16 ahead.

Grey Sloan Hospital is not the hospital you want to go to in an emergency. Yes, the doctors are world-class and very, very hot, but that hospital is the breeding ground for anything bad that happens in Seattle. Plane crashes, mass shootings, huge storms, ferry boat crashes, flipped-over ambulances what do they all have in common? They all happened at Grey Sloan, aka Seattle Grace, aka, as Cristina Yang once put it, Seattle Grace Mercy Death. Season 16 of Greys Anatomy fell away from the natural and mechanical disasters in favor of straight-up personal disasters, but when Greys Anatomy comes back in 2020 (which is Thursday, January 23 at 9 p.m., according to ABC), it needs to get back in with the high-stakes drama. Im just going to say it it needs some kind of highly communicable disease that will wipe out half the cast. (More on that in a paragraph or two.)

One thing you may have noticed is that Greys Anatomy is moving back an hour to be at 9:00PM, not 8:00PM. Showrunner Krista Vernoff told TVLine that the move is so that Greys can be McSexy again. There are different rules for a 9:00PM show than there are for an 8 pm show, and we hope to take advantage of those rules, Vernoff she said. Greys was definitely allowed to be a sexier show when it was on at 9[pm]. So we are excited by the change back to our [previous Thursday] time slot.

That may be true, and some more, good, old-fashioned bubble-bath-and-boning may be what Meredith needs, but from my view, this move is to both make Greys Anatomy sexier and to force people to watch Greys Anatomy firefighter spinoff Station 19, which is now the lead-in to Greys. But Station 19 is like fetch not going to happen. You cant make me watch it, Vernoff. Im onto you.

You have about eight weeks until Greys Anatomy Season 16 comes back with new episodes, so in the meantime, ponder these questions.

Greys Anatomy has always had a huge ensemble cast, with a focus on the main core interns. Obviously, the interns grew up, saw ghosts (Izzy), became roadkill (George), and moved to the Alps (Cristina), so things have changed. But at this point, the show needs to cut its dead weight. In the final seconds of the Season 16 mid-season finale, a car careened through Joes, the bar where all the hospital folk hang out. (It actually came in from the ceiling, which, is Joes a basement bar? Is this something we didnt know in 16 seasons?) Lets crush a majority of the patrons and doctors under the smoking wreckage, make an episode about the dramatic-yet-ill-fated rescues, and move on. I say Good day to Maggie, Jackson, Koracick, Hunt, and Teddy, especially.

Maybe this switch to sexy-time 9:00PM will perk up Merediths love life, but right now, shes in no-man's land. Literally. Deluca, aka, a sad puppy, dumped her when she wanted to be a surgeon first and bang later, and now, she seems like shes making eyes at the hot new Irish doc, or as Cristina says, McWidow. Im all for bringing back the Mc nicknames, and Im also all for letting Meredith get laid. But like, the love kind of sex. Derek is dead, and while no one will replace him, there are plenty of people who have loved ones die and go on to new relationships. Why is Meredith like an old sea widow, gazing at the ocean and hoping hell return? Move on.

Miranda Bailey is a saint. She has overcome so much. Shes been overlooked and overworked and undervalued during her entire time at Grey Sloan, because people like Miranda Bailey arent showy. They put the hard work in and dont peacock about it because they know it needs to get done. Miranda Bailey for President. Miranda Bailey for Queen. Miranda Bailey for everything. So, after a hard season or two, Greys Anatomy decides to give Bailey another baby and then take. That. Baby. Away. I know that miscarriages happen naturally all the time, but Bailey cant catch a break. Does Chandra Wilson, who plays Bailey, take all the good bagels first from craft services on Greys Anatomy bagel day? I mean damn, writers. What did she do to you?

Maggie is having a breakdown because she killed the cousin she didnt know she had. Jo is having a breakdown and stole a baby because she volunteered at a safe haven drop off because she was a dropped-off baby. I will not downplay the distinct emotional issues that these women are having, because thats some tough shit to go through. But Greys Anatomys characters like to dive in first, go to therapy later. While it might not make for the best TV, it would mean a lot to millions of viewers to watch Maggie and Jo both attend some sort of counseling to work on their respective issues while not killing more patients or endangering the welfare of a helpless newborn. Just a thought.

Yeah, we needed some place for Alex and Richard to go, so theyre at Pac North, the neer-do-well hospital down the street. But splitting the doctors up works in theory as a plot device, but not in practice. All the doctors are going back and forth and visiting Pac North on a field trip are they doing any actual doctoring? Lets reunite the Karevs, let Richard fix his marriage, and push Pac North on a barge, out to sea. (With Owen on it. Because hes the worst.)

Greys Anatomy fans: Stay strong. January is...relatively soon, right?

Read the original post:
We Need To Know WTF Is Going To Happen on 'Grey's Anatomy' in 2020 - Cosmopolitan.com

Anatomy

Raising Your First Dollars? The Anatomy Of Startup Pitches That Work – Forbes

Fundraising is one of the most important things a founder can do for their company. But the actual process of fundraising is a bit of a black box. My company asked hundreds of founders to participate in a research project to find out what investors are really looking at when they're reading your pitch deck for a seed investment.

Here are the four things you can do to give yourself the best chance of securing funding for your company.

1. Know who youre aiming for.

There are many ways to make up your initial fundraising round. Most founders start with a friends and family round. This usually leads to a seed (or more commonly now, a pre-seed) round. But there are different types of early stage investors. Two of the most common are angels and institutional investors (VCs). Angels are high net worth individuals who invest their own money, and VCs are part of investment firms that invest their funds in multiple startups to make money for their investors.

Courting angel investors is more time-consuming. We found that founders contacted 68 angels over 13.5 weeks and had 45 meetings. All that work led to just under $1 million in funding. Hackernoon estimates the average angel check at $10,000 to $250,000, so depending on how much you're trying to raise, you could be looking at a lot of small checks to make up your round.

However, when raising money from investment firms, the average founders contacted 29 investors over 9.6 weeks and had 27 meetings. All that netted those founders roughly $2 million in funding. So targeting VCs will typically take less time and lead to more money.

That doesnt mean there isnt a place for angels in your round. Based on the data, you should target a VC firm for your lead investor. But once you have that term sheet in place, you can fill your round out with strategic angels that can offer you key counsel for your company.

2. You dont have to hit them over the head with information.

When youre putting together your pitch deck, youre probably going to try to add way too much information. You know your company best, and its easy to fall into the trap of adding every detail you can think of in order to sway an investor. But the data shows us that you only have a few minutes to make an impression. We found the average time an investor spends reading a pitch deck is only 3 minutes and 44 seconds.

The data shows us that when a deck makes sense, an investor will read through it at a consistent speed. But if they dont understand your deck, or you pack too much information into a single slide, they tend to stop to interpret what theyre looking at. For successful pitch decks (those that resulted in raising money), investors spent around two minutes from start to finish.

This also makes sense considering the average length of a successful pitch deck. Our data tells us you should aim for 19 pages, though Guy Kawasaki recommends keeping it to just 10 slides. Most experts agree your pitch deck should include a few pages on your problem, solution and company purpose, as well as a page on your team and a few pages on your product. You should also include a few slides on the secret sauce for your business.

3. Be clear about your special sauce.

The odds that your company is solving a problem no one has ever thought of is low (but it does happen). Its far more likely that previous companies have tried to solve the problem, but havent quite cracked it. So what separates you from the founders that have come before? One standout in decks that successfully raised was the prevalence of why now or why me slides. Only 46% of decks in our study included a why now section. But 65% of those decks were able to raise money, likely because timing is the biggest predictor of a startups ability to succeed. Investors are looking for the special sauce you bring to the table. A why now slide is a clear way to differentiate yourself.

Some founders will try to show why its the right time to invest by focusing on their financial or traction slides. This can be a blessing or a curse. The data shows that if you include these slides, that's where an investor will focus their time. In fact, theyre going to spend more than double the time on your financial slides than they do on any other section. If you only have an investors time for three minutes, they could spend as much as 25% of that time on your financials.

If youre an early stage startup, your financial slides are likely to show that youve been losing money (which is normal). So unless theres an interesting angle youre trying to show, you can leave these slides out.

4. Give yourself the best chance with timing.

Did you know that the time of year you fundraise can dramatically affect your outcome? We found that there are two clear times when VCs are reading pitch decks. Founders tend to send out most of their pitch decks between August and November. But we found VCs were very active in October and November, but also again from January to March. What this means is that many investors are coming back from the holidays ready to make a deal, but most founders dont start sending their decks out until later in the year. If you want to maximize the chance that a VC is going to read your deck, send it in the first three months of the year.

Good luck, and happy fundraising.

Excerpt from:
Raising Your First Dollars? The Anatomy Of Startup Pitches That Work - Forbes

Anatomy

Miller’s Anatomy of the Dog, 2019 – 5th Edition – ResearchAndMarkets.com – Yahoo Finance

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

The "Miller's Anatomy of the Dog. Edition No. 5" book has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

Featuring unparalleled full-color illustrations and detailed descriptions, Miller and Evan's Anatomy of the Dog, 5th Edition makes it easy to master the intricate details of canine morphology. Content has been updated throughout the text to reflect the latest knowledge regarding the development, structure, and function of the canine body. Chapters in the text are logically organized by body system and written by expert anatomists who lend their extensive knowledge of particular structures. Plus, there's a special introductory chapter on breed categories from the American Kennel Club to help you understand dog breeds and how they are determined. This new edition also features an enhanced focus on digital radiology and includes upgraded MR and CT scans throughout the text. Most notably, however, are the elaborate full-color illustrations by expert medical illustrators that bring complex anatomy to life in a way that no other vet text can. Overall, Miller and Evan's Anatomy of the Dog is an invaluable reference for veterinary students, clinicians, technicians, breeders, and animal specialists alike.

Key Topics Covered:

Author

For more information about this book visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/9xg1dq

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191128005481/en/

Read the original here:
Miller's Anatomy of the Dog, 2019 - 5th Edition - ResearchAndMarkets.com - Yahoo Finance

Anatomy

Is Greys Anatomy On Tonight? ABCs Thanksgiving Schedule Revealed – International Business Times

Thanksgiving can go either way with new TV shows. Some shows will air in their usual time slots while others decide to take a holiday break. This year, Greys Anatomy opted for the latter.

Last week was the fall finale for Greys Anatomy Season 16, and it wont be back until 2020. Instead, ABC will air some family-friendly content on Thanksgiving.

The Wonderful World of Disney: Magical Holiday Celebration airs on Thursday at 8 p.m. EST and will show off a spectacular holiday-themed celebration from Disney World and Disneyland.

Glee alum (and Greys Anatomy guest star) Matthew Morrison hosts alongside Spice Girl Emma Bunton and TV host Jesse Palmer. Viewers will get several Disney Parks sneak peeks, including a behind-the-scenes look into the new Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance attraction. There will also be plenty of musical guests.

The Wonderful World of Disney: Magical Holiday Celebration will be two hours long to fit in all the talent performing at Cinderella Castle at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida and Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland Resort in California.

"Grey's Anatomy" will not air a new episode on Thanksgiving. The show is on hiatus until 2020. Photo: ABC/Mike Rosenthal

Sting and Shaggy will team up to sing a new rendition of Silent Night (Christmas is Coming) while Andy Grammy and Ingrid Michaelson will share an original holiday duet.

Portugal. The Man will give audiences Happy Christmas and Merry Christmas Everybody. Pentatonix will adapt the classics Deck the Halls and Here Comes Santa Claus. Fresh off Dancing With the Stars, Ally Brooke will sing Santa Claus is Coming to Town, and violinist Lindsey Stirling will play Carol of the Bells.

Of course, the talented hosts wont be sidelined. Morrison will entertain audiences with When You Wish Upon A Star from his upcoming album Disney Dreamin with Matthew Morrison and Let it Snow. Bunton, better known as Baby Spice, will sing Santa Baby.

When the two-hour event ends at 10 p.m., ABC will keep it family-friendly with a couple of sitcom reruns. The Goldbergs Season 7, episode 8, titled Angst-Giving, will air first, followed by Modern Family Season 11, episode 3, titled Perfect Pairs.

Greys Anatomy will return to ABC with new episodes on Jan. 23.

See the rest here:
Is Greys Anatomy On Tonight? ABCs Thanksgiving Schedule Revealed - International Business Times

Anatomy

How Love Begins in Queen & Slim – The New York Times

In Anatomy of a Scene, we ask directors to reveal the secrets that go into making key scenes in their movies. See new episodes in the series each Friday. You can also watch our collection of more than 150 videos on YouTube and subscribe to our YouTube channel.

A couple on the lam takes a moment to breathe in this scene from Queen & Slim, directed by Melina Matsoukas.

The sequence finds Queen (Jodie Turner-Smith) and Slim (Daniel Kaluuya) in a juke joint during their flee south after a deadly incident in Cleveland with a police officer. The scene is lit warmly and the mood is in a lower key. And as the two slow dance, feeling protected in this space, they begin to fall in love.

Narrating the scene, Matsoukas discusses her influences for the production design, which include the work of Birney Imes, who photographed juke joints in the Deep South.

Matsoukas took inspiration from other films she loves as well, including West Side Story and Wong Kar-wais In the Mood for Love.

Read the Queen & Slim review.

Sign up for the Movies Update newsletter and get a roundup of reviews, news, Critics Picks and more.

Original post:
How Love Begins in Queen & Slim - The New York Times

Cell Biology

Tendon stem cell discovery could lead to improvements in injury recovery – Drug Target Review

Researchers have discovered the existence of tendon stem cells, which could lead to improvements in treating tendon injuries, avoiding surgery.

New research has revealed the existence of tendon stem cells which could potentially be harnessed to improve tendon recovery after an injury and perhaps even avoid surgery.

The research was led by Chen-Ming Fan at the Carnegie Institution of Science, US.

Once tendons are injured, they rarely fully recover, which can result in limited mobility and require long-term pain management or even surgery. This is due to fibrous scars, which disrupt the tissue structure of the tendon.

This image shows the Patellar tendon 30 days after an injury. The red marks newly discovered tendon stem cells that have self-renewed and are layered over green marked, original tendon cells. During regeneration, some tendon stem cells differentiate to make newly regenerated tendon cells a process during which they transition into a yellow-orange colour. The blue indicates cellular nuclei (credit: Tyler Harvey).

Fan, along with Carnegies Tyler Harvey and Sara Flamenco, revealed all of the cell types present in the Patellar tendon, found below the kneecap, including previously undefined tendon stem cells.

Because tendon injuries rarely heal completely, it was thought that tendon stem cells might not exist, said lead author Harvey. Many searched for them to no avail, but our work defined them for the first time.

The teams research showed that both fibrous scar tissue cells and tendon stem cells originate in the same space the protective cells that surround a tendon. Moreover, these tendon stem cells are part of a competitive system with precursors of fibrous scars, which explains why tendon healing is such a challenge.

It was thought that tendon stem cells might not exist but our work defined them for the first time

The team demonstrated that both tendon stem cells and scar tissue precursor cells are stimulated into action by a protein called platelet-derived growth factor-A. When tendon stem cells are altered so that they do not respond to this growth factor, then only scar tissue and no new tendon cells form after an injury.

Tendon stem cells exist, but they must outcompete the scar tissue precursors in order to prevent the formation of difficult, fibrous scars, Fan explained. Finding a therapeutic way to block the scar-forming cells and enhance the tendon stem cells could be a game-changer when it comes to treating tendon injuries.

The research was published in Nature Cell Biology.

View original post here:
Tendon stem cell discovery could lead to improvements in injury recovery - Drug Target Review