Category Archives: 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.

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Gossamer Bio Announces Participation in Upcoming Investor Conferences - Business Wire

CANADA: How ‘co-factors’ can increase the likelihood of a food allergy reaction – BarrieToday

Food allergies are complex things, and people dont react the same way to their allergy trigger every time they encounter it, experts say.

Co-factors like hard exercise or certain medications can alter how someone responds to an allergen, lowering the threshold at which they react, said Dr. Anne Ellis, professor and chair of the Division of Allergy and Immunology at Queens University.

Sometimes this can be full-on anaphylaxis, such as a case reported by the Daily Mail, where a woman said she had a severe reaction when she combined fish and wine in a meal despite having consumed both independently without incident in the past.

A case involving two foods would be extremely unusual, said Dr. Harold Kim, president of the Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, and an associate professor at Western University.

It would be very unlikely that its an actual allergic reaction to the wine, Kim said. Its just that the wine is potentiating the reaction to fish.

There are well-known factors that can make people more sensitive to allergy triggers, and alcohol is among them.

One of the most classic examples that we see quite frequently is what we call food-dependent exercise-induced anaphylaxis, Ellis said.

You can eat the food and be fine. You can exercise and be fine. But if you exercise within two hours of eating your trigger food, youll have anaphylaxis.

Alcohol and anti-inflammatory medications, like ibuprofen, are frequent triggers, Ellis said. Illness and fever can also have a similar effect.

The most common food allergies that are triggered by a co-factor are wheat, celery and seafood, Kim said. The reaction can range from mild, like hives, to something that requires an emergency room visit.

And co-factors usually affect younger people.

It often affects young, healthy patients, often young athletic females that run and eat a salad or some carbohydrate-based food before they run, he said. Thats kind of the classic situation.

It would be unusual for this reaction to come as a complete surprise, Ellis said. Usually it would appear in people who have a known food allergy, who just became more sensitive.

For the most part, food allergies arent hidden. They arent subtle. And usually the story is quite consistent.

Doctors arent quite sure what happens to change someones reaction to a food, but suspect it has to do with increased bloodflow and changes to how allergens are absorbed.

People have thresholds for their allergies, Ellis said, with some people not reacting unless theyve had nine peanuts, but are fine with a fraction of a peanut.

Exercise and alcohol can dilate the blood vessels, she said, making people more likely to absorb the antigen, and develop symptoms at a lower dose.

Most people with food allergies react the same way to their trigger every time. Only a few have co-factors to their allergies Kim estimates that he sees approximately one such patient per month. Its a strange phenomenon, he said.

If someone reacts once to the combination of exercise and an allergy trigger, its likely they will react the same way again, Kim said.

Ellis recommends that people with food allergies be aware of the possibility of a co-factor, and avoid situations that combine their risks.

Its just perhaps something to have in the back of your mind, if you do have a food allergy, Ellis said, to be extra-cautious if youre going to be consuming alcohol, or at times when youre sick, or if youre taking certain anti-inflammatories, that these are all things that could potentially lower your threshold.

Allergists are trained to ask about things like alcohol when they assess an allergy, she said, and should be able to tell you if this might be a factor. And severe allergic reactions should always be checked out by a medical professional.

If you do have a significant reaction, where youre having more than just hives and flushing, make sure that youre presenting yourself to emergency care and not just taking your own antihistamines.

- Global News

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CANADA: How 'co-factors' can increase the likelihood of a food allergy reaction - BarrieToday

Herpes Virus Variant Linked to MS Onset – Technology Networks

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have developed a new method to separate between two different types of a common herpes virus (HHV-6) that has been linked to multiple sclerosis. By analyzing antibodies in the blood against the most divergent proteins of herpesvirus 6A and 6B, the researchers were able to show that MS-patients carry the herpesvirus 6A to a greater extent than healthy individuals. The findings, published in Frontiers in Immunology, point to a role for HHV-6A in the development of MS.

Multiple sclerosis, MS, is an autoimmune disease that affects the central nervous system. The cause of the disease is unclear, but one plausible explanation is a virus tricks the immune system to attack the body's own tissue. Human Herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) has previously been associated with MS, but in those studies it wasn't possible to distinguish between 6A and 6B. Through virus isolation from ill individuals, researchers have been able to show that HHV-6B can cause mild conditions such as roseola in children, but it has been unclear if HHV-6A is the cause of any disease.

According to estimates, as many as 80 percent of all children are infected with the HHV-6 virus before 2 years of age, and many also carry protection in the form of antibodies against this particular virus for the rest of their lives. But since it hasn't been possible to tell the two variants apart post-infection, it has been difficult to say whether HHV-6A or B is a risk factor for MS.

In this study, however, the researchers were able to distinguish between the A and B virus by analyzing antibodies in the blood against the proteins--immediate early protein 1A and 1B (IE1A and IE1B)--that diverge the most between the two viruses.

"This is a big breakthrough for both the MS and herpes virus research," says Anna Fogdell-Hahn, associate professor at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience at Karolinska Institutet and one of the study's senior authors. "For one, it supports the theory that HHV-6A could be a contributing factor to the development of MS. On top of that, we are now able, with this new method, to find out how common these two different types of HHV-6 are, something we haven't been able to do previously."

The researchers compared antibody levels in blood samples of some 8,700 MS-patients against more than 7,200 healthy people whose gender, date of birth, date of blood sample and other factors matched those with MS. They concluded that people with MS had a 55 percent higher risk of carrying antibodies against the HHV-6A protein than the control group. In a sub-group of almost 500 people, whose blood samples were drawn before the onset of the disease, the risk of developing MS in the future was more than doubled if they had a 6A viral infection. The younger the people were when the virus was first discovered in the blood, the higher the risk was of developing MS in the future. HHV-6B, on the other hand, was not positively associated with MS. Instead MS-patients had lower levels of antibodies toward IE1B than those without MS.

Antibodies toward Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), another herpes virus that is also associated with MS, were analyzed with the same method and the researchers were able to show that individuals affected with both viruses had an even greater risk of MS. This indicates that several virus infections could be acting jointly to increase the risk of MS.

"Both HHV-6A and 6B can infect our braincells, but they do it in slightly different ways. Therefore, it is now interesting to go forward and attempt to map out exactly how the viruses could affect the onset of MS," says Anna Fogdell-Hahn.

Reference: Engdahl, E., Gustafsson, R., Huang, J., Bistrm, M., Lima Bomfim, I., Stridh, P., Fogdell-Hahn, A. (2019). Increased Serological Response Against Human Herpesvirus 6A Is Associated With Risk for Multiple Sclerosis. Frontiers in Immunology, 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2019.02715

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

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Herpes Virus Variant Linked to MS Onset - Technology Networks

Advancing cancer research – UBC Faculty of Medicine

In 2013, cancer immunotherapy was being heralded as a breakthrough in the scientific community.

This exciting development led Samantha Burugu, a recent graduate from the department of pathology and laboratory medicine, to follow her dreams of advancing cancer research.

Here she describes her PhD thesis on biomarkers in breast tumors, and shares how she is using her training to inform work with biopharmaceuticals.

Samantha Burugu is a graduate of the department of pathology and laboratory medicine.

While I was finishing up my masters degree in immunology doing foundational research, I wanted to do research that involved clinical tests conducted in hospitals. Clinical tests can be used for disease diagnoses and/or for treatment decisions. After interviewing with my doctoral thesis advisor, Dr. Torsten Nielsen, the pathology and laboratory medicine program was a clear choice. It aligned with my thesis research in biomarker development and my career aspirations.

We hear every day about increasing global incidence of cancers and that everyone in their lifetime has had, or will have, someone within their immediate circle affected by cancer. I wanted to get involved in advancing cancer research. In addition, I had trained in immunology and at the start of my program Science Magazine had just named cancer immunotherapy the 2013 Breakthrough of the Year. Cancer immunotherapy works by unleashing a patients own immune system to fight cancer and this strategy led to incredible results in some cancer patients receiving immunotherapy drugs in clinical trials.

This fall, students graduate from a range of Faculty of Medicine programs.

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Although cancer immunotherapy has led to remarkable clinical results in otherwise incurable cancers, the majority of cancers do not respond to these treatments and we still have not fully elucidated the mechanisms. My doctoral thesis focused on identifying potential biomarkers in breast tumors excised from patients that would indicate a predictive ability to respond to novel cancer immunotherapy drugs.

Using conventional and novel techniques to analyze breast tumors excised from patients, I found the presence of immune cells that can be reactivated by novel immunotherapy drugs to eliminate cancer cells. This work can inform the prioritization and design of immunotherapy clinical trials for breast cancer patients.

My advice is to not be afraid to get involved in the department and try to get the most of graduate studies. By participating in different departmental committees, graduate student associations and attending professional advancement learning series (just to name a few), not only will you build a professional network but also you will develop transferable skillsets.

A healthy community for me is where you feel a sense of belonging. In that sense, you feel respected, engaged, and encouraged by the community. Everyone in a healthy community participates in their own way to make the community better.

I have recently started working at Grifols, a plasma-derived biopharmaceutical company, as a Scientific Development Manager. As part of the Medical Affairs team, I provide medical and scientific understanding of our plasma-derived therapeutic products to health care professionals and researchers.

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Advancing cancer research - UBC Faculty of Medicine

Medical student and alumni discover zebrafish are resistant to eye infection – The South End

A Wayne State University School of Medicine student and two recent graduates working on a collaborative project in the laboratories of Associate Professors of Ophthalmology, Visual and Anatomical Sciences Ashok Kumar, Ph.D., and Ryan Thummel, Ph.D., have discovered that zebrafish dont contract endophthalmitis.

The eye infection can cause blindness within hours if not diagnosed and treated quickly.

Matthew Rolain, Frank Mei, M.D. 19 and Xiao Yi Zhou, M.D. 17, contributed to the study, Zebrafish are Resistant to Staphylococcus aureus Endophthalmitis, published in Pathogens, a peer-reviewed journal in the field of microbiology and immunology.

The study showed that while humans require only 10 to 100 bugs to cause endophthalmitis, and mice require 5,000 before infection, in the freshwater fish even 250,000 bacteria wont cause the eye infection. The finding indicates that zebrafish eyes are incredibly resistant to such eye infections and possess strong host defense mechanisms.

Dr. Thummel and others in the field have shown that humans and fish share similarities in eye structure and immune responses. Studying why fish, but not human eyes, are resistant, may help identify protective pathways and molecules that could be translated to humans.

Traditionally, we have used a mouse model to study the pathobiology of these infections. In recent years, zebrafish have emerged as an important model organism in biomedical research, providing insight into the pathogenic mechanisms of infectious diseases. We sought to determine their susceptibility with the ocular bacterial infection, Dr. Kumar said. I contacted my colleague Dr. Thummel and discussed the idea, and the project took off with participation of three medical students who completed the task collectively.

Dr. Kumars laboratory focuses on understanding the pathobiology of ocular infections, especially those affecting the retina, such as endophthalmitis. The infection most often occurs due to surgical complications or eye trauma.

Apart from conducting research, I truly enjoyed mentoring these medical students, Dr. Kumar said. I hope they continue develop scientific acumen as they transition to their respective residency programs.

Matthew Rolain will graduate from the School of Medicine in 2020.

Working with Dr. Kumar and Dr. Thummel was an awesome experience, he said. They gave me great guidance and were always very supportive, regardless of the outcome of our experiments. It was nice being able to learn about the research process while working on such an interesting and potentially impactful project. Hopefully the scientific community will be able to build on our results to better help future patients.

Dr. Mei is now a resident in his transitional year in Chicago before starting a two-year Ophthalmology program at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas.

Individually, Drs. Kumar and Thummel were well respected in their separate expertise. However, the unification of their talents into a singular project created a collaborative environment where the strengths of both labs meshed, launching and dramatically expeditingthis project to completionin a very short timeframe. Bridging the gap between Scott Hall and the KresgeEye Institute, Drs. Kumar and Thummel created a warm atmosphere to foster my growth as a researcher. This experience was invaluableand an encouragement for me to seek further collaborations in my career in academic ophthalmology, Dr. Mei said.Lastly,I would like to thank the Medical Summer Research Project through Wayne State and the Kresge Summer Internship for supporting me through this project.

Their colleague, Dr. Zhou is a resident in her transitional year at NorthShore University Health System in Illinois. She completed a one-year fellowship at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami after graduation.

Moving forward, they plan to test zebrafish susceptibility to other bacterial and fungal pathogens.

The work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (R01EY027381 and R01EY026964 to Dr. Kumar, and R01EY026551 to Dr. Thummel. Histology and imaging core resources were supported by a vision core grant (P30EY04068) and an unrestricted grant from Research to Prevent Blindness to the Department of Ophthalmology, Visual and Anatomical Sciences.

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Medical student and alumni discover zebrafish are resistant to eye infection - The South End

Cancer Immunology And Oncolytic Virology Market Opportunities and Forecast Assessment, 2021 – Downey Magazine

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

Report Scope:

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

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Report Includes:

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

Report Summary

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

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

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

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

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

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Cancer Immunology And Oncolytic Virology Market Opportunities and Forecast Assessment, 2021 - Downey Magazine

Medical student and alumni discover zebrafish are resistent to eye infection – The South End

A Wayne State University School of Medicine student and two recent graduates working on a collaborative project in the laboratories of Associate Professors of Ophthalmology, Visual and Anatomical Sciences Ashok Kumar, Ph.D., and Ryan Thummel, Ph.D., have discovered that zebrafish dont contract endophthalmitis.

The eye infection can cause blindness within hours if not diagnosed and treated quickly.

Matthew Rolain, Frank Mei, M.D. 19 and Xiao Yi Zhou, M.D. 17, contributed to the study, Zebrafish are Resistant to Staphylococcus aureus Endophthalmitis, published in Pathogens, a peer-reviewed journal in the field of microbiology and immunology.

The study showed that while humans require only 10 to 100 bugs to cause endophthalmitis, and mice require 5,000 before infection, in the freshwater fish even 250,000 bacteria wont cause the eye infection. The finding indicates that zebrafish eyes are incredibly resistant to such eye infections and possess strong host defense mechanisms.

Dr. Thummel and others in the field have shown that humans and fish share similarities in eye structure and immune responses. Studying why fish, but not human eyes, are resistant, may help identify protective pathways and molecules that could be translated to humans.

Traditionally, we have used a mouse model to study the pathobiology of these infections. In recent years, zebrafish have emerged as an important model organism in biomedical research, providing insight into the pathogenic mechanisms of infectious diseases. We sought to determine their susceptibility with the ocular bacterial infection, Dr. Kumar said. I contacted my colleague Dr. Thummel and discussed the idea, and the project took off with participation of three medical students who completed the task collectively.

Dr. Kumars laboratory focuses on understanding the pathobiology of ocular infections, especially those affecting the retina, such as endophthalmitis. The infection most often occurs due to surgical complications or eye trauma.

Apart from conducting research, I truly enjoyed mentoring these medical students, Dr. Kumar said. I hope they continue develop scientific acumen as they transition to their respective residency programs.

Matthew Rolain will graduate from the School of Medicine in 2020.

Working with Dr. Kumar and Dr. Thummel was an awesome experience, he said. They gave me great guidance and were always very supportive, regardless of the outcome of our experiments. It was nice being able to learn about the research process while working on such an interesting and potentially impactful project. Hopefully the scientific community will be able to build on our results to better help future patients.

Dr. Mei is now a resident in his transitional year in Chicago before starting a two-year Ophthalmology program at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas.

Individually, Drs. Kumar and Thummel were well respected in their separate expertise. However, the unification of their talents into a singular project created a collaborative environment where the strengths of both labs meshed, launching and dramatically expeditingthis project to completionin a very short timeframe. Bridging the gap between Scott Hall and the KresgeEye Institute, Drs. Kumar and Thummel created a warm atmosphere to foster my growth as a researcher. This experience was invaluableand an encouragement for me to seek further collaborations in my career in academic ophthalmology, Dr. Mei said.Lastly,I would like to thank the Medical Summer Research Project through Wayne State and the Kresge Summer Internship for supporting me through this project.

Their colleague, Dr. Zhou is a resident in her transitional year at NorthShore University Health System in Illinois. She completed a one-year fellowship at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami after graduation.

Moving forward, they plan to test zebrafish susceptibility to other bacterial and fungal pathogens.

The work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (R01EY027381 and R01EY026964 to Dr. Kumar, and R01EY026551 to Dr. Thummel. Histology and imaging core resources were supported by a vision core grant (P30EY04068) and an unrestricted grant from Research to Prevent Blindness to the Department of Ophthalmology, Visual and Anatomical Sciences.

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Medical student and alumni discover zebrafish are resistent to eye infection - The South End

Knockout Of BIRC5 Gene By CRISPR/Cas9 Induces Apoptosis And Inhibits C | BLCTT – Dove Medical Press

Manizheh Narimani,1 Mohammadreza Sharifi,2 Ali Jalili1

1Cancer and Immunology Research Center, Institute of Research for Health Development, Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Sanandaj, Iran; 2Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

Correspondence: Ali JaliliCancer and Immunology Research Center, Institute of Research for Health Development, Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Sanandaj, IranTel +98-9183771862Email Ali130@gmail.com

Introduction: Human Baculoviral inhibitor of apoptosis repeat-containing 5 (BIRC5) which encodes survivin exhibits multiple biological activities, such as cell proliferation and apoptosis. Survivin is overexpressed in numerous malignant diseases including acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Recent studies have shown that the CRISPR/Cas9 nuclease-mediated gene-editing systems are suitable approachsfor editing or knocking out various genes including oncogenes.Methods and materials: We used CRISPR-Cas9 to knockout the BIRC5 in the human leukemic cell line, HL60, and KG1, and these cell lines were transfected with either the Cas9- and three sgRNAs expressing plasmids or negative control (scramble) using Lipofectamine 3000. The efficacy of the transfection was determined by quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain (RT-qPCR) and surveyor mutation assays. Cell proliferation and apoptosis were measured by MTT assay and flow cytometry, respectively.Results: We have successfully knocked out the BIRC5 gene in these leukemic cells and observed that the BIRC5-knocked out cells by CRISPR/Cas9 showed a significant decrease (30 folds) of survivin at mRNA levels. Moreover, cell death and apoptosis were significantly induced in BIRC5-CRISPR/Cas9-transfected cells compared to the scramble vector.Conclusion: We demonstrated for the first time that targeting BIRC5 by CRISPR/Cas9 technology is a suitable approach for the induction of apoptosis in leukemic cells. However, further studies targeting this gene in primary leukemic cells are required.

Keywords: BIRC5, survivin, CRISPR/Cas9 nuclease, AML, KG1 cells, HL60 cell

This work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited. The full terms of this license are available at https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php and incorporate the Creative Commons Attribution - Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License.By accessing the work you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. For permission for commercial use of this work, please see paragraphs 4.2 and 5 of our Terms.

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Knockout Of BIRC5 Gene By CRISPR/Cas9 Induces Apoptosis And Inhibits C | BLCTT - Dove Medical Press

Bishop named 2019 fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science – Iowa Now

University of Iowa professor Gail Bishop has been named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the worlds largest general-scientific society and publisher of the journal Science. Election as an AAAS Fellow is an honor bestowed upon AAAS members bytheirpeers.

As part of the Biological Sciences Section, Bishop,a professor of microbiology and immunology at the UI Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, was selected for her distinguished contributions to the field of immunology, particularly for insights into regulation of T and B lymphocyteactivation.

This year, 443 members were awarded this honor by the AAAS because of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or itsapplications.

I am very honored by this recognition from my scientific colleagues,says Bishop, who also is associate director for basic science research at Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center at the UI, and a professor of internalmedicine.

Bishop joined the UI in 1989. Her research focuses on the molecular mechanisms that regulate the function of blood cells known as lymphocytes in normal immunity, inflammatory disease, and cancer. In particular, Bishop and her team are investigating lymphocyte signaling and interactions between innate and adaptive immune receptors. Her work has implications for treating B-cell cancers, including multiple myeloma, and developing cancervaccines.

She received a doctoral degree in cellular and molecular biology from the University of Michigan in 1983 and performed postdoctoral research at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, focusing on understanding the molecular mechanisms of B lymphocyte activation and interactions between B cells and Tcells.

Bishop has served in many roles during her 30-year UI career. She was appointed as endowed College of Medicine Distinguished Professor of Microbiology in 2001 and Holden Chair of Cancer Biology in 2004; from 1998 to 2013, she directed the Immunology Graduate Program; and in 2004, she was appointed associate director for basic science research of Holden Comprehensive CancerCenter.

This is such a well-deserved honor for Dr. Bishop, who exemplifies the values that we believe make the University of Iowa great, says Brooks Jackson, UI vice president for medical affairs and the Tyrone D. Artz Dean of the UI Carver College of Medicine. As her election to the AAAS demonstrates, she is an established leader in her field of immunology, and she has coupled that scientific success with a deep commitment to training and mentoring the next generation of scientists. Her leadership within our research community has helped to shape an environment where collaboration and collegiality are valued andfostered.

Bishop also is the recipient of many awards and honors for service to the field of immunology. She served as both a section editor of The Journal of Immunology, and is on the current editorial board of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology. She has served as a grant reviewer for the National Science Foundation, the American Heart Association, and the National Institutes of Health, serving as chair of the NIH Tumors, Tolerance and Transplantation studysection.

In 2003, she received the UI Graduate Mentoring Award, and in 2009 was awarded the Iowa Technology Associations Woman of Innovation award for academic research innovation and leadership. Bishop served as president of the American Association of Immunologists in 201213, and is the director of the UI Center for Immunology and Immune-Based Diseases. She was elected as a Distinguished Fellow of the American Association of Immunologists in2019.

This years AAAS Fellows will be formally announced in the AAAS News and Notes section of the journal Science on Nov.29.

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Bishop named 2019 fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science - Iowa Now

Expert available to discuss Lassa virus and antibody therapies against the virus – Newswise

MEDIA CONTACT

Available for logged-in reporters only

Newswise Structural immunologist Dr. Erica Ollmann Saphire is available to discuss Lassa virus and current efforts to develop much-needed antibody therapies to treat often lethal Lassa infections.

A Dutch doctor, who was evacuated from Sierra Leone after contracting Lassa fever, died on November 23, while being treated at Leiden University Medical Center. A second Dutch doctor and a Sierra Leonean anesthetist have also been infected. Other Dutch and British medical personnel have been evacuated.

Lassa typically causes flu-like symptoms but can be deadly in about a quarter of infected people. There is no vaccine.

Earlier this year, Dr. Ollmann Saphire and her team identified the molecular properties shared by antibodies that are particularly efficient at inactivating Lassa virus. The beauty of structural biology is that it gives you the ability to directly see how these therapies work, says Dr. Ollmann Saphire. These high-resolution images become blueprints to engineer potent antibody therapeutics or a vaccine that elicits the desired immune response.

Bio:

Erica Ollmann Saphire, Ph.D. is a Professor of the La Jolla Institute for Immunology. Her research explains, at the molecular level, how and why viruses like Ebola and Lassa are pathogenic and provides the roadmap for medical defense. Her team has solved the structures of the Ebola, Sudan, Marburg, Bundibugyo and Lassa virus glycoproteins, explained how they remodel these structures as they drive themselves into cells, how their proteins suppress immune function and where human antibodies can defeat these viruses.

Dr. Ollmann Saphire also directs the Viral Hemorrhagic Fever Immunotherapeutic Consortium (VIC), which unites 43 academic, industrial and government labs across five continents. The consortiums goal is to understand which antibodies are most effective in patients and to streamline the research pipeline to provide antibody therapeutics against Ebola, Marburg, Lassa and other viruses.

Dr. Ollmann Saphire is available via email, phone and Skype.

Watch Dr. Ollmann Saphire discuss Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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Expert available to discuss Lassa virus and antibody therapies against the virus - Newswise