The Dish’s Weekly Biotechnology News Wrap Up – September 5, 2014
This week’s biotechnology news headlines include, the latest Ebola news, new stem cell trial, Novartis’ heart failure drug, Pfizer’s C. diff vaccine gets Fast Track, bioengineered pump could carry cancer drugs to tumors, and fruit flies providing insight into human DNA.
Cell Culture Events
September
Cell Line Development & Engineering – September 8-10, 2014 – Doubletree by Hilton Berkeley Marina Berkeley, CA
http://www.ibclifesciences.com/CellLine/overview.xml
Cell Therapy Bioprocessing – September 15-16, 2014 – Sheraton Pentagon City, Arlington, VA
http://www.ibclifesciences.com/CellTherapy/overview.xml
If you are attending Cell Therapy Bioprocesing, don’t miss:
Products for Cell Therapy and Stem Cell Workflow – High-quality, Customizable Solutions You Can Trust
Timely and accurate information enables you to make high-confidence decision faster, offering the potential to reduce cycle time and production costs. Roche Custom Biotech recognizes the complex needs and challenges associated with product research, development, manufacturing, and ultimately achieving regulatory approval. We will highlight few reagents, instruments, and services that we offer that could meet your unique requirements from discovery through commercial production.
John Ogden, Ph.D., Senior Scientific Affairs Manager, Roche Diagnostics Corporation
Ability to Detect Failure: Appropriateness and Capability of the Cedex Bio Analyzer in Media Optimization
David Scharp, MD, President and CEO, Prodo Laboratories, Inc.
And please visit our sponsor, Roche Custom Biotech at booth #12
Cell Culture World Congress USA – September 15-16, 2014 – The Westin Copley Place – Boston, MA
http://www.terrapinn.com/conference/cell-culture-world-congress-usa/index.stm
Stem Cells Regenerative Medicine Conference –
World Cord Blood Congress –
October
Bioproduction – October 8-9, 2014 – Barcelo Sants Hotel – Barcelona, Spain
BioProduction 2014 is Europe’s leading and largest event for a comprehensive update on operational strategies, technologies, regulatory challenges, manufacturing production and process development in biological manufacturing.
http://www.informa-ls.com/event/bio-production14?xtssot=0
BioProcess International Conference & Exhibition
Conference: October 20-23, 2014, Exhibition: October 21-23, 2014
Hynes Convention Center, Boston, MA
Complete programming coverage of the full bioprocessing continuum – featuring 65 innovative case studies and 70 new data presentations intended for companies of all sizes and at every stage of development.
The world’s largest bioprocess exhibition – featuring over 150 exhibitors, lounges, and the BPI Theater with live product launches to help you plan future purchasing decisions.
Face-to-Face Networking opportunities that no other bioprocessing event can offer, plus access BPI’s event specific partnering tool to schedule meetings.
Headlines:
“Ebola vaccine to be tested in humans at NIH Clinical Center in Maryland this fall,” The Washington Post
“Government researchers, in collaboration with British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline, will begin human trials next week for an experimental Ebola vaccine in the hopes of rushing the drug as quickly as possible to health workers and others at risk in West Africa.”
If you like this story, please see our blog titled “New Study Compiles Extensive Database that Supports the Importance of Vaccination“
“Stem cell trial for spinal cord injuries cleared by FDA,” San Francisco Business Times
“Asterias Biotherapeutics Inc. of Menlo Park received Food and Drug Administration clearance Wednesday to go forward with a 13-person safety study of so-called oligodendrocyte progenitor cells, or OPCs. Those cells, derived from embryonic stem cells, are thought to stimulate the growth of new nerve cells around the spinal cord and could help paralyzed patients regain movement.”
If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Release Your Cells – A Simple New Tool that Eliminates the Need for Manual Selection and Scraping in hPSC Passaging“
“Novartis heart failure drug set to revolutionise treatment,” Pharma Times
“Novartis’ new heart failure drug LCZ696 has caused a stir at the European Society of Cardiology meeting in Barcelona, with specialists lauding data showing its clear superiority over the ACE inhibitor enalapril.”
If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Innovations Abound at the 2014 Annual International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) Meeting”
“Tiny, Vast Windows Into Human DNA,” The New York Times
“In the history of biology, two little animals loom large. In the early 1900s, scientists began studying Drosophila melanogaster, the common fruit fly. Research on these fast-breeding insects revealed that genes lie on chromosomes, which turned out to be true for other animals, including us. For more than a century, scientists have continued to glean clues from the lowly fly to other mysteries of biology, like why we sleep and how heart disease develops.”
If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Genome Editing and Associated Technologies”
“Gene studies of Ebola in Sierra Leone show virus is mutating fast,” Reuters
“Genetic studies of some of the earliest Ebola cases in Sierra Leone reveal more than 300 genetic changes in the virus as it leapt from person to person, changes that could blunt the effectiveness of diagnostic tests and experimental treatments now in development, researchers said on Thursday.”
If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Novel Stem Cell Technologies Presented at the 2014 Annual International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) Meeting”
“Bio-engineered pump could carry cancer drug,” San Diego Union Tribune
“Researchers have invented a microscopic pump that has the potential to transport cancer drugs from the blood into the heart of tumors, according to a new study. The pump is created from an engineered antibody that attaches to a protein found in microscopic pouches lining the walls of blood vessels in mouse, rat and human tumors. Substances attached to this antibody are transported from the blood through the vessel wall into the tumor’s interior.”
If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Flexible Facilities for Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing”
“Pfizer’s C. diff vaccine gains on Sanofi with FDA fast-track nod,” Fierce Vaccines
“Look out, Sanofi. Pfizer’s Clostridium difficile candidate has just nabbed an FDA fast-track designation that should help it pick up some ground in the race to bring the first vaccine for the disease to market.”
If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Progress is Being Made Toward Using Cell Therapy for Type 1 Diabetes”