This week’s biotechnology news headlines include, Rubella eliminated from the Americas, battle against Alzheimers, FDA panel recommends Amgen’s melanoma drug, world’s first malaria vaccine, what biosimilars mean to biotech, next generation AAV vectors, and AstraZeneca and Juno to collaborate on immune-oncology drugs.

Cell Culture Events

Webinars:

“A Modern Approach to Mycoplasma Testing,” Wednesday, April 29th, 2015

Time: 15:00 GMT (Greenwich Mean Time)
16:00 CET (Central European Time) 
10:00 EST (Eastern Standard Time) 
07:00 PST (Pacific Standard Time) 

Conferences:

April

• International Society for Extracellular Vesicles – April 23-26, 2015 –Washington DC – http://www.isevmeeting.org/Attending? Don’t miss:“From basic research to clinical setting: Adapting methods for EV culturing, enrichment and analysis”

  The aim of this presentation is to provide information on how to optimize experimental conditions for studying cell culture exosomes by a) introducing a Gibco® Exosome-Depleted FBS and b) giving an overview over a direct method for fast, efficient, and selective isolation of exosomes from cell culture supernatant that is compatible with a wide range of downstream applications.

  Thermo Fisher Scientific at Booth #19/20

  Showcasing their new exosome product, Gibco Exosome-Depleted FBS. They will also be have giveaways inlcuding the Gibco Life of Cells Lego Lab.

• Interphex – April 21-23, 2015 – New York, NY – Javits Center – http://www.interphex.com/

May

• TIDES – May 3-6, 2015 – Town and Country Resort, San Diego, CA http://www.ibclifesciences.com/TIDES/overview.xml
• PEGS Boston – May 4-8, 2014 – Seaport World Trade Center – Boston, MA http://www.pegsummit.com/
• Cell Line Development & Engineering – May 18-20, 2015 – Parc 55 Wyndham San Francisco, CA http://www.ibclifesciences.com/CellLine/overview.xml Co-located with Bioconjugates: From Targets to Therapeutics – http://www.ibclifesciences.com/Bioconjugates/overview.xml and Next Generation Protein Therapeutics Summit – http://www.ibclifesciences.com/ProteinSummit/overview.xml
• 10^th Annual World Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine Conference 2015 – May 20-22, 2015 – Business Design Centre, London, UK Scaling up, commercialization and collaboration for market access.
• Cord Blood World Europe Congress 2015 – May 20-21, 2015 – Business Design Centre, London, UK Build deposits, reduce costs, retain quality, decrease volume and increase utilization.
• ISCT – May 27-30, 2015 – Caesars Palace Hotel, Las Vegas, NV http://www.isct2014.com/
• Cell Culture World Congress USA – http://www.terrapinn.com/conference/cell-culture-world-congress-usa/index.stm Americas Antibody Congress http://www.terrapinn.com/conference/cell-culture-world-congress-usa/C52321.stm World Biosimilar Congress http://www.terrapinn.com/conference/cell-culture-world-congress-usa/C52322.stm Downstream Processing World http://www.terrapinn.com/conference/cell-culture-world-congress-usa/C52323.stm May 27-28, 2014 – Marriott San Diego Mission Valley – San Diego, CA

June

• Empowered Antibodies Congress 2015 – June 17 – 18 2015, Barcelona, Spain http://www.informa-ls.com/event/empoweredantibodies15
• Annual Meeting of the International Society for Stem Cell Research – June 24-27, 2015, -Stockholm, Sweden http://www.isscr.org/home/annual-meeting/isscr2015
• BIO International Convention – June 15-18, 2014 – Philadelphia, PA http://convention.bio.org/
• Viral Safety and Raw Materials Congress – June 24-25, 2015 – Austria Trend Hotel Savoyen – Vienna, Austria http://www.informa-ls.com/CQ3546VSRMCONGRESScellculture

  Join us at this year’s Viral Safety and Raw Materials Congress taking place in Vienna on the 24^th-25^th June to network and exchange with leading industry representatives, regulatory bodies and top level technology providers from across the globe to discuss and debate the latest trends in this changing sector.

  Packed with case studies, interactive tutorials, discussion panels and workshops, the conference agenda will provide you with key take home messages to benchmark your businesses’ strategies with regards to safeguarding against viral contamination enhancing the quality of your products.

  Covering all the key topics within the field of viral safety for biologics and raw materials, hear the latest on next generation detection technologies, supplier auditing, risk assessment techniques and raw material analytics from leading players including Roche, Genzyme, Sanofi Pasteur, Crucell and Abbott.

  For more information, please visit the event website: www.vsrm-congress.com (please hyperlink to: http://www.informa-ls.com/CQ3546VSRMCONGRESScellculture)

August

• The Bioprocessing Summit – August 3-7, 2015 – Westin Copley Place – Boston, MA http://www.bioprocessingsummit.com/

 Headlines

“Rubella Eliminated From The Americas, Thanks To MMR Vaccine,” Forbes

“First we wiped out smallpox in North and South America. Then we rid the Americas of polio. Now, for the third time, the Americas are the first region in the world to eliminate yet another disease through vaccines: rubella.”

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “The Evolution of Vaccine Manufacturing – Past, Current, and Future Trends”

“In Battle Against Alzheimer’s, This May Be Ground Zero,” The Wall Street Journal

“This misty town in the rolling hills of northern Colombia is home to 47-year-old Gudiela, a raven-haired, amiable mother of two who researchers say could help unlock a cure for Alzheimer’s.”

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Cool Tool – Minimize the Impact of Stress on Pluripotent Stem Cell Health in a Range of Workflows”

“FDA panel recommends approval for Amgen’s skin cancer immunotherapy,” Reuters

“Amgen Inc’s skin cancer immunotherapy showed enough efficacy in the treatment of melanoma to be given marketing approval, an independent advisory panel to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Wednesday.”

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “A New Model for Continuous Processing in Downstream Purification”

“World’s first malaria vaccine moves closer to use in Africa,” Reuters

“The world’s first malaria vaccine, made by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK.L), could be approved by international regulators for use in Africa from October after final trial data showed it offered partial protection for up to four years.”

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Materials and Assay Systems Used for 3D Cell Culture”

“Are Biosimilars the Next Big Thing in Biotech?” The Motley Fool

“Biologics, or drugs developed from biological sources, have taken the pharma world by storm over the past decade or so. Five of the top 10 best-selling drugs in 2014, for example, were biologics indicated for either autoimmune disorders or cancer.”

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “2014 FDA New Drug Approvals – 11 Biologics Receive Approval”

“4D Molecular, Roche to develop next-generation AAV vectors,” Pharmaceutical Business Review

“US-based 4D Molecular Therapeutics (4DMT) has entered into a collaboration and license agreement with Roche for the discovery and development of optimized next-generation adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors for indications with high unmet medical need.”

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Closed Systems in Biomanufacturing Offer A Variety of Benefits”

“AstraZeneca, Juno latest to collaborate on immuno-oncology drugs,” Reuters

“A unit of AstraZeneca Plc has teamed up with Juno Therapeutics Inc to develop combination treatments that use the body’s immune system to kill cancer cells.”

If you like this story, please see our blog titled “Continuous Downstream Processing – A Tool to Address Key Manufacturing Challenges”