Category Archives: Molecular Genetics

National Institutes of Health: Holly Garriock

Holly Garriock has been appointed as chief cohort development officer of the National Institutes of Health's All of Us research program. Since 2016, she has held several roles at All of Us, including deputy director for the division of scientific programs and program officer for the effort's healthcare provider organizations. Before that, she was a program officer at the National Institute of Mental Health. Garriock holds an undergraduate degree from Bishop's University in Canada and a PhD in genetics from the University of Arizona.

Predicine: Linh Le

Linh Le has been appointed as CFO of Predicine. He comes to the molecular diagnostics company from Ambry Genetics, where he was chief operating officer. Previously, he spent more than 14 years overseeing financial operations and global expansion at Medtronic's Diabetes Group.

Mainz Biomed: Karen Richards

Mainz Biomed has appointed Karen Richards as VP of regulatory affairs. She will also serve as SVP of in vitro diagnostics and quality at Precision for Medicine. According to Mainz Biomed, Richards was responsible for the approval of laboratory tests in all 50 states in the US requiring a license and has implemented quality systems for diagnostic products to meet various regulatory and certification requirements, including those of the US Food and Drug Administration, CLIA, and the College of American Pathologists.

Bio-Techne: William Geist, David Eansor

Bio-Techne has appointed William Geist as president of its protein sciences segment, effective Jan. 3, 2022. Geist was most recently chief operating officer at Quanterix, where he was responsible for enterprise-wide operations and strategy deployment. Previously, he was VP and general manager for Thermo Fisher Scientific's protein and cell analysis and qPCR business units, and VP of Qiagen's QuantaBiosciences.

Geist succeeds David Eansor, who is retiring and will remain with Bio-Techne through the end of February 2022 to ensure a smooth transition.

For additional recent items on executive appointments and promotions in omics and molecular diagnostics, please see the People in the News page on our website.

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People in the News: New Appointments at NIH, Predicine, Mainz Biomed, Bio-Techne, More - GenomeWeb

We, the medical and clinical-administrative directors of the Optilab laboratory medicine clusters in Quebec, sincerely thank you for your hard work and dedication. In the extremely challenging context of COVID-19 for laboratory personnel, you put all your expertise and energy into serving Quebecers every day to provide reliable laboratory analyses that are essential to care.

Thanks to you, millions of molecular virology COVID screening tests have been performed in microbiology departments. Your work has enabled the development of sophisticated new assays using next generation gene sequencing in the molecular genetics departments. These analyses are now available to the Quebec population for personalized cancer medicine. Thanks to you, thousands of detailed examination of tissue and their characteristics, on which most treatment decisions depend, are made every day in the pathology services. In addition, sophisticated coagulation analyses are made in hematology services for the management of people with hemophilia and high-throughput tests of pharmacological molecules are completed in biochemistry services. Furthermore, through the analyses performed in the transfusion medicine departments, you allow decisions to be made that are sometimes vital in emergency situations.

These examples represent a small fraction of the procedures performed every day in the clinical laboratories of Quebec hospitals. None of this would be possible without you. You are this network and we are immensely proud and honored to work alongside you.

We thank you for all the work you do in the laboratories of Quebec hospitals, for your willingness and your talent. We wish you and your loved ones happy holidays and a Happy New Year!

Dany Aubry, Ren Bergeron, Mlanie Bernard, Normand Brassard, Enzo Caprio, Dr. Christian Carrier, Martin Coulombe, Dr. Jean-Franois Dermine, Dr. Jean Dub, Dr. Linda Lalancette, Bruno Lamontagne, Dr. Emmanuelle Lemyre, Dr. Franois Lessard, Andr Lortie, Dr. Daniele Marceau, Zied Ouechteti, Dr. Jean-Franois Paradis, Genevive Plante, Annie Robitaille, Dr. Benot Samson, Dr. Alan Spatz, Sylvie Thibeault, Sophie Verdon, Dr. Andr Vincent, Dr. Ewa Barbara Wesolowska

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Open letter to employees, technologists, professionals and physicians of the Optilab laboratory medicine clusters in Quebec - McGill University Health...

Scientists investigating the DNA outside our genes the dark genome have discovered recently evolved regions that code for proteins associated with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

They say these new proteins can be used as biological indicators to distinguish between the two conditions, and to identify patients more prone to psychosis or suicide.

Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are debilitating mental disorders that are hard to diagnose and treat. Despite being amongst the most heritable mental health disorders, very few clues to their cause have been found in the sections of our DNA known as genes.

The scientists think that hotspots in the dark genome associated with the disorders may have evolved because they have beneficial functions in human development, but their disruption by environmental factors leads to susceptibility to, or development of, schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.

The results are published today (December 23, 2021) in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.

By scanning through the entire genome weve found regions, not classed as genes in the traditional sense, which create proteins that appear to be associated with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, said Dr Sudhakaran Prabakaran, who was based in the University of Cambridges Department of Genetics when he conducted the research, and is senior author of the report.

He added: This opens up huge potential for new druggable targets. Its really exciting because nobody has ever looked beyond the genes for clues to understanding and treating these conditions before.

The researchers think that these genomic components of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are specific to humans the newly discovered regions are not found in the genomes of other vertebrates. It is likely that the regions evolved quickly in humans as our cognitive abilities developed, but they are easily disrupted resulting in the two conditions.

The traditional definition of a gene is too conservative, and it has diverted scientists away from exploring the function of the rest of the genome, said Chaitanya Erady, a researcher in the University of Cambridges Department of Genetics and first author of the study.

She added: When we look outside the regions of DNA classed as genes, we see that the entire human genome has the ability to make proteins, not just the genes. Weve found new proteins that are involved in biological processes and are dysfunctional in disorders like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

The majority of currently available drugs are designed to target proteins coded by genes. The new finding helps to explain why schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are heritable conditions, and could provide new targets for future treatments.

Schizophrenia is a severe, long-term mental health condition that may result in hallucinations, delusions, and disordered thinking and behavior, while bipolar disorder causes extreme mood swings ranging from mania to depression. The symptoms sometimes make the two disorders difficult to tell apart.

Prabakaran left his University position earlier this year to create the company NonExomics, in order to commercialize this and other discoveries. Cambridge Enterprise, the commercialization arm of the University of Cambridge, has assisted NonExomics by licensing the intellectual property. Prabakaran has raised seed funding to develop new therapeutics that will target the proteins implicated in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and other diseases.

His team has now discovered 248,000 regions of DNA outside of the regions conventionally defined as genes, which code for new proteins that are disrupted in disease.

Reference: Novel open reading frames in human accelerated regions and transposable elements reveal new leads to understand schizophrenia and bipolar disorder by Chaitanya Erady, Krishna Amin, Temiloluwa O. A. E. Onilogbo, Jakub Tomasik, Rebekah Jukes-Jones, Yagnesh Umrania, Sabine Bahn and Sudhakaran Prabakaran, 23 December 2021, Molecular Psychiatry.DOI: 10.1038/s41380-021-01405-6

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Recently Evolved Region of the Dark Genome Offers Clues to Treatment of Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder - SciTechDaily

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Dec. 20, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- InMed Pharmaceuticals Inc. (InMed or the Company) (Nasdaq: INM), a leader in the development, manufacturing and commercialization of rare cannabinoids, today announced that a peer-reviewed scientific article entitled Cannabinol Modulates Neuroprotection and Intraocular Pressure: A Potential Multi-Target Therapeutic Intervention for Glaucoma, has been published in Biochimica et Biophysical Acta (BBA - Molecular Basis of Disease), a leading international journal focused on biochemistry and molecular genetics of disease processes and models of human disease in the area of aging, cancer, metabolic-, neurological-, and immunological-based diseases.

The peer-reviewed article highlights research evaluating the use of cannabinol, or CBN, as a potential treatment option for glaucoma. Several studies were conducted to evaluate the survival of retinal ganglion cells, modulation of intraocular pressure and its effects on extracellular matrix proteins using in vitro and in vivo glaucoma models.

These studies resulted in two key findings: first, CBN may promote neuroprotection of cells in the retina that are responsible for vision; and second, CBN may normalize intraocular pressure by attenuating changes in the extracellular matrix proteins. The article also reports on the comparison of CBN with other cannabinoids, including cannabidiol (CBD) and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), with results indicating that CBN has a stronger effect and broader neuroprotective therapeutic range. These observations elucidate the therapeutic potential for CBN in the treatment of glaucoma.

Having this research peer-reviewed and published in such a reputable journal is a significant milestone for InMeds glaucoma development program. This provides important external validation for the scientific community as the program advances towards human studies, said InMeds scientific advisor, Dr. Mauro Maccarrone, Professor and Chair of Biochemistry at the Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of LAquila, Italy. We believe InMeds INM-088 program has significant implications for neuroprotection within the glaucoma space and may lead to a potential new treatment for millions of people suffering from this condition worldwide.

Corresponding author Professor Ujendra Kumar, Faculty of Pharmaceuticals, The University of British Columbia, added; The observations in this study indicate the therapeutic potential for the use of CBN in the treatment of glaucoma. Not only does the data suggest a reduction in ocular pressure but also proactive neuroprotection in the retina, both of which are integral to the treatment of glaucoma. This publication is further evidence to suggest rare cannabinoids have therapeutic potential to treat various diseases.

The journal article can be accessed here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbadis.2021.166325

About Glaucoma: Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases which result in damage to the optic nerve due to high intraocular pressure (IOP) of the eye from fluid build-up. According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, glaucoma is the leading cause of blindness in adults aged 60 and older. It is estimated that 76 million people worldwide have glaucoma. There is a major unmet medical need for new glaucoma treatments that provide neuroprotection of retinal ganglion cells. Current treatments work to reduce intraocular pressure but do not provide direct neuroprotection in the retina.

About CBN: Cannabinol (CBN) is a non-intoxicating rare cannabinoid. It is one of the more than 140 cannabinoid compounds present in the Cannabis plant. CBN is also the active pharmaceutical ingredient in InMeds lead program, INM-755 cannabinol cream, which is currently undergoing a Phase 2 Clinical Trial in the treatment ofEpidermolysis Bullosa (EB). In several preclinical safety pharmacology and toxicology studies using CBN at high doses, no adverse events were seen on central nervous system (CNS) function in a rigorous evaluation of 108 CNS measurements.

Learn about InMeds INM-088, a CBN topical formulation for the treatment of glaucoma: https://www.inmedpharma.com/pharmaceutical/inm-088-for-glaucoma/

Learn more about cannabinol: https://www.inmedpharma.com/learn/what-is-cannabinol/

About InMed: InMed Pharmaceuticals is a global leader in the development, manufacturing and commercialization of rare cannabinoids. Together with its subsidiary, BayMedica LLC, the Company has unparalleled cannabinoid manufacturing capabilities to serve a spectrum of consumer markets, including pharmaceutical and health and wellness. InMed is a clinical-stage company developing a pipeline of rare cannabinoid therapeutics and dedicated to delivering new treatment alternatives to patients that may benefit from cannabinoid-based pharmaceutical drugs. For more information, visitwww.inmedpharma.com and http://www.baymedica.com.

Investor Contact: Colin ClancySenior Director, Investor RelationsT: +1 604 416 0999E: cclancy@inmedpharma.com

Edison Group:Joe Green/Laine YonkerT: +1.646.653.7030/+1.646.653.7035E: jgreen@edisongroup.com / lyonker@edisongroup.com

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information:

This news release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively, "forward-looking information") within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information is based on management's current expectations and beliefs and is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking information in this news release includes statements about: a topical eye drop formulation under development for the treatment of glaucoma; CBN promoting neuroprotection of the eye and normalizing intraocular pressure and the potential to treat millions suffering from glaucoma; the potential for rare cannabinoids to treat various diseases; being a global leader in the manufacturing and development of rare cannabinoids; and delivering new treatment alternatives to patients that may benefit from cannabinoid-based pharmaceutical drugs.

With respect to the forward-looking information contained in this news release, InMed has made numerous assumptions. While InMed considers these assumptions to be reasonable, these assumptions are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, market and social uncertainties and contingencies.

Additionally, there are known and unknown risk factors which could cause InMed's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information contained herein. A complete discussion of the risks and uncertainties facing InMeds stand-alone business is disclosed in InMeds Annual Report on Form 10-K and other filings with the Security and Exchange Commission on http://www.sec.gov.

All forward-looking information herein is qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement, and InMed disclaims any obligation to revise or update any such forward-looking information or to publicly announce the result of any revisions to any of the forward-looking information contained herein to reflect future results, events or developments, except as required by law.

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InMed Pharmaceuticals Announces Publication of Peer-Reviewed Article on the Use of CBN as a Potential Treatment for Glaucoma - GlobeNewswire

Myriad Genetics: Nicole Lambert

Myriad Genetics has promoted Nicole Lambert to chief operating officer. Previously, Lambert headed up Myriad's oncology, women's health, and international business divisions and genetic testing laboratory operations. In her new role, Lambert will still report to Myriad CEO Paul Diaz. She will now be in charge of spearheading the company's strategic growth plans, expanding the markets for Myriad's molecular diagnostic products, and implementing operational improvements that allow the firm to better engage with patients and doctors.

NeoGenomics: David Eberhard

NeoGenomics has appointed David Eberhard as chief medical officer of Inivata, NeoGenomics'liquid biopsy-focused subsidiary. Eberhard will be in charge of the clinical and strategic development of the subsidiary's liquid biopsy tests, including the RaDaRtest for minimal residual disease. Hemost recently served as senior medical director of oncology at Illuminaand was previously the senior director of oncology development at Genomic Health, focusing on bringing the firm's OncotypeSEQliquid biopsy test to market.

Epigenomics: Jens Ravens

Epigenomics AG appointed Jens Ravens as chief financial officer, effective Feb. 1, 2022. Ravens will also become a member of the executive board of Epigenomics, overseeing the company's financial and administrative functions.Ravens began his career at Deutsche Bank. He previously held several positions, including VP of controlling and finance and compliance and risk officer at Hermes Group. He also served as CFO and managing director of Pleon Germany and as CFO of Pleon Europe, and as finance director and member of the board of Interseroh CDI.

For additional recent items on executive appointments and promotions in omics and molecular diagnostics, please see the People in the News page on our website.

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People in the News: New Appointments at Myriad Genetics, NeoGenomics, Epigenomics, More - GenomeWeb

Scientists in the UAE have found that some bacteria in the gut may reduce the severity of Covid-19 in infected people.

The study carried out by scientists at the University of Sharjah, Khalifa University of Science and Technology in Abu Dhabi, and other institutions, said the make-up of the gut microbiome may influence the severity of the disease and the body's immune response.

The work is among the latest of many studies of the relationship between the gut microbiome and Covid-19, some of which have analysed how diet influences a persons ability to fend off the coronavirus.

You dont have to go vegan, but getting more diverse plants on your plate is a great way to boost the health of your gut microbiome, improve your immunity and overall health, and potentially reduce your risk from Covid-19

Prof Tim Spector, King's College London

The study, published in Frontiers in Microbiology, looked at 86 infected people and another 57 without the disease.

It found that in the infected group, there was a greater abundance of some types of disease-causing bacteria in the gut, and higher levels of some that cause inflammation. These, the researchers suggested, may have played a role in the early symptoms of those who were infected.

Since patients gut microbiota were only sampled after they were infected with the virus, we are unsure whether pre-existing gut dysbiosis contributing to more severe Covid-19 symptoms, or whether Covid-19 was the cause of the gut dysbiosis. This is very similar to the chicken and egg question, said the studys senior author, Dr Habiba Alsafar, director of the Centre for Biotechnology and associate professor of molecular biology and genetics at Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi.

But in this group, who had been infected with Covid-19, there was also a greater abundance of certain types of anti-inflammatory bacteria and of several types of bacteria that produce butyrate, a fatty acid that can strengthen the immune response.

These are types of symbiotic bacteria, meaning they have a mutually beneficial relationship with the person in whom they are found.

Altogether, perhaps the gut symbiotic response plays a significant role in counteracting Covid-19 dysregulated immune response, restoring homeostasis [a stable situation], and subsequently reducing Covid-19 pathogenesis and disease manifestations, the researchers said.

While Covid-19 is primarily a respiratory illness, the gut has an immunological function and the microorganisms it contains are important in responding to infection.

The researchers noted that ACE2 receptors, which are abundant on cells in the human respiratory system and are the attachment points for the coronavirus, are also expressed in some cells that line the intestine. As a result, these intestinal cells could be additional sites of infection for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19.

Dr Habiba Alsafar, director of Khalifa University Centre for Biotechnology, says a healthy diet and exercise is important for a healthy gut. Delores Johnson / The National

The most important connection between gut microbiome and Covid-19 is the involvement of the ACE2 receptor, said Dr Alsafar.

The ACE2 receptors regulate the gut microbiota, and when a viral infection, like SARS-CoV-2, can enter these receptors, it causes a dysregulation of the intestinal system.

Dr Alsafar said specially formulated probiotics might improve the gut microbiome, although a consultation with a doctor would be required for best results.

Healthier diet, including a fruit and vegetable-rich diet, with more exercise, will impact gut microbe communities, she said.

A separate study published early this year in the journal Gut produced some results consistent with the UAE study.

For example, it found that lower levels of a butyrate-producing bacterium, Faecalibacterium, which was also discussed in the UAE study, were associated with more severe infections.

This studys authors, all of whom work at institutions in Hong Kong, also concluded that the gut microbiome may affect a persons immune response to infection with the coronavirus and influence how severe the disease is and the eventual outcome.

They also suggested that ongoing imbalances in the microbiome after infection may cause the persistent symptoms seen in people with long Covid.

The UAE and Hong Kong studies add to the knowledge generated by a major research by Kings College London and Harvard Medical School that involved hundreds of thousands of people contributing data through an app.

It found that people with the healthiest diets were 10 per cent less likely to develop Covid-19 and 40 per cent less likely to become seriously ill from it.

Prof Tim Spector, of genetic epidemiology at Kings College London, said people with diets with low levels of ultra-processed foods had healthier gut microbes that were more likely to fend off infection.

You dont have to go vegan, but getting more diverse plants on your plate is a great way to boost the health of your gut microbiome, improve your immunity and overall health, and potentially reduce your risk from Covid-19, he said at the time of the report's release in September.

Social distancing measures are very much still in place at the farmers' market in Dubai's Business Bay.Reem Mohammed / The National

Updated: December 23rd 2021, 3:15 AM

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Healthy gut bacteria can reduce severity of Covid-19, UAE researchers say - The National

GB HealthWatch raises $3.5 million for genetics-based, preventive health platform to combat cardiometabolic diseases and Alzheimer's

SAN DIEGO (PRWEB) December 21, 2021

GB HealthWatch, a genetic-based preventive health company, announced today it raised $3.5 million in pre-series C funding. The investors participating in the round are Trinity Power LLC, a series B investor, and the founder of GB HealthWatch. The company plans to use the funds to grow its national leadership position in advanced genetic testing and developing precision medicine applications for the prevention and treatment of dyslipidemia, coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and Alzheimers disease, and build the infrastructure of their preventive health ecosystem.

Distinguished from traditional genetics companies that focus primarily on rare monogenic diseases, GB HealthWatch is a pioneer in studying complex, polygenic diseases that can be effectively mitigated with preventive treatment. The pathophysiological processes that underlie cardiometabolic diseases and Alzheimers start decades before the onset of symptoms; genetic testing can identify at-risk individuals before clinical symptoms manifest so that preventive treatment can be initiated before damage is done. Knowing your genetics can help identify the specific root cause of a condition and most effective intervention, said Dr. Mendel Roth, Lead Scientist of Genetics and Molecular Biology at GB HealthWatch.

The value of genetic-based preventive health can be illustrated using familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) as an example. FH is relatively common, occurring in about 1 in every 250 individuals. An individual with a pathogenic FH mutation has a 15-20-fold higher risk of developing premature coronary heart disease. However, if diagnosed early, treatment with lipid-lowering medication and lifestyle modification can effectively halt the progression of the disease. This benefit is even more pronounced if FH is detected at a young age and treatment is started. Research shows that FH patients who initiated lipid-lowering therapies as a child had a 12-fold lower risk of developing coronary heart disease compared to their parents who did not initiate treatment until later in life.

Unfortunately, 90% of people living with FH in the US have not been diagnosed and therefore may never be treated. About 1.3 million people in the US have FH; without treatment, 50% of men and 30% of women living with FH are expected to experience a serious cardiovascular event such as heart attack or stroke before age 50 or 60, respectively. Genetic testing is the gold standard for FH diagnosis and identifying at-risk family members for preventive treatment.

As we are in the genomic health era, the challenges and opportunities converge on same path how to apply genetic data for improving human health. GB is the first company that developed and brought to market comprehensive genetic testing for cardiometabolic diseases including dyslipidemia, atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and Alzheimers which are the leading causes of morbidity and mortality, globally. GBinsight genetic testing developed by GB HealthWatch is used by leading cardiologists, lipidologists, and endocrinologists, and recognized by the National Lipid Association.

With this round of pre-series C funding and subsequent series C funding, GB HealthWatch will further develop and refine a platform that will enable physicians to prescribe genomics-guided, precision therapeutics that will maximize clinical efficacy, limit unnecessary healthcare costs, and empower patients and their at-risk family members to engage in preventive care. We are working to implement a digital preventive health ecosystem that can be applied on a population scale, said Dr. Li Shen, President of GB HealthWatch.

GB HealthWatch Products and Services

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About GB HealthWatch

GB HealthWatch is a genetic-based Preventive Health company. We develop state-of-the-art technologies to facilitate research on the molecular mechanisms, clinical efficacy, and cost-effectiveness of translating genetic insights into personalized prevention and treatment strategies for complex diseases. GB HealthWatch offers the following products and services:

Visit the GB HealthWatch website to learn more.

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GB HealthWatch raises $3.5 million in pre-series C funding to expand genetic-based preventive health products and services for cardiometabolic...

A fringe theorythat the novel coronavirus can mutate into a harmless new formseems to have given some people false hope that the pandemic, now entering its third year, might end all on its own, regardless of what government officials, scientists, and everyday people do.

This COVID self-extinction theory isnt new. It got some traction in the media in the spring under slightly different terminology.

The theory was almost certainly wrong then, and its still probably wrong now, experts told The Daily Beast. I think self-extinction is vanishingly unlikely, Jesse Bloom, an investigator at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Washington State, told The Daily Beast.

Its tempting to believe SARS-CoV-2 will just go away. Without expensive, politically fraught efforts to vaccinate everyone. Without unpopular mask mandates and restrictions on schools and businesses. Without anyone sacrificing anything in the interest of public health.

But thats most likely wishful thinking. And potentially dangerous if enough people indulge in it. Beating COVID probably means fighting it with every tool in our kit. Because, lets be honest, its not looking like its going to beat itself.

A smattering of headlines announced the current interest in the possibility of COVID self-extinguishing. Dominant Delta variant may mutate itself into extinction, scientists say, The New York Post teased on Nov. 22. Covid 19: New research suggests Delta strain drove itself to extinction in Japan, the New Zealand Herald crowed the same day.

All the stories cite the same news story promoting the same claim. A Nov. 18 story in The Japan Times in which Ituro Inoue, a professor at Japans National Institute of Genetics, described some preliminary research he and his team had done on the SARS-CoV-2 virus genetic structure and changes over time.

The upshot, according to Inoues theory, is that SARS-CoV-2 basically hit an evolutionary brick wall, piling bad mutation on top of bad mutation until it rendered itself impotent.

Inoues teams research isnt published in a science journal yet, to say nothing of being peer-reviewed. That didnt stop The Japan Times from repeating Inoues claims without a lot of caveats. Neither Inoue nor The Japan Times responded to requests for comment.

I have never seen one that is widespread and just goes away.

Scientists in Japan and across the world urged skepticism. I know some experts are saying such a self-extinction thing, but I will not bet on it, Tanaka Mikihito, an expert on pandemics at Waseda University in Tokyo who also holds a Ph.D in molecular biology, told The Daily Beast.

To be fair, theres a good reason Inoue grasped for a theorya desperate stretch though it might be. He was trying to explain Japans very odd winter.

Japan, like much of the world, suffered a huge spike in COVID infections this fall as the highly transmissible Delta variantlineage is the scientific termbecame dominant, displacing less dangerous forms of the virus.

But Japans Delta wave ended relatively quickly in mid-September. And after that, cases dwindled to, well, nearly zero. Just a hundred or so new cases a day in a country with 126 million people. This at a time when many other countries, including the United States, were seeing fresh surges fueled in part by the new Omicron lineage.

Inoue wanted to understand what happened. He and his team inspected samples of Delta infections in Japanese residents and discovered something interesting: mutations in the NSP14 protein, which helps a virus sneak past our immune systems.

Scientists have long assumed that deliberately altering NSP14 in a particular viral lineageusing, say, a special drug on a bunch of patientscould make it harder for that lineage to spread.

But Inoues team assumed that the Delta lineage present in Japan somehow evolved a weaker NSP14 all on its own.

We were literally shocked to see the findings, Inoue told The Japan Times. The Delta variant in Japan was highly transmissible and keeping other variants out. But as the mutations piled up, we believe it eventually became a faulty virus and it was unable to make copies of itself. Considering that the cases havent been increasing, we think that at some point during such mutations it headed straight toward its natural extinction.

In other words, if the theory holds, Delta became widespread in Japan at the same time that it became harder to transmit. A surge in Delta cases crowded out less aggressive lineages then abruptly ended when changes to the NSP14 protein blocked further transmission.

I havent seen any indication that SARS-CoV-2 is running out of evolutionary space.

It would be as though a fast-breeding family of rats moved into your attic, scaring off all other pests. Then all the rats abruptly died, leaving you pest-free.

As an explanation for Japans weirdly low rate of new COVID cases this winter, Inoues theory is a tantalizing one. But it falls apart quickly under close scrutiny, especially considering that Japans high vaccination rate plus widespread masking and a little luck might be all the explanation we need for the countrys current reprieve from infections.

Edwin Michael, an epidemiologist at the Center for Global Health Infectious Disease Research at the University of South Florida, took Inoues theory into account when he mulled Japans low-COVID winter. Initially, it was thought that the Delta variant there accumulated too many mutations during the summer resurgence that were deleterious to its own survival and hence thought to be a self-extinction, Michael told The Daily Beast.

But Michael said he couldnt figure out how a lineage could, at roughly the same time, both lose its transmissibility and become dominant. Inoues theory is hard to reconcile with why such a mutant was able to spread widely such that most of the Japanese population caught this mutant leading to large-scale extinction of the virus, Michael said.

More to the point, viruses as a rule almost never evolve in ways that lead to their own extinction. I have never seen one that is widespread and just goes away, Lawrence Gostin, a Georgetown University global health expert, told The Daily Beast. I cant think of a single example of that ranging from novel influenza to smallpox, polio and childhood diseases. Viruses dont just go extinct.

If thats what Delta did in Japan, it would be truly unprecedented.

Inoues theory itself isnt unprecedented, howeveralthough its very likely wrong. A similar idea gained some traction this spring, starting with a claim in the pages of The New Yorker. Jason McLellan, a structural biologist at the University of Texas at Austin, told the magazine that the novel coronaviruss spike protein, which helps the pathogen to grab onto and infect our cells, could mutate only so many times before it just stopped changing.

Theres just not a lot of space for the spike to continue to change in ways that allow it to evade antibodies but still bind to its receptor, McLellan said. Substitutions that allow the virus to resist antibodies will probably also decrease its affinity for [the receptor].

In his theory, SARS-CoV-2 can either dodge our antibodies or stick to our cells. But it cant do both. It has a finite number of options, McLellan said. And that, he claimed, should doom the virus to lose power over time.

Experts quickly challenged McLellans theory. Were not in a position to forecast that evolutionary changes are indicative of the virus being trapped, cornered or otherwise weakened, Anna Fagre, a University of Colorado microbiologist, told The Daily Beast.

I havent seen any indication that SARS-CoV-2 is running out of evolutionary space, Bloom chimed in.

History proved the skeptics right. Since McLellan projected the novel coronavirus genetic dead-end, the pathogen has produced several major new lineages, each as bad as or worse than the previous. Delta. Omicron. Even a sublineage of Omicron thats hard to distinguish using standard tests.

McLellan defended his spring comments as more nuanced than critics gave them credit for. He told The Daily Beast he was just trying to explain that the novel coronaviruss spike protein has only so many amino acids to choose between as it evolves.

As for the current self-extinction notion, thats outside my area of expertise, McLellan told The Daily Beast.

The coming months seem likely to disprove Inoues self-extinction claim. Everything we know about viruses points that way. We must remember that a virus is not a living thingit depends on infecting cells so it can replicate, Stephanie James, the head of a COVID testing lab at Regis University in Colorado, told The Daily Beast. When it is done with one host, it must be able to transmit to another to keep perpetuating in a community. So it is more advantageous for a virus to be transmissible.

But lets give McLellan and Inoue and any other future proponents of COVIDs purported potential for self-sabotage the benefit of the doubt. Say one lineage or another does something unprecedented and blunders into a genetic dead-end.

Even that wouldnt end the pandemic, James said. Not when there are so many other lineages in circulation. Even if one variant were to become less transmissible, my concern is that this would simply open a niche for another variant to take its place.

All that is to say, its probably a bad idea to sit around waiting for the pandemic to end itself. The smarter approach is the one weve taken all along: Urge people to wear masks, avoid crowds andmost importantlyget vaccinated and boosted.

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The COVID Theory That Got Your Hopes Up Is Actually Bullsh - The Daily Beast

The molecular biology enzymes, kits, and reagents market was valued at US$ 10,987.17 million in 2020 and it is projected to reach US$ 41,104.71 million by 2028; it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 17.8% from 2021 to 2028.

According The Insight Partners study on Molecular Biology Enzymes, Kits, and Reagents Market Forecast to 2028 COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis by Product, Application, End User, The growth of the market is attributed to a few key driving factors such as healthy funding for genomics, declining cost of sequencing procedures, and increasing prevalence of chronic diseases. However, the dearth of skilled professionals hinders the market growth.

Biological enzymes play a prominent role in encouraging chemical reactions in biological systems. Molecular biology enzymes are recommended for the preparation of laboratory samples. These reagents are also utilized during various processes such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR), DNA sequencing, and cell analysis.

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Healthy Funding for Genomics Drives Market Growth

Genome sequencing was restricted to the research facilities, a few years back. However, it has now became one of the common techniques in clinical practices. Over the next few years, the healthcare sector is expected to generate genomic data of over 60 million patients. The growing implementation of genomic sequencing into healthcare systems is supported by substantial government investments, totaling over US$ 4 billion in at least 14 countries. The UK has announced the worlds largest genome project as part of 200 million publicprivate collaboration between charitable organizations and pharmaceutical companies. The country has already developed the worlds largest genome database through the 100,000 Genomes Project. Led by Innovate UK, a part of UK Research and Innovation, the project was initiated to support researchers and industries through funds to combine data and real-world evidence obtained from UK health services as well as to create new products and services for more efficient and early disease diagnosis.

In November 2018, Stilla Technologies, France, announced the completion of a Series A financing round, gathering US$ 18.3 million (EUR 16 million) in funds; the round was led by Illumina Ventures. The company plans to use these funds to commercialization of its Naica digital PCR system and development of clinical applications. Further, in June 2020, Base Genomics, an epigenetics company based in Oxford, England, closed a seed funding round of US$ 11 million (GBP 9 million). In August 2018, Nebula Genomics, a company based in Boston, Massachusetts, along with 10 leading venture capital firms, raised US$ 4.3 million in seed funding. as a part of partnership with Veritas Genetics, a genome sequencing company. The company aims to use these funds to create a trustworthy, secure, and decentralized marketplace for genomic data. In March 2018, SynbiCITE (UK) received grants worth ~US$ 17.6 million (GBP 13 million) and private investments worth US$ 318.5 million (GBP 234 million). The company is made for increasing synbio applications in the UK. The SynbiCITE has supported the synbio at national level for the increase of gene synthesis applications.

In April 2020, MedGenome, a genetic diagnostics, research, and data company headquartered in Bengaluru, India, raised US$ 55 million (~INR 419 crore) in a new round of funding, led by LeapFrog Investments, a global impact investment firm. MedGenome also claims to have built the largest database of South Asian genetic variants in genetic diagnostics in India and research partnerships. It has conducted over 200,000 genomic tests to date by obtaining samples from more than 550 hospitals and 6,000 clinicians across India.

The Molecular Biology Enzymes, Kits, and Reagents Market, by region, is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), Middle East and Africa (MEA), and South and Central America (SAM).

COVID-19 first began in Wuhan (China) during December 2019 and since then it has spread at a fast pace across the globe. The US, India, Brazil, Russia, France, the UK, Turkey, Italy, and Spain are some of the worst affected countries in terms confirmed cases and reported deaths. The COVID-19 has been affecting economies and industries in various countries due to lockdowns, travel bans, and business shutdowns.

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Based on product, the molecular biology enzymes, kits, and reagents market is bifurcated into enzymes and kits & reagents. The market, by enzymes, is further segmented into polymerases, ligases, reverse transcriptases, phosphatases, proteases and proteinases, restriction endonuclease, and other. The kits & reagent segment held a larger market share in 2020, and the same segment is estimated to register a higher CAGR during the forecast period.

The molecular biology enzymes, kits, and reagents market, based on application, is segmented into epigenetics, sequencing, synthetic biology, polymerase chain reaction, and other. In 2020, the sequencing segment held the largest market share. However, the polymerase chain reaction segment is estimated to register the highest CAGR during the forecast period.

In terms of end user, the molecular biology enzymes, kits, and reagents market is segmented into biotechnological and pharmaceutical companies, hospitals and diagnostic centers, and academic and research institutes. The biotechnological and pharmaceutical companies segment held the largest share of the market in 2020, and the same segment is estimated to register the highest CAGR during the forecast period.

Molecular Biology Enzymes, Kits, and Reagents Market : Competitive Landscape and Key Developments

THERMO FISHER SCIENTIFIC INC,Illumina, Inc.,Qiagen,Agilent Technologies, Inc.,F. HOFFMANN-LA ROCHE LTD,Merck KGAA, Jena Bioscience GmbH,Bioline Technologies,Promega Corporation, Rockland Immunochemicals

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Molecular Biology Enzymes, Kits, and Reagents Market to hit US$ 41104.71 Million, Globally, by 2028 at 17.8% CAGR: The Insight Partners - Digital...

AI and big data analytics are allowing healthcare providers in the Middle East to make faster, more cost-effective diagnostics, according to a broad cross-section of healthcare professionals. Along with the increasing use of AI and big data, though, security concerns about data privacy are also growing.

AI is one of the fastest growing segments of the global healthcare market today. According to Frost & Sullivan forecasts, it will reach US$6.6 billion by the end of this year. Such growth rates are possible thanks to the huge amounts of data generated by a wide variety of devices, which can be analysed and acted on.

In the Middle East, healthcare professionals attest to the effectiveness and increasing usage of AI.

We started the digital transformation journey last year with the focus on technology being the core to the foundation of the American Hospital. Weve teamed up with some big names like Oracle and Microsoft to build a new level of intelligence when it comes to models, said Ahmad Yahya, CIO of American Hospital Dubai.

The hospitals IT team created a new COVID diagnostics application built on its clinical database and modelling from Cerner. It was customised and validated by the clinical staff at the hospital intensive care unit, and helped identify risk factors for patients, as well as in deciding who would go to the ICU.

Two other AI-based diagnostic applications are aimed at identifying asthma patients and predicting whether emergency patients will go to an in-patient ward.

We are currently working on all these AI models with one of them, the COVID one, having been already validated, while the other two are close to being validated. We are also working on going live early next year with real-time monitoring of patients sentiments, satisfaction, and (hospital) capacity, which can serve to help allocate resources, Yahyah disclosed earlier this year, at the Arab Health 2021 event in Dubai.

With a wealth of historical medical records available for analysis, AI can be helpful in making a diagnosis and choosing an appropriate treatment, providing the doctor with a third opinion, healthcare professionals say. AI applications are able to analyse all available medical information about a specific disease, and find out which treatments and drugs have been the most effective in the entire history of medical practice.

Medicine is a data-rich field in which accuracy is perhaps the most critical factor. The more data that algorithms process, the more accurately and correctly they will be able to formulate conclusions based on them. Meanwhile, different types of technology in use today are generating an increasing volume of health data, according to Massimo Cannizzo, CEO of Gellify, a venture capital company that in October launched a US$50 million fund with management group Azimut to invest in companies providing healthcare and emerging technology in the Middle East.

There are, for example, various wearable devices that are gaining popularity and generating health information, including portable heart rate and blood pressure monitors devices that can continuously monitor your heart rate or blood sugar.

As their cost decreases and the functionality of the already popular fitness bracelets expands, AI-based diagnostic systems will receive even more data on the health of each individual patient, giving the doctor the opportunity to more accurately and efficiently prescribe a treatment plan.

The rise of so-called augmented healthcare is demonstrated by the growth figures of wearables market in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region, where 25% of the adult population is expected to be using a wearable device by 2022, according to Cannizzo.

Algorithms and AI models programmes or sets of algorithms that use a set of data to recognise patterns and perform tasks are constantly improving, and this progress is already finding expression in specific applications in the medical field.

AI will not only help make clinical assessments, but will also streamline operations and workflow, according to Kentaro Suzuki, general manager at medical equipment maker Canon Medical. For example, it can shorten the scan time in MRI, Suzuki said.

We believe AI is a tool for the medical profession in order to improve the current capability of the imaging equipment, Suzuki said.

AI applications can analyse medical images and find early signs of a disease that a doctor may not notice. It will never replace humans or directly diagnose patients, Suzuki said. The third opinion that AI can offer, though, is especially relevant for oncological diseases, in which an early start of treatment can significantly improve the prognosis for a speedy recovery.

AI can also change the way we think about genetics, and push the boundaries of genomics research. Recent research shows that an artificial neural network is capable of identifying and detecting patterns in large amounts of genetic data, thus revealing groups and sequences of genes associated with specific diseases.

Since diseases are encoded in the genetic sequence of a person, the ability to understand genetic information at the most detailed level is currently the key to determining how to treat them.

Advances in genomics have been difficult to make due to the complexity of genetic data. Thanks to the ability of AI to classify and analyse a wide range of data in a short period of time, though, practitioners now expect breakthroughs in genomic study.

I think we are all shifting towards more automated work flows and smart technologies, including in genomics by default because we generate large amount of data that is impossible to manually assess and to make sense of, said Prof. Walid Mohammad Abuhammour, clinical molecular geneticist, director of the genomics centre at Al Jalila Childrens Specialty Hospital, and associate professor of genetics at Mohammed bin Rashid University.

AI can, in particular, make headway in helping to cure rare diseases. Some 80% of the so-called rare diseases are genomic, with 50% of them found in children, noted Joshua Symons, director of data strategy at Genomics England.

We want to embed the combination of AI and genomics into routine medical care to approve outcomes and therapies for patients to discover new drugs and improve lives on a national scale, Symons said.

These types of approaches, embedded into routine clinical medicine, will enable decision support systems to determine what the best therapies are for patients, who, for example, now can perform diabetes blood tests at home, Symons said. Technology is evolving that will allow cancer patients to take their own blood sample and have the ctDNA(circulating tumor DNA) analysed to determine whether they are responding to treatment, he said.

As an increasing number of companies apply emerging technologies such as AI and robotics to healthcare, however, concerns about security and patient privacy are on the rise.

We have a lot of companies in digital health and many of them use AI. We also have companies that use surgical robots or manufacture robotics. The number of those companies is increasing, said Marwan Janahi, managing director of Dubai Science Park (DSP), created to position the UAE as a major destination for research and development.

There are more than 400 companies at DSP, with over 4,000 people working there and the healthcare sector is constantly evolving, Janahi said. The role of AI in healthcare is increasingly important, but at the same time healthcare professionals should be very careful about the information concerning patients and how their privacy is secured, he said.

There are a variety of ways to approach security for patient data. For instance, the UAE ICT law that was issued in January 2019 requires patient data to be stored in the country, where there are very strict data protection laws, Janahi said.

The data should be owned by the patient, but the same time there is a need for flexibility because sometimes there is a need to share information with other parts of the world to advance healthcare knowledge, and to get second opinions, Janahi pointed out.

Healthcare officials should take a variety of approaches toward data security, said American Hospitals Yahyah. We use a typical approach when it comes to cybersecurity, like having firewalls, etc. But the weakest link is your people and what is really important is [security] awareness, which is critical to us, he said.

As a preventive measure the hospital does some mock demo attacks to raise awareness among its people within the enterprise, he said.

While healthcare has evolved to be one of humanitys great success stories due to advances in medicine and technology, at the same time it is in a crisis because of challenges it is facing, said Khalid Ghaloua Adine, director of solutions marketing for digital healthcare at Etisalat Digital.

While life expectancy is higher today than ever before, there is a huge shortage of healthcare professionals to cover the demand. There is also a concern on how to manage and control costs. Thats the reason why healthcare professionals seek new technologies that can optimise costs and support human caregivers, he said.

To be prepared for the challenges ahead, there is a need for more data scientists, data governance engineers, and other types of roles. In addition to CIOs, why not a chief AI officer? Adine asked.

Healthcare organisations should look ahead at skill sets they need to have in the future, he suggested.

For the last 20 years we have been generating data that will need a huge number of people to process it. If we dont have people with the right set of skills to interpret and model that information then we will not be able to overcome those challenges, Adine said.

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How AI and big data are changing healthcare in the Middle East - CIO