Entries by Thomas Gabrielczyk

Bavarian Nordic and AZ combine cancer jab with durvalumab

AstraZeneca (AZ) and Bavarian Nordic (BN) combine BN’s cancer vaccine CV301 and AZ’s PD-L1 checkpoint blocker durvalumab in an investigator-sponsored trail to check synergistic effects in patients with colorectal and pancreatic cancer overexpressing CEA and MUC-1.

Bioeconomy: Bringing in the public

Everybody wants green production. Bioeconomy progress, however, must become more visible to consumers and let the civil society get involved to ensure socially robust innovation and perception, according to the BioBioSTEP project.

New Screening method for Antibiotic Discovery Pipeline

A new method that determines the mode of action underlying antimicrobial compounds could help overcome a major stumbling block in the ongoing effort to discover new antibiotics. Using it, reseachers from ETH Zurich zeroed in on compounds directed against tuberculosis. 

App design for the cellular processor

Since the earliest attempts at genetic engineering, scientists have sought to influence cell behaviour and development through the introduction of foreign genetic material. Synthetic biologists are now taking the idea to a whole new plane with app-like DNA-based software programs that turn cells into diagnostic sensors, therapeutic entities or tissue generators.

Cullinan Oncology partners with MAB Discovery

Virtual oncology company Cullinan Oncology, LLC has selecteed monoclonal antibody provider MAB Discovery GmbH (Neuried)  to develop the first candidate of a target portfolio of 8-10 novel antibody therapeutics.

Locking malaria parasites into red blood cells

UK researchers headed by Michael Blackman have found out that a proteolytic cascade regulates release of merozoites of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum from host red blood cells. Inhibitition paves the way to block the parasite’s egress.

PharmaMar in licence deal with Seattle Genetics

Spanish specialist for sea-derived synthetic oncology drugs, PharmaMar SA, has inked a licence agreement with US antibody drug conjugate (ADC) company Seattle Genetics Inc. PharmaMar will provide fully-synthetic toxic payloads.

Plasmodium locked in

For decades, researchers have searched without success for a strategy to prevent malaria. Now, two teams of researchers present a solution that circumvents the problem of surface antigen hypervariability of Plasmodium. Their drug candidate blocks the pathogens’ release from blood cells, resulting in prevention of the life-threatening hot stages.