Category Archives: Genetic Medicine

Well come clean the pints and pub grub lifestyle often associated with the great British local hasnt dovetailed all that smoothly with the NHS since its launch on 5 July 1948, even if the community spirit that underpins arguably this countrys greatest piece of modern policy-making is broadly shared by pubs.

Born from a long-standing ideal that healthcare should be readily available based on clinical need rather than ability to pay, health minister Aneurin Bevan unveiled the nascent NHS at Park Hospital in Manchester after the passage of the National Health Service Act in 1946.

Despite extensive cutbacks in recent years, today, total health spending in England stands at around 130bn more than the annual GDP of Ukraine or Morocco with the NHS employing more people across the UK than live in Birmingham. According to a report by the Department of Health in December 2005, the NHS deals with more than 1m patients every 36 hours.

The Ram Inn, in Brundall, Norfolk, has raised close to 1,000 by asking locals to leave their rainbow images for the pub to display in return for a donation to theNorfolk & Norwich Hospitals Charity.

The operators of the Garden House in Norwich have pledged to use 2,000 worth of tech vouchers received as winners of BT Sports latest Manager of the Month prize to treat staff at local NHS services.

East Anglian pub operator Chestnut has teamed up with Food4Heroes to provide tens of thousands of free meals to the regions front-line NHS staff during the Covid-19 emergency.

Camden Town Brewery has produced a Heroes version of its flagship Hells lager which will be sold online and handed out to 20,000 NHS hospital workers - with proceeds from sales going to NHS charities.

Rendezvous & Royal Oak in Weymouth, Dorset, has raised 13,200 for Dorset County Hospital after live streaming 20-act music festival Quayfest.

Cornish brewer and pub operator St Austell Brewery has joined forces with takeaway and delivery service Pub Grub to deliver 800 bottles of soft drink to frontline staff at Royal Cornwall Hospital.

Publican Sylvia Ferron of the Foaming Tankard in Birmingham has returned to full-time work on the NHS front line during the Covid-19 emergency just months after entering the on-trade.

SallyAbof Michelin star-holding Estrella Damm Top 50 Gastropub frontrunner Harwood arms in London has cooked 100 meals per day for NHS staff through charity Hospitality for Heroes

Furloughed Stonegate Pub Company general manager, Cee-Jay Williams of the Junction Tap in Woking, Surrey, is using a 3D printer to help the NHS tackle a shortfall of 80,000 plastic visor clips.

Publican Eduardo Dantas of Tia Maria Bar & Restaurant in Vauxhall, south London, was reduced to tears by Staff at Londons Kings College Hospital after they surprised him with a round of applause during one of his daily deliveries of 60 free meals.

Lisa Staples of the Crown Inn, Gayton, Norfolk, has set up a website Free NHS Rooms for publicans to list their rooms so that NHS workers can find living quarters near hospitals.

The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic which has seen NHS staff treat close to 200,000 confirmed cases across the UK thus far has led to an unprecedented wave of gratitude from the public, with pubs more than playing their part.

Though the on-trade has regularly shown its support for the NHS over the years notable mentions include 2020 Great British Pub Awards-winning Best Local, the Chandos Arms in north London, throwing a street party for the NHSs 70th anniversary in 2018 and Beavertown Brewery offering free beer to blood donors the current outpouring is arguably the greatest show of support pubs have shown this countrys health service.

From Rendezvous & Royal Oak in Weymouth, Dorset, raising 13,200 for Dorset County Hospital by live streaming a 20-act music festival, for example, to pubs delivering tens of thousands of free meals and even joining efforts to make personal protective equipment, the on-trade has branched into some surprising areas to help the NHS through the ongoing emergency.

Whats more, while turning blue is medically speaking a very bad sign, a number of Britains pubs have chosen to do so in tribute to front-line workers battling Covid-19 though it wont obviously fall on the NHS to resuscitate them when operators are cleared to reopen.

The honour of having your face painted onto the front of a pub is usually one reserved for lords, ladies or royalty, but such is Britains rich medical history that a number of its nurses and scientists have had their names or tributes emblazoned above the door of a one of the nations many watering holes.

While London pubs the Sir Alexander Fleming in Paddington named after the Scottish inventor credited with the discovery of penicillin and the Florence Nightingale in Waterloo have sadly shut up shop since the turn of the Millennium, the NHSs chief architect, Bevan, has been immortalised by beverage behemoth JD Wetherspoon, which named Cardiff pub the Aneurin Bevan in his honour.

Other on-trade tributes to medicine include the Old Doctor Butlers Head in Masons Avenue, London, which was named after physician William Butler, a doctor at the court of James I who is credited with inventing the popular 17th century medicinal drink Dr Butlers purging ale.

Whats more, the namesake of Grade II-listed pub the William Harvey in Ashford, Kent, discovered the circulation of blood and once lived in what is now the pub. Though the local hospital is also named after Harvey, the pub is said to have got there first.

In a less direct tribute, the Air Balloon pub in Gloucestershire is named in tribute to physician Edward Jenner who popularised vaccination with his work to tackle smallpox. Jenner, who spent a fair amount of his time away from his work enthusing over hydrogen balloons, took to the skies from Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire in September 1784 before landing more than 20 miles away in Birdlip where the local pub is now named in tribute to his flight.

Its not an understatement to suggest that James Watson and Francis Crick discovering the structure of DNA and how it carries genetic information in 1953 laid the groundwork for almost 75 years of game-changing medical discoveries and treatment.

Yet while images of DNAs double helix structure are among the most recognisable and iconic in science, what isnt as commonplace is the fact the pairs discovery was first announced in Cambridge pub, the Eagle.

The Grade II-listed venue was the local watering hole for scientists working at the University of Cambridges Cavendish Laboratory such as Watson and Crick, who would claim the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1962 for their discovery.

The pairs work to unravel DNAs structure essentially clarified how genes work. By uncovering the molecular properties of genes, Watson and Cricks discovery meant that scientists could understand how they could be damaged, why mutations could cause harmful diseases and allowed experts to work out ways to fix them. For example, in April 2020, Rhys Evans became the first child in Britain to be cured of an inherited disorder as a result of gene therapy stemming from Watson and Cricks work.

While MPs voted to ban smoking in enclosed public spaces including pubs as of summer 2007, more than 30 years prior a publican in Yorkshire created Britains first licensed smokeless zone.

According to the Pub History Society, Essex-born publican John Showers declaring the New Inn in Appletreewick near Skipton, in North Yorkshire, the worlds first no smoking inn in the early 1970s generated global media attention and even a congratulatory letter from then health minister George Godber.

While the publicans initial objection to customers smoking on his premises focused on the amount of damage it caused his pubs carpets, floors and furniture on top of nicotine staining his walls and ceilings and the fire risk the death of a close friend from lung cancer saw Showers shift his ire from building damage to disease.

Showerss then sensational ban featured on television, radio and newspapers both at home and abroad, with the publican advertising the New Inn as Englands First Fresh Air Inn.

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NHS: what role have pubs played in medical breakthroughs? - MorningAdvertiser.co.uk

Alessandra de Oliveira Pinheiro,1 Valria M Lara,1 Aline F Souza,1 Juliana B Casals,2 Fabiana F Bressan,1 Paulo Fantinato Neto,1 Vanessa C Oliveira,1 Daniele S Martins,1 Carlos E Ambrosio1

1Department of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Animal Science and Food Engineering, University of So Paulo, Pirassununga, So Paulo, Brazil; 2Private Veterinary Practice, Pirassununga, So Paulo, Brazil

Correspondence: Carlos E AmbrosioDepartment of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Animal Science and Food Engineering, University of So Paulo, FZEA- Av. Duque de Caxias Norte, 225, ZMV, Pirassununga 13635-900, So Paulo, BrazilTel +55 19 3565-4113 Email ceambrosio@usp.br

Purpose: Amniotic membrane stem cells have a high capacity of proliferation, cell expansion, and plasticity, as well as immunomodulatory properties that contribute to maternal-fetal tolerance. Owing to the lack of research on human amniotic membrane at different gestational stages, the canine model is considered ideal because of its genetic and physiological similarities. We aimed to characterize the canine amniotic membrane (CAM) cell lineage in different gestational stages and evaluate the expression of immunomodulatory genes.Materials and Methods: Twenty CAMs from early (20 30 days) (n=7), mid- (31 45 days) (n=7), and late gestation (46 63 days) (n=6) stages were studied. The cell features were assessed by cell viability tests, growth curve, colony-forming units, in vitro differentiation, cell labeling for different immunophenotypes, and pluripotent potential markers. The cells were subjected to RT-PCR and qPCR analysis to determine the expression of IDO, HGF, EGF, PGE2, and IL-10 genes.Results: CAM cells exhibited a fibroblastoid morphology and adherence to plastic with an average cell viability of 78.5%. The growth curve indicated a growth peak in the second passage and we obtained an average of 138.2 colonies. Osteogenic, chondrogenic, and adipogenic lineages were confirmed by in vitro differentiation assays. Cellular immunophenotyping experiments confirmed the presence of positive mesenchymal markers (CD90 and CD105) and the low or negative expression of hematopoietic markers (CD45 and CD34). Qualitative analysis of the immunomodulatory functions indicated the expression of the IDO, HGF, EGF5, and PGE2 genes. When stimulated by interferon-gamma, CAM cells exhibited higher IDO levels throughout gestation.Conclusion: The CAMs from different gestational stages presented features consistent with mesenchymal stem cell lineage; better results were observed during the late gestation stage. Therefore, the gestational stage is a key factor that may influence the functionality of therapies when using fetal membrane tissues from different periods of pregnancy.

Keywords: canine stem cells, immunomodulation, fetal annexes

This work is published by Dove Medical Press Limited, and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.The full terms of the License are available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.The license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

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Characterization and Immunomodulation of Canine Amniotic Membrane Stem | SCCAA - Dove Medical Press

FILE: Medical researchers perform serology, testing blood samples to find out whether someone already had and recovered from COVID-19, in Stanford University's Clinical Virology Lab in March 2020.

FILE: Medical researchers perform serology, testing blood samples to find out whether someone already had and recovered from COVID-19, in Stanford University's Clinical Virology Lab in March 2020.

Photo: Steve Fisch/Stanford Medicine

FILE: Medical researchers perform serology, testing blood samples to find out whether someone already had and recovered from COVID-19, in Stanford University's Clinical Virology Lab in March 2020.

FILE: Medical researchers perform serology, testing blood samples to find out whether someone already had and recovered from COVID-19, in Stanford University's Clinical Virology Lab in March 2020.

Why so many people are convinced that they had COVID-19 already

The week before Thanksgiving, Barbara O'Donnell came down with a wretched cough.

"It was just really bad, and it was constant," says O'Donnell, 62. "I would turn purple," gasping for breath. She could barely walk up the hills near her home outside of Philadelphia. Though she is a smoker, she was healthy and strong - "I don't get the flu, ever" - and had never experienced anything like this before.

It "felt like my lungs were so full that I wasn't going to make it," she says.

Two weeks of resting at home, and the illness vanished as quickly as it came. Two months later, California reported the country's first case of covid-19 that wasn't acquired via travel or direct contact with someone who had been abroad. Three weeks after that, Philadelphia closed nonessential businesses and issued a stay-at-home order. O'Donnell's job, as a privately employed aide for an elderly patient in a nursing home, was put on hold - the nursing home permitted only its own staff on the premises.

Sitting in her apartment, the thought occurred to her: "What if it was here way before they think it was?" she wondered. Was that cough covid?

The virus was here before anyone thought it was, we now know. Health officials in Santa Clara County, south of San Francisco, recently determined that at least two people who died in early and mid-February tested positive for the virus. But that doesn't answer the question that has been spreading, afflicting anyone who recently - or even kind of recently - experienced any covid symptoms:

Did I have it? I think I had it.

"I've been getting emails from hundreds, maybe thousands of people telling me, 'I'm sure I had it,' " Eran Bendavid, an associate professor of medicine specializing in infectious disease who is studying covid-19 at Stanford University.

"I am 99 percent sure I had it," says Janet Truchard, 58, who woke up in her Las Vegas home on Jan. 15 "sick as a dog" with a fever, dry cough, migraine and chest pain. She visited several doctors who prescribed various courses of antibiotics, diagnosing her with sinusitis and then allergies. The cough persisted all the way through March 25, but a chest X-ray came back clear.

Thinkihadititis is a condition afflicting people who experienced covid-like illnesses that befell them long before coronavirus was a thing. It happens when bits of news and scientific findings lodge in the parts of the brain that incubate hope - Oh hey, maybe I already beat it! - and anxiety - Oh God, maybe I gave it to a bunch of people.

Like covid-19, Thinkihadititis has infected some high-profile patients. "Sopranos" star Michael Imperioli told Page Six he was "certain" he caught the virus in early February. A star of the reality series "Love Island" thinks she "had the 'rona" while the show was filming in South Africa in January. And Patti Stanger, star of the Bravo show "Millionaire Matchmaker," was stricken with shallow breathing, a fever, fatigue and nausea after a January vacation in Miami, despite flying with a face mask at the advice of her nail technician. She had to skip the Grammys and had a panic attack when her fever spiked to 102.

"I didn't get up for three weeks," she says. "I didn't eat a thing. I lived on bone broth and crackers."

Later on, when news broke that the coronavirus had arrived in America earlier than we ever knew, "I thought, I could be one of those people," she says.

"I started hearing from all these friends saying, 'I think I had it, I think I had it.'"

- - -

No one wants to have covid-19, but everyone wants to have had it.

And recent research suggests that many people have already had it without knowing. Epidemiologists have said that the number of infections greatly exceeds the official count of cases, potentially by a factor of 10 or more, since people can be asymptomatic carriers of the illness, and because not every victim has been tested.

The World Health Organization has cautioned against the assumption that those who have already had the illness can't get it again. Researchers are still learning about the protective benefits that the disease's antibodies might bestow on survivors.

But after two long months of bad news about the painful effects and unpredictable deadliness of covid-19 - the sudden crashes, the mysterious strokes, the wide-ranging attacks on the body - who could be blamed for wondering, optimistically, about whether they've already joined the ranks of the Recovered?

JoAnna Fischer is sure she had covid-19. She lost her sense of smell, and for three months, she had a cough and chest pain so bad she needed supplemental oxygen. Her husband came down with a respiratory illness, and so did her cat.

One problem: Fischer fell ill all the way back in September, when she was living in northeast Pennsylvania. That's far earlier than epidemiologists believe the disease could have come to the United States.

"There is 0.0% probability that #SARSCoV2 was circulating with community transmission in the US in or before Nov 2019," tweeted Trevor Bedford, a computational biologist at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center who has been tracking the virus' genetic code and spread.

Fischer isn't willing to give up her theory. "When you're thinking about how this thing spread so fast," the 63-year-old says, "it couldn't have just gotten here in December."

Bendavid, the Stanford professor, said one person who wrote to him believed they caught the virus in 2018. "That, I think, is stretching it," says Bendavid.

Thinkihadititis usually involves stretching the imagination to some degree. After all, covid-19 shares some symptoms with the seasonal flu and common allergies. Currently fewer than 20 percent of covid-19 tests are coming back positive, according to data reported to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, suggesting that the great majority of people who thought they had it - even in the middle of the pandemic - didn't actually have it.

To the extent that having already beat covid-19 is preferable to wondering if you're one of the people it's going to put in the hospital, Thinkihadititis may be a form of positive thinking. Humans are hardwired to anticipate positive outcomes, says Tali Sharot, a professor of cognitive neuroscience at the University College London who studies optimism and expectations.

"When there is something we want to believe, we are very good at interpreting the evidence in a way that would support that belief," says Sharot.

The reverse is also true. "Say there was a doctor saying that if you had it before, then the likelihood that you would get it again is higher, and it would be even more dangerous," says the professor. If that were the case, people "would probably look back to their illnesses and interpret certain symptoms as definitely not covid-19."

Whether it's a comfort or a source of anxiety, Thinkihadititis represents a state of limbo.

The good news? There's a cure.

Kind of.

- - -

"The only way to know is to get an antibody test," says Rachael Ayscue. "And I don't know anywhere around here that'll give one."

Ayscue, 47, lives in the suburbs of Raleigh, North Carolina. On Jan. 6, she felt sick, and before long she was coughing so much that it sometimes hurt to breathe. Then her daughter got sick, too. Raleigh didn't see its first confirmed covid case until March 3, but Ayscue wondered whether the tech workers of the Research Triangle had traveled to Asia over the holidays, and brought the virus back. (Epidemiologists believe the earliest American cases originated in Europe, not Asia.)

Antibody tests may provide relief from the fever of doubt. Also known as serology tests, they determine whether a patient's blood contains antibodies, which are proteins that help us fight off infection. The presence of antibodies means the patient's immune system has already been exposed to the virus.

Those tests are now becoming available nationwide, although experts warn that their accuracy can vary.

Since it began offering appointments for antibody tests, the telemedicine provider PlushCare saw "a pretty overwhelming response (from) people who are interested," especially in harder-hit areas like New York, says James Wantuck, the platform's chief medical officer and co-founder.

PlushCare's doctors remind patients that immunity is not a given and that they must continue social distancing and other protective measures. And if the tests come back negative, some patients - confident in their self-diagnosis and wary of possible testing inaccuracies - might not believe them.

"Some of the patients are certainly disappointed," says Wantuck. "I think everyone wants to have this in their rearview mirror or feel some sense of relief."

Fischer, the woman who got sick last September, says she couldn't be convinced so easily. "If I get tested," she says, "and I don't have the antibodies, I think I would ask for a different test."

Ayscue says she plans to get an antibody test if she can, but she doesn't need one to feel comfortable returning to life as usual. She does not hesitate to go to the grocery store, sometimes without a mask. She says she supports the protesters who have demonstrated against strict lockdown rules in North Carolina.

"I've chosen not to be afraid," she says.

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Why so many people are convinced that they had COVID-19 already - SF Gate

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 28, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc.. (NASDAQ:SRPT), the leader in precision genetic medicine for rare diseases, today announced that the Company and the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), the Department of Defenses lead laboratory for medical biological defense research, have entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA). The purpose of the CRADA is to jointly identify antisense oligonucleotides using Sareptas proprietary phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomer (PMO) platform with activity against SARS-CoV-2 for the potential treatment of COVID-19.

Previously published clinical and preclinical studies of Sareptas RNA technology have found evidence of antiviral activity of Sareptas PMO technology in coronaviruses and other viruses.i,ii,iii, iv Pursuant to the CRADA, Sarepta will design, synthesize, manufacture and provide to USAMRIID multiple peptide-conjugated PMO (PPMO) constructs based on genetic sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 for COVID-19. USAMRIID will evaluate the constructs on characterized wild-type SARS-CoV-2 viruses for their potential to inhibit viral infection. Based on the results, Sarepta and USAMRIID will consider collaborative funding proposals to advance the development of treatments for COVID-19.

We should all be proud and grateful that in collaboration with health agencies, many innovative companies across the biopharmaceutical ecosystem have mobilized to fight and solve this COVID-19 pandemic, investing significant resources to rapidly build diagnostics, find treatments, and develop effective vaccines, said Doug Ingram, Sareptas President and Chief Executive Officer. While Sareptas mission to rapidly advance treatments for rare and often fatal genetic disease is focused, unwavering and undeterred, we cannot ignore the impact of this global pandemic on human health, and have answered the call to contribute our scientific expertise and provide our technology in the race to develop an effective treatment for COVID-19. Indeed, we have already built and manufactured therapeutic PPMO constructs and are providing them now to USAMRIID for testing and evaluation.

About the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious DiseasesFor over 50 years, USAMRIID has provided leading edge medical capabilities to deter and defend against current and emerging biological threat agents. The Institute is the only laboratory in the Department of Defense equipped to safely study highly hazardous viruses requiring maximum containment at Biosafety Level 4. Research conducted at USAMRIID leads to medical solutionsvaccines, drugs, diagnostics, and training programsthat benefit both military personnel and civilians. Established in 1969, the Institute plays a key role as the lead military medical research laboratory for the Defense Threat Reduction Agencys Joint Science and Technology Office for Chemical and Biological Defense. USAMRIID is a subordinate laboratory of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command. For more information, visit http://www.usamriid.army.mil

AboutSarepta TherapeuticsAt Sarepta, we are leading a revolution in precision genetic medicine and every day is an opportunity to change the lives of people living with rare disease. The Company has built an impressive position in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and in gene therapies for limb-girdle muscular dystrophies (LGMDs), mucopolysaccharidosis type IIIA, Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT), and other CNS-related disorders, with more than 40 programs in various stages of development. The Companys programs and research focus span several therapeutic modalities, including RNA, gene therapy and gene editing. For more information, please visitwww.sarepta.com or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

Sarepta Forward-Looking StatementThis press release contains forward-looking statements. Any statements contained in this press release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Words such as "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "expects," "will," "intends," "potential," "possible" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include statements regarding the purpose of the CRADA to jointly identify antisense oligonucleotides using Sareptas PMO platform with activity against SARS-CoV-2; the parties commitments under the CRADA; Sarepta and USAMRIIDs plan, subject to an evaluation of the constructs, to consider collaborative funding proposals to advance the development of treatments for COVID-19; the potential of the collaboration between Sarepta and USAMRIID to develop a treatment for COVID-19; and Sareptas mission to rapidly advance treatments for rare and often fatal genetic disease.

These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond Sareptas control. Known risk factors include, among others: the expected benefits and opportunities related to the CRADA may not be realized or may take longer to realize than expected due to challenges and uncertainties inherent in product research and development; in particular, the collaboration may not result in any viable treatments suitable for commercialization due to a variety of reasons, including any inability of the parties to perform their commitments and obligations under the agreement, the results of research may not be consistent with past results or may not be positive or may otherwise fail to meet regulatory approval requirements for the safety and efficacy of product candidates, possible limitations of company financial and other resources, manufacturing limitations that may not be anticipated or resolved for in a timely manner, and regulatory, court or agency decisions, such as decisions by the United States Patent and Trademark Office with respect to patents that cover Sareptas product candidates; and those risks identified under the heading Risk Factors in Sareptas most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019 and most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as well as other SEC filings made by the Company which you are encouraged to review.

Any of the foregoing risks could materially and adversely affect the Companys business, results of operations and the trading price of Sareptas common stock. For a detailed description of risks and uncertainties Sarepta faces, you are encouraged to review Sarepta's 2019 Annual Report on Form 10-K and most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as well as other SEC filings made by Sarepta. We caution investors not to place considerable reliance on the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Sarepta does not undertake any obligation to publicly update its forward-looking statements based on events or circumstances after the date hereof.

Internet Posting of InformationWe routinely post information that may be important to investors in the 'For Investors' section of our website atwww.sarepta.com. We encourage investors and potential investors to consult our website regularly for important information about us.

Source: Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc.

Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc.

Investors:Ian Estepan, 617-274-4052iestepan@sarepta.com

Media:Tracy Sorrentino, 617-301-8566tsorrentino@sarepta.com

i NeumanBW, et al. J Virol.2004Jun;78(11):5891-9. Antisense morpholino-oligomers directed against the 5' endofthe genome inhibit coronavirus proliferation and growth.

ii Burrer R, et al. J Virol.2007 Jun;81(11):5637-48. Antiviral effectsofantisensemorpholinooligomers in murine coronavirus infection models.

iii NeumanBW, et al. J Virol.2005 Aug;79(15):9665-76. Inhibition, escape, and attenuated growthofsevere acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus treated withantisensemorpholinooligomers.

iv HealdAE, et al. AntimicrobAgentsChemother.2014 Nov;58(11):6639-47. Safety and Pharmacokinetic Profiles of Phosphorodiamidate Morpholino Oligomers with Activity Against Ebola Virus and Marburg Virus: Results of Two Single-Ascending-Dose Studies.

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Sarepta Therapeutics Announces Research Agreement with US Department of Defense to Evaluate Multiple Constructs From its Proprietary RNA Platform as...

Andrew P. McMahonwho is the W.M. Keck Provost and University Professor in USCs departments of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine, and Biological Sciences at the Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Scienceshas been elected as a new member of the National Academy of Sciences in honor of his outstanding contributions to developmental biology. The National Academy of Sciences brings together nearly 3,000 leading researchers to provide objective, science-based advice on critical issues affecting the nationin accordance with an Act of Congress approved by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863.

Were delighted that Dr. McMahon is being recognized as a newly elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, said Dean Laura Mosqueda from the Keck School. Because new members are elected by current members, this represents recognition of Dr. McMahons achievements by his most esteemed peers in all scientific fields.

Being elected to the National Academy of Sciences is one of the highest honors that can be bestowed upon a scientist. Dr. McMahon has had a truly remarkable career in the field of developmental biology. This honor is well deserved. We are proud of Dr. McMahons accomplishments and of his contributions to research and education at USC, said USC Provost Charles F. Zukoski.

McMahons group is well-known for identifying key signals coordinating cell interactions directing the assembly, composition and functional organization of mammalian organ systems. This research led to the founding of a biotechnology startup and the first drug treatment for an invasive form of skin cancer.

Currently, the McMahon Lab has narrowed its focus from multiple organ systems to a single, exquisitely complex organ: the kidney. With one in 10 people worldwide affected by chronic kidney disease, McMahon has a pragmatic desire to advance stem cell research in response to this medical need.

His lab has uncovered detailed genetic and molecular clues about how developing kidneys form, as well as how adult kidneys respond to injury and disease. These discoveries inform efforts to build synthetic mini kidneys, called organoids, that can be used to study disease, identify potential drug therapies, and eventually provide functional tissue for transplantation.

McMahon laid the groundwork for his career in developmental biology when he was still a high school student in the United Kingdom, studying for his university entrance exams.

The great thing about sitting the exam for Oxford University was that it excused me from taking the regular classes at school and allowed me to just read things that I thought were interesting, he said. So I started reading books about how our genes worked.

During his undergraduate studies at Oxford University, McMahon became fascinated by how genes orchestrated the intricate process of human embryonic development.

Im always looking for answers to what I consider to be the most interesting question of all, said McMahon. How do our genes direct one cell, the egg, to generate the remarkable diversity of different cell types in our bodies?

He continued this line of inquiry during his PhD studies at University College London, and his postdoctoral training at the California Institute of Technology. He started his independent research career at the National Institute for Medical Research in London, then moved to the Roche Institute for Molecular Biology, before joining the faculty at Harvard University in 1993.

After a nearly 20-year career at Harvard, McMahon joined USC as the Director of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research in 2012. He established a new Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, which he chairs, and recruited a large cohort of early-career scientists at the start of their faculty careers.

In addition to his most recent accolade from the National Academy of Sciences, McMahon is an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the European Molecular Biology Organization, and the Royal Society.

His group has published more than 300 primary research articles, and 22 US patents and 30 foreign patents have been issued around his research.

It may be a clich, but its true: this recognition is really a recognition of the many talented students, postdoctoral fellows and research staff I have been privileged to work with at several institutions throughout my career, said McMahon. I am glad my good fortune continues at USC.

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USC Professor Andrew P. McMahon elected to the National Academy of Sciences - USC News

Taking a deep look at data on thousands of twins has shown how some Covid-19 symptoms might be more influenced by our genetics than others.

Researchers at Kings College London analyzed data on 2,633 identical and fraternal twins who have been using their Covid-19 Symptom Tracker app, which also includes the data of 2.7 million other users.The study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, can be found on the preprint server medRxiv.

Their preliminary findings suggest that genetic factors could be responsible for about 50 percent of the differences between peoples symptoms of Covid-19, the list of which seems to be ever-growing.The development of some key Covid-19 symptoms, such as fever, fatigue, shortness of breath, diarrhea, and the loss of taste and smell, appear to be strongly influenced by genes. On the other hand, environmental factors appear to explain the development of symptoms such as a hoarse voice, cough, chest pain, and abdominal pain. Thispotentially explains why the virus appears to impact some people severely while others experience relatively mild or no symptoms.

The Covid-19 Symptom Tracker app asks people in the UK on a daily basis about the presence or absence of common symptoms. You can check out the latest figures from the app on itsinteractive map.The +2,600 twins using the app were recruited from TwinsUK, one of the most detailed research projects on twins in the world. Together, this information was used to see whether typical symptoms of a likely COVID-19 infection were more or less common in identical twins (who share 100 percent of their genes) compared with non-identical twins (who share 50 percent of their genes,just like regular full siblings).

The idea was to basically look at the similarities in symptoms or non-symptoms between the identical twins, who share 100 percent of their genes, and the non-identical twins, who only share half of their genes, Professor Tim Spector, a genetic epidemiologist at Kings College London, toldThe Guardian.This disease is very weird, the way it has a very different presentation in the population in different people what we are showing is that [it] isnt random. It is not mainly due to where you live or who you have seen; a lot of it is something innate about you."

There are some drawbacks to the research, namely because all the results are based on self-reporting, which means a fair amount of subjectivity might sneak into the results. Nevertheless, the unique project offers a rare opportunity for scientists to study large amounts of data on Covid-19 from people who have not sought out medical attention.

Our twins are fantastically committed, enthusiastic health research participants who have already been studied in unprecedented detail, putting us in a unique position to provide vital answers to support the global fight against Covid-19, Professor Spector said in a statement.

The more of the public that also use the app, the better the real-time data we will have to combat the outbreak.

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Data On Thousands Of Twins Reveals How Genetics Influences Covid-19 Symptoms - IFLScience