Ian Driver

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative has awarded $14M to four cell biology research collaboratives to develop technology for better understanding cells. The multi-year grants will bring together regional labs in California, the Mid-Atlantic, and the Research Triangle in North Carolina to explore the frontiers of genomics, cell biology, and synthetic biology by developing new measurement technologies. These projects will focus on developing technologies to engineer cell and tissue models, exploring cellular responses to genetic and environmental stressors, understanding the role of #RNA in metabolism, and more. More on each project below: Exploratory cell networks to decode and program cellular behavior: Caltech, UCLA, and the University of Southern California will engineer, manipulate, and analyze complex multicellular systems, starting with muscle and immune cells. Findings from the project could help unlock a variety of cell and gene therapies to treat diseases such as #cancer, #musculardystrophy, and #autoimmune conditions. Innovative approaches for charting state-dependent RNA metabolic networks: The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, Scripps Research, and UC San Diego will create a set of technologies to research RNA and cellular metabolism. These methods will clarify how cells respond and adapt to genetic and environmental stresses, including aging and diseases linked to RNA dysregulation, such as #Alzheimer’s disease. Revealing the hidden topologies of the human kinome: Duke University, North Carolina State University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will develop a suite of new tools capable of monitoring and manipulating protein kinases, which are not only key biological regulators but also a frequent target for therapeutic intervention. This work will help researchers better understand cellular organization, nervous system function, and neurological diseases. Technologies for mapping RNA/protein flux, assembly, and aging through condensates: Princeton University, The Rockefeller University, and the University of Pennsylvania will develop technologies to clarify how RNA and proteins move and are metabolized within cells, with a specific focus on membrane-less compartments in cells. These new tools will fill a gap in foundational biology and may be helpful for understanding a core process impacting disease diagnosis and aging. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gBngZ2_R

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SFBN Feed: Veravas Completes Analytical Verification Study of the VeraBIND Tau Assay, a Groundbreaking Test to Measure Alzheimer's Tau Pathology in Blood https://lnkd.in/gxepiFCc AUSTIN, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Veravas, a leading innovator in clinical diagnostics, today announced the results of an analytical verification study of its VeraBIND™ Tau assay, a next-generation test being co-developed with Phanes Biotech, an early-stage biotech company [...] #BayArea #SanFrancisco #Biotech #Lifescience #News

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🎙️ New episode on Getting to Know Your Research! 🎉 In episode seven, Dr. Dawn Eichenfield and Dr. Jennifer Sui discuss their 2022 PeDRA Research Fellowship project titled Characterization of non-coding genetic loci and transcription factors that drive the development of linear morphea. Listen to learn about the many collaborations needed to propel a study like this. 🎧 Listen on PeDRA Pearls or click here 👉 https://lnkd.in/eG5Atjeg #PeDRA #pedraresearch #dermatology #pedsderm #dermresearch #dermnerds #academicdermatology #dermpodcast #morphea

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Have you heard about Papillon Therapeutics? This UC San Diego-powered company is a clinical-stage biotechnology company advancing a pipeline of multi-systemic genetic medicines directed at the underlying causes of inherited disease. They focus on neurodegenerative disorders with a technology platform that enables durable expression of functional protein throughout the body, including the brain and central nervous system.   Recently, this incredible startup co-founded by Eric Adler and Stephanie Cherqui completed Phase 1/2 clinical trial for the lead indication in 2023, with positive results, and is now licensed to Novartis. They also secured nearly $30 million in funding from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) and The National Institutes of Health (NIH), including $10 million for IND-enabling preclinical programs targeting Friedreich's ataxia (PPL-001) and Danon disease (PPL-002). To top it all off, they achieved FDA designations for orphan drug (ODD) and rare pediatric disease (RPD) for both preclinical programs.    Learn more about Papillon Therapeutics: https://lnkd.in/gZd_wxwH Congrats on all your successes Papillon Therapeutics!   Eric Adler, Stephanie Cherqui, Colin Exline, Shane Moise, Paul Roben, Lisel Gorell-Getz, M.A., Corinne Peek-Asa, Christine Liou, Jacques Chirazi, Christiana Russell, M.Ed, Priya Sinha Cloutier #whereinnovatorsconnect, #designandinnovation, #Officeofinnovationandcommercialization, #Innovation, #UCSanDiego, #entrepreneurship, #startup

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Dr Cameron Metcalf, and his team at the Anticonvulsant Drug Development (ADD) program, at the University of Utah use Kaha rat biopotential telemeters, and more recently have started using Kaha mouse biopotential telemeters, to screen potential anticonvulsant compounds. In this excerpt, Cameron discusses: ✅ The importance of having a skilled surgeon ✅ Using video-EEG to track seizure activity ✅ Seizure review and automation ✅ Reusing telemeters ✅ Setting up crossover study design for mini-clinical trials SEE MORE 👉 https://lnkd.in/gDZ4D_k9 #ADInstruments #MakingScienceEasier #KahaTelemetry #EpilepsyResearch

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Dr Cameron Metcalf, and his team at the Anticonvulsant Drug Development (ADD) program, at the University of Utah use Kaha rat biopotential telemeters, and more recently have started using Kaha mouse biopotential telemeters, to screen potential anticonvulsant compounds. In this excerpt, Cameron discusses: ✅ The importance of having a skilled surgeon ✅ Using video-EEG to track seizure activity ✅ Seizure review and automation ✅ Reusing telemeters ✅ Setting up crossover study design for mini-clinical trials SEE MORE 👉 https://lnkd.in/gDZ4D_k9 #ADInstruments #MakingScienceEasier #KahaTelemetry #EpilepsyResearch

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🚨 Episode 2 of our Commercialization Basics conversations is out now! 🚨 Rocky Mountain REACH Co-Director Karen Brown spoke with Monica Serban, Director of the Montana Biotechnology Center (BIOTECH), about her experience commercializing her research and bridging the gap between academics and industry. Check out the clip below and watch the full video on our YouTube channel. Don't forget to register for our REACH Ready workshop series where you can learn from experts (including Monica!) more details on what you need to commercialize your research. Register at https://bit.ly/reach-ready. https://lnkd.in/gC2pQg85

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📢 For all of my ML friends out there who are interested in learning more about the current state-of-the-art in molecular design using ML. Genentech's machine learning drug discovery accelerator Prescient Design is pushing the boundaries in revolutionizing drug discovery, and this review in Nature Machine Intelligence is just one of the many ways that Genentech & Roche are driving the paradigm shift in science and medicine. #artificialintelligence #machinelearning #deeplearning #ai #LLM #NLP #generativeai #computationalbiology #computationalchemistry #structuralbiology #systemsbiology #genomics #proteins #drugdiscovery #medicine #weareroche

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Back from #ASHG2024! One standout was learning about using ML for phenotype imputation, from folks at insitro. This approach uses ML to infer phenotypes from sources like biomarkers and next-gen sequencing, allowing them to perform GWAS studies that would otherwise be impossible. Another cool concept is the 6-base genome. biomodal is rolling out capability to read methylated bases, allowing for easier exploration of epigenetic info. They even posted a 6 base pair dataset on GEO (GSE251668)! I wonder if we’ll see the combination of the 2 methods next year 🤔 Also makes me wonder what kind of stuff people were talking about at the first ASHG, 75 years ago. The field moved incredibly fast 🤯 ===== Talk to me if you'd like to focus on using methods like this in your research instead of setting up infrastructure.

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Here’s how we can engineer plants to CREATE light, instead of just consuming it. 🌿🧬💡 💡 The first glow-in-the-dark plant was made in the 80’s by adding DNA from the firefly luciferase gene and feeding the plant luciferin (a substrate that releases light when catalyzed by luciferase in the presence of oxygen). 🪼 Since, glow-in-the-dark enzymes and other proteins (especially GFP, green fluorescent protein) have become major tools in biotechnology labs. 🔮 But could we see their crossover into Consumer Biology? Could we one day read by the light of our houseplants? Or walk down streets shaded by trees by day and illuminated by them at night? 🐟🐠 Aside from some novelties such as glow-in-the-dark aquarium pets, we haven’t seen much crossover of these technologies from reagents to home goods - mostly due to the very low light output achieved to date. But there’s been a new development…. 🍄 Researchers have engineered a more efficient luciferin:luciferase system from fungi (these systems evolved independently multiple times) into plants. They also further increased key precursors of the light-producing molecules via a combined gene silencing and over-expression approach. 🧪 We use these same approaches in molecular farming to increase the production of valuable molecules like sweeteners in engineered plants. 💡 This ambitious and comprehensive strategy to boost light output had a major impact on the light production of these newly-engineered plants! 📈 And better yet - the researchers documented that even this record light output is far below the theoretical maximum… 🚀 Meaning there’s immediate potential to increase light output even further! 🤔 Perhaps (one day not so far in the future) bright enough to read by. 📚 #molecularfarming #bioengineering #syntheticbiology #future #consumerbiology

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The bipartisan FDA Modernization Act 3.0 - which passed the Senate last month and is awaiting House approval now - paves the way for less animal testing and more human IPSC testing. This is great news. Less than 5% of drugs that work in mice ever pass clinical trials. That's because 75 million years separates humans and mice. Time to do better. 2D and 3D Human disease models are better predictors of efficacy than animal models. Animal models are helpful for systemic modeling, but human models are better for efficacy testing.

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Pengfei Liu, PhD, FACMGG, is discussing everything RNA-seq in next week's journal club! Don't miss his live presentation delving into the specifics on this innovative rare disease diagnostic workflow. During Dr. Liu's presentation he'll tackle: 🧬How transcriptome RNA-seq using accessible tissues can fall short in characterizing genes involved in neurological disorders. 💡How cell transdifferentiation is streamlined into a diagnostic RNA-seq workflow. 🥼How to increase molecular diagnostic yield by activating neurological disease-associated genes and neuron-specific isoforms with induced neuron RNA-seq. Gain these insights on June 12 by registering today: https://lnkd.in/eeH-XUHJ #ASHG #HumanGenetics

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Good morning everyone! Do you like AI and graph neural networks? (see what i did there? :-) ) Our blog today helps you discover how SpatialGlue, a groundbreaking model published in Nature Methods, leverages graph neural networks and dual-attention mechanisms to integrate spatial and multi-omics data, providing unprecedented insights into tissue architecture and cellular interactions. Read our blog for a summary of how this innovative approach outperforms traditional models, offering precise mapping of complex structures and advancing research in fields like cancer and neurology. #SpatialTranscriptomics #ComputationalBiology #Bioinformatics #AI

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#CZBiohubSF is “computational biologists’ heaven,” says Yasin Şenbabaoğlu, Biohub SF’s new Director of Computational Biology. That’s because “Biohub researchers are generating unique, large datasets that aren’t being prioritized by industry or academia.” Şenbabaoğlu brings to his new role a wealth of experience in cancer immunology and genomics as well as the development of multimodal AI tools for biological discovery. Read about his journey and his vision for future projects: https://lnkd.in/ggjaWR-x #computationalbiology #datascience #genomics #cancer #AI

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Protein Degradation Method Paves a Way for New Cancer Therapies Targeted protein degradation is a method that selectively eliminates disease-causing proteins. Scientists at the University of California, Riverside are now using this method to pave a way for new cancer therapies.

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What would happen if we used generative protein design to build new viral-like gene delivery tools? Viral particles work well for gene delivery, but their shells (capsids) are optimized to survive harsh conditions and evade the immune system, rather than maximizing gene transfer efficiency. Helmholtz scientists used RFdiffsusion to generate better capsid building blocks and fused them to viral domains needed for membrane attachment, cell exit, and cargo (RNA) binding. They developed and screened ~40 different novel synthetic transfer vehicles with different geometries, and could achieve high delivery efficiency into different cell lines and more complex spheroids. Their vectors outperformed virus-like particles, nanocages, and endogenous encapsidation delivery by an order of magnitude or higher (!). When tested against LNPs they needed a 100k lower dose to create the same RNA response (!!). By including artificially designed peptides, they could also program the specificities of their vectors and could target different cell types, such as blood and brain cells. As a proof of concept in animals, they were even able to delete exon 51 from the dystrophin gene in pigs (~50% deletion frequency), demonstrating a potential clinical application for Duchenne muscle dystrophy. The exciting thing is that with a platform like this, one could in theory create an infinite number of different vectors and using powerful screens select the best-performing ones! Full preprint here: https://lnkd.in/gpPYEiJG

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SFBN Feed: Making Sense of Scents https://lnkd.in/gntjnt59 In a first, UCSF scientists created a molecular-level, 3D picture of how an odor molecule activates a human odorant receptor. Click here to view original post Click Here to Publish/Feature Your Company or Product News [...] #BayArea #SanFrancisco #Biotech #Lifescience #News

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