People who contracted COVID-19 while pregnant were more likely to have poor birth outcomes including preterm birth, small for gestational age, low birth weight, and stillbirth. The poor outcomes of preterm birth and stillbirth were observed primarily with those infected with SARS-CoV-2 during the first or second trimester, whereas increased rates of small for gestational age were driven largely by…
A new cell therapy company is on the block, propelled by powerhouse scientific co-founders from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center with years of experience investigating how to harness the immune system to treat cancer. Affini-T Therapeutics, which emerged Wednesday in a presentation at the J.P. Morgan Health Care Conference, is headquartered in Boston and has a research lab in Seattle. The company’s…
Bronchopulmonary dysplasia is a long-lasting form of lung disease affecting babies born prematurely. Their lungs are not fully formed and are sometimes damaged, and they need extra oxygen through a tube placed into their nose or more support to survive, grow and develop. BPD also is called chronic lung disease of prematurity. The number of newborns with BPD has risen…
Seattle-based Sana Biotechnology went all-in on improving CAR T therapies against B cell cancers in two separate deals announced today. First, Sana entered into a non-exclusive commercial rights deal with China-based IASO Bio and Innovent Biologics. Under the deal, Sana picks up non-exclusive commercial rights to a fully-human BCMA CAR construct from the two companies. This BCMA CAR can be used in specific in vivo gene therapies and…
Dr. Anna Kuchina has joined Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) as assistant professor, and is our newest faculty member. Kuchina comes to ISB after completing her postdoctoral training in the Seelig Lab at the University of Washington. Following is a Q&A with Kuchina that delves into her research career to date, her research areas of interest, and much more. ISB:…
Our brains are made up of a confusing tangle of hundreds of different kinds of cells, wired together in an even larger number of different combinations. While scientists are making headway at sorting out the number and types of neurons and other cells that are the building blocks of the mammalian brain, broader questions remain largely unanswered: Why do we…
Cell therapy company Century Therapeutics will receive a $100 million up front payment and $50 million in equity investment from Bristol Myers Squibb in a deal announced Monday. Under the agreement, Bristol Myers Squibb will develop and commercialize up to four of Century’s programs for cancer therapies made from induced pluripotent stem cells, which can be generated from adult human tissue.…
In the latest and largest study yet of a novel technique for treating leukemia patients, researchers have affirmed that it dramatically reduces a common debilitating side effect — chronic graft-vs.-host disease — in those receiving blood stem cell transplants. The experimental approach, which uses a kind of magnetic filter to remove certain immune cells before transplant, reduced the rate of…
In 2015, a team of inquisitive young scientists, absorbed in the study of metabolism, regeneration, and biological development, set out to answer a question. Could the way cells produce energy help explain why certain organisms have an envious ability to regenerate heart tissue after injury? And, if so, could that knowledge be used to help heal human hearts? The results…
A clinical practice article in the New England Journal of Medicine distills available data and clinical experience into a compendium about rapid diagnostic tests for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The appendix identified nearly all FDA-approved rapid diagnostic tests and their efficacy. The list is divided into home-based tests and those for use at designated testing sites (drive-through sites, schools, churches, etc.).…