In the frustrating 40-year effort to develop a vaccine for HIV/AIDS, hardworking scientists could certainly use some help. Newly published research suggests they may have found some in the form of a common white blood cell called a CD4 T cell lymphocyte — also known, incidentally, as a helper T cell. A critical component of the human immune system, helper T…
Seattle biotech company OncoResponse landed $27 million to advance the development and testing of its antibody-based immunotherapy treatments that fight cancer. New funds will support the development of OR502 and OR2805, immunotherapy candidates undergoing testing. OncoResponse, founded in 2016, is led by CEO and founder Clifford Stocks. He previously led Theraclone Sciences and was a longtime exec at Cialis-maker ICOS Corporation, which Eli…
Researchers from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, Scripps Research in La Jolla, California, IAVI and other collaborating institutions have characterized robust T-cell responses in volunteers participating in the IAVI G001 Phase 1 clinical trial to test the safety and immune response of a self-assembling nanoparticle HIV vaccine. Their work, published in Science Translational Medicine, signals a major step toward development of a vaccine approach to end…
Hospital inpatients who develop an acute kidney injury (AKI) generally fare poorly after being discharged, and have few options for effective treatment. A UW Medicine-led study published recently in American Journal of Kidney Diseases suggests that new tests might improve this narrative. In the study, “about 30% of the patients that came into the hospital developed AKI, which means in a matter of…
Drs. William Chour and Jongchan Choi are lead authors of a paper published in the Nature journal Communications Biology that details their work to create a quicker, more effective method of identifying antigen-specific CD8+ T cells. Their findings allow researchers to rapidly and accurately analyze peptide-based T cell responses across many areas of study, including autoimmunity, cancer and infectious disease.…
Dr. Michael Metzger’s research on the contagious cancer spreading among Pacific Northwest cockles and our partnership with the local Suquamish Tribe to save the local shellfish population is featured in the May 22nd issue of The Seattle Times: Researchers rush to find cause of contagious cancer in PNW clams | The Seattle Times.
In a new study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology led by Benaroya Research Institute (BRI) and Seattle Children’s Research Institute in collaboration with the University of Washington School of Medicine and the University of Wisconsin, researchers discovered why individuals with allergic asthma may have reduced susceptibility to COVID-19 and an important mechanism by which allergic inflammation diminishes SARS-CoV-2 infection, despite…
Mountain climber, mentor, swimmer and world-renowned scientist, Beverly Torok-Storb, PhD, a pioneering stem cell biologist who worked at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center for 45 years, died Friday, May 5, at her home in Seattle. She was 75. A professor in Fred Hutch’s Translational Science and Therapeutics Division, Torok-Storb’s contributions to science and to education in science, technology, engineering and math, or…
Space: The final frontier … for stem cells? Seattle’s Allen Institute for Cell Science says cells from its collection are going into space for the first time on a private mission to the International Space Station. The Allen Cell Collection’s assortment of human induced pluripotent stem cells, or IPSCs, will be the focus for one of more than 20 experiments being sent into orbit on a flight…
Our immune systems have evolved to protect us from a wide range of threats, including bacteria, viruses, allergens, and parasites. While research has revealed many of the ways the human body fights off these invaders, how exactly the immune system detects threats in the first place is one of the many mysteries immunologists are investigating. Now, a new study from…