Transportation of key proteins via extracellular vesicles has been recently implicated in various neurodegenerative disorders, including Parkinson’s disease, as a new mechanism of disease spreading and a new source of biomarkers. Extracellular vesicles likely to be derived from the brain can be isolated from peripheral blood and have been reported to contain higher levels of α-synuclein (α-syn) in Parkinson’s disease…
Scientists at Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason (BRI) are studying COVID-19 patient blood samples to understand the immune response to this deadly virus. With more than 30 Virginia Mason team members and BRI researchers collaborating, research is happening at an unprecedented pace to help combat the COVID-19 public health crisis. By examining these samples, researchers are aiming to learn…
Millions of people worldwide suffer from inherited nonmalignant blood disorders like sickle cell disease and thalassemia. The culprit: genetic defects in their blood stem cells. With a new four-year $3.5 million grant, researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center are working toward a safer form of a longstanding treatment for these patients. Today, the only cure for sickle cell disease…
Sensei Biotherapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing precision immuno-oncology therapies, today announced the acquisition of Alvaxa Biosciences, Inc., a camelid antibody therapeutics company with technology licensed from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. “We are delighted to announce the acquisition of Alvaxa Biosciences. Nanobodies are the next stage of our strategy to build out our proprietary ImmunoPhage™ platform, a next-generation…
A-Alpha Bio today announced that it has been awarded a National Science Foundation Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant to continue developing their AlphaSeq platform for the discovery of molecular glues. AlphaSeq is a proprietary drug discovery platform that applies synthetic biology and next generation sequencing to measure up to millions of protein-protein affinities simultaneously by characterizing all…
HVTN 098, a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, evaluated the safety, tolerability and immunogenicity of PENNVAX®-GP HIV DNA vaccine, administered with or without plasmid IL-12 (pIL-12), via intradermal (ID) or intramuscular (IM) electroporation (EP) in healthy, HIV-uninfected adults. The study tested whether PENNVAX®-GP delivered via ID/EP at 1/5th the dose could elicit equivalent immune responses to delivery via IM/EP, and if…
As the new director of the grants program at the Washington Research Foundation, David Shoultz joins at a unique time for an organization dedicated to accelerating innovation in science and technology in the state. As research institutions and companies throughout Washington place a priority on the response to COVID-19, WRF has received a number of grant applications that run the full…
Scientific publishers, universities, librarians, and open-access (OA) advocates are waiting anxiously to see whether the Trump administration will end a long-standing policy and require that every scholarly article produced with US funding be made immediately free to all. Such a mandate has long been fiercely opposed by some publishers and scientific societies that depend on subscription revenues from journals. But…
A recent study led by the UW demonstrated that artificial intelligence (AI) could be used to increase the accuracy of single-radiologist assessments of mammograms. The study showed that overdiagnosis, a major harm of screening mammography, can be reduced by AI, improving quality of care in diagnosing breast cancer by preventing up to 500,000 unnecessary workups. However, clinical testing would be necessary before…
An international trial of an injectable drug designed to prevent HIV was halted Monday after an early look at data showed significantly fewer new HIV infections among those given the shots compared to participants assigned a once-a-day pill. “This is a real win for HIV prevention,” said Dr. Deborah Donnell of the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research…
