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Merck to collaborate with GenScript for plasmid and virus manufacturing in China

Merck, a leading science and technology company, today announced the signing of a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding with Chinese biotech company GenScript for a strategic alliance focusing on plasmid and viral vector manufacturing.

From Merck 20 Mar 2019

Getting closer to a scary 'post-antibiotic world'

The products of wastewater treatment have been found to contain trace amounts of antibiotic resistant DNA. These products are often reintroduced to the environment and water supply, potentially resulting in the spread of antibiotic resistance.

8 Mar 2019

Cobra Biologics announces appointment of Dr Darrell Sleep as Director of Innovation

Cobra Biologics, an international CDMO for biologics and pharmaceuticals, today announced the appointment of Dr Darrell Sleep as Director of Innovation.

From Charles River 16 Jan 2019

Scientists take another step in understanding bacteria that cause Salmonella epidemic

Scientists at the University of Liverpool have taken another step forward in understanding the bacteria that are causing a devastating Salmonella epidemic currently killing around 400,000 people each year in sub-Saharan Africa.

16 Jan 2019

New strategy may prevent spread of drug resistance

Spotless surfaces in hospitals can hide bacteria that rarely cause problems for healthy people but pose a serious threat to people with weakened immune systems.

10 Jan 2019

Advances in gene therapy for inherited blood disorders

Gene therapy holds a lot of promise in medicine. If we could safely alter our own DNA, we might eliminate diseases our ancestors passed down to us.

4 Dec 2018

NanoBioCel group develops lipid vesicles that can genetic material efficiently and viably

In a piece of research conducted in collaboration, the NanoBioCel group of the UPV/EHU's Faculty of Pharmacy, and the University of Elche have designed some niosomes, which are lipid vesicles for use in gene therapies designed to treat diseases of the central nervous system.

4 Dec 2018

New method increases virus production in cells to generate more vectors for gene transfer

Researchers at Tokyo Medical and Dental University have established a method to increase the released lentiviral particles produced by host cells, which will aid the use of the vectors for introducing foreign genes into cells

29 Oct 2018

IDT to demonstrate CRISPR expertise at European-focused events

As an advocate for the genomics age, Integrated DNA Technologies (IDT), will showcase its renowned CRISPR expertise at a series of European-focused events.

From Integrated DNA Technologies 22 Oct 2018

LineaRx signs agreement with Takis/Evvivax to develop linear-DNA based anti-cancer vaccines

Applied DNA Sciences Inc. announced today that LineaRx, Inc., its wholly-owned subsidiary focused on next-generation biotherapeutics, has signed a Joint Development Agreement with Takis S.R.L. and Evvivax S.R.L., biotechnology companies focused on the discovery and development of DNA based anti-cancer vaccines for the human and animal markets, respectively.

20 Sep 2018

Study reveals how dangerous bacterium shares its genetic information

Bacteria are very sneaky in their efforts to develop resistance to antibiotics. Some strains of bacteria package up the genetic instructions for how they defend themselves and cause disease, and pass this information on to neighbouring, naïve, bacteria - essentially gifting their colleagues with the defences they need to survive against our medical armoury of antibiotics.

14 Sep 2018

Stanford researchers show how to prevent immune response to gene therapy in mouse model

Stanford University School of Medicine researchers have demonstrated that gene therapy can be effective without causing a dangerous side effect common to all gene therapy: an autoimmune reaction to the normal protein, which the patient's immune system is encountering for the first time.

4 Sep 2018

New Euro-GASP program monitors continued effectiveness of treatment regimen for gonorrhea

Neisseria gonorrhoea continues to show high levels of resistance to azithromycin across the European Union and European Economic Area, according to the 2016 results of the European Gonococcal Antimicrobial Surveillance Programme.

31 Aug 2018

Researchers provide new virulence clues through genomic study of anthrax strains

By analyzing genomic sequences from more than 400 strains of the bacterium that causes anthrax, researchers have provided the first evidence that the severity - technically known as virulence - of specific strains may be related to the number of copies of certain plasmids they carry.

30 Aug 2018

Using CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing to correct mutation responsible for sickle cell disease

Genome editing using the CRISPR-Cas9 system has tremendous promise for therapeutic correction of genetic errors in human cells. Prior to adoption as a medical therapeutic, safety concerns relating to off-target effects must be minimized to mitigate risks that may arise from the unintended action of this system at sites similar, but not identical, to the desired gene target site.

From Integrated DNA Technologies 10 Aug 2018

UConn microbiologists find evidence for antibiotic resistance in leech's gut

Plastic surgery patients were getting infections with antibiotic resistant bacteria, and no one knew why. UConn microbiologists found the answer in a leech's gut. Their research, published today in mBio, provides proof that tiny levels of antibiotics found in the environment can encourage bacterial resistance.

24 Jul 2018

Researchers discover biomarkers that accurately identify hypervirulent K. pneumoniae

Imagine a pathogen that infects completely healthy people and can cause blindness in one day and flesh-eating infections, brain abscesses and death in just a few days.

9 Jul 2018

Scientists use CRISPR tool to make multiple edits to DNA samples 'in vitro'

Scientists at Christiana Care Health System's Gene Editing Institute have developed a potentially breakthrough CRISPR gene-editing tool. It could allow researchers to take fragments of DNA extracted from human cells, put them into a test tube, and quickly and precisely engineer multiple changes to the genetic code, according to a new study published today in the CRISPR Journal.

20 Apr 2018

Bacterial 'gene swapping' affects emergence and spread of infectious diseases

A new study by scientists at the University of Liverpool documents, for the first time, how the ability of bacteria to swap genetic material with each other can directly affect the emergence and spread of globally important infectious diseases.

17 Apr 2018

Short international trips can lead to spread of colistin resistance

The emergence of antibiotic resistance among dangerous pathogens is increasingly problematic worldwide. Many strains of infectious bacteria have become multidrug-resistant, and cannot be treated with common antibiotic therapies.

11 Apr 2018