DNA, Molecular Biology and Virus - Drug Discovery Digest

Guide to using AAV vectors in gene therapy

Drug Discovery World

FEBRUARY 8, 2024

In 2023, DDW hosted a webinar, ‘A comprehensive guide to using adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors in gene therapy’, supported by Azenta Life Sciences. Questions were fielded from the audience, which included: What analysis will be performed to evaluate host or other DNA contamination? Why are those important?

Therapies

Therapies Bioinformatics Packaging Molecular Biology

Guide to using AAV vectors in gene therapy

Drug Discovery World

OCTOBER 3, 2023

Earlier this year, DDW hosted a webinar, ‘A comprehensive guide to using adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors in gene therapy’, supported by Azenta Life Sciences. Questions were fielded from the audience, which included: What analysis will be performed to evaluate host or other DNA contamination? Why are those important?

Therapies

Therapies Bioinformatics Packaging Molecular Biology

Phages could help to tackle antimicrobial resistance

Drug Target Review

DECEMBER 7, 2023

Phage have been of interest to scientists as tools to understand fundamental molecular biology, as vectors of horizontal gene transfer and drivers of bacterial evolution, as sources of diagnostic and genetic tools, and as novel therapeutic agents. Its presence elsewhere would indicate something is wrong.

RNA

RNA Immune Response DNA Molecular Biology

Enhancing gene therapy with Circio

Drug Target Review

MAY 22, 2024

What are the key findings of Circio’s in vivo proof-of-concept for its circVec circular RNA platform technology compared to conventional mRNA-based expression with DNA vectors? DNA vectors in mouse models? Circular RNA (circRNA) has two major advantages versus mRNA in a vector-expression context.

Therapies

Therapies RNA Protein Expression DNA

Global advances in synthetic biology

Drug Discovery World

NOVEMBER 17, 2022

Lu Rahman selects some recent synthetic biology innovations and the potential they hold to benefit drug discovery. . The rapidly growing area of synthetic biology – including molecular biology, biotechnology, biophysics, and genetic engineering – is having a marked impact on the drug discovery landscape.

Engineering

Engineering Molecular Biology Synthetic Chemistry DNA

The democratisation of cell and gene therapy

Drug Discovery World

MAY 29, 2024

DNA purification “Plasmid DNA is an incredibly important part of molecular biology”, says Hummersone. He says: “What we are seeing from a molecular biology perspective is that the genetic material that we want to pack into viral vectors is becoming increasingly complicated. Firstly, AAV is a delicate vector.

Therapies

Therapies Molecular Biology DNA Immune Response

A surprising new role for a major immune regulator

Broad Institute

AUGUST 7, 2023

STING is primarily on the lookout for DNA, which can indicate either a foreign invader such as a virus or damage to the host tissue or cell. Once it detects DNA, it relocates to the Golgi body, where it begins to activate proteins that turn on genes required for interferon production. Paper Cited Liu B, Carlson R, et al.

Regulations

Regulations Engineering Clinical Trials DNA

Q&A With Dr. Norbert Makori and Pierre Jolicoeur: The Benefits of Combining Preclinical and Bioanalytical for Your Gene Therapy Studies

Alta Sciences

MARCH 1, 2024

PJ: At Altasciences, we have a range of leading-edge platforms that include ligand binding assays (LBA), NAb, TAb, flow cytometry, and ELISpot, as well as on-site molecular biology instrumentation such as Bio-Rad’s ddPCR system, the NanoDropTM One spectrophotometer, and dedicated polymerase chain reaction (PCR) chambers.

Therapies

Therapies Laboratories Molecular Biology RNA

Merkin Prize in Biomedical Technology awarded to F. William Studier for development of widely used protein- and RNA-production platform

Broad Institute

MAY 14, 2024

“Bill Studier’s development of T7 phage RNA polymerase for use in preparing RNA templates for multiple uses in research labs worldwide has been a truly revolutionary technical advance for the entire field of molecular biology,” said Joan Steitz, the Sterling Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale University.

RNA

RNA Production Molecular Biology Laboratories

Synthetic biology tools advancing and accelerating drug discovery efforts

Drug Discovery World

NOVEMBER 15, 2022

Here we outline four synthetic biology approaches that are improving and accelerating drug discovery: . Rapid and accurate DNA synthesis . As such, the synthesis of DNA oligonucleotides for routine molecular biology applications is often outsourced to service provider companies that operate DNA synthesisers to meet these demands.

DNA

DNA Engineering Drugs Vaccine

The future outlook for mRNA therapies

Drug Discovery World

APRIL 30, 2024

For example, mRNA testing can offer deeper insights compared to DNA and give researchers a better understanding of gene expression in relation to certain cancers. The benefits of mRNA mRNA-based therapies have multiple benefits over existing DNA and protein platforms. However, these therapies can cause severe adverse effects.

Therapies

Therapies RNA Vaccine Small Molecule

Scaling Phage Therapy

Codon

FEBRUARY 13, 2024

doi: 10.2210/rcsb_pdb/goodsell-gallery-048 The Virus that Cures It’s been over 25 years since the science magazine Discover first ran an extraordinary article about how a long-forgotten medical treatment, used in the former Soviet country of Georgia, could save us from the growing threat of untreatable, drug-resistant infections.

Therapies

Therapies Virus DNA Clinical Trials

What Limits a Genome’s Size?

Codon

JUNE 13, 2024

billion bases of DNA which, if unfurled, would extend for more than 100 meters—taller than the Statue of Liberty. billion bases of DNA, the human genome measures just 2 meters in length when stretched end-to-end. Credit: Oriane Hidalgo Per the book Cell Biology by the Numbers , each base pair of DNA occupies 1 nm 3 of space.

DNA

DNA Molecular Biology Virus Cell Biology

Breaking the Speed Limit on Cell Division

Codon

JUNE 25, 2024

However, they plod along as they clone plasmids—the loops of DNA that biologists use to manipulate and study organisms—because propagating them relies, in part, on the pace at which cells grow and divide. Most medicines, including insulin and semaglutide (the weight loss drug), are made using DNA cloning. However, E.

DNA

DNA RNA Laboratories Engineering

Codon Digest: Seeing Colors After Gene Therapy

Codon

JULY 27, 2023

They’ve just finished sequencing the patient’s genome, but they don’t have “DNA sorting” software. billion units of DNA code are transcribed into more than a hundred volumes, each a thousand pages long, in type so small as to be barely legible.” You can read all of them here. From Ling B et al.

Therapies

Therapies RNA DNA Engineering

Codon Digest: Seeing Colors After Gene Therapy

Codon

JULY 27, 2023

They’ve just finished sequencing the patient’s genome, but they don’t have “DNA sorting” software. billion units of DNA code are transcribed into more than a hundred volumes, each a thousand pages long, in type so small as to be barely legible.” You can read all of them here. From Ling B et al.

Therapies

Therapies RNA DNA Engineering

What to expect from PEGS Europe 2023: Day 2

Drug Discovery World

NOVEMBER 9, 2023

Klaus Wagenbauer, PhD, Founder & CEO, Plectonic, on: ‘Programmable DNA-origami-based T cell engagers: PTE’. Phil Leighton, PhD, Senior Director, Molecular Biology, OmniAb, on: ‘Heavy chain-only transgenic chickens produce human antibodies with robust immune repertoires and high-affinity binding’.

Engineering

Engineering Therapies Protein Production Science

Codon: Notes on Progress #2

Codon

MARCH 12, 2023

Notes on Progress is a monthly roundup of papers and ideas about biology and the future. “The recombinant DNA breakthrough has provided us with a new and powerful approach to the questions that have intrigued and plagued man for centuries. Biology is a Burrito. A new base editor to edit mitochondrial DNA.

DNA

DNA Engineering RNA Therapies

Codon Digest: Hackathon Prize Winners

Codon

JUNE 26, 2023

DNA sequences are designed on a computer, and it takes a dozen or more clicks to change a single nucleotide. DNA sequences are also checked by hand, so it’s easy to make a mistake. The tool outputs a DNA sequence that encodes all the required enzymes. A phage is a virus that infects bacteria.

DNA

DNA Therapies Engineering Clinical Trials

Codon Digest: Hackathon Prize Winners

Codon

JUNE 26, 2023

DNA sequences are designed on a computer, and it takes a dozen or more clicks to change a single nucleotide. DNA sequences are also checked by hand, so it’s easy to make a mistake. The tool outputs a DNA sequence that encodes all the required enzymes. A phage is a virus that infects bacteria.

DNA

DNA Therapies Engineering Clinical Trials

Drug Discovery Digest

Guide to using AAV vectors in gene therapy

Guide to using AAV vectors in gene therapy

Trending Sources

Phages could help to tackle antimicrobial resistance

Enhancing gene therapy with Circio

Global advances in synthetic biology

The democratisation of cell and gene therapy

A surprising new role for a major immune regulator

Q&A With Dr. Norbert Makori and Pierre Jolicoeur: The Benefits of Combining Preclinical and Bioanalytical for Your Gene Therapy Studies

Merkin Prize in Biomedical Technology awarded to F. William Studier for development of widely used protein- and RNA-production platform

Synthetic biology tools advancing and accelerating drug discovery efforts

The future outlook for mRNA therapies

Scaling Phage Therapy

What Limits a Genome’s Size?

Breaking the Speed Limit on Cell Division

Codon Digest: Seeing Colors After Gene Therapy

Codon Digest: Seeing Colors After Gene Therapy

What to expect from PEGS Europe 2023: Day 2

Codon: Notes on Progress #2

Codon Digest: Hackathon Prize Winners

Codon Digest: Hackathon Prize Winners

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