Category Archives: Molecular Genetics

PITTSBURGH, July 16, 2021 - For the first time ever, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine discovered that phages--tiny viruses that attack bacteria--are key to initiating rapid bacterial evolution leading to the emergence of treatment-resistant "superbugs." The findings were published today in Science Advances.

The researchers showed that, contrary to a dominant theory in the field of evolutionary microbiology, the process of adaptation and diversification in bacterial colonies doesn't start from a homogenous clonal population. They were shocked to discover that the cause of much of the early adaptation wasn't random point mutations. Instead, they found that phages, which we normally think of as bacterial parasites, are what gave the winning strains the evolutionary advantage early on.

"Essentially, a parasite became a weapon," said senior author Vaughn Cooper, Ph.D., professor of microbiology and molecular genetics at Pitt. "Phages endowed the victors with the means of winning. What killed off more sensitive bugs gave the advantage to others."

When it comes to bacteria, a careful observer can track evolution in the span of a few days. Because of how quickly bacteria grow, it only takes days for bacterial strains to acquire new traits or develop resistance to antimicrobial drugs.

The researchers liken the way bacterial infections present in the clinic to a movie played from the middle. Just as late-arriving moviegoers struggle to mentally reconstruct events that led to a scene unfolding in front of their eyes, physicians are forced to make treatment decisions based on a static snapshot of when a patient presents at a hospital. And just like at a movie theater, there is no way to rewind the film and check if their guess about the plot or the origin of the infection was right or wrong.

The new study shows that bacterial and phage evolution often go hand in hand, especially in the early stages of bacterial infection. This is a multilayered process in which phages and bacteria are joined in a chaotic dance, constantly interacting and co-evolving.

When the scientists tracked changes in genetic sequences of six bacterial strains in a skin wound infection in pigs, they found that jumping of phages from one bacterial host to another was rampant--even clones that didn't gain an evolutionary advantage had phages incorporated in their genomes. Most clones had more than one phage integrated in their genetic material--often there were two, three or even four phages in one bug.

"It showed us just how much phages interact with one another and with new hosts," said Cooper. "Characterizing diversity in early bacterial infections can allow us to reconstruct history and retrace complex paths of evolution to a clinical advantage. And, with growing interest in using phages to treat highly resistant infections, we are learning how to harness their potency for good."

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Researchers surprised to find bacterial parasites behind rise of 'super bugs' - Science Codex

- Webinar on Wednesday, July 28 @ 10 a.m. ET -

ST. LOUIS, July 19, 2021--(BUSINESS WIRE)--M6P Therapeutics ("M6PT" or "the Company"), a privately held life sciences company developing next-generation recombinant enzyme and gene therapies for lysosomal storage disorders (LSDs), today announced that it will host a key opinion leader (KOL) webinar on LSDs on Wednesday, July 28, 2021 at 10:00 a.m. ET.

The webinar will feature a fireside chat with KOLs Gregory Enns, M.D., Lucile Salter Packard Childrens Hospital Stanford School of Medicine, and Mark S. Sands, Ph.D., Departments of Medicine and Genetics at Washington University School of Medicine, who will discuss the current treatment landscape and unmet medical needs in LSDs, including Gaucher disease, Fabry disease, Pompe disease, mucopolysaccharidoses, and mucolipidoses. LSDs are a family of approximately 50 rare, genetic, and life-threatening diseases characterized by a deficiency in a specific lysosomal enzyme.

The event will also feature an update from the M6PT management team on its recombinant enzyme and gene therapy S1S3 bicistronic technology platform for the treatment of LSDs. The Company plans to initiate its first clinical program in 2022.

Dr. Enns, Dr. Sands, and M6PT management will also take questions from the audience.

To register for the webinar, please click here.

Dr. Enns is a Professor of Pediatrics and Genetics at the Lucile Salter Packard Childrens Hospital Stanford School of Medicine. He completed his medical education at the University of Glasgow (1990) in Scotland and completed his residency at the Children's Hospital Los Angeles Pediatric Residency in California. He then went on to complete his fellowship at the UCSF Medical Center in California. He is board certified in Clinical Genetics and Genomics. Dr. Enns research interests include novel means of diagnosing and treating mitochondrial disorders, with an emphasis on antioxidant therapy, lysosomal disorders, and newborn screening by tandem mass spectrometry. His current pursuits include the analysis of glutathione and antioxidant status in patients who have mitochondrial disorders and the development of new techniques for diagnosing and treating these conditions.

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Dr. Sands is a Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Genetics at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Dr. Sands received his Ph.D. in Molecular Pharmacology from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He was a postdoctoral fellow at The Jackson Laboratory (Bar Harbor, ME) and at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine before joining the faculty at Washington University School of Medicine. The goals of Dr. Sands laboratory are to better understand the underlying pathogenesis and developing effective therapies for inherited childhood diseases, specifically LSDs. A major focus of his group is to determine the safety and efficacy of adeno-associated viral gene transfer vectors for the treatment of both the central nervous system (CNS) and systemic manifestations of these diseases. In addition, his group has developed lentiviral-mediated hematopoietic stem cell-directed gene therapy approaches, as well as small molecule drugs, and more recently rational combinations of these approaches. The primary diseases that Dr. Sands studies are mucopolysaccharidosis type VII (MPS VII), Krabbe disease, and Infantile Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinosis.

About M6P Therapeutics

M6P Therapeutics is a privately held, venture-backed biotechnology company developing the next-generation of targeted recombinant enzyme and gene therapies for lysosomal storage disorders (LSDs). M6P Therapeutics proprietary S1S3 bicistronic platform has the unique ability to enhance phosphorylation of lysosomal enzymes for both recombinant enzyme and gene therapies, leading to improved biodistribution and cellular uptake of recombinant proteins and efficient cross-correction of gene therapy product. This can potentially lead to more efficacious treatments with lower therapy burden, as well as new therapies for currently untreated diseases. M6P Therapeutics team, proven in rare diseases drug development and commercialization, is dedicated to fulfilling the promise of recombinant enzyme and gene therapies by harnessing the power of protein phosphorylation using its S1S3 bicistronic platform. M6P Therapeutics mission is to translate advanced science into best-in-class therapies that address unmet needs within the LSD community. For more information, please visit: http://www.m6ptherapeutics.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210719005355/en/

Contacts

Contact us to learn about partnering opportunities with M6P Therapeutics:

M6P Therapeutics: 314-236-9694info@m6ptherapeutics.com

Media: Alex Van Rees, SmithSolve973-442-1555 x111alex.vanrees@smithsolve.com

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M6P Therapeutics to Host Key Opinion Leader Webinar on Lysosomal Storage Disorders - Yahoo Finance

Newswise In February 2020, a trio of bio-imaging experts were sitting amiably around a dinner table at a scientific conference in Washington, D.C., when the conversation shifted to what was then a worrying viral epidemic in China. Without foreseeing the global disaster to come, they wondered aloud how they might contribute.

Nearly a year and a half later, those three scientists and their many collaborators across three national laboratories have published a comprehensive study in Biophysical Journal that alongside other recent, complementary studies of coronavirus proteins and genetics represents the first step toward developing treatments for that viral infection, now seared into the global consciousness as COVID-19.

Their foundational work focused on the protein-based machine that enables the SARS-CoV-2 virus to hijack our own cells molecular machinery in order to replicate inside our bodies.

From structure to function to solutions

It has been remarked that all organisms are just a means for DNA to make copies of itself, and nowhere is this truer than in the case of a virus, said Greg Hura, a staff scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and one of the studys lead authors. A viruss singular task is to make copies of its genetic material unfortunately, at our expense.

Viruses and mammals, including humans, have been stuck in this battle for millions of years, he added, and over that time the viruses have evolved many tricks to get their genes copied inside us, while our bodies have evolved counter defenses. And although viruses often perform a long list of other activities, their ability to harm us with an infection really does come down to whether or not they can replicate their genetic material (either RNA or DNA, depending on the species) to make more viral particles, and use our cells to translate their genetic code into proteins.

The protein-based machine responsible for RNA replication and translation in coronaviruses and many other viruses is called the RNA transcription complex (RTC), and it is a truly formidable piece of biological weaponry.

To successfully duplicate viral RNA for new virus particles and produce the new particles many proteins, the RTC must: distinguish between viral and host RNA, recognize and pair RNA bases instead of highly similar DNA bases that are also abundant in human cells, convert their RNA into mRNA (to dupe human ribosomes into translating viral proteins), interface with copy error-checking molecules, and transcribe specific sections of viral RNA to amplify certain proteins over others depending on need while at all times trying to evade the host immune system that will recognize it as a foreign protein.

As astounding as this sounds, any newly evolved virus that is successful must have machines that are incredibly sophisticated to overcome mechanisms we have evolved, explained Hura, who heads the Structural Biology department in Berkeley Labs Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging Division.

He and the other study leads - Andrzej Joachimiak of Argonne National Laboratory and Hugh M. ONeill at Oak Ridge National Laboratory specialize in revealing the atomic structure of proteins in order to understand how they work at the molecular level. So, the trio knew from the moment they first discussed COVID-19 at the dinner table that studying the RTC would be particularly challenging because multitasking protein machines like the RTC arent static or rigid, as molecular diagrams or ball-and-stick models might suggest. They're flexible and have associated molecules, called nonstructural and accessory proteins (Nsps), that exist in a multitude of rapidly rearranging forms depending on the task at hand akin to how a gear shifter on a bike quickly adapts the vehicle to changing terrain.

Each of these Nsp arrangements give insights into the proteins different activities, and they also expose different parts of the overall RTC surface, which can be examined to find places where potential drug molecules could bind and inhibit the entire machine.

So, following their serendipitous convergence in Washington, the trio hatched a plan to pool their knowledge and national lab resources in order to document the structure of as many RTC arrangements as possible, and identify how these forms interact with other viral and human molecules.

Science during shutdowns

The investigation hinged on combining data collected from many advanced imaging techniques, as no approach by itself can generate complete, atomic-level blueprints of infectious proteins in their natural states. They combined small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), X-ray crystallography, and small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) performed at Berkeley Labs Advanced Light Source, Argonnes Advanced Photon Source, and Oak Ridges High Flux Isotope Reactor and Spallation Neutron Source, respectively, on samples of biosynthetically produced RTC.

Despite the extraordinary hurdles of conducting science during shelter-in-place conditions, the collaboration was able to work continuously for more than 15 months, thanks to funding for research and facility operations support from the Department of Energys Office of Science National Virtual Biotechnology Laboratory (NVBL). During that time, the scientists collected detailed data on the RTCs key accessory proteins and their interactions with RNA. All of their findings were uploaded into the open-access Protein Data Bank prior to the journal articles publication.

Of the many structural findings that will help with drug design, one notable discovery is that assembly of the RTC subunits is incredibly precise. Drawing on a mechanical metaphor once more, the scientists compare the assembly process to putting together a spring-based machine. You cant put a spring in place when the rest of the machine is already in position, you must compress and place the spring at a specific step of assembly or the whole device is dysfunctional. Similarly, the RTC Nsps cant move into place in any random or chaotic order; they must follow a specific order of operations.

They also identified how one of the Nsps specifically recognizes the RNA molecules it acts upon, and how it cuts long strands of copied RNA into their correct lengths.

Having the vaccines is certainly huge. However, why are we satisfied with just this one avenue of defense? said Hura. Added Joachimiak: This was a survey study, and it has identified many directions we and others should pursue very deeply; to tackle this virus we will need multiple ways of blocking its proliferation.

Combining information from different structural techniques and computation will be key to achieving this goal, said ONeill.

Due to the similarity of RTC proteins across viral strains, the team believe that any drugs developed to block RTC activity could work for multiple viral infections in addition to all COVID-19 variants.

Reflecting back to the beginning of their research journey, the scientists marvel at the lucky timing of it all. When we started to talk, said Hura, we had no idea that this epidemic would soon become a pandemic that would change a generation.

This study was supported by the DOE Office of Science through the NVBL, a consortium of DOE national laboratories focused on the response to COVID-19, with funding provided by the Coronavirus CARES Act; and by the National Institutes of Health. The Advanced Light Source, Advanced Photon Source, High Flux Isotope Reactor, and Spallation Neutron Source are DOE Office of Science user facilities.

# # #

Founded in 1931 on the belief that the biggest scientific challenges are best addressed by teams, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and its scientists have been recognized with 14 Nobel Prizes. Today, Berkeley Lab researchers develop sustainable energy and environmental solutions, create useful new materials, advance the frontiers of computing, and probe the mysteries of life, matter, and the universe. Scientists from around the world rely on the Labs facilities for their own discovery science. Berkeley Lab is a multiprogram national laboratory, managed by the University of California for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science.

DOE's Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science.

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Deconstructing the Infectious Machinery of SARS-CoV-2 - Newswise

PANAKS PARTNERS ANNOUNCES THE FIRST CLOSING OF ITS NEW PURPLE GLOBAL

BIOTECH/ MEDTECH FUND AT 150 MILLION ($180 MILLION)

Panaks will use the successful closing of its second Fund to extend its investment activity to biotech, while maintaining its ongoing activity in medtech, the focus of Panaks first fund

Panaks plans to invest the new fund in companies at the forefront of global innovation with the potential to transform patient care, with a focus on Europe, and Italy in particular

Panaks Purple Fund has been backed by the European Investment Fund (EIF), the Fund of Funds managed by CDP Venture Capital SGR, financial institutions and some of the main Italian companies operating in the Life Sciences sector

Milan (Italy), July 20, 2021 - Panaks Partners, the leading Italian venture capital firm in the Life Sciences sector, announces the first closing of its 150 million ($180 million) Purple Fund, the firms second fund.

Panaks Purple Fund is currently the largest venture capital fund actively investing in Italian companies and the most significant fund dedicated wholly to the Life Sciences sector in Italy. The fund will invest in companies at the forefront of innovation, with a focus on Europe, and Italy in particular, which remains underserved in terms of Venture Capital funding.

The Purple Fund is the second venture capital fund dedicated to life sciences launched by Panaks Partners. Panaks first fund, raised in 2016, supported companies in the medtech sector. To-date it has invested in 12 portfolio companies, which have collectively received almost 200 million in funding. Thanks to this financial support, these companies have already brought five innovative medical products to the market and have a further ten products in active clinical trials.

The Purple Fund has been backed by investors from the first fund as well as new investors. The Funds two anchor investors are EIF and the Fund of Funds FoF VenturItaly managed by CDP Venture Capital SGR. The EIF investment is backed under both the InnovFin Equity initiative from the European Commission under Horizon 2020, the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, as well as the pan-European Guarantee Fund (EGF).

These anchor investors have been joined by several Italian banking foundations and pension funds, as well as numerous Italian companies and family offices in the Life Sciences sector. These include Menarini, the Cogliati family (Elemaster Group), the Colombo family (SAPIO Group), the Rovati family (Rottapharm Biotech), the Petrone family (Petrone Group), the Re family (Digitec Group), the Bassani family (Movi Group) and others.

The Purple Fund will invest mainly in Series A funding rounds, as well as later stage opportunities. The majority of investments will be in companies developing innovative therapeutics and products in the fields of biotechnology, diagnostics, and medical devices.

The fund aims to support the growth of entrepreneurial companies who will reshape healthcare globally by addressing real medical needs, saving lives and providing a better quality of life for patients. By achieving these goals, the fund aims to generate value for both investors and for society as a whole.

We are delighted with the successful first close of our new Purple Fund, and we would like to thank the high-quality investors who have trusted us. Over 500 innovative life science companies have already submitted funding requests to us in the first six months of 2021, said Fabrizio Landi, President of Panaks and a founding partner of the firm alongside Diana Saraceni and Alessio Beverina. The fund will remain open for additional subscribers until the end of the year, with a new target of 180 million. By expanding into the biotech sector, we hope to contribute to the growth of companies active in the development of new therapies and vaccines, concluded Landi.

Panaks has established a strong track record and solid international credibility since it was created a few years ago, also with the support of the CDP Group. commented Enrico Resmini, Chief Executive Officer of CDP Venture Capital SGR. We are delighted to invest in Panaks second fund, as it extends its activity into biotechnology, a sector where long-term planning and the availability of capital is essential to finance the R&D that is expected to lead to the innovative new therapies of tomorrow.

Alain Godard, Chief Executive of the European Investment Fund (EIF/FEI), added: We are happy to once again support Panaks after our previous investment in its first fund. Panaks has managed to build a strong brand in Italy and beyond thanks to its expertise in identifying and investing in novel medtech opportunities. With the extension of its investment strategy into biotech and the resulting growth of the team, Panaks will be able to further support European Life Sciences companies, and particularly those in Italy, which have exceptional R&D but are strongly underserved in terms of Venture Capital funding. We are glad to be able to use both the InnovFin mandate from the European Commission and the direct backing of EU Member States under the European Guarantee Fund to further support this exciting market segment.

To support its expansion into the biotech sector, Panaks intends to recruit three new professionals with significant experience in drug discovery and development in the pharmaceutical industry to its existing team, which is currently made up of 11 professionals. Recently Barbara Castellano has been promoted to the role of Partner, while the management team of the SGR has been strengthened with the arrival of a new CFO, Lorenzo Giordano, and a Financial Assistant, in the person of Andrea Steffanini.

Panaks Advisory Board has also been expanded and strengthened with the appointment of Biotech and Digital Health industry experts Fabio Pammolli, Professor of Economics, Finance, and Management Science at Politecnico di Milano, and Sergio Abrignani M.D. Ph.D. Full Professor at the National Institute of Molecular Genetics (INGM) in Milan.

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PANAKS PARTNERS ANNOUNCES THE FIRST CLOSING OF ITS NEW PURPLE GLOBAL BIOTECH/ MEDTECH FUND AT 150 MILLION ($180 MILLION) - PharmiWeb.com

Historically, most large-scale immunogenomic studies those exploring the association between genes and disease were conducted with a bias toward individuals of European ancestry. Corey T. Watson, assistant professor in the University of Louisville Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, is leading a call to actively diversify the genetic resources he and fellow immunogenomics researchers use in their work to advance genomic medicine more equitably.

Watson, along with UofL post-doctoral fellow Oscar Rodriguez, and visiting fellow Yana Safonova, are part of an international group of researchers who say the narrow studies limit their ability to identify variation in human adaptive immune responses across populations.

We need to better understand how genetics influences immune system function by studying population cohorts that better represent the diversity observed across the globe if we are to fully understand disease susceptibility, as well as design more tailored treatments and preventative measures, Watson said.

In an article published in Nature Methods, Diversity in immunogenomics: the value and the challenge, the group advocates for resources used in immunogenomics research to actively include and specifically identify additional populations and minority groups. They say such diversity will make their research more relevant and help in understanding population and ancestry-specific gene-associated disease, leading to improvements in patient care.

As scientists, we have a say in which populations are investigated. Therefore, it is critical for us to be actively inclusive of individuals representative of the world we live in. This is especially critical for genes that are as diverse and clinically relevant as those that encode antibodies and T cell receptors, Rodriguez said.

Watsons research focuses on immune function and molecular genetics. His team is studying a specific area of the genetic code that controls antibody function to better understand how differences in an individuals genes determine their susceptibility to certain diseases or immune responses to vaccines.

In collaboration with Melissa Smith, assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, the team is conducting the largest sequencing efforts of the antibody gene regions in humans and in animal models, Watson said.

Specifically in humans, we are working to build catalogs of genetic variation in samples from multiple ethnic backgrounds and are engaged in projects that seek to understand how this genetic variation influences the immune response in infection, vaccination and other disease contexts, he said.

Watson is involved in efforts to improve the resources and data standards for antibody and T cell receptor genes for immunogenomics researchers around the world.

The article in Nature Methods was co-authored by researchers from the United States, Canada, Norway, France, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Israel, South Africa, Nigeria, Chile, Peru, China, Japan, Taiwan and French Polynesia with expertise in biomedical and translational research, population and public health genetics, health disparities and computational biology as well as immunogenomics.

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UofL researchers lead the call to increase genetic diversity in immunogenomics - uoflnews.com

Datar Cancer Genetics

NASHIK, India (PRWEB) July 04, 2021

"This association will assist patients within the Iylon system to avail genomic solutions offered by the Datar group. Our passion and commitment to deliver best-in-class, genomic-based personalized cancer treatment recommendations has resulted in developing an unparalleled range of blood and tissue-based diagnostics for clinicians and patients," said Dr Vineet Datta, Executive Director, Datar Cancer Genetics. "This partnership will support clinicians to interpret genomic information and facilitate personalized cancer treatment through comprehensive interrogation of cancer genomics."

Iylons clinical advisors are globally renowned experts in Precision Oncology and together with Iylons own in-house experts and Datars diagnostic tools, patients can look forward to best chance at being cancer-free.

About Iylon Precision Oncology

Iylon Precision Oncology has partnered with pioneers in the field of Oncology to review clinical and genomic information and provide individualized, evidence-based optimal treatment plan for each patient. This flagship service is geared towards top global experts in Radiology, Pathology, Molecular Oncology, Medical Oncology, and Cancer Genomics, team up to discuss and offer their recommendations. Iylons virtual consultations will provide personalized, evidence-based, optimal precision treatment recommendations for cancer patients.

About Datar Cancer Genetics

Datar Cancer Genetics is a leading cancer research corporation specializing in non-invasive techniques for better diagnosis, treatment decisions, and management of cancer. Datar Cancer Genetics has a state of art, College of American Pathologists (CAP), CLIA, ISO15189, ISO9001 and ISO27001 accredited molecular genomic facility at India with a staff strength over 250, in addition to a state-of-the-art lab facility in the United Kingdom. Our team of scientists, clinicians and experts, based out of the United Kingdom, Germany and India, help facilitate our technologies for better cancer management

Contact: Dr Vineet Datta - drvineetdatta@datarpgx.com

Website datarpgx.com

Contact: Dr. Padmaja Ganapathy - contact@iylon.com

Websitehttp://www.iylon.com

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Datar Cancer Genetics joins hands with US based Iylon Precision Oncology to offer personalized Precision Oncology cancer treatment solutions - PR Web

Flies have discriminating taste. Like a gourmet perusing a menu, they spend much of their time seeking sweet nutritious calories and avoiding bitter, potentially toxic food. But what happens in their brains when they make these food choices?

Yale researchers discovered an interesting way to find out. They tricked them.

In a study that could also help illuminate how people make food choices, the researchers gave hungry fruit flies the choice between sweet, nutritious food laced with bitter quinine and a less sweet, but not bitter, food containing fewer calories. Then, using neuroimaging, they tracked neural activity in their brains as they made these tough choices.

So which won? Calories or better taste?

It depends on how hungry they are, said Michael Nitabach,professor of cellular and molecular physiology, genetics, and neuroscience at Yale School of Medicine and senior author of the study.The hungrier they are, the more likely they will tolerate bitter taste to obtain more calories.

But the real answer to how flies make these decisions is a little more complex, according to the study published July 5 in the journal Nature Communications.

According to the research team, led by Preeti Sareen, associate research scientist at Yale, flies relay sensory information to a portion of their brain called the fan-shaped body, where signals are integrated, triggering what amounts to the insect version of an executive decision. The researchers found that patterns of neuronal activity in the fan-shaped body change adaptively when novel food choices are introduced, which dictates the flys decision over what food to eat.

But researchers went a step further. And things got even stranger. They found they could change a flys choice by manipulating neurons in areas of the brain that feed into the fan-shaped body. For example, when they caused a decrease in activity in the neurons involved in metabolism, they found that it made hungry flies choose the lower calorie food.

It is one big feedback loop, not just top-down decision making, Nitabach said.

And this is where there are connections to food choices of humans, he said. Neural activity in both a flys brain and a humans brain are regulated by the secretion of neuropeptides and the neurotransmitter dopamine, which in humans helps regulate sensations of reward. Changes in this network may alter how the brain responds to different types of food. In other words, neurochemistry may sometimes dictate food choices we think we are making consciously.

The study provides a template to understand how it is that things like hunger and internal emotional states influence our behavior, Nitabach said.

Sareen and Li Yan McCurdy, a graduate student at Yale School of Medicine, are co-authors of the paper.

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More filling? Tastes great? How flies, and maybe people, choose their food - Yale News

"We believe CEA will be fuelled by the diversity of crops. We need to focus on products for consumers and food producers, looking forward to other stable crops we can produce. We have to break the perception of what can be grown and what cannot be grown in CEA as we believe it's the future of growing crops, sustainably and locally," says Jaime Guerrero with consultancy firm Accenture.

Last week he joined the Indoor AgTech panel on the pathway to competitive production. During the panel, it became clear that several growers are looking into ways to diversify their crops.

Unusual cropsThe panel session, lead by Jaime Guerrero with Accenture, was joined by growers, such as David Freidenberg the CEO of Saffron Tech (Israel) and David Soo the CEO of Australian Vanilla Plantation (AU), that are already growing unusual products. Also, other growers are looking to find a unique position in the market, but not specifically with rare products.

Mark Tester, Co-Founder and CSO of Red Sea Farms (UAE), said that genetics is absolutely essential in order to improve plants and make them profitable in the long run. Red Sea Farms is turning salt-tolerant plants into salt-tolerant plants crops. Currently, the company is growing tomatoes but is moving into cucumbers soon as, Mark shared.

According to Sam Norton, founder of Heron Farms (US), many CEA companies were running into the same problems in the beginning but didnt tell. "We wont be going away from leafy greens as fast as predicted, I think its leveraging the whole CEA community."

The panelists

David Soo added that when talking about rare spices, the market has to look at where the costs come through. With vanilla, its the number of crops that go into a cubic meter. Resulting in 20% more cubic meters in the Vanilla Dome Greenhouse in comparison to a regular greenhouse. "Its important to get the right yield density- and volume for each cubic meter you have to manage.

Overall, David Freidenberg thinks that its going to be a lot of AI, machine learning using data to succeed in vertical farming. We have to leverage the knowledge we have today, implementing it into this business.

Growing vanilla in a hybrid solutionDavid Soo said that "Vanilla is the second spice in the world. However, naturally grown (open field) vanilla only satisfies 2% of the world's demand." As a result of a brainstorming session during a dinner, David said to have come up with his 'Vanilla Dome greenhouse' which is a hybrid-growing solution, where high volumes of vanilla are produced.

According to David, every dome greenhouse holds 200 vines that are growing to 20m. The company targets to grow 4km of vines of which 1 tonne of beans can be yielded, two harvests a year.

Saltwater as a resourceHeron Farms is a saltwater farm, combining seawater and carbon dioxide into a useful product, helophytes. "We brought the system indoors by growing vertically, controlling the photoperiod and the salinity of the irrigation water," noted Sam Norton.

It's solving two major environmental problems; excess carbon dioxide and excess seawater. As a result of combining these, the farm has multiple outputs; food, fresh water and salt. "We're not reinventing any models, but we're following the models that have worked already," Sam affirmed.

In order for the tomato plants to grow, the salinity tolerance of plants is increased. "We're using molecular genetics, biology to accelerate salt-tolerant plants in CEA," noted Mark Tester.

At Red Sea Farms salt-tolerant tomato plants are grown in a CEA greenhouse using saltwater resources. Their produce is sold around Saudi Arabia, whereas, according to Ryan Lefers, the company is planning to expand throughout Saudi Arabia and plans to enter the UAE.

Challenging the saffron marketSaffron Tech is growing saffron in vertical farms, to challenge the traditional agriculture market. Allowing for more sustainable growth of saffron year-round at a solid price. Normally, saffron is very expensive in terms of labor and its fragility given its stems that can easily break. "We'll start to launch our first commercial vertical farm soon, ready for sales to retailers," says David Freidenberg.

The shape of the dome works more efficiently than a rectangular as there's better airflow and humidity. David Soo adds, "All we have to do is help it along with a few fans. We can grow tropical plants in subtropical areas."

For more information:

Australian Vanilla PlantationDavid Soo, CEOdsoo@vanillaplantation.com.au

AccentureJaime Guerrerowww.accenture.com

Red Sea FarmsMark Tester, Co-Founder and CSO https://redseafarms.com

SaffronTechDavid Freidenberg, CEO http://www.saffron-tech.ag

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Mapping a pathway to competitive production - hortidaily.com - hortidaily.com

Straits Research Latest 2021 Report: The Global Genomics Report represents a comprehensive study on the Genomics industry including current trends and status.

The report can help to understand the market in-depth and strategize for business expansion accordingly in the future. In the strategic analysis process, it gives insights from marketing channel and market positioning to potential growth strategies, providing in-depth analysis for new entrants or exists competitors in the Genomics Market now and in the future.

The genomics market was valued at USD 17,500 million in 2019 and is expected to grow with a CAGR of 8.0% during the forecast period, 20202029.

Aimed to offers the most segmented consumption and sales data of downstream consumption fields and competitive landscape in various regions and countries around the globe, this report analyses the latest market data from the primary and secondary authoritative sources also.

Genomics is the science of studying an organisms genomes and its interaction with a variety of signals. The field of genomics has seen substantial growth in terms of technological advancements that have encourageda better understanding of genomes and their immediate environment and techniques.

Conventional genome editing technologies are inefficient, time-consuming, labor-intensive, and have limited capacity. However, the advent of CRISPR / Cas9 nuclease, ZFN, and TALEN gene-editing technologies is positioned to solve these issues by facilitating easy and accurate editing of genomes.

Market Key Drivers, Restraints, and Opportunities:

On the contrary, technological advancements are expected to open lucrative opportunities for the market players in the future.

Cumulative Impact of COVID-19 on Genomics Market:

COVID-19 is a unique global public health emergency that has affected almost every industry in the world, and the long-term effects are predicted to influence the industry growth during the estimated period. Our ongoing research amplifies our research framework to ensure the enclosure of underlying COVID-19 issues and potential paths forward.

The report delivers insights on COVID-19 considering the changes in consumer behavior and demand, purchasing patterns, re-routing of the supply chain, dynamics of present market forces, and the significant involvements of governments. The updated study offers market insights, industry analysis, estimations, and forecasts, considering the COVID-19 impact on the market.

Global Genomics Market is Segmented Based Segmentation and Region.

By Product- Instruments and Software, Consumables and Reagents.By Services- Core Genomics Services, DNA Sequencing services, Biomarker Translation Services, Computational Services.By Application- Functional Genomics, Mutational Analysis, Microarray Analysis, Epigenetics.By End-User- Clinical and Research Laboratories, Academics and Government Institutes, Hospitals and Clinics, Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Companies

Reasons to Buy this Report:

Company Profiles of Genomics Market:

The report profoundly explores the recent significant developments by the leading vendors and innovation profiles in the Global Genomics Market, including 23andMe, Agilent Technologies, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc., Bio-Rad Laboratories, Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Myriad Genetics, Inc., Foundation Medicine, Inc., Danaher, Pacific Biosciences, Illumina, Inc., Stratos Genomics, Inc., Qiagen, Oxford Nanopore Technologies, BGI

Table of Contents of Genomics Market:

Study Coverage: It includes key vendors covered, key market segments, the scope of products offered in the global Flanged Heaters market, years considered, and study objectives. Additionally, it touches on the segmentation study offered in the report on the basis of the market segments.

Executive Summary: It gives an overview of key studies of industry, market growth rate, competitive landscape, key restraints, market drivers, key trends, and industry issues, swot analysis, and macroscopic indicators of the market.

Production by Region: Here, the report offers information regarding to import and export details, production, revenue, market sales, and key vendors of all regional markets studied.

Profile of Manufacturers: Every vendor profiled in this section is studied on the basis of SWOT analysis, their products, market production, value, capacity, and other vital factors.

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See the article here:
Global Genomics Market | Rising Incidence of Chronic and Genetic Diseases are Key Factors to Grow Market During 2021-2029 | 23andMe, Agilent...

Danielle Lloyd is finally expecting a baby girl after having four sons.

The 37 year old mum is expecting her fifth child and revealed she used a method called The Babydust Method in a bid to try and encourage a natural sex selection.

Danielle, who is married to husband Michael O'Neill with whom she shares 3-year-old Ronnie, as well as sons, Archie, 10, Harry, nine, and George, seven, with ex-husband Jamie OHara, has been open in the past about her plans to travel abroad to undergo IVF using sex selection.

However Covid and travel restrictions put an end to the couple's plans to undergo IVF in a bid to finally have their much longed for daughter and Danielle instead put her faith in a famed natural sex selection method.

Danielle revealed she had followed the book "to a T" for several months and after having a miscarriage last year finally got pregnant again, finding out it was a girl last month.

The Babydust Method, a guide to conceiving a girl or a boy, was written by Kathryn Taylor, who devised the method and successfully used it to have a son in 2012, followed by a girl in 2014.

Kathryn, who has a degree in Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics from the University of California, Los Angeles, then released the now famous book of her method in 2016.

Boasting a success rate of 94%, the method uses both the timing and frequency of sex to sway the odds in favour of having a boy or girl.

Women are instructed to use ovulation predictor kits for three months to fully familiarise themselves with their cycle.

Then in the lead-up to ovulation, when an egg is released from the ovary, women use the ovulation predictor kits to test twice a day.

When the two lines on the test strips are equally dark or darker than the control line it indicates you will ovulate 24 hours later.

If you are trying for a girl, you should only have sex once, two to three days before ovulation, and at no other times throughout the cycle.

If you're hoping for a boy you should wait until 24 hours after the first darkest (also known as peak) test and again after 24 hours but at no other times during the cycle.

There are a number of other tips you can use to increase your odds of conceiving a girl - though it should be noted that there are no scientific researches proving these to be right!

Shallow penetration is the more optimal type of penetration for conceiving a girl. Male sperm cells are actually the faster swimmers, so the shallower penetration means it gives the female sperm cells an opportunity to get to the egg as well.

Missionary position is the best position to try for conceiving a girl.

It's rumoured that male sperm cells are heat averse, and that by having a hot bath before having sex to conceive may slow the male swimmers down and allow the female cells race to the egg to fertilise it! It could be a nice way to bring some romance to what can sometimes be the monotony of trying to conceive on certain days and times. Make it a romantic bath for two!

We do need the male orgasm to release the sperm, as it's his sperm that dictates whether the baby conceived will be boy or girl, and some experts claim that a female orgasm releases a certain alkaline secretion. This allows the male sperm to apparently survive longer due to the fact that the male sperm cells need this secretion to survive.

No orgasm, no alkaline secretion and thus creating a hostile environment for the male sperm cells.

If you are trying to conceive a girl, think about eating foods that are high in calcium to aid your chances.- so eggs, milk, yogurts.

It's also said a diet that is high in fruit and vegetables such as spinach, broccoli, bananas may help to conceive a girl, and a vegetarian diet is one that is rumoured to be very good in terms of conceiving a girl.

Steer clear of Alkaline rich foods such as Apples and Avocados however, as alkaline is said to help the male swimmers along by creating a more welcome space for them.

Eat Acidic rich foods in days leading up to Ovulation to ensure you've created the best environment for the female sperm cells to swim into. Apparently, male sperm cells aren't as good at surviving in acidic environments, so you can alter the pH of your vagina with the help of chocolate and fizzy drinks!

Remember to cut out the salt to boost your chances of conceiving a girl. Put down the olives, step away from the cheese and put that pack of crisps back in the cupboard because eating high salt foods may help your chances of conceiving a boy, and not the girl you want.

Stick with the fruit and veg and foods that are high in calcium in the lead up to ovulation to give your female sperm cells a better opportunity of reaching the egg first.

Remember though, these are just suggestions and you should have fun trying to conceive your much wanted baby!

Originally posted here:
The Babydust Method Danielle Lloyd used to conceive a girl after four sons and how it works - RSVP Live