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The man behind the mic – University of Georgia

Posted: December 8, 2019 at 3:42 pm

UGA hype man gives it his all from the sideline to the classroom

Chip Chambers has never been good at sitting still.

Thats why he dances all four quarters of University of Georgia home football gamesand has for the last four years.

Decked out in suspenders and a bow tie, Chambers might be better known as the Mic Man, the hype man who fires up the fans and shows off his fancy footwork in front of the student section at Sanford Stadium.

And what most people dont know about him is that hes actually a scholar who spends a decent amount of his free time in the library or coffee shops. My form of procrastination is reading health policy and theology, he said. Which is a really nerdy thing to say.

Chambers is graduating this December with degrees in economics and biology; a minor in health policy and management; and certificates in interdisciplinary writing, and personal and organizational leadership.

A Foundation Fellow and a teaching assistant in UGAs Honors Program, Chambers next plans to attend to medical school. He wont sit still there either. He aims to get a dual degreeeither a Master of Public Health or Master of Business Administration along with his medical degree.

Chambers draws his unrelenting energy from crowdsbe it fourth quarter on game day, Honors prom or running into his friends on campus.

Chip Chambers was named Homecoming king in 2018. He is pictured with Avalon Kandrac, Homecoming queen. (Photo by Dorothy Kozlowski/UGA)

First and foremost, Chambers is a football fan. Growing up in Watkinsville as a third generation Bulldog, red and black is in his blood. He got discovered for his Mic Man role his freshman year. Hed been attending basketball games and, for better or worse, had built a reputation as that crazy dancing guy that just wouldnt sit down. The athletics department took notice and asked him if he wanted to try out for the Mic Man position, which works in conjunction with the cheerleaders. Starting his sophomore year, Chambers joined the ranks of about a dozen Mic Men in UGA history.

The first key to being a good mic man is to keep a pulse on pop music. Youve got to know every song and youve got to know all the main dances. It doesnt mean you have to be good at them, he said. Sometimes my sister or my roommates will text me a video and tell me theres a dance Ive got to learn. For games, his go-to dance moves are the Dougie, the two-step, the stanky leg and hit the woah.

Notre Dame leprechaun Samuel Jackson and Georgia mic man Chip Chambers have a dance-off during a commercial break at ESPN College Gameday on Myers Quad before the home game win over Notre Dame. (Photo by Andrew Davis Tucker/UGA)

After four seasons at the gig, he said hes learned to pace himself so every time we score, I can act like we just won the national championship. Its all about a steady effort, while still giving it his all. I dont want to walk off that field with an ounce of energy left or with my voice still intact. So, if Im not raspy the next morning, that means Ive done something wrong.

Clearly, Chambers is all about giving 100% whether thats on the sideline of a football game or showing up for a biochemistry test. I want to be characterized by passion, he said. I dont want to be apathetic about anything I do, and I want to be characterized by curiosity.

He worked in UGAs Terns Lab for four semesters researching CRISPR-Cas, a genetic engineering technology. Through UGAs Honors Program, he interned at the Greater New York Hospital Association. This past summer, he interned at Emory Healthcare in Atlanta working in its office of quality improvement and patient safety, and learned a lot about how to make the health care system more efficient, equitable, safe and patient-centered. For six years, hes volunteered at Mercy Health Center, which serves the uninsured.

Chip Chambers has done research through the Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities for several semesters. (Photo by Stephanie Schupska)

Ultimately, I want to be a doctor because its the intersection of my interests in the life sciences and economics as well as an opportunity to join people at their absolute lowest, he said. Health care meets people at some of their worst moments in their life and I think as a doctor you have the opportunity to walk into a room where someones experiencing tremendous hurt and pain and say, I think I might be able to help. And thats pretty appealing to me.

And as his time at UGA comes to an end, Chambers thinks back to lessons hes learned both in the classroom and on the sidelines. Almost nothing matters nearly as much as you think it does. Im TA-ing a class for first-year students and I see them getting worked up about a lot of the exact same things I used to get worked up about, he said. Ive been trying to learn the difference between whats urgent and whats important. Nobody on their deathbed says, I wish I would have gotten a 93 instead of an 86 on that quiz. But people say, I wish I wouldve spent more time with family, so I want to concentrate on my faith and being a curious, kind individual.

Chip Chambers is a Foundation Fellow. Ive learned that the most effective leaders are the people who started as just one of the people that theyre leading and ultimately still identify as one of those individuals, he said. So for me, Im just another student. Im not anywhere close to the level of Hairy Dawg who is held on a pedestal. But being an effective leader requires a sense of humility and a sense of staying down to earth. (Photo by Stephanie Schupska)

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Bond 25: Let’s Discuss That Massive Secret That’s Teased In The No Time To Die Trailer – CinemaBlend

Posted: December 8, 2019 at 3:42 pm

After growing pains, scheduling shifts, and some rather unfortunate injuries and incidents plaguing the production of No Time to Die, director Cary Joji Fukunagas entry into the legendary James Bond series finally showed the world its first look at its action packed contents. To say that the result was impressive is an understatement, as theres not only some massively satisfying action present, but a new mystery that Daniel Craigs superspy will have to uncover. And its all down to a secret that Lea Seydouxs Dr. Madeleine Swann may or may not be hiding from him, which could tie her to the notorious terrorist organization SPECTRE.

Theres a 90% chance that there is some great big shadowy secret that No Time To Die has in store for Dr. Swann, and considering whats been shown above, one theory starts to stick out. Before we go to much further into discussing this theory, take a look at this mornings trailer for yourself.

And now, lets talk about just what Madeleine Swann could be hiding in her complicated past:

Right now, the big theory seems to be that Madeleine possesses a hidden tie between herself and the organization her family has served in the past. As we learned in the previous James Bond film, also named Spectre, Swanns father, Mr. White (Jesper Christensen,) was entrenched in the operations of Ernst Stavro Blofelds (Christoph Waltz) nasty enterprise as far back as her own formative years.

So theres a possibility that Madeleine Swann is either a former or current SPECTRE agent, who could have been in the family business at a very young age. It might feel strange, but theres already enough clues to start solidifying this assumption in a comfortable manner. Theres another, wilder theory that spawns from this assumption, but for now lets discuss this more grounded possibility.

As discussed in Spectre, Madeleine Swann has a distaste for guns. The reason being, there was once an intruder who tried to kill her father in her childhood, and she didnt hesitate to shoot that man dead in his tracks. This story could play an important part in No Time To Die, as the British publication Express reported that the film formerly known as Bond 25 will have a flashback to this very encounter.

Madeleine Swann already knew how to assemble a gun thanks to her childhood with a SPECTRE employed father. So either he taught her these skills to protect her throughout life or, in a more chilling scenario, theres a possibility that she could have been a child soldier working for Blofeld. That is, until she turned away from that life and became a psychologist. Which brings up another interesting point.

Throughout No Time To Dies trailer, there seems to be an assumption that the relationship between James Bond and Dr. Swann at the end of Spectre hasnt lasted. Be it his own insecurities, or a general falling out between the two, it seems the potential secret that Madeleine is hiding broke their coupling in two. Which makes it all the more awkward that the two seem to be working for MI6 after Bond comes out of retirement.

As it just so happens, Blofeld is in MI6 custody, and if Swann were to be a SPECTRE agent in hiding, this would be the perfect opportunity to stymie Bonds professional efforts to thwart their organization. Between their failed relationship, and Blofelds Hannibal Lecter like imprisonment bringing him into the fold after all, the man we once knew as 007 is in a tighter spot than hes ever been.

Thinking backwards to the assumption that Madeleine Swanns childhood run in with an intruder, if No Time To Die does show us that particular moment, it seems to be reasonable to assume that Rami Maleks Safin is indeed the man that attacked Mr. White and Madeleine Swann all of those years ago. Facial scarring on both the masked assailant and Maleks face during the big reveal show that hes chasing someone wearing the broken mask that Madeleine tears up upon seeing.

With a more complete look at that mask being shown in the No Time To Die trailer, the flashback theory seems to be in play. If this is the case, Madeleine and Safin know each other from way back, which could confirm that not only Madeleine but also Safin were child soldiers for Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Though theres one other possibility tying both parties to Blofelds organization that could prove to be more outlandish than anything weve seen in the recent run of James Bond movies.

Theres an exchange between Safin and Bond that seems to hint at a much darker possibility when it comes to the existence of No Time To Dies villain.

Safin: Your skills die with your body. Mine will survive long after Im gone.Bond: History isnt kind to men who play God.

As of this moment, the James Bond series canon starting with 2006s Casino Royale seems to be a much more grounded affair than the more classic adventures. In the past, there have been villains trying to use genetic engineering/warfare, the very subject thats rumored to be at the center of Safins schemes in No Time To Die.

Put together with the dialogue above, theres a possibility that Safin is a clone, or at least another variant of a genetically enhanced soldier that SPECTRE has been tinkering with. So if Madeleine Swann does have ties to this man in her past, it could be because they were competing agents within Blofelds family of operatives.

One final note should be mentioned when it comes to Madeleine Swanns big secret in No Time to Die. No matter what this hidden truth turns out to be, it appears to be something so horrific, itll ruin James Bond; possibly even drive him into the path of further and fatal harm. Blofeld tells him as much, when he speaks the following line in the trailer:

When her secret finds its way out, itll be the death of you.

This might not be a literal death, but rather a metaphorical, and even emotional one. If Swanns secret is confirmed to be SPECTRE related, this would definitely be reminiscent of the time Vesper Lynd snuck under Bonds radar, and eventually killed herself as a twisted act of atonement. We all know how that affected Bonds psyche, so theres a potential for James to become more reckless, and even more cruel, in his operations. Meaning that the film intended to wrap Daniel Craigs tenure as the legendary British agent could end with him losing his life; freeing up the next participant to start their own chain of adventures in the future of the famed franchise.

Of course, all of this discussion about No Time to Die is predicated on the first trailer weve seen for the film, and a lot can change between now and the films April 2020 release window. But it feels like this new adventure in the James Bond series is a more personally plotted affair, with Madeleine Swann sitting square in the middle of the proceedings, hiding something that could unhinge the man himself.

No Time to Die reveals all its secrets on April 8th, 2020. Should you want to size up the competition for the box office dollar that weekend, take a look at our 2020 release schedule and see who else is gunning for glory.

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Israeli CO2-eating bacteria could help save the planet – ISRAEL21c

Posted: December 8, 2019 at 3:42 pm

Israeli scientists have revealed a potential weapon in the battles against air pollution, deforestation and climate change: bacteria engineered to eat carbon dioxide (CO2) from the environment.

Prof. Ron Milos plant and environmental sciences research lab at the Weizmann Institute of Science published a report on the study in Cell on November 27.

Milos team spent nearly a decade using rational design, genetic engineering and a sped-up version of evolution to create unique CO2-eating E. coli bacteria.

First, they identified the genes that plants use for the process of carbon fixation taking carbon from CO2 and turning it into protein, DNA and other biological molecules. Many of these genes were already present in the bacteria. Others could be added or modified.

They also inserted a gene that allows bacteria to get energy from formate, a readily available substance that can be produced directly from electricity and air.

Once the cultured bacteria had the necessary genetic mechanics, they still had to be coaxed into making the switch from their normal food (sugar) to CO2.

Postdoctoral fellow Shmuel Gleizer, the lead researcher, did this with a technique called lab evolution.

Together with PhD students Roee Ben-Nissan, Yinon Bar-On and other members of Milos team, Gleizer weaned the bacteria gradually off the sugar they were used to eating.

At each stage, cultured bacteria were given just enough sugar to keep them from complete starvation, as well as plenty of CO2 and formate.

Subsequent generations of the original cultured bacteria were given less and less sugar. After about a year of adapting to the new diet, some of them did switch to living and multiplying in an environment of pure CO2.

The researchers even used a special method to make sure the E. coli werent snacking on other nutrients.

Researchers converted sugar-eating E. coli bacterium (left) to producing all of its biomass from CO2, using metabolic engineering combined with lab evolution. The new bacterium (center) uses the compound formate as a form of chemical energy to drive CO2 fixation. The bacterium may provide the infrastructure for renewable production of food and green fuels (right). Chart courtesy of the Weizmann Institute

Cultured bacteria for a healthier planet

Our lab was the first to pursue the idea of changing the diet of a normal heterotroph (one that eats organic substances) to convert it to autotrophism (living on air), said Milo.

It sounded impossible at first, but it has taught us numerous lessons along the way, and in the end we showed it indeed can be done. Our findings are a significant milestone toward our goal of efficient, green scientific applications.

The researchers believe that the cultured bacteria could prove healthy for the planet in a variety of ways.

There are several scenarios in which this current research could be potentially applied in the future to address climate change, Bar-On tells ISRAEL21c.

Engineering an E. coli strain capable of utilizing energy sources such as formate, which could be synthesized electrochemically from renewable energy, opens the possibility of producing net-zero emissions ethanol, butanol, and potentially even denser fuels such as diesel fuels, which could replace fossil fuels, says Bar-On.Industrial renewable food production

In addition, the research could serve as the basis for future methods to increase food production without the vast land masses currently needed for raising meat and vegetables.

Reducing the land demand of food production can help to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with agriculture, for example by reducing the amount of deforestation, Bar-On explains.

Biotech companies that currently feed large amounts of corn syrup to bacteria or yeast to produce commodity chemicals could instead use cultured bacteria that live on a diet of CO2 and renewable electricity. Thats another potential way to reduce land demand.

The CO2-eating bacteria also could be useful in producing alternative protein, a major goal in the food-tech world.

In the future, we may be able to use renewable energy to drive carbon fixation and protein production in such bacteria, says Bar-On. This process can be scaled up to produce protein from renewable sources, which could serve as the feedstock of livestock, for example.

Because E. coli are the powerhouse of molecular biology research, says Bar-On, cultured E.coli that live on air alone will allow researchers to probe much closer the components of the carbon fixation machinery, which also operates in all of the plants providing our food.

As such, this bacterium could serve as a stepping-stone for discoveries that may improve the process of carbon fixation and could someday be implemented in crops to increase food production.

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Five technologies that may alter India in 2020 – Livemint

Posted: December 8, 2019 at 3:42 pm

Bengaluru: What must it have felt like to be a cotton spinner or an iron maker in England in the 1820s in the midst of an industrial revolution? Exactly 200 years later, we may be on the verge of another era of momentous change: the internet revolution. With internet access expanding dramatically post the early 1990s, a slew of new technologies have now matured to a point where fundamental change constantly seems to be right around the corner.

On the doorstep of a brand new decadethe 2020swhat new frontiers may Artificial Intelligence (AI) or gene editing open up? Will we soon have robot bosses? Will mixed reality change the way we consume entertainment and sports? Will we be able to cure 90% of all genetic diseases by the end of the decade? We take a look at five technologies that could alter India and the world. This may not be a definitive or even exhaustive list, but it is a list of things that could change the way we live, work, and play sooner than we think.

Mixed reality

Imagine watching a football match, not on your TV but on a virtual reality (VR) headset that streams the match live and projects interesting stats on the fly with the help of augmented reality (AR). Mumbai-based VR startup Tesseract, now owned by Mukesh Ambanis Reliance Jio, is promising a future like that with its Quark camera, Holoboard headset, and the high internet speeds of Jio Fiber. Similarly, a Hyderabad-based mixed reality startup called Imaginate enables cross-device communication over VR and AR wearables for better enterprise collaboration in the industrial sector.

Despite the much-hyped yet unmet expectations from the likes of Google Glass, Microsoft HoloLens and Facebooks Oculus, Tesseract and Imaginate simply underscore how the fusion of AR and VR technologies the combination of which is popularly known as Mixed Reality or MR is coming of age and is no longer in the realm of just sci-fi movies like Blade Runner 2049, where Officer K played by Ryan Gosling develops a relationship with his artificial intelligence (AI) hologram companion Joi.

For instance, AI-powered chatbots today can not only conduct a conversation in natural language via audio or text but they can be made more powerful with a dose of mixed reality. Last May, Fidelity Investments created a prototype VR financial advisor named Cora to answer client queries using a suite of tools from Amazon Web Services. Researchers in Southampton have built a device that displays 3D animated objects that can talk and interact with onlookers.

The Chinese government-run Xinhua News Agency has the worlds first AI-powered news anchor, whose voice has been modelled to resemble a real human anchor working for the agency. Going a step further, Japan-headquartered DataGrid Inc. uses generative adversarial networks (GANs) to develop its so-called whole body model automatic generation AI" that automatically generates full-length images of non-existent people with high resolutions.

Nevertheless, challenges abound when dealing MR-and AI-powered robots, humanoids, and human avatars. For one, whenever a company generates human bodies and faces, concerns over deep fakes and cheap fakes will always rear their heads. Second, data collection will continually raise concerns over security and privacy. Third, theres always the concern regarding the fairness of an AI algorithm when it is deployed to do human tasks like giving financial advice. Last, but not the least, theres also the question of whether AI bots should be allowed to pose as humans. This will continually pose a challenge and opportunity for technologists and policy makers.

Future of solar

Heliogen, a company that has billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates as one of its investors, says it has created the worlds first technology that can commercially replace fuels with carbon-free, ultra-high temperature heat from the sun. With its patented technology, Heliogens field of mirrors acts as a multi-acre magnifying glass to concentrate and capture sunlight.

This is just a case in point that solar technologies have evolved a lot since they first made their debut in the 1960s. For instance, solar roadwayspanels lining the surface of highwayshave already popped up in the Netherlands. Floating solar, on its part, is providing a credible option to address land use concerns associated with wide scale solar implementations. A French firm called Ciel et Terre, for instance, has projects set up in France, Japan, and England. Other parts of the world, including India and California in the US, are piloting similar floating solar initiatives.

Space-based solar technology is another exciting arena. India, China and Japan are investing heavily in these technologies right now. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agencys (JAXA) Space Solar Power Systems (SSPS) aims to transmit energy from orbiting solar panels by 2030. Further, researchers at the VTT Technical Research Centre in Finland have used solar and 3D printing technologies to develop prototypes of what they have christened as energy harvesting trees".

With solar power cheaper than coal in most countries in the world, its worth scaling up these technologies.

Indians and robot bosses

Between 400 and 800 million individuals around the world could be displaced by automation and would need to find new jobs by 2030, predicted a December 2017 survey by consultancy firm McKinsey. The Future of Jobs 2018 report by the World Economic Forum (WEF) suggests that 75 million jobs may be lost to automation by 2022, but adds that another 133 million additional new roles will be created.

Given that many of the automated jobs are being taken away by AI-powered chatbots and intelligent robots, would humans eventually have to work for a robo boss? This, however, may not be as big a concern as it is made out to be. According to the second annual AI at Work study conducted by Oracle and Future Workplace, people trust robots more than their managers. The study, released this October, notes that workers in China (77%) and India (78%) have adopted AI over 2X more than those in France (32%) and Japan (29%). Further, workers in India (60%) and China (56%) are the most excited about AI, while men have a more positive view of AI at work than women.

Oracle and Future Workplace also found that 82% of the workers believe robot managers are better at certain tasks, such as maintaining work schedules and providing unbiased information, than their human counterparts. And almost two-thirds (64%) of workers worldwide say they would trust a robot more than their human manager. In China and India, that figure rises to almost 90%.

On the other hand, the respondents felt managers can outdo robots when it comes to understanding their feelings, coaching them, and creating a healthy work culture. Whether humans eventually serve a robo boss or not remains to be seen. However, we can be certain of one thing: in the near future, we will increasingly see humans collaborating with smart robots.

Future of payments

Everyone can be a merchant, and every device can be an acceptance device," Accenture noted in its 2017 Driving the Future of Payments report. This trend has only accelerated over the last two years, especially with banks coming to terms with the fact that young customers, especially those living in urban areas, prefer net banking and mobile banking and would seldom, or never, want to visit a bank branch if offered that choice.

Bitcoin and cryptocurrency investors, for instance, have not lost faith in this disruptive currency despite the run with volatility, and despite the industry being viewed with a lot of suspicion by most governments around the world, including India. Fintechs too, with their innovative technology solutions like AI-powered bots and contactless payments to name a few, have only made the payments ecosystem more inclusive, disruptive, and challenging. In India, especially, the governments Aadhaar-enabled payments system and the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) have revolutionized the payments ecosystem. The total volume of UPI transactions in the third quarter of calendar 2019 touched 2.7 billiona 183% rise over the same July-September quarter a year ago. In terms of value, UPI clocked 4.6 trillionup 189% over the same period a year ago, according to the Worldlines India Digital Payments Report-Q3 2019.

However, the number of transactions done on mobile wallets was 1.04 billiononly a 5% rise over the previous year period.

QR codes, according to the report, will continue to be used for payments, and the internet of things (IoT) is set to dominate micro payments by transforming connected devices into payment channels, though the pace of adoption of 5G by countries like India will be the key.

Nevertheless, cash that has been in existence for over 3000 years in different forms is not going to disappear in a hurry. Trust and security will continue to remain the operative words in digital payments.

Making sense of gene editing

When Dolly the sheep made news for becoming the first mammal ever to be cloned from another individuals body cell, many expected human cloning to follow soon. Dolly died over 16 years ago, and subsequently animals, including monkeys and dogs, continue to be cloned successfully. Yet, no human being has yet been cloned in real life.

While human cloning, which may or may not eventually happen, is bound to raise a lot of alarm bells given the moral implications surrounding the issue, the fact is that human genomes, or genes, are being routinely edited in a bid to find solutions for what are today considered to be incurable genetically inherited diseases.

Researchers are using a gene editing tool known as CRISPR-Cas9. CRISPR, which stands for Clusters of Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, is a tool that allows researchers to easily alter DNA sequences and modify gene function. The protein Cas9 (CRISPR-associated, or Cas) is an enzyme that acts like a pair of molecular scissors capable of cutting strands of DNA.

CRISPR-Cas9 is primarily known for its use in treating diseases like AIDS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and Huntingtons disease. Two patients, one with beta thalassemia and one with sickle cell disease, have potentially been cured of their diseases, reveal results from clinical trials that were jointly conducted by Vertex Pharmaceuticals and CRISPR Therapeutics. The results released this November involved using Crispr to edit the genes of these patients.

Researchers are now looking to extend its use to tackle famine, lend a hand in creating antibiotics, and even wipe out an entire species such as malaria-spreading mosquitoes. Further, by genetically engineering a persons bone marrow cells, researchers can reprogram their immune and circulatory systems. Some new cancer treatments are based on this. Moreover, looking at the DNA of the collection of microbes in your gut can help with digestive disorders, weight loss, and even help understand mood changes.

Closer home, scientists at the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB) and the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology (CSIR-IICB) are trying to correct genetic mutations in their laboratories using CRISPR Cas9 with encouraging preliminary results. But due to regulatory and ethical concerns, it may take a while before they can use this on humans.

IGIB also sells CRISPR products such as Cas9 proteins and its variants to educational institutes at reduced prices in a bid to encourage use of the technology.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), on its part, considers any use of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing in humans to be gene therapy and rules that the sale of DIY kits to produce gene therapies for self-administration is illegal. India, too, has banned the use of stem cell therapy for commercial use following concerns over rampant malpractice".

CRISPR-Cas9, thus, remains a work in progress and countries should have policies to govern its use. Meanwhile, one can watch out for an upgrade to CRISPR called Prime, which theoretically has the ability to snip out more than 90% of all genetic diseases.

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Free Event on Weapons of Mass Destruction in the Digital Age Focuses on the Growing Threat of WMD Terrorism – GlobeNewswire

Posted: December 8, 2019 at 3:42 pm

McLean, VA, Dec. 03, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Public Sector 360, a division of 1105 Media, Inc. and Noblis announce the upcoming event, Weapons of Mass Destruction in the Digital Age.

The event will take place December 11th at Convene, Hamilton Square in Washington, DC.

Speakers include:

The half-day program will address the growing threat of WMD terrorism and will delve into biological threats and pandemics. Other focuses will include exploring how technology is transforming monitoring and mitigation efforts and the benefits and challenges of information sharing across government and with external partners. Dr. Sterling Thomas will discuss how countering bio weapons of mass destruction has changed in the digital age. His presentation will include emerging technologies such as CRISPR-based genetic engineering, machine learning, data poisoning and how these technologies have dual use in this domain.

"The national-security risks of nuclear, chemical, biological and other threats are obvious," said FCW Editor-in-Chief Troy K. Schneider. "Less discussed are the ways government agencies are working together to address those risks, and the ways new technologies are supporting those efforts. We're excited to dig into the solution side of this critical issue."

Noblis is once again delighted to co-host this important event and to contribute to the discussion of how to prepare for the threat from deadly chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive (CBRNE) weapons, said Jordin Cohen, Ph.D., vice president, Defense and Homeland Security, Noblis. Government and industry are focused on developing the countermeasures to these dangers which will require innovation, collaboration and the deployment of our nations most advanced technologies.

For more information on the December 11th event, visit: https://fcw.com/WMD or contact ametcalf@PublicSector360.com

About Public Sector 360

Public Sector 360, a division of 1105 Media, Inc., provides information, insight and analysis to Government IT sectors. Our content platforms include print, digital, online, events and a broad spectrum of marketing services. http://www.publicsector360.com

About Noblis

Noblis is a dynamic science, technology, and strategy organization dedicated to creating forward-thinking technical and advisory solutions in the public interest. We bring the best of scientific thought, management, and engineering expertise together in an environment of independence and objectivity to deliver enduring impact on federal missions. Noblis works with a wide range of government clients in the defense, intelligence and federal civil sectors. Together with our wholly owned subsidiary, Noblis ESI, we tackle the nation's toughest problems and support our clients' most critical missions.

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Exclusive: Two pigs engineered to have monkey cells born in China – New Scientist News

Posted: December 7, 2019 at 10:45 am

By Michael Le Page

Tang Hai

Pig-primate chimeras have been born live for the first time but died within a week. The two piglets, created by a team in China, looked normal although a small proportion of their cells were derived from cynomolgus monkeys.

This is the first report of full-term pig-monkey chimeras, says Tang Hai at the State Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Reproductive Biology in Beijing.

The ultimate aim of the work is to grow human organs in animals for transplantation. But the results show there is still a long way to go to achieve this, the team says.

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Hai and his colleagues genetically modified cynomolgus monkey cells growing in culture so they produced a fluorescent protein called GFP. This enabled the researchers to track the cells and their descendents. They then derived embryonic stem cells from the modified cells and injected them into pig embryos five days after fertilisation.

More than 4000 embryos were implanted in sows. Ten piglets were born as a result, of which two were chimeras. All died within a week. In the chimeric piglets, multiple tissues including in the heart, liver, spleen, lung and skin partly consisted of monkey cells, but the proportion was low: between one in 1000 and one in 10,000.

It is unclear why the piglets died, says Hai, but because the non-chimeric pigs died as well, the team suspects it is to do with the IVF process rather than the chimerism. IVF doesnt work nearly as well in pigs as it does in humans and some other animals.

The team is now trying to create healthy animals with a higher proportion of monkey cells, says Hai. If that is successful, the next step would be to try to create pigs in which one organ is composed almost entirely of primate cells.

Something like this has already been achieved in rodents. In 2010, Hiromitsu Nakauchi, now at Stanford University in California, created mice with rat pancreases by genetically modifying the mice so their own cells couldnt develop into a pancreas.

In 2017, Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmontes team at the Salk Institute in California created pig-human chimeras, but only around one in 100,000 cells were human and, for ethical reasons, the embryos were only allowed to develop for a month. The concern is that a chimeras brain could be partly human.

This is why Hai and his team used monkey rather than human cells. But while the proportion of monkey cells in their chimeras is higher than the proportion of human cells in Belmontes chimeras, it is still very low.

Given the extremely low chimeric efficiency and the deaths of all the animals, I actually see this as fairly discouraging, says stem cell biologist Paul Knoepfler at the University of California, Davis.

He isnt convinced that it will ever be possible to grow organs suitable for transplantation by creating animal-human chimeras. However, it makes sense to continue researching this approach along with others such as tissue engineering, he says.

According to a July report in the Spanish newspaper El Pas, Belmontes team has now created human-monkey chimeras, in work carried out in China. The results have not yet been published.

While interspecies chimerism doesnt occur naturally, the bodies of animals including people can consist of a mix of cells. Mothers have cells from their children growing in many of their organs, for instance, a phenomenon called microchimerism.

Journal reference: Protein & Cell, DOI: 10.1007/s13238-019-00676-8

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Jasper Therapeutics Launches with $35 Million Series A Financing to Develop and Commercialize Innovative Conditioning Agents and Therapies to…

Posted: December 7, 2019 at 10:45 am

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Jasper Therapeutics, Inc., a new biotechnology company focused on enabling safer conditioning and therapeutic agents that expand the application of curative hematopoietic stem cell transplants and gene therapies, today announced the launch of the company with a $35 million total Series A financing. Abingworth LLP and Qiming Venture Partners USA served as lead investors, with further investment from Surveyor Capital (a Citadel company) and participation from Alexandria Venture Investments, LLC. The proceeds will be used to advance the clinical development of the companys lead product candidate, JSP191, which is designed to replace or reduce the toxicity of chemotherapy and radiation therapy as a conditioning regimen to prepare patients for hematopoietic cell transplant.

Jaspers development of JSP191 is also supported by a collaboration with the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), which has been funding the program and is committed to providing a total of $23 million in grant support. As part of the Series A financing, Amgen, which discovered JSP191 (formerly AMG191), has licensed worldwide rights to Jasper that also include translational science and materials from Stanford University.

Jasper was co-founded by Judith Shizuru, M.D., Ph.D., a hematopoietic stem cell transplant expert at Stanford University, and Susan Prohaska, Ph.D., a Stanford University-trained immunologist, stem cell biologist and early-stage drug development professional. Dr Shizurus CIRM-funded lab advanced the understanding of the ability of anti-CD117 to impact hematopoietic stem cells and, together with the Lucile Packard Childrens Hospital Stanford and University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) pediatric transplant teams, was the first to study an anti-CD117 antibody in the clinic as a conditioning agent. That humanized antibody, now called JSP191, was first studied for conditioning for transplant in immune-deficient patients in collaboration with Amgen, UCSF and CIRM.

Stem cell transplantation is a potential curative therapy for people with hematologic cancers, autoimmune diseases, and debilitating genetic diseases. However, the pre-transplant conditioning required to prepare patients for transplant involves highly toxic chemotherapy, which can be life-threatening and limits the number of people who are able to benefit, said Dr. Shizuru, co-founder and member of the Board of Directors of Jasper Therapeutics. JSP191 is the only anti-CD117 antibody to demonstrate safety and efficacy in severely ill patients receiving stem cell transplant in the clinic. We plan to expand clinical development to patients receiving transplants for acute myeloid leukemia/ myelodysplastic syndrome or autoimmune diseases and to patients receiving stem cell-directed gene therapies.

Dr. Shizuru added, With an experienced executive team of biotech veterans and a strong syndicate of healthcare-focused investors, Jasper Therapeutics is well positioned to achieve our vision of building a leading biotech company starting with JSP191 and expanding to other novel therapies for immune modulation, graft engineering and cell and gene therapies.

JSP191 is currently being evaluated in an ongoing Phase 1 clinical trial as a conditioning agent to enable stem cell transplantation in patients with severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) who received a prior stem cell transplant that failed. This severe genetic immune disorder leaves patients without a functioning immune system. Interim results of the study will be presented in an oral presentation (abstract #800) on Monday, December 9, at the 61st American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition in Orlando, Fla. Clinical studies to evaluate the safety and efficacy of JSP191 as a conditioning agent in patients undergoing hematopoietic cell therapy for hematologic cancers are planned for 2020.

Founding Management Team

Dr. Shizuru and Mr. Lis are joined on the Jasper Therapeutics Board of Directors by Kurt von Emster, Managing Partner of Abingworth LLP, and Anna French, Ph.D., Principal at Qiming Venture Partners USA. Dr. Prohaska is a Board observer.

With our investment in this program, were able to realize our mission of fast-tracking stem cell treatments by helping academic researchers rapidly advance the most promising discoveries in the lab into the clinics and to drug development with commercialization partners, said Maria T. Millan, M.D., President and CEO of CIRM. Jaspers two co-founders took a novel antibody with unique properties and moved it from the bench to the bedside relatively quickly, and were thrilled to partner with this talented team to potentially impact a broad group of people who could benefit from stem cell therapy.

About Stem Cell Transplantation

Blood-forming, or hematopoietic, stem cells are cells that reside in the bone marrow and are responsible for the generation and maintenance of all blood and immune cells. These stem cells can harbor inherited or acquired abnormalities that lead to a variety of disease states, including immune deficiencies, blood disorders or hematologic cancers. Successful transplantation of hematopoietic stem cells is the only cure for most of these life-threatening conditions. Replacement of the defective or malignant hematopoietic stem cells in the patients bone marrow is currently achieved by subjecting patients to toxic doses of radiation and/or chemotherapy that cause DNA damage and lead to short- and long-term toxicities, including immune suppression and prolonged hospitalization. As a result, many patients who could benefit from a stem cell transplant are not eligible. New approaches that are effective but have minimal to no toxicity are urgently needed so more patients who could benefit from a curative stem cell transplant could receive the procedure.

Safer and more effective hematopoietic cell transplantation regimens could overcome these limitations and enable the broader application of hematopoietic cell transplants in the cure of many disorders. These disorders include hematologic cancers (e.g., myelodysplastic syndrome [MDS] and acute myeloid leukemia [AML]), autoimmune diseases (e.g., lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and Type 1 diabetes), and genetic diseases that could be cured with genetically-corrected autologous stem cells (e.g., severe combined immunodeficiency syndrome [SCID], sickle cell disease, beta thalassemia, Fanconi anemia and other monogenic diseases).

About JSP191

JSP191 (formerly AMG191) is a first-in-class humanized monoclonal antibody in clinical development as a conditioning agent that clears hematopoietic stem cells from bone marrow. JSP191 binds to human CD117, a receptor for stem cell factor (SCF) that is expressed on the surface of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells. The interaction of SCF and CD117 is required for stem cells to survive. JSP191 blocks SCF from binding to CD117 and disrupts critical survival signals, causing the stem cells to undergo cell death and creating an empty space in the bone marrow for donor or gene-corrected transplanted cells to engraft.

Preclinical studies have shown that JSP191 as a single agent safely depletes normal and diseased hematopoietic stem cells, including in an animal model of MDS. This creates the space needed for transplanted normal donor or gene-corrected hematopoietic stem cells to successfully engraft in the host bone marrow. To date, JSP191 has been evaluated in more than 80 healthy volunteers and patients. It is currently being evaluated as a sole conditioning agent in a Phase 1 dose-escalation trial to achieve donor stem cell engraftment in patients undergoing hematopoietic cell transplant for SCID, which is curable only by this type of treatment. For more information about the design of the clinical trial, visit http://www.clinicaltrials.gov (NCT02963064). Clinical development of JSP191 will be expanded to also study patients with AML or MDS who are receiving hematopoietic cell transplant.

About Jasper Therapeutics

Jasper Therapeutics is a biotechnology company focused on enabling safer conditioning and therapeutic agents that expand the application of curative hematopoietic stem cell transplants and gene therapies. Jasper Therapeutics lead compound, JSP191, is in clinical development as a conditioning antibody that clears hematopoietic stem cells from bone marrow in patients undergoing a stem cell transplant. For more information, please visit us at http://www.jaspertherapeutics.com.

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Jasper Therapeutics Launches with $35 Million Series A Financing to Develop and Commercialize Innovative Conditioning Agents and Therapies to...

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Worlds first ever pig-monkey hybrids have been created by Chinese scientists – The Sun

Posted: December 7, 2019 at 10:45 am

THE worlds first monkey-pig hybrids have been born, which could pave the way for human organs grown by animals.

A groundbreaking experiment produced creatures with hearts, livers, spleens, lungs and skin which contained pig and primate cells.

1

Stem cells from macaque monkeys were grown in a lab and then injected into pig embryos five days after fertilisation.

Of more than 4,000 implanted in sows, ten piglets were born. But only two were chimeras and both died in a week.

However the Chinese scientists reckon that may be due to IVF procedure.

Beijing-based Tang Hai said: This is the first report of full-term pig-monkey chimeras.

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The piglets, known as moinkeys, had organs with monkey cells in a very low ratio. A similar US experiment in 2017 used pig and human DNA.

Embryos were developed for only a month amid fears the brain may be partly human.

University of California stem cell biologist Paul Knoepfler said: Given the extremely low chimeric efficiency and the deaths of all the animals, I see this as fairly discouraging.

Rocket Mice

GENETICALLY enhanced supermice have been launched into space.

The eight rodents, which are twice as muscly as normal, are part of a three-ton cargo heading for the International Space Station.

The load also includes a robot sensitive to emotions, a miniature brewerys malt house plus holiday goodies for the six station residents.

The Falcon rocket, Space Xs 19th supply run for Nasa, blasted off late from Cape Canaveral, Florida, a day late because of winds.

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Brenner and Rector’s The Kidney, 2-Volume Set. Edition No. 11 – ResearchAndMarkets.com – Associated Press

Posted: December 7, 2019 at 10:45 am

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec 6, 2019--

The Brenner and Rectors The Kidney, 2-Volume Set. Edition No. 11 book has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.coms offering.

Put the worlds most well-known kidney reference to work in your practice with the 11th Edition of Brenner & Rectors The Kidney. This two-volume masterwork provides expert, well-illustrated information on everything from basic science and pathophysiology to clinical best practices. Addressing current issues such as new therapies for cardiorenal syndrome, the increased importance of supportive or palliative care in advanced chronic kidney disease, increasing live kidney donation in transplants, and emerging discoveries in stem cell and kidney regeneration, this revised edition prepares you for any clinical challenge you may encounter.

Key Topics Covered:

1. Embryology of the Kidney

2. Anatomy of the Kidney

3. The Renal Circulations and Glomerular Ultrafiltration

4. Glomerular Cell Biology

5. Metabolic Basis of Solute Transport

6. Transport of Sodium, Chloride, and Potassium

7. The Regulation of Calcium, Magnesium, and Phosphate Excretion by the Kidney

8. Renal Handling of Organic Solutes

9. Renal Acidification Mechanisms

10. Urine Concentration and Dilution and The Cell Biology of Vasopressin Action

11. Vasoactive Molecules and the Kidney

12. Aldosterone and Mineralocorticoid Receptors: Renal and Extrarenal Roles

13. Arachidonic Acid Metabolites and the Kidney

14. Disorders of Sodium Balance

15. Disorders of Water Balance

16. Disorders of Acid-Base Balance

17. Disorders of Potassium Balance

18. Disorders of Calcium, Magnesium, and Phosphate Balance

19. Epidemiology of Kidney Disease

20. Risk Prediction in Chronic Kidney Disease

21. Developmental Programming of Blood Pressure and Renal Function

22. Physiology and Pathophysiology of the Aging Kidney

23. Clinical Approach and Laboratory Assessment of the patient with kidney disease

24. Interpretation of Electrolyte and Acid-Base Parameters in Blood and Urine

25. Diagnostic Kidney Imaging

26. The Kidney Biopsy

27. Biomarkers in Acute and Chronic Kidney Diseases

28. Pathophysiology of Acute Kidney Injury

29. Prevention and Management of Acute Kidney Injury

30. Pathophysiology of Proteinuria

31. Primary Glomerular Disease

32. Secondary Glomerular Disease

33. Overview of Therapy for Glomerular Disease

34. Thrombotic Microangiopathy and Microvascular Disease

35. Tubulointerstitial Diseases

36. Urinary Tract Infection in Adults

37. Urinary Tract Obstruction

38. Urinary Stone Disease

39. Diabetic Nephropathy

40. Cardiorenal Syndromes

41. Kidney Cancer

42. Onco-Nephrology: Kidney Disease in Patients with Cancer

43. Inherited Disorders of the Glomerulus

44. Inherited Disorders of the Renal Tubule

45. Cystic Diseases of the Kidney

46. Primary and Secondary Hypertension

47. Renovascular Hypertension and Ischemic Nephropathy

48. Pregnancy and Kidney Disease

49. Antihypertensive Therapy

50. Diuretics

51. Mechanisms of Progression of Chronic Kidney Disease

52. The Pathophysiology of Uremia

53. Chronic Kidney Disease-Mineral Bone Disorder

54. Cardiovascular Aspects of Kidney Disease

55. Hematologic Aspects of Kidney Disease

56. Endocrine Aspects of Chronic Kidney Disease

57. Neurologic Aspects of Kidney Disease

58. Dermatologic Conditions in Kidney Disease

59. Staging and Management of Chronic Kidney Disease

60. Dietary Approaches to Kidney Diseases

61. Drug Dosing Considerations in Patients with Acute Kidney Injury and Chronic Kidney Disease

62. Supportive Care in Advanced Kidney Disease

63. Hemodialysis

64. Peritoneal Dialysis

65. Critical Care Nephrology

66. Plasmapheresis

67. Elimination Enhancement of Poisons

68. Interventional Nephrology

69. Transplantation Immunobiology

70. Clinical Management of the Adult Kidney Transplant Recipient

71. Considerations in Live Kidney Donation

72. Diseases of the Kidney and Urinary Tract in Children

73. Fluid, Electrolyte, and Acid-Base Disorders in Children

74. Renal Replacement Therapy (Dialysis and Transplantation) in Pediatric End-Stage Kidney Disease

75. Global Challenges and Initiatives in Kidney Health

76. Latin America

77. Africa

78. Near and Middle East

79. Indian Subcontinent

80. Far East

81. Oceania Region

82. Ethical Dilemmas Facing Nephrology: Past, Present, and Future

83. Health Disparities in Nephrology

84. Care of the Older Adult with Chronic Kidney Disease

85. Stem Cells, Kidney Regeneration, Gene and Cell Therapy in Nephrology

Authors

Yu, Alan S. L. Harry Statland and Solon Summerfield Professor of Medicine, Director, Division of Nephrology and Hypertension and the Kidney Institute, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, Kansas.

Chertow, Glenn M. Norman S. Coplon/ Satellite Healthcare, Professor of Medicine, Chief, Division of Nephrology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, Palo Alto, California, USA.

Luyckx, Valerie Affiliate Lecturer, Renal Division, Brigham and Womens Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, Institute of Biomedical Ethics and the History of Medicine

University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.

Marsden, Philip A. Professor of Medicine, Elisabeth Hofmann Chair in Translational Research, Oreopoulos-Baxter Division Director of Nephrology; Vice Chair Research, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Skorecki, Karl Annie Chutick Professor and Chair in Medicine (Nephrology), Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Director of Medical and Research Development, Rambam Health Care Campus, Haifa, Israel.

Taal, Maarten W. Professor of Medicine, Division of Medical Sciences and Graduate Entry Medicine, University of Nottingham; Honorary Consultant Nephrologist, Department of Renal Medicine, Royal Derby Hospital, Derby, United Kingdom.

For more information about this book visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/klnzw8

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Brenner and Rector's The Kidney, 2-Volume Set. Edition No. 11 - ResearchAndMarkets.com - Associated Press

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IFN-: The T cell’s license to kill stem cells in the inflamed intestine – Science

Posted: December 7, 2019 at 10:43 am

Abstract

IFN- produced by T cells directly induces intestinal stem cell death upon inflammation-induced intestinal injury (see the related Research Article by Takashima et al.).

Intestinal regeneration upon tissue damage is fueled by intestinal stem cells (ISCs) residing in the crypt bottom of the epithelium and marked by the gene Lgr5 (1, 2). There is growing evidence that tissue repair is at least partially mediated by a regenerative inflammatory response (3, 4). How inflammation-induced intestinal injury influences ISCs and their microenvironment (stem cell niche) remains poorly understood. In this issue of Science Immunology, Takashima et al. (5) explore the changes in the ISC niche in vivo upon T cellmediated injury as a model of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and in vitro using organoid T cell cocultures. Although earlier studies already implicated interferon- (IFN-) as a negative regulator of intestinal epithelial homeostasis (68), Takashima et al. now demonstrate that IFN- directly acts on ISCs by triggering apoptosis.

In an allogeneic bone marrow transplant (BMT) model, Takashima and colleagues found that ISC numbers per intestinal crypt were markedly reduced in mice receiving bone marrow alone or bone marrow and T cells when compared with normal control mice. While the ISCs in the mice receiving only bone marrow recovered 7 days later, the ISC numbers remained reduced in those mice also transplanted with donor T cells. Of note, Paneth cell numbers were also reduced after ISC depletion. The numbers of organoids established from the intestines of mice 10 days after BMT recovered back to that of control mice, whereas the organoid forming capacity from crypts of mice after combined transplantation of bone marrow and T cells remained significantly lower. Similar in vivo and in vitro results were obtained when autoreactive T cells were transplanted, pointing to a common feature of T cellmediated intestinal injury.

As seen by three-dimensional confocal microscopy, intraepithelial T cells (CD3+ IELs) preferentially localized to the villus region, whereas lamina propriaassociated T cells (CD3+ LPLs) were equally distributed along the crypt-villus axis of control mice (Fig. 1A). Conversely, mice receiving bone marrow and allogeneic T cells showed a progressive increase in the density of both CD3+ LPLs and CD3+ IELs in the crypt region.

To identify signaling molecules that cause the loss of ISCs in this model, Takashima and colleagues performed several elegant murine and human epithelial organoid coculture experiments. Murine nave allogeneic T cells did not impair murine intestinal organoid numbers, whereas alloreactive T cells effectively reduced organoid numbers. Likewise, human allogeneic cytotoxic T cells robustly inhibited human intestinal organoid forming efficiency. Even bead-activated autologous T cells suppressed human intestinal organoid growth. The authors then proceeded to screen for potential pathways mediating cytotoxicity. Organoids cocultured with T cells in the presence of antiIFN- neutralizing antibodies showed normal growth. Although IFN- receptor (IFN-R)depleted T cells were still able to affect organoid viability, IFN-Rdepleted organoids were resistant to T cellmediated killing. Organoid toxicity by IFN- was also observed in the absence of T cells. Live imaging confirmed the progressive ISC depletion upon organoid exposure to IFN-. Treatment of organoids with the immunosuppressive JAK1/2 inhibitor ruxolitinib robustly preserved numbers of both organoids and ISCs in the presence of IFN-, irrespective of whether the organoids were cultured alone or together with T cells. The authors additionally demonstrated that JAK1-depleted organoids are resistant to IFN- treatment. Further downstream, ruxolitinib prevented STAT1 phosphorylation by IFN- in intestinal crypts, and, in line, STAT1-depleted organoids were resistant to growth suppression in response to IFN- treatment.

IFN-treated organoids showed reduced expression of ISC marker genes. ISCs underwent apoptosis in vitro in a direct response to IFN-. Next, the authors confirmed in vivo that ISC numbers did not change upon transplanting allogeneic bone marrow and T cells when treating mice with IFN- neutralizing antibodies. Likewise, ruxolitinib treatment protected ISCs from T cellmediated killing in vivo. Donor T cells, particularly T helper 1 cells, were activated and IFN-+. Transplanting IFN-depleted allogeneic T cells robustly reduced the ISC loss and allowed epithelial cell proliferation to increase.

Takashima and colleagues lastly investigated whether IFN- directly induces ISC apoptosis. Using tissue-specific depletion of IFN-R1, the authors found that epithelial loss of the receptor protects from the immune-mediated GVHD phenotype. IFN-R1 is expressed by both ISCs and Paneth cells, the epithelial component of the ISC niche (9). However, Paneth celldeficient organoids remained sensitive to both IFN- and allogeneic T cellmediated cytotoxicity. Likewise, T cells were able to reduce the number of organoids containing IFN-R1deficient Paneth cells, whereas organoids containing IFN-R1deficient ISC were protected from cytotoxicity. The authors demonstrated in further experiments that IFN- directly induces ISC apoptosis independent of Paneth cells (Fig. 1, B and C).

The study by Takashima et al. extends our knowledge on signaling between ISCs and immune cells, identifying ISCs as direct targets of IFN- secreted by T cells in immune-mediated intestinal damage (as caused by GVHD). In the 2015 study by Lindemans et al., this group already identified that interleukin-22 (IL-22) secreted by group 3 innate lymphoid cells (ILC3s) directly stimulates ISCs to proliferate and regenerate the intestinal epithelium upon inflammation-induced intestinal injury (4). Modulating the effects of T cellderived IFN- on ISC, for instance, by suppressing JAK/STAT signaling via ruxolitinib treatment, may provide a new therapeutic avenue to reducing GVHD-induced damage of the intestinal epithelium (10).

(A) ISCs maintain adult homeostasis of the intestinal epithelium. T lymphocytes patrol the intestine. (B) Takashima et al. show that in GVHD as modeled by BMT and aberrant activation of T lymphocytes, T cellderived IFN- directly acts on ISCs and induces apoptosis via JAK/STAT signaling. (C) Disease progression results in marked intestinal damage due to loss of ISCs and their niche.

Acknowledgments: Funding: K.K. is a long-term fellow of the Human Frontier Science Program Organization (LT771/2015). Competing interests: H.C. and K.K. are named inventors on patents or patents pending on Lgr5 stem cellbased organoid technology.

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