Page 736«..1020..735736737738..750760..»

HCP Analysis by ELISA and Orthogonal Methods in Vaccine and Gene Therapy Development – BioProcess Insider

Posted: June 23, 2021 at 1:54 am

This webcast features: Jared Isaac, PhD, Sr. Scientist, Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry, Cygnus Technologies

Next-generation recombinant vaccines and gene therapy products require clinical and commercial manufacturing of protein antigens or viral vectors produced using cell culture technologies. Regulatory guidelines require testing for cell substrate related impurities, media and purification additives, as well as adventitious agents throughout vaccine and gene therapy development to study the candidates purity, safety, and efficacy. While low levels of most impurities can be inconsequential, patient safety demands that host cell proteins (HCPs) be eliminated or reduced to the lowest levels practical. A key step in downstream purification of viral vectors and recombinant vaccines is the selection of a platform HCP enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit or developing a custom HCP ELISA. One part of determining that the ELISA is fit for purpose is performing antibody coverage analysis.

In this webinar, we will discuss orthogonal Antibody Affinity Extraction and Mass Spectrometry methods used to assess ELISA Ab coverage to HCPs present in a process and identify process-specific HCPs that may copurify with a drug substance. Case studies of HEK 293, Sf9, and Vero cell-based processes will be presented.

Just fill out the form below to watch the recorded webcast.

View post:
HCP Analysis by ELISA and Orthogonal Methods in Vaccine and Gene Therapy Development - BioProcess Insider

Posted in Gene therapy | Comments Off on HCP Analysis by ELISA and Orthogonal Methods in Vaccine and Gene Therapy Development – BioProcess Insider

Stem Cell Treatment Centers – Indiana Stem Cell | Call Today

Posted: June 23, 2021 at 1:52 am

At the Indiana Stem Cell Treatment Center, we provide stem cell therapy care for people suffering from diseases that may be alleviated by access to adult stem cell based regenerative treatment. The Center utilizes a fat transfer surgical technology to isolate and implant the patients own stem cells from a small quantity of fat harvested by liposuction on the same day. Stem cell therapy patients are evaluated by a respective member of our multi-specialty expert panel of Board Certified physicians representing many medical fields. The Indiana Stem Cell Treatment Center emphasizes quality and is highly committed to clinical research and the advancement of regenerative medicine. When it comes to stem cell therapy centers we always put the patients needs first

Founded in 2010 for the investigational use of stem cells deployments for degenerative conditions, the source of the cells is actually stromal vascular fraction, which is a protein rich segment of processed adipose tissue. Stromal vascular fraction contains a mononuclear cell line (predominantly autologous mesenchymal stem cells), macrophage cells, endothelial cells, red blood cells, and important growth factors that turn on the stem cells and promote their activity. We have high numbers of viable cells and we are trying to learn which diseases respond best and which deployment methods are most effective. We are growing and continue to use our surgical methods to deploy SVF for various degenerative conditions. We employ a clinical research coordinator to protect our valuable data and our vision is to perfect our treatments and ultimately teach them to other physicians around the world.

Visit link:
Stem Cell Treatment Centers - Indiana Stem Cell | Call Today

Posted in Indiana Stem Cells | Comments Off on Stem Cell Treatment Centers – Indiana Stem Cell | Call Today

Stem Cell Therapy | Indiana Medical Center

Posted: June 23, 2021 at 1:52 am

Umbilical cord stem cells are a type of cell called Mesenchymal (MCS). MSCs have the ability to migrate and target specic tissues. This property called homing is an event that allows cells to migrate from a remote area in the body to nd a damaged organ or tissue in a specic site. This is the mechanism by which MSCs are infused intravenously and reach the aected areas of the body to perform its regenerative functions. MCS with Whartons Jelly is the most potent of stem cells.

The cord blood is processed in such a way that all blood components associated with rejection are removed. When these growth factors, proteins, regenerative cells, and stem cells are injected into a damaged joint, they go to work to repair the source of pain. IL-1ra (Interleukin-1 receptor antagonist) immediately begins reducing the damaging inflammatory components (Tumor necrosis factor-alpha, Interferon-gamma, ect.

Call our regenerative medicine team atIndiana Medical Center for Joint Restoration and Regenerative Medicinelocated in Bloomington for more information about stem cell therapy.Other than the umbilical cord, common sources of stem cells include bone marrow or fat harvested from the patients body. Depending on the health and age of the individual, these cells may be less potent than needed, and the extraction process more invasive.

The rest is here:
Stem Cell Therapy | Indiana Medical Center

Posted in Indiana Stem Cells | Comments Off on Stem Cell Therapy | Indiana Medical Center

Pollution could be sucking the youth out of you, quite literally – ZME Science

Posted: June 23, 2021 at 1:51 am

Exposure to pollution in all its forms could be making us age faster, according to new research.

Our everyday exposure to UV rays, ozone, cigarette smoke, industrial chemicals, and other pollutants might be even more damaging than weve believed. Such factors can lead to the production of free radicals in our bodies, highly reactive chemical molecules that damage tissues or DNA. A new study from West Virginia University, in collaboration with the University of Minnesota, reports that unrepaired DNA damage incurred from these radicals can cause us to age faster.

From their research on aging and cell damage in animals, the team is confident in the effect pollution could have on these factors in humans.

By the time [a genetically-modified mouse used in the study] is 5 months old, its like a 2-year-old mouse, said EricKelley, associate professor and associate chair of research in the School of Medicines Department of Physiology and Pharmacology.

It has all the symptoms and physical characteristics. It has hearing loss, osteoporosis, renal dysfunction, visual impairment, hypertension, as well as other age-related issues. Its prematurely aged just because it has lost its ability to repair its DNA.

Kelley and his team used genetically modified mice for their study. These animals had the data encoding a certain protein removed from their hematopoietic stem cells, undifferentiated immune cells that later mature into white blood cells. This protein is a key DNA-repairing component in the mammalian body, and without it, the team could observe what effects their ever-decaying DNA strands would cause to the mices cells.

In rough terms, the team explains, a 2-year-old mouse is about as old as a human in their late 70s to early 80s.

These genetically engineered mice showed more markers of senescence (aging), cell damage, and oxidation in their immune cells compared to control mice. However, The damage extended beyond the immune system, with the experimental mice showing aged and damaged cells in organs including the liver and kidneys. This, they note, suggests that unrepaired DNA damage can lead to premature aging throughout an individuals body.

The oxidation damage observed is largely due to the action of free radicals. There are two main ways that free radicals make their way into our bodies. The first is unavoidable oxidative phosphorylation. Its basically what happens after digestion, the step in which food is actually oxidized in our cells to produce energy. Without it, we couldnt be alive. However, pollution can also introduce these bad chemicals.

Chemical pollutants such as smoke from exhaust or cigarettes can lead to the formation of free radicals inside the body through the interactions they have with chemicals and tissues. Additionally, radiation treatments like those used against cancer can transfer energy to the water molecules in our body, which can break apart into free radicals.

Our bodies do have tools on hand to limit the effects of these free radicals, but nowhere near enough to resist the pollution levels were seeing today.

A cigarette has over 10 to the 16th free radicals per puff, just from combusted carbon materials, Kelley said. We have mechanisms in the mitochondria that mop free radicals up for us, but if they become overwhelmed if we have over-nutrition, if we eat too much junk, if we smoke the defense mechanism absolutely cannot keep up.

Furthermore, as we age, these defenses become less and less effective, as our bodies wear out. Eventually, invariably, the oxidants gain the upper hand, the damage they cause starts outweighing our bodies repair capacity. Many of the characteristics associated with aging are caused by this. But, the team proposes, if were exposed to more pollutants, and accumulate a greater level of free radicals in the body, that aging will take place sooner.

I come from an Appalachian background, Kelley said. And, you know, Id go to funerals that were in some old house an in-the-living-room-with-a-casket kind of deal and Id look at people in there, and theyd be 39 or 42 and look like they were 80 because of their occupation and their nutrition.

The impact is less on lifespan and more on healthspan, he adds. If you could get people better access to healthcare, better education, easier ways for them to participate in healthier eating and a healthier lifestyle, then you could improve the overall economic burden on the population of West Virginia and have a much better outcome all the way around.

Although we have a few pharmaceutical options to deal with free radicals, the team says its best to prevent their accumulation in the first place, mainly through lifestyle changes.

The paper An aged immune system drives senescence and ageing of solid organs has been published in the journal Nature.

The rest is here:
Pollution could be sucking the youth out of you, quite literally - ZME Science

Posted in Virginia Stem Cells | Comments Off on Pollution could be sucking the youth out of you, quite literally – ZME Science

Genetic Engineering for Food Security to Have Strong Impact on Oilseed and Grain Farming Businesses | Discover Company Insights on BizVibe -…

Posted: June 23, 2021 at 1:50 am

Get Free Access to all Industry Trends

Key Insights Provided for Oilseed and Grain Farming CompaniesIn addition to the impact of emerging trends on businesses, BizVibe company profiles contain numerous high-quality insights to help users discover, track, compare, and evaluate suppliers or sales prospects:

Get Started for Free and Unlock all Insights

Oilseed and Grain Farming Product and Service CategoriesBizVibe's platform contains 10M+ company profiles, spanning across 200+ countries, and categorized into 40,000+ products and services. The oilseed and grain farming industry group features 10,000+ company profiles categorized into 80+ product and service categories. Each category contains detailed insights dedicated to helping procurement and sales teams find trusted suppliers and target sales prospects.

Get Free Company Profile Access for all Categories

BizVibe for Buyers and SellersBizVibe is the modern B2B platform dedicated to connecting global buyers and sellers. Powered by the latest best-in-class solutions, BizVibe provides outstanding product features for both category managers and sales professionals.

For buyers, BizVibe helps companies quickly discover and shortlist suppliers, compare companies, create customized alerts for supplier news, and send RFI/RFPs from pre-built templates. For sales teams, Bizvibe allows users to efficiently build prospects lists, track and evaluate companies, and integrate their CRM.

This all-in-one platform was designed to equip users with all necessary tools needed to complete the entire buying/sales cycle in a single workspace.

More Information for Buyers: https://www.bizvibe.com/buyers

More Information for Sellers: https://www.bizvibe.com/sellers

About BizVibeBizVibe has been conceptualized and built by a team based out of Toronto, Bangalore, and London. We are a branch of Infiniti Research and have dedicated units in all three locations. BizVibe helps buyers find the most relevant suppliers from around the world and help sellers target prospects who need their products and/or services. For more information, please visit http://www.bizvibe.com and start for free today.

ContactBizVibeJesse MaidaEmail: [emailprotected]+1 855-897-5880Website: https://www.bizvibe.com/

SOURCE BizVibe

https://www.bizvibe.com/

Read more from the original source:
Genetic Engineering for Food Security to Have Strong Impact on Oilseed and Grain Farming Businesses | Discover Company Insights on BizVibe -...

Posted in Genetic Engineering | Comments Off on Genetic Engineering for Food Security to Have Strong Impact on Oilseed and Grain Farming Businesses | Discover Company Insights on BizVibe -…

USDA’s Proposal to Take Back Regulatory Oversight of GM Animals from FDA Remains Viable Despite Change in Administration – Lexology

Posted: June 23, 2021 at 1:50 am

On December 14, 2020, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved GalSafe pigs, which are genetically modified (GM) for use in food production and medical products. At the time, the agency noted in its Consumer Q&A that intentional genomic alterations (IGAs) in animals would be regulated by FDA to ensure that it is safe for the animal, safe for anyone that consumes food from the animal, and that it is effective, i.e., it does what the developer claims it will do. The agency also explained that IGAs would be subject to premarket oversight whether they are intended to be used for food or to produce pharmaceuticals or other useful products (emphasis added), with the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) being responsible for the labeling of food from GM animals.

However, on yet another show of intra-agency conflict during the Trump administration, just several weeks later the USDA moved to wrest the oversight of GM animals intended for food production from FDA by issuing an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM), titled Regulation of the Movement of Animals Modified or Developed by Genetic Engineering. Under the ANPRM, the USDA would be responsible for:

Notably, FDA would continue to regulate GM seafood. This proposed regulatory framework is intended to operate under a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the USDA and the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

The MOU was signed by the two agencies on January 13, 2021, just mere days before the change in administration. The MOU transfers the oversight of GM animals intended for agricultural purposes (i.e., human food, fiber, and labor) from FDA to the USDA under authorities granted to the USDA by the Animal Health Protection Act, the Federal Meat Inspection Act, and the Poultry Products Inspection Act. Under the MOU, FDA will continue to have authority over IGAs intended for any purpose other than agricultural use, including biopharma, xenotransplantation, and gene therapies. Importantly, if a specific GM animal species is intended for human food supply, FDA must consult with the USDA on the food safety review to promote consistent food safety reviews and monitoring for all amenable species intended for human food as part of USDA's new program.

Where Are We Now?

Considering the strong interest in the proposed change in agency oversight by both industry and consumers alikeas well as the Biden-Harris administrations likely desire to gauge the support and opposition for the plan before making a decisionUSDA reopened the comment period for the ANPRM in early March, which was extended to May 7, 2021. Despite strong support from industry, however, animal welfare, public health, and environmental advocates have signed letters urging both Tom Vilsack, Agriculture Secretary, and Xavier Becerra, HHS Secretary, to allow FDA to retain its oversight over GM animals intended for food production, claiming the MOU weakens FDAs authority to protect public health.

In the meantime, FDA continues to regulate GM animals for both agricultural and medical purposes. Whether USDAs effort to retain jurisdiction over GM meat intended for the food supply will be successful is unclear. However, it seems there would be some amount of duplication in determining whether a genetic modification to an animal is safe for purposes of producing food, drugs, new cells, or tissue structures for use in humans. Presumably the agencies will share their relevant scientific expertise in assessing the use of this novel technology and its possible effects on humans. Because state agencies are also heavily involved in the regulation of livestock, it is likely that states will have a view on which federal agency they believe is more capable to set appropriate standards and police activity. It remains unclear when a decision on the ANPRM will be issued and whether the Biden-Harris administration will support the proposed rule.

Go here to see the original:
USDA's Proposal to Take Back Regulatory Oversight of GM Animals from FDA Remains Viable Despite Change in Administration - Lexology

Posted in Genetic Engineering | Comments Off on USDA’s Proposal to Take Back Regulatory Oversight of GM Animals from FDA Remains Viable Despite Change in Administration – Lexology

Genetically engineered cell membranecoated nanoparticles for targeted delivery of dexamethasone to inflamed lungs – Science Advances

Posted: June 23, 2021 at 1:50 am

Abstract

As numerous diseases are associated with increased local inflammation, directing drugs to the inflamed sites can be a powerful therapeutic strategy. One of the common characteristics of inflamed endothelial cells is the up-regulation of vascular cell adhesion molecule1 (VCAM-1). Here, the specific affinity between very late antigen4 (VLA-4) and VCAM-1 is exploited to produce a biomimetic nanoparticle formulation capable of targeting inflammation. The plasma membrane from cells genetically modified to constitutively express VLA-4 is coated onto polymeric nanoparticle cores, and the resulting cell membranecoated nanoparticles exhibit enhanced affinity to target cells that overexpress VCAM-1 in vitro. A model anti-inflammatory drug, dexamethasone, is encapsulated into the nanoformulation, enabling improved delivery of the payload to inflamed lungs and significant therapeutic efficacy in vivo. Overall, this work leverages the unique advantages of biological membrane coatings to engineer additional targeting specificities using naturally occurring target-ligand interactions.

The chemical and physiological changes associated with inflammation are an important part of the innate immune system (1). Proinflammatory processes can lead to the release of cytokines such as interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor, which are capable of effecting vascular changes to improve immune responses at a site of stress or injury (2). These may include vasodilation and an increase in vascular permeability, which can promote more efficient immune cell recruitment (3, 4). On the cellular level, proinflammatory cytokines cause the up-regulation of specific surface markers, including vascular cell adhesion molecule1 (VCAM-1) or intercellular adhesion molecule1 (ICAM-1), which allow for immune cell adhesion at the site of inflammation (5, 6). Although inflammation is an integral process that is required for survival, a dysregulated immune system is implicated in a wide range of disease states (7, 8). The disease relevance of inflammation is further supported by the fact that inflammatory markers such as cellular adhesion molecules are often implicated in pathogenesis (9, 10), and these have been explored as therapeutic and diagnostic targets.

Nanoparticle-based platforms, especially those functionalized with active targeting ligands, have the potential to serve as powerful tools for managing a wide range of diseases associated with inflammation (11). Along these lines, the targeted delivery of anti-inflammatory agents to the vasculature of affected sites via cell adhesion molecules represents a promising strategy (1214). Using inflammation as the cue, a diverse range of nanodelivery systems have been designed to target up-regulated markers such as VCAM-1 and ICAM-1 (1520), and this approach has been leveraged to treat conditions such as cancer and cardiovascular diseases (2123). More recently, cell membrane coating technology has garnered considerable attention in the field of nanomedicine (24, 25). From erythrocytes to cancer cells, virtually any type of cell membrane can be coated onto the surface of nanoparticles, resulting in nanoformulations with enhanced functionality that can be custom-tailored to specific applications (26, 27). In particular, cell membranecoated nanoparticles have proven to be effective drug delivery systems owing to their extended circulation times and disease-homing capabilities (2628). The targeting ability of these biomimetic nanoparticles is often mediated by proteins that are expressed on the source cells, and this bestows the nanoparticles with the ability to specifically interact with various disease substrates. For example, nanoparticles coated with the membrane derived from platelets were shown to specifically target bacteria as well as the exposed subendothelium in damaged vasculature (29). A similar platform was shown to target the lungs in a murine model of cancer metastasis (30). On top of the natural biointerfacing capabilities of cell membranecoated nanoparticles, their traits can be further enhanced by introducing exogenous moieties onto the membrane surface. One way to achieve this is to tether targeting ligands via a lipid anchor, which can then be inserted into the cell membrane (31, 32). Red blood cell membranecoated nanoparticles, which exhibit prolonged blood circulation, have been functionalized in this manner to enhance their cancer targeting ability.

Instead of relying on post-fabrication methods to introduce additional functionality, cell membranecoated nanoparticles can be developed using the membrane from genetically engineered source cells (33). A wide range of tools are available to introduce or up-regulate the expression of specific surface markers (34, 35), and this approach enables researchers to augment the functionality of cell membranebased nanodelivery platforms based on application-specific needs (36, 37). In this study, we genetically engineered cell membranecoated nanoparticles to specifically target sites of inflammation (Fig. 1). Inflamed endothelial cells are known to up-regulate the expression of VCAM-1 to recruit immune cells such as leukocytes that express its cognate ligand, very late antigen4 (VLA-4) (38). To exploit this interaction, we genetically modified a source cell line to stably express VLA-4 and harvested the engineered membrane to coat polymeric nanoparticle cores. A potent anti-inflammatory drug, dexamethasone (DEX), was used as a model payload to be loaded for the treatment of inflammation. The ability of the final nanoformulation to target inflamed cells without compromising the activity of DEX was first tested in vitro. Then, therapeutic efficacy was evaluated in vivo using a murine model of endotoxin-induced lung inflammation.

Wild-type cells were genetically engineered to express VLA-4, which is composed of integrins 4 and 1. Then, the plasma membrane from the genetically engineered cells was collected and coated onto dexamethasone-loaded nanoparticle cores (DEX-NP). The resulting VLA-4expressing cell membranecoated DEX-NP (VLA-DEX-NP) can target VCAM-1 on inflamed lung endothelial cells for enhanced drug delivery.

VLA-4 is a heterodimer that is formed by the association of integrin 4 with integrin 1 (39). To generate a cell line constitutively displaying the full complex, we elected to modify wild-type C1498 cells (C1498-WT), which were confirmed to express high levels of integrin 1 but lack integrin 4 (Fig. 2A). Following viral transduction of C1498-WT to introduce the integrin 4 gene, a subpopulation of the resulting engineered cells (referred to as C1498-VLA) was found to express both VLA-4 components (Fig. 2B). After successfully establishing C1498-VLA, the cells were harvested and their membrane was derived by a process involving cell lysis and differential centrifugation. The cell membrane was then coated onto poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) nanoparticle cores that were prepared by a single emulsion method. Membrane-coated nanoparticles prepared with the membrane from C1498-WT and C1498-VLA (referred to as WT-NP and VLA-NP, respectively) both had an average diameter of approximately 175 nm, which was slightly larger than the uncoated PLGA cores (Fig. 2C). In terms of zeta potential, the membrane-coated nanoparticles exhibited a surface charge of approximately 20 mV, which was less negative than the PLGA cores (Fig. 2D). Both the size and zeta potential data suggested proper membrane coating, which was further verified for VLA-NP by transmission electron microscopy, which clearly showed a membrane layer surrounding the core (Fig. 2E). Western blotting analysis was used to probe for the two components of VLA-4 on the nanoformulations (Fig. 2F). As expected, both integrins 4 and 1 were found on VLA-NP, whereas only integrin 1 was present on WT-NP. To evaluate long-term stability of the membrane-coated nanoparticles, they were suspended in 10% sucrose solution at 4C, and their size was monitored over the course of 8 weeks (Fig. 2G). Neither nanoparticle sample exhibited a significant increase in size during this period.

(A and B) Expression of integrins 4 and 1 on C1498-WT (A) and C1498-VLA (B) cells was confirmed by flow cytometry. (C and D) The average diameter (C) and surface zeta potential (D) of PLGA cores, WT-NP, and VLA-NP were confirmed by dynamic light scattering (n = 3, mean + SD). (E) Representative transmission electron microscopy image of VLA-NP (scale bar, 100 nm). (F) Western blots for integrins 4 and 1 on WT-NP and VLA-NP. (G) Size of WT-NP and VLA-NP when stored in solution over a period of 8 weeks (n = 3, mean SD).

The binding of VLA-NP was assessed in two different in vitro experiments. First, C1498-WT transduced to constitutively express high amounts of VCAM-1 (referred to as C1498-VCAM) was used as a model target cell. The expression of VCAM-1 on C1498-VCAM was confirmed via flow cytometry (Fig. 3A). Whereas the C1498-WT cells did not show any expression, the C1498-VCAM cells yielded a signal that was over an order of magnitude higher than the isotype control. To evaluate binding, fluorescent dyelabeled WT-NP or VLA-NP were incubated with either C1498-WT or C1498-VCAM (Fig. 3, B and C). For each pairing, the incubation was performed either with or without antiVCAM-1 to block the specific interaction between VLA-4 and VCAM-1. For the samples with blocking, cells were first incubated with the antibody for 30 min before nanoparticle treatment. After incubating with the nanoparticles for 30 min, the cells were washed twice and were analyzed by flow cytometry. The data revealed that there was significant nanoparticle binding only when VLA-NP were paired with C1498-VCAM. The level of binding was reduced back to baseline levels in the presence of antiVCAM-1, thus confirming the specificity of the interaction. In contrast, there was no evidence of specific binding when VLA-NP were paired with C1498-WT, which does not express the cognate receptor for VLA-4. The same held true for the WT-NP paired with either cell type, where antibody blocking had no impact on the relative nanoparticle binding.

(A) Expression of VCAM-1 on C1498-WT and C1498-VCAM cells (gray, isotype antibody; green, antiVCAM-1). (B and C) Binding of WT-NP (B) or VLA-NP (C) to C1498-WT or C1498-VCAM cells; blocking was performed by preincubating cells with antiVCAM-1 (n = 3, mean + SD). ****P < 0.0001, Students t test. (D) Expression of VCAM-1 on untreated or LPS-treated bEnd.3 cells (gray, isotype antibody; green, antiVCAM-1). (E and F) Binding of WT-NP (E) or VLA-NP (F) to untreated or LPS-treated bEnd.3 cells; blocking was performed by preincubating cells with antiVCAM-1 (n = 3, mean + SD). **P < 0.01, Students t test.

Next, we elected to study the nanoparticle binding to endothelial cells, which represent a more biologically relevant target compared to the artificially engineered C1498-VCAM cells. For this purpose, we used a murine brain endothelial cell line, bEnd.3, whose VCAM-1 expression can be up-regulated in the presence of proinflammatory signals (40). To induce an inflamed state, bEnd.3 cells were treated with bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS), and the level of VCAM-1 expression was evaluated using flow cytometry (Fig. 3D). Whereas expression of VCAM-1 was near baseline levels for the untreated bEnd.3 cells, those that were treated with LPS exhibited a distinct population with elevated VCAM-1. As we observed in the previous experiment with C1498-VCAM cells, enhanced nanoparticle binding was only observed when VLA-NP were paired with inflamed bEnd.3 cells, and antibody blocking reduced the levels back to baseline (Fig. 3, E and F). When incubating with noninflamed bEnd.3 cells, there was no evidence of specific binding interactions, and the same held true for the control WT-NP paired with bEnd.3 cells regardless of their inflammatory status. The data in these two studies confirmed the successful engineering of membrane-coated nanoparticles with the ability to target inflammation based on the interaction between VLA-4 and VCAM-1.

As a model anti-inflammatory payload, we selected DEX, which was loaded into the PLGA core by a single emulsion method before coating with either C1498-WT or C1498-VLA membrane to yield DEX-loaded WT-NP or VLA-NP (referred to as WT-DEX-NP or VLA-DEX-NP, respectively). When the drug content was measured by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), it was determined that the encapsulation efficiency and drug loading yield were approximately 11 and 2 weight % (wt %), respectively (Fig. 4A). To evaluate drug release, VLA-DEX-NP was dialyzed against a large volume of phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), and the amount of drug retained within the nanoparticles was quantified over time (Fig. 4B). The results revealed an initial burst, where approximately 80% of the drug payload was released in the first hour, followed by a sustained release. The release profile was in agreement with previous reports on DEX-loaded PLGA formulations (41, 42), and the data showed a good fit with the Peppas-Sahlin model with a regression coefficient of 0.978 (43). To evaluate the biological activity of the DEX loaded within the nanoparticles, we used an in vitro assay based on the LPS treatment of DC2.4 dendritic cells, which causes an elevation in the levels of proinflammatory cytokines such as IL-6 (Fig. 4C). DC2.4 cells were first treated with either free DEX or VLA-DEX-NP for 2 hours, followed by incubation with LPS overnight. The supernatant was then collected to measure the concentration of IL-6 by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). It was shown that both free DEX and VLA-DEX-NP were able to attenuate IL-6 secretion in a drug concentrationdependent manner (Fig. 4D). Although free DEX more efficiently lowered IL-6 levels at drug concentrations of 0.01 and 0.1 M, the level of inflammation was reduced to levels near baseline for both free DEX and VLA-DEX-NP at 1 M of drug. The data indicated that the activity of the drug payload was retained after being loaded inside of VLA-NP. It was confirmed that neither PLGA cores nor VLA-NP without DEX loading had an impact on the level of IL-6 production by the DC2.4 cells (Fig. 4E).

(A) Drug loading (DL) and encapsulation efficiency (EE) of dexamethasone (DEX) into VLA-NP (n = 3, mean + SD). (B) Drug release profile of VLA-DEX-NP (n = 3, mean SD). The data were fitted using the Peppas-Sahlin equation (dashed line). (C) Secretion of IL-6 by LPS-treated DC2.4 cells (n = 3, mean + SD). UD, undetectable. (D) Secretion of IL-6 by LPS-treated DC2.4 cells preincubated with DEX in free form or loaded into VLA-NP (n = 3, mean SD). (E) Relative inflammatory response, as measured by IL-6 secretion, of DC2.4 cells treated with LPS only, LPS and PLGA nanoparticles, LPS and VLA-NP, PLGA nanoparticles only, or VLA-NP only; all of the nanoparticles were empty without DEX loading (n = 3, mean + SD). NS, not significant (compared to the LPS-only group), one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA).

After confirming the biological activity of the VLA-DEX-NP formulation in vitro, we next sought to evaluate the formulation in vivo using a murine model of lung inflammation. The model was established by intratracheal injection of LPS directly into the lungs of BALB/c mice. To evaluate targeting ability, fluorescently labeled WT-NP or VLA-NP were injected intravenously after the induction of lung inflammation. After 6 hours, major organs, including the heart, lungs, liver, spleen, kidneys, and blood, were collected to assess nanoparticle biodistribution (Fig. 5A). The majority of the nanoparticles accumulated in the liver and spleen. Notably, a significant increase in accumulation of VLA-NP was observed in the lungs compared to WT-NP. This in vivo targeting result was in agreement with the in vitro findings where VLA-NP were able to specifically bind to inflamed cells. The safety of the formulation was assessed by monitoring the plasma levels of creatinine, a marker of kidney toxicity that was previously studied in the context of DEX nanodelivery (44). After 9 days of repeated daily administrations of free DEX or VLA-DEX-NP into healthy mice, it was shown that the creatinine concentration in mice receiving VLA-DEX-NP remained consistent with baseline levels, whereas it was significantly elevated in mice administered with free DEX (Fig. 5B).

(A) Biodistribution of WT-NP or VLA-NP in a lung inflammation model 6 hours after intravenous administration (n = 3, mean + SD). *P < 0.05, Students t test. AU, arbitrary units. (B) Creatinine levels in the plasma of mice after repeated daily administrations for 9 days with free DEX or VLA-DEX-NP (n = 3, mean + SD). *P < 0.05, one-way ANOVA. (C) IL-6 levels in the lung tissue of mice intratracheally challenged with LPS and then treated intravenously with vehicle solution, free DEX, WT-DEX-NP, or VLA-DEX-NP (n = 3, mean SD). ***P < 0.001, ****P < 0.0001 (compared to VLA-DEX-NP), one-way ANOVA. (D) Representative hematoxylin and eosinstained lung histology sections of mice intratracheally challenged with LPS and then treated intravenously with vehicle solution, free DEX, WT-DEX-NP, or VLA-DEX-NP (scale bar, 100 m).

The therapeutic efficacy of VLA-DEX-NP was then evaluated following the same experimental design as the targeting study. After 6 hours, the lungs were collected and homogenized, and the homogenate was then clarified by centrifugation and filtered through a 0.22-m porous membrane before measuring the concentration of IL-6 by ELISA. As shown in Fig. 5C, the VLA-DEX-NP formulation was able to completely abrogate lung inflammation, while both free DEX and WT-DEX-NP did not have any discernable effect. The fact that WT-DEX-NP were not able to significantly reduce lung IL-6 levels suggested that systemic exposure to DEX was not a major contributor to the efficacy observed with VLA-DEX-NP. The efficacy of the formulation against lung inflammation was further confirmed by analyzing lung sections stained with hematoxylin and eosin (Fig. 5D). Leukocyte recruitment and peribronchial thickening, which are hallmarks of lung inflammation (45, 46), were prominent in the lungs of mice receiving no treatment, free DEX, or WT-DEX-NP. In contrast, minimal leukocyte recruitment and no peribronchial thickening were observed for the group treated with VLA-DEX-NP, and there were no other signs of toxicity present in these lung sections. Overall, the results from the in vivo studies confirmed the benefit of targeted delivery to inflamed lungs using VLA-NP as a drug nanocarrier.

In conclusion, we have engineered cell membranecoated nanoparticles that can be used to specifically target and treat localized lung inflammation via systemic administration. A host cell positive for integrin 1 was modified to express integrin 4. Together, the two protein markers formed VLA-4, which specifically interacts with VCAM-1, a common marker for inflammation found on vascular endothelia. Nanoparticles fabricated using the membrane from these genetically engineered cells were able to leverage this natural affinity to target inflamed sites, including in a murine model of LPS-induced lung inflammation. When the nanoparticles were loaded with DEX, an anti-inflammatory drug, significant therapeutic efficacy was achieved in vivo. Future studies will comprehensively evaluate the safety profile of the VLA-DEX-NP formulation, obtain additional lung-specific efficacy readouts, elucidate the optimal time window for treatment, and assess clinical relevance using additional animal models of severe inflammatory disease. As pathological inflammation is heavily implicated in a number of important disease conditions (7, 47), the reported biomimetic platform could be leveraged to improve the in vivo activity of various therapeutic payloads through enhanced targeting. Notably, VCAM-1 up-regulation has been observed in renal pathologies as well as in inflamed cerebral vasculature (48, 49). In addition, DEX has been shown to be effective at managing the inflammation associated with COVID-19 (50), and a targeted formulation capable of localizing the drug to the lungs may help to further boost its therapeutic profile. In this work, we specifically engineered the nanoparticles to display VLA-4, which is a complex, multicomponent membranebound ligand that would otherwise be infeasible to incorporate using traditional synthetic strategies. This highlights the advantages of using genetic engineering techniques to expand the wide-ranging utility of cell membrane coating technology. In particular, the generalized application of this approach would enable researchers to streamline the development of new targeted nanoformulations by using target-ligand interactions that occur in nature. Combined with the biocompatibility and biointerfacing characteristics that are inherent to cell membrane coatings, the work presented here could initiate a new wave of biomimetic nanomedicine with finely crafted functionalities.

Wild-type C1498 mouse leukemia cells (TIB-49, American Type Culture Collection) were cultured at 37C in 5% CO2 with Dulbeccos modified Eagles medium [DMEM; with l-glutamine, glucose (4.5 g/liter), and sodium pyruvate; Corning] supplemented with 10% bovine growth serum (BGS; Hyclone) and 1% penicillin-streptomycin (Pen-Strep; Gibco). Engineered C1498-VCAM cells were cultured with DMEM supplemented with 10% U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) fetal bovine serum (FBS; Omega Scientific), 1% Pen-Strep, and hygromycin B (400 g/ml; InvivoGen). Engineered C1498-VLA cells were cultured with DMEM supplemented with 10% USDA FBS, 1% Pen-Strep, and puromycin (1 g/ml; InvivoGen). bEnd.3 mouse brain endothelial cells (CRL-2299, American Type Culture Collection) were cultured with DMEM supplemented with 10% BGS and 1% Pen-Strep. AmphoPhoenix cells (obtained from the National Gene Vector Biorepository) were cultured with DMEM supplemented with 10% BGS and 1% Pen-Strep. DC2.4 mouse dendritic cells (SCC142, Sigma-Aldrich) were cultured with DMEM supplemented with 10% BGS and 1% Pen-Strep.

Engineered C1498-VLA and C1498-VCAM cells were created by transducing C1498-WT. Briefly, the genes for integrin 4 (MG50049-M, Sino Biological) and VCAM-1 (MG50163-UT, Sino Biological) gene were cloned into pQCXIP and pQCXIH plasmids (Clontech), respectively, using an In-Fusion HD cloning kit (Clontech) following the manufacturers protocol, yielding pQCXIP-4 and pQCXIH-VCAM-1. AmphoPhoenix cells were plated onto 100-mm tissue culture dishes containing 10 ml of medium at 3 105 cells/ml and cultured overnight. The cells were transfected with pQCXIP-4 or pQCXIH-VCAM-1 using Lipofectamine 2000 (Invitrogen) following the manufacturers instructions. The supernatant of the transfected AmphoPhoenix was collected and used to resuspend C1498-WT cells, which were then centrifuged at 800g for 90 min. After the spin, the transduced cells were incubated for 4 hours before the media were changed with fresh media. Fluorescently labeled antibodies, including FITC (fluorescein isothiocyanate) anti-mouse CD49d (R1-2, BioLegend), Alexa647 anti-mouse/rat CD29 (HM1-1, BioLegend), or PE (phycoerythrin) anti-mouse CD106 (STA, BioLegend), were used to assess the expression levels of VLA-4 or VCAM-1. Data were collected using a Becton Dickinson FACSCanto-II flow cytometer and analyzed using FlowJo software. All of the engineered cells were sorted using a Becton Dickinson FACSAria-II flow cytometer to select for cells expressing high levels of VLA-4 or VCAM-1.

The membranes from C1498-WT and engineered C1498-VLA cells were derived using a previously described method with some modifications (51). First, the cells were harvested and washed in a starting buffer containing 30 mM tris-HCl (pH 7.0) (Quality Biological) with 0.0759 M sucrose (Sigma-Aldrich) and 0.225 M d-mannitol (Sigma-Aldrich). The washed cells were resuspended in an isolation buffer containing 0.5 mM ethylene glycol-bis(-aminoethyl ether)-N,N,N,N-tetraacetic acid (Sigma-Aldrich), a phosphatase inhibitor cocktail (Sigma-Aldrich), and a protease inhibitor cocktail (Sigma-Aldrich). Then, the cells were homogenized using a Kinematica Polytron PT 10/35 probe homogenizer at 70% power for 15 passes. The homogenate was first centrifuged at 10,000g in a Beckman Coulter Optima XPN-80 ultracentrifuge for 25 min. The supernatant was then collected and centrifuged at 150,000g for 35 min. The resulting pellet of cell membrane was washed and stored in a solution containing 0.2 mM ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (USB Corporation) in UltraPure DNase-free/RNase-free distilled water (Invitrogen). Total membrane protein content was quantified by a BCA protein assay kit (Pierce).

Polymeric cores were prepared by a single emulsion process using carboxyl-terminated 50:50 PLGA (0.66 dl/g; LACTEL absorbable polymers). For DEX-loaded PLGA cores, 500 l of PLGA (50 mg/ml) in dichloromethane (DCM; Sigma-Aldrich) was mixed with 500 l of DEX (10 mg/ml) in acetone. This mixture was added to 5 ml of 10 mM tris-HCl (pH 8) and sonicated using a Thermo Fisher Scientific 150E Sonic Dismembrator at 70% power for 2 min. The sonicated mixture was added to 10 ml of 10 mM tris-HCl (pH 8) and was magnetically stirred at 700 rpm overnight. For 1,1-dioctadecyl-3,3,3,3-tetramethylindodicarbocyanine (DiD, ex/em = 644/663 nm; Biotium) labeling, 500 l of PLGA (50 mg/ml) in DCM was mixed with 500 l of DiD (20 g/ml) in DCM. This mixture was added to 5 ml of 10 mM tris-HCl (pH 8) and sonicated using a Thermo Fisher Scientific 150E Sonic Dismembrator at 70% power for 2 min. The sonicated mixture was added to 10 ml of 10 mM tris-HCl (pH 8) and was magnetically stirred at 700g for 3 hours. Empty PLGA core preparation followed the same procedure, except substituting the DiD solution for 500 l of neat DCM. To coat the polymeric cores with cell membranes, the nanoparticle cores were first centrifuged at 21,100g for 8 min. The pellets were resuspended in solution containing membranes derived from C1498-WT or C1498-VLA. The mixture was sonicated in a 1.5-ml disposable sizing cuvette (BrandTech Scientific Inc.) using a Thermo Fisher Scientific FS30D bath sonicator at a frequency of 42 kHz and a power of 100 W for 3 min. For the in vitro studies, UltraPure water and sucrose were added to adjust the polymer concentration to 1 mg/ml and the sucrose concentration to 10%. For the in vivo studies, UltraPure water and sucrose were added to adjust the polymer concentration to 10 mg/ml and the sucrose concentration to 10%.

The size and surface zeta potential of WT-NP and VLA-NP were measured by dynamic light scattering using a Malvern ZEN 3600 Zetasizer. For electron microscopy visualization, a VLA-NP sample was negatively stained with 1 wt % uranyl acetate (Electron Microscopy Sciences) on a carbon-coated 400-mesh copper grid (Electron Microscopy Sciences) and visualized using a JEOL 1200 EX II transmission electron microscope. The presence of VLA-4 on WT-NP and VLA-NP was determined using western blotting. First, the samples were adjusted to 1 mg/ml protein content, followed by the addition of NuPAGE 4 lithium dodecyl sulfate sample loading buffer (Novex) and heating at 70C for 10 min. Then, 25 l was loaded into the wells of 12-well Bolt 4 to 12% Bis-Tris gels (Invitrogen) and ran at 165 V for 45 min in MOPS running buffer (Novex). The proteins were transferred for 60 min at a voltage of 10 V onto 0.45-m nitrocellulose membranes (Pierce) in Bolt transfer buffer (Novex). Nonspecific interactions were blocked using 5% milk (Genesee Scientific) in PBS (Thermo Fisher Scientific) with 0.05% Tween 20 (National Scientific). The blots were probed using anti-integrin 4 antibody (B-2, Santa Cruz Biotechnology) or anti-integrin 1 antibody (E-11, Santa Cruz Biotechnology). The secondary staining was done using the corresponding horseradish peroxidaseconjugated antibodies (BioLegend). Membranes with stained samples were developed in a dark room using ECL western blotting substrate (Pierce) and an ImageWorks Mini-Medical/90 Developer. Long-term stability of WT-NP and VLA-NP in 10% sucrose solution was tested by storing the particles at 4C for 2 months with weekly size measurements.

The expression level of VCAM-1 on C1498-WT, C1498-VCAM, untreated bEnd.3 cells, and bEnd.3 cells treated overnight with LPS (1 g/ml) from Escherichia coli K12 (LPS; InvivoGen) was evaluated as described above. For the first binding study, 5 104 cells, either C1498-WT or C1498-VCAM, were collected and resuspended in 160 l of DMEM containing 0.5% USDA FBS, 1% bovine serum albumin (BSA; Sigma-Aldrich), and 1 mM MnCl2 (Sigma-Aldrich). For blocking, anti-mouse CD106 antibody was added to the cells, followed by incubation at 4C for 30 min. Then, 40 l of DiD (1 mg/ml)labeled WT-NP or VLA-NP was added, and the mixture was incubated at 4C for another 30 min. After washing the cells twice with PBS, the fluorescent signals from the cells were detected using flow cytometry. For the second study, 5 104 bEnd.3 cells were plated and then either left untreated or pretreated with LPS overnight. The media were then removed and replaced with 160 l of DMEM containing 0.5% USDA FBS, 0.8% BSA, and 1 mM MnCl2. For blocking, anti-mouse CD106 antibody was added to the cells, followed by incubation at 4C for 30 min. Then, 40 l of DiD (1 mg/ml)labeled WT-NP or VLA-NP was added, and the mixture was incubated at 4C for another 30 min. After washing the cells twice with PBS, the cells were detached by scraping, and the fluorescent signals from the cells were detected using flow cytometry. All data were collected using a Becton Dickinson FACSCanto-II flow cytometer and analyzed using FlowJo software.

Drug loading and encapsulation efficiency were measured using HPLC on an Agilent 1220 Infinity II gradient liquid chromatography system equipped with a C18 analytical column (Brownlee). VLA-DEX-NP samples were dissolved overnight in 80% acetonitrile (ACN; EMD Millipore) and then centrifuged at 21,100g for 8 min to collect the supernatant for analysis. The solutions were run through the column at a flow rate of 0.3 ml/min and DEX was detected at a wavelength of 242 nm. The DEX release profile was obtained by loading 200 l of VLA-DEX-NP (1 mg/ml) into Slide-A-Lyzer MINI dialysis devices (10K molecular weight cutoff; Thermo Fisher Scientific) and floating them on 1 liter of PBS stirred at 150 rpm. At each time point, dialysis cups were retrieved, and their contents were centrifuged at 21,100g for 8 min. The pellets were dissolved in 80% ACN overnight and processed as described above for HPLC analysis.

The biological activity of DEX was evaluated in vitro using a test system involving the LPS treatment of DC2.4 dendritic cells. To validate the system, DC2.4 cells were first plated onto a 24-well tissue culture plate at 5 104 cells per well and cultured overnight with or without LPS at a concentration of 1 g/ml. Then, supernatant was collected, and the concentration of IL-6 was measured using a mouse IL-6 ELISA kit (BioLegend) according to the manufacturers protocol. To compare free DEX and VLA-DEX-NP, the two formulations were first added to the culture medium at final drug concentrations of 0.01, 0.1, and 1 M, followed by 2 hours of incubation. For free DEX, 1000 stock solutions were prepared at 0.01, 0.1, and 1 mM in dimethyl sulfoxide. Then, the cells were treated with LPS overnight before measuring the concentration of IL-6 in the supernatant. To test the effect of empty nanoparticles, either PLGA cores or VLA-NP at a final concentration of 1 g/ml were first incubated with the cells for 2 hours, followed by an overnight incubation either with or without LPS before measuring IL-6 levels.

All animal experiments were performed in accordance with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) guidelines and approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) of the University of California San Diego. To induce lung inflammation in mice, 30 l of LPS (400 g/ml) in PBS was injected intratracheally into male BALB/c mice (Charles River Laboratories). At 1 hour after LPS injection, 100 l of DiD (10 mg/ml)labeled WT-NP or VLA-NP was administered intravenously. After 6 hours, the heart, lungs, liver, spleen, kidneys, and blood were collected. All solid tissues were washed with PBS and suspended in 1 ml of PBS before being homogenized with a Biospec Mini-Beadbeater-16. The homogenates and blood were then diluted 4 with PBS and added to a 96-well plate, and fluorescence was measured using a BioTek Synergy Mx microplate reader. For each sample, the background signal measured from the corresponding organ or blood of control mice that did not receive any treatment was subtracted.

Male BALB/c mice were intravenously injected with 100 l of free DEX or VLA-DEX-NP, each at a drug concentration of 200 g/ml, daily for the first 7 days. Then, for the next 2 days, the dosage was doubled by injecting 200 l of each formulation at the same drug concentration. At 24 hours after the last injection, blood was collected by submandibular puncture and collected into tubes containing sodium heparin (Sigma-Aldrich). Plasma samples were obtained by taking the supernatant of the blood after centrifuging at 800g for 10 min. Creatinine levels were measured using a creatinine colorimetric assay kit (Cayman Chemical Company) according to the manufacturers protocol.

To treat lung inflammation, male BALB/c mice were first intratracheally challenged with 30 l of LPS (400 g/ml) in PBS. At 1 hour after the challenge, 100 l of free DEX, WT-DEX-NP, and VLA-DEX-NP, each at a drug concentration of 200 g/ml, was injected intravenously. After 6 hours, the lungs were collected and homogenized as described above. The homogenates were centrifuged at 10,000g, and the supernatants were filtered through 0.22-m polyvinylidene difluoride syringe filters (CELLTREAT). The concentration of IL-6 was measured using a mouse IL-6 ELISA kit according to the manufacturers protocol. For histology analysis, the lungs were collected after 6 hours and fixed in 10% phosphate-buffered formalin (Fisher Chemical) for 24 hours. The fixed lungs were sectioned, followed by hematoxylin and eosin (Sakura Finetek) staining. Histology slides were prepared by the Moores Cancer Center Tissue Technology Shared Resource (Cancer Center Support Grant P30CA23100). Images were obtained using a Hamamatsu NanoZoomer 2.0-HT slide scanner and analyzed using the NanoZoomer Digital Pathology software.

Acknowledgments: Funding: This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health under award no. R01CA200574 and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency Joint Science and Technology Office for Chemical and Biological Defense under grant no. HDTRA1-18-1-0014. J.H.P. was supported by a National Institutes of Health 5T32CA153915 training grant from the National Cancer Institute. Author contributions: J.H.P., Y.J., R.H.F., and L.Z. conceived and designed the experiments. J.H.P., Y.J., J.Z., H.G., A.M., and J.H. performed all experiments. All authors analyzed and discussed the data. J.H.P., A.M., R.H.F., and L.Z. wrote the paper. Competing interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Data and materials availability: All data needed to evaluate the conclusions in the paper are present in the paper.

Read more:
Genetically engineered cell membranecoated nanoparticles for targeted delivery of dexamethasone to inflamed lungs - Science Advances

Posted in Genetic Engineering | Comments Off on Genetically engineered cell membranecoated nanoparticles for targeted delivery of dexamethasone to inflamed lungs – Science Advances

Covid-19 vaccines have weakened the anti-GMO movement – The Irish Times

Posted: June 23, 2021 at 1:50 am

Environmental groups opposed to genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have been very influential for a considerable time and capable of raising large public protests. But the anti-GMO movement is now in decline as the EU and various influential environmental organisations begin to cautiously welcome selected genetically engineered organisms.

The final nail in the anti-GMO coffin is likely to be the spectacular success of the genetic technology that has just developed several highly effective vaccines against Covid-19 within the miraculously short time frame of one year.

On January 10th, 2020, Chinese scientists published the genome of a new disease-causing coronavirus Sars-CoV-2, similar to the virus that caused severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) in 2003.

But there were also striking differences and therefore nobody was immune. Developing vaccines against the rapidly spreading Sars-CoV-2 was the only hope of averting a deadly assault on public health but the problem was that it takes six to seven years on average to develop a new vaccine using traditional methods based on a weakened or killed Sars-CoV-2 virus.

This is where the smart new genetic techniques came to the rescue, aided by unprecedented international scientific collaboration, bottomless financial resources and an army of volunteers willing to participate in trials. By April 2020, 80 institutes and pharmaceutical companies were developing vaccines across 19 countries, mostly using gene-based methods. It was predicted that commercial vaccines would be available by early 2021. On January 4th, 2021 the UK started public inoculations with the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine.

Several highly effective vaccines, including Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) and Sputnik V are now available, each having progressed through all the correct phases of vaccine development within one year. The biggest vaccination campaign in history is now under way more than 1.94 billion doses have been administered across 176 countries, vaccinating 12.7 per cent of world population as of early June.

Genetic technology powered development of Covid-19 vaccines. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines, based on RNA molecules carrying genetic information for the synthesis of the spike protein of the Sars-CoV-2 virus that enables this virus to enter cells.

When the mRNA, enclosed in an artificial membrane, is injected into your arm the mRNA prompts cells near the injection site to make the spike protein. This trains your immune system to make antibodies and T-cells that will inactivate the Sars-CoV-2 virus if it infects you later.

The AstraZeneca, Johnson and Johnson and Sputnik V vaccines are fully genetically engineered.

They use a viral vector, an adenovirus a type of virus that causes the common cold to carry the vaccine into your cells. The adenovirus genome is stripped of any genes that might harm you and the Sars-CoV-2 spike protein genetic sequence is then spliced into the adenovirus genome.

This genetically doctored adenovirus carries the information for making the Sars-CoV-2 spike protein into your cells, training your immune system as already described for the mRNA vaccines.

For many years past the European Union set its face against genetically engineered organisms but this anti-GMO stance weakened recently mainly because biotechnology techniques can help the EU to meet environmental sustainability goals. And when the Sars-CoV-2 virus appeared on-stage the EU suspended some of its biotechnology regulations to fast-track development of Covid-19 vaccines.

Two powerful US environmental organisations, the Sierra Club and the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), recently cautiously welcomed certain genetically engineered plants. American chestnut trees have been almost eradicated by a deadly fungus infection and the Sierra Club has endorsed release of a genetically engineered chestnut tree Darling 58 that resists the fungus infection.

The UCS has grown increasingly concerned about the environmental effects of animal agriculture. It is impressed with the potential of plant-based meats to reduce these impacts and recently changed its stance against the plant-based Impossible Burger whose key ingredient is made with the help of genetic engineering.

GMOs have a great safety record. Scientists who genetically enhance animal and plant organisms work extremely cautiously, knowing well that releasing even one genetically engineered organism that caused environmental harm would be disastrous to their whole project.

The anti-GMO lobby acts mainly out of ideological convictions, mistrusts science and exaggerates perceived dangers. But it now looks like their reign is almost over. Cautious general acceptance of GMOs will follow. Genetic modification has much to offer as everyone who offers their arm to the vaccination needle can confirm.

Go here to see the original:
Covid-19 vaccines have weakened the anti-GMO movement - The Irish Times

Posted in Genetic Engineering | Comments Off on Covid-19 vaccines have weakened the anti-GMO movement – The Irish Times

Energy & environment research – Open Access Government

Posted: June 23, 2021 at 1:50 am

Dr Sanju A. Sanjaya received a PhD in 2003 from the University of Mysore, Mysore, India, on tree improvement and biotechnology. That same year, he joined the Agricultural Biotechnology Research Center at Academia Sinica, in Taipei, Taiwan as a postdoctoral fellow working on the genetic engineering of orchids and tomatoes, for biotic and abiotic stress tolerance. He has worked at the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center at Michigan State University as a Senior Research Associate on a project focused on increasing energy density in vegetative tissues. His credentials include three patent applications, 20 papers in refereed journals, six published book chapters and eight published reviews.

Dr Sanjayas lab leads an active research program to design photosynthetic organisms with enhanced bioenergy and industrial compounds for higher production, profitability and sustainability. Dr Sanjayas research group uses bioinformatics, biochemical, molecular, cell biology and genetic engineering approaches to understand the primary metabolism mechanisms in plants and microalgae. Dr Sanjayas lab also aims to advance the use of photosynthetic organisms to address water quality issues and phytoremediation.

The West Virginia State University Energy and Environmental Science Institute (WVSUEESI) mission is to conduct basic and applied interdisciplinary research in energy and the environment to generate technology and knowledge.

Our goal is to partner with public and private sectors, so we can work together to address pertinent energy and environmental issues for West Virginia, says WVSUEESI Director, Dr Sanjaya. Those issues include researching the feasibility and sustainability of alternative energy sources for the Mountain State as government regulation and environmental concerns continue to cast resources such as natural gas and coal in the national spotlight.

Those new energy sources include renewable resources from plant-based biomass. Scientists at WVSU conduct ongoing projects focusing on feedstock improvement, biofuels and bioproducts; genomics; bioremediation, environment and sustainability. One project involves increasing the production of plant oils in the biomass of bioenergy crops that can be used to produce biodiesel and replanted onto formerly mined areas to determine how well crops will grow on reclaimed land.

One of the goals of the WVSUEESI is to generate technologies and provide hands-on research opportunities to students and science-based outreach opportunities for K-12 youth; Research and Teaching Graduate Assistantships in the MS Biotechnology Program; the Research Rookies Program in energy-related research; Agricultural and Environmental Science Careers for Non-Traditional Students (AESCONTS) throughout the region in the hope of generating the tomorrows scientists.

Ive always wanted to progress professionally and academically and to enrich my previous experience working with energy and environmental science, Dr Sanjaya explains. One of my biggest interests in being at WVSU is the opportunity to work in a team, with hard-working and smart students and scientific community.

Dr Sanjaya hopes the research will ultimately attract industry and academic partners to the region, enhancing economic development and workforce opportunities.

In addition to his ambitious research, Dr Sanjaya is a true leader in the classroom at WVSU who enjoys interacting with and motivating his students. He goes on to provide further detail: I often bring my students to the lab to do the real work theyre learning about in the classroom. Its a different opportunity for learning because my research is very hands-on.

Ever the visionary, Dr Sanjaya not only hopes his research will motivate West Virginians to stay in the State, but he looks forward to the day that young people will flock to West Virginia to work in science and research.

Dr Sanjaya adds: If my research is even a small piece of the puzzle that helps West Virginia, then I am happy.

As we enter an era where global food production is likely to double as the human population increases, sharing prime agricultural lands and resources for food and energy production becomes an even greater challenge. A breakthrough technology that enables the cultivation of an energy crop on a vast area of marginal lands can address these issues. Dr Sanjaya uses a gene-editing technique called CRISPR that gives him the ability to alter genes in plants, enabling them to grow on mountainous terrain, in soil with low nutrients, and even under drought conditions. This research is considered cutting edge, but has already proven viable in other parts of the world.

Dr Sanjaya then turns the discussion towards current research when it comes to improving the nutritional and energy content of crops. Dr Sanjaya considers why this is necessary for society today and how this incorporates gene technology.

Currently, the majority of the oils used in biodiesel production come from the seeds of plants, Dr Sanjaya comments. Biodiesel is a form of diesel fuel derived from plants or animals. By increasing the energy provided by plants, the land required to grow both biodiesel and food crops could be significantly reduced, he adds.

Plants accumulate oils within the tissue of the seeds to help with the energy-intensive process of germination and growth of new seedlings. By harnessing the mechanism used by the plant to send and store these oils within the seeds, Dr Sanjaya and his team aim to create new breeds of plants that accumulate higher amounts of oils within the rest of the plants vegetative tissue the leaves, stems and roots.

To increase the amount of oils stored in the vegetative tissue of plants, Dr Sanjaya and his colleagues have taken a two-pronged approach. Plants can only capture a finite amount of carbon in any period, so increasing the amount of oils created and stored necessarily requires a reduction in the amount of starch being produced.

First, the researchers used advanced molecular techniques to manipulate the genes involved in producing and accumulating oils called triglycerides using the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. This flowering plant species is related to mustard, cabbage and radishes and is ideal for testing and refining genetic techniques because of its small size and short generation times.

By increasing the activity of a gene controlling seed oil production, Dr Sanjayas team created a version of the plant that tends to store these oils within the vegetative tissue.

Following this, the team focused on a gene involved in starch production. They found that when this gene was edited to exhibit decreased activity, more carbon was left available to be routed into the production of oils. The resulting plant that possesses both edited genes divides more of the carbon captured during photosynthesis into oils than into starch.

Our long-term goal is to develop energy-dense bioenergy crops that can grow on vast areas of reclaimed coal mine lands of West Virginia and the Appalachian coal basin, Dr Sanjaya comments.

Ultimately, he says, this work could bring sustainable agriculture and sustainable energy-related industry to the State.

FUNDING: USDA NIFA and NSF RIA

Please note: This is a commercial profile

2019. This work is licensed under aCC BY 4.0 license.

Editor's Recommended Articles

See original here:
Energy & environment research - Open Access Government

Posted in Genetic Engineering | Comments Off on Energy & environment research – Open Access Government

Get the females and beat the disease – Mint

Posted: June 23, 2021 at 1:50 am

But I also thought of mosquitoes.

Now I have never been to Florida. But the state is known for its mosquitoes. The humorist Dave Barry lives there and has often mentioned the insects in his columns: ... as the Sun set, we experienced a sensation that I will never forget: The sensation of being landed on by every mosquito in the Western Hemisphere. There were so many of them that they needed Air Traffic Control mosquitoes to give directions."

Long story short: Florida has swarms of mosquitoes. They are constantly biting residents of and visitors to the state, so much so that I feel for the person I know who is going there. Still, get this: in an effort to fight the mosquito menace last April, a biotech firm went to the Keys to release ... more mosquitoes. Hundreds of thousands of mosquitoes, brought to the Keys as eggs actually, allowed to hatch there and live out their lives.

What hare-brained scheme is this, you may wonder. Many people have so wondered, and in the Keys, there has been plenty of oppositionso it is a controversial programme. Yet, it at least deserves some thought, especially given that swarms of mosquitoes are a feature of life in much of India too.

The mosquitoes introduced into the Keys were genetically engineered.

A little background, first. There are plenty of mosquitoes in Florida, certainly, and it cant be pleasant to suffer their bites. But only the species Aedes aegypti actually carries diseaseschikungunya, dengue and moreand they make up only 4% of the mosquito population in Florida. Whats more, only female mosquitoes actually bite humans. Males feed on nectar and their sole purpose in life is to mate with females and produce more mosquitoes. None of this is meant to say that we should ignore these pests. But it does suggest a possible way to fight them thats more efficient than blanket applications of insecticide: target the females.

Its true, the male and the female of the species do look different, but thats if you get a chance to peer closely at them. So, its in no way practical to visually identify only the female mosquitoes in a given area and whack them dead. But what if theres a way to ensure that when a mosquito pair reproduces, the female, and only the female, offspring die? What if such death comes early in their lives, even before they attack humans for the first time? Carnage like this means that the offspring left alive will mostly be males. They will mate with the remaining females, with the same morbid results for the resulting female offspring. Over time, youd expect the mosquito population to become more and more male. With less and less females to mate with, the Aedes aegypti population will naturally decline.

Genetic engineering (or genetic modification) offers a way to accomplish more or less this. Though with various plant species especially, plenty of controversy surrounds the process. Consider:

Proponents point out that humans have been doing such engineering indirectly for many millennia: breeding plants and animals selectively for certain desirable characteristics. For example, modern corn looks nothing like the grass-like Mexican plant with rudimentary ears, teosinte, that it is descended from. Thats because we humans have for uncounted generations selected plants with juicier, bigger and more succulent ears and kernels and used only those plants to generate their next crop. Much the same applies to plenty of other crops and domesticated animals.

Critics, though, say that todays techniques of actually modifying genes are entirely different from selective breeding, and theres definite danger there. For example, the wind can carry pollen from genetically modified (GM) crops to fields of non-modified crops, causing unpredictable and undesirable problems. Besides, the GM crop industry is dominated by a few large biotech firms. So, the prospect of widespread use of such crops raises serious concerns about monopolies, especially for small farmers like in India.

The fear that genetic engineering can have unpredictable consequences is why many residents of the Keys opposed the new genetically-engineered male mosquitoes.

Still, lets look at how they were engineered and then released. These Aedes aegypti males have had their DNA altered: scientists have edited" two particular genes into particular locations in the mosquitos genome:

* a fluorescent marker" gene that glows in red light, which will later be used to identify engineered mosquitoes.

* a self-limiting" gene.

When the insects reproduce, both genes are passed on to their offspring. The self-limiting" gene has no effect on males. But in larval females, it inhibits the storage of a specific protein that would otherwise build up as the insect grows. The result is that the female dies before it can mature.

This is the theory, of course. But these engineered mosquitoes have been released in Brazil, Panama and even Indiain the last two years, over a billion of them. The British biotech company that produced them, Oxitec, reports that in those areas, the populations of Aedes aegypti shrank by over 90%. Youd think that would certainly have an effect on the incidence of mosquito-borne diseases.

What of unpredictable consequences? The Brazil trial suggested that the self-limiting gene did not kill all the female offspring before they could mate, because other genes from the engineered mosquitoes appeared among other local mosquitoes. What effect this will have on the local ecosystem is not yet clear. But this is the kind of fallout of genetic engineering that worries many people.

Still, in April, Oxitec placed boxes containing eggs of the engineered mosquitoes in six different locations in the Florida Keys. Each week between May and August, about 12,000 of the mosquitoes will hatch from their eggs and emerge into the Florida air, ready to find willing females to mate with. Every now and then, Oxitecs researchers will collect mosquitoes and use red light to identify the engineered ones. They want to know such details as their life spans, the distance they have travelled from their boxes, and how many of the females who inherit the self-limiting gene have actually died. All this will shape a second and larger trial later this year, when Oxitec plans to release 20 million engineered mosquitoes. Data from these trials will help decide whether it is worth releasing mosquitoes more widely across the US.

Clearly, theres still plenty to learn about genetically engineered mosquitoes. But till now, insecticides have been our weapons of choice against mosquitoes. They kill the insects, sure, but also other insects we would rather save, like honeybees.

Consider this parallel to cancer. Our weapon of choice there one thats just as blunt as insecticidesremains chemotherapy. It kills cancer cells, sure, but also plenty of other cells in our bodies. What if we instead found a way to introduce a particular kind of cancer cell into the body, one that would single out and kill the malignant cells?

We dont know of such a cell (yet, anyway), but thats how to think of genetically engineered mosquitoes. And if you think about it some more, theres also a parallel of sorts to vaccines for a certain virus that we are all a little too familiar with these days.

Once a computer scientist, Dilip DSouza now lives in Mumbai and writes for his dinners. His Twitter handle is @DeathEndsFun

Subscribe to Mint Newsletters

* Enter a valid email

* Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter.

Never miss a story! Stay connected and informed with Mint. Download our App Now!!

See more here:
Get the females and beat the disease - Mint

Posted in Genetic Engineering | Comments Off on Get the females and beat the disease – Mint

Page 736«..1020..735736737738..750760..»