Photo by Zo Meyers / inewsource

Above: The UC San Diego School of Medicine campus is shown on Feb. 1, 2020.

UC San Diego School of Medicine researchers announced Tuesday they have discovered a carbohydrate that the SARS-CoV-2 virus uses to latch onto a cellular molecule in the lungs, which has potential implications for treatment of COVID-19 patients.

Since January, researchers have known that the novel coronavirus primarily uses a molecule known as ACE2 which sits like a doorknob on the outer surfaces of the cells that line the lungs to enter and infect those cells. Finding a way to lock out that interaction between virus and doorknob as a means to treat the infection has become the goal of many research studies.

The UCSD researchers recently discovered the virus cannot grab onto that ACE2 doorknob without a carbohydrate heparan sulfate, which is also found on lung cell surfaces.

"ACE2 is only part of the story," said Jeffrey Esko, a professor of cellular and molecular medicine at UCSD and co-director of the Glycobiology Research and Training Center. "It isn't the whole picture."

Esko's study, published in the academic journal Cell, introduces a potential new approach for preventing and treating COVID-19.

His team demonstrated two approaches that can reduce the ability of the virus to infect human cells cultured in the lab by about 80 to 90%, either removing heparan sulfate with enzymes or using heparin as bait to lure and bind the coronavirus away from human cells.

Heparin, a form of heparan sulfate, is already a widely used medication to prevent and treat blood clots.

Esko's team has long studied heparan sulfate and the role it plays in health and disease.

The team discovered that the virus binds to heparin. When heparin is bound, the virus is able to bind to ACE2. The virus, the researchers found, must bind both heparan sulfate on the cell surface and ACE2 in order to get inside human lung cells grown in a laboratory dish.

With this viral entry mechanism established, the researchers next set about trying to disrupt it. They found that enzymes that remove heparan sulfate from cell surfaces prevent SARS-CoV-2 from gaining entry into cells. Likewise, treatment with heparin also blocked infection. The heparin treatment worked as an anti-viral at doses currently given to patients, even when the researchers removed the anticoagulant region of the protein the part responsible for preventing blood clots.

Esko cautioned that the findings are still far from translating into a COVID-19 treatment for people.

Researchers will need to test heparin and heparan sulfate inhibitors in animal models of SARS-CoV-2 infection. In a related study, UC San Diego scientists are also exploring the role human microbiomes, including the bacteria that live in and on the body, play in altering heparan sulfate and thus influencing a person's susceptibility to COVID-19.

"This is one of the most exciting periods of my career all of the things we've learned about heparan sulfate and the resources we've developed over the years have come together with a variety of experts across multiple institutions who were quick to collaborate and share ideas," Esko said.

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UCSD Researchers Discover Carbohydrate In Lungs That COVID-19 Uses To Infect - KPBS

A novel publication in the Nature journal Neuropsychopharmacology asserts that the stress of racism produces an increased risk for mental health disorders like anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder in the Black community, especially in the current climate brought on by COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter movement, leading to a critical need to utilize science to understand racisms true biological impact.

Wayne State University School of Medicine Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences and the David and Patricia Barron Endowed Chair in PTSD and Trauma Neurobiology Tanja Jovanovic, Ph.D., wrote The critical importance in identifying the biological mechanisms underlying the effects of racism on mental health with Tracy Bale, Ph.D., a professor of Pharmacology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore.

Dr. Jovanovic has studied the impact of trauma on the brain and behavior in primarily African American urban communities for more than 15 years. The focus of her work has been in exposure to neighborhood and domestic violence, and post-traumatic stress disorder. She is now investigating the impact of racial discrimination above and beyond that of other types of trauma.

It is clear that the impact of racism is chronic, pervasive, and for many, unavoidable. Moreover it leaves the brain and body vulnerable to many disorders, including PTSD and many physical diseases, she said.

Her collaborator is a leading expert in understanding the impact of chronic stress on a molecular level. The duo decided to work together to examine the impact of the chronic stress of racism on biology. For a year, they studied biomarkers of stress that are also linked to immune system function.

Weve known for a long time that experiences of racial discrimination have a deep and long-term effect on psychology and mental health, and that there are substantial health disparities in that African American men and women are more likely to suffer from many medical illnesses compared to white individuals, Dr. Jovanovic said. A large part of this is due to systemic racism in health care, however, we believe racism also leaves an imprint on the body, which has not been well understood.

Dr. Bale works primarily with animal models of chronic stress and focuses on epigenetic and proteomic signatures of stress. Dr. Jovanovic focuses on African American women and children with urban trauma exposure who have experienced significant racism.

In writing this article, I contributed the information from individuals in Detroit reporting experiences of racism, especially in the current context of the Black Lives Matter movement, whileDr. Bale reported on the state-of-the art molecular methods that show the greatest promise as biomarkers of chronic stress and immune function, Dr. Jovanovic said.

She wants the field of stress and trauma research to focus on the impact of racism on the brain and the body. The duo are working on a series of grants and publications that describe these biological mechanisms in African American men and women in Detroit.

Black communities have been disproportionally affected by COVID-19; the pandemic has uncovered both systemic disparities and health-related vulnerability. It is truly of critical importance that we understand and mitigate the root causes of these vulnerabilities, she said.

Continue reading here:
New article shows how science could reveal racism's real impact on the body and brain - The South End

Cardiologist to the whos who of Houston for decades, Dr. James T. Willerson died at CHI St. Lukes Hospital Wednesday as the result of a long illness. He was 80. Most recently serving as president emeritus of the Texas Heart Institute, Willerson was recognized internationally for seminal research in stem cells for the repair of hearts and cardiovascular vessels injured by heart attacks.

Among those who counted Willerson as both a friend and personal cardiologist were former Secretarty of State James A. Baker, former Houston Mayor Bob Lanier, philanthropists Margaret Williams and Jeanie Kilroy, art dealer Meredith Long, famed restaurateur Tony Vallone and even famed heart surgeon Dr. Denton Cooley.

In fact, Willerson credited his meeting with Cooley when he was 14 years old, at a time when Cooley and his team had performed 10,000 heart operations, with leading him into cardiology. It was the beginning of a lifelong friendship and collaboration at the Texas Heart Institute.

So committed to his patients, Willerson was known to return phone calls to them back in Houston whether he was in China, Turkey or South America. His quiet nature and often abrupt manner in the exam room would belie his intense passion for serving his patients. He was at the very least once seen weeping at the funeral of one of his patients.

On the Texas Heart Institute Website, THI board chairman Eric Wade notes, Dr. Willerson lived a tremendous life defined by curiosity and an eternally burning flame for the study of the human heart and its myriad complexities, and on behalf of the Texas Heart Institute Board of Trustees, it is with a heavy heart that I share the news of his passing.

His bio at Texas Heart Institute tallies his numerous lauded positions and accolades: President of The University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston from 2001-2008, recently retired as the Edward Randall III Professor of Internal Medicine at The UT Medical School at Houston. He holds the Dunn Chair in Cardiology Research at THI, the Willerson/OQuinn Chair at THI, the James T. Willerson, MD Distinguished Chair in Cardiovascular Diseases at UT Southwestern Medical School in Dallas and The Institute of Molecular Medicine IMM at the University of U.T. Health Houston. He has been named a Distinguished Alumnus at the University of Texas, Austin, and at the Baylor College of Medicine. A swimming scholarship is named in his honor at The University of Texas at Austin.

Born in Lampasas to two physicians, Willerson graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Texas where he led the swimming team to a state championship. But it was UT football that was his passion second only to medicine. He attended Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and completed his training in internal medicine and cardiology at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and Harvard Medical School.

Funeral arrangements are being handled by Geo. H. Lewis & Sons.

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Highly Revered Cardiologist Dr. James T. Willerson Passes Away at St. Luke's in Houston - PaperCity Magazine

The ARK Genomic Revolution Multi-Sector Fund (CBOE: ARKG) turns six years old next month and over that time, its developed a reputation as one of the best-performing healthcare ETFs, biotechnology or otherwise.

That success is attributable to the ability of ARK Invests managers to identify disruptive genomics equities well before markets fully appreciate the growth stories behind those names.

Consider the investment opportunity found in the Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, or CRISPR, genome-editing platform. CRISPR is a genome-editing platform that will address the worlds most salient health issues. It is like a molecular swiss army knife with a rapidly expanding number of tools that perform different functions.

The major premise behind ARK Funds, and likely the reason for the success is the belief that the market at large does not know how to efficiently price and value the type of innovation these ETFs are investing in, according to Seeking Alpha. The returns of the individual funds are excellent, and they are excellent over extended periods of time.

The actively managed ARKG offers investors a thematic multi-capitalization exposure to innovative elements that cover advancements in gene therapy bio-informatics, bio-inspired computing, molecular medicine, and pharmaceutical innovations.

ARKG includes companies that merge healthcare with technology and capitalize on the revolution in genomic sequencing. These companies try to better understand how biological information is collected, processed, and applied by reducing guesswork and enhancing precision; restructuring health care, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, and enhancing our quality of life.

Theres potentially epic growth to be had with ARKG because of where many of the funds components are in the clinical trial stages.

One of the biggest drivers for this placement, in my mind, is centered in the stages of clinical trials that most of the vaccine and therapeutics in the holdings are in, according to Seeking Alpha. They are mostly, if not all, pre-phase 1 through phase 3, placing them at least a year or two away from being in the market. This means they are some time away from generating significant earnings and bringing valuation metrics more in line with the broader market.

Genomics companies try to better understand how biological information is collected, processed and applied by reducing guesswork and enhancing precision; restructuring health care, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, and enhancing our quality of life.

For more on disruptive technologies, visit our Disruptive Technology Channel.

The opinions and forecasts expressed herein are solely those of Tom Lydon, and may not actually come to pass. Information on this site should not be used or construed as an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation for any product.

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Why This Genomics ETF Is a Long-Term Winner - ETF Trends

FREMONT, Calif., Sept. 17, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The global precision medicine marketis projected to reach $278.61 billion by 2030, reveals a premium market intelligence report by BIS Research. The study also highlights that the market is set to witness a CAGR of 11.13% during the period between 2020 and 2030.

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The BIS Research report indicates that the increasing number of genetic tests taken, the growing demand for reliable next-generation sequencing (NGS) results, the rising prevalence of infectious diseases, and the improving funding scenario in the field of precision medicine, among others, are fueling the growth of the market.

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Emphasizing the dominance of North America in global precision medicine market in 2019 and 2020, Nitish Kumar Singh, Lead Analyst BIS Research, states, "InNorth America, several established diagnostics manufacturers are focusing on expanding their portfolio in NGS-based molecular diagnostics and are collaborating with service providers and pharmaceutical giants to co-market molecular diagnostics solutions with its complementary precision medicine solutions. Moreover, the U.S. government is undertaking a number of initiatives to develop of precision drugs and tests for oncology and non-oncology diseases and provide funds to new startups in the molecular diagnostics and precision medicine field."

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Key insights are drawn from in-depth interviews with the key opinion leaders of more than 40 leading companies, market participants, and vendors. The key players profiled in the report includeAbbott Laboratories, Almac Group Ltd, Amgen Inc., ANGLE plc, Astellas Pharma Inc., Astra Zeneca PLC, ASURAGEN INC., Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc., bioMrieux SA., Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Cardiff Oncology, CETICS Healthcare Technologies GmbH, Danaher Corporation, Eli Lilly and Company Limited, Epic Sciences, Inc., F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, GE Corporation, Gilead Sciences, Inc., GlaxoSmithKline Plc, Illumina, Inc., Intomics A/S, Johnson & Johnson Company, Konica Minolta, Inc., Laboratory Corporation of America, MDx Health, Inc., Menarini Silicon Biosystems, Inc., Merck & Co., Inc., Myriad Genetics, Inc., Novartis AG, Oracle Corporation, Partek, Inc., Pfizer, Inc., QIAGEN N.V., Quest Diagnostics Inc, Randox Laboratories Ltd., Sanofi SA, Sysmex Corporation, Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd., and Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.

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Global NGS Sample Preparation Market - Analysis and Forecast, 2019-2025

Global Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) Market - Analysis and Forecast, 2019-2024

Global Rare Disease Diagnostics Market - Analysis and Forecast, 2018-2025

About BIS Research:

BIS Researchis a global B2B market intelligence and advisory firm focusing on deep technology and related emerging trends which can disrupt the market dynamics in the near future. We publish more than 200 market intelligence studies annually that focus on several deep technology verticals.

Our strategic market analysis emphasizes on market estimations, technology analysis, emerging high-growth applications, deeply segmented granular country-level market data, and other important market parameters useful in the strategic decision-making for senior management.

BIS Research offers syndicate as well as, custom studies, and expert consultations to firms, providing them specific and actionable insights on novel technology markets, business models, and competitive landscape.

BIS Healthcare vertical offers intelligence in the healthcare technology market for Medical Devices, Digital Health, Life Sciences, Robotics and Imaging, Information Technology, Precision Medicine, and other emerging healthcare technologies, covering the entire industry spectrum. In the past 5 years, BIS Healthcare has published more than 50 reports under the precision medicine banner. Additionally, BIS Research has been nominating Top 25 Voices in Precision Medicine on its Insight Monk platform for the past two years successfully.

Contact:

Bhavya BangaEmail: [emailprotected] BIS Research Inc.39111 PASEO PADRE PKWY STE 313,FREMONT CA 94538-1686Visit our Blog @ https://blog.bisresearch.com/ Connect with us on LinkedIn @ https://www.linkedin.com/company/bis-researchConnect with us on [emailprotected] https://twitter.com/BISResearch

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BIS Research Report Highlights the Global Precision Medicine Market to Reach $278.61 Billion by 2030 - PRNewswire

The research led by Jeremy Wood, Zach Porterfield and Jamie Sturgill in the Department of Internal Medicine; Beth Garvy in Microbiology, Immunology & Molecular Genetics; and Wally Whiteheart in Molecular & Cellular Biochemistry, suggests localized inflammation in the lungs caused by COVID-19 may be responsible for the increased presence of blood clots in patients.

The study also provides evidence suggesting the risk of thrombosis could persist after the infection clears.

The study examined the blood of 30 COVID-19 patients including 15 who were inpatients in the intensive care unit, and 15 who received care as outpatients at UKs Infectious Diseases Clinic, along with eight disease-free volunteers who acted as a control group.

Compared to baseline, the COVID-19 patients had elevated levels of tissue factor, a protein found in blood that initiates the clotting process. Patients also had reduced levels of protein S, an anticoagulant that helps prevent blood clotting.

The researchers concluded that lung inflammation caused by COVID-19 is what leads to a decrease in protein S. Thisinflammation also causes immune and possible endothelial cell activation, which leads to increased tissue factor protein.

What weve learned is that the clotting is not caused by anything systemic. Localized inflammation in the lungs is whats driving this whole process, Wood said. With an increase in tissue factor and a deficiency in protein S, COVID-19 patients get more blood clotting without the ability to shut it down or control it.

The study additionally showed that protein S levels remained low in some patients even after they tested negative for COVID-19, which suggests that blood clotting issues may persist after infection and long-term monitoring of thrombotic risk may be necessary.

Wood says this preliminary data could be a cause for concern. Certain viruses like HIV are linked to a long-term deficiency in protein S, which causes an ongoing risk of thrombosis in patients. It is not yet known if COVID-19 could cause a similar persisting protein S deficiency.

Tissue factor and protein S are good markers to monitor for long-term thrombosis risk and the data suggest that we need to be monitoring these patients because were not seeing these parameters corrected immediately, Wood said.

The research team recently received a grant from UKsCenter for Clinical and Translational Science(CCTS) to begin a longitudinal study to look at these levels in patients over the next year.

This will help answer the question: will this risk remain like it is in the HIV patients or will it go away?

The study was funded in part by anAlliance Grantthrough the College of Medicine as well as UKsCOVID-19 Unified Research Experts (CURE) Alliancethroughthe Vice President for Research and the College of Medicine and the CCTS. It was a product of collaboration between a number of different groups at UK that have been studying COVID-19.

Additional collaborators includeMartha Sim, Meenakshi Banerjee and Hammodah Alfar in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry; Melissa Hollifield and Jerry Woodward with Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics; Xian Li with the Saha Cardiovascular Research Center; Alice Thornton with the Division of Infectious Disease; and Gail Sievert, Marietta Barton-Baxter and Kenneth Campbell with CCTS.

Link:
UK research getting to bottom of COVID clots - ABC 36 News - WTVQ